August 15, 1997

New Jersey Transit officials, in response to three deaths last year in Secaucus when train engineer missed stop signal, have approved installation of two automatic brake systems (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Fourth annual Panasonic Village Jazz Festival is set to begin; festival features ten days of concerts in clubs around lower Manhattan; informational listing; photos (M)

Analysis: Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani's quick, severe response to charges that police brutalized Haitian immigrant in Brooklyn station house has strong element of political damage control; Giuliani built his popularity and re-election strategy on his identification with Police Dept; taking credit for its successes, like huge drop in crime, makes him the one held ultimately responsible for its failures; for last three years, black and Hispanic people have said that officers in Giuliani era, striving to reduce crime, are far more abusive than their predecessors; photo (M)

Thousands of immigrants from India and Pakistan, countries that have been enemies since 1947, are living together peaceably in Jackson Heights, Queens; Indian and Pakistani immigrants share common story: they came to US in pursuit of life better than what they left behind; Indian immigrants will hold their 50th anniversary celebration of India's independence this coming weekend; Pakistanis held their 50th anniversary celebration on Aug 10; photos (M)

Just before being sentenced to die for the Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy J. McVeigh, wearing prison khakis and a military haircut, stood at a lectern before a Federal judge in Denver and quoted from a 1928 opinion by a Supreme Court Justice, Louis D. Brandeis. Speaking in the controlled voice of a student giving a recitation, Mr. McVeigh said: ''I wish to use the words of Justice Brandeis dissenting in Olmstead to speak for me. He wrote: 'Our Government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example.' That's all I have.''

W R Grace Co will divest itself of its packaging business in complex, two-step transaction that culminates strategy of focuing on company's other main business, specialty chemicals; deal essentially involves purchase of Grace's Cryovac packaging business by Seal Air Corp, in deal valued at $5 billion; Sealed Air says merger will increase its annual revenue to $2.5 billion from $800 million, making it the world leader in flexible packaging; Grace name will be retained by specialty chemicals, which will be spun off to shareholders and has $1.5 billion in revenue; current Grace shareholders will own 63 percent of new packaging company, while Sealed Air shareholders will own the other 37 percent; current Grace shareholders will continue to hold 100 percent of stand-alone specialty chemicals company; chart (L)

Hearings are being conducted at Rutgers University to determine if Prof William K Powers should be dismissed for allegedly sexually harassing and assaulting student (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

New Brunswick, NJ, police issue arrest warrant for Armando Negron Jr, suspect in murder of Lazara Cunha on Aug 12 (New Jersey Daily Briefing) (S)

Mamaroneck, NY, is playing host to Professional Golfers Association Championship at Winged Foot Golf Course; there are state troopers everywhere and traffic jams and horns bleating on usually quiet roadways; some residents say event is disaster, but others say it is bonanza; photos (M)

H Carl McCall, New York State Comptroller and trustee for New York State public pension fund, sues 11 current and former Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp executives and directors, saying that they allowed criminal fraud to flourish throughout the company; McCall contends company executives engaged in several unlawful activities, including illegal billing of Federal Medicare program, improperly offering jobs or perquisites to executives at hospitals Columbia was trying to acquire, and insider trading; suit names entire board, including current chairman Thomas F Frist Jr; it also names Richard L Scott, who resigned as chairman and chief executive last month; Columbia itself is only nominal defendant, meaning McCall is not planning to seek any financial settlement; suit is specifically trying to obtain compensation from 11 executives and directors (L)

CASE DISMISSED -- The Campaign Finance Board dismissed a complaint that city-financed advertisements were little more than Giuliani campaign commercials. B3. LEFT TO WONDER -- The family of a man charged in the shooting death of a firefighter could shed little light on a possible motive. B4.

Commander Vasily Tsibliyev and flight engineer Aleksandr Lazutkin of troubled Russian space station Mir return to earth, after longest, most serious and most highly publicized string of disasters in 11-year history of space station; comments by Pres Boris N Yeltsin and Viktor Blagov, deputy flight director at Mission Control, suggest that Vasily Tsibliyev, the commander, will be held accountable; final judgments on crewmen will have to wait until next week, when other astronauts begin to repair damage to Mir when supply ship rammed into side of science module while Tsibliyev was guiding it; photos (M)