August 3, 1994

What gives at Nasdaq? First it was bugs of the electronic sort, then a mammal of the squirrel variety. And now securities traders are wondering just how secure things really are on the nation's second-largest stock market. Technical breakdowns have caused three Nasdaq trading interruptions in the last few weeks. The most recent interruption lasted 34 minutes on Monday afternoon after a squirrel chewed through an electric company's power line and the stock exchange's own backup power system in Trumbull, Conn., failed to kick in.

Lunch arrives in a rustle of brown paper bags at a table under white birches. Would anyone care for the Blythe Danner Special from Pappa Charlie's Deli down the road -- tuna, sprouts, Swiss, tomato and avocado on whole wheat? Absolutely not, says the tall and slender woman with the blond mane and the smoky voice. She is Blythe Danner, of course, the 51-year-old actress who is performing here at Williamstown Theater Festival, one of the country's oldest and most prestigious summer stages. Gwyneth Paltrow also declines the Blythe Danner Special. Ms. Paltrow is her 21-year-old daughter -- taller, thinner and blonder, and without that voice. Ms. Paltrow's name has been on the list of rising young movie stars since her small but scene-stealing performance last year as Ginnie, a grifter, in "Flesh and Bone." Her name has yet to go up on the sandwich board at Pappa Charlie's with those of other actors at Williamstown, though that may change soon.

Sales of new homes fell 14.1 percent in June to a two-year low, the Government reported yesterday, providing another sign that an important part of the economy was slowing down. Analysts said the home sales figures confirmed what recently reported declines in housing starts and sales of existing homes had been suggesting: that interest rate increases engineered by the Federal Reserve Board were putting a crimp in home building and related businesses.

New York State and a principal developer in the long-delayed Times Square redevelopment project yesterday agreed to a stopgap plan for refurbishing dozens of storefronts while the developer waits for the real-estate market to improve. The Prudential Insurance Company of America and Park Tower Realty, the development partnership, agreed to pay $20 million for renovating the storefronts and $2.6 million for decorative lighting and other street improvements.

The Senate majority leader today proposed national health insurance legislation that he said would achieve coverage of 95 percent of Americans by the year 2000 through voluntary measures and subsidies. A commission would then tell Congress what it should do to insure the rest. Senator George J. Mitchell of Maine, in the rare role of managing legislation, said at a news conference that he did not yet have the votes to pass his bill. But he added: "I believe in the members of the Senate. I believe in their desire to do what's right for this country. And I hope that ultimately a majority can be persuaded, bipartisan, to support this." He said debate would begin on Tuesday.