December 1, 1992

SCIENTISTS' understanding of what causes the Earth's great ice ages has been confronted by a major challenge: a record of ancient temperatures that seems directly contradictory to established theory. The record comes from a deep crack in the Earth in Nevada, called Devils Hole, and consists of a core drilled from layers of minerals deposited on the walls of the crack over the last 560,000 years. A pattern of isotopes in the Devils Hole core yields both the date each deposit was laid down and the temperature at the time. Scientists analyzing the record found to their great surprise that the succession of cold periods differed significantly from the accepted chronology of ice ages, as reconstructed from records in sediments on the sea floor.

Victoria Keyes, a nurse at Children's Hospital here, pays a check-cashing store roughly $13 every two weeks to cash her paycheck of about $500. A bank would charge far less, but there is not one within walking distance of her house in the poor Washington neighborhood of Anacostia. Miss Keyes, who makes $24,000 a year, closed her last checking account because her bank started requiring minimum monthly balances in lieu of service fees -- neither of which she could afford, she said. Turning Away From Banks Miss Keyes knows by experience what consumer groups have come to conclude: the deregulation of financial services in the 1980's has made banking services unavailable or beyond the financial reach of many low-income people. Many have turned instead to cash-checking outlets that consumer-rights groups and state regulators accuse of widespread price gouging.

In a highly unusual deal certain to be closely watched in the television industry, ABC announced yesterday that it had formed a partnership with the creators of the hit comedy series "Home Improvement" that would guarantee the show three more years on the network and set up a profit-sharing arrangement between ABC and the show's creators for two future comedy series. In contrast, almost all prime-time shows are renewed on a year-by-year basis, depending on their success in the ratings.

Open economic warfare broke out between New York and New Jersey today after Gov. Jim Florio announced a statewide program under which New Jersey would take partial ownership of commercial buildings in exchange for helping to pay for outfitting the buildings and moving tenants into them. Vincent Tese, New York State's director of economic development, said New York would retaliate by starting, within two weeks, a marketing program aimed specifically at persuading New Jersey companies to move across the Hudson. He had previously threatened to begin such a program in response to New Jersey's growing aggressiveness in wooing New York businesses.

The Economy The Commerce Department imposed temporary import taxes on steel from France, Italy, Germany, South Korea and eight other countries, saying they had given their domestic producers deals that provided an unfair advantage in the United States. [ Page D1. ] The nation's merchandise trade deficit widened sharply in the third quarter. [ D2. ] Prices paid to farmers fell. [ D13. ]