October 13, 1998

Fiscal Change in the Air The global financial crisis raises concern over the wisdom of the United States' putting fiscal rectitude ahead of the need for sustained growth. News Analysis, page A16.

Matthew Shepard, gay University of Wyoming freshman who was kidnapped, robbed and pistol-whipped, dies of injuries; death comes five days after he was found dangling from fence of ranch near Laramie, where he was tied by attackers and left for nearly 18 hours in near-freezing temperatures; police charge 21-year-old Russell A Henderson and 22-year-old Aaron J McKinney with attempted murder and girlfriends, Chastity V Pasley and Kristen L Price, as accessories; believe robbery was primary motive, but say Shepard's sexual orientation was also factor; say suspects lured victim from local bar on pretext that they too were gay; say they later returned to Laramie and picked fight on street corner with two Hispanic men; death fans outrage stemming from attack, spawns vigils nationwide and produces calls for Federal hate-crimes legislation from Pres Clinton; fuels debates over such laws in host of Western states, including Wyoming, that have resisted them; gay leaders hope death will galvanize Congress and state legislatures to pass hate-crime legislation or broaden existing laws; conservatives generally oppose such laws, arguing that they extend to minorities special rights; map; photo (M)

NRB Industries, which filed lawsuit last year and has since settled, and another textile company, Johnston Industries, which filed lawsuit last week in Alabama state court, say they were targets of corporate espionage operation conducted by top competitor, Milliken & Co; two lawsuits contend Justin D Waldrep posed as graduate student and another consultant posed as representative of Swiss investors in order to steal confidential information from various manufacturers on behalf of Milliken, largest private textile companmy in nation; Milliken allegedly paid consultants more than $500,000 for detailed information on customers, suppliers and manufacturing operations of nine textile companies; Johnston executives say that Milliken used stolen information to lure customers away after first reducing prices on some Milliken products; chart (M)

Pres Clinton attends $1 million fete to boost Rep Charles E Schumer in his fiercely contested Senate race against Sen Alfonse M D'Amato, New York City; says he fills in for Schumer, who, under attack from D'Amato for missing House votes, is forced to skip event to return to Washington for session-ending votes on budget; hails Schumer; scales back own trip in face of Republican criticism that he takes care of politics in midst of budget talks; attends smaller fund-raiser for City Council Speaker Peter F Vallone, who is running against Gov George E Pataki, NYC; photos (M)

Damage done to Deep River, Conn, home and lives of Jeff Mehler and wife, Mary Russell, by exterminator cited as cautionary tale for Manhattanites yearning for escape from city annoyances (M)