Many state legislatures, spurred by Littleton, Colo, school shooting, are approving gun-control laws, in some cases taking up measures that had long been considered unlikely to pass; gun-rights proponents, under pressure since Apr 20 shooting, are pulling back their bills; Colorado lawmakers have abandoned push for new laws to expand right to carry concealed weapons and to bar local governments from passing gun-control laws (M)

FIREARMS LIMITS GAINING SUPPORT IN LEGISLATURES

 'Just Say No' to Drinks?  There is sharp debate in Washington over legislation that would allow discussion of alcohol in Government antidrug advertisements that are created for teen-agers.   PAGE A8    Till Health Do Us Part  As medicine helps those with chronic diseases live longer, their divorce rate is increasing, leaving many severely ill people without income or health insurance.   PAGE A8

INSIDE

Anna Kisselgoff reviews American Ballet Theater's performance of Giselle; Viviana Durante of Royal Ballet makes New York debut as Giselle, with Jose Manuel Carreno as Albrecht; photos (M)

A Village Girl Who Suffers A Universal Heartbreak

List of some upcoming arts events; New Shakespeare Company opens season in Regent's Park, London; Guggenheim Museum in New York shows surrealist art; American Repertory Theater in Cambridge presents David Mamet's new play Boston Marriage; Art Institute of Chicago shows art from Poland; photos (S)

THIS WEEK

Honorary doctorates, in categories from letters to law to fine arts, have little function other than being an honor. But the many colleges and universities that line up actors, authors, politicians, executives -- and even scholars -- find them useful as a way of recognizing achievements of people respected within the institution, and of adding glitter to their commencement ceremonies.  

Degrees That Glitter, And How They Grow

General counsel of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Christine A Edwards, reportedly learned of in-house lawyer's decision to pay $10,000 to informant, Charles Luethke, shortly before payment was made but did not try to stop it because she had only fragmentary information about Luethke's role in police sting operation against former employee Christian L Curry; Morgan Stanley has suspended Monroe R Sonnenborn and Carol Bernheim for making payment; both report to Edwards and some in bank are reportedly angry that Sonnenborn is being singled out; bank and police were trying to catch Curry planting racist E-mail to support his discrimination suit (M)

Who Knew What, When At Morgan?

The Big City column on Muzafere Beka, Kosovar-Albanian who moved to United States with her family 13 years ago; she opened up travel agency in Bronx, booking flights for fellow Albanian expatriates who return home each year to visit relatives; Beka says nobody is going to Kosovo this year, and she has had to close one office; she worries about her relatives, many of whom have been made refugees; 10 of them will move into her Bronx apartment when they arrive from refugee camps; photo (M)

The Big City; The Tourists Are Replaced By Refugees

Arizona Diamondbacks defeat New York Mets, 10-1; photos (S)

It's Getting Ugly: Mets Stoop Before Johnson

 Media Web Units Positioned To Ride the Internet Wave  Just as investor enthusiasm seemed to dampen for Internet stocks, three media companies -- the Tribune Company, The New York Times Company and the publishing company IDG, with an investment from CNN -- said they would consolidate their Web businesses into Internet units, complete with spinoff potential.    How, when and whether these on-line divisions go public is uncertain. But the prospect of getting high stock valuations for such properties is obviously attractive, in part because high-flying stocks can be used as currency in other deals. And the reputation of well-known newspapers might help these new units catch up and compete in an area where they trail broadcasters. Market Place. [Page C2.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Fledgling Internet companies in New York's Silicon Alley are rushing to go public before stock market's fervor fades for companies that have never shown profit; Internet boom has created as many as thousand paper millionaires among founders and executives of Silicon Alley firms, holding out promise of quick rewards for even junior employees; photos (M)

Stocks Drive a Rush to Riches In Manhattan's Silicon Alley

ABC News is revealed to have paid friend of Columbine High School killer $16,000 for exclusive broadcast rights to home videos and other materials; ABC's Good Morning America then presented what it called exclusive interview with Nathan Dykeman without disclosing on air that Dykeman had been paid; photo; network insists payment and interview were not connected, but critics raise strong ethics issues, since paying subjects could encourage embellishment of stories; 18-year-old Dykeman was widely sought for interviews about his friendship with Dylan Klebold, and previously got $10,000 from The National Enquirer; media's pursuit of other students and parents in Littleton, Colo, recounted (M)

Critics Say ABC Opened Its Checkbook for a News Source

New York Knicks defeat Indiana Pacers, 93-90, in first game of NBA playoff series; photos (M)

This Time, Ewing Buries Miller and the Pacers

Gov George E Pataki names Herman Badillo, sharp critic of City University of New York and key force behind efforts to change it, as its next chairman; cites need for reform; Badillo stresses importance of high standards; opponents of Badillo's stand that CUNY squanders resources on weak students who never graduate express alarm at appointment; table of biographical data; photo (M)

Critic of CUNY, Badillo, Chosen To Head Board

Article on NBA playoff game between New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, with comments by Patrick Ewing; photo (S)

A New Team That Relies On Veterans

Profile of Yugoslav Pres Slobodan Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, in light of her strong influence over his policies; some who know couple fear she will block compromise with NATO over Kosovo; others reject view of weak, beholden husband controlled by malevolent wife; photos (M)

The First Lady of Serbia Often Has the Last Word

Growing number of New York City police officers are quitting to join Fire Department; there have been 339 such switches in last four years; 21 percent of people who graduated from Fire Academy this month are former police officers, some of whom took pay cuts to make career change; some making switch say chief attraction of firefighting life is chance to work 24-hour tours and have longer stretches of time off; others say they felt unappreciated as police officers and blamed as group for wrongdoings of individual officers; say that as firefighters, they feel admired again; photos (M)

To Protect and Serve On Another Front; In an Increasing Job Migration, Police Officers Make the Switch From Crime Fighter to Firefighter

Caryn James reviews A&E television movie Dash and Lilly, with Judy Davis as Lillian Hellman and Sam Shepard as Dashiell Hammett; photo (M)

That 50's Cocktail of Hellman, Hammett and the Red Scare

Clients say two women accused of running baby-smuggling ring from Mexico claimed to be adoption consultants; say Arlene Lieberman and Arlene Reingold invited prospects to their Long Island homes for meet-and-greet sessions; Federal prosecutors say two women brought children from Mexico to New York for couples so desperate for children that they overlooked or ignored signs of trouble, such as lack of immigration papers for some children; say some babies also had serious mental or physical health problems; two women have been charged with conspiring to violate immigration laws and to commit mail and wire fraud; Mario Reyes, lawyer who practices in Mexico and Arizona, has also been arrested in alleged scheme; several parents fear losing their adopted children, who lack visas or passports and in some cases have forged birth certificates (M)

Women Accused of Baby-Selling Used a Friendly Approach

Number of nation's 940 daily newspapers with circulations under 20,000 are being acquired by companies like Community Newspaper Holdings, which now has 95 dailies and 125 weeklies; Alabama company buys papers in areas considered recession resistant because of proximity to county seat, large education or medical institution or government operation; example is Cullman (Ala) Times; photos; map and list of acquisitions in Oklahoma; more than 300 daily papers changed hands in US in 1997 and 1998; sole investor in Community Newspaper Holdings is pension fund, Retirement Systems of Alabama; fund's director David Bronner explains wish for solid investment return as well as media platform for promoting Alabama (M)

Spreading the Small-Town News; A New Sort of Company Invests in Community Papers

Kosovo refugees in Kukes, Albania, say Serbian soldiers forced them to spend night outside warehouse in Korisa during NATO attack in which over 80 ethnic Albanian refugees died, interviews; charge they were used as human shields; map; photo (M)

They Were Human Shields When 80 Died, Kosovars Say

Generation of older Americans who loyally vote for Democrats in Congressional races is dying off, allowing Republicans to carry 60-and-over vote in House races in last three elections; strategists in both parties now see older Americans as key swing vote in 2000 elections, factor that could determine control of House; note high turnout among older voters magnifies their importance; heightened competition for older vote affects policy agenda in variety of ways; table and graph of key issues cited by older voters and of who they voted for; graph of shift of older vote toward Republicans (M)

Shift by Older Voters to G.O.P. Is Democrats' Challenge in 2000

Private antitrust suit going to trial in Connecticut, separate from Justice Department's case in Washington, appears to offer tantalizing support for charges that Microsoft wields its Windows operating system as club to control software business; documents filed include internal memo in which Microsoft manager Mark Ryland remarks that company 'learned long ago' to control application program interfaces; rivals have long contended that Microsoft provides only rudimentary maps of Windows API's, making it impossible to compete with Microsoft programmers who enjoy detailed road maps; Connecticut plaintiff is Bristol Technology, small software maker; case explained; photos of Bristol president Keith Blackwell and Microsoft attorney Steve Aeschbacher (M)

In an Antitrust Suit, a Tiny Ex-Partner Is Taking Aim at Microsoft

Comment on Roberto Alomar, scintillating second baseman who is primary reason Indians are better than Cleveland teams that won four division championships in last four years; photo (M)

Alomar Adds Skills, Thrills And Victories

About 240,000 eighth graders in New York State will take new language arts test which for first time goes beyond multiple-choice answers and requires written essays in response to qustions about complex passages of literature, poetry and nonfiction; math test will require written explanations of how answers are arrived at; about 210,000 fourth graders will be tested in math; two-thirds of New York City's 75,000 fourth-graders failed to meet strict new reading and writing standards in tests taken in January; statewide, about half the pupils passed test; state's Education Commissioner, Richard P Mills, says higher standards are important; photos (M)

Under Cloud of 4th Graders' Scores, 8th Graders Brace for New Tests

Roberta Smith Critic's Notebook on exhibit Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect, at Museum of Modern Art; discusses museum's deaccessioning decisions, as explained frankly in catalogue prepared by artist Michael Asher; photos (M)

May 31, 1999

Headlines from May 31, 1999

FIREARMS LIMITS GAINING SUPPORT IN LEGISLATURES

INSIDE

A Village Girl Who Suffers A Universal Heartbreak

THIS WEEK

Degrees That Glitter, And How They Grow

Billboard 200

Ricky Martin

No Limit Top Dogg

Fanmail

A Place In The Sun

Come On Over

Historical Context for May 31, 1999