November 22, 1994

The day after Gov. Mario M. Cuomo was defeated and Congress changed hands and the world seemed lost for Democrats, Sheldon Silver got on the phone. Mr. Silver, the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, called his 94 remaining Democratic members. He called the four incumbents who lost their seats. He called party leaders across the state and, and in his deep and fatherly monotone, reassured them.

A data-processing company that was barred from seeking New York City contracts because of its role in the corruption scandals of the 1980's has been selected by transit officials to receive a $17 million contract from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Transit officials will ask the board of the M.T.A. today to approve a three-year contract with the company, Lockheed Information Management Services, to provide a computerized billing operation as part of a new electronic toll-collection operation for the city's bridges and tunnels.

The National Association of Securities Dealers announced changes in its system yesterday that are expected to make it easier for individual investors to get better prices when they buy and sell Nasdaq stocks. In some cases, the changes will make it easier for investors to trade directly with each other, rather than only with brokers, who are called market makers.

In the ebb and flow of hot political strategists in Washington, the Republican victory on Nov. 8 has seemed to turn the clock back to 1980, when Ronald Reagan was elected and conservatives gained the opportunity to set the terms of the nation's political discourse. Article, page B7.

New York City's Schools Chancellor, Ramon C. Cortines, told the City Council yesterday that the latest round of budget cuts proposed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani could force local districts to eliminate, on average, two teachers from every city school. Mr. Cortines's warning was the most dramatic but hardly the only threat of dire consequences on a day in which negotiators for the Mayor and for the City Council sought an agreement on how to close a gap of more than $1 billion in the city's current $31.6 billion budget.