November 20, 1995

Bernardsville schools have linked up with the local library to save $60,000 and to triple the books available to students. Six school districts in Salem, Cumberland and Cape May Counties share business services. Those were two examples of how school districts are saving money -- without the more drastic step of regionalization -- that were cited in a new report from the state's School Boards Association. In a unanimous vote at a weekend meeting, 178 delegates from local school boards approved drafting legislation and providing other help to make it easier for districts to share services. "It shows that the districts consider this a viable option and an alternative to regionalization," said Frank Belluscio, an association spokesman.

Former Gov. Thomas Kean was back in the operating room yesterday for repair of an artery that was punctured last week during an operation to unclog a blocked artery near his heart. Betty Mills, a spokeswoman for Morristown Memorial Hospital, said last night that Mr. Kean was "resting comfortably" and in stable condition after the one-hour operation. Mr. Kean, the 60-year-old president of Drew University, was admitted to the hospital on Thursday because of chest pains. To clear the blocked artery that showed up in tests, doctors inserted a device carrying a balloon into his femoral artery, in the groin area, and threaded it through the artery to the heart. Ms. Mills said doctors expected Mr. Kean to be able to go home on Thursday.

The drive to outlaw California's affirmative action programs has run into serious political and financial difficulties, and similar efforts elsewhere in the country, most inspired by the one in California, have also lost momentum. Though polls show that a majority of Americans have strong reservations about the fairness of employment, contracting and college-admission programs that reach out to women and minorities, the push to kill such programs outright has failed thus far to stir much definitive legislative action or to draw the large amounts of money and manpower needed to conduct petition drives.

Because someone wanted Anthony Wiley's van, he became Camden's 54th homicide victim this year. The victim, a 32-year-old Glassboro man, was shot on Saturday after he tried to drive away from an attacker who demanded the van as it idled by the roadside, the County Prosecutor's office said yesterday. Last week, Camden broke its old record of 50 homicides in a single year.

With a dramatic 99-yard dash to the finish, the Jets almost turned today into a glorious Sunday. Imagine the Jets, the team that has been victimized by big play after big play without ever coming up with one of its own, marching from one end of the Meadowlands to the other in the final seconds of their game against the first-place Bills.