July 16, 2001

AT&T, which says publicly that its cable television business is 'not for sale,' is reportedly weighing and perhaps even soliciting bids; range of potential deals has expanded since Comcast Corp made unsolicited bid; include spin off by AOL Time Warner Inc of its own cable operation into new company that would also include AT&T's cable assets (M)

Article discusses how down turn in fortunes of Corning Inc, including layoff of 1,000 workers, has had negative economic impact on city of Corning, NY; town officials and residents comment (M)

Business-to-Business Sites Find Strategies for Survival The rate of mergers and failures among business-to-business marketplaces is picking up where the consumer sector left off. But just as some survivors have begun to emerge from the consumer e-commerce rubble, so, too, have some of the so-called B2B marketplaces started to show some staying power. These companies have managed to attract buyers and sellers by broadening their features beyond the typical marketplace site, which had focused mainly on buyers. Bob Tedeschi: E-Commerce Report. [Page C4.]

Bush administration will begin campaign-style push to drum up support for its energy plan, even as sense of crisis that propelled plan forward has receded as energy shortages ease and fuel prices fall; counted on sense of emergency to persuade Congress to allow drilling on more protected lands and to change or abandon some regulations seen as impeding energy production; lower prices have diminished sense of crisis and forced administration to retreat from some priorities on Capitol Hill; only energy-related proposals that have garnered broad bipartisan support are those that push energy conservation, subject critics say got short shrift in president's energy plan (M)

Bush administration lays plans to address even more ambitious and divisive issue, namely, overhaul or replacement of entire federal tax code, having achieved its initial economic goal of substantial tax cut; discussions over way in which individuals and companies are taxed are in early stages; administration officials emphasize it is long way from settling either policy prescriptions or political strategy; say subject will not be top item on Pres Bush's agenda for at least year or two and might even be held back to serve as signature issue in 2004 reelection campaign; say administration is weighing pros and cons of three main options: simplifying existing progressive income tax system, adopting single-rate flat tax on income or moving to entirely new system that would tax consumption through sales or value-added tax (M)

Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column discusses proposal put forward in book Regionalism and Realism by Profs Richard P Nathan and Gerald Benjamin; proposal calls for abolishment of five borough governments and office of Borough President and replacement of five expensive and often redundant governments with towns, about 80 of them; every town would have community school board and population of about 100,000 (M)

Philadelphia Phillies defeat New York Yankees, 9-3; photo (M)

Number of pitches in major league baseball game becomes center of heated dispute between umpires and Major League Baseball officials; issue prompts grievance by umpires' union, which argues that pitch-count pressure threatens integrity of game by inducing umpires to call more strikes to keep pitch counts within desired average; causes resignation of Larry Barnett, umpire for 31 years and supervisor for past two, who says he wishes no part of telling umpires they must call more strikes when they work behind home plate; pitch-count problem is related to strike-zone initiative undertaken by baseball earlier in year; size of strike zone had shrunk unofficially over years, and officials want it restored as defined in rule book; want umpires to call higher strikes, in particular, but also strikes on pitches at bottom limit of zone and on its inside corner; photo (M),

Bush administration review of American assistance to Russia concludes that most of programs aimed at helping it stop spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons are vital to American security and should be continued; senior administration official says some programs may even be expanded; says administration wishes to end two programs: $2.1 billion effort to dispose of hundreds of tons of military plutonium and program to shrink size of Russian cities devoted to nuclear-weapons development and to provide alternative jobs for nuclear scientists; both programs have been criticized in Congress; review also calls for shift in philosophy, from assistance to partnership with Russia (M)

Permanent Residence, Russian television series produced and directed by Georgi Gavrilov that portrays Russian immigrant life in Brooklyn in unflattering light, roils Russian emigres in Brighton Beach; series, written, produced and acted entirely by New York-area immigrants from former Soviet Union, portrays heart of New York City's Russian-speaking community, as thicket of lonely hearts, slackers and thugs; photos (M)

Salzburg Festival, cultural festival, is set to open, Salzburg, Austria; Jazz in July at 92nd Street Y to open with concert saluting American jazz artists who fell in love with Paris and French musicians who fell in love with jazz; Off Broadway Theater Information Center to open in midst of Broadway theater district; Free Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot to offer production of The Taming of the Shrew; photos (M)

Clues on Missing Americans Remains found in Kosovo may be those of three New York brothers who were apparently killed after the NATO bombing campaign. PAGE A7 Israel Decides to Build Israel said towns would be built in a border area, ending a concept raised at peace talks of trading land there with the Palestinians. PAGE A6