October 8, 1992

The Economy Federal spending on public works is gaining a new respectability among economists, Wall Street traders and some corporate executives as a last-resort way to generate jobs. [ Page A1. ]

As parents marched outside Eastern District High School this week chanting, "No security, no classes," English melting into Spanish, their children fell into introspection. Was it overcrowding or racial antagonism that made a fight erupt in the school cafeteria where the blacks and Puerto Ricans sit on one side of the room, and the latest newcomers -- the Dominicans -- on the other? Why in America, which for many of them is still a new and unfamiliar second home, do the students so quickly divide up by race and learn to fear the others? "I don't know why," said Rodrigo Calapaqui, 16 years old, one year out of Ecuador and apologetic about his halting English. "It's stupid idea. All the peoples are alike."

The Senate approved a plan today to require pharmaceutical companies to help the Government pay the cost of reviewing the safety of new drugs and to speed up the process. The legislation, approved unanimously by voice vote, signifies a major change in the relationship between the Food and Drug Administration and the industry it monitors. The bill, which requires the companies to pay fees to help cover the costs, has already been approved by the House, and President Bush is committed to signing it.

Israelis Fire on Protesters At least 90 Arabs were reportedly shot and wounded by plastic and rubber bullets when soldiers fired on protesters in the Gaza Strip. Page A3. A's and Braves Win Oakland beat Toronto, 4-3, in the American League opener, and Atlanta defeated Pittsburgh again, 13-5, in the National League series. Page B31. Critic of Academia Dies Allan Bloom, whose book "The Closing of the American Mind" became a guide to attacks on contemporary intellectual life, died at 62. Page B29. Last Season for L.T. Lawrence Taylor, the linebacker wholed the Giants to two Super Bowl victories, said that this would be his final season. Page B31.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday will propose assigning a block of frequencies for satellites to broadcast compact-disk-quality digital sound to homes and cars. Digital satellite radio is still little more than a gleam in the eyes of entrepreneurs, but the technology is available and proponents say it offers numerous benefits to listeners. For one thing, they say, digital transmission produces sound that is free of static and clearer than that of AM or FM stations. Beyond that, satellite broadcasting reaches every part of the country, allowing people to tune in even if they are nowhere near a city.