December 21, 1998

New York State Democrats say that while near party line vote to impeach President Clinton may have left cloud over President, it has also handed their party powerful political weapon that could win them back majority in Congress two years from now; buoyed by public opinion polls indicating that Clinton, or at least his policies, remain in favor, particularly in Northeast, and that Republican Party is increasingly unpopular, Democrats are already planning ways to use impeachment issue against Republicans (M)

Pres Clinton adopts two-track approach to pending impeachment trial in Senate; is preparing vigorous legal defense while seeking compromise on resolution of condemnation that would allow him to keep job; strategy could founder in Senate as it did in House as aides say he is not prepared to confess that he lied under oath before Federal grand jury or obstructed justice; former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter propose swift end to impeachment crisis through bipartisan censure resolution, to be voted by Senate and accepted by Clinton, who would publicly acknowledge he lied under oath; is welcomed by White House officials, who caution that Clinton remains adamantly opposed to any admission of perjury, which he believes he did not commit; Clinton's legal team, led by White House counsel Charles F C Ruff and Gregory B Craig, prepares for trial; will introduce series of motions questioning legitimacy of impeachment articles voted by lame-duck 105th Congress; will demand that charges against Clinton be spelled out in detail; will rely on same factual and Constitutional arguments rejected by House, but can no longer claim that accusations against Clinton do not warrant impeachment; will argue that offenses alleged in articles of impeachment do not form sufficient grounds to warrant President's removal from offfice; photo (M)

Article discusses criminal activities of Zolton Williams, 1998 graduate of Columbia University Law School; he is currently in Federal jail in Brooklyn awaiting sentencing to up to 12 years in prison for smuggling tens of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine from Jamaica to United States while he was student; reaction of professors and classmates to charges against Williams noted; photo (M)

Iraq's capital of Baghdad appears to have avoided heavy damage in American and British air raids that lasted for 70 hours; preliminary Western assessments of damage suggest nationwide attacks were effective, even though life in city seems to have been hardly disrupted; even if raids were successful in destroying Iraqi military bases and centers where chemical and biological weapons may have been developed, there is no sign that they came near to achieving West's larger political objective of removing Pres Saddam Hussein; Hussein has emerged at least as powerful as he was before military campaign; photo (M)

Interview with Rosemary Mahoney, author of book A Likely Story: One Summer With Lillian Hellman; photos (M)

Volunteers who are gay, HIV-negative and sexually active are taking part in first full scale test of vaccine to prevent AIDS; trial of genetically engineered vaccine known as Aidsvax will involve 5,000 volunteers in US and 2,500 in Thailand; Troy Masters, one of first volunteers, comments; photo (M)

Interview with Gerald Charles Dickens, great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens who has spent past three Christmas seasons in US doing one-man performances of A Christmas Carol and other Dickensiana in towns and South and Midwest where live theater performances are far from daily fare; photo (M)

Senators from from both parties pledge to restore civility to impeachment proceedings, day after House impeached Pres Clinton, even as they quickly split along party lines over whether he must face trial in Senate or can be subject to censure; senators promise different tone from that in House, even though some move to stake out party-line positions familiar from House debate; Senate Rules Committee chairman Mitch McConnell who will preside over possible trial insists Senate is obliged to proceed, while ranking committee Democrat, Sen Christopher J Dodd, calls for quick agreement on censure; former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford urge Senate to draft censure resolution that would require Clinton to acknowledge he lied under oath, but also stipulate that his admission not be used against him in any future criminal trial; both say time has come to put political differences aside and plant seeds of justice and reconciliation; New York Times/CBS News Poll finds Clinton's popularity remains high despite impeachment; two-thirds of Americans say Clinton should complete term in office; 58 percent express unfavorable view of Republican Party; photos (M)

Newspaper stock analysts are citing strong news coverage and distinctive editorial voice as aids to profitability, helping to defend newsroom staffs from cost-cutting efforts; even those newspapers that are cutting work forces are barely grazing their newsrooms; graph of improvement in newspaper stock performance; photo (M)

Article discusses increasing internal and external scrutiny of International Olympic Committee following allegations involving bribery in connection with awarding of Games to host cities; recent allegations concerning awarding Salt Lake City, Utah, 2002 Games discussed (M)

A 27-year-old Houston woman became the mother of the only known living set of octuplets, giving birth yesterday to five girls and two boys. Another girl was born on Dec. 8. All eight were in critical condition. The smallest weighed 11 ounces, and the largest 1 pound, 11 ounces. All are on ventilators.

Seagram's consolidation of music holdings of its recently acquired Polygram with its Universal Music Group, which jointly account for some 25 percent of United States and European music markets, threatens jobs of many workers and careers of many rock bands; merged company is expected to drop some 200 bands in biggest reorganization ever in industry; remaining hundred or so rock, pop and rap acts will be on new record labels with mostly new personnel; fallout will affect music for years to come; Universal plans to collapse Geffen Records and A&M into Interscope and merge Island Records and Mercury Records into one label; Sting, who is supposed to be on Interscope, and U2, which is supposed to be part of Island Mercury, are resisting change; photos (M)