April 7, 2001

Third article in series, Judging the Tax Cut, about how taxpayers at varying income levels would be affected by Bush tax cut proposal, focuses on surgeon in Austin, Tex; Dr Robert Cline's income was near $300,000 last year, ranking him among wealthiest 2 percent of all Americans; he resents argument that people in higher tax brackets are less deserving of tax cut; cites his worries about retirement, about paying for college for his six children, and that his earning power is fairly stagnant in medical profession squeezed by insurance companies and tightening Medicare reimbursement rates; Cline, Republican who voted for Pres Bush, agrees with Bush's own points that everyone, regardless of income, should get tax cut, and that since wealthy pay more, their tax saving should be larger; says he wants what he considers his fair share and does not believe that only people in lower brackets should get help; photo (L)

As work on the Mnhattan Bridge scrambles several subway lines this summer, weekend service from Brooklyn into Manhattan will also be significantly reduced, internal transit documents show. The W line, an addition to the subway map that will replace the B line in Brooklyn beginning this summer because of the bridge work, will not run into Manhattan on weekends as the B line does now, according to the documents.

New reminders that the economy is weakening and that corporations are struggling led to losses in the stock market yesterday, punctuating a week of sharp declines and suggesting that the week's one brief but sparkling rally was something of a mirage. Economists said new data showing a rise in unemployment raised doubt that consumer spending would carry the economy through the slowdown.

After deriding for months the pledges of Ford Motor and General Motors to improve the fuel economy of sport utility vehicles and other light trucks by close to 25 percent, DaimlerChrysler A.G. has reversed itself and now says its light trucks will meet or exceed its rivals' models in average gas mileage. DaimlerChrysler last year sold 1.9 million light trucks, a category that encompasses pickup trucks like the Dodge Ram and minivans like the Dodge Caravan, as well as sport utility vehicles like Jeeps and the Dodge Durango. G.M. sold 2.4 million light trucks and Ford sold 2.5 million. So the three manufacturers have now pledged to increase the gas mileage of nearly seven million vehicles a year, or two-fifths of the American market.

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times interview with golfer Steve Stricker, whose wife, Nicki, caddies for him in Masters; Stricker cites her role as confidence-builder; photo (M)