March 9, 2002

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg says New York City teachers will not receive raises until he has control over school system; teachers' union has joined Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in resisting Bloomberg's demand to eliminate Board of Education and give City Hall direct and complete control of schools; one compromise, promoted by union and many in Assembly, would expand board to 11 members from 7 and let mayor appoint most of them (M)

Connecticut University defeats Notre Dame University, 82-77, in Big East tournament semifinals; photo (M)

Clyde Haberman column says that whatever memorial is erected to victims of Sept 11, they may one day sink into obscurity, just like 1,021 people, mostly women and children, who died when excursion steamer General Slocum caught fire in East River in 1904, taking picnickers from Little Germany on Lower East Side to Long Island (M)

Stocks rise to end week higher, second consecutive strong week for markets; S&P 500 rises 6.77 points, to 1,164.31, while Nasdaq composite index jumps 48.04 points, to 1,929.67; Dow Jones industrial average climbs 47.12 points, to 10,572.49; rally comes on heels of unexpected surge in economy that has caught all but most optimistic analysts by surprise; graph; tables (M)

Israeli forces kill at least 40 Palestinians with fire from land, sea and air after five Israeli teenagers die in Palestinian's suicidal rampage through settlement near Gaza City; on deadliest day in 17 months of fighting, foreign ministers of 22 Arab nations call for international intervention to 'stop Israeli aggression'; funerals are held throughout Gaza Strip, where 16 Palestinians, most of them armed, die in one savage firefight with Israeli forces; Prime Min Ariel Sharon makes tentative gesture toward diplomacy; says he is dropping demand for absolute calm lasting seven days before undertaking American-brokered cease-fire plan; says his goal is to negotiate cease-fire; Palestinian leaders dismiss his announcement as diversion from day's violence; Pres Bush's special envoy Gen Anthony C Zinni is expected to return to Middle East next week for third try at brokering cease-fire; Palestinian officials say they detained Majdi Rimawi, suspect in assassination of Israeli Tourism Min Rehavam Zeevi last Oct; Israel has made arrest of suspects in case condition for lifting blockade on Yasir Arafat; photos; map; chart (L)

Bishop Anthony J O'Connell of Palm Beach, Fla, resigns after admitting that he sexually abused teenage seminary student in 1970's; he is first prelate to resign in latest wave of scandals involving pedophilia and sexual abuse among Roman Catholic priests; he was named to lead Palm Beach Diocese in 1999 when Bishop Joseph Keith Symons resigned after admitting that he sexually molested five boys earlier in his career; in 1996, three years before O'Connell was named bishop of Palm Beach, Missouri diocese agreed to pay $125,000 to Christopher Dixon, onetime seminary student who claimd O'Connell, then rector, took advantage of him sexually two decades earlier when he sought help after being molested by two other priests; church officials say it is quite possible that Vatican did not know about lawsuit or settlement when Pope John Paul II chose O'Connell to lead Palm Beach Diocese; photos (M)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses basketball coach Dave Odom's move from Wake Forest University to South Carolina University, where football traditionally takes center stage; Odom has brought South Carolina to doorstep of NCAA tournament in his first season; photo (M)

Pittsburgh University defeats Miami University, 76-71, in Big East tournament semifinals; photos (M)

Analysis: Pres Bush's decision to send envoy back to Middle East seen as signal to Pres Ariel Sharon that he has gone too far in his latest stepping up of war against Palestinians; for Sharon, American intervention could mean he will be forced to start negotiating again with Yasir Arafat, Palestinian leader he declared irrelevent last year and has rstricted to West Bank city of Ramallah; if that happens, Arafat would claim major diplomatic victory, and his political standing among Palestinians would rise accordingly; return of American envoy could help Sharon's standing in Israeli public opinion polls, which has been eroding amid rapid rise in violence and absence of any evident chance of respite; photo (M)

New York Jets sign Aaron Beasley, formerly of Jacksonville Jaguars, in effort to stabilize defense; photo (M)

Greenwich, Conn, Board of Selectmen reverses decision to require out-of-towners to obtain season passes for parks and beaches and votes instead to charge only at beaches, selling $10 day passes for adults and children age 5 and older, plus $20 for parking; new plan is greeted with cautious praise by critics, raising possibility that Greenwich may end seven-year battle to restrict access to its beach and parks that has affected its politics and reputation; photo (M)

Sikh temple in Richmond Hill, Queens, is destroyed when fire engulfs building and injures six visiting priests; was New York's oldest Sikh temple and nexus for Sikh community along East Coast; photos; map (M)