August 4, 2000

Interview with Glen Sather, new president and general manager of New York Rangers, on his plans to rebuild team; photos (M)

Article in series on rampage killings focuses on lawsuits filed by families of three girls killed in West Paducah, Ky, school shooting; families have accepted settlement of their claims against killer, Michael Carneal, but they are unlikely to ever collect the $42 million in damages and their myriad other lawsuits have been dismissed; families sued Carneal's parents, teachers, school officials, other teenagers, neighbors, and makers of violent video games, Web sites and movies; they say they will appeal decisions of state and federal judges that that only person to blame for killings was Carneal himself; families maintain that their legal setbacks show that courts are turning their backs on schoolhouse tragedies, but there is resentment in Paducah over lawsuits; photos (M)

George Vecsey Sports of The Times article on Dawn Ellerbe, American medal contender in first Olympic women's hammer throw; photo (M)

Chrysler PT Cruiser and Ford Focus ZX3 fare badly in government crash tests, the former on its ability to protect the head of a driver wearing a safety belt in a front collision and the latter on its ability to protect a rear passenger in a side crash; table compares their crash tests results with those of competing vehicles; photo (M)

Gov George W Bush pledges in speech accepting Republican presidential nomination to confront the 'hard issues' that he says Clinton administration has consistently ducked; at jubilant final session of Republican National Convention, Bush argues that Pres Clinton and Vice Pres Gore have had chance to solve major problems but 'have not led'; underlines theme, promoted during entire convention, that Republican Party is one of inclusiveness and 'compassionate conservatism'; proposes major reforms in public schools, Social Security and federal tax code, and promises to create Medicare prescription drug benefit and to rebuild nation's military strength; photos (M)

Federal Judge Nina Gershon strikes down New York's century-old kosher food laws as violating Constitution's prohibition on religious involvement by the state; state market inspectors have for decades checked on whether products marked kosher are prepared in accordance with Orthodox requirements (M)

Nyack, NY, suburban community that has long cultivated reputation for diversity and tolerance, is polarized by report of racial gap in schools; armed with previously unreleased statistics broken down by race, group of parents, black and white, accuse school district of systematic segregation: steering blacks away from honors classes and into special education, disciplining blacks at disproportionate rates, and allowing test scores of blacks to lag far behind those of whites for a decade; in reponse, white parents are defending schools and pointing finger at what they call deviancy and neglect in black families; some black parents say statistics confirm discrimination they suspected, while others denounce report as perpetuating painful stereotypes; closing gap between black and white achievement has become nation's thorniest education issue, and Nyack's experience suggests that merely acknowledging existence of racial gap is only painful first step on path to actually improving schools; photos (M)

Interview with Mike Bordick, newly acquired from Baltimore Orioles by New York Mets, on his baseball career; photo (M)

Liberty Harbor RV Park in Jersey City, facing New York skyline, offers tourists inexpensive place to stay, in their own or rented motor homes; photos; map (M)

General Motors and some 30 other corporations have forsworn soft-money donations to political parties, but activities at Republican National Convention show they are still finding ways to curry favor with current, and possibly future, leaders; GM provided 400 vehicles for use of convention organizers and hosted two luncheons at which they highlighted their latest products, while Time Warner and other entertainment companies hosted lavish parties (M)

Puerto Rican Day parade in New York City may ban some floats carrying rap performers whose music glorifies violence and attracts unruly throngs; photo; Federico Perez says parade officials are not accusing rappers of inciting rampage that erupted at edge of Central Park this June, but says obscene lyrics blaring from floats do not promote traditional Latin image; 30 men are charge so far in attacks on dozens of women (M)

Jon Pareles reviews soundtracks of recent movies; photo (L)