December 6, 1995

A man dismissed from his job at the Ridgewood Post Office plotted for 20 months and armed himself with automatic weapons, grenades and a ninja sword before murdering four people there in 1991 in retaliation, a prosecutor told a Bergen County jury yesterday. "This is a premeditated, calculated and preplanned crime," the prosecutor, Sharyn Peiffer, said during closing arguments in the trial of Joseph M. Harris. Mr. Harris's lawyer, Wakeley S. Paul, said his client had been driven to kill by voices induced by his paranoia and schizophrenia, the A.P. reported.

The Senate voted today to give its final approval to a measure that would discourage lawsuits by shareholders who say they were defrauded by corporate officers, accountants or stock brokers. The bill, a product of negotiations between representatives from both houses of Congress, was approved by a vote of 65 to 30. On Wednesday, it is to be taken up by the House, where it is expected to receive similarly quick and decisive approval.

A task force appointed by Gov. George E. Pataki yesterday recommended sweeping changes in the way health care is financed in New York State, proposing that the state stop setting the rates that insurers pay hospitals to care for their patients. The proposal follows a growing trend across the country, as states that had once sought to contain the growth of health-care costs by setting prices have decided to let market forces perform that role.

The former chief financial officer for the Cranford Board of Education was indicted by a Federal grand jury yesterday on charges of stealing $167,000 in cash from 1991 to 1994, most of it money that schoolchildren had paid for milk and juice. Jeanette Flora Nixon, of Mendham Township, is charged with depositing the proceeds of milk sales and money from school activities into her own checking account, said Kimberly Guadagno, an assistant United States attorney.

East Rock School abuts the sidewalk with a forbidding, windowless wall, suggesting a defensive posture against the dangers of the neighborhood. But inside, the tone is warmer: the walls are hung with banners proclaiming, "Parents, teachers, students together," and, "East Rock Welcomes You," part of a citywide campaign to get parents and neighbors to drop by, help out and get involved in their schools. Down the hall in Sue Fineman's classroom, Life Skills, an experiment, is in progress, giving children lessons in the emotions. The aim is to help them understand and control responses like aggressiveness and impulsiveness.