August 4, 1994

With a tangle of cut-rate electronics and a couple of computers, the free-netters of Buffalo are campaigning to bring cyberspace to the people. "We're built on the concept of community, not profit," said Jody Lebrenz, a founding member of the Buffalo Free-Net. "We believe that the minute you charge even $5, you're dividing people into haves and have-nots. Access should be free to the community, like a public library."

The Scott Paper Company, the world's largest producer of tissue products, announced the biggest corporate restructuring in its history yesterday, with plans to lay off nearly a third of its work force by the end of the year, reduce its corporate headquarters staff in Philadelphia by 70 percent and put its headquarters complex up for sale. Albert J. Dunlap, a turnaround specialist who has been the company's chairman and chief executive for just four months, said that as a result of the restructuring, Scott would save $420 million in operating costs next year, before taxes. 100 Fewer Products He said in an interview that the plan included the elimination of 10,500 jobs, the closing of unproductive plants and the sale of noncore businesses. The company will also cut the number of its consumer products to 300, from 400, he said.

OUTLOOK FOR INDUSTRY BRIGHTENS New York City's long-troubled industrial concerns are experiencing an unexpected turn of fortune: The retreat of manufacturing jobs has recently come to a halt, according to new figures from the New York State Department of Labor. For smaller companies, particularly in Brooklyn and Queens, a modest expansion even appears to be under way. A1. NEW YORK CITY GIULIANI PITCHES G.O.P. ON CONVENTION Ah, sweet summer in New York City. A good time to try to persuade the Republican National Committee to hold its 1996 Presidential nominating convention in the city. Hot? Of course it's hot. It's August. But at least it's not cold. Democrats? Yes, there are Democrats. In fact, they outnumber Republicans 5 to 1. But the new Mayor is a Republican, and he is eager to please. B3.

A Chicago-bound Amtrak passenger train derailed in this rural town early today, sending nine cars hurtling down an embankment into pitch-black chaos. At least 92 people were injured, many after being jolted from their sleep and thrown about the topsy-turvy cabins like rag dolls. At least 29 people were hospitalized. Genesee County officials said one woman was critically injured, but apparently no one was killed, and officials called that extremely lucky.

Ending years of obscurity that unkind traders said was well deserved, the American Cyanamid Company has emerged as Wall Street's latest Cinderella, its stock skyrocketing more than 40 percent on the expectation that it will be acquired by a wealthy suitor. Albert J. Costello, 58, an aggressive deal-spinner who has been the company's chairman and chief executive for only 18 months, has transformed the once-lackluster chemical manufacturer into a leaner, more profitable health care and agricultural products company by cutting costs and shedding underperforming divisions. And that has attracted attention.