November 20, 2004

Loren Bidner teaches Hula-Hoop exercise class in East Village; class is part aerobics, part yoga, part dance and according to students fun and painless; 'hooping' is one of newest forms of aerobic exercising in ever-changing world of fitness; photos (M)

New York Jets prepare to face Cleveland Browns by examining loss to Baltimore Ravens last week; photos (M)

House and Senate negotiators add potentially far-reaching anti-abortion provision to $388 billion must-pass spending bill, complicating plans for Congress to wrap up its business and adjourn for year; provision would bar federal, state and local agencies from withholding taxpayer money from health care providers that refuse to provide or pay for abortions or refuse to offer abortion counseling or referrals; Sen Barbara Boxer says she will use procedural tactics to slow Senate business to crawl if abortion language is not altered (M)

Webster, Mass, is known for sprawling lake with even more sprawling name, Lake Cha rgoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg; it is longest geographical name in US, and Nipmuck Indian word meaning fishing place at boundary or neutral meeting ground; Ethel Merman and Ray Bolger made it name you could dance to in old tune called 'The Lake Song'; people in region refer to 45-letter lake as Webster Lake; it was once home to sprinkling of summer cottages, but now has about 800 homes on its shores; map; photos (M)

Several German companies that rushed to have their shares traded on exchanges in United States during bull market of late 1990's are now seriously thinking about abandoning market; are disenchanted by United States as source of capital and offended by what they view as oppressive new regulations adopted in aftermath of Enron and other corporate scandals; with trading volumes in New York that are, in most cases, a small fraction of their turnover in Europe, companies are less willing to bear legal costs, liability and bureaucracy of complying with rules; table shows German companies trading in United States (M)

Dallas Mavericks defeat New York Knicks, 103-101; photo (M)

Real estate of Sears, Roebuck is one of driving forces behind Kmart's surprise purchase of Sears, but it is no certain that real estate underlying deal is really as valuable as investors seem to believe; if plan to put two fading retailers together fails to turn new company, Sears Holdings, into viable competitor to Wal-Mart, Target, Costco and others, it is not clear whether Edward S Lampert, billionaire financier behind merger, will be able to capitalize on all the land and leases his company will own, especially given current glut of retailing space across most of country photo (M)

Infinity Broadcasting, nation's second-largest radio broadcaster, fires programmer suspected of accepting gift certificates from independent record promoter, raising specter of payola scandal of rock 'n' roll's earliest days; Infinity concludes in an internal investigation that John McCrae, top programmer for Rochester stations, had accepted unspecified amount of gifts certificates sent ostensibly for use in listener contests or in station promotions; Infinity executives feared that McCrae accepted certificates for personal spending and that certificates might have influenced which music station played or might have created appearance of favoritism toward particular record labels (M)

Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan tells banking conference in Frankfurt, Germany, that decline of dollar might continue, offering little relief to those who worry that US is seeking to gain competitive advantage for its industries from weaker currency; says ballooning foreign borrowing on part of US poses future risk to dollar's value; Greenspan's comments come two days after Treasury Sec John W Snow appeared to rule out intervening in currency markets to help Europe and Japan stem decline of dollar; two speeches appear to be sending message that US is prepared to tolerate weaker dollar for foreseeable future; photo (M)

Joe Paterno, 77, has been football coach at Pennsylvania State University for 39 years, leading it to five undefeated seasons, two national championships and 342 victories; his contributions to university run much deeper; he has generated millions of dollars through fund-raising, publicity and his donations of over $4 million; Penn State has 3-7 record and will finish with its fourth losing record in five years; alumni, fans and some former players are asking if Paterno is still capable of meeting enormous expectations of football empire he built; rumor that Paterno will retire has prompted rebuttal from university; photo (M)

Local Conditional Release Commission orders former State Sen Guy J Velella and four others to be returned to jail; decision comes after board determined that five inmates it released in 2004 had been let out illegally; Velella's lawyer, Charles A Stillman, says he will seek temporary restraining order; says Velella has prostate cancer; others ordered to surrender are Manuel Gonzales and Hector Del Toro, who were sentenced with Velella, and minor criminals Kamala Stephens and Carlos Caba (M)

Greenspan Suggests Dollar Will Continue to Decline The Federal Research chairman, Alan Greenspan, suggested that the relentless decline of the dollar may continue, offering little relief to those who worry that the United States is seeking to gain a competitive advantage.