May 16, 1995

Since 1990, New Jersey's exports to developing countries have jumped 42 percent, reaching almost $3.7 billion last year, the World Bank said. The top-selling products included chemicals, industrial and commercial machinery and computer and transportation equipment. Some of the state's best customers included Mexico, which purchased $613 million in goods; Turkey, $387 million, and Brazil, $230 million.

In a setback for plaintiffs in a giant class-action suit against American tobacco companies, a Federal district judge in New Orleans agreed to allow his class-action certification of the case to be taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. An appeal, which could take six months to a year, would have the effect of stopping the momentum of a consortium of lawyers from close to 60 plaintiffs' law firms who have gathered in New Orleans to mount the largest class-action suit in history. The plaintiffs contend that the seven companies, their related units and the Tobacco Institute, an industry group, had concealed knowledge that nicotine was addictive and had manipulated nicotine levels in cigarettes to keep customers addicted.

All around the state, parents are organizing nonprofit foundations to raise money in support of school programs hit hard by budget cuts. But a group of parents in this upscale Atlantic County town are pushing the envelope: they're asking residents for $40,000 so that an art teacher and a music teacher at Belhaven Avenue School will not be reduced to part-time status. The Emergency Committee on the Arts sent out letters seeking donations three weeks ago.

In a deal that will create one of the biggest savings banks in New York, the Greenpoint Financial Corporation said yesterday that it would buy 60 branches from Home Savings of America for $660 million. Most of the branches had at one time been outlets of the Bowery Savings Bank, which was purchased in 1988 by H. F. Ahmanson & Company, the parent of Home Savings, the country's largest savings institution.

The Supreme Court ruled today that municipalities may not use single-family zoning to bar group homes for disabled people, including recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, by enforcing occupancy limits in a discriminatory way. In a 6-to-3 decision resolving a dispute over the application of the Fair Housing Act, the court said communities may set occupancy limits, space requirements and other restrictions on houses occupied by unrelated people, including group homes, but only if they also apply to everyone else living in the area.