July 4, 2001

Chicago Cubs defeat New York Mets, 3-0; photo (M)

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses difficulties that arise from family issues plaguing Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati; questions Williams's need to make excuses for her losses, as she did after losing quarterfinal to Capriati at Wimbledon tennis tournament; photo (M)

United States auto sales rose 0.3 percent in June from June 2000, to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17 million vehicles; foreign automakers reap most of gains, with Ford Motor and General Motors reporting sales dips; graph; tables (M)9

Billy Straus and his Rock River Communications package recoro

Study of Car Loans Shows Racial Disparity in Costs A study of more than 300,000 car loans arranged through Nissan dealers from March 1993 to last September -- thought to be the largest pool of car loan data ever analyzed for racial patterns -- shows that black customers in 33 states consistently paid more than white customers, regardless of credit history. Among the largest states, the study showed that, on average, blacks paid $245 more in Connecticut, $339 more in New Jersey and $405 more in New York. [Page A1.]

Fifth article in series about Hudson River School artists on John Frederick Kensett's painting called Eastons Neck, Long Island; describes Coast Guard monitoring of boat traffic replacing United States Life Saving Service of earlier days; comparison of current photo to Kensett's painting highlights problem of beach erosion; photos (M)

Surgeons at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky, annnounce that they have placed first fully implantable artificial heart in human being; device, made by AbioMed, is battery powered and has no wires or tubes passing through skin; patient is not identified, but is reported to be awake and responsive after seven-hour operation; diagrams of how device works; photo (M)

Australia and East Timor agree on 30-year deal that would give East Timor 90 percent of revenues from development of offshore gas and oil deposits in seabed between two nations; Australia says East Timor should get over $3.6 billion from existing and planned developments in next 24 years; East Timor had previously gotten 50 percent of funds; map (M)

Min Yang Seun Taik says Microsoft weighs investment in Korea Telecom (S)

Matthew Purdy Our Towns column describes several houses in Westchester County, NY, where George Washington is said to have stayed (M)

Pets at war. Dopey, exuberant fun for children; diverting for adults.

Bush administration, nearing decision on whether government should pay for research on stem cells extracted from human embryos, struggles to find compromise in face of conservative and religious opposition on one hand and potential to save tens of thousands of lives on other; one option would permit federally backed experiments on handful of cell types, called lines, that have already been identified, but ban public money to develop more; another option is to allow research to proceed until scientists are satisfied they have sufficient number of lines to study; conservatives are pushing plan that would maintain ban on embryonic research while increasing financing for experiments on adult stem cells obtained from blood and bone marrow, which pose no ethical objections (M)