September 30, 1994

A DANCE season that calls itself "Radical Graham" risks being an exercise in redundancy. So much of what passes for novelty in the arts today, from nonlinear narrative in film to minimalist structures or rich imagistic theater, can be traced through the works that Martha Graham choreographed for herself and her magnificent dancers over the decades. Nonetheless, whatever the label, it was a capital (and imaginative) idea of the Brooklyn Academy of Music to begin its annual Next Wave Festival on Wednesday night with a gala that opened the "Radical Graham" celebration. The Martha Graham Dance Company will focus on Graham's works from 1929 through 1958 in five different programs through Oct. 9.

Congress today abandoned efforts to rewrite a mining law that dates from the 19th century, giving up in the face of resistance by the mining industry to paying taxes on metals it takes from public lands. Negotiators from the House and Senate dropped the effort to revise the law after House members, who had agreed in recent weeks to some changes demanded by pro-mining senators, said they would compromise no further.

Sgt. Kevin P. Nannery was known for his standoffish arrogance and flashy life style, Sgt. Richard J. McGauley for his quick smile and love for barbecuing hot dogs with his precinct buddies. They were both highly decorated police officers climbing the career ladder when they became the first supervisors to be implicated in the corruption scandal in the 30th Precinct in Harlem. Sergeant Nannery was accused this week of having led a squad of eight rogue officers, known as Nannery's Raiders, as they tore down apartment doors and stole cash from drug dealers. He largely kept to himself, preferring to spend his free hours waxing his new black Toyota pickup truck and taking care of the orange impatiens and rose bushes around his home in Newburgh, N.Y.

Faced with overcrowding in the courts and jails caused by the collision of increased arrests and a shrinking budget, the Giuliani administration yesterday ordered the reopening of a jail that had just been closed to save money, saying it was now needed to deal with the flood of arrestees. The action highlighted Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's struggle to reconcile two aims that were pillars of his campaign last year: slashing the city's budget while also improving the quality of life in the city by getting tough even with minor criminals, like so-called squeegee men and unlicensed peddlers.

The economy showed signs of persistent vigor in Government reports on housing and employment. And the Commerce Department released a revised report on the gross domestic product, showing the economy expanding at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the second quarter, up from an estimate of 3.8 percent. Taken together, the reports fanned fears that overly rapid growth could revive inflation, and could lead the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates again, perhaps after next week's monthly job report for September, to slow the economy down.