April 18, 1996

Bob Grant, the radio talk show host who for more than 25 years has provoked outrage with his derogatory comments about black and Hispanic people, was abruptly taken off the air yesterday after facing criticism for a remark he made following the death of Ronald H. Brown, the Commerce Secretary. Through his afternoon radio show on WABC-AM, which is broadcast throughout the New York region, Mr. Grant has become a flashpoint in the debate over whether talk radio has gone too far. He has referred to blacks as "savages," and has got prominent politicians into trouble for appearing on his program.

On a sweltering August afternoon in 1958, Ovidiu Colea stepped off the train from Bucharest in a town hard by Romania's western border. The young man clambered over the bank of the Danube and lay on his belly in a cornfield, waiting for nightfall and a chance to escape to the United States through Yugoslavia. As he was gripping a bag containing the snorkel and mask that would have taken him across the river, he suddenly felt the cool barrel of a soldier's rifle against his head. Even after spending the next five years in a government labor camp, Mr. Colea never forgot why he had wanted to flee. He never forgot how as a boy he had listened to Radio Free Europe in his father's bedroom, in the back of their house, with the lights out and blinds shut. And in particular, he never forgot the stories his father whispered to him about the Statue of Liberty.

What is striking about the summit meeting this week between President Clinton and Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto is what is not being heard or seen. No Japanese cars are being smashed in front of the Capitol in Washington, no trade negotiators are wielding crowbars, and, most important, there are no mutual recriminations about protectionism. Instead of threatening each other over trade disputes, the American and Japanese leaders are hailing the virtues of cooperation.

An environmental group has ranked the Hackensack River as the 15th most threatened river of 30 rivers in the country. American Rivers, a nonprofit watchdog organization, said that extensive development along the Hackensack is a danger to the 200 species of resident and migratory birds in the area. The river estuary has already lost two-thirds of its original wetlands, the group said, and the remaining wetlands are further threatened by plans to create offices and factories near the river.

The wall of Republican opposition to raising the minimum wage cracked today when Speaker Newt Gingrich told House Republicans that they should prepare themselves to face a vote on the issue -- a vote that would almost surely lead to an increase. In both the House and the Senate, lawmakers of both parties agree that an increase will pass if there is a vote on the proposal. Though the issue came to a boil in the Senate this week when Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the majority leader, blocked a vote, the rules and leadership in the House had seemed to be the most serious obstacles on Capitol Hill.