June 16, 1998

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses play of Chicago Bulls basketball player Michael Jordan in team's winning NBA championship over Utah Jazz; photo (M)

Michael W Meyer, New York City police officer charged with attempted murder for off-duty shooting of a squeegee man, Aantoine Reid, in Bronx on June 14, was removed from patrol earlier in year for accumulating unusually high number of complaints for use of excessive force against civilians; had been transferred from 75th precinct in East New York section of Brooklyn to Police Department's buildings maintenance section, where he had little contact with public; photo (M)

New Jersey appears to be outflanking a dozen other states in competition to acquire an Iowa-class battleship from Navy, which is preparing to give away at least one of its three Iowa-class ships to make way for higher-technology weapons and ships; states hope to convert ships into naval museums; Marine Corps advocates keeping all Iowa-class battleships in Navy; photo (M)

Sunbeam Corp dismisses chairman, Albert J Dunlap, who earned nickname Chain Saw Al for wholesale sacking of factory workers and managers alike, both at Sunbeam and elsewhere; board of directors says it no longer believes he has skills to revive ailing consumer appliance maker, which lost $44.6 million during first-quarter 1998 and will post worse-than-expected results for rest of 1998; he will be replaced by a director, Peter A Langerman; is owed severance package of salary, stock, and options that could be worth more than $35 million; photos; graph (M)

Clyde Haberman column questions Gov George Pataki's claim that his capital punishment legislation is responsible for sharp drop in violent crime in New York and his proposals for expanding categories for murderers eligible for death penalty (M)