November 11, 1998

New York State and New York City agree to pay $49 million to settle civil lawsuit brought by Bracha Garber, employee of city's child welfare agency, who charged New York fraudulently collected hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal funds between 1990 and 1994 for required foster care services that were not provided; settlement, approved by US District Court Judge Denny Chin, includes no admission of wrongdoing but requires city and state to give Federal offiicials access to foster care computer records over next three years so they can determine whether city is providing mandated services to children in foster care (M)

Sales of so-called life style drugs, which help people feel better about themselves or improve appearance, have proved to be business disappointments; such disappointments illustrate how life style drugs can be much more difficult to sell than traditional medications; insurance companies seldom pay for them, severely limiting likelihood of repeat users; and consumers have come to expect more from life style drugs than they do from treatments for other ailments; drugs discussed include Propecia and Rogaine for hair growth, Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette and Zyban for smoking cessation and Viagra for impotence; chart; photo (M)

Article discusses poor play this season of New York Giants defensive back Tito Wooten; photo (M)

House Republicans, aware that public does not want Pres Clinton impeached, are divided over how to handle impeachment inquiry; House Judiciary Committee is forging ahead toward likely vote on articles of impeachment, but is divided over tactics and timing; small but growing number of Republicans outside committeee say chances of impeaching Clinton are waning and that committee should chart exit strategy (M)

Growing number of companies are imposing curbs on E-mail use, learning from antitrust case against Microsoft Corp that E-mail can be mine field of legal liability and source of public embarrassment; privacy of workplace correspondence and accountability for what is written are growing concerns for many employers (M)