RECORD FOOD SUPPLIES will keep prices stable this year, says the Agriculture Department. Though poultry production will drop about 3%, pork, lard, coffee, citrus products, rice and other grains will rise from 1% to 14% next year.

PAY-AS-YOU-SEE TV was set back by the Federal Communications Commission. It rejected petitions from Ski-atron, Zenith and Teco to start pay-as-you-see telecasts at once, set May 9 as the deadline for interested parties to file briefs before hearings begin.

TOUGHER CONTRACTS are in store for Navy planemakers because of troubles with planes ordered during the Korean war. The Navy canceled more than $1 billion in contracts between 1950-54 because the planes failed to live up to specifications; it now threatens to pay less for sloppy workmanship and write actual cash penalties into new contracts.

POWER SHORTAGE is predicted for the Pacific Northwest aluminum industry next spring, even though new generators are in operation at McNary Dam, Hungry Horse and Albeni Falls. Drastically lower snowpack in the Columbia River watershed has dropped the river level. Without heavy new rains or snowfall in the next two months, the Bonneville Power Administration will have to cut back the 5 billion kilowatt-hours used by the aluminum companies.

STEEL MERGER between Bethlehem Steel and Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. (TIME, Oct. 11) is still in the works despite strong Justice Department warnings that it violates antitrust laws. The companies intend to test the Government's objections in court. At the first overt move, such as a registration statement on stock changes with the SEC, the Justice Department will file a suit to stop the merger.

CREOLE PETROLEUM, 95% owned by Standard Oil Co. (N.J.), will split its stock three for one, and add new shares to a total of 90 million because of its increased investment in new Venezuelan oilfields. The announcement sent the stock, which hit a 1954 low of 73 1/2, up 13 1/2 points to a new high of 148 1/2

DRUG MERGER between Warner-Hudnut and Lambert Co. (Listerine) will result in the seventh biggest U.S. drug firm, with assets of more than $28 million and sales of $100 million annually. New company, called Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Co., will be formed by an exchange of one share of Warner-Hudnut common stock for each share (774,621 outstanding) of Lambert common. Warner-Hudnut's president, Alfred E. Driscoll, former New Jersey governor, will be president of the new firm.

AEC ELECTRICITY DEMAND has made it the nation's biggest consumer of power, surpassing such big users as General Motors, Alcoa and Ford. Last year AEC burned 18.9 billion kwh, 4% of the U.S. total, expects its demands to grow to 9% this year, and 13% of all power used by 1956.

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