September 12, 1996

For first time in 40 years, contests to control Senate and House are more in doubt than Presidential election; Republicans, who are in position to retain control of both houses, are in greater danger of losing them than Pres Clinton is of losing White House; political observers see risk to Republicans coming not from any particular tactical flaw or strategic position of Bob Dole's Presidential campaign, but from fear that if he continues to run far behind Clinton in polls in next eight weeks, it could dull Republican turnout disastrously; photos (M)

Chancellor Rudy Crew said the school system's headquarters would not assist Mayor Giuliani's plan to move 1,000 failing public school students to parochial schools, a decision that appeared to remove a possible constitutional objection to the plan. The program also won a significant financial commitment when Merrill Lynch announced that it intended to make a $250,000 contribution. Article, page B3.

Los Angeles is accused of retreating too far in its war on smog, bowing to business executives and union officials who accused pollution-control officials of strangling the economy and killing jobs; California and Los Angeles in particular have been models for air-quality regulations in other states; but once-feared South Coast Air Quality Management District is now seeking to be business's best friend; it helps companies get permits more quickly and has program to educate violators of laws instead of fining them; agency's budget has been cut, and there are plans to cut staff in half and eliminate permits required of most small busineses; leading opponents of this change in policy staged protest, and nine of 11 members of air-pollution agency's scientific advisory panel resigned en masse in response to proposals for further watering down of air-pollution rules; Los Angeles still has foulest air in United States; photos; graphs; charts (L)

Network Solutions, private company designated by Federal Government to register addresses on Internet computer network, weighs cashing in on its gatekeeper role; company, buoyed by phenomenal growth of Internet and demand for new Internet domain names or addresses, is exploring public offering of stock; charges $100 to register new domain for two years and $50 per year thereafter to maintain it; was acquired in 1995 by Science Applications International Corp, $2 billion privately held research company with close ties to Defense Dept; critics say public stock offering would create furor since company should not be allowed to profit excessively from virtual monopoly granted by Government (M)

Article discusses success of 10-year-old private program, Student-Sponsor Partnership, which was created for students in grades 9 through 12 by Peter M Flanigan; partnership, which has helped 825 students enrolled in 18 Catholic schools to graduate since 1986, bears striking similarities to proposal recently made by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and backed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (S)