January 26, 1991

Raising the specter of another huge taxpayer bailout, the White House has estimated that the program that insures bank deposits will show a deficit sometime next year, Government officials said today. And after that, they said, the hole will only grow deeper. The projection by the Office of Management and Budget, made in the budget request the White House will send to Congress on Feb. 4, is the first official estimate to become public that suggests that the bank insurance fund could be insolvent as early as 1992. The White House projection is that by the end of next year, the fund will have a deficit of $4 billion and that by 1995 the shortfall will be $23 billion.

The Kremlin announced tonight that Soviet Army troops would patrol jointly with the police in major cities starting Feb. 1 to combat an escalation of "crimes of an audacious and cynical nature." The measure was announced on the evening news program in a joint statement from the Ministers of Defense and Interior. It came after reports about the measure began to spread in the Baltic republics and copies of the original order, dated Dec. 29, were faxed from Baltic news agencies to news organizations in Moscow.

Millions of gallons of crude oil spilling from a Kuwaiti offshore terminal could wreak major, lasting environmental damage in the Persian Gulf and could cripple fishing and desalting plants that supply much of the region's fresh water, environmental experts said yesterday. The unchecked spill, which has been under way for several days and is at least nine miles long, also might pose a threat to a Marine amphibious landing in Kuwait, but it will not deter naval maneuvers or other military operations in the gulf and has not threatened the water supplies of allied armies, American officials said.

Four months after they won a 5.5 percent wage increase that was attacked as too generous, New York City teachers agreed yesterday to save their younger colleagues from layoffs by deferring part of this year's salary for four years. The overwhelming vote, by delegates representing the 85,000 active members of the United Federation of Teachers, will avoid the classroom tumult that would have followed the layoffs of 3,500 professionals or a shortening of the school year through an unpaid three-day furlough. Instead of resorting to those measures, the teachers chose to defer between 1 and 1.5 percent of their salaries this year until 1995 and 1996.

Bush Names Congressman As Agriculture Chief President Bush nominated Representative Edward Madigan of Illinois, one of the most influential farm policy experts in Congress, to be Secretary of Agriculture. Easy Senate confirmation is expected. Page 11.