Keyshawn Johnson, saying that he feels disrespected that he has been subject of trade talks and offended by New York Jets' public statements about his contract situation, pushes his tense standoff with team to brink by saying he is dangerously close to not wanting to play for team; photo (M)

Johnson and Agent Fire Back at the Jets

Some 3,000 illegal Haitian immigrants who have had children in US face wrenching decision of whether to take them back to Haiti when they are deported or to leave them in US, where they are citizens, are growing up in with a new language and culture and can expect a better life; being parent of US citizen is not sufficient for a waiver when an immigrant enters US with a fraudulent passport; Esta and Jean Pierre, who entered US with a doctored passports and have two American-born children, illustrate the plight of these parents; photos (M)

Haitian Immigrants in U.S. Face a Wrenching Choice

OPEC decides to increase oil production without the participation of its second-largest producer, Iran, but the increase, 1.45 million barrels a day, is less than the 2.5 million urged by US; Iran's irritation at US pressures is apparently one reason behind its opposition to any increase; experts estimate that it will take at least six to eight weeks before any additional oil production finds its way to the gasoline pumps; Clinton administration remains optimistic, citing additional production it expects from non-OPEC producers; graph; photos (M)

WITH IRAN BALKING, OPEC NATIONS PLAN TO SELL MORE OIL

Eric Asimov surveys proliferation of new restaurants in Brooklyn, noting that over past year or so, Smith Street, Park Slope, Fort Greene and Williamsburg have all been proclaimed culinary hot spots of the moment, each brimming with restaurant treasures; some new restaurants profiled; photos; map (L)

A Defining Moment In Brooklyn

New York Power Authority votes to sell its two nuclear plants to Entergy Nuclear for $967 million in what will be by far largest sale of nuclear reactors in United States history; Entergy's offer for Indian Point 3 plant in Buchanan and James A FitzPatrick plant in Oswego topped last minute bid of $946 million from Dominion Resources (M)

Agency Votes To Accept Bid For 2 A-Plants

 Strategist Suggests Curb On Stocks, and Prices Fall  Stock prices fell as investors took profits and Abby Joseph Cohen, the influential stock market strategist at Goldman, Sachs, recommended that her firm's clients reduce their allocation of stocks to 65 percent from 70 percent. It is the first time Ms. Cohen has reduced the stock allocation since January 1999.    The Dow Jones industrial average fell 89.74 points, or 0.8 percent, to 10,936.11. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index slumped 16.13 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,507.73, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 124.67 points, or 2.5 percent, to 4,833.89.   [Page C15.]    The decline in stock prices lifted bond prices modestly. The yield on the benchmark 30-year issue was unchanged at 5.98 percent.   [C15.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Amanda Hesser article on sorrel, observing that no other vegetable at this time of year has such power, or complexity; notes sorrel is fruity like rhubarb, tart like lemon, and herbal like basil--and can be treated like all three; photo; recipes (L)

The Secret Life of Sorrel

Interview with Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, whose modern English translation of epic Beowulf has been one of surprise successes of publishing season; book is a best seller in Britain and United States; photo (M)

An Anglo-Saxon Chiller(With an Irish Touch); Seamus Heaney Adds His Voice to 'Beowulf'

Article discusses success of Rutgers women's basketball coach C Vivian Stringer; photo (M)

Stringer: Overrated? No, Overjoyed

New CBS series Falcone, loosely based on 1997 movie Donnie Brasco, to have its premiere on Tuesday, April 4 from 9 to 11 pm; CBS, in highly unusual move, will then run show for next seven nights, except Sunday, from 10 to 11 pm; as result, network--and show's creators and actors--will know within week if Falcone will have found an audience, and if CBS will continue making show; photo of Jason Gedrick and Titus Welliver (M)

CBS Takes a Gamble on a Blitz of 'Falcone'

 Microsoft Talks Continue  The trial judge in the Microsoft antitrust case delayed his decision after the federal mediator told officials that he still might be able to broker a settlement.   PAGE C1

INSIDE

Article on Wendell Castle, one of America's foremost furniture makers, who has started business called Icon Design that will market 'budget' line of his works; Castle comments on his business plan for achieving quantity and maintaining quality; photos (M)

Transforming Art Into Enterprise

Article discuses how important it is to status of New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine that team gets off to quick start (M)

Phillips Says Valentine Must Make It Happen

Madison Square Garden president Dave Checketts fires New York Rangers president and general manager Neil Smith and Coach John Muckler; names John Tortorella interim coach; photo (M)

Woeful Rangers Fire Smith and Muckler

American Academy of Poets plans festival of readings, discussions and other events in April, fifth annual National Poetry Month; photo of poet laureate Robert Pinsky; Carnegie Hall, not entirely pleased with results of its printed message in programs, is trying new tack to discourage noise of cell phones and other electronic devices: before start of concerts, message is projected onto back wall of stage telling people to turn off their cell phones and other electronic devices; American Composers Orchestra, using eight computer-controlled Yamaha Disklaviers and led by Dennis Russell Davies, to present Ballet Mecanique by George Antheil; photo; Mabou Mines, which bills itself as longest-running avant-garde theater company in America, marks its 30th anniversary (M)

FOOTLIGHTS

If you thought the passage of time had rendered the Sex Pistols quaint objects of pop-culture nostalgia, Julien Temple's electrifying new documentary will make you think again. The film presents the great, short-lived British punk band in all its scabrous glory -- spewing obscenities on British television, spitting at journalists and fans and generally smashing through the drabness and hypocrisy of 1970's Britain like a brick through a shop window. At a time when every obscenity or aesthetic shock tactic feels like the product of either careful market research or dutiful graduate-school training, the filth and the fury of British punk rock at its moment of impact retains a surprising dignity. These guys hated everything, but at least they believed in something. Nihilism like this makes you glad to be alive. — A. O. Scott

A Rock Band That Hurled Rocks at 70's Britain

Lisa Belkin's Life's Work column on growing number of perks employers offer would-be employees at a time of low unemployment; says people who make their living from work-life programs at corporations understand some of perks are likely to disappear when economy weakens; drawing (M)

When the Age of Courtship Ends

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column urges New York Rangers to pursue New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello to succeed Neil Smith when Lamoriello's contract with Devils expires; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Checketts Must Pursue Lamoriello

New Jersey transit officials, half-century after region's last streetcar tracks were torn up to make way for more cars and buses, are set to open first leg of $1.1 billion trolley system along Hudson River; Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, which is expected to begin April 15, is largest public works program in New Jersey history; entire project is expected to be completed by 2010; photo; map (M)

Seeing the Future in an Old Triumph: Trolleys

Two independent panels report that Mars Polar Lander spacecraft probably failed because its descent engine shut down prematurely but that mission's loss in December 1999 can ultimately be attributed to inadequate management, testing and financing; say pressures to conform to NASA's recent credo of 'faster, cheaper, better' caused managers to sacrifice needed testing and realistic assessments of the risks of failure; NASA officials announce shakeup of management of its Mars programs; cancel plans to launch a new Mars lander in 2001 and will probably revise or delay other missions to the planet; drawing; photo (M)

POOR MANAGEMENT BY NASA IS BLAMED FOR MARS FAILURE

Ben & Jerry's Homemade will become private in $38-a-share deal valued at $260 million; deal would give founder Ben Cohen, who owns million shares of company, control of 36 percent of Ben & Jerry's; Meadowbrook Lane Capital, investor group, would have similar stake, and remaining 28 percent would be held by Unilever, British-Dutch giant that owns Breyer's ice cream as well as Good Humor bars; co-founder Jerry Greenfield would retain no interest in company; decision appears to have caused rift between Cohen and Greenfield, who is described as unhappy with involvement of Unilever; photo (Market Place column) (M)

THE MARKETS: Market Place; Ben & Jerry's Is Reportedly Going Private

Richard A Posner, federal mediator in Microsoft Corp antitrust case, tells officials that he may be able to broker settlement, prompting trial Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to delay his ruling, which was due March 28; Posner has laid out aggressive weeklong schedule of proposals and counterproposals between Microsoft and Justice Department; state attorneys general are protesting schedule, which allows them only two days to review any agreement between Microsoft and federal government (M)

Judge in Microsoft Case Delays a Ruling as Mediation Intensifies

John Tierney The Big City column contends that New York City Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani and Rev Jesse Jackson have displaced their emotions and behavior in issue of police shootings of Amadou Diallo and Patrick M Dorismond away from real issue of interracial violence in New York City (M)

Politician, Heal Thyself (Take a Couch)

Obsure provision of Internal Revenue Code is being exploited by adocacy groups as way to raise and spend unlimited sums on political activities without any disclosure, as long as they do not expressly advocate voting for a candidate; provision, called Section 527, was written into tax cut more than 25 years ago as a way of protecting most income from political parties from taxation, but recent court and IRS rulings have allowed nonprofit political organizations to use it to avoid donor disclosure rules and contribution limits of federal election laws; among advocacy groups are a peace organization and a group created by pharmaceutical companies to oppose legislation that they fear might lead to price controls on drugs (M)

A POLITICAL VOICE, WITHOUT STRINGS

New York Governor George E Pataki proposes building one of first museums in country to be devoted to women's history; $125 million museum, to be called Museum of Women: The Leadership Center, will be located in Battery Park City in lower Manhattan; Pataki has provided $1 million for $125 million state project; rendering (M)

March 29, 2000

Headlines from March 29, 2000

Johnson and Agent Fire Back at the Jets

Haitian Immigrants in U.S. Face a Wrenching Choice

WITH IRAN BALKING, OPEC NATIONS PLAN TO SELL MORE OIL

A Defining Moment In Brooklyn

Agency Votes To Accept Bid For 2 A-Plants

Billboard 200

Supernatural

Unleash The Dragon

Dr. Dre -- 2001

On How Life Is

BTNHResurrection

Historical Context for March 29, 2000