CNBC's ratings are flagging, with daily average audience down 25 percent in second quarter from 2001 period, despite spike in big financial stories; network also faces question of whether it shares in taint of now-discredited stock analysts and chief executives it helped make celebrities; CNBC executives say they are making comeback; note they have shifted away from treating trading day as sporting event by offering deeper economic analysis; parent NBC chairman Robert C Wright says rating losses have not seriously hurt profits and reflect loss of general-interest viewers, not businessmen and investors sought by CNBC advertisers (M)

CNBC Struggles Even as Financial News Abounds

New York Philharmonic buys large collection of papers of Ureli Corelli Hill, violinist and conductor who founded Philharmonic in 1842; musicologists say collection of Harold R Lineback includes valuable new material about orchestra's conductors, from Gustav Mahler to Leonard Bernstein; photos (M)

Philharmonic Gets Diary Of a Savvy Music Man

New York Mets defeat Cincinnati Reds, 6-5; photos (M)

Rare Start Is Rewarding For Valentin And the Mets

Stephen Fry column in Writers on Writing series comments on people's curiosity about the mechanics of writing, such as whether he works on a computer or longhand, using pencil, ballpoint or old-fashioned ink pen; photo (M)

Forget Ideas, Mr. Author. What Kind of Pen Do You Use?

Crane being used on one of first major reconstruction projects near ground zero topples into street, delaying traffic for hours in Lower Manhattan; crane operator Noel Brolly is arrested and charged with reckless endangerment after registering .07 on Breathalyzer test; no one is seriously injured in accident; some residents of nearby Battery Park City say accident is hint of what could be in store in next several years, after plans for rebuilding area are finalized and construction begins; photo (M)

Alcohol Is Cited in Toppling of a Crane Near Ground Zero

Qwest Communications International, dominant provider of local telephone service in 14 Western states, says it incorrectly accounted for more than $1.1 billion in transactions from 1999 to 2001; says accounting problems might extend to areas beyond sale of fiber optic capacity, where most scrutiny was focused until recently; might have improperly accounted for services acquired from other telecommunications carriers and for communications equipment it sold; withdraws financial forecasts for 2002 as result of weakness in its telecommunications business, but still expects to report financial results for second quarter and revised outlook for year on August 8; chief executive Richard C Notebaert says company will restate results for 1999 to 2001 on completion of extensive review of accounting practices; says Securities and Exchange Commission has been informed of discovery; photo (M)

QWEST ANNOUNCES ACCOUNTING FLAWS

This Week column offers selected arts events of interest coming to New York; photos (S)

This Week

America Online is struggling to continue expanding its subscriber base, where growth has slowed to only 7 percent annual rate in second quarter from 12 percent a year ago and 16 percent two years ago; is working harder and offering more discounts to maintain growth in dial-up service, while attracting only 4 percent of nation's 12 million broadband subscribers; experts say slow start in broadband means AOL will be unable to replicate its dominance of dial-up in broadband market; AOL's great strength is huge, stable roster of loyal customers, with few defections despite two price increases over last several years (M)

Can AOL Keep Its Subscribers In a New World Of Broadband?

More than quarter of all families of Sept 11 terrorism victims have hired paid lawyers, rejecting offer of free legal advice from members of Assn of Trial Lawyers of America; lawyers' assn is encountering shortage of local volunteers, and many families have become frustrated by delays in assignments of free lawyers; paid lawyers could collect fees of up to 25 percent of awards paid by federal Victim Compensation Fund; government fund has proven to be far more complicated than anyone had anticipated; if idealistic impulse of trial lawyers' group was to cushion families from worrying about maneuvering and motivation of lawyers, realistic reckoning is that legal landscape may be as confusing as ever; photo (M)

Saying No to Free 9/11 Aid, Many Families Hire Lawyers

New concept being explored by Bush administration for deposing Iraq's Pres Saddam Hussein offers risky approach of capturing Baghdad and one or two command centers and weapons depots first in hopes of cutting off country's central authority and setting off quick collapse of government; important aim would be to shock Iraq before it could use weapons of mass destruction; 'inside-out' approach would capitalize on American military's ability to strike over long distances, maneuvering forces to envelop target; advocates of plan say it reflects strong desire to find strategy that would not require full quarter-million American troops, yet hits hard enough to succeed (M)

U.S. Exploring Baghdad Strike As Iraq Option

 2 Immigrants Die in Truck  Two truckers were charged in the deaths of two illegal immigrants in Texas after a sweltering 12-hour ride that left 13 hospitalized.   PAGE A9

INSIDE

New research into effects of 1996 welfare overhaul finds unwelcome trend in which rising numbers of particularly black urban children are turning up without parents, deposited with relatives, friends or foster families; suggests trend may partly be result of stresses of new welfare world--such as loss of benefits, low-wage jobs at irregular hours and pressure from new partner needed to pay rent; is reopening debate on how shifting welfare rules are affecting families; is contributing to second thoughts among analysts, even as White House and some lawmakers push to make welfare law's work requirements even stricter; photo (M)

Side Effect of Welfare Law: The No-Parent Family

 Bertelsmann's Chief Out After Clash Over Strategy  Bertelsmann, the German media conglomerate, said its chief executive, Thomas Middelhoff, had left after clashing with the controlling family over strategy. The company, whose assets include Random House and Britney Spears' record company, named Gunter Thielen, who heads Bertelsmann's media services division Arvato, as Mr. Middelhoff's successor.     His departure comes as media companies struggle to make their acquisitions work. Robert W. Pittman, the chief operating officer at AOL Time Warner left last week and Jean-Marie Messier, the chief executive of Vivendi Universal, was ousted earlier. [Section A.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Directors of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate plan three new buildings as well as holograms, computer imagery, and live-action film to update exhibition; radical changes are motivated by great decline in visitors' knowledge of first president; photos (M)

George Washington: Mr. Excitement?; Mount Vernon, Alarmed by Fading Knowledge, Seeks to Pep Up His Image

B Thomas Golisano embarks on his third bid for governor of New York; billionaire entrepreneur and founder of state's Independence Party has unleashed campaign of lavish spending, multipronged strategy to get spot on ballot and goal apparently of frustrating Gov George E Pataki at every turn; Golisano says he would put as much as $70 million of his own fortune toward campaign, but he must find way to get onto Nov ballot; he is taking on Pataki in Sept 10 primary of highly fractured Independence Party; he is also trying to win nomination of state's Conservative Party through write-in campaign, and pushing for additional ballot line by trying to create another political party in state; many political strategists dismiss his chances of winning governor's race, but note ways he can be nuisance to Pataki, two-term incumbent, by using his vast resources to undermine Pataki's attempts to run on minor party lines; photo (M)

With No Party to Call His Home, Golisano Bids for a Ballot Spot

After the funeral of an ambushed soldier, Jewish settlers in Hebron attacked a Palestinian neighborhood, killing a teenage girl. Page A8.

Rampage by Hebron Settlers

American cyclist Lance Armstrong wins fourth straight Tour de France, beating second-place finisher by more than seven minutes; photos (M)

Armstrong Completes a Tour de Force

Metro-North Railroad has only 10 bar cars left, and they all run on New Haven line; die-hard patrons afraid they will lose their bar car circulate petitions to 'Save the Bar Car'; Metro-North officials say they have no immediate plans to do away with bar cars, but acknowledge that seating is major issue and bar cars could make way for many new seats; photo (M)

Aboard Bar Car, Some Riders Fear Last Call Is Near; A Fight Stirs on Metro-North

Technology itself continues to spread, in every way, despite technology industry woes and stock price slide; this fact, while not spelling success for any particular company or justifying high stock prices, means technology sector over long haul will continue to generate more than its share of business opportunity and economic growth; expansion goes beyond digital devices, with computer science increasingly spilling into and transforming other fields; scientists, inventors, engineers and entrepreneurs continue to push technology ahead toward few, often unanticipated markets that prove to be lucrative; graph of digital devices in use; photos (M)

Technology Climate Is Gloomy, But Its Future Still Seems Bright

Charter Communications chairman Paul G Allen reportedly weighs steps to significantly increase his stake in cable television company and perhaps take it private in wake of stock price collapse; moves include buying up company's bonds at deep discount and making new investment in company; he now controls about 55 percent of stock and about 93 percent of voting rights (M)

Paul Allen May Try to Raise Cable TV Stake

British magazine publishers are having remarkable success attracting young American male readers with Maxim and Stuff and newest import, FHM, fastest growing magazine in United States during last six months; have captured nearly five million new American readers by mixing bawdy Fleet Street tabloid tradition with untethered humor; American publishers seem ready to join fight for audience they long ignored; graphs of circulation and advertising revenue; photos (M)

British Publishers Attack U.S. And Take Young Male Readers

Mining town of Quecreek, Pa, rejoices over rescue of nine local miners trapped 240 feet underground for three days, calling intricate roll-of-the-dice rescue operation a miracle; rescued miners describe ordeal; describe writing wills and jotting down private thoughts while trapped as parting word to family survivors; intricate rescue operation described; diagram; photos (L)

After Roll-of-the-Dice Rescue, a Mine Town Rejoices

Thomas Middelhoff is ousted unexpectedly as chairman and chief executive of Bertelsmann AG, global media conglomerate, in latest eruption of boardroom turmoil; reportedly clashed with Mohn family that controls company over plan to sell company shares to public; is latest in string of fallen media moguls and latest westward-looking European chief executive to be dimissed in effort to build trans-Atlantic corporation with European roots; board of directors names Gunter Thielen as successor; some high points of Middelhoff's tenure at Bertelsmann discussed; photo (M)

Bertelsmann's Chief Is Fired After Clash With the Ownership

Affluent West Bank Arab-Americans with means to push for American-style democracy demanded by Bush administration's as price for renewing peace negotiations are leaving to return to US; residents of Turmus Aya, from which more than half of American-Arab population has already departed, comment; their decision is prompted by increasing hardships of daily life caused by escalating violence and subsequent Israeli siege; they find themselves tugged between tradition and modern life, between dwindling vision of state of Palestine and immediate freedom in US; map; photo (M)

West Bank Arab-Americans: Force for Change Is Leaving

Ira Berkow Sports of The Times column discusses attitude of former ball players and baseball fans at induction of shortstop Ozzie Smith into Hall of Fame; most of talk at ceremonies centers on baseball labor disputes; photo (M)

July 29, 2002

Headlines from July 29, 2002

CNBC Struggles Even as Financial News Abounds

Philharmonic Gets Diary Of a Savvy Music Man

Rare Start Is Rewarding For Valentin And the Mets

Forget Ideas, Mr. Author. What Kind of Pen Do You Use?

Alcohol Is Cited in Toppling of a Crane Near Ground Zero

Billboard 200

Nellyville

By The Way

The Eminem Show

Let Go

Hard Candy

Historical Context for July 29, 2002