European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 23, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday August 23, 19b6 the stars and stripes Page 7 Gas prices a but food prices Rise Washington a the first drop in gasoline prices since april made up for the steepest Rise in food costs in More Ihan iwo years to hold retail Price steady in july the government said. More Good news for Consumers so far this year prices have fallen 0.2 percent at an annual rate their Best showing since 1949. But analysts warned that the july report could mar the end of the Best news on inflation. Yet no economist was predicting that prices would begin rising rapidly. The belief that prices will turn upward is based Inpan on the open agreement earlier this month to temporarily Cut Oil production in an Effort to boost sagging world Oil prices. As for last month however gasoline prices fell 6.6percent, More than offsetting Gams posted in May and june. It was their fourth drop this , for the first seven months of 1986. Gasoline Price have declined 27.4 percent and now stand 35.7percent below their Peak level of March 1931. Food costs however Rose a Sharp 0.8 percent injury their biggest gain since january 1984. All major food categories showed substantial increases with Bee prices rising for the second straight month after falling Tor the first five months of the  prices were up 7,4 percent the labor department said reflecting in pan the Southeastern heat and drought which makes it difficult for chickens to survive. Meese defends judicial choices by the los Angeles times Sun Valley Idaho defending the Reagan administration s selection of Federal judges . At Torney general Edwin Ceschi thursday denied that the Justice department was interested in the personal political beliefs of judicial candidates. When 1 get the names 1 Don t know if a person is Democrat or a Republican Meese told an annual conference of Federal judges  re not interested in personal political  Meese addressing the Confer ence of the . 9lh circuit court of appeals said the justic department bases its decisions partly on consciousness raising interviews with All top candidates . But he denied that the inter views Ever focused on such ques Tion As a potential judge s views of abortion the death penalty or met St school  to reports in the press these interviews arc not in any Way a litmus  Mccase said. One thing about the interviews is they arc consciousness raising. A philosophy of Lawand judging is  Meese s appearance at the conference followed Strong criticism of the 9th circuit in recent years by Justice department officials who have viewed the court As too Liberal. The addition of seven conservative Republican judges 10 he 28-Judgc court by the Reagan administration however has evened the political makeup of the nation s largest Federal appellate court and shifted its philosophical  some 9th circuit judges look a sceptical View of Mccase s denials of political considerations in Judi Cial selection he was politely applauded for explaining the process. Several judges said that they believed Meese improved his standing with the court by appearing at the  feel the present system is a True Merit system Meese said. We Are working very hard for one thing the Best  postal worker charged in theft by the Wuh Linglan past Washington a longtime . Postal service employee was arrested thursday and charged with Possession of $200,000 in negotiable Bonds that were among about $2.3 million Worth of items in a registered mail Pouch stolen last summer. The items were being shipped Between Washington and new York on Amtrak trains according to . Postal inspector . Achimovic or. Achimovic said the Pouch holding the Bonds also contained a Check or note Worth $2 million that postal authorities said was readily convertible to Cash Achi Movic estimated the total Worth of the stolen contents at More than s2.7 million. Postal authorities said they believe All the thefts have been carried out by postal service employees but declined to disclose whether any other stolen item shave been recovered. Officials identified the suspect As Louis a Scott jr.,46, a 27-year postal service employee who most recently has worked As a mail Transfer clerk at washing Ion s Union station a Job that officials said includes monitoring and loading shipments of mail pouches. Navy partially lifts Litton suspension Washington up the Navy thursday partially lifted the suspension of Litton industries from defense department contracts. The suspension was imposed july 16 after a subsidiary was indicted on 325 counts of criminal fraud. Everett pall assistant Navy Secretary for ship building and logistics released the suspension for the advanced electronics and Marine products group after agreement was reached on a series of Steps to be taken by the corporation and groups the suspension continues for the Industrial Auto mation , resource exploration services and the component products Industrial systems group. The agreement Between Litton and the depart ment of defense specifies that All costs associated with the suspension and the. Establishment of corrective actions will not be charged to the government the announcement said. In addition Litton agreed to establish a contract compliance program strengthen it internal auditing reinforce and expand its ethics pro Gram strengthen its pricing and estimating procedure Sand controls and provide increased government Access to  Navy spokesman said the suspension was lifted Tor the advanced electronics and Marine groups subsidiaries because Litton presented information that convinced the Navy that the government s interest were protected at these two groups.1 additional reviews would be necessary regarding theother groups he said. The spokesman said that Litton had lost several significant opportunities for defense business during the suspension hut was not Able to Supply details. Us labor dispute ruled a lockout Harrisburg a. A the slate on thursday ruled that the labor dispute at us corp. Is a lockout rather than a strike thus allowing at least 6,200 steel workers in Pennsylvania to collect unemployment Ben  department of labor and Industry said the employees Are entitled to Aid because us  steel barred the employees from continuing work once their contract expired july 31. Us employees have not worked since aug. La Day after bargaining broke Down Over the company s de Mand for wage Benefit and work Rule concessions. The ruling was handed Down by the department of labor and Industry s office of unemployment Security after it reviewed evidence submitted by us an the Union. This decision combined with an id Mical one i Minnesota establishes clearly that us is engaged in a lockout it also affirms our position that the Union made a Good Faith offer to extend our contract with us and continue negotiating said James Mckee Han chief negotiator Tor United steelworkers in a statement issued in Las vegas  spokesman Thomas Ferrall said the company believes the dispute is a strike and plans to Appeal. Fruit and vegetable prices also turned around injury rising 0.8 percent after falling ii Sharp 1.8 percent in june. Prices Tor fish and eggs also Rose last month. Housing cuss which had risen 0.5 percent in june held steady last month largely a reflection of declines in the Cost of electricity and natural  for both Energy sources had surged in june after declining in the three preceding  Oil prices Felt 5.8 percent inc seventh straight decline. Those costs were 39 percent under their 1981peak. In cig prices Overall fell 4.1 percent last month. Changes for Telephone services which had jumped1,9 percent in june were unchanged in july As an increase in local service costs was Onset by continuing declines in Ion Dis Mike charges. Officials say measles cases climbing again Atlanta a measles believed to be on the verge of eradication in this country three years ago is malting a worrisome comeback with cases More than doubling in the first half of 1986, Federal health officials said thursday. In the first 26 weeks of this year 3,921 measles cases were reported in the United slates More Ihan in any full year since 1980, and 8 percent More than the1,802 in the first half of 1985, according 10 the nation Al centers for disease control. Measles characterized by fever and a red spot Tyrash is still far less common than it was in the years before 1963, when the measles vaccine was  that time it was not unusual for the nation to report half a million cases each year. But the new statistics come As a disappointment to Public health officials three years after Low Levels of measles prompted cd researchers to believe the Dis ease was near to being wiped out. In 1983, the nation hit a record Low of 1,497 measles cases. The disease has increased every year since. The Atlanta based cd noted that vaccine failure Sand a vaccinated preschoolers have contributed to the Large number of outbreaks this year. And Early indications Are that at least in som cases immunization is .