July 20, 2002

Ernie Els plays well in second round of British Open, sharing lead with Shigeki Maruyama, Padraig Harrington, Duffy Waldorf and Bob Tway; photos (M)

Lance Armstrong wins 12th stage of Tour de France to maintain overall leader spot; photos (M)

New York City Police ask people to come forward who have undergone unlicensed procedures with drug similar to Botox that is not approved in United States; Iris and Eliezer Fernandez were recently arrested for performing such procedures in their Manhattan apartment, and police suspect that others are engaging in similar illegal procedures; Dr Reina M Turcios, doctor with Centers for Disease Control who is investigating New York cases, says most of victims are immigrants from Latin America, where people are commonly treated by unlicensed physicians; photos (M)

Flock of common terns has taken up residence on garbage barge in New York Harbor, which, for many years, was too polluted to support them; because birds are protected by New York State Department of Environmental Protection as threatened species, barge cannot be used until they migrate in fall; photo (M)

Once trendy SoHo section of Manhattan is experiencing decline as many stores shut down; some real estate brokers estimate that as many as 50 retail spaces are available, more than in past eight or nine years; decline is attributed to confluence of factors, including sky-high rents that helped changed flavor of neighborhood from one of small galleries and independent stores that originally attracted people, to fancy shopping area with pricey boutiques; photos (M)

A New Tactic by Israel In a change of tactics, Israel rounded up 21 male relatives of two Palestinians it blames for recent attacks and is threatening to deport them, possibly to Lebanon. PAGE A3 Questions on 9/11 Link While prosecutors say Zacarias Moussaoui played a direct role in the Sept. 11 hijackings, some investigators are not so sure. PAGE A8

Alan Lomax, musicologist, author, disc jockey, singer, photographer, filmmaker, producer, television host and legendary collector of folk music who was first to record Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Woody Guthrie and other folk music icons, dies at age 87; photos (M)

Jeff Bewkes, recently promoted at AOL Time Warner, formerly garnered profits, prestige, cultural influence and public awareness for AOL's HBO division when he ran it; HBO received industry-high 93 nominations for Emmy Awards; photos (M)

Political Memo explores relationship between New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov George Pataki; Bloomberg exhibits independence from governor, at time in ways that appear almost intended to be annoying; while they have taken divergent views on some issues, relationship appears to be mostly amicable; photo (M)

Police in Stanton, Calif, arrest Alejandro Avila, 27, on suspicion of kidnap, sexual assault and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion; photos; map; Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona, noting thousands of tips, praises public and news media for their help; Avila, line supervisor at medical equipment plant, was acquitted of molesting two 9-year-old girls two years ago; former girlfriend, Beth Veglahn, says he may have gone to apartment complex in Stanton to take her daughter, one of those two girls (M)

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announces recall of 19 million pounds of ground beef produced by ConAgra Beef Co that might be contaminated by E coli bacteria after 19 people become ill in California, Colorado, Michigan, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming; meat was shipped to wholesalers from plant in Greeley, Colo, between April 12 and July 11 and ground, mixed and repackaged for retailers and grocery chains; Veneman says she cannot name stores that bought meat or brands under wh ich it was sold; photo (M)

Floyd Norris Market Place column assesses sharp declines in major US stock market averages in nine weeks beginning week before Memorial Day, during which stocks have lost more than 20 percent of their value; says some Americans are beginning to lose faith in stock market as sure-fire, long-term investment; notes that, historically, such rapid declines have come near end of bear markets and were often followed by rapid advances; says Wall Street analysts are talking of apitulation, term indicating that so many have sold that bottom must be near; graphs (M)