LEAD: The New York City Board of Education, which has been pressing school custodians for major concessions that would improve the upkeep of schools, appeared close to an agreement on a new contract with the custodians' union last night, the board's president, Robert F. Wagner Jr., said.

Pact With School Custodians Is Near, Wagner Says

LEAD: Big Steel and Little Steel bickered over import protection at today's session of the annual gathering of the American steel industry.

A Steel Quota Divides the Industry

LEAD: THE dream of operating an inn has seduced all kinds of people over the years. In recent decades innkeeping has been perceived as an escape from the high anxieties of corporate life. Some have been wise to follow their dream, others not, as the stories of Rabbit Hill's three most recent innkeepers attest.

3 Couples Who Heard The Call of the Inn

LEAD: Federal regulators will provide at least $2 billion to the Southwest Savings Association, a Dallas savings and loan, to help it acquire four insolvent Texas savings institutions in a deal worth $4.4 billion, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board said today.

Deal in Texas To Rescue 4 Saving Units

LEAD: A law-enforcement official said today that a Missouri man who is accused of plotting to kill the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a statement to an informer implying that others had done the high-level planning.

Man Charged in Plot on Jackson Suggested Others Were Involved

LEAD: With the foreign press looking on, the first brigade of Soviet soldiers to withdraw formally from Afghanistan returned home today for a welcome by their Government, tears from their families and traces of bitterness and regret.

A FIRST SOVIET UNIT QUITS AFGHANISTAN

LEAD:  MARKETS  The stock market continued its sharp retreat amid growing concern over higher interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial averaage fell 35.32 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,951.09, the lowest level since early February. Broader market indexes also fell and declining stocks far outnumbered advancing ones.

BUSINESS DIGEST

LEAD: IN an era of homelessness, AIDS, drug abuse and ozone-layer depletion, at a time when preschoolers are taught about child abuse and kidnapping, parents and child-development experts are raising new concerns about children's fears.

The Fears of Children: Is the World Scarier?

LEAD: On Monday, Governor Cuomo endorsed ending his battle over the Shoreham nuclear power plant by negotiating with the Long Island Lighting Company to abandon the $5.3 billion plant.

Lilco Accord Facing Foes; Unanimity Is Ending Over Shoreham Issue

LEAD: WHEN he was 17 years old, Leonard Brian Philip would walk by the red-brick house on Hamilton Terrace in the Hamilton Heights section of Manhattan and think of it as his dream house.

New Residents, New Life in Hamilton Hts.

LEAD: Two Congressional committees approved legislation that is needed to put into effect the free-trade agreement with Ottawa. Page D6.  Glimpse of a Cosmodrome

Canadian Treaty Advances

LEAD: The stock market continued its sharp retreat yesterday amid growing concern over higher interest rates.

Rate Fears Send Dow Down 35.32

LEAD: The United States hopes that several modest agreements on providing notice of missile tests and on nuclear testing will be signed at the summit meeting in Moscow, senior Administration officials said today.

U.S. Hopes for 3 Modest Pacts On Arms at Moscow Summit

LEAD: When she practices in Queens, a Manhattan negligence lawyer jokes, she goes by her married name. But when she appears before juries in the Bronx, she gives her maiden name instead.

Metro Matters; On Bronx Juries, Minority Groups Find Their Peers

LEAD: Ethnic tensions have flared anew in recent days in two Soviet southern republics that were shaken by violent confrontations and mass demonstrations earlier this year, a Soviet radio broadcast said today.

Soviet Reports New Ethnic Clash In Armenia and Spread of Tension

LEAD: If the nation's economy is performing so well, why are the Republicans, specifically George Bush, not doing better?

Political Memo; Economy Up but Bush Is Down As an Axiom Is Put to the Test

LEAD: Warning that New York City homeowners already face a dramatic state-mandated property tax increase in 1990, the City Council majority leader, Peter F. Vallone, said yesterday that he opposed the Mayor's request for a $150 million city property tax increase starting July 1.

City Council Leader Opposes Koch on Realty Tax Increase

LEAD: For nearly two decades, the Suffolk County Legislature has been an incubator of ideas ranging from bottle deposits to smoking bans. Sometimes first, sometimes far out, it has also considered less-successful proposals, such as one to establish a county navy.

Suffolk's Unusual Legislature: Incubator or Just a Hothouse?

LEAD: Two Congressional committees have overwhelmingly approved legislation that clears the way for final enactment of the free-trade agreement with Canada.

Advance For Canada Trade Pact

LEAD: Nobody is waving a bloody shirt in this year's campaign for the board of directors at Co-op City, but mysterious stains in the laundry are a key rallying point.

Democracy, With Gusto, at Co-op City

LEAD: The rancor between the Irving Bank Corporation and its hostile suitor, the Bank of New York Company, reached a new level yesterday as leaders of the two banks met for 20 minutes and broke off talks.

Bank of New York, Irving Break Off Talks Abruptly

LEAD: Apparently sensing political trouble, both President Reagan and Vice President Bush yesterday called for stronger efforts to combat drugs and said it was time for the two parties to come together on finding solutions to the problem.

REAGAN AND BUSH PLACE NEW STRESS ON THE DRUG ISSUE

LEAD: Despite inflationary pressures in the American economy, many companies are holding back on price increases for finished goods, a spot check shows.

Companies Hold Off On Price Increases

LEAD: Governor Cuomo, increasing the chances for adopting public financing of statewide election campaigns, has agreed to consider legislation that does not include public financing of legislative races, but that simply lowers contribution limits for those contests, his aides said today.

Shift on Campaign Financing by Cuomo

LEAD: A white 1986 Lincoln Continental being used by two men to peddle cocaine on the Lower East Side in Manhattan yesterday became the 1,000th vehicle to be seized in the Police Department's crackdown on illegal drug traffic, officials said.

May 19, 1988

Headlines from May 19, 1988

Pact With School Custodians Is Near, Wagner Says

A Steel Quota Divides the Industry

3 Couples Who Heard The Call of the Inn

Deal in Texas To Rescue 4 Saving Units

Man Charged in Plot on Jackson Suggested Others Were Involved

Billboard 200

Faith

Dirty Dancing

More Dirty Dancing

Bad

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Historical Context for May 19, 1988