Transit Authority is about to restore link between two subway stations on Manhattan's East Side that was severed in May, and with it, ability to transfer between two; transit officials say that two new escalators linking 51st Street stop on Lexington Avenue No 6 line to Third Avenue stop on E and F lines will be ready to use on Sept 6, 20 days ahead of schedule; early opening is result of authority's first, small foray into incentive contracting; Gottlieb Group bid $10.5 million and pledged to finish escalators in 125 days; though company earned $700,000 in bonuses, net cost to authority was far less because it will save about $520,000 in costs stemming from keeping escalators closed; photo (M)

Subway Link: Both Builders And Riders Get a Bonus

Local press has been covering Pres Clinton with largely uncritical eye as he travels by train to Democratic National Convention in Chicago; train, as it moves toward city, is rich source of news, throwing scores of banner headlines and glowing television reports before it, and leaving more behind; is drawing network news cameras to specific images built around Clinton's daily announcements (M)

All Aboard the Clinton Publicity Train

Huge blanket of algae has turned up off coast from Asbury Park to Longport and is staining some beaches green (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Sky of Blue, Beach of Green

Survivors describe how pilgrims trekking through Himalayas to Amarnath Cave, Hindu shrine, made their way in panic through blizzard and rain with little shelter to try to escape storm that struck their route; at least 130 people perished in storm; photo; maps (M)

Saved From Himalayan Blizzard, Hindus Recall 'Pilgrimage to Hell'

United Automobile Workers union is leaning toward negotiating with new national labor contract first at General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co, and leaving Chrysler Corp for later (L)

U.A.W. Said to Prefer Talks With G.M. and Ford First, Chrysler Later

Emergency generator that failed at water treatment plant leaving 275,000 people in northern New Jersey with contaminated drinking water, had been inoperable for over year (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Water Plant Still Vulnerable

 Deal to Create 4th-Largest Temporary Service Agency  Accustaff, a fast-growing provider of temporary workers, agreed to acquire Career Horizons, a smaller competitor, in a $1 billion stock swap.    The transaction would create the fourth- largest temporary service provider in the country, with more than 750 offices in 43 states and estimated 1996 revenue of more than $1.3 billion. $(Page D3.$)    Bombardier Rolls Out Business Jet  Bombardier introduced a new long-range business jet called the Global Express that can circle the world in a day. The jet is the latest entry in the competitive $2- billion-a-year executive aircraft market, but at $35 million apiece it is not clear if Bombardier will be able to find the 100 buyers it needs to break even. The plane will compete with a new jet from Gulfstream Aerospace on such routes as New York-Tokyo and San Francisco-Moscow. $(D3.$)    Silver King to Buy Home Shopping  Silver King Communications plans to buy Home Shopping Network in a stock swap valued at $1.27 billion. The deal is the second attempt by Tele-Communications Inc., a major stockholder in both, to join the two and still comply with Federal ownership limits. TCI owns 40 percent of Home Shopping and 19 percent of Silver King, and Barry Diller is chairman of both companies. $(D2.$)    MCI and Nextwave in Wireless Deal  MCI Communications reached an agreement with Nextwave Telecom to offer the next generation of wireless telecommunications services in most of the nation's big cities. $(D3.$)    Existing-Home Sales Slow Slightly  Sales of existing homes slowed last month on the heels of a record-setting spring, the National Association of Realtors said. Sales in July dropped five-tenths of 1 percent, to a 4.14 million annual rate, the group reported. $(D6.$)    With Investors Nervous, Yields Rise  Prices of Treasury securities fell, sending the yield on the 30-year bond back up to the psychologically important 7 percent level from 6.95 percent on Friday. The market was weighted down by coming supply and worry the economy will not slow enough to avoid a surge in inflation. However, technical analysts suggested that the market might be oversold. $(D13.$)    The Dow industrials fell 28.85 points, to 5,693.89, as stocks slid in sympathy with bonds. J. P. Morgan and Sears, Roebuck led the Dow downward. The Nasdaq composite index lost 3.83 points, closing at 1,139.22. $(D6.$)    Another Missed Opportunity  Sometimes it just doesn't pay to hedge. On Friday afternoon, an institutional investor, evidently concerned that an investment in MFS Communications was not moving, decided to pick up a little income by selling call options on the stock. The risk was the investor would miss out on any rise in the stock. That was exactly what happened when MFS said it had agreed to be acquired by Worldcom. Floyd Norris: Market Place. $(D6.$)    Dispute Over Investigation Costs  A dispute has erupted over who will pay the costs of the investigation into the crash of T.W.A. Flight 800. With expenses approaching $10 million, questions have been raised over whether T.W.A., its insurer and other private parties will help pay the bills. $(B1.$)    Possible Sale for Olympic Financial  Olympic Financial said that its chief executive had resigned and that it was reviewing a possible sale of the company. $(D6.$)    A Magazine Publisher Does It Again  Hachette Filipacchi, a magazine publisher known for creating nontraditional advertisements -- which critics complain often stretch the boundaries of what is acceptable in pitching products -- has done it again. Stuart Elliott: Advertising. $(D2.$)  

BUSINESS DIGEST

Consumer advocates are seeking uniform faulty-car laws; twelve states do not require that prospective car buyers be told that a car was previously returned as a lemon, and only a handful carry over car titles branded with 'lemon' status from other states; it is quite easy for lemons to shed their lemon labels when they are resold; consumers for Auto Reliabilitiy and Safety--a group based in Sacramento, Calif, which with National Association of Attorneys General had petitioned Federal Trade Commission to take up the issue--estimates that auto makers repurchase 50,000 cars and trucks as lemons each year, or one-third of 1 percent of 15 million sold annually; tables; photos (L)

Consumer Advocates Seek Uniform Faulty-Car Laws

 Mets Change Managers     Bobby Valentine, the Mets' top minor league manager, has replaced Dallas Green through 1997. Page B9      Try Holding This Tiger        No amateur worlds left to conquer, Tiger Woods signed a $40 million contract with Nike and turned to professional golf. Page B9.      Paying for a Costly Inquiry         The cost of the inquiry into the crash of T.W.A. Flight 800 is approaching $10 million. Page B1.      Balancing Act for Asia        Evidence China is aiding Pakistan with missiles may reflect an effort to keep a regional nuclear balance, but it could force sanctions the United States has tried to avoid. Page A6.  

INSIDE

Group opposed to building minor league baseball stadium in Ironbound section of Newark says that project is being pushed through without adequate discussion (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Group Sees Rush to Stadium

Study of sediments at bottom of Lake Victoria indicate that it was a dry, grassy plain only 12,000 years ago--a startling discovery since it means that the rich biological composition of the lake, which has hundreds of unique species of ciclid fish, must have evolved in an unthinkably short amount of time; study corroborates data from the ciclids themselves as to how fast they evolved; also coincides with rising concern about extinction of many ciclid species; photos; drawing (M)

Lake Victoria's Lightning-Fast Origin of Species

In the latest huge merger to roil the telecommunications industry, Worldcom will buy MFS Communications for $12 billion in stock.  

$12 Billion Merger In Communications

Four of big tobacco companies that New Jersey plans to sue to recoup smoking-related Medicaid costs have gone to court to block litigation (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Tobacco Industry Fights Back

Democrats convene National Convention in Chicago to nominate Pres Clinton for second term with program that featured not politics but personal parables of tragedy and triumph; James Brady, former press secretary in Reagan Administration who was injured in assassination attempt, and Christopher Reeve, actor paralyzed in horse-riding accident, are evening's keynote speakers; House minority leader Richard Gephardt, Senate minority leader Tom Daschle and Sarah Brady also address delegates; photos (M)

With Few Issues to Quarrel Over, Democrats Convene

Democrats' selection of the injured actor Christopher Reeve as featured opening-night speaker at National Convention in Chicago and Republicans' use of Gen Colin Powell, demonstrates that convention is about generating emotions, not about ideas or debating them; use of quasi politicians as convention spokesmen represents acknowledgment not only that politicians in general have worn out their welcome with public but that 1996 Presidential candidates tend to underwhelm many voters (M)

No Gathering of Ideas

Hillsborough High School is opening on-campus franchise of Subway chain this fall (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

How Can Meatloaf Compete?

Artifacts discovered in the slave quarters of an 18th-century town house in Annapolis, Md, suggest that the slaves of lived there, although they had been baptized Christians, still practiced African rituals, including those used to honor and call up the spirits of ancestors, cast healing spells, protect against harm and divine the future; discoveries are product of a growing emphasis on the long-neglected African element in American archeology; photos (M)

Slave Artifacts Under the Hearth

State Appellate Division declares unconstitutional a special public school district carved out by former Gov Mario M Cuomo and State Legislature for handicapped Hasidic children of Kiryas Joel, NY, in Orange County; US Supreme Court in 1994 ruled that 1989 law creating Hasidic district violated Constitution's prohibition against establishment of religion; Appellate Division calls law re-creating district, written in aftermath of Supreme Court ruling, 'subterfuge' and 'camouflage' whose specific demographic criteria were so tailored that they benefited only Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel among state's 1,600 municipalities; Appellate Division's 4-1 ruling is not likely to end legal and legislative battle that has raged since 1989; map (M)

School District Of Kiryas Joel Is Ruled Illegal

Worldcom Inc agrees to buy MFS Communications in stock deal worth approximately $12 billion; combination of Worldcom and MFS creates nation's first fully integrated local and long-distance phone company since breakup of Bell System in 1984; table (L)

Worldcom to Buy MFS for $12 Billion, Creating a Phone Giant

Dozen inmates of Atlantic County jail were illegally receiving Social Security benefits; discovery, made through use of computerized list, is expected to save Federal Government over $120,000 a year (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Forcing Felons Off the Dole

California Legislature completes action on law legal experts say will be most punitive child molestation measure ever adopted in US, requiring chemical castration of repeat sexual offenders; measure mandates that any offender convicted twice of child molestation be periodically injected after release from prison with drug that inhibits sex drive, unless offender voluntarily submits to surgical castration; first-time offender would also be required to undergo chemical castration, or to opt voluntarily for surgical alternative, should court find first offense sufficiently egregious; Gov Pete Wilson has vowed to sign measure; efforts of other states to enact similar law noted (M)

California Child Molesters Face 'Chemical Castration'

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that he had ordered stricter screening of people who seek shelter at the emergency homeless center in the Bronx, declaring that many were not really homeless but merely wanted a better place to live at the city's expense. Mr. Giuliani said that the new rules had already reduced overcrowding at the troubled center, a dingy office that has become an embarrassing symbol of the city's difficulties in dealing with its homeless. Over the years the center has turned into something of a grim flophouse, with dozens of families sprawling over tables and chairs for days. The Mayor said that just as his administration had lowered welfare rolls by weeding out fraud, so too would it lessen the number of people seeking shelter at the center.    Article, page B3.  

Screening Is Tightened At Homeless Unit

Some ecologists believe there is a serious global epidemic of marine organisms responsible for the red tides and brown tides that can devastate fish and shellfish in coastal waters and sicken fishermen and others who eat or are even exposed to them; other experts say rising incidence of red and brown tides may be nothing more than an upturn in a natural cycle; growing fear is that nutrient runoff from human development, the heavy use of fertilizers and livestock farms is feeding the growth of marauding swarms; Dr JoAnn M Burkholder reports on Pfiesteria piscida infestation in coastal waters of North Carolina; map; drawing; photo (M)

A Spate of Red Tides Menacing Coastal Seas

Conseco Inc, large insurer that focuses on life and health policies, strengthens its share of markets that cater to older Americans with agreements to acquire American Travellers Corp and Capitol American Financial Corp and to consolidate its ownership of two affiliates; altogether, transactions will cost Conseco $1.7 billion; Conseco will pay $793 million for American Travellers and $650 million for Capitol American; Conseco agrees to take full ownership of two companies that it had effectively controlled for some time, Bankers Life Holding Co, parent of Bankers Life and Casualty Co, and American Life Holdings; it agrees to pay $117 million for 9 percent of Bankers Life and $165 million to obtain 75 percent equity that partners had held in American Life Holdings; graph (L)

Conseco to Pay $1.7 Billion For Insurers

Course of justice in rural Otsego County, NY, is left to a handful of lawyers and judges who have known each other for years and who generally resolve disputes with less formality that is common in urban areas, but this informality has its hazards; Dist Atty Jack Gibbons recently had biggest case of his career taken away from him; Gibbons was faced with prosecuting Gordon Mower Jr for murdering his parents, which could be a capital case; Gov George E Pataki authorized State Atty Gen Dennis C Vacco to take over Gibbons's case because of appearance of conflict of interest; map; photo (M)

Otsego Prosecutor Tries To Avoid Trial Conflicts

Francis Gregory Alan Morris was an American actor. He was best known for portraying Barney Collier on the television series Mission: Impossible and Lieutenant David Nelson on Vega$.

August 27, 1996

Headlines from August 27, 1996

Subway Link: Both Builders And Riders Get a Bonus

All Aboard the Clinton Publicity Train

Sky of Blue, Beach of Green

Saved From Himalayan Blizzard, Hindus Recall 'Pilgrimage to Hell'

U.A.W. Said to Prefer Talks With G.M. and Ford First, Chrysler Later

Billboard 200

Jagged Little Pill

It Was Written

Falling Into You

Tragic Kingdom

Secrets

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for August 27, 1996