February 16, 1998

Article profiles Peter Mayer, who after 19 years as head of the global empire of Penguin Books has left the rat race behind to head his own small publishing company, Overlook Press; photo (M)

Politicians and lobbyists say ongoing debate in state legislatures over managed health care, while framed as consumer protection battle, is mostly about protecting incomes, jobs and turf of health care system's biggest and richest vested interests; providers, mainly doctors, seem to be winning battles so far; situation in Illinois illustrates conflicts: House passed sweeping bill backed by specialist physicians that now faces dismembering in Senate, where business lobbies are stronger (M)

India's Hindu nationalist party, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is expected to make major gains in voting set to begin across India ; expectation that party may do well enough to form government, or at least head governing coalition, is disturbing to many Muslims and to other Indians who reject Hindu nationalism; anxieties have been growing, with troops moved into some areas and curfews set to bar election violence; Sonia Gandhi, Italian-born Roman Catholic who pits her soaring personal popularity against tarnished image of her Congress Party, poses strongest challenge to nationalists; map; photo (L)

United States, in scheduling possible bombing attack on Iraq, considers wide range of factors, including intricacies of Muslim religious calendar, dates for moonless nights and Pres Clinton's travel plans; awaits political judgment on diplomatic efforts to end impasse; photo (M)

Prudential Stock Plan Worries Some Customers Policyholders of Prudential Life Insurance have mixed feelings, ranging from apprehension to equanimity, about the giant insurer's plan to convert itself to a publicly traded corporation. Prudential says the shift will benefit its life insurance and annuity customers by strengthening the company and by enabling it to distribute $12 billion in accumulated profits to policyholders.

Article profiles Ani DiFranco, folk singer who at 27 has sold 1.5 million albums; DiFranco has repeatedly turned down offers from big record companies, marketing her music through her own label, Righteous Babe Records, based in her home town of Buffalo, NY, and using local companies to press her CD's and print her album covers, posters and t-shirts; photos (M)

Columbia University, responding to arrests of student athlete, Joseph Della Pietra, and former student athlete, William Basso, in connection with sports gambling ring with alleged organized crime links, probes whether its athletes bet on own games; asks its athletes to come forward if they bet illegally on professional or college games; National Collegiate Athletic Association cooperates in probe; table; photos (L)

Wang Jian becomes hero in Chinatown for setting off string of firecrackers on the steps of City Hall to protest New York City Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani's fireworks ban during Chinese New Year celebrations; photo (M)

Peter Marks reviews Hedwig and the Angry Inch, musical by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask; photo of Mitchell, who stars (M)

Dave Brown's New York Giants career will expire officially in next day or two; Giants have agreed to terms with free-agent quarterback Kent Graham, a former Giant, who will be backup to Danny Kanell (L)

New York Gov George E Pataki, mindful that health insurance could be explosive issue in his re-election drive, proposes one-time subsidy of nearly $100 million to hold down premium rises for individuals who buy health insurance on own; these policyholders, who tend to be far sicker than average, face proposed premium increases of up to 69 percent; Pataki says he will also seek long-term solution for rapidly rising costs of individual policies; health advocates hail stand; photo (M)

Flurry of rumors about the future of The New Yorker has been prompted by recent reports that the money-losing magazine will be folded into Conde Nast's corporate umbrella in January 1999, to be sold to advertisers as a package with the company's 15 publications and moving its offices into the new Conde Nast tower rising in Times Square; photos (L)