April 15, 1992

JANE PRATT may well be the only talk show host who has had a major fight with her producers over a pair of overalls. "They thought they were a little too ripped," she said of the overalls, which she had wanted to wear on her new television show, which appears weekdays at 5 P.M. on Channel 5, the Fox station in New York. "It was like talking to Mom and Dad. I was like, 'Come on, you guys, everybody's wearing them.' "

NEW YORK CITY CUNY PLANS TUITION RISE The City University is planning a major tuition increase next fall, but the rise will be coupled with a promise that if these students make it to their senior year they can attend their last semester before graduation free. A1. ASSESSING THE CROWN HEIGHTS CASE Amid continuing pressure for more arrests, District Attorney Charles J. Hynes of Brooklyn says it is unlikely that investigators will be able to identify and successfully prosecute the 10 to 20 young men who took part in an attack and fatal stabbing of a 29-year-old Hasidic scholar in Crown Heights last summer. B3. HELMSLEY ORDERED TO PRISON TODAY

Markets Blue-chip stocks vaulted to new highs, as traders reacted to upbeat earnings reports. The Dow climbed 36.23, to 3,306.13, its first close above 3,300. [ Page D1. ] Prices of Treasury securities dipped in slow trading, as dealers were once again without a Treasury futures market. [ D18. ]

Olympia & York Developments defaulted yesterday on an $800 million Eurobond issue secured by one of its best New York properties, a tower in Manhattan's World Financial Center, when it failed to make a $62 million interest payment. The payment was due on March 25, but the troubled real estate conglomerate said at the time that given its lack of operating cash it would use the 20-day grace period allowed by the bond indentures.

The United Automobile Workers union unexpectedly agreed tonight to end a five-month-old strike against Caterpillar Inc. that had left more than 12,000 workers walking the picket lines. The accord was widely seen as a setback for the union, which until Monday had characterized the company's offer as a "mean-spirited proposal."