April 10, 1993

Health-Care Inflation Slows Health-care costs rose in March by the smallest amount in nine years, while consumer prices increased only one-tenth of 1 percent. Page 33. And a Health Card for All The Administration will propose issuing "health security cards" to all Americans certifying their right to medical care, officials said. Page 7. Congressman Is Acquitted After years of racially charged litigation, a Federal jury found Representative Harold Ford of Tennessee not guilty on charges of fraud. Page 6. Longest Streak on Ice The Pittsburgh Penguins got five goals from Mario Lemieux and set a National Hockey League record with their 16th straight victory. Page 27.

When the time came for Blanche Black to make the most important decision of her life, she was all alone without anyone to guide her. Throughout her 73 years she had depended on others to make the tough calls: first her mother, a tower of strength, and for the last half century, her older sister, Ruth.

The Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., a man with strong roots in the era of civil-rights demonstrations, was chosen as the new director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Rev. Jesse Jackson withdrew from contention on Wednesday after it was apparent that many members of the group were opposed to his hard-charging style.

When customers at Elizabeth Hwang's tiny, graffiti-covered convenience store get angry, they know how to frighten her. They say, "We're going to burn down your store." They tried once before, during the riots a year ago, and now Miss Hwang and her family are preparing for new attacks on Korean businesses if the city erupts again in violence when a verdict is reached in the new trial of the four officers accused of beating Rodney G. King.

American fighter jets today bombed Iraqi antiaircraft batteries that fired at the aircraft as they flew a routine surveillance mission over the no-flight zone in northern Iraq, Administration officials said. But Baghdad denied shooting at the American F-16 and F-4G fighters and said the United States attack had been unprovoked.