January 23, 1991

The Florio administration is pressing a 28-point health-care reform plan that would address the growing problem of uninsured patients at New Jersey's hospitals, but it is running into resistance from business and labor groups and from a key legislator who says Gov. Jim Florio once again is trying to do too much too fast. The debate over the plan, which would extend the current fund for reimbursing hospitals for uninsured patients for at least a year, comes three weeks after the Assembly and the Governor allowed the fund, the Uncompensated Care Trust Fund, to lapse.

Calling real estate loans a growing problem, Citicorp said yesterday that it would slash annual expenses by $1.5 billion by 1993 and continue to look for ways to raise capital. John S. Reed, the chairman, told a group of analysts that the company viewed 1990 as "a tough year by any description," and indicated that there was no improvement in sight in 1991. "The first two quarters are going to be tough quarters," he said. "Credit is a problem."

Thousands of New York City teen-agers are playing dangerous variations on the age-old game of "chicken" in the subways, and two weeks ago a Brooklyn teen-ager was killed by a train he was trying to outrun, transit and school officials said. The incident has raised concerns among transit officials and educators who are going into schools to warn students of the dangers.

Three times in the last five years, prosecutors have tried to convict John Gotti, the man they describe as the boss of the Gambino crime family. But all three cases ended with Mr. Gotti winning acquittals. And the lawyer representing him each time was Bruce Cutler. Now, with Mr. Gotti indicted for a fourth time, Federal prosecutors in the case have filed an unusual sealed motion seeking to disqualify Mr. Cutler and two associates from taking part in the trial.

The City University of New York is moving to impose new course requirements that will keep students from graduating unless they demonstrate that they have met standards like those New York State sets for its best high school graduates. The move is an effort by the City University system, the third largest in the nation, to raise academic standards for graduates -- and, eventually, for applicants -- without abandoning the open admissions policy, which promises every New York City high school graduate a place in the system.