News In Brief

Ferraro scores Reagan on arms control record

Addressing the Young Lawyers' Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association yesterday, Geraldine Ferraro called arms control the overriding issue of the campaign and said President Reagan does not understand the problem. She said Mr. Reagan has opposed every major arms control treaty in the last two decades.

Declaring the November election is a referendum on ''the fate of the earth,'' she said Reagan's policies have led to an ''arms control gridlock'' that does not reduce the risk of nuclear war and said his failure to negotiate with the USSR is no accident, but a ''wayward policy.''

Meanwhile, Walter Mondale, campaigning in Los Angeles, is pressing his argument that Reagan is trying to get ''reelected answering as few questions as possible.''