April 27, 1995

California regulators voted yesterday in favor of a proposal to open the state's local telephone market to competition, in what would be the most sweeping deregulation yet of the traditionally monopolistic business. The proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission would allow long-distance providers and cable television operators to compete with Pacific Bell and GTE for a $6 billion market. Several states -- including New York, Michigan and Illinois -- have allowed new competitors into their local markets. But the regional Bell operating companies retain key marketing advantages over their new rivals; for example, they can force customers to change telephone numbers to switch to a competing carrier. Such loopholes would be largely scrapped under California's plan.

President Clinton tonight proposed a new round of anti-terrorism measures, including hiring 1,000 new Federal agents and easing the ban on military participation in law enforcement to let the armed forces help investigate crimes involving chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The Administration is proceeding with efforts to carry out Mr. Clinton's first set of proposals for combating terrorism, which the President outlined on Sunday, including creation of a new domestic counterterrorism center headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Car owners thought they had extended warranties to protect their vehicles, but there was a catch, state officials say: to keep the warranties in effect, they also had to buy a collection of automotive lubricants -- a fact nobody bothered to tell them at the companies that sold the warranties, and the lubricants.

As part of the movement sweeping the banking industry to supplant branch workers with automated services, the nation's 10th-largest bank announced a broad-ranging plan yesterday that would charge some customers $3 each time they use a human teller. Under the plan, the First Chicago Corporation said, customers who choose a checking account that does not require a minimum balance will pay the fee if they go to a teller when they could have completed the same transaction using an automated teller machine or telephone banking system. Only those customers who keep either $2,500 in a checking account or $15,000 in a combination of checking and interest-bearing accounts would continue to have free, unlimited access to tellers, the bank said. The plan will take effect in May.

It is traditional for high school seniors to head for shore resorts for after-prom celebrations. It is also traditional for those celebrations to include alcohol. This year, the Ocean County Prosecutor, Daniel J. Carluccio, wants to make sure hotel and motel owners know about a new law aimed at stopping under-age drinking. He called a news conference to talk about a measure, signed into law in February, that makes it a misdemeanor to rent rooms if customers under 21 will be drinking alcohol there. Violations are punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.