May 26, 2002

Mortgage experts say that proportion of homes that end up being sold through foreclosure has been dropping, while number of mortgage delinquencies has risen in last five years or so; cite lenders' intensified efforts to work out arrangements with delinquent borrowers to let them avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes whenever possible; arrangements include temporary cuts in mortgage payments, refinancing mortgages to cut payments and partial claims, in which Housing and Urban Development Department will provide funds for certain homeowners to make delinquent mortgage current; photos (M)

Gretchen Morgenson Market Watch column deplores efforts of Rep Michael G Oxley and others beholden to securities industry to halt New York Atty Gen Eliot L Spitzer's probe of conflicts of interest among securities analysts at Merrill Lynch and other big firms; notes states are working with Securities and Exchange Commission on probe; holds trying to push them aside does disservice to battered investors (M)

They began as calls for help, information, guidance. They quickly turned into soundings of desperation, and anger, and love. Now they are the remembered voices of the men and women who were trapped on the high floors of the twin towers. From their last words, a haunting chronicle of the final 102 minutes at the World Trade Center has emerged, built on scores of phone conversations and e-mail and voice messages. These accounts, along with the testimony of the handful of people who escaped, provide the first sweeping views from the floors directly hit by the airplanes and above.

Karal Ann Marling, assessing latest television season, focuses on humiliating, malicious and mean 'reality' television programs popular among younger viewers, such as Change of Heart, Dismissed, Blind Date and Fear Factor; photos (M)

WellPoint Health Networks and Anthem Inc, both for-profit shareholder-owned corporations formed from parts of original nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield network, are battling behind veneer of civility for network dominance; between them, they own Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in 11 states and are vying for much of what remains, over 60 million customers and 40 successful plans; critics say takeovers are adding to health care costs for some customer; consumers have been shifting from highly restrictive managed-care health plans to less restrictive Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, making plans takeover targets; takeovers by health plans outside Blue Cross Blue Shield association are nearly impossible, leaving insiders WellPoint and Anthem as only acquirers; map shows status of plans in various states; photos (M)