June 16, 1993

A 40-year-old Brooklyn woman, pronounced dead by emergency medical technicians, lay on the floor of her apartment for nearly three hours on Monday night until an investigator from the city Medical Examiner's office heard a gurgling sound and realized that she was alive. The woman, Nancy Vitale, was unconscious and in critical condition yesterday at Coney Island Hospital. Her mother said Ms. Vitale had recently been upset because she had been let go from her job as a teacher at a Catholic elementary school.

John B. Connally, the former Governor of Texas who served in two Presidential Administrations and who was wounded when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, died yesterday at Methodist Hospital in Houston. He was 76. The cause was complications of pulmonary fibrosis, said a hospital spokeswoman, Blythe Schaffer. Mr. Connally had been admitted to the hospital May 17 with breathing problems.

Verdict in Principal's Death Three teen-agers were convicted of killing a popular elementary school principal in Brooklyn. Page B1. Soda Tampering Mystery Reports of syringes in cans of Pepsi spread to 11 states, and the Food and Drug Administration is investigating the 16 incidents. Page A16. Sex and the Law in Ireland Ireland has begun to move steadily toward a liberalization of laws involving families and sex. Page A10.

Democratic lawmakers have mounted a strong effort to dissuade the Clinton Administration from a plan to resume tests of nuclear weapons after a Congressional moratorium expires July 1. The plan calls for the United States and Britain to conduct nine underground explosions in Nevada before 1996, when the Administration wants a complete test ban to go into effect.

The Economy Consumer prices inched up one-tenth of 1 percent in May, all but burying inflation fears. The report, combined with last week's data showing no inflation at the producer level, was seen as proving that price jumps earlier this year were temporary. [ Page D1. ] Sales of domestically built vehicles rose 15.5 percent in early June, indicating that the auto industry recovery continues. [ D13. ]

NEW YORK CITY POLICING A SHADOWY ECONOMY Trying to police the city's swelling underground economy and the multiplying number of immigrants in it is grueling work nettled with frustration. The realm is too large, too slippery. Finance Department officials often brood about how outnumbered they are. A1. A DEATH THAT WASN'T A 40-year-old Brooklyn woman, pronounced dead by emergency medical technicians of the city's Emergency Medical Service, lay on the floor of her apartment for at least three hours until an investigator realized she was alive. A1. RENT CURBS ARE EXTENDED The New York State Legislature extended the rent-control and rent-stabilization laws for eight days minutes before they were due to expire at midnight. The extension permitted more time for bargaining between the Democrat-majority Assembly and Governor Cuomo and the Republican-controlled Senate. B3. KEMP BACKS GIULIANI Rudolph W. Giuliani, the Republican-Liberal candidate for mayor, has received the endorsement of Jack Kemp. Mr. Giuliani promised to be the next Republican to ride to victory on a tide of fiscal conservatism and social concern. B3. DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD CELEBRATED More than 700 New York City schoolchildren descend on the United Nations to celebrate through music, dance and prose the worldwide Day of the African Child. Officially marked in many schools throughout the United States, the observance commemorates the 1976 massacre of students in Soweto, South Africa. B3. REGION WITCO MOVING TO CONNECTICUT Claiming another prize in the regional battle for jobs, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. of Connecticut has announced that the Witco Corporation, a Manhattan-based manufacturer, is moving its headquarters -- and 800 jobs -- to a vacant office building in Greenwich. B5. METRO-NORTH CONSIDERS L.I. SERVICE The Metro-North Commuter Railroad is about to sign a $250,000 contract with a market research firm to evaluate the demand for summer weekend service to Long Island. B5. CHILD KILLED, 2 HURT BY MACHETE WIELDER A man whose parents took him into their Roosevelt, L.I., home last year after he had spent months living on the streets took a machete and hacked to death his 17-month-old grand-nephew and injured his 3-year-old grand-niece and his father, the Nassau County Police said. B5. SECRET PROCEEDINGS ORDERED BY COURT New York State's highest court has ruled that the state must keep its disciplinary proceedings against doctors secret unless it finds them guilty of misconduct. The decision ends a decade-old practice intended to extend consumer protections to patients. B6. TAXING METHOD RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL New York State would be forced to refund more than $30 million in taxes paid by A.T. & T., and millions more paid by other long distance phone companies, under an appellate court ruling that found the state's method of taxing long distance carriers unconstitutional. B5. About New York by Michael T. Kaufman B3 Chronicle B6

The Julia L. Butterfield Hospital, which sits on the outskirts of this tiny town, is not much to look at. Its melon and gray facade is hardly beautiful. There are cracks in the tiles on the upstairs halls. Although the emergency room was renovated last year, the X-ray machine dates back four decades and the ventilation system is almost as old. For years the 2,200 residents of Cold Spring have seen the hospital as evidence that they have a basic right to immediate and total health care. Reluctantly, others came to a different conclusion: that the price of keeping the hospital open -- $2 million to save 35 beds -- is too high.

A THOUSAND years ago, in the villages of China at the beginning of the Sung dynasty, before there were restaurants, and before peasants had ovens, food vendors roamed mud streets. From morning to night, the vendors hawked fried puffy breads, sweet sticky rice and plump barbecued chickens. They brought the food from larger, nearby towns where the chickens were roasted in ovens, then tucked into tiered bamboo baskets that hung on poles slung across their shoulders. The food was humble, but tasty -- tasty enough that the tradition is alive today on the streets of Beijing, Hong Kong and Manhattan.

Honda. For years the name struck fear and awe into the American auto industry. But with a strong yen forcing up prices and with many Detroit models flourishing on the strength of improved quality and creative design, the Honda Motor Company is stumbling -- still profitable, but not the powerhouse it once was.

The Air Force has concluded that a general disparaged President Clinton,who plans to discipline him, effectively ending his career. Page A20.

John F. Akers, the former chairman of I.B.M., has signed on as a director and investor in Frank Lorenzo's fledgling venture to operate a low-cost airline along the East Coast. An odd couple? Not at all, the two executives say. Their partnership makes perfect sense in light of their shared interests and backgrounds, they maintained yesterday in interviews.

Jan Bergwall, a waitress from a small town in Maryland, drove down to Washington this morning and, at a news conference, stood before a microphone to say she feared that she might lose her job if Congress approved President Clinton's proposal to reduce the tax deduction for business meals. Lobbyists and other officers in the National Restaurant Association's Washington office recruited Mrs. Bergwall a few days ago. They put her in a commercial that is set in the restaurant where she works and is being televised in four states. Then they put on the news conference here this morning.