October 20, 1986

The Boston Red Sox took a two-game lead in the World Series last night, defeating the New York Mets, 9 to 3. Dave Henderson and Dwight Evans led the way for Boston with home runs.

The Soviet Union ordered five American diplomats out of the country today for engaging in ''impermissible activities,'' the diplomatic formula for spying, the press agency Tass reported. A spokesman for the United States Embassy confirmed the action but declined to comment. The Soviet move marked the largest number of American diplomats ever expelled at the same time by Moscow. Western diplomats said they presumed the action was taken in retaliation for Washington's order on Sept. 17 that 25 diplomats at the Soviet Mission to the United Nations who were identified as intelligence agents must leave the United States. [ In Washington, Secretary of State George P. Shultz said the United States would retaliate against the Soviet order. ] Deadline for Russians Today was the deadline set by the Reagan Administration for the departure of the last of the 25 Soviet officials, although a Soviet spokesman said Thursday that all 25 had left.

Back BurnerHow much does Governor Cuomo think you should pay in state taxes over the next four years? How much in rent? The answer is that he hasn't taken a stand. Those issues - a restructuring of the state tax code, revision of the rent-stabilization laws - are among several politically sensitive decisions that the administration has put off until after the election. And some groups are beginning to complain: after all, they ask, isn't one purpose of an election campaign to elicit from candidates a commitment on the issues? Tenant groups are planning a rally for Thursday outside the Governor's Madison Avenue campaign office to press Mr. Cuomo to take a stand now on rent stabilization. Meanwhile, some Wall Street brokers are pressing for the Governor's thoughts on taxes. He has promised to return to taxpayers the $2 billion a year in extra taxes the state is expected to take in as a result of the new Federal code.

Gary and Janice Bloedorn will tell you that the high-tech revolution, like most revolutions, does not always deliver on its extravagant promises. Mr. Bloedorn, who is 38 years old, works as a computer technician. But he warns: ''It's not like the television commercials say it is.'' The money is not always great - he makes $25,500 a year, more with overtime, less with layoffs - and it has not been easy since Mrs. Bloedorn, 37, left her job as a clinical psychologist to stay home with their two children in this Milwaukee suburb. In the view of many politicians and analysts, voters like the Bloedorns are a key to the future of American politics. They are in the heart of the baby boom generation, and have little in common with higher-paid young urban professionals, the ''yuppies'' so often discussed.

Reagan Administration officials said today that they expected the United States and the Soviet Union in coming weeks to try to conclude two of the tentative agreements they achieved at last weekend's meeting in Iceland. These understandings dealt with curbing nuclear testing and limiting each side's arsenal of medium-range missiles. A high-ranking Administration official said Washington believed, on the basis of post-summit contacts with the Soviet side, that the Russians would be willing to go ahead with those two agreements. Meeting in Vienna Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that he hoped to tackle those issues when he meets in Vienna early next month with the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard A. Shevardnadze.