October 12, 1995

NEW YORK GREETS CHANCELLOR-DESIGNATE The next New York City schools chancellor, Dr. Rudolph F. Crew, arrived from Tacoma, Wash., like a politician on a carefully choreographed victory lap, doling out bear hugs at a Queens elementary school in front of television cameras he had invited to record the visit. And the city provided its own inimitable kind of welcome. [ Page A1. ] The Republicans who control the State Senate joined Governor Pataki in endorsing much of Mayor Giuliani's plan to abolish the New York City Board of Education. [ B3. ] Dr. Crew's decision to spend $1.6 million on motivational training for teachers in Tacoma was the subject of debate, and drew charges of conflict of interest. [ B3. ] As he made one last visit to the schools he would be leaving behind, friends said that Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines was having some regrets about leaving. [ B3. ] Police officials told a special commission set up by the Mayor that the school system's security division was unequipped to protect students. [ B2. ] NEW YORK CITY POLICE RECONSTRUCT SHOOTING OF OFFICER A police officer who was shot four times in an East Village bodega was caught in a hail of gunfire between the police and drug dealers, the police said, and two of the bullets that struck him were fired by fellow officers. Investigators are trying to reconstruct a robbery gone awry. [ B4. ] ALLEGATIONS OF POLICE CORRUPTION DROP Allegations of police corruption in New York City fell by 17 percent the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 1994, according to a Police Department survey. But officials said they were still troubled by the high concentration of complaints in minority neighborhoods plagued by drug dealing. [ B4. ] TURNING TABLES ON CITY WELFARE ADVISER Most of the questions were taken directly from the pages of a new city handbook for welfare inspectors. But the questioners in front of the apartment of Richard J. Schwartz, the senior adviser to Mayor Giuliani on welfare reform, were not with the city. [ B4. ] BRONX DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOCUS OF SIT-IN Family members of two young men killed in confrontations with the police staged a boisterous sit-in outside the Bronx District Attorney's office, demanding prosecution of officers in the deaths of their loved ones. [ B4. ] CHINATOWN LEADER SENTENCED IN MURDER The powerful former president of a Chinatown fraternal and business organization was sentenced to life in prison for a murder and racketeering conviction that prosecutors called their first victory against the top ranks of Chinese organized crime in New York City. [ B4. ] ADDRESS BOOK NAMES TERROR SUSPECTS An address book belonging to the wife of a Palestinian political leader being held in New York City contains the names of several suspected terrorists in the Middle East, an F.B.I. document says. [ B5. ] REGION EXCHANGE DELAYS MOVE The 19-member board of the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange postponed voting on a plan to move to Jersey City, after New York officials made a last-minute attempt to convince it to remain in lower Manhattan. [ B5. ]

SOMEWHERE on the Eastern Seaboard, in a house whose residents prefer to remain anonymous, is perhaps the most revolutionary "bathroom" in America. It is not really a bathroom, but rather an indoor wetlands, constructed in specially designed tanks in a greenhouse, in which aerobic microbes, snails, fish, hibiscus and splendiferous wetland plants of nearly every description have been recruited to do the deed that a septic tank used to do. This surreptitious biological sewage system is not legal inside single-family homes yet (and it's doubtful snails will ever replace Sani-Flush). But in these ecologically trying times, perhaps no design problem is as poignant as the quest for the perfect toilet.

No Clear Path on Damages The Supreme Court heard arguments on limiting punitive damages in civil cases but appeared uncertain on how to proceed. Page A18. Out After 99 Days at I.B.M. When I.B.M. bought the Lotus Development Corporation, its chief said he would stay for "the long haul." Yesterday, he resigned. Page D1. Amazon Burning Gets Worse Three years after the Earth Summit in Brazil, burnings in the Amazon region appear to be approaching the worst levels ever. Page A3.

The incoming New York City Schools Chancellor, Dr. Rudolph F. Crew, arrived from Tacoma, Wash., yesterday like a politician on a carefully choreographed victory lap, doling out bear hugs at a Queens elementary school in front of television cameras invited to record the visit. The city, in return, provided its own inimitable kind of welcome.

New Mini-Vans and Rebates Hurt Chrysler's Profit Chrysler reported that its third-quarter earnings fell 46 percent, citing the costs of introducing new mini-vans and of priming a reluctant market with rebates.

After many fits and false starts, the warring parties in Bosnia finally declared a cease-fire today intended to end three-and-a-half years of bloodletting.

New Jersey would lose $525 million in education funds over the next seven years under House Republicans' plan to balance the Federal budget by the year 2002, Dennis Testa, head of the New Jersey Education Association, said yesterday. "I don't know how the state is going to make up that money," the A.P. quoted him as saying. TERRY PRISTIN

Just hours after endorsing the House Republican plan to revamp Medicare, officers of the American Medical Association said today that they had received a commitment from House Republicans not to reduce Medicare payments to doctors treating elderly patients. But the organization said that it was not for sale and insisted that there was no quid pro quo. "It's wrong to suggest that the A.M.A. endorsement was contingent on billions of dollars," said Kirk B. Johnson, senior vice president of the association. "There isn't a precise figure. We don't know the amount."

No Clear Path on Damages

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed a suit yesterday in Federal Court accusing the Mayor of Elizabeth of confiscating and destroying copies of a local newspaper and asking that he be forced to stop.

When should a weekend athlete be allowed to sue the owner of, say, a ski area or amusement park? The State Supreme Court has ruled that the owners can be held liable for injuries even in cases in which the athlete acted imprudently or carelessly. A legislative commission will hold a hearing today on whether to recommend changes in the laws regarding so-called sports torts.

A police officer who was shot four times in an East Village bodega Tuesday night was caught in gunfire between the police and drug dealers, and two of the bullets that struck him were fired by fellow officers.