January 27, 2001

New York Islanders defeat Ne York Rangers, 3-2; photo (M)

Jennifer Capriati beats Martina Hingis, 6-4, 6-3, in Australian Open for her first Grand Slam title; Capriati, who was seeded 12th, beats top-seeded Hingis seven years after dropping out of tennis competition; photos; chart (M)

New York City is trying to apply Central Park's winning formula to five of its troubled parks: Crotona and St James in Bronx, Marcus Garvey in East Harlem, Fort Greene in Brookyn and Baisley Pond in Queens; some recent improvements at Baisley Pond Park, where community groups are trying to come up with events to entice people back into park, discussed; Baisley Pond's coordinator Audrey Lucas comments; map; photos (M)

Clyde Haberman N

After Greenspan's Blessing Comes Quibbling on Tax Cut Now that Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has backed a tax cut, Republicans and Democrats are quibbling over exactly how much the reduction should be.

Sen Trent Lott, majority leader, says Senate would consider overhaul of campaign finance law in Mar and he would discourage efforts to kill bill through prolonged debate; says timing would give Sen John McCain, lead sponsor of bill, early debate he seeks, but would also give Senate time across next two months to vote first on items on Pres Bush's agenda; Lott makes his announcement after negotiating with McCain, who has made campaign finance reform his signature issue; Lott's commitment to debate is significant because Republican leaders have previously used parliamentary tricks and filibusters to stop bill from ever coming to final vote; McCain had threatened to tie Senate in procedural knots if he was not assured quick and fair consideration of his bill; photo (M)

Mayor Rudolph W Giuliani says New York City police officers accused of misconduct will be prosecuted by independent agency that evaluates civilian complaints of abuse, rather than by Police Dept; this represents major turnabout for mayor, once one of harshest critics of civilian oversight of police; he offers few details and city officials say it would take months before any plan could be put into place; critics have long said that police prosecutors too often fail to act on bona fide cases referred by Civilian Complaint Review Board, which will now have expanded powers to charge and prosecute officers; Giuliani and Police Comr Bernard B Kerik unveil changes on Giuliani's radio show; say moving process outside department would provide greater accountability and independence, and would increase public confidence; photos (M)

Article profiles Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, who has had very productive rookie season; photo (M)

Analysis of Alan Greenspan's possible motives for reversing his long-held position and saying federal budget surplus is big enough to pay off national debt and also accommodate large tax cut; question is whether Federal Reserve chairman is making purely economic judgment, or putting some of his considerable political capital to work on behalf of Republican agenda just days after George W Bush moves into White House; Greenspan's explanation of his decision is consistent with his previous view of what is happening to economy and his stated preference for tax cuts as opposed to increased government spending (M)

Pres Andres Pastrana of Colombia will grant small sliver of land in and around San Pablo to National Liberation Army, second largest rebel force, even though ceding land to rebels has failed to bring peace in past; land granted two years ago to Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, largest rebel group, is being used to stage attacks elsewhere, hide kidnapping victims and grow coca; Pastrana continues to believe that pulling police and army units from territory offers best chance to foster peace talks; government says National Liberation Army shows willingness to negotiate and that group, weakened by attacks by paramilitary forces, has more to lose than Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), by not taking part in peace effort; many Colombians view plan as risky proposition; those opposed to plan include paramilitary groups, ranchers, businessmen and poor farmers; photos; map (M)

Nassau County Police Officer Matthew Murphy is arrested and charged with forcing woman to have oral sex with him in August 2000 while he was on duty; Murphy is under investigation by police department's Internal Affairs Unit about woman's claim she was forced to have sex with him in exchange for her release after drunk-driving stop; lawyer Paul Gianelli says that Murphy has denied charge, and that he, Gianelli, is skeptical of allegations coming as they did more than one year after incident; photo (M)

Effects on investor behavior of technology market turned sour are tangible; advocates of diversification are no longer dismissed as losers who do not get the new economy; champions of technology stocks are taking back seat as high-tech shares collapse; even on Internet message boards, wellspring of so much of fervor for technology investing, debate has been shifting; new focus is on macro issues, not for next hot stock or next hot trend; photo (M)