July 26, 1993

When all those about her seemed paralyzed with tension, Lauri Merten chipped in on the 70th hole and then holed a 4-foot birdie putt on the 72d to win the 48th United States Women's Open today. The 33-year-old Merten, whose last victory came in 1984, fired a final- round four-under-par 68 over the Crooked Stick Golf Course for a total of eight-under-par 280, one stroke better than Helen Alfredsson of Sweden, who finished with a 74, and Donna Andrews, who had a 71.

Of all the battles the founders of the Benjamin Banneker Academy have waged to open one of New York City's 32 small new public high schools on time in September, none has proven more intractable than the matter of the subversively angling wall. Architects at Pratt Institute, the Brooklyn design school sponsoring the new school, penciled the angling wall into the academy's floor plans to widen a hallway at one end, creating a student gathering area easily monitored from staff offices.

Two big players in the busted bonds business appear to have outmaneuvered other, less nimble investors in half a dozen or more big bankruptcy cases, and some traders believe that R. H. Macy & Company may be their next target. Fidelity Investments' Capital and Income Fund and the Trust Company of the West's four Special Credits Funds have big stakes in Macy's bank debt and may have begun trolling for its junk bonds, the traders and some analysts say.

The unavoidable "8" was posted on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning. Mike Gallego could not help but keep looking at it. He had booted an easy two-out grounder and the floodgates had opened as the California Angels added six more runs to an already productive inning, and put the Yankees' bid to keep pace with the Boston Red Sox in jeopardy. Gallego looked, and he felt, responsible. He felt guilty. But he also felt hope.

Recession-related layoffs and homelessness in the region helped drive up the number of people receiving public assistance 22.5 percent since 1988, to more than 2 million last year. Of the two principal aid programs, General Assistance and Aid to Families with Dependent Children, A.F.D.C. has remained the larger, accounting for 79 percent of all recipients and 70 percent of spending. A family of three generally receives $577 a month in New York, $581 in Connecticut and $424 in New Jersey. A.F.D.C. benefits have risen 6.6 percent in New York in the last five years, and less in New Jersey and Connecticut. General Assistance, which normally goes to individuals, has expanded sharply - total recipients increased 66 percent and spending 96 percent. New Jersey pays a montly average of $504 per person; New York pays $352; and Connecticut pays $306.