March 13, 2000

NCAA women's basketball tournament selections announced; Georgia (West), Connecticut (East), Tennessee (Mideast) and Louisiana Tech (Midwest) are regional top seeds; photo (M)

Redevelopment of 42d Street is altering future of Theater Row, strip of theaters carved out of shuttered massage parlors; local development corporation that helped create strip is closing four of playhouses as it prepares to break ground on apartment tower and new stages; actors and stagehands are eager to work in new spaces that will rise on Theater Row, but many say they will miss idiosyncrasies of their current homes; photos (M)

NCAA basketball tournament selections are announced; Arizona (West), Michigan State (Midwest), Duke (East) and Stanford (South) are top seeds; reaction to seeding and selections noted; photo (M)

Republican presidential candidate Gov George W Bush ridicules Democratic rival Vice Pres Al Gore's statement that campaign-finance reform will be a centerpiece of his presidential campaign; says Gore will say anything to get elected; says nothing he proposes can erase taint of Clinton administration's ethics record; promotes his own campaign finance proposals, which favor ban on soft-money donations from corporations and unions but not individuals and which have been greeted coolly by advocates of tougher rules; his aides say he wants to keep focus on Gore's ethics; campaign strategist Karl Rove says Gore has big problem telling truth; says he has been less that forthright about appearance at fund-raising event at Buddhist temple in California, in which he allegedly received $55,000 in illegal donations; says Gore's appearance at temple was more than minor mistake and involved violations of law; Gore, in New York Times interview, says he has learned from involvement in past campaign finance problems and will vigorously try to change system; says Bush lacks experience to be President; assertion is brushed aside by Bush, who accuses Gore of having Washington mentality; photo (M)

Plans to build more than dozen industrial plants in Hudson River valley in upstate New York in ongoing effort to reverse region's economic and environmental decline sharply divides towns along river that have struggled and recovered since demise of heavy industry in 1960's; opponents say plants threaten to undermine effort to reclaim Hudson from industrial pollution and rebuild region's economy through tourism; proponents welcome return of manufacturing, especially Gov George Pataki administration, which has vigorously wooed companies with promises of state-sponsored tax-exempt bonds and local tax breaks; say it will lure better-paying blue-collar jobs to region where employment has improved markedly in recent years, but where wages still lag behind those of more prosperous areas; are adamant that factories will not pollute river; environmentalists and many residents say Pataki administration has oversold promise of factory jobs and tax revenue and underestimated environmental cost; map; photos (M)