May 25, 1999

Middlesex County, NJ, prosecutors, acting in what they call 'the interests of justice,' move to drop drug and weapons charges filed against 21 motorists by two New Jersey state troopers who have been indicted on charges that they singled out black and Hispanic drivers for stops and tried to cover up facts; file motion that says that 21 cases should be dismissed because they were undermined by April 19 indictment that charged troopers, John Hogan and James Kenna, falsified records by lying about race of other drivers they had stopped and searched (M)

Michiko Kakutani reviews Juneteenth, novel by Ralph Ellison, edited by John F Callahan; photos (M)

Clyde Haberman NYC column discusses New York State Gov George Pataki's announcement that he is supporting Presidential candidacy of Texas Gov George W Bush (M)

Brazil's Bovespa stock index for Sao Paulo stock exchange plunges nearly 4.89 percent, it largest one-day percentage drop since country's currency devaluation crisis in mid-January, as concern over Argentina's economic policies pushes index to its lowest level in nearly a month; worries over return of small tax on foreign investment in Brazilian securities and higher interest rates in US contributed to decline; pullback in market is denting newly found optimism among investors (Market Place column) (M)

Recent observations support theory that mysterious bursts of cosmic gamma radiation are byproduct of birth of black holes, another mysterious phenomenon; scientists suspect that there might be more than one type of these bursts, but that in all cases relatively small black hole is primary energy source; diagrams; photos (M)