January 14, 2000

State judge rules that youngest American ever convicted of murder as an adult will serve seven-year sentence at maximum-security juvenile detention center and then be freed; Judge Eugene Arthur Moore of Pontiac, Mich, rejects prosecutors' request that boy, Nathaniel Abraham, who was convicted of killing when he was 11, be sentenced to serve additional time in adult prison unless he has clearly been rehabilitated by age 21; judge says juvenile laws have become weighted too heavily toward punishment instead of rehabilitation; he calls for changes in 3-year-old state law that makes it possible for children of any age to be tried as adults in Michigan; at least 44 states have adopted laws since 1992 that allow more children to be tried as adults; photo (M)

NFL Comr Paul Tagliabue holds hearing to determine validity of Bill Belichick's contract with New York Jets; Bill Parcells, Jets offensive coordinator Charlie Weis and Belichick, who resigned as Jets coach one day after he had succeeded Parcells, testify at hearing; photo (M)

Ben Brantley reviews David Hirson's play Wrong Mountain, starring Ron Rifkin; photos (M)

New Jersey's northern counties, like rest of country, are in economic boom; while traces of that boom have reached parts of eight counties that make up South Jersey, much of southern quarter of state lags far behind in job growth, public investment and new construction; many South Jerseyans say their part of state is overlooked; map; photos (M)

Warner-Lambert Co executives, in abrupt change of heart, say that they are negotiating possible union with Pfizer Inc, suitor and rival they have battled for months; decision could leave Warner-Lambert's first choice as merger partner, American Home Products, alone at the altar for a third time in two years; either merger would create world's largest drug company (M)