December 29, 1995

In the most far-reaching example yet of Internet censorship, Compuserve Inc. has blocked access by its subscribers in the United States and around the world to more than 200 sexually explicit computer discussion groups and picture data bases, after a federal prosecutor in Munich said the material violated German pornography laws. The action, which Compuserve described as a temporary move while it studies its legal options, underscores the extent to which diverse national, cultural and political values are coming into conflict with the essentially borderless technology of the global Internet computer network.

Three weeks of below-normal temperatures may have posed a hardship for many New Jerseyans, but it has proved beneficial to farmers, agricultural experts said yesterday. The cold weather kills diseases and insects, and the snow blanket insulates roots and plants, said Michelle Infante of the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service in Monmouth County. But orchards and grapes could be damaged if temperatures fluctuate, she said.

New Jersey received $12 million from the Federal Government yesterday to cover half the cost of welfare payments for January. The state's 119,000 recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children receive $24 million a month, with half paid by the Federal Government and half by the state. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman had said the state treasury would make up the difference if funds from Washington were unavailable because of the Federal budget crisis, but emergency legislation signed by President Clinton resolved the problem, said Jacqueline Tencza, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services.

President Clinton vetoed a military authorization bill because he said it would force creating an unnecessary missle defense system, but because he did not want members of the military to lose the pay in the bill, he granted a raise through executive order.

On the eve of scheduled negotiations with President Clinton, Speaker Newt Gingrich said today that without an agreement on a balanced budget House Republicans would not agree to any temporary deal reopening parts of the Federal Government that have been shut for two weeks because of the budget impasse. "I think that the House Republicans feel very, very deeply that the President had from the time we signed the continuing resolution in November up through most of December to get this solved," Mr. Gingrich said at a news conference. "We didn't get it solved. And having meetings doesn't count as progress. We've got to actually get an agreement."

Do Not Return to Sender

After the march, one man was so moved that he joined a church in Harlem and committed himself to helping its young members. Another decided to organize a group of men to adopt a high school in the Bronx, to instill images of successful black men in students' minds. A teen-ager, shy beforehand, was emboldened to set his sights on becoming an actor. More than two months have passed since a group of 51 men boarded a chartered Tour Kings bus outside Wells Restaurant in Harlem in the predawn chill of Oct. 16 to attend the Million Man March in Washington. And now that the huge crowd, the passionate speeches and the feeling of camaraderie are just memories, many of the men who rode together on that bus say they are answering, in their own ways, the march's call for black men to take more responsibility for their communities.

As several stock indexes surged to new highs last month, American investors poured more money into stock and bond mutual funds than at any time since January 1994, shortly before equity prices stalled and bond prices plunged. According to figures released yesterday by a mutual fund trade group, the Investment Company Institute, Americans continued to use their mutual fund investments to chase the best-performing categories of assets, evidently putting aside fears that the prices of these sometimes volatile investments might drop.

For years, state legislative leaders have quietly killed bills passed by both houses, simply by not sending them to the governor for his signature or veto. The maneuver allowed legislators to take credit for passing bills that they privately knew would die in legislative limbo, and often rescued governors from awkward political binds. Today, the state's highest court struck down the practice as unconstitutional, sharply rebuking legislative leaders for allowing it.

A Barnegat Township man and his live-in girlfriend were jailed earlier this month and accused of plotting to kill the man's estranged wife and then avoiding prosecution by planting someone else's semen and blood at the crime scene, the authorities said yesterday. But a tip led investigators to the husband, Daniel D. Hynes, and his girlfriend, Monica W. Fritz, and thwarted the plan, said Daniel J. Carluccio, Prosecutor for Ocean County. The couple have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, The Associated Press reported.

New Jerseyans are being encouraged to welcome the New Year without alcohol under a program called First Night that will offer street festivals, art exhibits and cultural events in 10 communities in the state Sunday night. Last year, 150,000 adults and children participated in First Night, said Paul Ellis, executive director of First Night in Montclair. Other communities that received $1,500 grants from the state to hold First Night celebrations are Flemington, Manasquan, Morristown, Oakland, Ocean City, Ridgewood, South Orange/Maplewood, Summit and Toms River.

Keys left in lockboxes make it convenient for real estate agents to gain entry to a house by using an electronic card and an access code. But now the Morris County Board of Realtors has asked its members to temporarily remove keys from the lockboxes at 4,500 homes.