January 24, 2003

Article on Mammoth Mountain, California's premier snow resort which has been popular as weekend getaway among skiers and snowboarders from Los Angeles; Intrawest Corp of British Columbia is transforming no-frills community into world-class resort; photos; map (M)

Analysis of Bush administration's case against Iraq; holds that United states has been unable to lead UN inspectors to weapons that United States insists Iraq is hiding; Deputy Defense Sec Paul D Wolfowitz, in speech before Council on Foreign Relations, argues that inspectors cannot be expected to peel away layers of deception to get to facts; says they can only do spot checks to see if Iraq is voluntarily disarming itself; says Iraq's compliance would require transformation of Saddam Hussein's authoritarian and secretive ways to become open partner in disarmament; says only way Iraq can avoid 'regime change' is if nature of current regime changes; asserts that Iraq has threatened any scientist who cooperates with inspectors with death, and has trained intelligence officers to mislead UN inspectors by posing as weapons designers; Bush administration is wary of becoming ensnared in game of cat and mouse; concern is that Iraq's strategy is to drag out inspections until soaring summer temperatures make it hard for US military to mount invasion; photo (L)

New York State Department of Labor releases figures that show New York City's unemployment rate is far above national average, jumping to 8.4 percent in Dec 2002, up from 8 percent in November; last time so many were out of work was March 1998; graph shows rate over past five years (M)

Advertisers are buying more commercial time during Super Bowl than usual or initially intended; Anheuser-Busch, General Motors, PepsiCo and Sony will account for 40 percent of ad spots being sold by ABC; marketers, including Reebok International, are also running spots that go on for longer than traditional 30 seconds; 30-second spots during game are estimated to cost average of $2.1 million; chart; photos (M)

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg delivers State of the City address, acknowledging that his decision to impose 18.5 percent property tax increase has enraged many New Yorkers; lays out modest agenda for second year of his mayoralty, one that is heavily dependent on fiscal help from Albany and Washington; calls on city's labor unions to provide concessions or live without pay increases; raises specter of layoffs and expresses sympathy for those forced to sacrifice; insists, however, that New York City is far from doomed and is in fact better off than many other cities; says one of his chief goals in 2003 will be to capitalize on city's greatness; mayor delivers speech at Brooklyn Botanic Garden rather than in City Council's chamber; recent polls have found many New Yorkers dissatisfied with his job performance, in spite of his many accomplishments; many residents say they do not think Bloomberg, a billionaire, truly understands their economic pain; photos (M)