July 1, 1991

Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. vetoed a plan by the Legislature early this morning to solve Connecticut's budget crisis without an income tax, but he postponed for 24 hours his threat to shut down a large part of the state government. Mr. Weicker had threatened to furlough thousands of state employees and suspend all nonessential services beginning today if no budget was approved by 12:01 this morning, the start of the new fiscal year. But shortly after the midnight deadline passed, he said that progress was being made and that one more day could bring forth a budget he would sign.

The $14.7 billion budget agreed to by the New Jersey Legislative calls for laying off more than 2,000 workers but no tax increase. Page B4. Other states around the country grappled with budget deadlines. Page A10.

A year ago, White House aides drafted a 10-page memorandum to provide President Bush with a vision for a war on poverty. They ran it past Jack F. Kemp, the Administration's Housing Secretary and anti-poverty czar. "That's not a vision," Mr. Kemp complained in a letter to the White House. He was particularly annoyed by the document's call for two technical studies of how anti-poverty programs are financed and managed.

Ponce de Leon could have saved himself a trek to Florida if he had asked Matt Lipton where to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. Florida's fine for time-shares and retirement villages, but Mr. Lipton said the secret to his 80 years can be found in the waters of Orchard Beach in the Bronx. "This is the health spa of the world," Mr. Lipton decreed as he stretched his leathery, sand-flecked frame on the warm shore. "I recommend it to everybody."

The phenomenal success of Wal-Mart Stores can be traced in large part to the workrooms and factories of many of its suppliers, including the Liberty Trouser Company, a once-sleepy maker of work and hunting clothes. Its marriage with Wal-Mart has given Liberty a hot new business in Liberty-brand children's wear for Wal-Mart, and that has led to the creation of a popular line of children's clothing called Circus Star for other retailers. Four Liberty sewing plants have been opened in northern Alabama in the last four years and Liberty's main offices here expanded recently into a new headquarters, a refurbished Pontiac dealership. If business continues to grow apace, Liberty may soon be bursting these walls, too.