September 18, 2004

Results of New York Times/CBS News poll show Pres Bush taking 8-point lead over Sen John Kerry among registered voters; many respondents feel country is headed in wrong direction and are distressed about how Bush has handled economy, yet majority feel Kerry has not laid out his case and worry about his ability to manage international crisis; neither candidate is strongly trusted on his military record; Kerry fares little better than Bush on economy; recent polls with different findings suggest electorate is in flux; findings suggest that Kerry has been hurt by attack ads from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth; graphs (M)

Dan Barry, in humorous About New York column, suggests that New York Mets name its mascot Mister Met as team's new manager; photo (M)

Development program and special tax rate draw companies and wealthy Americans to Virgin Islands territory; local officials fear that people violating spirit or letter of law could derail program that is vital to impoverished territory; blame federal government for failing to carefully define what constitutes residency; participating companies are saving about $1 billion per year, but estimated 40 percent of those savings are being claimed fraudulently; Internal Revenue Service and Justice Dept have focused their attention so far on about one dozen companies; photos (M)

US Airways plans to ask Federal Bankruptcy Judge Steven Mitchell on Oct 7 to impose temporary pay cuts on its workers unless it can reach agreement with its unions before then; airline has determined size of temporary pay cuts that it will seek; will not ask Mitchell to impose cuts on unions that reach agreement with airline; if its efforts to achieve concessions fails, US Airways could file broader motion to throw out workers' contracts permanently and replace them with less-generous pacts; photo (M)

Qualcomm's Audit Proposal Worries Shareholders Qualcomm, the maker of microprocessors for cellphones, received a lesson in stock market jitters when it announced that it planned to study whether to change its accounting practices to reflect the growing size and volatility of the mobile communications market. Investors briefly punished Qualcomm by sending its stock down by as much as 7 percent. Shares of Qualcomm closed down $1.57, or 3.9 percent, to $38.83. [Page C4.]