February 5, 1996

When Steve Forbes, on the Presidential campaign trail, talks about shrinking the government, his neighbors know where he's coming from: a private and pristine pocket of the country where government still knows its place.

Jackie R. Mattison, the top aide and close friend of Mayor Sharpe James who was indicted on bribery charges, is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 A.M. today in Federal District Court in Newark. Mr. Mattison, 45, is accused of accepting $17,000 from William F. Bradley, 46, an insurance broker, to steer city contracts to two insurance companies. He is the highest-ranking official to be indicted in a two-year Federal investigation into corruption in Newark.

The Museum of Modern Art, increasingly cramped for space, has bought the neighboring Dorset Hotel and two adjacent brownstones in a $50 million transaction that will nearly double the museum's size. The deal between the Modern and the estate of the developer Sol Goldman, which owned the three properties, was closed on Friday after three years of difficult negotiations. Glenn D. Lowry, the Modern's director, said the money for the purchase was being raised by a small group of trustees who wish to remain anonymous.

Prosecutors would have to make every effort to notify crime victims before accepting a plea bargain or dismissing charges against a defendant under a bill that will be debated today by the Assembly Judiciary Committee. A similar measure passed the Legislature last year, but Governor Whitman sent it back for changes. Before lawmakers could revise the bill, the session ended.

Though Ivan G. Seidenberg's new office on the 41st floor of Nynex's midtown Manhattan headquarters is windowless and remarkably humble for the chief executive of a $13 billion phone company, it offers him just the perch he wants from which to survey the new world of telecommunications. As he and the Nynex Corporation scramble to capitalize on the telecommunications bill passed by Congress last week, Mr. Seidenberg is looking far further than he could see from any office tower.

The State Council of the Arts wants to make an investment in beauty, meaning and continuity. It is offering grants so people can apprentice with a master folk artist to learn a traditional art or craft. Last year, 23 people won grants totaling more than $52,000 to study such skills as Ukrainian embroidery, Japanese drumming and Iroquois women's social dancing. The deadline for applications this year is March 15. The first of four workshops explaining how to apply will be tonight at 6:30 at the Newark Community School of the Arts. SUSAN JO KELLER

A deep freeze swung into the Deep South today, bringing ice, snow and temperatures below, or barely above, zero to parts of Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama. Even northern and central Florida were affected, with temperatures in the 20's leaving the state's $1.2 billion citrus industry hanging by an icy thread. Citrus farmers sprayed their trees with water to produce an insulating cover of ice, but high winds were frustrating many of them.

Before the pink light of dawn could touch the snowy peaks of the Hindu Kush mountains around this ruined capital, five young Afghans met on a bitterly cold morning last week for the gamble of a lifetime. On borrowed bicycles, they planned to cross siege lines to the south of the city, load up with sacks of flour, cans of gasoline and bundles of firewood, and be back home by noon.

By April 1, the 400 animals at Turtle Back Zoo may need a new home. Essex County officials say they cannot afford to keep the 33-year-old zoo open. But the New Jersey Zoological Society is not ready to give up; it will begin a petition drive this week to save Turtle Back, The Associated Press said. When County Executive James W. Treffinger was campaigning in 1994, he described conditions at the zoo as "disgraceful," saying they were "emblematic of what is wrong with Essex County."

Teams of arson investigators from Burlington and Camden counties say they believe that eight arson fires set in vacant buildings over the weekend were probably started by the same people. The A.P. said no injuries were reported in the fires, which damaged six houses and two former taverns in five towns.

Through all the head butts and the naughty words, Reggie Miller has learned from this basketball brouhaha that Knicks-Pacers does not always come down to big and strong bodies. It sometimes turns on big and strong minds. The 3-point marksmen and halfcourt traps are often nullified by one simple concept: You blow a fuse, you lose.

Carol Person stared out her screen door in dismay as one of the boys playing street hockey near her house ranted over a bad call and then, suddenly, smashed four garage windows with his bare fists. It was two years ago, and Mrs. Person rushed out the door to see if the 11-year-old had hurt himself. "I asked him if he needed some help," she recalled. "He said, 'No. I just have too much anger inside of me.' "