May 3, 1996

The largest municipal bankruptcy in United States history neared a conclusion today with the announcement that the creditors of Orange County, Calif., appeared to have accepted a recovery plan. Lawyers involved in the lengthy negotiations said that an informal tally of ballots filed by all the county's creditors, from bondholders to suppliers of office products, showed that they had approved the plan. That makes it likely, the lawyers said, that the Federal bankruptcy court would accept the plan at a hearing scheduled for May 15. The final count of the ballots will be ready on Monday or Tuesday, the lawyers said.

A State Supreme Court justice ruled yesterday that City University of New York wrongly decided to lay off more than 100 professors, close or merge departments and cut remedial aid last June by using emergency financial authority even after the budget was effectively balanced. The justice, Alice Schlesinger, supported the Faculty Senate and faculty union in their contention that Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds and the CUNY trustees used the pretext of financial emergency to push through portions of a consolidation plan for the 12 senior colleges. Emergency status gives the university the right to lay off tenured professors and close departments.

A bill introduced in the state Senate yesterday would ban governors from tapping public employees' pension funds to help balance the budget, a practice followed by both Governor Whitman and her predecessor, Gov. James J. Florio. The bill, which has bipartisan support and the backing of labor unions, would grant state workers a property right in the pensions, as is the case in New York and Pennsylvania. Under an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service in March, the Whitman administration agreed to repay $1 billion borrowed from the retirement fund since 1992. TERRY PRISTIN

Riding this year's hot issue, lawmakers took a step toward tightening requirements for welfare recipients yesterday. A bill approved by the Senate Human Services Committee and sent to the full Senate would force a welfare recipient to identify the father of her child, except in the case of domestic violence, so that efforts could be made to collect child support. Another bill passed by the committee would require teen-age mothers to live with a parent or guardian to qualify for welfare benefits. Both measures were introduced by Senator Wayne R. Bryant, Democrat of Camden, and have the Governor's support.

ANYONE fascinated by the history of New York City will find much to enjoy in "Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York," a sometimes revealing, sometimes incoherent exhibition at the New-York Historical Society. The show focuses on the vividly executed paintings, drawings and prints of the artists who later came to be known as the Ashcan School: John Sloan, George Luks, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, George Bellows and their mentor, Robert Henri.