Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Wash, offers exhibition on glass sculptures of Bertil Vallien, and it reflects growing recognition that glassmaking, ceramics, woodworking and other pursuits traditionally dismissed as crafts have risen to level of art; photos (M)

The Luster of Glass Joins Art's Mainstream; Works Once Dismissed as Crafts Enjoy a New Level of Respect

Latinos who are also black have been increasingly asserting their place as Hispanic subgroup; New York City has large concentration of Latinos from Caribbean countries with legacy of African slavery; Afro-Latino presence has been felt locally in recent years in proliferation of music and cultural events, in new college courses and conferences that explore black roots in Latin America and in growing numbers of Dominicans, who are predominantly black and are expected to eventually surpass Puerto Ricans as city's biggest Latino group; photos (M)

In New York's Cultural Mix, Black Latinos Carve Out Niche

Outbreak of new respiratory disease SARS inflicts greatest blow to Chinese economy since Tiananmen Square killings in 1989, causing plunge in retail sales, slump in demand for some Chinese exports and near-collapse in domestic and foreign tourism; Chinese economy has gone from expanding at annual rate of 9.9 percent in first quarter to shrinking at annual rate of 2 percent in second quarter, according to estimates from J P Morgan Chase; economic damage is being increased by some government policies adopted to slow spread of SARS, such as ordering closing of all movie theaters, Internet cafes and other places of entertainment in Beijing, or refusing entry to tour groups in Guangdong Province; if current economic downturn proves prolonged, it could damage Communist Party's claim to be best way to offer greater prosperity to 1.3 billion Chinese; photos; graph (L)

Outbreak of Disease Brings Big Drop-Off In China's Economy

Trainer Bobby Frankel has favorite Empire Maker and second choice Peace Rules in Kentucky Derby; photos (M)

In Kentucky Derby, Frankel Takes On . . . Frankel

Online magazine Slate, founded by Michael Kinsley and funded by Microsoft, becomes first-ever digital media service to post profit; its Internet traffic has doubled in last year, to six million visitors monthly, amid growing ad revenue; photos (M)

Slate Sets a Web Magazine First: Making Money

Saddam Hussein's dying government continued to execute suspected spies even as American troops neared huge prison at Abu Ghraib; Iraqis have almost never learned fate of loved ones executed in Hussein's 24 years as president; with Hussein gone, relatives descend on pit just outside prison, unearthing 14 bodies of recently killed prisoners; neighbors say they found 10 more corpses on prison grounds, also recently killed; personal stories told in two weeks since Hussein's fall reveal scale of torture and killing that may surpass predictions of even his worst critics; former inmates say last prisoners at Abu Ghraib were held as spies; thousands of other prisoners there were released in Oct in amnesty declared by Hussein as tensions between Iraq and US grew; photos of Iraqis, with faces covered against stench, digging up shallow graves of executed prisoners (M)

As Hussein Faded, Prisoners Were Executed

State poets laureate gather for first-ever convention in Manchester, NH; many extol what they say is poetry's newfound power; photo (M)

Laureates Convene, Waxing Poetic

Risk-takers are crisscrossing, probing and camping out in increasing numbers on North Pole's shifting ice veneer; northward rush has been simplified by satellite phones and global-positioning devices that allow trekkers and scientists to know their position even when compasses spin uselessly; sun rises in Mar and sets in Sept, and icescape shifts moment to moment; Camp Borneo, floating way station run by entrepreneurs from Russia and France since 1992, attracts tourists and scientists as both Everest-style base bamp and hub for researchers studying shifting climate and ocean patterns; photos; map (M)

At the Bustling North Pole, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Anthony Tommasini reviews gala inaugural concert in Sosnoff Theater of Richard B Fisher Center for Performing Arts at Bard College, which was designed by Frank Gehry and whose acoustics are work of Tasuhisa Toyota; Leon Botstein leads American Symphony Orchestra and Concert Chorale of New York in Mahler's Symphony No. 3; photo (M)

Mahler's Complexity In Gehry's Space

Los Angeles Lakers defeat Minnesota Timberwolves, 102-97, to tie first-round playoff series, 2-2; photos (M)

Not So Fast: Lakers Are Not Done Yet

 E-Mail Service Providers Unite in Bid to Stop Spam  Three leading providers of electronic mail accounts said they have started to work together to develop ways to reduce the unwanted commercial messages, or spam, increasingly clogging their customers' e-mail boxes.    The companies -- America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo -- are calling for technical changes in the way e-mail is passed around cyberspace to make it easier to determine who really sent it and what it is about. [Page C2.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan will be transformed, river to river, by Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, coalition of five organizations that joined forces after 9/11 terror attacks to restore damaged historical buildings near ground zero; street is dense with historic structures, and its westerly verge is dstined to be home of new Fulton St Transit Center on Broadway; other plans for street described; photos; map (M)

A Distant Urban Past Is Just a Local Stop; Rails and History Meet at Fulton St.

Indian casinos that have sprung up in unglamorous locations throughout Southwest have become lucrative magnets for music and comedy acts of caliber of Jay Leno and Tony Bennett; Isleta Casino and Resort in New Mexico is typical of such casinos; photos (M)

Indian Casinos Luring Big Names

Joyce Purnick Metro Matters column on charge that New York State Supreme Court Justice Gerald P Garson took bribes to rig outcome of divorce and child custody cases; says Dist Atty Charles J Hynes hopes this latest charge of corruption on Brooklyn bench will spur reform of system used to select judges; says Hynes's solution--direct primaries--may not work because Democratic machine has control of so-called open primaries; notes civic groups prefer merit selection of judges--appointment by governor, who would then beheld accountable (M)

Metro Matters; Talk of Reform Could Remain Just That

Millions of low-income Americans face loss of health insurance or sharp cuts in benefits under proposals now moving through state legislatures around country; state officials, confronting third straight year of fiscal crisis, say they have no choice but to rein in Medicaid, fast-growing program that provides health insurance for 50 million people; many state officials are pleading for federal help as they face array of painful trade-offs, often pitting needs of impoverished elderly people for prescription drugs and long-term care against those of low-income families seeking basic health coverage; almost every state has made or is planning cuts in benefits, eligibility or payments to health care providers; moderate Republicans on Capitol Hill have joined Democrats in seeking legislation that would provide additional federal aid for Medicaid, which is financed by federal government and states; Bush administration opposes such legislation, saying Medicaid is unsustainable in its current form and should be revamped to give states expanded power to run it; photo; maps (L)

CUTBACKS IMPERIL HEALTH COVERAGE FOR STATES' POOR

Weak drama programs, second-rate reality shows, questionable scheduling and surge by Fox network cripple ABC television's ratings; ABC will likely finish 2003 spring season in last place among four major networks; network's executives will emphasize comedies and 10 PM dramas when they present ABC's fall lineup to advertisers; photos; graph of networks' ratings (M)

ABC's Reality: 'We're Last; We Want to Get Out of Here'

NFL Draft Analysis discusses this year's draft, which saw trend toward building defensive line, as teams try to compete with Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers by picking 11 defensive linemen in first round (M)

Teams Try To Copy Bucs' Great Line

Robert Lipsyte article in Writers on Writing series describes allure of writing novels for young adults, whose lives may well be changed by what he writes; photo (M)

Novels With the Power To Change Young Lives

Arizona Diamondbacks defeat New York Mets, 6-1 and 7-3, in doubleheader; photos (M)

Mets Double Their Futility In Losses To Arizona

United States is shifting its major air operations center for Middle East, including day-to-day responsibility for overseeing hundreds of air missions in Iraq, from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, first step in what is likely to be significant reduction of American forces in Saudi Arabia and realignment of American military presence in region; formal decision about whether to make new arrangement permanent will be made by Pres Bush and Defense Sec Rumsfeld; move is prompted by continued unease in Saudi Arabia about large American military presence in kingdom, and fact that war in Iraq is winding down; Rumsfeld visits United Arab Emirates and Qatar as part of trip to discuss with regional allies shape and size of American military commitment in region after fall of Saddam Hussein's government; United States commanders have chafed at restrictions Saudis placed on American-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Air Force officials in particular have long favored moving air command post to base in Qatar; senior Bush administration officials stress that America's military relationship with Saudi Arabia will continue, including efforts to train Saudi forces as well as use of Saudi air bases (M)

U.S. Will Move Air Operations To Qatar Base

 2 Stock Analysts to Settle  Two former analysts have agreed to pay fines and to be barred from the securities industry, part of the settlement into conflicts on Wall Street to be disclosed today.   PAGE C1    Warning to Drug Companies  The government told drug companies that many of the techniques they use to sell drugs, like offering financial incentives to doctors, ran a high risk of abuse.   PAGE A16

INSIDE

Special Operations forces, once viewed as mavericks and cowboys needing to be segregated from conventional troops, were tightly incorporated into US Central Command's planning from day one of war in Iraq; carefully choreographed opening days of war mark important milestone for Special Operations forces; senior officers say more Special Operations commandos and air crews were assigned to more missions and integrated more thoroughly into conventional military operations than in any other war in modern American history; say more than 9,000 of them were involved in conflict; some Special Operations forces complained about being kept on short leashes by cautious commanders; Special Operations commanders, wanting to prove that their small units could play significant role in large-scale conventional campaign, see Iraqi war as experiment that largely succeeded; photos (L)

War Plan Drew U.S. Commandos From Shadows

Former Merrill Lynch Internet analyst Henry Blodget and former Salomon Smith Barney telecommunications analyst Jack B Grubman are expected to pay almost $20 million in fines and penalties and agree to be barred permanently from securities industry; neither will admit or deny wrongdoing; are only analysts expected to be part of settlement involving overly bullish reports stock research analysts issued to generate investment banking business for their firms; Blodget will pay $4 million in settlement with Securities and Exchange Commission, NASD and New York Stock Exchange; Grubman will pay $15 million in settlement with NASD (M)

2 Analysts Likely to Pay $20 Million In Fraud Case

Industry analysts say Apple Computer plans to thrust itself into contentious and technologically challenging online music service business; say Apple will charge 99 cents for users to download individual songs drawn from catalogs of big record labels; table of fee-based online music providers (M)

Apple Is Said To Be Entering E-Music Fray With Pay Service

Uniformed Firefighters Assn wins court order temporarily prohibiting New York City from reducing size of crews on certain engines to four from five; state appellate judge rules that appellate court must first review lower court decision that allows reduction; Michael R Bloomberg is latest mayor to find it politically difficult to cut Fire Dept budget, made even harder since 9/11 terror attacks; Fire Dept has $45 million deficit; community groups and elected officials have organized frequent demonstrations against city's plan to close eight firehouses; in seeking to reduce manpower on engines, Bloomberg has taken on one of most sacrosanct causes of firefighters' union (M)

April 28, 2003

Headlines from April 28, 2003

The Luster of Glass Joins Art's Mainstream; Works Once Dismissed as Crafts Enjoy a New Level of Respect

In New York's Cultural Mix, Black Latinos Carve Out Niche

Outbreak of Disease Brings Big Drop-Off In China's Economy

In Kentucky Derby, Frankel Takes On . . . Frankel

Slate Sets a Web Magazine First: Making Money

Billboard 200

Faceless

Meteora

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

Now 12

To Whom It May Concern

Historical Context for April 28, 2003