May 22, 2001

Howell Raines, editorial page editor of New York Times, is named by publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr to succeed executive editor Joseph Lelyveld, who is stepping down seven months before mandatory retirement age of 65 for newspaper's top executives; Sulzberger lauds their accomplishments; describes Raines as 'superb and accomplished leader' who has demonstrated unfailing commitment to highest standards of integrity and journalism; credits Lelyveld for shepherding Times through one of 'most momentous' periods in its 150-year history; says his contributions to quality of news reporting have been 'stunning;' praises managing editor Bill Keller, second-ranking newsroom executive who was also candidate to succeed Lelyveld; biographical sketches of Lelyveld and Raines; photos (M)

Neuberger Museum of Art at State University at Purchase, NY, presents its third Biennial of Public Art, through Oct 17; concert of works commissioned by Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa, to be presented at Merkin Concert Hall; exhibition, Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art, opens at Morgan Library; photo; New York Philharmonic on May 24 to commemorate 125th anniversary of conductor Bruno Walter's birth (M)

New York Mets defeat Montreal Expos, 6-3; photo (M)

Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian arrives in New York City to fanfare and some protests, welcomed by local and Congressional politicians and by Chinese community divided over his visit; mixed reaction to visit from Taiwanese and mainland Chinese immigrants in city noted; photo (M)

Republicans maintain united front as Senate rejects repeated attempts to change tax bill that would give Pres Bush his top legislative priority, first big tax cut in 20 years; measure, which would reduce taxes by $1.35 trillion over 11 years, would be largest enacted since 1981; its provisions highlighted; will go to conference committee, where provision will be reconciled with tax legislation passed by House; comments by some Republican and Democratic senators noted (M)

Article discusses status of program begun two years ago when State Legislature required each of New York City's 1,212 public schools to create leadership teams of parents, teachers and principal; state lawmakers say that while school leadership teams should have had increasingly significant presence in educational landscape by now, truth is that only 80 percent of city's schools nominally have teams in place; photo (M)

Caryn James appraises HBO television series The Sopranos as it concludes its third season; photo of James Gandolfini, as Tony Soprano (L)

Article discusses reaction among residents in Catskills region to proposal by Park Place Entertainment to build $500 million casino on nearby Anawana Lake and revive troubled Catskills economy; enormous political hurdles faced by Park Place in building casino discussed; photo (M)

Soaring demand for Caterpillar Inc's diesel-powered generators is bolstering profits in fast-growing unit and helping stabilize company that is coping with slowing sales of construction and mining equipment; analysts say global energy demand is expected to continue to rise for several year, raising company's long-term prospects; graphs; photos (M)

Japan's global trade surplus shrank to 666 billion yen ($5.4 billion) in April, unexpectedly steep decline of 41.6 percent from April 2000; imports grew 13.2 percent; Japan's surplus with US dropped 7.4 percent from April 2000 level (S)

Bridgestone/Firestone Inc, acting ahead of expected effort by Ford Motor Co to replace as many as 13 million more Firestone tires on its Explorer sport utility vehicles, says it will stop selling tires to Ford; accuses Ford of questioning safety of its tires to divert attention from problems with Explorer, in which more than 100 people have died in tire-related crashes, almost all rollovers; announcement severs almost century-old corporate relationship and revives national controversy over tire and vehicle safety that began in August 2000, when Firestone at Ford's request recalled 6.5 million tires supplied as factory equipment on Explorers; Firestone chairman John T Lampe says he terminated relationship following refusal by Ford to share its safety data on Explorer; statistical analysis prepared by Ford, and shared with regulators without Firestone's knowledge, found remaining Firestone tires on Explorers also have higher rates of problems than tires from other manufacturers, although not nearly as high as tires already recalled; August recall covered 14.4 million tires produced from 1990 through January 2000; Ford has been secretly preparing to replace rest of Firestone tires for customers at its own expense; photo (M)

Cancer doctors see a new era of optimism regarding cancer; clinical oncologists and other cancer specialists have high praise, for example, for Gleevec, new drug to treat a form of blood cancer; new optimism overshadows fact that no one knows whether cancers will develop resistance to Gleevec; photo (M)