March 9, 1995

The burglars who stole milk money from the Sisters of Charity defy standard police description. "Angelic-looking cutie-pies," is the favored label from veteran police officers, who were unaccustomed to handcuffing identical twin brothers on burglary charges.

A State Assemblyman is drawing up legislation to allow executions in murder cases in which most, but not all, jurors vote for the death penalty. Stephen A. Mikulak, a Republican from Woodbridge, also wants to make other changes to the state's death penalty statute -- changes that defense lawyers and some capital punishment experts say would make it easier for prosecutors to win a death sentence but would violate constitutional protections.

USAir said yesterday that it would cut 5 percent of its capacity, joining other airlines that in recent years have overturned a long-held industry belief that bigger is better. The airline, based in Arlington, Va., said that by July it would drop 240 unprofitable flights, including many on the direct routes that bypass its big hub airports. However, USAir said it would also add 70 flights, including new flights to Frankfurt from Philadelphia and Boston, and to the West Coast from Charlotte, N.C.

Upsala College received notice yesterday that the Essex County Improvement Authority, seeking to recover a $4.2 million loan, had begun foreclosure proceedings on the five college buildings that secure it. So far, Upsala has missed two payments on the loan, which it took out in March 1993. The next payment of $247,581 is due March 30. Last week, Upsala announced that it would close May 31, when its accreditation runs out, unless a benefactor rescues it from $12.5 million in debts.

The four-day plunge of the dollar in international currency markets halted today after the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, hinted that he might raise American interest rates, which would tend to encourage people to buy dollars. Mr. Greenspan did not say the Fed would raise interest rates simply to defend the dollar. But he suggested that if the decline of the dollar added to inflation here through higher prices for imports, the Fed might respond by raising borrowing costs, slowing the economy and braking inflation.