Sec of State Colin L Powell meets with Pres Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and says Syria has begun closing offices of at least some militant anti-Israeli groups in Damascus as demanded by US; groups are identified as Hamas, Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Palestinian Islamic Jihad; closings appear to be breakthrough in dealing with Syria, which has had an up-and-down relationship with US over years and more recently has been labeled by some American officials as junior member of 'axis of evil' because of its tolerance of groups' presence; Powell also demands that Syria turn over any Iraqi leaders hiding in Syria and ensure that no weapons are flowing from Syria into Iraq now that American occupation is encountering some attacks in parts of country; also expresses concern about Syrian support for Hezbollah, Shiite group that is active in Lebanon and has lobbed missiles into Israel; photo (M)

POWELL SAYS SYRIA IS TAKING ACTION ON TERROR GROUPS

Oakland Athletics defeat New York Yankees, 5-3, in extra innings; photos (M)

Acevedo Takes Hold of the Yankees' Goat Horns

Mack tractor-trailor that for decades has perched two stories across traffic along Hudson River sports new logo, that of United Rentals, which is leasing space in Yale Building; photo; Javits Convention Center has purchased nine-story terminal as part of long-delayed plan to transform its far West Side commercial area into upscale neighborhood (S)

POSTINGS: 12th Ave. Truck Sign Refurbished; Familiar Rig Rolls Again Above Traffic

 Safely Back on Earth  Two American astronauts and a Russian from the International Space Station landed in Central Asia but it took more than two hours to confirm the three were fine.   PAGE 16    Link in Church Poisonings  The shooting death of a Maine farmer is being linked to arsenic poisonings at a nearby church.   PAGE 30

INSIDE

Behind the Wheel report on Dodge Neon and Dodge Viper; photos (M)

BEHIND THE WHEEL/2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10 and Dodge Neon SRT-4; A Tempting New Serpent, and a Wolf Dressed Like a Lamb

Schools officially open in Baghdad, Iraq, for first time since war began, but many students and teachers stay home, fearing for their safety because overstretched Americans soldiers have been able to inspect only fraction of city's school buildings for weapons and unexploded ordnance; confusion and frustration reign in most sections of Baghdad, and hundreds of angry Iraqis demonstrate at Palestine Hotel, where most foreign journalists stay, demanding order and jobs; United Nations team arrives and regroups at compound it abandoned on March 18 on eve of war, and it intends to re-establish aid programs and arrange delivery of more than one million tons of food over next three months; photos (M)

School Doors Reopen in Baghdad, But Few Students Make the Trip

Home Depot, which critics say is losing out to smaller rival, Lowe's, is battling back; plans to revamp all its old stores, emulating rival's cleaner, better-illuminated stores, in bid to appeal to women; is making women focus of new advertising drive; Home Depot chief executive Robert L Nardelli and Lowe's chief executive Robert L Tillman cite changes they are making, interviews; graphs of financial data; photos (M)

So, Which Man Will Sell You That Drywall?

Home Front column on Managed Work Services, Br

Coaching Unemployable to Be Reliable

Occulus, journal of New York Chapter of AIA, to reappear in print, after ceasing publication last year; photo (S)

POSTINGS: New York's Oculus Returning as a Quarterly; A.I.A. Magazine To Reappear in Print

Article on changes that have taken place at Amalgamated Cooperative Houses in Bronx, NY, as it celebrates its 75th anniversary; project, whose original residents were recent immigrants and members of Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union, is US's oldest nonprofit housing cooperative; original Jewish progressive families are being replaced by blacks, Latinos and Asians; photos (L)

For a Working-Class Dream, a New Day

Physical abuse of children in New Jersey's foster care system is especially enraging for some parents and children's advocates because Division of Youth and Family Services has for years been able to keep full dimensions of its failings secrets -- from parents of children in system, from lawyers acting on behalf of children who have been raped or killed and from legislators seeking to reform agency's practices; agency officials say secrecy is intended to protect privacy of children and is frequently required by state law, but critics say agency's culture of secrecy is cynical attempt to hide horrors and limit its legal exposure; agency says it plans greater openness as part of sweeping overhaul ordered by Gov James E McGreevey; photos (L)

Foster Care Secrecy Magnifies Suffering In New Jersey Cases

Major study analyzing nearly 100,000 co-op and condominium apartment sales in Manhattan since 1984 finds 15.5 percent 'condo premium,' after controlling for 41 variable factors and assessing value of improvements and amenities; co-author Prof Michael H Schill explains; New York is unique in that fewer than two of ten owned apartments in city are condominiums, compared with eight out of ten across nation, although co-op dominance is slipping somewhat; statistics; chart; drawings (M)

So How Much Is That  . . . . . . . .  Worth?

Record companies are quietly financing development and testing of software programs that would sabotage computers and Internet connections of people who download pirated music; options range from relatively benign programs that would redirect users to Web sites where they can legitimately buy song they tried to download to programs that would attack personal Internet connections, slowing or halting downloads, or overwhelm distribution networks with potentially malicious programs that masquerade as music files; have varying degrees of legality; are more aggressive than current antipiracy efforts, like 'spoofing,' which spreads copies of fake music files across file-sharing networks like KaZaA and Morpheus; spoofing is considered legal but has had only mild success; none of major labels said to be funding development of newer approaches -- Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, BMG and EMI -- will discuss details publicly; photo (M)

Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy

The Old Man of the Mountain, the stone-outcropping profile of a gnarled face that has been a symbol of New Hampshire for generations, fell from its granite aerie in the White Mountains at Franconia Notch State Park. No one reported seeing or hearing the collapse of the great rock face, which was carved by a glacier perhaps 30,000 years ago and is depicted on the state's quarter.    ''It just died of old age, of natural causes,'' a town official said.    Article, Page 28.  

New Hampshire Icon, The Stone Face, Falls

Information technology industry is maturing in ways that will affect technology companies, their customers and their investors; industry executives and analysts see balance of power shifting away from suppliers toward their corporate customers; say use of lower-cost building blocks of computer hardware and software is spreading, freeing corporations from dependency on one or two main suppliers; say trends point to increased pressure on prices and profits, good deal for customers and tricky time for investors; graph of information technology spending; photos (M)

A New Technology, Now That New Is Old

Anemona Hartocollis Coping column suggests that Gracie Mansion, which is not being used by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as living quarters, should be rented out for weddings; drawing (M)

Vegas Has Its Elvis Chapel. We Have Gracie.

Profile of dick jockey Kay Slay, also known as The Drama King, whose mix tapes and underground recordings, sold on street corners and in specialty shops and now distributed free, have influenced all important hip-hop performers; Columbia will release Slay's mainstream debut recording in May; biographical information; interviews; photos (L)

Hip-Hop's One-Man Ministry of Insults

Jockey Jose Santos rides Funny Cide to win Kentucky Derby, becoming first New York-bred horse to win Derby; horse beats favorites Empire Maker and Peace Rules; photos (M)

Funny Cide, a 'Yeah, Right' Gelding, Beats Royalty

Profile of Sony Corp of America chairman and chief executive Sir Howard Stringer discusses layoffs and cuts at unit and political skills he brings to difficult task; graphs of financial data; photos (M)

The Affable Ax Wielder at Sony

Article on popularity of clothing styled after 1999 science fiction movie Matrix and its new sequel, Matrix Reloaded; photos (M)

Allure of the Trench Coat: That 'Matrix' Look

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg wants to hold a mammoth parade along the Canyon of Heroes on lower Broadway to salute veterans of the Iraq war with ticker tape and cheers, recalling the celebrations after World Wars I and II.   

Shaping the Message In Parades for Troops

Alabama University fires football coach Mike Price, who had just been hired, because of scandal involving Florida topless dancer and exorbidant room service bill at his hotel room, which he reportedly shared with her; Price responds to termination by saying he deserved second chance; sons and assistant coaches Eric and Aaron will also leave; photos (M)

Alabama Fires Coach For Off-Field Indiscretions

Article on murder of Lyric Benson, 22, Yale graduate and budding actress, by her fiance, Robert Ambrosino Jr, who then turned gun on himself outside her Brooklyn apartment; photos (L)

One Verging on Stardom, One Left Back, With a Gun

Most of 150 Iraqi exiles selected by Defense Department to resuscitate Iraq's moribund ministries and restart basic services espouse liberal, secular ideals that are at odds even with those of many other Iraqi exiles as well as powerful forces inside Iraq; team's makeup shows boldness of US plans for Iraq as well as risks involved; some Iraqi exile leaders says creation of team was too narrow and overly influenced by views of Deputy Defense Sec Paul D Wolfowitz; profiles of five prominent members of team: Emad Dhia, Munther al-Fadhal, Muhammad Ali Zainy, Khidhir Hamza and Sam Kareem; photos (M)

Iraqi Exiles, Backed by U.S., Return to Reinvent a Country

James Atlas comment on US military adventure in Iraq as nothing less than defense of Western civilization, school of thought that stems from late University of Chicago political scientist Leo Strauss, whose disciples are prominent in Bush administration; 'myth' of Strauss derives from Allan Bloom's 1987 book the Closing of The American Mind, which argued that Greek democracy reprsented highest form of civilization; agenda became politicized by cohort of ambitious men like Paul Wolfowitz, Richard N Perle, William Kristol; photo; drawing (M)

May 4, 2003

Headlines from May 4, 2003

POWELL SAYS SYRIA IS TAKING ACTION ON TERROR GROUPS

Acevedo Takes Hold of the Yankees' Goat Horns

POSTINGS: 12th Ave. Truck Sign Refurbished; Familiar Rig Rolls Again Above Traffic

INSIDE

BEHIND THE WHEEL/2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10 and Dodge Neon SRT-4; A Tempting New Serpent, and a Wolf Dressed Like a Lamb

Billboard 200

Thankful

The New Breed

Say You Will

Have You Forgotten?

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

Historical Context for May 4, 2003