December 3, 1990

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is considering a plan to operate two new undersea cable-laying ships under foreign flags. That would enable the company to employ foreign seamen at a fraction of the wages, perhaps one-tenth, of what an American crew could command.

To her friends at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Rose Penza was a model of modern-woman success in the Bronx: She worked as a certified public accountant at a Fifth Avenue concern, attended law school at night and went to Mass each morning on her way into the office. So when Mrs. Penza offered to help invest her friends' savings in securities funds brokered by her company, prosecutors said that over more than 20 years her friends entrusted her with at least half a million dollars. No one suspected something might be wrong until two years ago, when Mrs. Penza and her husband were purportedly transferred by her company to West Palm Beach, Fla.

Production at a large Alaskan oilfield, discovered in 1989 two miles north of the vast reserves of Prudhoe Bay, is expected to begin within two years now that oil producers and the Federal Government say they have resolved an environmental dispute that had stalled the project. The agreement was announced late Friday by the Army Corps of Engineers, ARCO, BP Exploration and Exxon. The Corps of Engineers was the main opponent of the project. It was not clear today whether other challenges might be brought during further licensing steps that might be required.

Randall Cunningham had already demonstrated that even a 24-point lead for an opponent is not safe, just as long as the Philadelphia Eagles have the football and Cunningham has another opportunity to do something extraordinary. But a dramatic Philadelphia comeback, and a five-game winning streak, ended unsuccessfully with a 30-23 defeat to the Buffalo Bills, partly because of a critical moment in the fourth quarter when the Eagles were given the ball but Cunningham was not given his chance.

General Strike in Israel Israel's broad national trade union all but shut the nation down with a general strike called to protest the Government's plan to tax Israelis to pay for the absorption of Soviet immigrants. Page A3. Run for President, Anyone? It's getting late in the Presidential election cycle, and Democrats are nervously wondering who will be the first to step forward. Page A16. Grim Record Is Set Seven people were killed in seven hours in New York City Saturday night, and the unofficial annual homicide tally rose above 2,000 for the first time ever. Page B1.