December 18, 1995

When Giants quarterback Dave Brown took off running on a scramble in the second quarter against the Dallas Cowboys, Mr. Pizza Hut himself, Deion Sanders, came up to make the tackle. Brown wasn't going to have any of this sliding stuff. No way. He lowered his shoulder and ran over the $35 million cornerback. When Brown got up, not only did he do some trash-talking to Sanders, but he also did the Brown version of a dance. He may need some lessons from Arthur Murray or Janet Jackson, but the point was well taken: The Giants were not going to take any garbage from the Cowboys. They were ready to fight.

Lawyers for Mayor Bret Schundler of Jersey City will appear today before Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise of Federal District Court to defend the Mayor's decision to place a menorah and Nativity scene outside City Hall even though the judge barred him from displaying religious symbols. The Mayor's spokesman, Tom Gallagher, said that because the display now includes a plastic Santa Claus, a snowman and a sleigh, the overall effect was "cultural" rather than religious. But Ronald Chen, vice president of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which sought the ban, said he was not satisfied with the explanation.

Appeals to the Public, But No Budget Negotiations Unable to reach a compromise on the Federal budget, the White House and the Republican Congressional leaders turned their attention to trying to sway public opinion about who was to blame for the second partial shutdown of the Government in a month.

Russian voters registered their deep frustration with four years of faltering reforms on Sunday by voting for Communists and nationalists in even larger numbers than many people expected, according to early returns in the parliamentary election. It had long been assumed that Communists would win the most parliamentary seats, and with results streaming in from the 100,000 polling points across the country, that seemed certain. But the ultranationalist party of Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky again confounded predictions by performing well in early results. When Mr. Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party received more votes than any other party in 1993 it produced a shock that reverberated across Russia and into the West.

One piece of a new car pool lane on Interstate 287 is opening today, six months ahead of schedule, transportation officials said. The five-mile lane stretches from North Maple Avenue in Basking Ridge to South Street in Morristown.