February 22, 2005

Royal Navy begins actively encouraging gays to enlist and pledges to make life easier when they do, five years after Britain lifted its ban on gays in military; navy says it has asked Stonewall, group that lobbies for gay rights, to help it develop better strategies for recruiting and retaining gay men and lesbians, possibly by advertising in gay mgazines and newspapers; new effort continues pattern of changing official attitudes in navy dating to 1999, when European court ruled that Britain's ban on gays in military violated European human-rights laws; gays in British miltary are subject to same rules of sexual conduct as heterosexuals: no touching, no kissing, no flaunting of sexuality; despite change in policy, relatively few gay men and lesbians already in military have come out (M)

New Yorkers are at their most resourceful when appearing in one of city's eight traffic courts; 50 judges, technically administraive law judges, hear every imaginable explanation for why ticketed motorist broke traffic law; courts sometimes resemble stand-up improv at its most creative; despite this, only about 30 percent of people fighting tickets in court are found not guilty; photo (M)

Article on lingering impact that late Law & Order star Jerry Orbach is having on set of show's third spinoff Trial by Jury, which will debut on March 3; actress Bebe Neuwirth and executive producers Dick Wolf and Walton Green comment; photo (M)

David Carr tribute to writer and journalist Hunter Thompson, who committed suicide at his home in Woody Creek, Colo; photos (M)

Legal costs do not seem to be root of recent increase in malpractice insurance premiums; government and industry data show only modest rise in malpractice claims over last decade; trend in payments in 2004 for malpractice claims against doctors and other medical professionals turned sharply downward, falling 8.9 percent, to nationwide total of $4.6 billion; specialists say more important factors for rise in premiums appear to be declining investment earnings of insurance companies and changing nature of completition in inudstry; graph (M)