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.