May 4, 1999

New York Mets defeat Houston Astros, 5-3; photo (M)

A 22-year-old graduate of Columbine High School was charged with providing a powerful, semi-automatic handgun to one of the two attackers. The defendant was booked on a charge of providing a gun to a minor, a felony, and released on $15,000 bond. But a lawyer for the defendant said his client did not know how the gun would be used. Article, page A28.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc will formally end its 130-year status as private partnership by selling 69 million shares, or roughly 15 percent of firm, to public at $53 each, raising $3.66 billion; trading in shares will begin May 4 on New York Stock Exchange (M)

Congestive heart failure is an increasing cause of death and disability in US and the only form of heart disease that is on rise; epidemic attests to advances in saving lives of heart attack victims and people with other heart problems, but these survivors are often left with weakened hearts, and many will require transplants; current treatments, including drugs, surgery and implanted heart pumps, and some future ones described; graph; drawing (L)

Smattering of American companies, after nearly decade of piling increasing responsibilities on employees, are beginning to worry about consequences; concerns ranging from lack of creativity to 'burnout,' when employee becomes too tired to work effectively or even at all, have emerged among most urgent topics at human resources forums; some companies are experimenting with ways to alleviate workloads, ranging from limiting work to 40 hours per week to discouraging employees from checking E-mail and phone messages over weekends; unlike last wave of corporate initiatives aimed at helping employees balance work with personal lives, new programs like that at Hewlett-Packard aim for more than convenience; are addressing fundamental problem of how much time job demands and how to build life beyond work (M)