April 21, 2002

Temporary workers are first to feel New York City's economic woes; James A Essey, president of TemPositions Group of Cos, says office temps have been especially hard hit in this downturn, with business at some firms down 35 percent or more; New York State Dept of Labor reports that jobs held through temp agencies plunged by more than 14.5 percent last spring, as economy began to cool; photo (M)

Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University opens Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center in Bronx; photo; advanced equipment explained (S)

Richard D Parsons, set to take over as AOL Time Warner chief executive, must resolve differences with top executives Stephen M Case and Robert W Pittman over how America Online Internet service should evolve and on just how quickly it can grow over next few years; service's slowing growth has dragged on company's shares; Case tends to see AOL's future in new digital services and gadgets, while Pittman hopes to build AOL as advertising vehicle while milking older technologies as long as possible; Parsons does not seem to have as strong view as colleagues on strategic direction; stock price graph; photos (M)

Article on midlevel band Wilco, whose Reprise Records label decided against releasing new album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; album was later released by Nonesuch label, which, like Reprise, is part of AOL Time Warner; songwriter and band leader Jeff Tweedy comments; photos (M)

Article by volunteer Richard A Kaye describes scene at Park Slope Food Co-op, which will mark its 30th anniversary with move to larger quarters; details history of nation's oldest food co-op, which, since opening in 1973 on Brooklyn's Union Street, has become $11-million-a-year business with more than 7,000 members and staff of 32 full- and part-timers; photos (L)

Bush Policies Good to Energy Though the vote to block drilling in the arctic was a setback, the energy industry has won many appointments and regulatory decisions in the Bush administration. PAGE 22 The Road to Recovery Truck drivers have been buying more fuel lately and not waiting as long for loads -- all good signs, they say, that the economy is growing again. Many analysts agree. PAGE 18

Marcelle Clements reviews Sade, French film about Marquis de Sade directed by Benoit Jacquot and starring Daniel Auteuil; compares film with earlier ones, particularly Philip Kaufman's 2000 movie film Quills; photos; drawing (L)

Bush administration considers new legal doctrine that would allow prisoners detained at naval base in Cuba to be brought before military tribunals without specific evidence that they engaged in war crimes; there is said to be increasing uneasiness that interrogations of prisoners taken from Afghanistan have not yielded enough information to charge very many with traditional war crimes; no one has confessed to any violation of laws of war or provided information that could be used against other captives; officials say legal mechanism for charging someone with being member of Qaeda unit involved in crimes is not complete but would probably be detailed in document being drawn up to guide military prosecutors; photo (M)

Capital punishment in age of DNA exonerations reviewed in light of Illinois Gov George Ryan's suspension of executions in Illinois; photos; number of people who have walked out of US prisons because of DNA tests is tiny fraction of criminal convictions in US, but mounting weight of cases has convinced judges, lawyers and police to look at how wrong people end up behind bars; William Webster, veteran prosecutor and judge who set tone of first modern law-and-order campaign for Richard Nixon, says his firm view that few innocent people are convicted has been changed by DNA exonerations (M

Article on private sector's increasing interest in making money cleaning up and redeveloping lightly contaminated properties called brownfields, many of which are convenient to transportation and urban centers; dreay 1.87-square-mile stretch of old municipal dumps that litter New Jersey Meadowlands is to be transformed from longtime eyesore into parklike setting of golf courses, hotels, housing and offices; photos; map (M)

Indiana Pacers defeat New Jersey Nets, 89-83, in Game 1 of Eastern Conference playoff series; Pacers lead series, 1-0; photos (M)

Major Japanese manufacturers that have already shifted much production to China are now planning to open research and development units there; crumbling of informal wall that kept assembly in China and research in Japan may spell end to Japan's last great competitive advantage over China; will bring both new opportunities and wrenching change for Japan, which has been lately coasting on wealth built up in earlier decades; table of Japanese companies moving research to China; photos (M)