LEAD: Michael Bennett, the most influential theater director and choreographer of his generation and the creator of ''A Chorus Line,'' the longest-running show in Broadway history, died yesterday morning at his home in Tucson, Ariz. He was 44 years old and had been suffering from lymphoma, a form of cancer, as a result of AIDS, his attorney, John Breglio, said yesterday.

MICHAEL BENNETT, THEATER INNOVATOR, DIES AT 44

LEAD: A Federal judge yesterday barred the New York City Police Department from destroying or altering any records concerning its investigations of black radicals or its taping of a radio station primarily serving blacks.

U.S. JUDGE TELLS POLICE TO PRESERVE INQUIRY RECORDS

LEAD: In a move of unusual corporate candor, the Gannett Company has cooperated in the preparation of a book chronicling the tumultuous history of its USA Today, complete with tales of bitter infighting, costly mistakes and a furious struggle to keep the national newspaper alive.

THE USA TODAY STORY: NEUHARTH'S OBSESSION

LEAD: IN a city fabled for its celebrations, no holiday weekend can compare with the Fourth of July's magnificent medley of outdoor festivities. A cacophony of fireworks and festivals brightens the skies and the streets. Music galore -from Sousa to symphonies - resounds in the parks. And as sleek jets soar above Coney Island, a flotilla of sailboats glides through New York

AN EXPLOSION OF FESTIVITIES FOR A FABULOUS FOURTH OF JULY

LEAD: The Internal Revenue Service proposed regulations today that would require taxpayers to keep detailed records in order to deduct the interest they pay on loans used for investments and business expenses.

I.R.S. SETS TIGHT RULE ON INTEREST

LEAD:  FRIDAY   GRAND SIGHTS   Anyone who has ever visited the Grand Canyon has experienced the awesome grandeur of the four-billion-year-old geologic wonder. The beauty and mystery of the canyon have been captured in a half-hour documentary film, ''Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets,'' which can be seen this month at the Naturemax Theater at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street.

No Headline

LEAD: For a man who traffics in celebration, Ave Bucktooth is not feeling particularly jolly.

CHIEFS ON ONODAGA RESERVATION ORDER END TO SALES OF FIREWORKS

LEAD: Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d, in a 1985 document disclosing his personal investments to the Justice Department, failed to mention that on the day before the disclosure he had invested $60,000 with a financial consultant closely tied to the Wedtech Corporation.

DOCUMENTS SHOW OMISSION BY MEESE

INSIDE

LEAD: The Treasury Department gave in yesterday to pressure from Americans who own bonds of corporate subsidiaries in the Netherlands Antilles, saying it would ask Congress to allow interest on the bonds to remain exempt from withholding taxes.

U.S. KEEPS TAX STATUS ON ANTILLES

LEAD: In choosing ideology as the battlefield for the confirmation of Robert H. Bork, Senate Democrats have expanded a highly charged contest over the direction of the Supreme Court into a fight with high stakes for the party as well.

Democrats Pick Clear Battlefield on Bork, But Political Consequences Are Uncertain

LEAD: Two men who may oppose each other for the presidency met tonight to pave the way for negotiations on a new constitution.

SEOUL RIVALS MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A SURPRISE VISIT

LEAD: American lawyers for the Toshiba Corporation met with Pentagon officals today to discuss steps the company will take to improve its export control procedures.

TOSHIBA, U.S. TALK ON EXPORTS

LEAD: If the bold and imaginative ideas proposed for New York City schools by the Commission on the Year 2000 are to work, they will clearly require equally bold and imaginative leadership in putting them into effect, according to educators and Board of Education members.

STRONG LEADERS REQUIRED TO MEET YEAR 2000 GOALS

LEAD: Three months after an illegal six-day strike by teachers and other school employees in Lyndhurst, a judge is scolding 175 teachers, custodians and secretaries and sentencing them to three-day jail terms.

JUDGE GIVES TEACHERS JAIL TERMS AND SAYS STIKE CORRUPTED YOUTHS

LEAD: For almost 40 years, Camp DeBruce has done its best to turn out ecologically sound children, but the news at lunch Wednesday was not good.

Camping Out At Ecology Lab In the Catskills

LEAD: Prudential-Bache Securities has never before been a pioneer, but these days its energetic chairman, George L. Ball, is leading the brokerage firm on what he calls an expedition into Wall Street's most inviting frontier.

BACHE BRAVES A NEW WORLD

LEAD: The CBS and NBC television networks, in response to a request by three leading advertisers, agreed yesterday to black out certain national advertisements in Florida that their affiliates would normally carry, The move was viewed as a largely symbolic protest of the state's new 5 percent sales tax on service businesses.

2 NETWORKS TO BLACK OUT ADS IN FLORIDA TAX RIFT

LEAD: In a dramatic effort to end the political crisis that has engulfed Haiti for the last 10 days, the military Government announced tonight that it was restoring control of the country's electoral process to an independent civilian council.

MILITARY LEADERS IN HAITI YIELD ON PLANS FOR CONTROL OF ELECTIONS

BUSINESS DIGEST: FRIDAY, JULY 3, 1987

LEAD: In the limestone Renaissance Revival mansion on East 93d Street where Dwight Gooden recently spent a month in drug rehabilitation, substance abusers of different incomes, ages and attitudes forge incongruous alliances, uneasy at first, that are a key element of their recovery.

IN A MANSION, ALLIANCES TO OVERCOME ADDICTION

LEAD: Tony Grant is coming to New York to develop property with the benefit of having the deep pockets of the Ladbroke Group P.L.C., a big diversified British company, to dig into.

British Developer Turns Attention to East Coast

LEAD: THE generation following the baby boom is finally coming of age, but without the expected economic impact.

Economic Scene; Limited Impact Of the Young

LEAD: Assets of the nation's 384 money market mutual funds increased $524.6 million, to $236.15 billion, for the week ended Wednesday, the Investment Company Institute said yesterday. Assets of the 96 institutional funds were up $353.8 million, to $64.54 billion. Assets of the 198 general-purpose funds were up $855.4 million, to $68.11 billion.

Money Fund Assets Rise

LEAD: Richard Q. Armstrong, who used to be in the ginger ale business, has moved on to champagne.

MOET'S UNIT IN U.S. NAMES A PRESIDENT

Sebastian Vettel is a German racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022. Vettel won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won consecutively from 2010 to 2013 with Red Bull, and remains the youngest-ever World Drivers' Champion; he won 53 Grands Prix across 16 seasons.

July 3, 1987

Headlines from July 3, 1987

MICHAEL BENNETT, THEATER INNOVATOR, DIES AT 44

U.S. JUDGE TELLS POLICE TO PRESERVE INQUIRY RECORDS

THE USA TODAY STORY: NEUHARTH'S OBSESSION

AN EXPLOSION OF FESTIVITIES FOR A FABULOUS FOURTH OF JULY

I.R.S. SETS TIGHT RULE ON INTEREST

Billboard 200

Whitney

The Joshua Tree

Girls; Girls; Girls

Whitesnake

Bad Animals

Notable Births

Historical Context for July 3, 1987