September 1, 1991

A decade after Washington declared war on businesses that expose the public to hazardous wastes, environmental experts are questioning the unquestionable: Is it worth spending a staggering $300 billion to $700 billion to restore waste sites to pristine condition? While acknowledging that no level of exposure to dangerous chemicals is desirable, the experts argue that the risks should be put in perspective.

A YEAR after the faculty union went on strike at the University of Bridgeport, replacements continue to teach some classes, while the union and the administration continue to disagree over the professors' role in running the institution. With both sides agreeing that they are at a stalemate, the union says the administration infringed on its members' academic freedom when it sought greater control of what they teach, but the university maintains that the old procedure put its accreditation in peril.

Boris Becker, caught in his own personal haze on another in the string of sultry summer days that has made this United States Open the ultimate in pressure cookers, made a third-round exit yesterday that could cost him his beloved No. 1 ranking. But in rollicking contrast, the Jimmy Connors revival rampage proceeded at full sizzle. The five-time champion has now -- according to another of yesterday's victors, defending champion Pete Sampras -- assumed unofficial "ownership" of this slam.

Sam Hammond usually builds 10 houses a year in this northwestern South Carolina city and its vicinity. But so far this year, he has built just one. And he had to use his own money to do it. Several hundred miles south of here in Fort Myers, Fla., a golf course and surrounding middle-income housing development probably will not be built at all. Larry Swank, a builder and developer in Nappanee, Ind., and four others cannot borrow the money to buy the land.

As the National Football League enters its 72d season today, one axiom still holds: What worked last year is often copied the next. What worked for the defending Super Bowl champion Giants was a brand of football that was a throwback to the 1920's: Keep it simple. Keep it on the ground. Throw only when you must. At all costs, hold on to the football.