September 27, 2003

French debate emotional issue of assisted suicide following death of Vincent Humbert, 22-year-old paraplegic who wrote book asking for right to die and passed away after mother administered overdose of sedatives; Marie Humbert acted on third anniversary of car accident that left her son paralyzed, mute and blind; photo; she is taken in custody and then released and hospitalized, having won enormous public sympathy for her campaign to help her son and legalize euthanasia (M)

New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says he will never forget what public education did for him as 'kid from Queens' growing up in housing project; interview; prominent Washington lawyer and public official draws on connections to bring star-studded cast to help overhaul schools, engineering most sweeping change in history of sprawling system; photo; Klein, for all his ambitious agenda, has yet to claim spotlight of predecessors, in part because he is first to answer directly to mayor, but also because his speaking style is dry and his personal style is far from showy; Klein sees modern-day civil rights battle to lift black and Hispanic schoolchildren (M)

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, contending that his perhaps unintentional imsinuations that coach Herman Edwards was not doing good job were thoughtless but not malicious (M)

Florida Marlins defeat New York Mets, 4-3, to clinch National League wild card; photos (M)

Paterson (NJ) high school student Mohamed Khadraoui, who came to US from Morocco only three years ago, is one of many African athletes to excel in distance running; photo (M)