March 2, 1993

A New York State appeals court ruled yesterday that a man who has long frightened Upper West Side residents through his bizarre and sometimes violent behavior is mentally ill and "invariably" dangerous and should remain in a mental institution. Overruling a lower court that held that the man, Larry Hogue, was "defensive" but not mentally ill and not a danger to himself or others, the appeals court said that "there is simply no fair interpretation of the evidence that can support" that finding.

INTERIOR SECRETARY BRUCE BABBITT'S announcement two weeks ago that he would try to prevent endangered-species crises by promoting the long-term health care of whole ecosystems may signal a new era in Federal conservation policy. But the concept is already built into a number of ambitious ecosystem protection efforts that have lately been undertaken across the country. Almost as Mr. Babbitt spoke, in fact, scientists, conservationists and government officials from throughout the Midwest gathered in Chicago for a long-planned three-day meeting to develop a recovery plan for one of the nation's largest and most threatened ecosystems: a vast expanse of oak-studded savanna that once intertwined with the open prairies in a diverse mosaic of biological wealth reaching from the Great Lakes to Texas.

ADOLESCENCE, that time of awkward changes, has itself undergone a metamorphosis. Today's teen-agers face a reality far more grim and risky than the teen-age years remembered by their parents and grandparents. In trying to help teen-agers deal more successfully with the perils they face, psychologists are undertaking a search to better understand the ways adolescents think and view their world. In the process, the research is challenging many common assumptions about teen-agers that have long guided parents, educators and policy makers.

Federal and local authorities combed parking receipts, reviewed videotapes from an underground parking garage and examined intelligence files yesterday for clues to the explosion that killed at least five people at the World Trade Center on Friday. Although investigators were still unable to answer the two central questions -- what kind of bomb caused the blast and who set it off -- Federal officials said they were beginning to focus more heavily on the possibility of the explosion being the work of foreign terrorists.

Some came as if headed to a formal event, dressed in tuxedos or party dresses. Many had to go to work and wore business suits or casual slacks. All of them -- the first 109 couples to register as "domestic partners" in the City of New York -- left with something long withheld, an official acknowledgement of their untraditional lives. Six weeks after Mayor David N. Dinkins signed an executive order enabling heterosexual and homosexual couples to register as unmarried "domestic partners" and receive some of the rights of married couples, the City Clerk's office yesterday began conducting the registration. In a short process in the Municipal Building, couples filled out a few forms, presented identification and received a certificate similar to a marriage license. Demonstration of Support "This makes us happy, because it is the closest thing we can get to the kind of acknowledgement couples get in the straight world," said Manny Lacayo, a 26-year-old accountant in an advertising firm. Mr. Lacayo and his partner, David Vega, a 29-year-old hospital clerk, said they would celebrate later in the evening with a bottle of Champagne "and a toast to the future."