February 17, 2004

Profile of and interview with character actor David Paymer, who is awaiting decision by ABC about future of his acclaimed new series, Line of Fire, in which he stars, against type, as brutal crime boss; photo (M)

Hasidic Jews on south side of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, demonstrate against conversion of Gretch Building, former factory there, into luxury condominiums; fear artists and young professionals who are gentrifying north side of Williamsburg will do same with Hasidic south side, causing rents and taxes to rise and leading to unraveling of their community's tightly woven fabric; feel betrayed by developers of Gretch Building, Martin and Edward Wydra, who are Orthodox, if not Hasidic, Jews; Wydras say conversion is being handled with sensitivity to Hasidic concerns; map; photos (M)

Questions are being raised about New York State's Office of Public Security, which was set up after Sept 11, 2001, to coordinate state and local response to terrorist threats; office has short, tangible list of achievements; critics say much more needs to be done to make information available and to improve communication between agencies; say office has done poor job of distributing federal antiterrorism funds to localities; main complaint is directed less at state than at federal government and what critics say is doling out of antiterrorism funds in pork-barrel fashion rather than according to actual threat each locality faces; map shows distribution of Homeland Security funds in state (M)

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and owner George Steinbrenner insist that acquisition of shortstop Alex Rodriguez only happened because Rodriguez was willing to move to third, allowing Yankees current shortstop Derek Jeter to keep his spot; photos (M)

Article on HBO made-for-TV movie project, Sometimes in April, in which Haitian-born director Raoul Peck is recreating horror and heroism of ten year rampage begun on April 7, 1994, by Rwanda's ethnic Hutu majority in which estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed; survivors fill most of acting roles and make up much of crew; recreating horror has been traumatic as well as healing exercise for many of them; photos (M)

Councilman Allan W Jennings has built strong base of support in Queens district by delivering improvements and services, but he now threatened by charges of sexual harassment and misconduct by former aides; sampling of voters in district finds that many are still behind him, but others, especially women, are troubled by charges; his voting, actions, personality and spending habits have alienated important figures in city's political establishment, including Mayor Michael R Bloomberg, Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Queens Democratic Party, and so cannot hope for any help from that quarter; photos (M)

Wealthy Arab-Americans and foreign-born Muslims who strongly back Pres Bush's decision to invade Iraq are adding to ranks of Pioneers and Rangers, elite Bush supporters who have raised $100,000 or more for his re-election; new crop of fund-raisers appears even as polls suggest sinking support for Bush among Arab-Americans who feel they are singled out in fight against terrorism; contributors also have important motive of access to business-friendly White House; major donors include Mori Hosseini and Fred Pezeshkan, both Iranian-born builders new to political activity; Yousif Ghafari, Lebanese Christian joins fund-raising efforts in Detroit, home to big Arab-American community (M)

Howard Dean vows to continue bid for presidency, even after campaign chairman Steven Grossman defects to John Kerry and despite projected defeat in Wisconsin primary; Dean, Kerry and John Edwards criss-cross Wisconsin, with Edwards also declaring he will not quit race and saying he looks forward to two-way contest with Kerry going into heavy schedule of primaries in early March; Kerry plans coast-to-coast tour; tells huge crowd in Wausau that Pres Bush has already started attack ads and he welcomes challenge; Dean to return to Vermont after day veering between defiance and doubt; photos; aides suggest he should keep name on ballot and raise money on Internet for other Democrats (M)

AT&T Wireless apears to lean toward buyout offer from Vodafone Group after Vodafone reportedly offers to increase $38-billion cash bid and rival Cingular Wireless declines to raise its bid; Vodafone would also keep much of AT&T Wireless management and work force, and Cingular acquisition might also not be approved by regulators; photos of rival executives; graph comparing major companies' subscribers (M)

Summary of some major stories on inside pages

Tiny hollow at edge of Zanesville, Ohio, finally gets city water service, decades after rest of community; photos; map; residents who have had to rely on cisterns and wells filed complaint with Ohio Civil Rights Commission in 2002, charging discrimination against black and mixed-race residents; commission agreed, requiring that county issue contract to extend water lines (M)

Developing countries seem more solid financially than they have in years; prices for their raw material exports are strong and economic growth is picking up broadly; global interest rates are low, but most current accounts of these nations are in surplus, so they do not need to borrow much money from rest of world; Federal Reserve System's Jan 28 statement replacing its promise of low rates 'for considerable period' with promise to be 'patient' before raising them sent developing country debt into financial swoon; frisson provided abrupt reminder of effect that tighter credit in US would have on economies of developing world; price of insurance against default on Brazil's foreign bonds rose 25 percent, to little under 5 cents on dollar, two days after Federal Reserve's statement; Turkey spiked by more than 20 percent, to just under 4 cents; graphs (Market Place column) (M)