June 13, 1998

Advocates for use of school vouchers in New York area are heartened by Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling permitting use of taxpayer money to pay religious school tuition; proponents say they are encouraged by ruling that Milwaukee voucher program giving tuition money to parents, rather than directly to parochial schools, does not violation First Amendment's separation of church and state; some advocates in Connecticut, New York City and New Jersey comment (M)

Central Park Conservancy, private group responsible for day-to-day management of Central Park, has created new position with broad mandate and grandiose title: Keeper of the Great Lawn; Maria Hernandez has been named Keeper; she says her mission is working to educate people on how to behave on newly restored Lawn and to use the space gently; photos (M)

New York Fire Department, frustrated in its investigation of drunken brawl among its members at Bryant Park Grill last week, fires firefighter James Bruno and suspends firefighters Francis Morrisey and Jon-Paul Augier without pay because they were involved in or witnessed fight and are telling less than they know; senior fire officials dispute accounts of alleged brawl from some law enforcement officials (M)

Dow Jones industrial average closes up 23.17 points, to 8,834.94; for the week, Dow lost 202.77 points, or 2.2 percent; Standard & Poor's 500-stock index gains 4.26 points, to 1,098.84; Nasdaq composite index closes down 4.70 points, to 1,745.05; bond prices dip; yield on benchmark 30-year Treasury rises to 5.66 from 5.65 a day earlier; chart on US key interest rates; graph on Dow Jones industrial average; chart (M)y

Strikes at two General Motors parts factories in Flint, Mich, force auto maker to close some of its most profitable assembly plants, increasing number of temporarily laid-off workers to 50,900; but tensions start to ease in dispute as negotiators begin making slow progress (M)