February 19, 1992

Alberto Tomba, the Italian hero who is as revered in his nation as any soccer or tennis player, roared down La Face de Bellevarde for the gold medal in the giant slalom. Tomba's training partner, Deborah Compagnoni, whose daring style resembles his own, won a gold for Italy in the women's super giant slalom. U.S. ADVANCES IN HOCKEY With a pep talk ringing in its ears, the United States hockey team beat France, 4-1. SportsWednesday, page B9.

Hard times are reaching into the American classroom. Just when politicians are calling for a revival in American education, the recession is leaving principals and teachers across the country with less money for more students.

The Economy The Federal Reserve cut the amount of money that banks must hold in reserve. The move, which takes effect April 2, is meant to enable banks to take $8 billion in funds not earning income and use it instead for investing or lending. [ Page A1. ] The S.E.C. proposed measures to make it cheaper for small companies to raise money by reducing public disclosure requirements. The plans would also make it easier for mutual funds to invest in small and new businesses. [ D1. ]

Promoting the economic agenda of the White House, Richard C. Breeden, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, proposed measures today to make it cheaper for small companies to raise money. The proposals would reduce, and in some cases eliminate, the public disclosure requirements for small companies that issue stock. They would also make it easier for mutual funds to invest in small and new businesses.

Mayor David N. Dinkins publicly criticized the chairwoman of New York City's Housing Authority yesterday for ignoring his instructions and using money from a foundation financed by the authority to pay for her trip with him to South Africa in late November. Mr. Dinkins said the chairwoman, Laura D. Blackburne, accepted $3,100 from the foundation despite explicit warnings by his administration not to do so. Ms. Blackburne established the foundation, Friends of Housing Inc., last October, using $9,000 from a special authority fund.

Few tears were shed in this North Shore village in January when someone burned down the huge contemporary home Steven West was building. To neighbors, it was unsightly, pretentious and quite out of place in this sedate enclave of traditional estates.

Germany's reunification boom fizzled into economic stagnation during 1991, sending the nation's current-account balance into deficit for the first time in a decade and erasing more than 80 percent of the surplus in merchandise trade. The figures, released today by the Federal Statistics Office, showed the German economy, Europe's largest, was hit hard in 1991 by recession elsewhere in the world, dwindling domestic consumption, huge overseas payments and a steep rise in interest rates that hurt export sales.

He keeps the garbage barrels and the brooms in the basement. Stacked in a faded cupboard at the end of his hallway are his acetone and his Vandal Mark Remover for blotting out graffiti, as well as his spectrum of paints (black, red, white, brown). He has a snow shovel, a spade for adding dirt around the trees, a wad of work gloves. Every day, Anthony Iannacone gathers his utensils and scrambles out to the street, his feet making scrabbly sounds as he tramps down the stairs. This is Sullivan Street, between Broome and Spring, in SoHo. Rolling one of his big barrels on wheels, working a whisk broom and a dust pan on a stick with practiced authority, he picks up every crumpled candy wrapper, every squashed-out cigarette butt, every pile of dog excrement, until the street is clean. Perfectly clean.

ON a runway ramp near Rockaway Boulevard sit 4,000 pounds of fresh fish from Iceland, dinner tomorrow at a resort hotel in Curacao. A few feet away, Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors examine a shipment of wild Scottish grouse and hare, on their way to Manhattan's finest restaurants. Across the tarmac, an El Al 747 filled to capacity with tomatoes, Galil melons and fresh chives for the sun-starved Northeast rolls slowly toward waiting refrigerators. The largest air cargo port in the world is John F. Kennedy International Airport in southern Queens off Jamaica Bay, where 800 flights arrive and depart daily with passengers and freight from 115 countries. More than 65,000 tons of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish entered or left the United States through Kennedy in 1989, the latest year for which figures are available, according to the business development office of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Only Narita Airport in Tokyo rivals J.F.K. for the sheer volume of food it handles.

NEW YORK CITY ELECTING JUDGES: SUIT IS FILED Armed with a state report saying that the system of selecting State Supreme Court justices in New York could not withstand a legal challenge, a civil rights organization went into Federal court in an effort to give minority voters a bigger voice. B3. WHO ARE THE HIBERNIANS? Despite a roster of famous members, the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America remains obscure. Few people know more about the fraternal organization of Catholic Irish-Americans than this: For the second straight year, it has barred a gay and lesbian group from marching under its own banner in New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade. B2. WHITHER THE BAND SHELL? City officials in Peekskill, in Westchester County, have made the first of what may be several serious offers to provide a new home for the Naumburg Bandshell, which the Parks and Recreation Department would like to remove from the Concert Ground in Central Park. B3. POINT, COUNTERPOINT John Gotti's lawyers challenged an F.B.I. agent's testimony about the Gambino crime family and his interpretation of taped conversations of Mr. Gotti. B3. New arrest in East Village slaying of dancer. B2. Man talking on phone is shot in subway. B3. 5 finalists in search for jails chief. B3. REGION THE HOBOKEN OF THE FUTURE Next month, for the second time in less than two years, citizens of Hoboken will vote on a proposal to develop the once-bustling port, renewing a bitter debate between City Hall and a citizens' coalition that was largely responsible for defeating the first proposal. B4. LIQUOR AND THE MOB Organized crime's historical influence in the liquor business is still strong in New Jersey, state officials said, and they blamed local liquor authorities for the problem. B4. THE MYSTERY OF THE TORCHED MANSION Few tears were shed in the Long Island village of Mill Neck in January when someone burned down the huge home Steven West was building. Now, the Nassau County police are looking for the arsonist, and the list of potential suspects is long enough to populate an Agatha Christie novel. Among them, the police say, are contractors, suppliers, architects, landscapers, neighbors, vandals and the Wests themselves. A1. BREAKING THE TRUCE A week after pledging bipartisan cooperation to solve Nassau County's knotty fiscal problems, Democratic county supervisors filed suit against their Republican counterparts, accusing them of illegally issuing paychecks to hundreds of mainly Republican county managers. B4. FOR SALE: POWER PLANT, LIKE NEW Representatives of a dozen major companies in the energy business went out to the never-opened Shoreham Nuclear Power Station on Long Island as they consider making bids on converting it to natural gas. B4. Cuomo vs. D'Amato, Round II. B7. About New York B3 Neediest Cases B7

New York City parents scrambled yesterday to improvise day care and find ways to amuse their children as they coped with a virtually unprecedented weeklong school vacation in the dead of winter. Some dropped their children off at grandparents' homes. Others juggled baby sitters' schedules, dragged their children to the office or simply took the day off from work.

In an unusual move aimed at increasing bank lending to spur the economy, the Federal Reserve announced today that it was cutting the amount of money that banks must hold in reserve to offset possible losses. The central bank said the action, effective April 2, would enable banks to take $8 billion in reserves not earning income as they sit in bank vaults and use them for investing or lending. Economists, however, said the short-term effect would be modest because banks might wait to strengthen their finances further before they lend. Sending a Message Today's announcement came after persistent pleas to the Federal Reserve from the White House and many members of Congress, who, with their eyes on Election Day as well as the economy, have been urging that monetary policy be eased still further.