November 27, 1999

Rumors about possible plan to move Connecticut's Appellate Court from its cramped offices in Hartford to Waterbury draws complaints of favoritism from some state legislators; Waterbury has become site of much redevelopment in last few years; decisions on whether to move court and where it will go ultimately rest with Francis M McDonald Jr, chief justice of state Supreme Court, who is also native of Waterbury; map (M)

FTC antitrust officials, after year of review, notify states that they intend to recommend approval of Exxon's $81 billion acquisition of Mobil; move comes after companies agree to largest divestiture in commission's history; at same time, federal and some state officials raise serious antitrust questions about second large oil merger, BP Amoco's proposed $29 billion purchase of Atlantic Richfield, and are threatening to go to court to block that deal; federal government, along with officials in California and other states on West Coast that are supplied by Alaskan oil from BP Amoco and ARCO, have insisted on significant divestitures; map; photo (L)

Private plane carrying Maryland family home after Thanksgiving in New York crashes in Newark, killing all three on board and injuring 25 others as it plows along a street, strikes buildings and cars and breaks into flaming debris that sets off fires, explosions and chaos in neighborhood; two employees at Linden Airport, eight miles south of Newark, had advised plane's owner-pilot, Itzhak Jacoby, against taking off in rain and dense fog; Jacoby, 56, and his wife, Gail, 50, both senior officials of federal health agencies near Washington, and their 13-year-old daughter are killed; photos; maps (L)

Interview with George J Mitchell, mediator of peace talks in Northern Ireland; Mitchell-orchestrated accord, balancing demands of conflicted province's two religious communities and parceling out authority between them, holds promise of lasting civic peace and an end to paramilitary violence that has taken more than 3,300 lives in past three decades; leaders of Catholic and Protestant parties had long refused to exchange a single word, but under Mitchell's patient strategy of holding extended gatherings in isolated locations under strict news blackout, they developed a shared level of comfort and produced long-sought exit from stalemate; photos of Mitchell, and of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein (L)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses decision by National Football League to ban throat slashing gestures; photo (M)