Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses jockey Stewart Elliott, who comes to Kentucky Derby from small market Philadelphia Park, and common practices used by jockeys to maintain their artificially low weights (M)

Sports of The Times; Shining a Light On a Dark Side Of Life in Racing

 U.S. Seeks Medicaid Refund  The Bush administration is moving to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid payments it maintains have been improperly claimed by school districts throughout New York.   PAGE B1    Sharon May Face Rebuff  New polls show that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel may face a rebuff to his proposal for a pullout of Jewish settlements from Gaza when members of his Likud Party vote on the issue on Sunday.   PAGE A6

INSIDE

Workers at Fiat ends their 10-day blockade of company's car factory in Melfi, Italy, allowing workers who were not on strike to return to work; union and management representatives meet to search for agreement that would lead to end to strike; lost production as result of strike so far totals almost 30,000 cars (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Italy: Fiat Blockade Ends

Ben Brantley reviews musical Bombay Dreams, music by A Rahman, lyrics by Don Black, book By Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan and directed by Steven Pimlott; Manu Narayan, Anisha Nagarajan and Ayesha Dharker star; photos (M)

Coloring By the Numbers

Article on White Party in Palm Springs, Calif, part of hundreds of gay 'circuit party' events that take place around US and worldwide all year round; list; photos (M)

On Gay Circuit, The Party Never Ends

SATELLITE navigation systems, now installed in nearly 30 percent of all new car models, are all but making the road map obsolete -- and with it the serendipity that can occur on a road trip when you are led astray by human error. After all, what better way to get off the beaten path? Page 2.  

Into the Future, Without a Map?

Federal jury cuts more than $1 billion from insurers' potential liability at World Trade Center site, a major setback to developer Larry A Silverstein in his bitter legal battle over how much money will be available for rebuilding site; decision means Silverstein will be able to recoup no more than $5.5 billion--far short of $7 billion he sought--and only if he wins all proceedings that remain in complex legal case; casts doubt on his financing for four office towers planned for ambitious project designed for ground zero; money seems assured for $1.5 billion, 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, while federal funds will be available for $2 billion transit center; combination of private and federal money will pay for planned memorial and museum and performing arts center; Silverstein, who acquired 99-year lease on trade center six weeks before 9/11, had hoped to double $3.55 billion insurance proceeds by insisting in court that two planes that hit twin towers constituted separate events, entitling him to more than $7 billion in insurance payments; photo (M)

Blow to Builder Over Insurance At Ground Zero

Google says it will sell shares to public investors in unusual auction that is stark shift from way Silicon Valley companies raised money during technology boom of 1990's; stock offering, to take place later this year, is intended to provide $2.7 billion in cash; it will give Google market value on Wall Street of from $30 billion to $50 billion; it will make instant billionaires out of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two former graduate students who founded Google less than six years ago; outsiders getting their first look at basic details of Google's finances and business operations find evidence of company that is both exceptionally profitable and extraordinarily fast growing; unusual auction method Google has chosen poses risks; if price bid by initial buyers goes too high, there may be few takers once shares start trading in stock market; long-awaited Google public offering is seen as signal moment for Silicon Valley and technology industry which is just beginning to recover from devastating slump following collapse of dot-com bubble in 2000; graphs (L)

Google's Sale of Its Shares Will Defy Wall St. Tradition

Derek Jeter ends his 0-for-32 hitless streak with first-pitch homer in Yankees game against Oakland Athletics; Yankees win game, 7-5; usually stoic Yankee manager Joe Torre smiles while Jeter circles bases; Jeter has 1,549 hits since his rookie season in 1996, most in that span in major leagues; his slump defied explanation, and was longest slump by Yankee since Jimmy Wynn in 1977; Yogi Berra, Yankee Hall of Famer, recalls that he ended his 0 for 32 slump with home run against Kansas City Athletics, forerunner of Oakland team; photos; statistics (M)

Jeter, Anemic at 0 for 32, Is a Crusher at 1 for 33

Members of Ghana's Parliament tour halls of power in Albany and are mystified by budget process as practiced in New York, whose government consistently fails to enact timely budget and whose individual lawmaker have little say in budget, leaving decision-making to governor and leaders of State Senate and Assembly; find budget opaque; photo (M)

Studying Albany, and Giggling Politely; Ghanaians See Odd Sort of Democracy: New York's

Article, noting recent efforts to resurrect music of composers who perished or were sent into exile during World War II, profiles Erwin Schulhoff, German-speaking Czech Jew who died in concentration camp in 1942; Schulhoff is focus of three-concert series at 92nd Street Y and Lincoln Center; photo (M)

Music Silenced By the Nazis Finds Its Voice

A O Scott Critic's Notebook column on third annual TriBeCa Film Festival, which will include more than 150 feature films in less than a week; highlights; map; photo (M)

A Chaotic Galaxy of Big Films, Unknowns and Noble Goals

Royal Dutch/Shell Group says it will buy back $2 billion of its shares this year, latest sign that company is trying to placate shareholders after months of criticism; Shell has been under fire since it unexpectedly cut its proven reserve estimates by 20 percent in January; is being investigated by regulators including Securities and Exchange Commission, US Justice Department and Britain's Financial Services Authority; reports 16 percent decline in net income for first quarter, to $4.43 billion; says it will increase capital expenditures this year by $700 million to search for new oil and gas deposits (M)

Shell Tries A Buyback To Pacify Its Investors

Dave Anderson Sports of The Times column suggests to Cuban President Fidel Castro that Cuban exile and New York Yankees pitcher Jose Contreras be allowed to move his family from Cuba to New York; photos (M)

Sports of The Times; It's Time for Castro to Let the Contreras Family Reunite

Steep fall in copper, gold and other metal prices in last week has heightened nervousness that two-year boom in commodity markets may be coming to close; copper trades at $2,657 per metric ton on London Metal Exchange, down from $3,100 in late March; nickel has lost almost 40 percent of its value since reaching peak of close to $18,000 per metric ton in early January; gold price is fixed in London at $386 per ounce on April 29, down from recent peak of $428.20 in January; graphs (M)

Metal Prices Fall; 'Froth' Is Blown Off Market

Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote book Seabiscuit: An American Legend, hopes to change practice of using whips to motivate horses at races like Kentucky Derby, charging that striking horses with stiff leather whips is cruel; photos (M)

Hoping to Make Jockey's Whip Lightning Rod

Bureau of Economic Analysis reports economy grew at vigorous annual rate of 4.2 percent in first quarter, with military spending making significant contribution to economic growth for first time since early days of war in Iraq; gross domestic product would have expanded at 3.5 percent pace without war; Bush administration greets report as confirmation that tax cuts are working; Treas Sec John W Snow says economy is poised for long-term growth; Sen John Kerry, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, focuses not on Gross Domestic Product report but on still subpar job creation; neither party addresses unexpected contribution of military spending to economic growth, which accounted for $17.4 billion of $108.5 billion increase; inflation rose at annual rate of 2 percent, up from 1.2 percent in fourth quarter; Labor Department reports employment cost index rose at 1.1 percent annual rate because employers' health insurance and pension costs increased; graph; photos (M)

U.S. Economy Grows 4.2%; War Spending Provides Push

 Google Announces Plans For Initial Public Offering  Ending months of frenzied speculation, Google said it would sell shares to public investors in a way that represents a stark shift from the way Silicon Valley companies raised money during the technology boom of the 1990's.    The stock offering, which is intended to provide about $2.7 billion in cash when it takes place later this year, is likely to give Google a market value on Wall Street of perhaps $50 billion or more and transform the two former graduate students who founded it less than six years ago into instant billionaires. [Page A1.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

 Google's casual corporate culture, which reflects the personalities of its founders, Sergey Brin, above left, and Larry Page, is not likely to change, analysts say.   Page C6.

More on the I.P.O.

ABB reports net profit of $4 million for first quarter compared to loss of $45 million year earlier; chief executive Jurgen Dormann comments; photo (S)

World Business Briefing | Europe: Switzerland: ABB Posts Profit

Department of Health and Human Services seeks return of hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid payments that it says school districts throughout New York State improperly claimed to cover cost of educating children with speech disabilities; says districts identified children as eligible for Medicaid without approval from appropriate medical professional; says that districts outside New York City received about $174 million in improper payments from Sept 1993 to June 2001 and that figure for New York City could be at least $330 million; schools have incentive to identify children as eligible for Medicaid, since federal government picks up half the bill for treating them; school administrators and some elected officials protest and say Clinton administration never provided any clear guidance on how federal Medicaid money could be used in schools (M)

U.S. Is Seeking Return of Funds From Schools

DaimlerChrysler's chief executive Jurgen E Schrempp survives critical board meeting, one week after board rejected his proposal that company bail out its struggling Japanese partner Mitsubishi Motors; board decides that Wolfgang Bernhard, chief operating officer of Chrysler division and protege of Schrempp, will not take control of company's Mercedes division as he had been scheduled to do on May 1; abrupt sidelining of Bernhard shocks company employees, financial analysts and auto industry; company reports first-quarter net income was 393 million euros ($470 million), down 33 percent from year-earlier quarter; operating income rose 10 percent, to 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion), and operating profit increased to 298 million euros ($357 million) from 152 million euros ($182 million); photo (M)

Daimler Board Blocks Protégé Of Troubled Chief

The American economy grew at a vigorous annual rate of 4.2 percent in the first quarter, with military spending making a significant contribution to economic growth for the first time since the early days of the war in Iraq.  

Strong Growth Rate Seen in First Quarter

In a rare special session of the Legislature, Gov. James E. McGreevey on Thursday urged an increase in the income taxes of New Jersey's wealthiest residents to finance bigger property tax rebates for more than 90 percent of the state's homeowners.    The governor's proposal ended two years of silence as he faced mounting pressure to adopt a tax on the state's highest earners and rein in property taxes, which are the highest in the nation and have risen 13 percent since he took office two years ago.   

McGreevey Looks to Wealthy To Fix New Jersey Property Tax

Clyde Haberman column deplores growing number of days when alternate-side parking rules are suspended in New York City and the impunity with wich the rich and uniformed park in places where other citizens are prohibited; notes that schoolyard in East Village section of Manhattan has become school safety division's motor pool (M)

Alternate Side Of Reality Parking Rules

During the early stages of the Iraq War, members of the United States Army and the Central Intelligence Agency were accused of a series of human rights violations and war crimes against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. These abuses included physical abuse, sexual humiliation, physical and psychological torture, and rape, as well as the killing of Manadel al-Jamadi and the desecration of his body. The abuses came to public attention with the publication of photographs by CBS News in April 2004, causing shock and outrage and receiving widespread condemnation within the United States and internationally.

U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

April 30, 2004

Headlines from April 30, 2004

Sports of The Times; Shining a Light On a Dark Side Of Life in Racing

INSIDE

World Business Briefing | Europe: Italy: Fiat Blockade Ends

Coloring By the Numbers

On Gay Circuit, The Party Never Ends

Billboard 200

Confessions

Now 15

The Reason

Damita Jo

Greatest Hits

Historical Events

Historical Context for April 30, 2004