The legislature voted 6 to 3 at a packed hearing that drew dozens of impassioned speakers who weighed in both for and against the casinos.

It was the first time all parties in the debate had gathered, with prominent researchers and skeptics testifying before a packed hearing of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Edward Leavy, an appeals court judge on the panel, which also includes Judges Ferdinand F. Fernandez and Sidney R. Thomas, asked lawyers at the packed hearing.

In response, community groups have drafted their own, more restrictive zoning proposal, and the two competing plans were debated at a packed hearing before the City Planning Commission on Sept. 24.

The issue dominated the packed hearing, where dozens of stadium supporters wore green T-shirts emblazoned with "Build It," while a smaller group of opponents wore blue shirts condemning the project.

Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski asked when the 54-year-old former University of California math professor appeared here this afternoon at a packed hearing in the Federal courthouse.

Two leaders of the group, the Church of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, testified at yesterday's packed hearing.

The intense political interest in gun issues could be seen throughout today's packed hearing.

In the most recent example, Mr. Ashcroft appeared before a packed Congressional hearing the other day in full dire-warning mode.

Such arguments, as well as a clutch of often heartbreaking personal tales, played out in the State House on Thursday morning before a packed hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee.