In New York, Republicans Pick Challenger To Cuomo

NEW York State Sen. George Pataki emerged from the Republican State Convention with nearly three-fourths of the votes to be the party's challenger to Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) in the November election.

At the convention, delegates joined Mr. Pataki in a chant of ``It's Mario's fault!'' referring to problems like crime, high taxes, poor schools, and a dearth of jobs.

But moderate Republicans warn that Pataki's anti-abortion stance will hurt the party's chances in the race.

A statewide independent poll released on May 23 showed Mr. Cuomo with leading Pataki 36 percent to 24 percent. Denny's race case

THE nationwide Denny's restaurant chain is resolving dozens of allegations of bias against blacks in a civil rights settlement with the Justice Department that reportedly includes a $45 million payment.

A group of black plaintiffs in San Francisco and a group of six black Secret Service officers in Maryland sued the company last spring over incidents at restaurants at about the same time the Justice Department announced a previous civil rights settlement with Denny's.

As part of the original agreement, signed March 26, 1993, Denny's promised to retrain its staff and hire a civil rights monitor.