October 26, 2003

Many New York City drivers consider alternate-side-of-the-street parking supreme annoyance; some have developed coping skills; photo (M)

Article on 19th century building on East Fifth Street in Lower Manhattan that has been, variously, a music ball, wedding hall, beer hall, sound studio, warehouse, performance space and now a home for several families; photos (M)

Article on increase in use of cellphones to explain away lateness; research shows that cellphones have enabled more people to fall behind schedule and have provided new crutch for chronically late people; finds that cellphone has changed nature of time and relationships; drawings; photo

Gretchen Morgenson column on data from Brent L Glading indicating financial services companies overseeing some 401(k) retirement plans are racking up annual profits that can exceed five times plans' costs; Glading's firm provides data sponsoring firms can use to negotiate some of profits back for plan participants; he notes largest plans generate most of industry's profits, with almost all of profits coming from investment management fees on funds in plan; graph of funds in employer-sponsored plans (M)

Article in series Re-examining Medicare says hospitals across country, most notably in Indianapolis, are creating special cardiac care facilities, driven in large pay by Medicare payment system, with its emphasis on procedures and its weak ties to actual costs of providing care; there is also boom in hospitals devoted to other well-reimbursed specialties, like orthopedics and surgery; meanwhile, some hospitals are laying off employees and scaling back programs, like psychiatric care, that are less generously reimbursed, and preventive care and case management are suffering; study of Indianapolis health care has concluded that construction of so many new heart hospitals could create excess demand for treatment rather than produce better cardiac care; even people building hospitals in Indianapolis worry that area not be able to support them all; Senate version of Medicare bill would make it harder for doctors to invest in and refer patients to specialty hospitals, and full-service hospitals are lobbying hard for provision; photos (L)

Study by economists Gordon B Dahl and Enrico Moretti of Census Bureau data finds couples with girls have divorced more often than those with boys in every decade since 1940's; study fits in with fast-growing interest among economists in how families operate; suggests age-old favoring of boys is not confined to past or to developing nations; tendency of parents, and especially fathers, to invest more in their families when they include boy gives boys important leg up; divorce data graphs; photos (M)

Jack Curry Baseball Analysis discusses New York Yankees' Game 6 loss to Florida Marlins in World Series, contending that lackluster hitting is responsible for poor performance; photos (M)

Legal battle between husband and parents of Terri Schiavo over whether to remove feeding tube that has kept her alive, in vegetative state, for 13 years discussed; photo; Dr Daniel Sulmasy, Franciscian friar, physician and ethicist, says case is not that of disabled woman being 'starved to death' but thorny family disagreement going back to old suspicions and perceptions (M)

Bush administration takes up human rights issues abroard that at dear to evangelical Christians, among them Christian-Muslim strife in Sudan, international sex trafficking and African AIDS crisis; no one disputes that Bush already cares deeply about these issues, but it is also true that white evangelicals accounted for about 40 percent of votes Bush received in 2000 presidential election and will be critical to his re-election; human rights issues offer politically safe way for Bush to appeal to his base without alienating large segments of center; evangelicals have also changed their strategy, showing greater willingness to work with Jewish and feminist groups on certain foreign policy issues; photos; graph (M)

Jersey City Medical Center buildings will be converted into 1,200 rental and condo units in eight buildings, 8 to 22 stories high, by Metrovest Equities; photo (M)

Baghdad Hotel Attacked The hotel where Paul D. Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, was staying in Iraq was hit by what soldiers said were rockets, wounding a number of people. Mr. Wolfowitz was not hurt. PAGE 11 Overhaul for Archdiocese A sweeping and historic reorganization by the Archdiocese of New York will probably include the closing of churches. PAGE 29

Standard time resumes; drawing