May 23, 1980

The subject of the American hostages in Iran has receded both as a leading item in the news and as an issue in the political campaign, at least in part, some officials say, because of the Carter Administration's decision to stop treating it as a major crisis.

REUNIONS between Count Basie's orchestra and Joe Williams, who sang the blues with the band for six years from December 1954 to January 1961, have been fairly frequent over the last two decades since Mr. Williams went out as a solo act.

ALBANY, May 22 In a move to establish what it called more rigorous minimum qualifications for new public school teachers, the State Board of Regents approved today a plan to establish by 1983 the first statewide teacher-licensing tests.

A high-level Federal commission has given its qualified endorsement to the Government to require all private employers to provide a minimum annual retirement income for their workers.

PHILADELPHIA, May 22 A Federal grand jury indicted three members of the City Council and a lawyer today in the first formal criminal action against political figures to flow from the Justice Department's investigation in which Government agents posed as the representatives of an Arab millionaire seeking to buy favors from officials.