Chemistry Income

Alexander E. Peppers, 18, a student at Lincoln Senior High School in East St. Louis, has been named as one of 300 semifinalists in the 51st annual High School Chemistry Projects Search. Peppers was honored for a school science project involving the study of certain plant leaves. He and the other semifinalists in the contest for High School Chemistry Projects sponsored by Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Science Service are competing for 40 scholarship awards worth a total of $205,000.

From the 300 semifinalists nationwide, 40 finalists will be selected and announced on Jan. 29. They will go to Washington in March to compete for a first-prize scholarship of $40,000 and 39 other awards.

St. Louis Woman Pleads Guilty In Killing Of Man, 67 Emma Ivy, 53, of the 700 block of Terrace Drive in East St. Louis pleaded guilty Friday of second-degree murder in the shooting of a man at his home near Centreville on Sept. 15. The victim was Frank Spraggins, 67, of 145 Amelia Drive in Centreville Township. He was shot in the chest and left arm after an argument. Ivy had been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty of the lesser crime in circuit court in Belleville in an agreement worked out with the prosecution. Circuit Judge Michael J. O'Malley scheduled sentencing for Feb. 27. Ivy could be put on probation or sentenced to up to 15 years.

Edgar Vetoes Restoration Of $176 Million For Schools Gov. Jim Edgar vetoed a measure Friday that promised to restore $176 million in school aid by the 1994 fiscal year. Edgar pledged in the fall to veto restoration of the aid, delayed as part of state efforts to balance the budget last summer.

''It may soothe some local school superintendents for the moment, but it makes a promise the General Assembly and I likely would be forced to break in two years,'' the governor said. Edgar and lawmakers agreed in July on the delay as part of the deal to end a budget stalemate that kept the Legislature in session 19 days overtime. It changes the schedule for future state education payments, switching $176 million from June to July. School officials complained that the change did more than delay one payment for a few weeks.

They argued that it let the state skip a payment and resume its normal schedule, never making up the skipped payment. Lawmakers contended the state should say now that it intended to reverse the decision when the money was available.