May 21, 1996

A school principal in Plainfield angered local officials in April 1995 when she ordered third graders to disrobe so that teachers could search for $20 that a student had reported missing. The money was not retrieved. Under a bill approved yesterday by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, school officials could no longer conduct strip searches. In other action yesterday, the Judiciary Committee passed a bill barring the State Public Defender's office from continuing to appeal a death sentence if a mentally competent inmate wants to be executed. The bill was prompted by the case of John M. Martini, a death row inmate who has asked to die. Both measures now go to the full Assembly.

THE cheers never last, but they continue to reverberate unusually long for Dwight Gooden since his no-hitter at Yankee Stadium last week, that near-epic tale of failure and redemption. Few, however, have taken the Yankee pitcher's turnaround to heart as much as the 300 people trying to put shattered lives back together at the Phoenix House drug-treatment residence in Long Island City. To hear some of them talk about it, his no-hitter was their no-hitter. If Doc Gooden, recovering drug abuser, could leap for joy on the mound, maybe there was more hope under the sun than this collection of self-described drunks, crackheads and heroin addicts had imagined.

Faced with losing a shareholder vote on its original offer to merge with the Kansas City Power and Light Company, Utilicorp United Inc. has sweetened its bid. People familiar with the proposed deal said Utilicorp's original offer, which is competing with a bid from Western Resources Inc., would not have won the necessary approval of two-thirds of Kansas City Power's shareholders, who were scheduled to vote on it tomorrow at the company's annual meeting.

The Museum of Modern Art is not part of this club. Neither is the Guggenheim or the Whitney. Not even the Metropolitan Opera or the New York Philharmonic. Just who is in the "in" crowd? Such giants as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Hall, the Bronx Zoo and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, to name a few. Their perks are the official city title of "Cultural Institution," a dollop of cachet and, more to the point, a steady stream of city money.

It's the consumer who has turned around this stock market. The Dow Jones industrial average rushed by the 5,700-point level yesterday, jumping 61.32 points, to 5,748.82, and setting a closing high for the first time in more than six weeks. Broader market indexes also set records. Most impressively, the Dow has risen 7.6 percent since its recent low during the day on May 8. [Page D12.]