November 8, 1995

If it was not clear to local officials already, it should be now: Leonia residents want them to do everything in their power to fight a school regionalization plan aimed at desegregating the high school in neighboring Englewood. They have been speaking out against recommendations to involve their schools and others in Bergen County in state efforts to improve the racial balance at Dwight Morrow High School. A question on yesterday's ballot asking whether the mayor and Council members should take "all appropriate action" to fight regionalization was approved, 2,027 votes to 244.

In the shadow of Atlantic City, voters opened the door for Indians to run a casino. Officials in Wildwood have proposed deeding a 2.5-acre municipal parking lot to the Delaware tribe of Oklahoma. Each year, the Delawares would give the town of 5,000 residents $8 million from casino profits. The vote endorsing the plan, which still faces an uphill battle for state and Federal approval, was 1,028 to 481.

In the first government review of the self-taxing business districts that have proliferated in New York City in the last decade, a City Council inquiry has concluded that some have abused their power and failed to deliver promised services. The Council's inquiry, to be released today, found that a lack of oversight has allowed some of these business improvement districts to pay their executives excessive salaries and spend too much money on their operations. That contradicts the original notion that the districts would deliver better services at lower cost than the government precisely because they would be more efficient.

Tax Cuts Would Evade Majority of Americans The Republican tax cuts now making their way through Congress would not affect what most Americans owe, a computer analysis shows. Under the big budget bill passed by the Senate last month, 68 million taxpayers, or 55 percent of all households, would see no change.

There really are two Princetons: the borough, a 1.76-square-mile area encompassing the downtown area and the university campus, and the township that surrounds it, 16.39 square miles of estates and suburban businesses and homes. They share a common library, planning board and health commission, but have retained separate governments, police departments, courts and budgets.

Action Urged on AIDS Drug

Donald Cresitello ran against a dead man and won. The outcome of the Council election was less certain than it might at first have appeared. The local Republican committee urged residents to pay their last respects by voting for George Burke, who died Sept. 22. "Unfortunately, George passed on before he was able to achieve his goal," Margit Brown, chairwoman of the Morristown Republican Committee, told voters in the town's third ward. "This, however, does not mean you cannot vote for George Burke." Last night, Mr. Cresitello, a Democrat and former Mayor and Council member, was declared the winner. He received 462 votes to Mr. Burke's 182.

RONA JAFFE was only 26 when her best-selling first novel, "The Best of Everything," challenged the placid world order of the 1950's. Her sharp-edged portrayal of "girls brought up to fulfill the image of what boys wanted" and "the 50's rat race toward the altar" shocked many readers, in 1958, mostly men. Career instead of marriage? Horrors! Perhaps unsurprisingly, she has been on her best behavior ever since.

The Newark Teacher's Union released a report yesterday that raised questions about whether a political action committee organized by the union's previous management broke the law. The report said that the Committee on Political Education spent $165,569 from 1980 to 1995; of that, almost $84,000 appears to have gone for unauthorized or unreported donations to candidates. The fund, which raised money through salary deductions of $1 per month from teachers, aides and clerks, was also never legally registered with the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission, the report said. SUSAN JO KELLER

To carry a concealed weapon here in Texas, a person must pay a $140 application fee, have no history of major crime or mental illness, demonstrate an understanding of use-of-force laws and pass a shooting proficiency test with a .38-caliber revolver or a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun. And one other thing: the applicant must be in touch with his or her inner child.

An investor group led by Goldman, Sachs & Company and including David Rockefeller struck a deal yesterday to buy Rockefeller Center from Rockefeller Center Properties Inc., the real estate investment trust that is preparing to take ownership of the trophy property. The deal appears to have ended the pitched months-long battle for Rockefeller Center. Moreover, it means that Mr. Rockefeller has apparently succeeded in his fight to restore his family's interest in the Manhattan landmark that his father, John D. Rockefeller Jr., built in the middle of the Great Depression.

Guy V. Molinari, the powerful Borough President of Staten Island, was soundly defeated last night in his bid to unseat District Attorney William L. Murphy, the three-term Democratic incumbent who had stressed his experience as a prosecutor over his opponent's considerable political sway in the borough. On a dark and drizzly Election Day with few major contests, voters around the region went to the polls in small to moderate numbers to pick a score of mostly minor offices and to decide on several ballot initiatives.