[WGN news compilation]

This is a compilation of news reports from WGN on a variety of topics, including local Chicago news as well as national news stories.

0:10Copy video clip URL The first news report concerns the financial crisis in the Chicago school system. Elizabeth Brackett talks to Catherine Rohter, president of the school board, who says that the school’s money problems have been building up for years. Brackett discusses the teacher contracts negotiated during the Daley years, which “gave the teachers what they wanted, but never asked voters to pay for the teachers’ pay hikes”. The school board’s financial rating dropped after they took money from funds meant to pay back loans. Jerome VanGorkom, chairman of the oversight committee, talks about the school board’s pressing need to borrow money again, and the need to raise taxes to pay for the much-needed bonds.

3:57Copy video clip URL This news report covers the election of two independent Democrats on the south side of Chicago – Gus Savage and Harold Washington – in the 1980 Democratic primary elections for U.S. Congress. Brackett talks to Alderman Tyrone Kenner, a party loyalist, about the election. Brackett then interviews Gus Savage, the elected Democratic candidate, who states that candidates in the south side that keep their primary loyalty to the Democratic party instead of the people “better start getting their bags packing.” Bracket also speaks to Rep. Bennett Stewart about his loss to Harold Washington in the primary. Washington says that his victory is the result of “a steady movement away from the machine by the black voter”.

6:31Copy video clip URL This news report concerns the unresolved problems continuing to face the Chicago public school system.

7:32Copy video clip URL This report concerns the controversy about Mayor Byrne’s proposal to legalize casino gambling in Chicago, focusing on the rise in crime which has resulted from the introduction of casino gambling in Atlantic City, NJ. Brackett talks to Joseph Lazarow, mayor of Atlantic City, about the types of crime caused by casinos. Brackett says that the casino revenue is earmarked for the elderly, and so the city cannot use that money to increase police funding. They talk to Joseph Lordi, chairman of the Casino Control Commission, about the problem of organized crime, and discuss the steps taken to prevent it. NJ Attorney General John Degnan fears that the existing safeguards won’t be enough to prevent organized crime.

10:40Copy video clip URL This news report talks about the new Kentucky judges who have not been given office space in the courthouses, which led district judge Lewis Hopper to set up a tent as his office. The reporter interviews people who visited Judge Hopper at his tent.

12:00Copy video clip URL This news report concerns recent political news, including John Warner’s announcement that he will be running for Senator of Virginia in the 1978 election. They show a clip of the announcement, which Warner made along with his wife, Elizabeth Taylor.

13:35Copy video clip URL Commercial break.

14:37Copy video clip URL This news report covers UFO sightings, which have soared following the release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The reporter discusses the now declassified government investigations into UFO sightings. They talk to J. Allen Hynek of the Center for UFO Studies, who coined the term “close encounter of the third kind”. The report also talks about President Jimmy Carter’s UFO sighting. Carter’s opinion on UFOs attracted a flood of mail on the subject, which caused the Office of Science and Technology to ask NASA to study the existence of UFOs. NASA concluded that “it would be pointless to mount a new research effort because of the lack of physical evidence”.

20:22Copy video clip URL End of tape.