November 4, 1999

Crackdown Rattles China Has it come to this: that the Chinese Communist Party is terrified of retirees who follow a spiritual master in Queens? NEWS ANALYSIS, PAGE A10

Christine Bourron is among number of entrepreneurs and artists who are selling art over the Internet; Bourron's company, PaintingsDirect.com, operates Web site (www.paintingsdirect.com) that allows browsers to search art not just by artist or style, but also by price, size, color and by more than 200 keywords; some other sites noted; sudden proliferation of sites has alarmed some people in art world who question not just what protections buyers have but whether what is being offered by some sites can even be called art; however, noted firms such as Sotheby's, in partnership with Amazon.com, is planning to hold auctions on its site by beginning of next year; photos, including Bourron (L)

U.S. Accuses Seven Utilities Of Violating Clean-Air Law The federal government sued seven electric companies in the Midwest and South, accusing the utilities of defying anti-pollution regulations and illegally contaminating the air breathed by millions of Americans. The defendants are American Electric Power, Cinergy, FirstEnergy, Illinois Power, Southern Indiana Gas and Electric, Southern, Tampa Electric. The government accused them of modernizing their generating plants without modernizing their pollution controls as required by the Clean Air Act. [Page A1.]

Article contends that while Ken Griffey Jr ranks among game's greatest players, market for his services could be surprisingly thin, affected by his apparent intention to test free agency after 2000 season and glut of star players available for trade this off season (M)

Murray Chass Sports of The Times column discusses how low-revenue major league baseball teams will be able to take advantage of high-priced free agency by securing high impact player through trades; cites Texas Rangers trading Juan Gonzales to Detroit Tigers; photo (M)

Increasing number of residents and town officials in Cooperstown, NY, express concern over growth in tourism that is linked to it being home of Baseball Hall of Fame; cite plans to build baseball theme parks on city outskirts and conversions of town's main street into baseball merchandise and memorabilia center; fear that bucolic scenes of village on lake are being endangered; photo; map (M)

E Virgil Conway, chairman of Metropolitan Transportation Authority, tells state legislators that large new sources of money would be needed if authority goes ahead with plans to expand its subway, bus and commuter rail systems; statement comes in response to report issued by State Comptroller H Carl McCall which found that fares may have to be raised 30 cents by 2004 to pay for planned $17.5 billion, five-year capital plan if state does not provide more subsidies (M)

Special report--One Europe, 10 Years--on changes in Eastern and Central Europe 10 years after collapse of Communism; focuses on political career of Czech Pres Vaclav Havel, dissident playwright celebrated in West in 1989 as symbol of Communism's magical implosion and force of written word, but who has declined in stature and is treated disdainfully by Czechs, who regard him as political has-been; arc of his career mirrors difficulties of formerly Communist European countries, which embraced freedom with high hopes only to experience harsh realities of economic and political transformation; he is among idolized heroes of Communism's collapse who have found themselves chewed apart, with historical reputations more pitted longer they remain in office; friends and close aides say he is prone to self-doubt, is often miserable and that he feels condemned to protocol and nonsense and is acting out role of President for sake of people and state; photos (M)

Nassau County, NY, Democrats begin organizing themselves for task of taking over county government following stunning election victory that ended century of Republican control; Judith A Jacobs, who will become presiding officer of Legislature, vows to bring new openness to county government; must wrestle with prospect of another budget deficit in 2000, figure out ways of dealing with unpopular county executive Thomas S Gulotta--whose handling of finances is widely blamed for party's losses--and begin fostering bipartisanship in Legislature where none has ever taken root; photo (M)

Being superintendent of a large New York City apartment building has become in recent years a career rather than a drudge job; professional clubs, guilds and schools across the city attest to growing numbers of young building superintendents and resident managers, armed with certificates in finance management, computer literacy and blueprint drafting, who aspire to high-powered management; photos (M)

New radar data released by the National Transportation Safety Board shows that EgyptAir Flight 990 fell steeply in its final minutes, then climbed more than a mile before plunging once more and apparently breaking up in mid-air. Investigators had previously reported that the plane dropped in 40 seconds from 33,000 feet, its assigned flight altitude, to 16,700 feet, where the plane's transponder -- the onboard device that reports the plane's altitude to flight controllers -- ceased to function. But new data from two Air Force radars that can determine altitude without help from the transponder saw the plane rise again to an altitude of 24,000 feet before it resumed its descent into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New England.

Susan B. Anthony was a teetotaler spinster, raised in a strict Quaker home in which toys were not allowed. In photograph after photograph she displays the stern features and cranky expression of a woman who never had fun. Elizabeth Cady Stanton had a life, and she enjoyed it. She loved food and clothes, and in her photographs, as she changes from a dark-haired young mother to a plump white-haired matron, she usually has a headful of curls. The pictures don't deceive, but they fail to capture what was most original about these two. Together they led a fierce revolution for women's rights that went far beyond getting the vote and whose repercussions are still being felt. ''Oh, my daughter, I wish you were a boy,'' Stanton's father told her when she was young; he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.