LEAD: William J. Cibes Jr., the challenger in the Democratic primary for governor, was about an hour into his interview with a group of local newspaper editors when the question came. It was a long slow looper of a pitch that many politicians would have smacked clean over the fence: What was your childhood like, growing up in rural

A Gubernatorial Candidate Who Relies on Just the Facts

LEAD: Morgan Stanley & Company has been selling a large number of ''junk bonds'' as part of a liquidation of a portfolio of these high-yield, high-risk securities. The selling has some traders worried that similar funds might also have to sell bonds.

As Part of a Liquidation, Morgan Sells 'Junk Bonds'

LEAD: Wholesale gasoline prices surged yesterday, reflecting traders' concerns about low supplies and strong demand. Crude oil prices also rose, with the contract for October delivery up 85 cents a barrel, or 3.3 percent, to $26.77 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Wholesale Gasoline Price Soars

LEAD: Monday is Labor Day. Here are holiday schedules:       NEW YORK       Parade: Begins at 11 A.M. at Fifth Avenue and 44th Street and heads north to 72 Street.       Government offices: Federal, state and municipal offices closed.       Post office: Express Mail and special delivery only. Main post office open at 33d Street and Eighth Avenue.

Holiday on Monday

LEAD: EVERY Labor Day weekend, geography warps to place New York City unmistakably in the Caribbean. This weekend brings a West Indian carnival tonight through Monday in Brooklyn, featuring calypso, steel-band and reggae music; a major salsa concert on Sunday at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., and a marathon of Dominican merengue tonight at Roseland in Manhattan.

It's Carnival Time As New York Turns Caribbean to Dance The Weekend Away

LEAD: Stocks fell yesterday in the slowest trading in three months as many investors lightened their holdings before the Labor Day weekend.

Stocks Fall As Trading Dries Up

LEAD: Officials at the International Energy Agency, which represents 21 oil-consuming nations, predict that a substantial oil shortage will develop late this year. At present, however, daily worldwide demand for oil is only slightly greater than supply, despite the embargo on Iraqi and Kuwaiti crude.

Year-End Oil Shortage Predicted

LEAD: Iraq moved some of its hostage women and children from outlying areas where they had been placed at potential military targets into Baghdad today, apparently in preparation for their being allowed to leave the country.

Confrontation in the Gulf;   Iraq Moves Some Captives to Hotel In Possible Step Toward Departure

LEAD: Providing troubling evidence that the savings and loan deterioration is worsening, the Government reported today that even the healthiest segment of the industry has sharply declined in the last three months.

  Healthiest S.& L.'s Show Sharp Decline In Latest U.S. Data

LEAD: Ever since the U.S. Open tennis tournament moved from the staid West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills to the bigger, brasher complex in Flushing Meadows 13 years ago, it has been difficult to balance the populism of the New York crowd with the gentle traditions of tennis.

The Talk of Flushing Meadows;   A Genteel U.S. Open? Here? Fuhgedaboudit!

LEAD: An Army soldier who served in the United States invasion of Panama went on trial this week, charged with murdering a Panamanian, in a case that raises the question of what justifies the use of deadly force in combat. It is the first such court-martial since the Vietnam War.

Murder or an Act of War: Soldier on Trial

LEAD: Vander L. Beatty, a flamboyant former State Senator who was convicted of vote fraud after he ran for Congress in 1982, was shot and killed yesterday in his storefront campaign headquarters in Brooklyn.

Ex-State Senator Beatty Slain in Storefront Office in Brooklyn

LEAD: Iraq has been avoiding military actions that could provide the United States with the justification for a strike at Iraqi forces, senior American military officials say. They say that Baghdad instead appears to be trying to turn the crisis here into an endurance contest.

Confrontation in the Gulf;   Iraqis Playing Waiting Game, U.S. Officers in Region Say

LEAD: Energy Secretary James D. Watkins said today that the Bush Administration was responding to the Persian Gulf crisis with a ''short-term strategy'' for stabilizing oil markets by raising domestic production and encouraging conservation. It will not speed up a new national energy policy now being developed, he said.

U.S. ENERGY POLICY TO STRESS OUTPUT AND CONSERVATION

LEAD: Here on the fishing docks in this seaside village near the Rhode Island border, stacks of empty lobster traps bake like driftwood in the noonday sun. ''Must mean people are buying lobster, else they wouldn't be empty,'' said Arthur Medeiros, the captain of the Rosemary R., a 40-foot dragger that combs Fishers Island Sound and Little Narragansett Bay.

Our Towns;   Lobster Bargain Is No Bargain For Lobstermen

LEAD: The complaints of New York City about undercounting in the 1990 census figures grew to a chorus today as officials from cities and states across the country argued that they, too, were underrepresented in the preliminary data.

Complaints About Census Mount As Many Areas See Low Counts

LEAD: A growing number of experts are questioning the usefulness of the animal tests used to decide whether chemicals cause cancer. These animal tests, they say, can themselves cause conditions that give rise to malignancy.

Scientists Question Methods Used in Animal Cancer Tests

LEAD: Asserting that the ''shape of the post-cold-war world'' was at issue in the Persian Gulf crisis, President Bush said today that he was asking other countries to help pay the multibillion-dollar cost of military operations and economic sanctions in the region.

Confrontation in the Gulf;   BUSH URGES ALLIES TO BEAR 'THEIR FAIR SHARE' OF COSTS OF MILITARY EFFORT IN GULF

LEAD: FOR quite some weeks now, visitors to New York have been asking, ''What's new in the museums?'' And what have they heard, all too often, from host and hostess alike? ''Oh, nothing much. Just the permanent collection.'' So they decide that it's quite all right to give the museums a miss.

A Critic's Eye: Choosing Favorites In Museum Collections

LEAD:    THE OIL JOLT       The Administration has a ''short-term strategy'' for stabilizing oil markets by raising domestic production and encouraging conservation, Energy Secretary James D. Watkins said. It will not speed up a new national energy policy, he said. [Page A1.]      Wholesale gasoline prices surged, reflecting concerns about low supplies and strong demand.

BUSINESS DIGEST

LEAD: New York City bgan a statistical, legal and political counterattack to prove that there are more New Yorkers than the Census Bureau's figures indicates.

New York Fights Back With Computer's Help

LEAD: WITH the East Village to the north and SoHo to the south, Houston Street is downtown's great divide. As wide as a river, it has sprawling four-way intersections that dwarf the twinkling traffic lights above. The most interesting storefront is actually a lot stocked with funky secondhand furniture.

In the Nightlife Of Houston Street, Some New Kids On the Block

LEAD: In a move to take advantage of the current boom in the gold industry, the Newmont Mining Corporation, the large gold mining concern that is 49 percent owned by Hanson P.L.C. of Britain, said yesterday that it plans to sell 3.6 million new common shares in a public offering.

Newmont to Offer Stock; Hanson Seeks to Cut Stake

LEAD: Picture a company with a patchwork of ownership interests in assets collectively worth $20 billion, assets that range from unglamorous textile and paper mills to trophy holdings like the Seattle Mariners major league baseball team. Just when some of those investments are due to be turned into cash, unrest in the Middle East sends oil prices soaring and threatens to usher in a recession.

A Brash Deal Maker And Its Uncertain Bets

LEAD:    Shuttle Delayed Again    The space agency again delayed the launching of the space shuttle Columbia, this time so that technicians can repair a part on the observatory in the shuttle's payload bay. Page A20.       Tornado Alert: An Inquiry    Deadly Illinois tornadoes had already struck before a warning was issued, prompting an inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Weather Service's alert system.

INSIDE

Tadeja Majerič is a former tennis player from Slovenia.

Tadeja Majerič, Slovenian tennis player

Tadeja_Majerič

Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton was an American professional basketball player who was one of the first African Americans to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was also a professional baseball player.

August 31, 1990

Headlines from August 31, 1990

A Gubernatorial Candidate Who Relies on Just the Facts

As Part of a Liquidation, Morgan Sells 'Junk Bonds'

Wholesale Gasoline Price Soars

Holiday on Monday

It's Carnival Time As New York Turns Caribbean to Dance The Weekend Away

Billboard 200

Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em

Wilson Phillips

Flesh And Blood

Mariah Carey

Compositions

Notable Births

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for August 31, 1990