April 30, 2001

Interview with 55-year-old David Monte Verde, who has had lifelong passion for trains and currently owns and operates Genesee Valley Transportation Co; short-line railroad has 27 locomotives, hundreds of boxcars and control of nearly 300 miles of track in New York and Pennsylvania; photos (M)

Bush administration puts European allies on notice that it intends to move quickly to develop missile defense and plans to abandon or fundamentally alter Antiballistic Missile Treaty, that has been keystone of arms control for nearly 30 years; Pres Bush will discuss issue in upcoming speech at National Defense University; will reportedly lay out broad vision of missile defense but not specific program; US officials say Pentagon is developing plans for multi-layered ssytem that would involve radars and interceptors, in addition to land-based and space-based elements (M)

Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation plans to open Web site that will offer range of cultural content and services, some of it free; Guggenheim.com will also provide access to resources at State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia, other institutions; photo (M)

PG&E Corp is experiencing banner year, even though subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Co, giant California utility, recently made one of largest bankruptcy filings in history; has reaped profits like other large utilities over past decade by buying unregulated power plants, expanding trading-floor operations and and selling power nationwide; has taken advantage of deregulation plans in two dozen states, where they were encouraged by federal rules designed to build new wholesale market-place in electricity; chart (M)

Leaders of Writers Guild of America, who came to power in 1999 with pledge to play hardball with media conglomerates that many writers feel exploit them, face increasing political and public pressure to reach accord with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers; represent diverse group, with goals of television writers differing from those of movie writers (M)