June 24, 1997

WORKFARE CONCERNS -- A workfare participant with heart problems died on the job, prompting concerns over whether New York City can determine whether some laborers are too sick to work. B3. INSURANCE PACT -- Lawmakers in Trenton agreed on an automobile insurance bill that would end automatic annual rate increases and prevent companies from dropping policyholders for no reason. B4. SUNY NOMINATION -- Governor Pataki chose a former deputy mayor of New York City to serve on the State University of New York's Board of Trustees. B4. REBUTTING CHARGES -- The chancellor of the City University of New York defended herself against accusations that she had misled trustees about exams at Hostos. B4. ANOTHER CLOSING -- A bookstore in Rockefeller Center that has specialized in books about New York is closing. Metro Business, B7.

United States Supreme Court rules that 140 pipe fitters and underground workers from Grand Central Terminal exposed to cancer-causing asbestos dust are not entitled to seek damages from Metro-North Commuter Railroad for emotional distress before onset of actual disease; ruling, written by Justice Stephen G Breyer, notes that lead plaintiff Michael Buckley was 'sympathetic' and that he had 'suffered wrong at hands of negligent employers' but that he could not seek recourse without signs of disease or emotional stress (M)

New Jersey Attorney General Peter Verneiro has referred an employment discrimination judgment against Monmouth County Prosecutor, John Kaye, to an attorney ethics committee; if committee decides to investigate and finds complaint warranted, Kaye could face disciplinary charges; case involves allegations by Barbara Coleman, who has since died, that she was passed over for promotions because she was a woman (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Uniformed Firefighters Assn, city's largest firefighters union, plans to endorse re-election of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; union officials say they are supporting Giuliani because he had helped turn around city's economy and finances and had done some favors for their union (M)

Last of three articles, A Room of His Own, describing succcessful efforts by New York City social agencies to find home for mentally disabled 20-year-old James Velez; his placement in apartment in Ozone Park, NY, comes 15 years after entering institution as scared and profoundly disabled seven-year-old, and after two-and-a-half year search for home by Job Path, small Manhattan social-service agency that is part of Vera Institute of Justice; his case underscores limits and limitations of one of great transformations of recent history, namely, emptying out of public institutions for developmentally disabled; photos (L)