November 19, 1990

Over the last few months, Gabriela Sabatini, once as reticent on the court as she is off it, has developed a rebel yell, a venomous glare at the net and a mercenary's appetite for a good fight. Monica Seles, by contrast, has always possessed a signature screech, a menacing squint and an overdose of competitive instincts. So it was hardly surprising that when the two players collided yesterday in the final of the Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden, they needed a full five sets to reach a clear conclusion.

The roughly 350 partners of Laventhol & Horwath voted over the weekend at a hastily arranged emergency meeting to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and disband the firm, former Laventhol partners said last night. A Laventhol spokesman, Louis J. Grossman, declined to comment yesterday on "any of the business plans discussed at the meeting." Laventhol partners were traveling home from Houston, where the meeting was held, and did not return telephone messages seeking comment.

Nine months after the Supreme Court ordered the Social Security Administration to stop denying benefits to poor children with severe physical and mental disabilities, hundreds of thousands of children have yet to receive assistance. The Court held in February that for 16 years the Government had violated the law by paying Supplemental Security Income benefits only to poor children who met specific medical criteria, like deafness and severe mental retardation. The Justices said the criteria unfairly excluded many children with other disabilities, like Down's syndrome, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, AIDS, cystic fibrosis and other chronic illnesses and birth defects.

As more than 150,000 American reinforcements head for the Persian Gulf region to give the United States what President Bush calls an "offensive military option," the question of how to wage war against Iraq is emerging as a contentious issue. Senator Sam Nunn, the Georgia Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee, and some former Defense Department officials are saying that if the United States goes to war, the Pentagon should forgo a large-scale ground attack in favor of a punishing aerial bombardment carried out over a number of days -- or longer, if Iraq does not or cannot strike back. Thousands of American casualties could be spared that way, they argue.

Bar on Telecasts By CNN Stays in Force A judge's order barring the Cable News Network from televising recorded conversations between Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega and his lawyers was left in place by the Supreme Court. The vote was 7 to 2, with Justices Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O'Connor dissenting. Page A14. Gloomy Real Estate Outlook Prices of commercial property, which are already slumping, are likely to drop sharply in the next two to three years, experts say. Page D1. Losses at Freedom Bank Several charities with more than one account at Freedom National may lose hundreds of thousands of dollars under Federal rules. Page B1.