December 22, 2002

With the Lott controversy having driven the difficult question of race into the foreground, President Bush faces a far harder task in his campaign to demonstrate that the Republican Party is open to all. The Week in Review

Anthony Tommasini reviews Baz Luhrmann's Broadway production of La Boheme and recalls notable productions of other favorite musical works; photos (M)

Construction of a seven-story, 110,000-square-foot glass and steel office building is to begin next March on the blockfront on the north side of Houston Street between Crosby Street and Broadway in NoHo. The design of the building, inspired in part by the cast-iron architecture characteristic of the neighborhood, incorporates glass elevators that run in a glass-enclosed shaft. The project, to be completed in about a year, is being developed by Macklowe Properties without having tenants signed up. A Macklowe executive said that there have been discussions with potential tenants, but that leases had not yet been signed.

Doctors in US are offering anti-aging treatments even though effectiveness has not been established and long-term risks are ill defined; treatment is expensive: $1,000 a month for panoply of drugs and dietary supplements, including human growth hormone and testosterone for men and women, estrogen and progesterone for women, melatonin, DHEA, vitamins and antioxidants; photos (M)

Two reports offering data and analysis of housing trends in New York City have recently been published. ''The State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods, 2002'' -- a community-by-community look at indicators like housing prices, mortgage originations, foreclosures, tax delinquencies and vacancy rates -- is being offered to the public by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at the New York University School of Law. The report, which includes 475 tables and maps, also tracks shifts in population, income, crime and school achievement levels.

American preparations for war against Iraq are under way in independent Kurdish northern Iraq; American intelligence officials are working alongside Kurdish officials, and recruiters for American-sponsored opposition group are selecting candidates for program to train scouts and translators that one day may help American forces inside Iraq; potential basing sites for use in war are being studied; no American military forces are based there yet, and recent Turkish and Arabic news reports of sizable military deployment appear unfounded; photo; map (M)

Certified public accountants are faring well in job market despite scandals that have recently rocked profession, which may even have had effect of raising its visibility among students and increasing its desirability as possible careeer option; accounting is gaining in popularity as major in colleges; photo (M)

More on Pages 16-17: The Industry The Anger The Women The Raid

THEY'LL be home for Christmas: the New Church in Murray Hill, back to a lovely antebellum sanctuary it had to close in 1990; the Salvation Army, in its own Times Square building after a 12-year absence; the Brooklyn Tabernacle, in a vast old movie palace that hasn't looked so splendid since it opened in 1918; and All Saints Episcopal Church, in a 108-year-old chapel on East 60th Street that has perhaps never looked so splendid. Construction and renovation projects around New York City are subtly changing the ecclesiastical landscape, creating new sanctuaries and refreshing old ones. This is nothing like the church building boom at the turn of the 20th century, but it is re-energizing congregations that have had to make do with cramped or uncomfortable or dismal sanctuaries. Or none at all.

National Highway Traffic Safety Admr Dr Jeffrey Runge discusses his stress on addressing dangers that sport utility vehicles and other light trucks pose to occupants of passenger cars, interview; safety issues involving SUV's could have wide-ranging implications for motorists and automakers; light trucks now outsell cars, account for nearly 40 percent of vehicles on United States roads and are involved in disproportionate number of fatal crashes; photos; graphs of new vehicle sales, registered vehicles and fatal accidents (M)

Anemona Hartocollis Coping column on guilty pleasures New Yorkers might have been able to experience if subway strike had not been called off; drawing (M)

Article on frenzied activity at Manhattan beauty salons as stars prepare for unusually large number of movie premieres; photos (M)