Producers of CBS reality television show Big Brother are trying to ignite viewer interest by paying one of six remaining contestants $10,000 to quit this week, allowing show to introduce fresh face; photos (M)

'Big Brother' Hopes to Engineer an Exit, Then Add a Face

 Giants and Jets Both Win In Their Season-Openers  Tiki Barber rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns and the rookie Ron Dayne added another touchdown as the Giants beat the Arizona Cardinals, 21-16, at the Meadowlands. For the Jets, Curtis Martin led the way to a 20-16 victory over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, running for 110 yards and one touchdown.   SPORTSMONDAY    Shake-Up for Lebanon  A former prime minister dealt a blow to Lebanon's Syrian-picked government in final parliamentary voting, early results showed, altering the political status quo.   PAGE A4

INSIDE

New York Giants defeat Arizona Cardinals, 21-16, in season opening game; photo (M)

Winning Is Elemental for Barber, Dayne and Giants

Microsoft Corp hopes to begin selling powerful video-game computer called Xbox for around $300 in October 2001; plans to compete with Sony Corp's Playstation; photos (M)

Microsoft's Game Plan; Xbox to Go Head to Head With Sony

Invasion of art is refashioning New Orleans's once forlorn warehouse district into chic enclave of culture and condominiums; original renewal district boundaries have been pushed back, almost doubling territory and taking in much of business district; photos; map (M)

A Skid Row Turned SoHo In Downtown New Orleans; Arts Projects (and the Failure Of a World's Fair) Revitalize Warehouses on the Mississippi

 WorldCom in Talks to Buy Communications Concern  WorldCom is in advanced talks to acquire Intermedia Communications, a telecommunications operator in Tampa, Fla., for almost $3 billion in cash and stock, executives close to the negotiations said.    Intermedia has been an attractive takeover target because it has a 54 percent stake in Digex, which provides Web-hosting services for corporate sites. WorldCom entered negotiations with Intermedia after talks between Intermedia and Global Crossing broke down. A third suitor, Exodus Communications, offered to acquire Digex directly but was rebuffed by Intermedia. [Page C2.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Gov George W Bush announces schedule of three hand-picked debates that he will do, only one of which is guaranteed to be broadcast on the three major networks; challenges Vice Pres Al Gore to meet him on these chosen dates and terms, trying to turn Gore's response into a referendum on his credibility; Bush proposal is a rebuff to Commission on Presidential Debates, which has proposed three debates, all to be broadcast on the major networks; Gore aides suggest that Bush is afraid of prime-time confrontation; photo (M)

BUSH PUTS FORTH ALTERNATIVE PLAN FOR 3 TV DEBATES

US Open tennis results; Monica Seles, Venus Williams and Nathalie Tauziat advance to quarterfinals in women's singles; other results noted; photo (M)

Minus Teen Spirit, Seles Defeats Capriati to Reach Quarterfinals

Outlaw country singer David Allan Coe released two underground albums of songs in early 1980's that are among most racist, misogynist, homophobic and obscene songs recorded by popular songwriter; albums have been bootlegged by fans for years, and now they are being passed around as e-mail files; Cole has distanced himself from that music and toned down his act, but he is selling those early songs on one CD on his own Web site, though he refuses to put his name on disc or packaging; Coe will be exposed to new audience when he performs opening act on rap-metal star Kid Rock's tour; music fans wonder how Kid Rock, who has collaborated with black rappers, can be touring with songwriter responsible for blatantly antiblack material; photos (M)

Songwriter's Racist Songs From 1980's Haunt Him

St Louis Cardinals defeat New York Mets, 4-3; photo (N)

Once Again, Mets Are Unhappy Because Edmonds Is the Hero

Article discusses carer of Dr Idella Kathleen Hagen following her arrest for murder of her parents, Idella and James Hagen, in their home in Chatham Township, NJ; photo (M)

An Achiever's Unraveling; Fall of Doctor Accused of Killing Her Parents

Photo of Vice Pres Al Gore campaigning for president in Philadelphia

A Confident Gore Sets Off on a Grand Tour

Photo of Gov George W Bush in Austin, Tex

Bush Adapts and Goes on the Attack

Political Memo column discusses campaign strategy to be employed by Repr Robert D Franks and Jon S Corzine as their battle for US Senate seat from New Jersey enters final months (M)

Political Memo; A Battle About Finances And the Lack of Finances

Morgan Library mounts exhibition of 40 drawings by Claude Lorrain, considered among greatest of landscape painters; photo; fifth Henson International Festival of Puppet Theater will bring 26 companies for performances on 14 stagges in New York; major display of works of master jeweler and goldsmith Peter Carl Faberge will open at Riverfront Arts Center in Wilmington, Del; Dance Theater of Harlem opens 13-performance engagement at City Center (M)

This Week

Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate Serb nationalist, anti-Communist and democrat, is mounting serious campaign to unseat Slobodan Milosevic as Yugoslav president, and polls suggest that he may be able to win; Milosevic is fighting for his political survival after calling elections nine months early in an effort to shore up his international legitimacy; Kostunica expects Milosevic to do everything he can, including fraud, to win first round; photo (M)

Milosevic Foe Leading Field In Yugoslavia

Bloomberg News service, with 950 reportes and 79 bureaus, competes to break news with Dow Jones, Reuters and Bridge News along with newspaper Web sites, dozens of small Internet sites and gossipy chart rooms; photos (M)

In a Second-to-Second News World, Bloomberg Takes Stock

Theater missile defenses, which are intended to protect American troops and bases in relatively small regions of conflict, are getting increased scrutiny as possible fill-ins for national missile defense system, which Pres Clinton says cannot be put in place until 2006 or 2007 at the earliest; some already under development could be expanded, potentially, to protect larger areas and perhaps even the entire US; Russia has not objected to theater systems that work in the boost phase because interceptors cannot be positioned close enough to attack Russian rockets while they are being launched, but China does see theater defenses as a threat because they could theoretically be used to protect Taiwan and Japan, its potential adversaries; $5.1 billion that US will spend on missile defense in fiscal year 2001 will be equally divided between theater defenses and national missile defense; diagrams and graphs (L)

Other Systems Might Provide a U.S. Missile Shield

Five years of multiplex and megaplex construction have left movie theater companies with unmanageable debt, falling profits and stock prices and sometimes bankruptcy; theaters will not allow any film to be shown at more than one site in a single 'film zone,' and there are just not enough hits to go around, particularly during a lackluster summer like the one just ending; US now has 37,000 movie screens, and most analysts agree that the maximum number that can exist profitably is 28,000; new theaters take business from older ones with fewer up-to-the-minute amenities, and companies, which are often stuck with long-term leases, cannot close unprofitable theaters fast enough; yet construction continues because of competitive pressure or commitments that predate the overbuilding and steep financial reversals; photo; graph (M)

Movie Theaters Build Themselves Into a Corner

Immigrant workers account for 12 percent of US labor force in 1999, highest level in seven decades, and influx is having profound effects on work force and the economy, helping hold down wages in unskilled jobs and giving many companies the employees needed to expand; immigrants dominate dozens of jobs, especially arduous, low-paying ones; software companies, farmers, hotels and others desperate for workers at time of record low unemployment are pressuring Congress to enact legislation that would admit hundreds of thousands of additional immigrants each year; those efforts are being resisted by labor unions, engineers' associations and other groups; economists and demographers see a continuing surge in immigrant workers unless there is a major econmoic downturn; photo (M)

FOREIGN WORKERS AT HIGHEST LEVEL IN SEVEN DECADES

Political Memo; 2 Races for Senate, One Marked by Exposure, the Other by Money

Analysis of possible sale of Hughes Electronics by General Motors Corp in light of Carl C Icahn's decision last month to buy GM stock (M)

Icahn's Move Forces G.M. To Consider Hughes Deal

Nassau County, NY, Executive Thomas S Gulotta is preparing to present outlines of fiscal plan intended to bring county back from brink of bankruptcy; proposal is to be presented to Frank G Zarb, who heads Nassau Interim Finance Authority, independent oversight board set up by state to help county restructure its debt (M)

Nassau Looks To Its Leader For a Route Out Of Fiscal Maze

New York Jets defeat Green Bay Packers, 20-16, in season opening game; photo (M)

A Big Finish Gives the Jets a Winning Start

Article finds that despite state and federal racketeering cases over last two decades that broke organized crime's monopoly in construction business in New York City metropolitan area, mob has remained entrenched in business, feeding off public works projects and private developments; notes that several months ago, New York City suspended more than $80 million in contracts with Interstate Industrial Corp so that officials could investigate allegations that company has ties to organized crime (M)

Mob's Shadow Still Falls Across Building Projects

Sergio Gómez Martín is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left wing-back or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Sociedad and the Spain national team.

September 4, 2000

Headlines from September 4, 2000

'Big Brother' Hopes to Engineer an Exit, Then Add a Face

INSIDE

Winning Is Elemental for Barber, Dayne and Giants

Microsoft's Game Plan; Xbox to Go Head to Head With Sony

A Skid Row Turned SoHo In Downtown New Orleans; Arts Projects (and the Failure Of a World's Fair) Revitalize Warehouses on the Mississippi

Billboard 200

Country Grammar

Oops!...I Did It Again

The Marshall Mathers LP

Now 4

Human Clay

Notable Births

Historical Context for September 4, 2000