November 30, 1995

Another day, another health-care merger. The latest organizations seeking state permission to join forces are Community-Kimball Health Care System in Toms River, which has more than 800 physicians, and Saint Barnabas Health Care System in Livingston, which has over 1,800 doctors. Just last week, another merger announcement -- involving Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and the Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston -- started a scramble among Newark officials to make sure their city didn't lose a key part of its health-care services.

IN the cutthroat world of magazines, the scoop is all. That being so, the world of shelter magazines -- the unlikely name given by the industry to glossy interior-design publications -- has been consumed for the last week by a scandal worthy of Anthony Trollope, or at least Jane Austen. Those keen observers of the human comedy might find irresistible fodder in the tale of how Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue magazine, was double-crossed by two stars of her current issue: Stephen Sills and his partner, James Huniford, two of the hottest New York interior decorators, whose careers she has fostered.

A New Jersey man was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison for beating and sexually assaulting a Maine state trooper in Pittsfield, Me., in April. But prosecutors told The Associated Press that they expect to send Steven Fortin back to New Jersey where he faces charges -- and possibly the death penalty -- in the August 1994 rape and murder of a woman in Woodbridge Township.

The furor over "Money Train," a film that New York City officials say may have inspired the burning of a subway token-booth clerk on Sunday, is familiar territory for David S. Ward. Mr. Ward directed a 1993 film, "The Program." It included a scene in which high school football players tested their courage by lying down on the center line of a highway, a ritual that was blamed for inspiring several real-life imitators, one of whom died.

Apple's Co-Founder Reaps $1 Billion in Pixar Offering Steven P. Jobs has re-emerged as a captain of industry, as far as the stock market is concerned. In one day, he has become a billionaire on paper, after his company, Pixar Animation Studios, offered stock to the public, and the shares almost doubled in price. Pixar made the hit animated movie "Toy Story," and plans two more films for Disney.