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Ronald Gene Simmons, 47, was arrested in Arkansas following a shooting spree that left 14 family members and two others dead. Simmons has been described as a sexually disturbed man, alienated from family and friends. He fled charges of incest and was said to be a wife beater. He surrendered to police, who are trying to find the motive for his actions. Details. . See also (US News, 1/11/88, 1c, 1bw, p10, 2/3p).

Philadelphia's incumbent mayor W. Wilson Goode is being opposed for the November election by former mayor Frank L. Rizzo. Voters are very dissatisfied with both candidates, & the politically primitive brawl is embarrassing to local city boosters.

Until recently, few people were interested in the Black Hills, S. Dak., area called Hell Canyon. But the canyon is now the center of a noisy dispute between Honeywell Inc. and a union of Indians and ranchers known as the CIA (Cowboy and Indian Alliance. Honeywell bought 6,200 acres of Hell Canyon for a munitions testing site. The CIA opposes the testing, but most residents favor it as it would bring jobs to the economically depressed area.

The Nashville mayor's race pits US Representative Bill Boner, a back-slapping, home-grown, courthouse politician, against Phil Bredesen, a reform-minded, Harvard educated businessman transplanted from the North. The race is an Old South vs. New South battle in a city representative of both. The contest is the most expensive in the city's history. Boner is the favorite but Bredesen is closing the gap. Campaigns.

Cellular phones are a status symbol and a power tool for hard-charging businessmen--now they have become an indispensable accessory for criminals. The phones allow criminals phenomenal mobility, are extremely difficult for police to track, and almost impossible to tap. The cellular phones are the latest addition to the well-equipped criminal's technological arsenal, and police lack the money to pay for technology to keep better track of the phones.

Keysville, Ga., was once a thriving southern hamlet, but today the village of 300 is an impoverished, forgotten town. Since 1933 the town's administration has been run by Burke County. Now Keysville is locked in a struggle over who will govern the town--black residents want to reinstitute and control the town government, white residents want no changes. Whites say the issue is not racial but economic. Background; controversy.

New York City, with the highest national number of AIDS cases, has launched a very explicit anti-AIDS advertising campaign. But the ads have caused controversy, even though the local media have handled them with caution. Saatchi & Saatchi Compton Inc. created the ad campaign voluntarily and hopes to raise millions to buy time and space for the bilingual ads.