April 11, 2004

First of two articles in series A Home Too Far focuses on middle-class black and Hispanic families lured to Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania by dream of home ownership only to tumble into foreclosure; lenders have brought foreclosure proceeding againsg 5,700 homes in Monroe County, Pa, in last decade, with thousands more families in area struggling to hang on; one in four minority families in some of fastest-growing townships are using half or more of their gross earnings to pay for homes; interviews with over 100 homebuyers and dozens of finance industry employees and policymakers reveal story of miscalculation, greed, questionable business practices by builders and banks, dismal state regulation and overly ambitious federal policy of encouraging home ownership; map; graphs of rising home ownership and foreclosure rates; photos (M)

Foreign direct investment, once object of scorn, fear and recrimination in United States, is increasing seen as source of new jobs, production and exports; foreign companies are spending billions of dollars to build or expand operations throughout United States, lifting local economies and offsetting some of jobs being sent offshore by American companies; free trade proponents note number of new workers employed by foreign companies, 6.4 million in 2001, more than doubled in 15 years; number of jobs that moved offshore, roughly 10 million, grew by only 56 percent in period; graph compares trends; photos (M)

Two towers with 170 subsidized condominium apartments are under construction in Harlem, final phase of Strivers Center redevelopment project; developer, Strivers Gardens Realty LLC, will offer condominiums for sale by lottery; photo (M)

Community colleges around country offer fast-track programs that train students in specific job skills that will get them into labor market quickly; administrators say accelerated programs also help to re-employ thousands of laid-off workds and teach basic skills to entry-level job seekers; George Sanchez of Bronx Community College explains (M)

White House officials release classified briefing Pres Bush got on Aug 6, 2001, that reported Al Qaeda terrorist network maintained active United States presence for years, was suspected of recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York and could be preparing for domestic hijackings; hold none of data in briefing, which did not point to specific time or place or warn that planes could be used as missiles, was later found to be related to Sept 11, 2001 attacks; briefing shows Bush was given more specific and contemporary data about terrorist threats than administration previously admitted; photo (M)