July 20, 1998

Newark, NJ, officials find themselves in bind over efforts to restore fairness to property tax system, which had last full revaluation in 1961 and is so rife with inequity that almost every owner in city is either paying too much or too little; say any change will mean staggering tax increases in city's most stable neighborhoods even as downtown business district is showing its first signs of recovery; Mayor Sharpe James warns reassessment would have devastating effect on residential property owners and severely hinder current economic recovery; state is asking courts to force compliance with law that property taxes be based on 100 percent of property's true value; says Newark's assessments, on average, reflect only 16.38 percent of true value; city officials ask dismissal of case; cite reports by real estate experts that re-evaluation would shift 25 percent of tax burden from commercial to residential owners and, in worst cases, cause tax bills to double or triple for many middle-class homeowners that city so desperatly needs to keep; map; photos (M)

Article on acrimonious after-hours debate on campaign finance reform among small team of lawmakers on House floor during Congress's summer agenda, which sometimes comes close to 'drawing blood'; describes clash between Republican Repr Christopher Shays, who is seeking limits on money in politics, and majority whip Repr Tom DeLay over lessons of Watergate, following disclosure that huge cash donations were made to Nixon White House in satchels and manila envelopes that led Congress in 1974 to enact last sweeping overhaul of campaign finance law (M)

Wave Toll May Reach 3,000 Authorities in Papua New Guinea said the death toll could reach 3,000 after several coastal villages were wiped out by a massive wave stirred by an earthquake. Page A6. Concert Industry Changes The rock and pop concert business is being transformed by one company from a stronghold of independence to a consolidated corporate conglomerate. Page E1. Kosovo Rebels Claim Gains Ethnic Albanian rebels said they had taken their first city in what could be a turn in the fighting in the Serbian province of Kosovo. Page A3.

European consumers are in open revolt against genetically engineered food, attesting to cultural and philosophical differences between them and pragmatic, risk-ready Americans, who have largely accepted genetic technology that focuses on food; more than 30 million acres of commercial farmland worldwide were planted with genetically modified seeds in 1997, or 10 times more than year before, but none was in 16 countries of European Union; European conservatism attributed to strong environmental movement rooted in 19th-century philosophy that nature is as wise as man, fear of drastic change and unusually large number of small farms still run by families who are reluctant to end practices that have been honed over centuries; photos (M)

Bulletproof plastic barriers, which have been required in taxicabs since 1994, have caused cuts, concussions and broken bones in passengers who have been thrown against partitions; some doctors, personal-injury lawyers and safety experts are pressing for changes in their design to reduce risk and severity of injuries; they claim that Giuliani administration failed to tackle these problems in its recent package of safety reforms that dealt mostly with disciplining drivers and raising insurance requirements for owners; photo (M)