October 1, 1992

The hum of the streets rises to fever pitch as dusk settles on a battered block in Bushwick. "Most Wanted, Most Wanted," calls a man leaning against a graffiti-filled wall. "Lamborghini," another whispers to passers-by. A third paces the sidewalk, chanting, "Jungle Fever, Jungle Fever, Jungle Fever." He stops by a rumpled woman whose grocery bags hang like weights from her wrists, and trades a tiny package -- "Jungle Fever" heroin -- for a crumpled bill. The deal, one of hundreds made here each day, is done. Lurid Brand Names The police call it "the Well" -- this block of Knickerbocker Avenue, between Troutman and Jefferson Streets, that has become the most notorious drug bazaar in Brooklyn and one of the toughest in New York City.

Like many of the thousands of people who make their livings off Niagara Falls, Nick Ricci, who owns a hotel on a wooded ridge overlooking the falls, now wants the Canadian and American Governments to regulate the sightseeing helicopters that churn through the skies overhead at a rate of nearly one every five minutes. Watching the thundering green-blue waters of the falls today, Mr. Ricci noted that the collision of two of the helicopters on Tuesday caused one to crash just 200 yards from his building. "If the wind had been blowing in toward the hotel instead of out, that copter could have hit us," he said. "It's pretty unsettling."

Two weeks after the Democratic primary for the United States Senate nomination, Geraldine A. Ferraro finally conceded today that she had narrowly lost to Robert Abrams. But Ms. Ferraro, described by friends as still enraged over the negative advertising that helped sink her bid, pointedly withheld any endorsement of Mr. Abrams or pledge that she would campaign for him. Mr. Abrams's opponent in the general election, Alfonse M. D'Amato, the Republican incumbent, has repeatedly portrayed Mr. Abrams as having run a "nasty" and "vicious" campaign against Ms. Ferraro. And the Senator invoked her name once again today in responding to Mr. Abrams's first television commercials, which his campaign released today, that said Mr. D'Amato had been involved in "scandal after scandal."

METRO DIGEST NEW YORK CITY 'WELL' OF DRUGS, STREET OF FEAR The police call it "the Well" -- the block of Knickerbocker Avenue, between Troutman and Jefferson Streets in Bushwick, that has become the most notorious drug bazaar in Brooklyn and one of the toughest in New York City. To spend two weeks in the Well -- to talk with its residents, addicts, dealers, police officers and social-service workers -- is to see how the drug trade can invade and occupy the entire life of a neighborhood. A1. DOCTORS FOR THE POOR In a move aimed at lowering costs and improving medical care, the Dinkins administration is taking its first steps toward providing poor residents with their own doctors. Beginning today, in a sweeping overhaul of health care provided to the poor, welfare recipients in southwest Brooklyn will be asked to choose their doctors from a list provided by the city. The goal is to give Medicaid recipients an alternative to emergency room care, which for many of the city's poor has been the mainstay of their medical care. A1.

ALL of the cooks went to see for themselves. There was Rose Kennedy's longtime cook, Ethel Kennedy's cook from next door in the Kennedys' ocean-front compound and Eunice Kennedy Shriver's cook from just down the street. Rumor had it that Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the newest member of the family, who married Senator Edward M. Kennedy in July, was in the kitchen actually cooking.