Landing-Fee At L.A. Airport Hotly Disputed

LOS ANGELES city officials and airline representatives met Nov. 30 in Washington to start deliberations over higher landing fees at Los Angeles International Airport.

The airlines oppose the city's increase in fees, which triples them to $1.53 per thousand pounds - about $900 for a 747 jet. The city insists the airlines begin higher payments by Dec. 4 or be banned from the airport. City officials have even warned travelers that their plans could be disrupted.

A spokesman for the Air Transport Association says carriers are optimistic something can be worked out without disrupting service. City officials say the new fee is still a bargain, compared with fees charged in New York and Boston. N.J. suit dropped

Democrats in New Jersey dropped their lawsuit seeking to overturn the gubernatorial election but said they may revive it if criminal probes uncover evidence that Republicans paid to suppress black voters.

Democrats said Nov. 29 they would not pursue the lawsuit because they did not have enough evidence. Former Democratic Gov. Jim Florio, who lost the election, said he supported the move.

Their decision came after two of Republican Gov.-elect Christine Whitman's former campaign managers - Ed Rollins and Webster (Dan) Todd Jr. - told Democratic lawyers under oath they knew nothing about efforts to discourage black voters from going to the polls.

Mr. Rollins ignited the controversy when he boasted to reporters that Republicans paid $500,000 to black ministers and Democratic workers not to encourage blacks to vote. He later retracted the statement. Neighbors overdazzled, sue

Jennings and Mitzi Osborne of Little Rock, Ark., say they have a constitutional right to sprinkle more than a million points of light around their home every Christmas. Their neighbors say the dazzling electric display has gotten out of hand, drawing crowds that diminish property values as well as residents' enjoyment of their own property.

The two sides met Nov. 29 in court, and the trial is expected to last more than a week. A lawyer for the neighbors who sued the Osbornes likened the display to a theme park.

The neighbors sued after the Osbornes put up 1.6 million lights last year, then bought the houses on either side of them and promised to make this year's electrified holiday cheer even larger.