August 6, 1992

Schools Chancellor Joseph A. Fernandez has embraced an effort to create smaller, more thematic high schools and is committing his administration to establishing at least 30 of them over the next three years. The plan would represent a significant attempt by the New York City school system to create schools that are easier to manage and tailored more to individual student needs. The School Board has already approved four of the schools, one of which opened in February. Another is scheduled to open next month.

METRO DIGEST NEW YORK CITY AGENT'S CONVICTION TO BE REVIEWED The Justice Department has ordered the F.B.I. to take a new look into the validity of evidence used to convict a former immigration official imprisoned for conducting illegal searches of Hispanic-owned businesses in Washington Heights, senior law-enforcement officials in New York said. B3. NEW TRANSIT STRATEGY As part of a new strategy to deal with falling ridership on New York City's public transportation system, the Transit Authority is planning to increase the number of subway trains on certain lines and start new bus services beginning in September. B3. PRUDENTIAL TO STAY IN NEW YORK Having declined to take space in the Times Square Center office complex planned by its parent company, Prudential Securities Inc. has nonetheless decided to stay in New York City, keeping its headquarters and about 5,000 jobs in lower Manhattan. B3. TOMBS FOR THE UNBORN? A proposal to erect a "tomb of the unborn child" in every Roman Catholic diocese in the country has become a symbol of the anti-abortion mood at this week's convention of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic fraternal organization. B3. BUSH MEETS WITH O'CONNOR With John Cardinal O'Connor beside him, President Bush won a standing ovation from the Knights of Columbus delegates when he pledged to stand firm against abortion, in a speech that put morality at the heart of his campaign to undermine the public's trust in Gov. Bill Clinton. A20. A REAL HOME FOR 50 YEARS Clason Point Gardens, the first public housing project built in the Bronx, remains today what it was meant to be a half-century ago: a good place to raise a family, and something of an oasis from the hubbub that surrounds it. Clason Point Journal, B2. REGION 2,700 LAYOFFS IN NEW JERSEY Announcing the largest layoff in New Jersey history, state officials said they would lay off almost 2,700 workers beginning in October because of $1.1 billion in budget cuts voted by the Republican Legislature. The number was more than twice what the Republicans had predicted would be necessary but only half what the Democrats in Trenton had forecast. B7. TAX INCREASE FOR SUFFOLK The Suffolk County Legislature agreed to raise the county sales tax by half a penny to 8.5 percent to close a budget deficit from last year and avert a property-tax increase. The new rate means that Suffolk will be joining neighboring Nassau County in collecting the highest sales tax in the state and among the highest in the nation. B6. PRE-EMPTIVE ATTACK ON TOPLESSNESS Concerned that topless sunbathing by women will offend the general public, New York State's parks department is considering restricting the activity to designated areas on its beaches. B6. EX-OFFICIAL CONVICTED OF BRIBERY The former Albany County Executive was convicted of accepting a $30,000 bribe from an architect hired to design the Knickerbocker Arena. B6. Chronicle B9

On a block of South Jamaica, Queens, that was once thronged with drug dealers but now stands in quiet testimony to the decline of the crack trade, the Rev. Thomas E. Burns is preparing to convert a jailed drug kingpin's headquarters into a church annex. But six blocks away, Lillian Mighty still picks heroin spoons and bloody syringes from beneath her roses, sweet potatoes and corn in the vacant lot that she wrested from drug dealers and turned into a lush garden.

The man charged with six Hudson Valley deaths was on parole at the time. Critics say the case points up a troubled system. Article, page B7.

American, Canadian and Mexican negotiators hope to complete a North American free trade agreement by late Thursday afternoon or Friday, people involved in the talks said today. The negotiators finished the broad outlines of the planned agreement on Tuesday evening and labored over many of the remaining details today.