December 15, 1994

MAYOR SEEKS ROLE IN PICKING CHANCELLOR Mayor Giuliani said that although he did not have the legal power to select a new schools chancellor, he wanted the Board of Education to recognize that it had to work with him to pick a successor to Ramon C. Cortines, whom the Mayor has been pressuring to leave. A1. NEW YORK CITY CARDINAL TO LEAD ST. PATRICK'S PARADE John Cardinal O'Connor, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, accepted the honorary post of grand marshal of the St. Patrick's Day parade with a nod to his late father, "who would have been excited because he said I'd never amount to anything." B3.

In his speech tonight, Bill Clinton faces the most critical point in a Presidency as stuffed with crises as an old-time movie serial. News analysis, page B16.

The White House is preparing to propose about $50 billion in income tax cuts, probably through a mix of tax credits for families with preschool children and new deductions for college and technical education, Administration aides said today. The proposal is an effort to reclaim middle-class voters who deserted the Democrats in last month's mid-term elections and to fulfill a promise President Clinton made during the 1992 campaign.

For 15 years, the Transit Authority has circumvented or ignored a requirement that its managers live in New York City, and as a result more than half of its senior officials reside outside the city, according to an audit released yesterday. The study, conducted by the inspector general of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Transit Authority's parent organization, found that transit officials had "afforded little more than lip service" to the 1978 residency requirement, issuing dozens of waivers almost as a matter of course.

Inflation continued at a moderate pace while a rising tide of goods flowed out of the nation's factories and mines in November, according to Government reports made public today. Together, they provided new evidence of the American economy's robust health. Stocks rose as investors interpreted the economic statistics as a signal that a prosperous economy would reward long-term investments while inflation would not significantly erode the returns. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 30.95 points to close at 3,746.29. [ Page D8. ]