January 26, 1994

Seeking to put the foundering New York Power Authority on a sharply different course, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo named S. David Freeman, who has brought radical innovations to several public power agencies, to head the authority yesterday. Mr. Freeman, 68, is a former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, at which he abandoned or shut eight nuclear reactors, writing off billions in capital investment, to concentrate resources on several others and push them into operation.

Alexander Liberman, editorial director of Conde Nast Publications for 31 years and one of the most influential editors in America, will step down from that job on April 1. He will be succeeded by James Truman, the 35-year-old British-born editor in chief of Details, a Conde Nast magazine that under his leadership has become the hot magazine for hip young men. Mr. Liberman will become deputy chairman-editorial for the company.

Yielding to strong political pressure, Attorney General Janet Reno agreed today to take over the investigation of the slaying of a rabbinical student during the unrest in Crown Heights in 1991 and try to bring Federal civil rights charges against those who killed him. Ms. Reno's decision to convene a Federal grand jury came after the Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles J. Hynes, handed over the case, conceding that local prosecutors would not be able to make a state homicide case against Ernesto Edwards, a suspect who recently emerged in the death of the student, Yankel Rosenbaum.

An off-duty police officer who joined fellow officers in chasing a driver in a stolen car was killed Monday night in Queens when the suspect's vehicle crashed into the officer's car at over 70 miles per hour, the police said yesterday. Nicholas DeMutiis of the 106th Precinct in Ozone Park, Queens, became the first police officer to be killed this year in New York City.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and his new Police Commissioner began a top-to-bottom reorganization of the New York City Police Department yesterday, intended to give borough and precinct commanders more authority and staff to concentrate on quality-of-life offenses ranging from open-air drug markets to panhandling squeegee men. The first phase of the reorganization came as Commissioner William J. Bratton forced out four senior commanders and said he would promote seven mostly middle-ranking officers with reputations for being aggressive and risk-takers.

Despite last week's warning by Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen that Japan had to make more concessions on opening its markets, the latest round of trade negotiations between the two sides ended today with no tangible progress, American officials said. "We are still very far apart; there is no real progress," said a senior American official who took part in meetings on Monday and today in Washington between the top Japanese and American trade negotiators.

"A GREAT restaurant in the old days was one where you could get anything at any time of year, but that's no longer true," said Michael Romano, chef at Union Square Cafe, at a meeting of chefs last fall to promote the use of local, seasonal and organic produce. "What counts now is what is freshest, most locally available and seasonal." It's a very old idea that suddenly seems radically new.

President Clinton offered a broad new defense of his health care plan tonight and vowed to veto any health insurance proposal that did not provide coverage for all citizens. In a State of the Union Message that outlined Mr. Clinton's vision for domestic renewal without offering new legislative proposals or policy initiatives, Mr. Clinton said that the nation must now build upon the economic successes attained during his first year in office and that "our work has just begun."

Food, glorious food. Beginning next week, it can be consumed 24 hours a day. For those who have the appetite, the Television Food Network will make its New York debut next Tuesday on Channel 54 in Manhattan on Manhattan Cable and Paragon, and Channel 50 in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island on Time Warner Cable. A deal in the Bronx is still being worked out.

President Clinton will ask Congress for at least $6.6 billion in emergency financing to help the victims of last week's California earthquake. The White House request would add the full Federal bill for earthquake relief to the budget deficit, while the State of California would be asked to match just 10 percent of the total contribution, rather than the 25 percent that is usually required of states receiving Federal aid.

IT sounds like a wail. "I wish you were back," a woman in red says to Ed Koch who is in mid-swallow at his front table at Remi.

Roland W. (Tiny) Rowland, the 76-year-old British financier who came to prominence for his failed attempt to buy the famed Harrods department store in London, effectively lost control today of Lonrho P.L.C., the 700-company conglomerate he ran like a personal fief. The victor was Dieter Bock, Mr. Rowland's co-chief executive and one-time ally turned bitter rival, who engineered the departure of Mr. Rowland's four key allies on the board.