Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III will rule...

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III will rule on the proposed joint operating agreement between Detroit’s major daily newspapers before leaving office next month, a Justice Department spokesman said. “Mr. Meese will be out of office by mid-August, by the 15th, and . . . he does intend to make a decision on the Detroit JOA case before he leaves,” Patrick Korten said in an interview in Washington. When Meese announced July 5 that he would resign, it was uncertain whether he would issue a ruling on the request by the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News or leave it to his successor, Korten said. The newspapers applied for the partial merger in 1986. An administrative law judge and Justice Department staff have recommended the JOA be denied. Knight-Ridder Inc., owner of the Free Press, has said it will close the newspaper if the JOA is denied.