February 21, 2001

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column on concern of Spike Lee and other celebrity New York Knickerbocker fans that they he might be ejected from Knicks game against Miami Heat in New York to equalize ejection of Jimmy Buffett in Miami; photo (M)

Ehud Barak's resignation from Israeli politics noted

Lucent Technologies is investigating activities of James R Baughman, former director of recruiting, who had criminal record that company learned about only after his death in September at age 47; he was convicted of embezzlement when he was high school principal in California in 1985 and 1986 and of forging information when he applied to become schools superintendent before his employment at Lucent; after Baughman died, Lucent management became concerned about 'bill reconciliation issues' in his area and began looking into his dealings with companies that provided Lucent with recruiting services (M)

Clyde Haberman NYC column on memorial service for Gwen Verdon, who died in 2000 at age 75; notes many believe she was best dancer ever on Broadway (M)

Questions remain about whether General Motors Corp will come to rescue of Daewoo Motor a day after riot police dislodge hundreds of striking workers at its plant in Inchon, South Korea; Commerce Min Shin Kook Hwan says government will jump-start talks with GM as soon as possible since obstacles have been removed; believes primary obstacle has been resistance of workers to layoffs that GM negotiators had made clear had to happen before they could consider renewing offer that they first made in 1999 as Daewoo Motor collapsed under more than $10 billion in debts; photo (M)