October 23, 2000

Joel R Anderson's company, Anderson News of Florence, Ala, has risen to become nation's largest magazine wholesaler, delivering 4 of every 10 magazines on retail racks nn United States; Anderson is symbol of swift consolidation that has left battlefield littered with defunct wholesalers, large and small; consolidation has drawn attention of Justice Dept's antitrust division and has created mounting, intense consternation among publishers, who say they find it more difficult and expensive to get their publications distributed; some even blame wholesalers for deaths of Details, Mirabella and Life magazines; Anderson claims he is being squeezed by large retailers to offer more service and better prices, reducing his gross profit on each copy sold; he also feels that too many magazines are being published for dwindling retail racks available; photos (M)

Kindergartens nationwide have become thicket of academic challenges as a result of increased state testing in elementary grades; states and school districts are writing formal curriculums for kindergarten, requiring students to learn reading and math skills that were once taught in first grade; more school districts are offering full seven-hour day of kindergarten after discovering that traditional three-hour programs do not allow time for academics that are becoming standard fare; changes hold true in poor schools as well as rich, and in small suburban schools as well as large urban ones; shift has prompted debate on how much is too much; some teachers, parents and child development experts say increased focus on reading and math has come at expense of play, and risk souring children on school at age when goal has long been to socialize them to it; photo (M)

General Electric will acquire Honeywell International for $45 billion in stock, capping intense deal-making that broke up impending merger with United Technologies; GE chairman, Jack F Welch, will defer planned retirement from April to end of 2001 to see deal through and manage company's largest acquisition; company will pay 1.055 shares for each of Honeywell's roughly 817 million fully diluted shares, valuing each share at approximately $55.39; will reportedly assume $3 billion in debt; charts; photos (M)

Charles Dutoit will lead Montreal Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in 75th birthday tribute to Mikis Theodorakis, Greece's foremost composer; he was scourge of colonels of Greek dictatorship from 1967 to 1974; they imprisoned him and banned his music; photo (M)

Pres Clinton flies into New York to lend his assistance to Senate campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as Presidential campaign of Al Gore; Clinton, traveling from one end of state to other, denounces Republicans and declares that his wife and Vice President would assure continuance of his policies once he leaves office in January; photo (M)