October 25, 2000

Wadih El-Hage, in surprising twist in embassy bombings case, appears in Federal District Court in Manhattan and says he wants to plead guilty to conspiracy charges against him; move follows plea bargaining agreement between prosecutors and Ali A Mohamed, who pleaded guilty yo terrorism conspiracy charges; Federal District Court Judge Leonard B Sand rejects el-Hage's guilty plea after defendant says his reasons for pleading guilty did not turn on culpability in case (M)

Article discusses dwindling voter interest in New Jersey Senate race between Jon S Corzine and Repr Robert Franks; both candidates are met with sparse audiences as they attend rallies throughout state; photo (M)

Article discusses how third-party candidates for US Senate from New York are being virtually ignored by public and media as most attention focuses on Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Repr Rick Lazio; Mark J Dunau (Green Party), Jeffrey E Graham (Independence Party) and John Clifton (Libertarian Party) comment (M)

Tyco International is leaning on workers at its A&E Products plant in Ringtown, Pa, to give up traditional indemnity health insurance plan and approve managed care plan that Tyco says could save A&E Products $500,000 a year; across country, nine out of 10 Americans who receive health coverage at work are now enrolled in some form of managed care, and proportion with indemnity plans has fallen by more than half; company has told workers that they must either accept managed care or undergo mass layoffs; graph; chart; photos (M)

Lisa Belkin (Life's Work) column on ritual phone call made by countless employees every afternoon to check up on children who have come home from school; says what may be needed is longer school day and school year to put parents and children on same schedule; drawing (M)