December 19, 2000

Firestone Tire & Rubber engineers blame unique combination of tire and vehicle design, tire manufacturing and customer abuse for tire failures linked to deaths of more than 100 Americans, almost all in Ford Explorers; four-month internal investigation by Firestone finds that tire failures had their roots in decisions as simple as whether to use rubber pellets or rubber sheets in certain manufacturing processes, and whether grooves in side of tire's tread were vertical or slanted; inquiry also finds fault with Ford, asserting that by letting Explorer's weight swell during mid-1990's, automaker cut into already slender safety margin in tires' load-bearing capacity; engineers also blame drivers for not keeping their tires properly inflated and for fixing flats incorrectly; chart; photos (M)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat St Louis Rams, 38-35; Buccaneers clinch playoff spot and Rams' loss results in New Orleans Saints winning National Football Conference West Division championship; photo (M)

Aetna Inc, nation's largest health insurer, will shed two million of its 19 million customers over next year as it raises premium charges and struggles to make troubled managed care business more profitable; announces plans to eliminate 5,000 jobs, or about 13 percent of work force; more than half of cuts will come from attrition, and will include reductions among its 2,300 employees in New Jersey; about 1.5 million of departing customers will be employees of companies that drop Prudential Health Care rather than pay steep premium increases; company plans to close unprofitable HMO's that insure 340,000 Medicare beneficiaries and sell or close health maintenance orgainzations that cover 300,000 to 350,000 employees of private companies (M)

Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Greece, will mount exhibit of artifacts from ancient Athens found during excavation for subway tunnel in city; exhibit includes 500 items of clay, bronze, marble, glass and ivory culled from 10,000 objects recovered so far; artifacts trace development of human life in Athens from 17th century BC to eighth century AD, showing how Athenians lived and died; photos (M)

Federal Department of Transportation inspectors say that it would take 30 years to correct fire and safety deficiencies in tunnels that serve New York City's Pennsylvania Station unless $898 million can be found to speed up work; even then, alterations could not be completed before 2010; report is more pessimistic than one made earlier this year by Amtrak, which owns station; report says money should be specifically set aside for fire safety needs in tunnels and proposes issuing federal bonds; report identifies four critical areas which need to be addressed: better ventilation in tunnels, permanent standpipes do not extend into tunnel system, evacuation equipment needs to be updated, and communications sytems should be uniform in all tunnels; there are unanswered questions about tying this project to expanded Penn Station project in Farley General Post Office, project which has not begun (M)