July 5, 1996

The newspaper advertisements touted televisions and washing machines as being "on sale." Only in very fine print did they mention that the items were on sale at their "everyday low price," according to a complaint filed in 1994 in Burlington County. Now American Appliance, a chain based in Pennsauken, has agreed to pay the state $50,000 to settle a false-advertising complaint, the Division of Consumer Affairs announced Wednesday. American Appliance was also accused of "bait and switch" tactics -- advertising an item at a very low price, then telling customers it was out of stock and trying to sell them a more expensive model. The company did not admit guilt in its settlement.

On West Shangri-La Road, a quiet street where children pedal bicycles past ornamental cactuses and yellow desert blooms, the two men living at number 6748 led a suburban life that was, well, different. Dean C. Pleasant used to paint camouflage patterns on hand grenades and leave them in his backyard to dry.

More than half the state's school districts exceed the spending limits proposed recently by Governor Whitman, according to a study reported by The Record of Hackensack yesterday. For example, the study, prepared by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, found that 87 percent of school districts in Morris County and 83 percent of Bergen County districts spend more than the Governor says they need to. Under the Governor's plan, proposed in May in response to the State Supreme Court's order to eliminate the spending gap between rich and poor schools, districts that want to spend more than $8,285 per student would have to get approval from voters.

In a test of wills between the Giuliani administration and would-be pyrotechnists, hundreds of police officers fanned out across the city yesterday to enforce a "zero tolerance" policy against illegal fireworks, bringing an unusual Fourth of July quiet to many areas and transforming one Queens neighborhood into an armed camp to prevent an annual fireworks display. The epicenter of the police crackdown was on 101st Avenue near 98th Street in Ozone Park, Queens, where more than 250 officers took up positions on street corners, erected barricades and peered through surveillance cameras to stop an annual block party and fireworks show given for the last 24 years by John Gotti, the head of the Gambino crime family, who is serving a life sentence in Federal prison.

As a holiday crowd cheered and "Born in the U.S.A." blared from loudspeakers, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman signed a $100 million property tax relief bill yesterday at a ceremony on Point Pleasant's boardwalk, The Associated Press reported. The measure, included in the $15.9 billion state budget, allows residents to deduct part of their rent or property taxes from income on their tax returns. It is expected to save the average family about $73 next year.