February 22, 1995

Was it a plane crash, a gas explosion or the end of the world? People across central New Jersey were startled awake at 5:30 A.M. yesterday, and hundreds of them called the police here and in neighboring communities. First there was a bright blue flash, said Capt. Kenneth Devuyst of the borough police. Then came the ear-splitting noise, he said, and "as it rolled on and on for seconds on end, I realized it was just thunder." Just thunder? DAVID STOUT

CAN women, with their deep, insatiable craving for chocolate, coexist with men, who long for meat and other high-fat high-protein foods? Researchers have long suspected that men and women do not crave the same foods. And now several unusually comprehensive studies seem to confirm that their tastes, when it comes to obsessions, really are different.

A public hearing attended by insurance brokers? It doesn't sound exciting, but dozens showed up here last night, and they were angry. Since New Jersey folded its state-run auto insurance pool in 1990 and left insuring up to private carriers, more than a hundred brokers in Hudson County have gone out of business because, they say, carriers are reluctant to underwrite policies in high-crime areas.

The Clinton Administration, declaring that rising oil imports threaten national security, intends to force a sharp increase in the number of cars and trucks that run on fuels besides gasoline, a senior Energy Department official said tonight. Under a plan that it will formally announce on Wednesday, state governments, energy companies and utilities will be required to buy hundreds of thousands more cars, vans and light trucks that use alternative fuels.

Is this the last stand for the Picatinny arsenal? The Pentagon is not releasing the list of military installations it wants closed or consolidated until March 1, but a rumor has spread that the arsenal in Morris County, the Armaments Research Development and Engineering Center, will get the ax. Several New Jersey Congressmen are to meet tomorrow with the Deputy Defense Secretary, John M. Deutch, to argue for keeping Picatinny open.