February 16, 1996

Leslee Buhler Alexander stumped her way through this pretty, snow-covered and mostly shuttered summer resort by Lake Winnipesaukee today, telling anyone who would listen about her husband's campaign for President and about the backseat life of the wife of a professional politician. But when Mrs. Alexander, wife of former Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, walked out the front door of the Wolfeboro Town Offices and into a bright swirl of blowing snow and winter sunlight, she ran into a network television crew and a blizzard of questions about her private business dealings and comparisons she sees between herself and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Officials of the company whose broken water lines left 750,000 people with little or no water last week said they have zeroed in on one valve as the cause of the problem. "Workers were trying to turn this 30-inch valve off slowly to stop a leak in a joint coupling," said Rich Henning, a spokesman for United Water New Jersey. Instead, the valve snapped, creating the surge of pressure that burst two pipes, he said. Although both pipes have been repaired, only one is operating.

TO get the most out of "Faberge in America," the blockbuster in a jewel box that is beginning its 5-stop, 16-month national tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I recommend the multiple-personality approach. This show, which has been organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, is visually seductive and historically interesting, but it is also simplistically presented and blatantly promotional.

A Federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a new law that makes it a felony to transmit indecent material over the Internet or on-line computer services if the material may be seen by children. The judge ruled that the term "indecent" was unconstitutionally vague and was not defined in the new law, the Communications Decency Act. But, drawing a semantic distinction, Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter of Federal District Court in Philadelphia upheld another part of the same law. That section makes it a felony to use computer networks to display, in a way accessible to minors, "patently offensive" material. The complex ruling sets the stage for a swift judicial review of the law and an uncertain outcome.

Even in relatively rich South Africa, half the homes have no electricity. Go far enough off the beaten track and there are villages with no place to buy even a little AAA battery. So in much of Africa, the portable radio is of little use. Maybe not for long. For about six weeks now, a small factory in this town just north of Cape Town has been cranking out radios with cranks. Give the handle a few aerobic turns and the Freeplay radio holds forth for half an hour.

COLD causes shrinkage, especially of living quarters. By February, any dwelling that houses small children seems cramped, whether it's a two-bedroom apartment or a rambling house in the suburbs. Holiday toys are old hat, playgrounds are out of the question, snow days have lost their novelty. Weekends -- let alone the prospect of next week's vacation, an entire week when New York City schools (and many others) will not be in session -- are enough to make a New York parent's life feel like one long Munchian scream. The answer? Get out of the house. When outdoor playgrounds aren't an option, there are acres indoors to explore. Particularly on the Upper West Side, where double strollers are the prevailing mode of transportation, there are enough meccas for the 6-and-under set that it's possible for residents or visitors to the city to spend whole chunks of a weekend out of the house, returning only to sleep. (If you're lucky.)

The State Senate Education Committee unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would offer incentives for public school districts to band together and share services. Many districts have been reluctant to merge with other districts for fear of losing state aid. Under the plan, the state would create a Regionalization and Shared Administrative Services Fund financed with penalties collected from schools found to spend too much on administration, The Associated Press reported.

Bolaji Odebayo did not wind up dead. But from the accounts of school officials, prosecutors and neighbors, the 11-year-old Brooklyn boy -- burned, broken, petrified -- appears to have fallen victim to some of the same failures and misjudgments by city investigators as Elisa Izquierdo and other abused children who did not survive. In interviews yesterday, school and law enforcement officials described a series of investigative lapses and brutal beatings that ended when the boy was found sleeping with an untreated broken wrist in a neighbor's hallway Tuesday night:

Donald J. Trump, who operates three Atlantic City casinos, has been fighting a pending bill that he said would give an unfair advantage to his rival, Stephen A. Wynn, the Las Vegas hotel and casino magnate. The measure would allow Mr. Wynn to obtain a tax cut to recoup the cost of cleaning up the landfill in Atlantic City, where he plans to build a new casino. The contaminated site sits on city-owned land and was awarded to Mr. Wynn free.

From the barrios of Los Angeles to the cobblestone streets of Beacon Hill in Boston, officers in most large American police forces routinely patrol urban neighborhoods in one-officer cars. But not in New York. The city's first experiment with solo patrols ended in bloodshed in 1980, when an unaccompanied officer was slain during a test program. The issue remains one of the most emotional in local law enforcement, and may pit a law-and-order Mayor against a police force that has contributed to his administration's crowning achievement, the city's sharp drop in crime.

Casting himself as Russia's best hope for protecting democracy and market reforms from a lurch back to the past, President Boris N. Yeltsin announced today that he would seek a second term in the presidential election in June. His declaration amounted to the formal opening of a campaign that, according to every measure of public opinion, could well bring back to power the Communists Mr. Yeltsin ousted five years ago.

Responding to telephone warnings that used Irish Republican Army code words, the police destroyed a bomb left in London's West End. Article, page A6.