April 15, 1994

The Senate Armed Services Committee recommended today that the Navy's top admiral be retired at the four-star rank despite his role in the Tailhook sexual harassment scandal. After a highly unusual hearing on what is normally a routine procedure, the panel voted 20 to 2 to allow the admiral, Frank B. Kelso 2d, the chief of naval operations, to be retired at his full rank later this month.

Kevin Peters has put off buying the $80,000 Mercedes-Benz he's had his eye on, and not because he doesn't like the leather upholstery: money is on his mind. "I paid significantly more than usual" in taxes this year, said Mr. Peters, a vice president at a Wall Street brokerage house. "Tens of thousands of dollars more." Here it is April 15, and no matter what bracket they fall into, taxpayers are screaming. Yvonne Tuchalski, a single mother from Eatontown, N.J., and part-time worker at a fast-food restaurant, made $15,000 last year, including child support and Social Security payments. Fortunately, she said, those payments are not taxable. "If they were," she said, "then I'd be over." Ready, Set, Rant Maybe not everyone is leaning out the window like the Peter Finch character in the movie "Network," yelling, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

In what would be the largest settlement ever between the Federal Government and a health care provider, National Medical Enterprises Inc., the embattled hospital chain, was said by lawyers and company employees today to have agreed to pay more than $300 million to settle charges of health insurance fraud and patient abuse. National Medical, based in Santa Monica, Calif., would not disclose the amount of the settlement. But the company said that under a preliminary agreement, which had not been made final, the Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services would drop their criminal and civil investigations. And in an announcement today about its quarterly results, the company said it was setting aside $375 million to cover the costs of a settlement.

More Officers Facing Charges of Corruption About a dozen police officers in Harlem are expected to be arrested on charges of protecting or shaking down drug dealers, officials said. The arrests would represent the largest single sweep of officers since the Mollen Commission began its corruption investigation. Page B1. Serbs Raise Stakes in Bosnia The Serbs intensified their campaign against peacekeepers as they sought to force the U.N. to surrender impounded heavy weapons. Page A8. A Warhol-Estate Decision In a dispute over legal fees, a judge ruled that the artwork in the estate of Andy Warhol is worth far more than the artist's foundation said. Page B1. Support for the Big Bang An observation from the world's largest telescope offers new backing for the theory that the universe began in a single explosive moment. Page A22.

The art in the estate of Andy Warhol is worth more than four times what the artist's foundation claims, a Manhattan judge ruled yesterday. The decision, part of a bitter legal battle that pitted a former lawyer for the estate against the Andy Warhol Foundation of the Visual Arts, is nominally over the size of the lawyer's fee. But during a two-month trial that ended in January, much attention focused on the standards and methods of placing dollar values on works of art, and especially on the role of Christie's, the Park Avenue auction house, which the Warhol Foundation hired as its appraiser.