Reagan Greets Group Hoping to Make Grade in Space

--”Principal” Ronald Reagan looked out over the 114 semifinalists in the teacher-in-space program gathered in the East Room of the White House and declared:, “Class will come to order.” President Reagan told the teachers competing to be the first private citizen in space: “I also want to tell you that your shuttle doesn’t blast off for a while yet, so there’s still time to back out.” The astronaut-candidates, selected from 11,000 applicants, arrived in Washington on Saturday for 5 1/2 days of lectures, seminars and interviews before a review panel that will choose 10 finalists. That group will go to Johnson Space Center in Houston for more training, testing and evaluation, then return to Washington to meet with space agency officials. The teacher-astronaut will be named around July 23. “For the lucky one who does go up, I have only one assignment,” the President said. “Take notes, there will be a quiz afterward.”

--Political satirist Art Buchwald is setting up a scholarship for journalism students at the University of Southern California. USC’s School of Journalism will award the $1,000 Art Buchwald Scholarship annually to the most promising student satirist. Columnist Buchwald spelled out a few guidelines for selecting the scholarship winner in a letter to the school’s director, Bryce Nelson. “The student should be anti-Establishment and contemptuous of the scholarship he or she is receiving. That is to say, he or she should be willing to bite that hand that feeds him,” Buchwald said. “If the person is on probation for something he or she wrote, that should be considered a plus,” Buchwald said. And the winner “doesn’t even have to say thank-you.” The columnist also wants to keep his distance from the winners. He added: “I’m not responsible for the student getting a job, getting published or even for talking to him if I don’t want to.” The first scholarship has gone to John Kirby, a columnist and editorial director of the USC Daily Trojan.

--U.S. Customs officials say they plan no action against country singer Donna Fargo. The entertainer and her entourage were detained for more than five hours after she asked inspectors to remove their shoes before boarding her touring bus at a Detroit-Windsor, Canada, border crossing last week. No contraband was found.