February 10, 2002

Interview with Allison K Schieffelin, former convertible-bond sales representative at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter who has filed sex discrimination suit against brokerage firm; Schieffelin says she was fired in October after complaining she had been denied additional pay and promotion she had earned; photos (M)

Jochem Uytdehaage of Netherlands wins gold medal in 5,000 meters in long-track speed skating, setting world record of 6 minutes 14.66 seconds; Derek Parra of United States wins silver, and Jens Boden of Germany is bronze medalist; photos; chart compares lap times of Parra and Uytdehaage (M)

Article discusses intense pressure for high ratings for 2002 Winter Games; NBC is optimistic following excellent rating for opening ceremony, which tops broadcast of Nagano ceremony by 49 percent; network tries to entice more viewers with live programming and smart scheduling; photo (M)

Political gamesmanship in Pres Bush's proposed federal budget discussed, as well as politically inspired decisions such as NASA's shift of high-wage space shuttle work from California, which Bush lost, to Florida, where he won by hair; photo; most intense struggle is between politics of 2004 and elections of 2002, which are of most immediate interest to members of Congress; Bush's fellow Republicans suggest president would not have proposed so many cuts in domestic spending if he were on ballot this year (M)

Poultry industry greatly reduces antibiotics fed to healthy chickens, bowing to demands of public health and consumer groups; Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms and Foster Farms say they are voluntarily taking most or all antibiotics out of what they feed healthy chickens; antibiotics have been justified as means of preventing infection in chickens as well as enhancing growth; opponents say this strategy has contributed to public health problem: growing resistance to antibiotics of disease-causing bacteria in humans; critics welcome overall decrease in antibiotic use in poultry industry, but note there is no way for consumer to know whether chickens have been treated with antibiotics; see need for monitoring by federal government; photo (M)

Pres Vladimir V Putin's campaign to get Russians to exercise more fails to move average citizen, but politicians are scrambling to fulfill his will; mayor of Saransk takes his entire government on biathlon-style jaunt, and governor of St Petersburg orders his aides to prepare fitness program for all 6,000 government workers; this has provoked debate about national character, wisdom of imposing change from above and even president's commitment to democracy; critics wonder whether Putin and country are breaking Soviet mold or simply reverting to it; Izvestia columnist says 'habit to obey is in our blood'; photo (M)

Article on immigrants, majority of whom are now women, who journey to America seeking prosperity for their families; profiles 42-year-old Melania, who lives in small, dark house in Richmond Hill, Queens, with three middle-aged Peruvian women; she lost her job as pastry chef at TriBeCa restaurant on September 11; her husband and three daughters remain in Lima; photos (L)

Article describes new, technologically advanced equipment being used by alpine skiers at 2002 Olympic Games; says athletes who want opportunity to ascend medal podium must keep up with latest gear; photo shows boots, skis and poles and includes descriptions of cutting edge innovations (M)

Pace of business renewal in Harlem quickens; parcel by parcel, uptown is being remade, fueled in part by Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone; Manhattan Boro Pres C Virginia Fields says that new stores will give people opportunity to shop in their own neighborhoods and will generate jobs and opportunities for more revenue to come back into community; change, however, is not to everyone's liking; tension can be keen when racial and ethnic differences are added to issues inherent in redeveloping any well-established enclave: economic alienation and displacement of longtime businesses and residents, tilt of power from community groups and loss of alteration of beloved landmarks; photo of Gap under construction; other photos; map shows noteworthy developments in Harlem (M)

United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on legality of Ohio's six-year-old tuition voucher program, open only to parents in Cleveland, where barely third of public school students graduate from high school; nearly all participating schools are affiliated with Catholic church or other religious groups; question of whether such arrangement amounts to outright government aid to parochial schools and thus violates Constitution's separation of church and state will be taken up; complicating factor in Cleveland is that many of pupils who receive tuition assistance were already attending parochial or other private schools, raising questions about whether program is ending up assisting parents who had already found ways and means to educate their children outside public schools; in Cleveland, in 2001-2002 school year, 4,456 students are receiving school vouchers; photos; graphs (L)

Comment on how 'seasonal adjustment' factor affects employment figures, in light of official tally of jobs in New York City, scheduled to be released in March, that is likely to show increased employment in stores, finance, maybe even all over, 'after adjustments for seasonal factors'; graphs (M)

Gretchen Morgenson's Market Watch column holds Enron Corp's aftershocks could have lasting and deleterious effect, not only on shares of companies that are aggressive in their accounting, as Enron Corp was, but also on stock prices over all; says in that new world, companies may be forced to make adjustments that will hurt their results; holds among other things, they will incur higher expenses and pay more to borrow--lowering reported earnings; says Enron has shown investors that very bad things can happen to companies that engage in questionable practices to keep reported earnings up and stock prices afloat; graph (M)