Daily News from New York, New York • 362

-1 1 By RON CLAIBORNE first time since it was set at 18 at the end of Prohibition in 1933. The Assembly is expected to vote on the measure today. Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens), prime sponsor of the bill, said it would prevent 460 serious accidents a year, while saving 35 lives and $90 million in medical and insurance costs. Padavan noted that 18-year-olds make up 1.8 of the drivers in the standard to require "clear and convincing proof of neglect or abandonment before a child could be taken from his parents.

The previous standard required only a "fair preponderance of evidence." The change was made to correspond with a U.S. Supreme Court decision, this month that held the old standard to be unconstitutional. state, but are involved in more than 7 of the alcohol-related car accidents and more than 8 of the alcohol-related fatal car accidents. IN OTHER action, Gov. Carey signed into law a bill that would make it more difficult for a court to order a child removed from his parents' custody because of neglect The bill would change the legal Albany (News Bureau) A bill to raise New York State's drinking age to 19 passed easily in the State Senate yesterday.

The bill, approved 44 to 13, would change the state's minimum age for buying or consuming alcohol for the 4 MM By MURRAY WEISS i-U liv 4 -iklW-. sr-3 1 rrnrr-T-r-r-vg-r-f -rnnirfn i m.Mma Unnf.flun Dm -miwfil -iir vnnjriiwai 1. r.i ilWi lift ftn.i.ilil ffuft fn Tfii i 4 UP! British Leyland displays Its two Popemobiles, custom-designed to carry Pope John Paul during visit Papa! first Trip to. London Argentina the next stop? Rush-hour straphangers will be greeted again this morning with the subway troubles that halted service yesterday on several lines following the discovery of a cracked steel beam in the Manhattan Bridge. The service disruption, affecting primarily riders on the QB, and trains, will last into next week, when the Transit Authority expects the 12-foot-by-23-inch-by-14-inch beam on the Manhattan-bound side of the bridge to be replaced.

The damage will not affect motorists, officials said. The broken beam was just a month before a seven-year, $10 million reconstruction project is scheduled to begin on the Manhattan Bridge, one of about 200 deteriorating bridges in the city. The Manhattan Bridge overhaul calls for the installation of new frame supports for subway tracks and brackets under floor beams that support the upper roadway. REPAIR WORK on the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges already has begun. Yesterday's subway disruptions came after the cracked beam was found Monday between the Manhattan tower and the shoreline during a routine inspection.

Transit Authority officials took what they termed "precautionary" See BRIDGE Page 24 of the Pope for the entire Argentine people." Asked what his mission was, hie said: "My trip itself is a message." The sources said that Silvestrini in effect Vatican foreign minister as head of the Holy See's public affairs department would seek the opinion of Argentine and Catholic leaders about the proposed papal visit "Such a visit could bring tranquility and contribute to the easing of the bellicose atmosphere," said an Argentine diplomat "The visit would surely be well received." John Paul said Saturday he was hoping to go "soon" to Argentina, where 85 of the people are Catholic. King Henry VIII of Britain severed ties with the Vatican in 1534 and established the Church of England when Pope Clement VII refused td annul the king's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and permit him to marry Anne Boleyn. Vatican City (AP The Vatican, after weeks of uncertainty caused by the Falklands conflict, announced yesterday that Pope John Paul would go ahead with his historic six-day trip to Britain, the first ever by a The 62 year-old pontiff, who leaves for London Friday, also may make. a "counter-balancing" trip to Argentina next month, Vatican sources said. But neither Vatican officials nor Argentine diplomats in Rome would confirm that there was such a plan.

The Vatican said that Archbishop Achille Silvestrini flew to Buenos Aires yesterday with a personal letter from John Paul to Argentine President Leopoldo F. Galtieri. Silvestrini told reporters at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport that he was taking "the thoughts and sentiments I I I "SI I 5 I i 07H1H Almanac 18 Mike Luplca 45 "Marilyn Beck 39 Marmaduke GL27 Btorhythms 42 Movto Timetable 40 Bridge 42 Lars-Erik Nelson 23 Business 33,34 News Briefs 10 EariCaldwel 4 Obituaries 32 Comics 41,42,43 Patterns GL28 Crossword GL24 People 9' Editorial Page 29 PhllPepe 44 Entertainment 35,39 Sylvia Porter 34 Beth Fallon 2S Rex Reed 41 Good LMng Pultout. Uz Smith 8 Horoscope 43 Sports 44 Johnson GL28 Suzy 12 Jumble GL23 Theater Listings 36' Am Landers 28 TV and Listings 56-59 Can't make It to tha shore for the summer? You can bring tha sea homa. Stores are filled with decorative accessories that evoke tha seaside.

The Dally News' Margaret Farley and Marcos Oksenhendler went fishing for the best In tha At Home secVon 43 YOUNGSTERS from West Springfield, are feted and shown around Greenwich Page 4 WEST 42D ST. Theater Row" is formally "opened. Page 4 SEARCH FOR MOTHER who had a baby, then fled hospital. Page 5 JOHN UTHQOW PLAYS a bisexual in Beyond Therapy." opening tonight at the Brooks Atkinson Theater, and a transsexual in new movie The World According to Garp." What's he really Eke? An Interview. Page 35 MAXINO PIES the easy way.

wtth frozen crusts. A report on seasonal fruit fillings now available. And how to bake your own wedding cake: ta the Good LMng secGorj Classified advertising In regional section MM HoNt Vs Qfvws titc TM Mlly Not, Mi Hxm tac (M vary hr Mm rrt I nm VtrH, N.V. Htl? at mm vr, K.Y. tp M-JM.