June 20, 1999

David Berkowitz, the serial killer known as the Son of Sam, wept in prison last week, grieving over the coming release of a Spike Lee movie called ''Summer of Sam.'' Gone was the Mona Lisa half-smile that spooked the nation after his arrest 22 summers ago. Gone, too, was the unblinking stare that unnerved detectives when the pudgy postal clerk cheerfully confessed how he shot six people to death and wounded seven others. He took orders, he said then, from a black Labrador retriever owned by a neighbor named Sam.

Saab AB has developed pet accessories, including special leash that can be secured to cargo track; other items noted; photo (M)

Five-year renewal of New York City's 17-year-old Loft Law is up for vote in New York State Legislature at end of June; partisans in continuing contentiousness between landlords and tenants are assessing effectiveness of legislation that, although directly affecting only sliver of market, serves as wedge for creation of whole new source of housing in city long plagued by limited supply; assessment is relevant not just for 835 buildings registered under Loft Law, but for estimated 2,600 other loft buildings in city; artists, artisans and others priced out of increasingly gentrified co-op and condominium loft market downtown have been illegally slipping into spaces in manufacturing areas in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, South Bronx and Long Island City, Queens; some tenant advocates, generally satisfied with law that has assured them legitimate occupancy and protection under rent stabilization, argue that it should be extended to those neighborhoods; some loft occupants and landlords comment; photos (M)

European Union says it will give $500 million annually for three years to rebuild Kosovo; seeks strategy to channel money to area without aiding Serbia controlled by Pres Slobodan Milosevic; holds he must be isolated; Samuel R Berger, national security adviser indicates that Russia blocked statement from summit conference of seven leading industrial nations and Russia that Serbia will get no aid while Milosevic is in power; Prime Min Sergei V Stepashin reportedly argues for aid for Serbia; photo (M)

Jeffrey Ross, stand-up comic-writer and host of panel entitled Borscht Belt Confidential at 92d Street Y, dines with Mal Z Lawrence, Freddy Roman and Bill Scheft, comics who used to play Catskill, NY, circuit at Joanna's restaurant in New York City; comics comment on their style of comedy; photo (M)