February 19, 1996

As marshals arrested a second man in the death of Firefighter Louis Valentino, they also released new details about the chain of events that led to the blaze that killed him.

Deals, conspiracies, fleeting friendships or whatever else one may call them, not one of them was enough today to overcome the raw horsepower that helped Dale Jarrett win his second Daytona 500. Jarrett, 39 years old, from Hickory, N.C., passed Dale Earnhardt on Lap 177 of 200 laps, and from there held off many passing attempts by Earnhardt to win by .12 seconds in a Ford Thunderbird. Earnhardt's Chevy Monte Carlo was second, shadowed by Ken Schrader in another Chevy and Mark Martin in a Ford.

A winter that has seesawed between freezing temperatures and unseasonable thaws inevitably has wreaked extensive damage on New Jersey roadways. But drivers need not fear the worst. The Department of Transportation plans to spend more than $1 million to have private contractors fix the potholes, the A.P. reported yesterday. Three companies will be hired, each for a different region of the state. TERRY PRISTIN

When he was running for President eight years ago, Bob Dole offered bitter medicine to reduce the deficit: an across-the-board freeze for one year on all Federal spending. And he lost the New Hampshire primary. Now, with just two days to go until New Hampshire votes again, and with talk in the air of a possible upset of Mr. Dole by Patrick J. Buchanan, Mr. Dole is offering a somewhat more palatable pill.

In telephone calls that stretch into hours, in encounters at street namings and wakes, a widening network of New York City "fire widows" sort through the fallout of their firefighter husbands' sudden, violent and public deaths. The women talk about their children, their loneliness, their lump-sum payments, the dental benefits that expire after three years, about how grief can rob a person of even the simple pleasure of preparing a home-cooked meal.

When it comes to spending, New Jersey's congressional delegation is split. Last year, slightly more than half of its members voted to reduce the Federal deficit, while the rest sought net spending increases, a conservative watchdog group has reported. The delegation's most ardent budget cutter was Representative Richard Zimmer, Republican of Delaware Township, who voted for net spending reductions of about $45 billion, the National Taxpayers Union said in its report.

All financial and commodity markets and banks in the United States are closed today in observance of Washington's Birthday. Most overseas markets are open.

A double-decker bus exploded in the center of London's theater district late Sunday night, sending glass and metal debris flying, killing one person and injuring at least seven others, the authorities said. British police officials said the blast was caused by a bomb.

Residents of Flemington may find themselves paying twice as much for water if the borough accepts an offer to sell its water company to the privately owned Elizabethtown Water Company, officials said. In addition to bringing in revenue, selling off the water company would provide Flemington, which now gets most of its water from wells, with a more reliable source in the event of a drought, said Joseph Novick, a Flemington Borough councilman. The sale would also free the borough from future expenses for such things as pipes, he added. But there would be a downside. "Our rates would double almost immediately," Mr. Novick said.

Slow Recovery, or a Shift In the Business Cycle? The greater New York region has recovered only about a third of the 770,000 jobs it lost in the most recent recession, and it shows no sign of quickly regaining the rest. The phenomenon has shaken faith in the long-held belief in the area that the business cycle is eternal and that when an economic downturn is over, old-fashioned growth will resume. [Page A1.]

In Massachusetts, elderly people with financial problems can reduce their property taxes by as much as $500 a year by performing minimum-wage clerical work for their municipality. Impressed by the idea, the Whitman administration is considering whether such a program would work in New Jersey, Bob Friant, a spokesman for the Department of Community Affairs, said yesterday. Such a plan would require legislative approval. Each municipality would be able to choose whether to take part in the program, Mr. Friant said.

THE country may be focused on New Hampshire and Bob, Pat, Steve and Lamar. But in the political world of New York, the talk is of Ruth, Freddy, Alan and Mark. Especially, these days, Mark. He is Public Advocate Mark Green, the best known of the Democrats who might challenge Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani next year. The field is growing despite the Mayor's signs of re-emerging strength.