 Russia Holds U.S. Student  A Russian intelligence agency said that an American arrested on minor drug charges was probably working for U.S. military intelligence.   PAGE A8

INSIDE

United States signs five-year agreement with Italy that requires importers of Italian antiquities to prove legal ownership of any archaelogical artifact leaving Italy after Jan 23, 2001; agreement covers vases, statuary, wall paintings, armor, jewelry and other specific objects dating from ninth century BC to fourth century AD; photo of Giorgio Radicati, consul general, with an ancient bowl that is returned to Italy (M)

Old Rarities, New Respect: U.S. Works With Italy

Kangwon Land Corp announces net profit of $33 million in 2000 on sales of $73 million at casino that opened east of Seoul, South Korea (S)

KANGWON POSTS PROFIT

Irradiated ground beef is now available in about 1,500 stores across the country, but retailers are apparently still nervous about consumer response (M)

Irradiated Beef: In Markets, Quietly

European Commission confirsm it will open extended investigation into General Electric Co's planned $45 billion acquisition of Honeywell International Inc, despite 11th-hour effort by GE chief executive John F Welch Jr to secure quick clearance by European regulators (M)

Europe Sets Examination Of G.E. Deal

NYC column discusses resignation of Bronx High School of Science acting principal William J Stark, who will become principal at Manhasset High School on Long Island; colleagues, alumni and parents, who thought he would be ideal choice for principal, blame Schools Chancellor Harold Levy for losing Stark to suburban high school (M)

Board Fiddled; Bronx Science Is Burned

Pres George W Bush turns full force to difficult task of selling Congress and the country on his legislative agenda, using nationally televised address from House chamber to cast his proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut as reasonable and responsible; Bush says era of robust surpluses will enable federal government to reduce taxes by that amount over 10 years and still spend all that it needs to on education, Medicare and social programs; result, Bush says, will be government that is 'active, but limited'; Bush's speech, analogous to a State of the Union address but without that title, represents Bush's best, most visible opportunity to make his case, not only for tax cut but also for his education proposals and his plan for partial privatization of Social Security; tracing general contours of his budget, Bush says that after devoting enough money to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, he would advocate overall four percent increase in discretionary spending while also committing to paying down federal debt by $2 trillion over next 10 years; photos (M)

BUSH, SPELLING OUT AGENDA TO CONGRESS, MAKES TAX CUT CENTERPIECE OF THE BUDGET

President Bush's budget plan calls for more than $1 billion in new spending for research on national missile defense and calls for closing military bases around the country. Page A14.  

Military Spending Priorities

Serious breach between New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen and high-ranking chiefs is illustrated when 60 fire chiefs submit letters asking to be relieved of commander title and excused from administrative chores; Von Essen maintains dispute centers on his efforts to hold commanders more accountable for their subordinates' performance and characterizes it as labor-management squabble; letters are expected to have little effect, although Von Essen says he will probably abolish commander title and redistribute chores among wider group (M)

60 Fire Chiefs Join to Protest Commissioner

Australian wine manufacturer Southcorp acquires Rosemount Estates for 1.5 billion Australian dollars ($787 million), creating one of largest premium wine companies in world (S)

ROSEMOUNT WINERY PURCHASED

Leucadia National and Berkshire Hathaway agree to take control of Finova Group, ailing lender to companies; investors will lend $6 billion to Finova after it files for bankruptcy reorganization; loan will be used to pay off part of company's $11 billion in bonds and bank debt; investors, through joint venture called Berkadia LLC, will receive 51 percent of Finova's equity in return (Market Place column) (M)

THE MARKETS: Market Place; 2 Big Investors To Take Over Finova Group

Annual benefit concert for Tibet House, international organization that works to preserve Tibet and its culture, is held at Carnegie Hall; artists performing include David Bowie, Emmylou Harris and Dave Matthews; photo of monks of Drepung Gomang Monastery; Ann Powers review (M)

Chanting and Rockin' to Appease the Elements

Hearing on Nassau County's eviction practices arises from suit by Village of Hempstead, NY, against Sheriff's Department on ground that practice violates village's anti-littering law; issue arises from evictions, when people's belongings are left on sidewalks; Hempstead, with high concentration of poor people, leads county in number of evictions carried out; no ruling has been issued (M)

L.I. Village Uses Litter Law In Fighting Untidy Evictions

Supreme Court is set to hear case centered on whether Milford, NY, public school discriminated against Good News Club, church-run youth group, by refusing to let it hold after-school meetings; school holds that club, which evangelizes children ages 5 to 12, is aimed at establishing religion, and therefore violates not only school policy but also United States Constitution; club holds that school violated its First Amendment right to free speech; Good News Club, run by group of born-again believers called Child Evangelical Fellowship, whose sole stated purpose is to evangelize children and establish them as members of Christian churches, operates 4,622 clubs in this country and others in 142 nations; fellowship says it meets in more than 5000 schools nationwide, and it routinely offers legal help to clubs refused access (M)

Court to Hear After-School Evangelism Case

Innogy Holdings PLC agrees to pay US utility companies American Electric Power Co and Xcel Energy Inc 508.6 million pounds ($735 million) for 94.75 percent of Yorkshire Power Group (S)

YORKSHIRE POWER GROUP BOUGHT

Interview with David Chase, creator and executive producer of The Sopranos, which has become television's most critically appraised drama; he comments on influence that classic James Cagney gangster film Public Enemy has had on him; photos of Chase and Nancy Marchand (M)

The Roots Of 'Sopranos' Grew From Cagney Film

Government suffers second difficult day of questioning in its Microsoft antitrust case as Federal appeals court casts doubt on whether Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's order last year to break the company in two will survive appeals process; appellate panel poses tough questions about justification for breakup, noting in particular that only companies ever broken up in 111-year history of Sherman Antitrust Act had been formed through mergers and acquistions; judges also score Jackson for granting interviews with news media before case was completed; photo (M)

Judges Voice Doubt On Order Last Year To Split Microsoft

Six-member ensemble Lalezar, musicians of Istanbul Radio Orchestra, devoted to revival of musical tradition of Ottoman Empire, to perform at Symphony Space; more than 145 Egyptian antiquities go on view at Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio on first stop of eight-city tour; photo; seventh annual United States Comedy Arts Festival to open in Aspen, Colorado; Peking Acrobats to perform at New Jersey Performing Arts Center; photo (M)

FOOTLIGHTS

Berlin's three opera houses create nightmare for those charged with keeping them afloat; question of who is going to foot the bill, of singular importance to opera world and to Berlin's culture officials, is also the stuff of fierce argument and bitter recrimination in Berlin press; three houses are Deutsche Oper, Komische Oper and Staatsoper; photos of Christian Thielemann, who leads Deutsch Oper, and Daniel Barenboim, director of Staatsoper; photos of opera houses (L)

Clashing Arias for Berlin Opera

Technological change has always led to shifts in workplace, including layoffs; what is different about new-economy environment is that automation is reaching higher up employment hierarchy than before, replacing workers like stock analysts and purchasing-department employees; makers of e-commerce software do not deny that their products can put people out of work; Robert E Litan, economist, says companies should be reluctant to lay off people in light of struggle in recent years to find good employees in overheated labor market; says they should be smarter, finding ways to save money that do not involve layoffs; drawings (M)

What the Web Means In Tougher Times

 Appeals Court Questions Order to Split Up Microsoft  The government suffered a second difficult day in its Microsoft antitrust case when a federal appeals court cast doubt about a judge's order last year to break the company in two.    Most of the seven judges on the appeals panel posed difficult questions to a Justice Department lawyer about the justification for the breakup, noting that the only companies ever broken up in the 111-year history of the Sherman Antitrust Act had been formed through mergers and acquisitions. [Page A1.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Hyundai Engineering and Construction gets new reprieve when its lead creditor, Korea Exchange Bank, promises to guarantee $400 million in loans for overseas projects; Hyundai Engineering says it will spin off its engineering division this week and will shake up its executive ranks (S)

Accord for Hyundai Engineering

 Big companies that once invested heavily in the Internet to help keep up are now counting on its efficiencies to help weather the slowdown.    Also: Articles on the airborne Internet, an update on ad strategies and business-to-business exchanges and a roundtable on what's next.    SECTION H  

E-Business

New York City Board of Education votes unanimously to overhaul system's 26-year-old bilingual education program; vote to approve Schools Chancellor Harold O Levy's $75 million proposal follows years of criticism that parents had little say over whether their children were placed in bilingual classes and that children languished for years without mastering English; under new program, children may be enrolled in one of four programs: traditional bilingual education, English as second language classes, intensive English as second language program, or dual language program in which instruction would alternate between languages; board says new policy should be fully in place by June and directs Levy to come up with plan to finance it; photo (M)

Board of Education Votes, 7-0, To Revamp Bilingual Programs

Judge Raymond A Jackson orders H&R Block to stop using 'rapid refund' and other terms that he says are deliberately intended to disguise expensive loans that Block arranges for people anticipating refunds on their income taxes; finds that Block engaged in false advertising and went to great lengths to conceal reality that rather than receiving refunds, clients were taking out high-interest loan to obtain their money few days sooner than Treasury would have sent it to them at no charge; on some loans, annual percentage rate charged was more than 500 percent; Jackson says Block acted 'maliciously, willfully and in bad faith'; lawsuit was brought by John Hewitt, former Block executive, who founded Jackson Tax Service, and later sold it; Hewitt opened Liberty Tax Service in 1996, which now has franchises in 37 states (M)

Block Is Ordered to Stop Advertising 'Rapid Refunds' of Taxes

The 2001 Nisqually earthquake occurred at 10:54:32 local time on February 28, 2001, and lasted nearly a minute. The intraslab earthquake had a moment magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The epicenter was in the southern Puget Sound, northeast of Olympia, but the shock was felt in Oregon, British Columbia, eastern Washington, and Idaho. This was the most recent of several large earthquakes that occurred in the Puget Sound region over a 52-year period and caused property damage valued at $1–4 billion. One person died of a heart attack and several hundred were injured.

The 2001 Nisqually earthquake, having a moment magnitude of 6.8, with epicenter in the southern Puget Sound, damages Seattle metropolitan area.

February 28, 2001

Headlines from February 28, 2001

INSIDE

Old Rarities, New Respect: U.S. Works With Italy

KANGWON POSTS PROFIT

Irradiated Beef: In Markets, Quietly

Europe Sets Examination Of G.E. Deal

Billboard 200

Hotshot

1

Save The Last Dance

No Angel

J.Lo

Historical Events

Historical Context for February 28, 2001