Ben Ratliff reviews concert by artist formerly known as Prince at Madison Square Garden (M)

Mocking Doubters With Teasing Vamps

Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz and their company, Bedford Falls, will create three television series for ABC, to be produced through studio owned by Walt Disney Co, ABC's parent, and one for Fox, to be produced through studio owned by Fox's parent; deal, possible first step in radically changed approach to controlling escalating program costs, will give broadcast networks' parents partial ownership of shows; Zwick and Herskovitz will get over 50 percent of syndicated rerun profits, instead of customary large upfront fees; photos (M)

Novel TV Deal Could Rein In Program Costs

Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer plans to offer $535 million Yankee Stadium renovation plan that would include installation of 120 luxury boxes, easing of traffic congestion and redevelopment of neighborhood with waterfront park, Yankee Hall of Fame and sports-related stores; drawing (M)

Bronx Offers Stadium Plan for Keeping Team

 METS COLLAPSE -- The Mets missed the wild-card playoff, losing their fifth straight game.    YANKEES ROLL INTO PLAYOFFS -- The Yankees won their 114th game as a rookie, Shane Spencer, hit his third grand slam in 10 days. The Yankees begin the playoffs tomorrow night against Texas.

A SEASON TOO ENTERTAINING TO END

Peter Marks reviews Signature Theater Co performance of John Guare's play Marco Polo Sings a Solo; photo (M)

Alienation on an Iceberg Where Anger Is Warmth

Clinton Administration and International Monetary Fund are arranging package of more than $30 billion in loans for Brazil to limit damage to Latin America's biggest economy from Asian financial crisis, even though bailout plan is calculated risk that could sink country into deep recession; package is aimed at preserving value of Brazilian currency and reversing withdrawals by increasingly nervous foreign lenders; Brazil has become front line in struggle to halt spreading financial crisis, because of its power to pull down markets and plunge countries into recession; stakes for US are considerable since its economy dominates Latin America, which accounts for 20 percent of America's exports, and is home to thousands of American-owned factories; looming opposition to financing plan, both in Republican-controlled Congress and among private lenders, discussed (M)

Calculated Risk: U.S. and I.M.F. Lead Push for Brazil Bailout Plan

Goodman Theater, Chicago, to revive Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman; Morgan Library exhibits 120 drawings from Russia's Hermitage and Pushkin Museums; ceramics by Picasso from late artist's private collection go on display at Tacoma Art Museum; 92d Street Y's Unterberg Poetry Center to present theatrical production of Dante's Inferno, translated and adapted by poet Robert Pinsky; poet Seamus Heaney will give reading at center, which will honor him and Pinsky; photos (M)

This Week

Atlanta Braves defeat New York Mets, 7-2; loss eliminates Mets from post season play; photo (M)

Mets Lay Their Final Egg, And It Tastes Awful

Elizabeth Kolbert Metro Matters column discusses plans by New York State Democrats to run ad in upstate media that Republican Sen Alfonse D'Amato actually broadcast himself in New York City; Democrats are also planning to rebroadcast commercial created by state Republican Party for upstate viewing only; ad depicts city Democrats as rapacious sharks gobbling up tax dollars (M)

Metro Matters; In This Vote, You Can Take Manhattan

Gerhard Schroeder defeats incumbent Helmut Kohl to become Chancellor, ending era in Germany and opening new one in Europe, where center-left governments currently dominate continent's politics; decisive victory after hard-fought campaign is seen as clear expression of weariness of Germans with Kohl's 16-year rule; reflects new priorities that confront continent grappling with competitive pressures of global economy, overburdened welfare systems and high unemployment; Schroeder's Social Democrats gained estimated 40.9 percent of vote, up from 34.6 percent in 1994, and Christian Democrats 35.1 percent, or six-percent decline; Schroeder, whose campaign stressed joblessness and state of economy, faces central issue of how to adjust Germany's expensive welfare system to global competition without dismantling it and at same time create jobs; photo; chart (M)

GERMAN VOTERS END AN ERA, REJECT KOHL AFTER 16 YEARS AND PICK A SOCIAL DEMOCRAT

Houston Astros defeat Chicago Cubs, 4-3; Cubs to play San Francisco Giants in one-game playoff to determine who will be National League wild card in post season play; photo (M)

Sosa Will Play Another Day As Cubs and Giants Are Tied

Sprint Corp's failure to join in mergers sweeping telecommunications industry reflects determination of William T Esrey, its chairman and a former investment banker, to hold out for right price; Esrey says company has all strategic pieces in place to thrive on its own; graphs; photo (M)

Market Place; Why Sprint Goes It Alone and What May Change That

Helmut Kohl becomes first postwar German Chancellor to be voted out of office, which he has held for 16 years, in his defeat by Social Democrat, Gerhard Schroeder; defeat is another political 'first' for politician, who was first Chancellor of reunited Germany and longest-serving Chancellor since Otto von Bismarck and physically most imposing; even though he attracted unending stream of unflattering jokes throughout career, and was often perceived by intellectuals as something of embarrassing provincial politician, his total control of Christian Democratic Union and skill in guiding nation through Byzantine politics of post-war and post-Communist Europe was unquestioned; he has spent little of past 16 years pondering place in history, and often bridled when opponents accused him of lacking vision, which for him was to unify German people in context of unified Europe; photo (M)

In Defeat, the Unifier of Germany Claims Yet Another Political First

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column discusses record breaking seasons of Mark McGwire, who finished season with 70 home runs, and Sammy Sosa, who has hit 66 home runs with one game remaining; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; McGwire and Sosa Just Kept Going

Edmund Morris continues work on authorized biography of former Pres Ronald Reagan, orginally set for publication seven years ago; Random House has delayed Oct plans to ship book, which it recently promoted as 'most anticipated' book of season; Morris comments on literary technique; table of biographers who have taken long times to finish books; photos (M)

13 Years and Counting For a Reagan Biography; A High-Profile Project Meets Another Delay

Red Hat Software is charging $50 for Linux, new version of Unix computer operating system, which is also available for free on Internet, in effort to promote what cultlike following of programmers and systems developers see as a more secure, flexible and economic alternative to Microsoft's Windows NT; movement, known alternately as free software and open source, is based on freely distributing source code before it is compiled into computer language, enabling programmers to suggest or write improvements; Red Hat chief executive, Robert F Young, holds open-source products can make money; has attracted interest from venture capitalists and corporate backers, possibly including Intel Corp and Netscape Communications Corp; graph; photos (M)

For Sale: Free Software; Backers of Linux Say System Is Basis For Revolutionizing Computer Business

Fans who attend majority of New York Yankees games in bleachers at Yankee Stadium say they are upset with playoff ticket distribution system that will force many of them to purchase more expensive tickets elsewhere in Stadium or miss playoffs entirely; scene in bleachers during typical Yankees game described; photo (M)

In Yankee Bleachers, Triumph and Troubles; Rabid Fans Could Miss Playoffs, or Worse, See Them From Box Seats

Peter Watrous reviews Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, Washington, DC; hails winner, Teri Thornton; photo (M)

Tearing Down the House At a Jazz Competition

 White House Strategy  To defend President Clinton, the White House and Congressional Democrats have agreed on an aggressive offense. Page A14.    Political Shift in Japan  Although it has been obscured by the economic news, a political opposition has been growing in Japan, wehre one party has long reigned. Page A8

INSIDE

New York State political strategists say that Republicans could gain between five and ten seats in Assembly races, which would be Democrats' worse setback in decades; such a result would badly damage Democrats ability to control legislation in house and to challenge agenda of Gov George Pataki and Republican-controlled Senate (M)

Democrats Fear Worst Loss of Assembly Power in Decades

St Louis Cardinals' first baseman Mark McGwire hits two home runs on final day of 1998 baseball season in game against Montreal Expos at Busch Stadium in St Louis, raising record total to 70; home runs, before roaring sellout crowd of 46,110, are off rookie pitchers Mike Thurman in third inning and Carl Pavano in seventh, and are among five in his last 11 at-bats; he is praised by teammates and members of Expos; feat leaves Sammy Sosa of Chicago Cubs, who has 66 home runs, hard-pressed to catch up with only one remaining game; photos (M)

McGwire's Grand Finale Makes It 70

Libel suit by Rudy M Camacho, Customs Service official, charging that he did not approve internal memo shown on 60 Minutes television report on drug smuggling raises questions about interaction between journalists and sources; names Michael L Horner, former Customs inspector who supplied program with copies of disputed memo, as co-defendant with CBS, journalists and report's producer; Horner has long charged his work was thwarted by corrupt superiors; memo urged agents to process quickly trucks of company allegedly linked to Mexican drug cartel; photos (M)

Spotlight on Reporters and Sources in Lawsuit Against '60 Minutes'

Hurricane Georges, recharged after devastating islands in Caribbean and Florida Keys, sweeps across Gulf of Mexico and slams into seaside cities and resorts along Gulf Coast with rain-packed winds of 105 miles per hour and sea surge of 10 feet or more; early damage reports are of extensive power failures, large numbers of downed trees and widespread damage to windows and roofs; photos; map (M)

Recharged Hurricane Batters Gulf Coast With 105 M.P.H. Winds

 The Coming of Age Of Web News Reports  The Internet and TV have begun playing pivotal roles in the release of breaking news like the Starr report and the President's videotaped testimony before a grand jury. [Page C7.]    Security Flaw Is Discovered  A potentially serious security flaw has been discovered in the programming language used by Netscape Communications' Navigator and Communicator software that could allow an outsider to steal information on a personal computer user's hard disk. The weakness was disclosed in Usenet on-line discussion groups on Friday. [C6.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Correction: September 11 report on automobiles about 1999 Ford Mustang referred incorrectly to styling of original Mustang

Corrections

Panna Udvardy is a Hungarian professional tennis player. 
She has career-high WTA rankings of 76 in singles and 65 in doubles.

September 28, 1998

Headlines from September 28, 1998

Mocking Doubters With Teasing Vamps

Novel TV Deal Could Rein In Program Costs

Bronx Offers Stadium Plan for Keeping Team

A SEASON TOO ENTERTAINING TO END

Alienation on an Iceberg Where Anger Is Warmth

Billboard 200

The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill

Can-I-Bus

'N Sync

Hello Nasty

Back To Titanic

Notable Births

Historical Context for September 28, 1998