June 9, 2002

Hebrew Home for the Aged in Riverdale section of Bronx will break ground in July for new nursing home; new facility is designed to be more residential than medical; photo (M)

Article on revamping of children's television programming, including PBS's 31-year-old Sesame Street, as once revolutionary ideas become obsolete and new programs like Blue's Clues show that longer stories can hold attention of very young children; photos; cartoons (L)

Pres Bush says United States must start working immediately with Israelis and Palestinians toward establishing Palestinian state in Middle East, but that he is not prepared to recommend timetable for state's creation; makes remarks in joint news conference at Camp David with Pres Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who in his opening statement calls for 'agreed time frame' leading to establishment of state; Bush, who will meet at White House with Prime Min Ariel Sharon of Israel on June 10, says institutions necessary for emergence of Palestinian state must be built before deadline for state could be set; Bush and Mubarak offer differing views of Yasir Arafat, with Mubarak saying he should be given chance to reform Palestinian Authority, and Bush speaking of need to reach out to newer Palestinian leaders; photo (M)

Lis

Manhattan Condo Guide will publish second edition this month; contains salient facts for about 350 Manhattan condominium buildings (M)

Profile of attorney David Boies, founding partner of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, firm specializing in defense of companies and individuals accused of dubious accounting and worse; his current field of defending embattled corporations and executives could become legal profession's hottest new branch of practice; photos; chart (M)

Florida alligators, called endangered 25 years ago, now invade backyard pools and sun themselves on streets; those deemed nuisances are killed by licensed trappers; photos; map (M)

Serena Williams defeats sister Venus to win French Open; photos (M)

Japan may break its half-century-old policy of pacifism by acquiring nuclear weapons; Prime Min Junichiro Koizumi's top aide, Yasuo Fukuda, tells reporters that country's three non-nuclear principles could soon come under review; week earlier another senior official, Shinzo Abe, said publicly that Japan could legally possess nuclear weapons, so long as they are 'small'; Koizumi government has hard time convincing public that Fukuda's comment was gaffe, coming so soon after Abe's remarks; Japan is known to be alarmed by rising power of China and anxious about effectiveness of security guarantees from United States (M)

Senior partners of Schneider, Kleinick, Weitz, Damashek & Shoot, pre-eminent personal-injury law firm, have given away many cases, let much of their staff go and quietly transformed big practice into small boutique operation in wake of Sept 11 attacks; restructuring of firm, whose office is few blocks from where World Trade Center stood, shows how attacks are still being felt in local economy; partner Harvey Weitz comments on plans, interview; photo (M)

Revelation that New York high-school tests have sanitized literary passages draws criticism but is hardly unique in age when everything from films to postage stamps are routinely 'edited' so as not to give offense to anyone; photo; Joan Bertin of National Coalition Against Censorship notes that left, which used to be very strongly anti-censorship, is now determined to show sensitivity to absolutely every group that could possibly take offense at anything (M)

Reflections of war on terrorism in national politics discussed; domestic issues, after resurfacing in last few months, evaporate again with revelation that Pres Bush received CIA briefing last August indicating terrorists were interested in hijackings; White House, which first launched withering attack that questioned Democrats' patriotism, shifts to new tack, with Pres Bush on prime time television announcing vast governmental reorganization similar to Democratic plan that his administration had resisted; Democratic Repr Howard Berman says notion that Democrats should not be talking about world affairs is 'crazy,' that party is doomed to defeat if voters believe it is not up to dealing with grave international affairs (M)