October 10, 1994

State Senator George E. Pataki, the Republican candidate for governor, contends that New York State has an anemic economy, crime-ridden streets, a meddlesome government and property taxes that are driving its residents away. In making that bleak diagnosis during a two-hour interview with reporters and editors of The New York Times on Friday, Mr. Pataki advocated sweeping away 12 years of Democratic policies under Gov. Mario M. Cuomo that he said had engendered high taxes, crushing welfare costs and burdensome regulations.

The vision behind the merger agreed to last week by the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation and Healthtrust Inc., the two largest for-profit hospital chains, is simple and alluring. The bigger the network the easier it is to drive down costs and provide every health service that patients might need. The pivotal word is network. Columbia/HCA, which will have more than 300 hospitals and 125 outpatient centers after the merger, will fall well short of its vision if its many pieces do not mesh. To start with, Columbia/HCA has to exploit its added size to wring lower prices from suppliers.

Palestinians armed with automatic rifles and grenades opened fire in a crowded nightlife section of central Jerusalem on Sunday night, killing an Israeli soldier and an Israeli Arab and wounding at least 13 others, several critically. Two attackers were quickly killed by Israeli border policemen who had raced to the scene.

Even as the New York City Police Department is trying to diversify its ranks, most of this year's new officers followed friends or relatives onto the force, according to interviews and a survey of the new Police Academy graduates. And despite the department's expressed desire to attract more black and inner-city recruits, most of the new officers resemble the rest of the force: They are white and male, and grew up in the suburbs or in low-crime neighborhoods of Staten Island and Queens.

The players' strike could cost Major League Baseball up to $280 million in lost merchandise sales, and many retailers are postponing orders for goods because they are uncertain about whether play will resume in the spring. Whether sales of hockey merchandise will also suffer -- National Hockey League players have been locked out by team owners while negotiations continue -- remains unclear. N.H.L. merchandise has boomed in recent years, particularly in the Sun Belt. If the labor dispute is not resolved, sales could be hurt badly, retailing experts say.