July 4, 2004

New York Mets defeat New York Yankees, 10-9; photos (M)

Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace, who helped lead team to NBA championship against Los Angeles Lakers, returns home often to small town of White Hall (Ala) to remember where he came from; map; photos (M)

Analysis of government housing and Census data finds people reaching retirement age are now less likely to own their homes free and clear than their predecessors; one in four families headed by someone 65 or older still had mortgage to pay in 2001, up from one in six in 1989; lingering expenses from peak earning years have made it hard for many aging Americans to pay off mortgages; others have taken out fresh loans on homes, putting homes at risk; many older borrowers are forgoing retirement or working part-time; people over 65 now have fastest-growing home debt, fastest-growing share of personal bankruptcy filings and biggest growth in demand for credit counseling; graphs of debt of elderly; photo (M)

a union label, inside

Gretchen Morgenson column on new Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring mutual funds to disclose how they vote their shares on key matters that come up in proxy materials each year; holds change will show which fund companies have shareholders' best interests in mind; notes large majority of fund companies oppose antitakeover measures executives put in place to keep their cushy jobs (M)