August 31, 1977

Pres Carter promises that if Roman Caths and Prots in N Ireland settle their differences peacefully, US would help to encourage new financial investments in Ulster; urges Amers to refrain from supporting orgns involved in Ulster violence; Carey, Kennedy and Moynihan hail Carter's comments; Powell comments (M)

US Defense Dept urges Carter Adm to sell 60 F-15 fighters to Saudi Arabia; supporters of sale say it will cement US-Saudi ties; say Saudi's need planes to replace aging force of Brit Lightnings; Israeli opposition to sale and expected opposition in Cong noted (M)

NYS legis com repts Dr William Ronan and other agency officials often used auth's 3 helicopters for personal business; says helicopters improperly ferried officials, and sometimes their families, to beach resorts, suburban homes and private business missions; Assemblyman Irwin J Landes, chmn of Assembly Com on Corporations, estimates at least 1/3 of all flights were unrelated to Auth's operations; com says such use of helicopters could be construed as misappropriation and could result in prosecution; says willingness of officials to reimburse Auth makes criminal prosecution unlikely; some purported trips described; Goldmark orders all dirs to rept to him in 48 hrs on any improper expense-acct charges in their depts; says special team of ind auditors will begin inquiry into expense-acct irregularities (M)

Pres Carter orders urgent rev of Fed urban policy in response to criticism from many black leaders; Cabinet-level study group is reorganized and given timetable to submit new plans; Adm is considering complex urban financing program developed by Treas Dept's Urban Development Task Force which calls for special Govt financing, grants and tax incentives to lure business back to cities; program, referred to as Urban Development Bank, includes 3-part financing mechanism; plan detailed; unresolved issues in program include whether to offer loans to cities on emergency basis, and what criteria should be used in determining which cities are eligible for program (M)