May 27, 1992

Northwest Airlines, in the first big break with the simplified fare structure adopted by leading United States carriers last month, introduced a two-for-one leisure fare last night on all domestic flights except those to Hawaii and Alaska. Intended principally to stimulate family summer travel, the new fare, which allows an adult and a child to fly for the price of one ticket, also shortens the advance-purchase requirement for family travel to a minimum of 7 days from 14.

Faced with a $91 million deficit, the Suffolk County Executive announced a plan today to lay off 1,341 county employees, reduce the police force by 300, and cancel a new police recruit class. He also called for a half-cent increase in the county sales tax and a one percent sales tax on gasoline and home heating oil. The County Executive, Robert Gaffney, also proposed closing five of eight county health clinics and the county nursing home in Yaphank, and eliminating whole departments, like the Cultural Affairs Department.

In the future envisioned by the United States Postal Service, neither gloom of night nor a citizen's crabbed scribble will stay an envelope from its appointed rounds. A dozen companies are competing for a Postal Service contract to harness sophisticated optical-scanning technology and computer-based artificial intelligence to one of the post office's most tedious and costly tasks: deciphering handwritten addresses.

The Economy The decision on taxing mail-order sales was handed to Congress by the Supreme Court, which thus took a course likely to prolong rather than settle this multibillion-dollar debate. The Justices reaffirmed their longstanding bar against state taxation of mail-order sales by out-of-state catalogue companies, at the same time inviting Congress to remove the bar by legislation. [ Page A1. ] Sales of North American-built vehicles rose 9.3 percent in mid-May, a gain seen as an encouraging sign. [ D5. ]

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