January 14, 2003

Fording Inc will be converted into Fording Canadian Coal Trust, which will own 65 percent of partnership comprising Fording's existing mines and metallurgical coal businesses of Teck Cominco of Vancouver, British Columbia, Luscar Energy Partnership of Toronto and Consol Energy Ltd of Pittsburgh (S)

Bagged salad sales in United States exceeded $2 billion last year; process of getting lettuce washed and bagged requires speed, technology, secrecy about technology and plain-old farmers' ingenuity; clock starts ticking moment plants are shaved from ground; six days is allowed for washing and bagging lettuce and transporting it around country, and week more to sell it; after that, leaves turn slimy; description of process at Earthbound Farm in San Juan Bautista, Calif, which claims to be first company to package lettuce in bags, starting in 1986; photos (M)

Donald G McNeil Jr describes how to get religious exemption to childhood immunization laws; cites his family's joining Congregation of Universal Wisdom, founded by Dr Walter PSchilling, chiropractor in Medford, NJ; he runs congregation from his den; photo (M)

Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcay

States Unite in Effort To Hold Down Medical Costs In the strongest challenge yet to manufacturers and distributors of prescription drugs, nine states and the District of Columbia are organizing a nonprofit operation to manage prescription plans. The states intend to hold down increases in spending on medicines for millions of employees and Medicaid beneficiaries. The group is being formed at a time when two-thirds of the states are reducing Medicaid coverage, limiting eligibility or ending benefits for at least a million people. [Page A1.]