March 30, 1996

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani appointed the president of the city's firefighters' union, Thomas J. Von Essen, as fire commissioner yesterday. It was the first time a labor leader has ever moved into the Fire Department's top post. Though he has supported Mr. Giuliani on several contentious issues, the selection of Mr. Von Essen to replace Howard Safir, who has been named police commissioner, was a surprise to fire and union officials.

District attorneys in the Bronx, upstate and suburban New York are quietly finding ways to sidestep the grand jury system, citing the cost and inconvenience of finding 23 people who will serve between one and six months to determine whether suspects should be charged with committing a felony. This nascent rebellion against the grand jury, a linchpin of the Anglo-American criminal justice system, is in its earliest, tentative stages. But it is significant, because until now, New York's prosecutors and defense lawyers have been united in opposition to a nationwide reform movement that has eliminated most grand juries in two-thirds of the states. These states have determined that the grand jury fails to accomplish its central purpose: to protect citizens from unjust prosecutions.

After the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in November, it seemed there was nothing Benjamin Netanyahu could say that Israelis cared to hear. In the grief of the moment, the very fact that Mr. Netanyahu, the leader of the conservative Likud Party, had opposed Mr. Rabin's peace policies seemed a profanation of the fallen Prime Minister's memory. Mr. Netanyahu's image as a smooth operator and slick talker made him seem unworthy compared with Mr. Rabin's old-fashioned candor and soldierly roughness.

Big Surge in Trade Deficit

In a new effort to develop alternatives to surgical abortions, the nation's largest group of abortion providers is encouraging doctors around the country to explore the use of the drug methotrexate to end pregnancies. The drug has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in abortions but has long been approved for use in much higher doses in the treatment of certain cancers, arthritis, psoriasis and other diseases. It is both legal and common for doctors to use drugs for purposes that have not been formally tested and approved by the Government, even though such "off-label" uses may expose doctors to malpractice claims if there are complications.