November 22, 1990

Five years after a quiet and uncertain start, New York City's program to pay grandmothers, aunts and other relatives to take in and care for abused or neglected children in their families is bidding to become the dominant form of foster care here. All but forced on the city in late 1985, this kinship approach to caring for children is supported by an enthusiastic Dinkins administration and a 1989 state law giving preference to relatives as foster-care parents. But whatever its merit in principle, the kinship program appears to have had practical problems from the beginning.

Michael R. Milken was sentenced to 10 years in prison not for his role in a "decade of greed," but for crimes that were aimed at enriching himself and his clients, Federal Judge Kimba M. Wood said yesterday. But Mr. Milken's legacy nonetheless will be his role in the 1980's, and much of the vilification he is now receiving stems from worries that the financial excesses of the decade will lead to disaster in the 1990's.

Even before Nimby (Not in my back yard) there was Lulu (Locally undesirable land use). Together they begat Basta. In Spanish and Italian, basta means "enough." That was what neighbors on the Lower East Side of Manhattan had had with shelters for the homeless. Basta was also an acronym for the civic group -- Before Another Shelter Tears Us Apart -- they formed four years ago to oppose the further proliferation of shelters in the neighborhood.

A disagreement between the Matsushita Electrical Industrial Company and MCA Inc. over what the giant Japanese company would pay for the owner of Universal Pictures eased yesterday. A person involved with the discussions said that Lew R. Wasserman, MCA's chairman, was now seeking $75 a share and that Matsushita was offering $70. Initially, MCA had sought as much as $90.

Guinness P.L.C. announced plans today to buy the largest brewer in the fast-growing Spanish market for $1.02 billion. Analysts said the deal reflected the growing interest of multinational beverage companies in regional European brewers. Guinness, the London-based beverage giant, said it had agreed to buy La Cruz del Campo S.A., based in Seville, which holds 22 percent of the Spanish beer market and is the country's fastest-growing and most profitable brewer. The acquisition would be the second biggest for Guinness, after its $4.1 billion purchase in 1986 of the Distillers Company, a spirits concern.