May 22, 2002

Federal and local law-enforcement officials issue warning of vague and uncorroborated threats against Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty as New York City imposes security measures not seen since first months after Sept 11 terrorist attacks; some of security measures are focused on US vessels in town for Fleet Week; officials say information came during debriefing of Al Qaeda detainee; photos (M)

Andrew Cuomo will bypass New York's Democratic convention and try to win gubernatorial primary, trying to position himself as outsider running against Comptroller H Carl McCall, who has solid support among party leaders; photo (M)

Article on reinstallation by sound artist and musician Max Neuhaus of Times Square, work consisting of sound generators and loudspeaker, in subway ventilation chamber under Times Square; photo; map (M)

Arts Abroad column on lack of curiosity of townspeople in Gerstheim, France, where police frogmen have recovered 107 objects apparently thrown into Rhone-Rhine Canal by Mireille Breitwieser after her son, Stephane, was arrested in Switzerland on art robbery charges; investigators say son has been charged with stealing 172 objects during seven-year raid on small museums and chateaus in Europe; photos; map (M)

Sexual abuse scandals involving priests have not provoked widespread defections among Hispanics, a bedrock of American Catholic Church, but have emboldened many Latino evangelicals to seek more converts; up to 600,000 Latino Catholics are estimated to leave Catholicism for evangelical churches and other faiths each year; reasons include shortage of Spanish-speaking priests, smaller, homey churches and array of choices in American society; photos; Hispanics, with high birth and immigration rates, are at same time responsible for 71 percent of Catholic Church's growth in past forty years, and they now comprise 17 to 35 percent of nation's Catholic population (M)