September 10, 1994

Prosecutors said they planned to seek a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for O. J. Simpson when he goes on trial for first-degree murder in the slayings of his former wife and a friend of hers. The Los Angeles District Attorney's office said that after considering all the evidence, it had decided not to seek the death penalty. Article, page 6.

At first glance, yesterday's agreement on Cuban immigration appears to be a triumph for the Clinton Administration. But it does not mean that Cuba will disappear as a nagging policy problem or even that the flow of refugees will stop. And the talks brought Cuba a greater American hearing than it had received in years for its argument that the embargo the United States has kept on Cuba's economy is senseless.

Public school teachers in Mount Vernon, N.Y., went on strike, but schools opened anyway, with a makeshift staff of substitutes. Page 21.

It started, the brothers recall, the day Dennis caught Mel on the corner selling asthma medicine, cut up to look like crack. Mel was 10 and Dennis was 13. Mel said he went to the corner because there was no food and no electricity in their 129th Street apartment. Dennis, the oldest of three children, took Mel's place on the corner because he considered himself the man of the house. But when Mel turned 12, he went back out on the streets.

Bud Selig, baseball's acting commissioner, joined the negotiations on the 29th day of the players' strike yesterday, and joined his bargaining team in rejecting the players' proposed plan for taxing clubs' revenues and payrolls. The move seemed to dampen the chances for a quick agreement in the dispute that has shut down baseball since Aug. 11. But Mr. Selig did not call off the rest of the season on the day he had set as a deadline for doing so. And he did meet secretly with the players' labor leader, prompting speculation that the two sides could yet reach a season-saving settlement.

Producer prices rose a surprising six-tenths of a percent in August, the biggest monthly rise in nearly four years. The spurt in prices fanned fears that inflation, which has been below 3 percent for three years, is speeding up. The surge in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods, which measures price changes at the nation's farms and factories, made another interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve more likely this fall. It also sent stock and bond prices tumbling. [ Page 37. ] And economists scurried back to their computers to take another look at their relatively sanguine inflation forecasts for next year.

Cuba and the United States reached an agreement today under which Havana pledged to stop its citizens from fleeing the country for Florida aboard makeshift rafts and small boats. In return, Washington promised to accept at least 20,000 new Cuban immigrants each year. But the 30,000 Cuban refugees who have already fled the island, most of whom are housed at the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay or at camps in Panama, appear to be the big losers under the new agreement. American officials, briefing reporters on the results of the eight days of negotiation, indicated that the Cubans in Guantanamo and Panama would not be permitted to move ahead of applicants now in Cuba.

Students who reported to New York City high schools, which opened yesterday, faced larger classes and fewer course choices because of surging enrollments and the layoffs of hundreds of teachers' aides and other personnel. The Board of Education's budget, though larger than last year's, did not increase sufficiently to finance the growth in enrollment, a negotiated raise in teacher salaries and increased costs in special education, board officials said.

Vatican Yields on Wording The Vatican gave up a struggle, after a five-day standoff, to weaken the language relating to abortion in the statement of the United Nations' conference on population. Page 5. No Reprieve for Smallpox An expert panel of the World Health Organization recommended destruction of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus. Page 5. Espy Prosecutor Named A Los Angeles lawyer, Donald C. Smaltz, was named to examine accusations that Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy broke the law. Page 6. Clinton Weighs Trade Deal The White House may delay asking Congress for some negotiating powers in order to overcome an obstacle to the global trade accord. Page 37. Sister Parish, 84, Dies The decorator, who redesigned White House rooms in the Kennedy years, epitomized the rise of women in 20th-century America. Page 26.

Government officials today strongly defended USAir's safety record even as investigators began what promises to be a difficult inquiry into the latest of the airline's five fatal crashes in as many years. Officials of the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent Federal agency charged with investigating accidents, cautioned against reaching any premature conclusions about the crash of USAir Flight 427, which, arriving here from Chicago, plunged to the ground in the nearby town of Aliquippa on Thursday night, killing all 132 people aboard.

President Clinton told black Baptists at a convention today that government alone could not halt the decline in social and moral standards. He said that far too many young women are having abortions, and that only caring adults can rescue inner-city children, adding that it was time for Americans to revive faith in themselves -- and in him as well. The remarks, in part a reprise of speeches about personal responsibility, sounded a familiar note that White House officials said was not intended to bolster the President's campaign-season credentials as a moderate Democratic leader. But, they said, he will probably repeat the theme through the November elections.

Starting next week, the suggested newsstand price of The Times on Monday through Saturday will increase to 60 cents in the New York metropolitan area. The change will not affect the Sunday price, the weekday price outside the metropolitan area, or the cost of copies from The Times's direct home delivery service.