November 11, 1993

Trying to cool the secessionist fever of a borough that was crucial to his mayoral victory, Mayor-elect Rudolph W. Giuliani yesterday promised an administration more sensitive to the needs of Staten Island and invited the Borough President to suggest ideas for restructuring New York City's government. And Borough President Guy V. Molinari, while insisting he still favored secession for Staten Island, said it was possible that a more responsive administration in City Hall could persuade borough residents to give up the idea of splitting from the city.

Thousands of cable television systems across the country may escape new Federal price regulations because many cities and towns are afraid that enforcing the rules will create more problems than it solves. Alarmed by the possibility that cable operators in many cities might be free to raise prices as high as they want, the Federal Communications Commission decided today to extend a temporary revenue freeze on cable companies for three months to give cities more time to study the new regulations.

After weeks in which Mexicans seemed to hold their anger at criticism of their country by opponents of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the United States, they fairly exploded today at Ross Perot's depiction of Mexico the night before. "Last night, Mexico was the object of a long series of calumnies and lies," the Government-owned newspaper El Nacional said in an editorial on Mr. Perot's comments on the trade agreement in his debate with Vice President Al Gore. And the accusation was echoed by many others.

A year and a half ago Justice Flemming L. Norcott Jr. of the Connecticut Appellate Court enjoyed an embarrassment of judicial riches. Gov. Lowell P. Weicker wanted to elevate him to the state's Supreme Court, and Senator Christopher Dodd was equally eager to place him on the Federal District Court in Connecticut, where he would be its first black ever. Justice Norcott eventually joined the Supreme Court, the state's highest court, in June 1992, only to decide a few months later to take the Federal post. But before he can make the move, he has been battered by questions of credibility and judgment. His prospects for a seat on the Federal Court are fading fast, and with the state's largest newspaper, The Hartford Courant, calling for his resignation, he is fighting to keep the job he has.

METRO DIGEST WHITMAN, AND ROLLINS, DENY PAYMENTS New Jersey's Governor-elect, Christine Todd Whitman, said it was not true that her campaign had made payments to suppress the urban and mostly black vote in the New Jersey governor's race. In a retraction and apology she demanded, her campaign manager, Edward J. Rollins Jr., said in a statement that he had exaggerated and that the payments "did not occur." A1. Republican loyalists are furious at Rollins's comments. B10.