July 29, 1995

A jury today decided that Susan Smith should not be put to death for the drowning of her two young sons, and instead should spend the rest of her life in prison, to remember. It took the jury two and one-half hours to reject the prosecution's request for the death penalty and settle on the life sentence. The jury's unanimous decision saved Mrs. Smith, 23, from death row, but left her alone in a tiny cell with the ghosts of her dead children, for at least the next 30 years, her lawyer said.

New Jersey lost and New York City won in a battle over aircraft noise, with an all-but-final decision by the Federal Aviation Administration on flight patterns from the region's three major airports. The F.A.A. rejected a New Jersey proposal to reroute air traffic away from northern New Jersey's suburbs and out over the ocean instead.

Dr. Michael C. Caldwell, the County Health Commissioner, became alarmed as soon as he heard the news. "Oh, no," he muttered to himself. The problem? The Town of Hyde Park was considering adopting as its official seal the famous silhouette of a debonair Franklin Delano Roosevelt with -- of all things -- a cigarette holder clenched between his teeth.

Death at a Brooklyn Bodega Perceo Melo died in the doorway of his newest bodega in an eruption of gunfire. His son Julio Antonio died a few steps away. Page 21. New Rivals for 'Jeopardy'? The F.C.C. will allow television networks to sell programs for an hour of prime time now dominated by syndicated game shows. Page 35. Growth Stalled in Quarter The economy barely grew in the last quarter, but economists and the White House pointed to signs of recovery in the second half. Page 35.

It was 3 o'clock one morning in late 1993, when Frank S. Ioppolo Sr. decided he had had enough. As the chief real estate negotiator for the Walt Disney Company, he had been meeting with New York City and state officials through the night about his company's interest in restoring the decrepit New Amsterdam Theater on 42d Street. But after several hours of trying to persuade the public officials to absorb more of the project's costs, Mr. Ioppolo grew incensed.