March 18, 2000

Rev Andrei Davydov is using his art to finance restoration of 12th century church in Pskov, one of oldest cities in all Russia; Cathedral of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, which dates to 1124, was in shambles when Russian Orthodox patriarchate regained it in 1991; Rev Davydov, who has worldwide reputation for his painted icons, now accepts commissions from other churches to pay for his church's repairs and rebuilding; photos; map (M)

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column on Seton Hall's Shaheen Holloway and Hofstra's Speedy Claxton, point guards from Queens who compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament; photo (M)

Surface Transportation Board sets 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers to provide time to devise merger rules to tighten performance standards and bar kinds of service interruptions that have plagued recent mergers; stalls proposed merger of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp and Canadian National Railway, agreeing with competing railroads that merger would likely set off wild round of consolidations that would limit competition; Burlington and Canadian National score move; Canadian National challenges move, Federal court; railroad stocks rise; photo (M)

Iridium LLC, unable to find new investors, moves to shut off its innovative phone and messaging service, bankruptcy court; wants to start destroying its constellation of 74 satellites by next week, move it estimates will cost $50 million; some of independent companies providing ground gateways for system plan to continue making emergency connections for period of time (M)

Plan to recruit summer school teachers in New York City, which began as quiet negotiation, sets off power struggle pitting administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani against teachers' union and interim schools chancellor Harold O Levy; Giuliani opposes plan, proposed by Levy, which would provide cash bonuses of up to $1,500 for every certified teacher agreeing to work and domestic airline tickets to those in schools where students reach certain improvement goals; favors offering bonus pay, not airline tickets, and only to those teachers whose students show most improvement at end of summer program; union officials see summer bonus pay as precedent-setting wedge for initiating merit pay for individual teachers, concept union strongly opposes which argues it would set up unhealthy competition between schools; photo (M)