February 23, 2005

Over the River, art project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude to suspend several miles of shimmering fabric panels above stretch of Arkansas River in Colorado, has been delayed by two years as artists have focused on installing The Gates in New York's Central Park; photos; drawings; map (M)

Financial remittances sent home by Mexican migrants working in United States, both legal and illegal, as well as those from other places in Central America and Caribbean, are being translated into political clout in their home communities; migrants' communities in United States are better organized and more vocal than before and have become social and political forces too important to ignore at home; half the people of Valparaiso, Mexico, have left to work in United States, sending home an estimated $100,000 a day, as much money in one month as municipality will spend all years; Mayor Alberto Ruiz Flores travels to places like Oxnard, Calif, and Aurora, Ill, to solicit funds for public works projects in Valparaiso; in addition, countries like Mexico and Dominican Republic are taking steps to allow their citizens living in United States to cast absentee ballots in elections; map shows amount of remittances sent from various US states, to various places in Mexico; photos (L)

Tips for buying great rotisserie chicken in New York City, along with recipes for using up leftovers in pot pies and salads; list of resources; photos (M)

Supreme Court agrees to hear Bush administration's challenge to Oregon law that authorizes physician-assisted suicide, which was approved twice by state's voters and took effect in November 1997; state says 171 patients have used law to administer doses of federally regulated drugs that their doctors prescribed for them; administration argues that suicide is not 'legitimate medical purpose' under regulations that carry out federal Controlled Substances Act (M)

Fordham University plans to more than double size of its Lincoln Center campus in ambitious expansion that will be financed partly by sale of at least two corner parcels on Amsterdam Avenue for luxury housing development; plan calls for high-rise quadrangle for 10,600 students on Columbus Avenue end of superblock between 60th and 62nd Streets, with seven new buildings around 1.5-acre courtyard; Councilwoman Gale A Brewer expresses hope that corner residential towers, one of which might reach 60 stories, can be scaled back and that lower-cost housing can be included in plan; drawings (M)

Eleven elected and appointed officials in Monmouth County, NJ, including three mayors, are arrested on federal corruption or money laundering charges growing out of sting operation run by FBI and spanning more than four years; federal criminal complaints show that all of officials were caught on videotape or audiotape taking bribes of up to $5,000 at single meeting, and as as little as $1,000, from contractor who wanted officials to steer public contracts, which did not require public bidding, to him; contractor cooperates with FBI agents; at least one elected official allegedly accepted free paving job on his driveway, instead of money, in return for promise to help contractor get work in Asbury Park; among those arrested are Hazlet Mayor Paul Coughlin, Middletown committeeman Raymond O'Grady, Keyport Mayor John J Merla, Keyport Councilman Robert L Hyer, and West Long Branch Mayor Paul Zambrano; map (L)

Michelin Guide to New York City is first ratings guide that company is producing outside Europe; book, which rates 500 restaurants, is aimed at Americans as well as international travelers; photo (M)

Article on Ego Trip, five-man collective made up of hip-hop journalist Gabriel Alvarez, music writers Sacha Jenkins and Jefferson Mao, XXL magazine editor Elliott Wilson and graphic designer Brent Rollins; members comment on Ego Trip's Race-O-Rama, new VH1 series that takes irreverent look at race in pop culture; photo (M)

Miramax Films is likely to release as many as 22 movies in next seven months as co-chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein prepare to leaving company, including several pictures that had been shelved or whose release dates had been repeatedly delayed; large number of expected releases is big turn for Miramax, which had scaled back operations amid employee layoffs over last six months; large number of releases is seen as attempt to 'clean the pipeline' before its corporate parent, Walt Disney Co, puts unit in hands of new managers; heavy release schedule, if implemented, will make Weinsteins responsible for marketing pictures produced or acquired under their tenure, while leaving new Miramax managers, who have not yet been named, with clean slate; among more troubled projects planned for release is director John Dahl's film The Great Raid; film Mindhunters, which has been finished for two years and has been seen widely abroad, has scheduled release date in May; Prozac Nation, starring Christina Ricci, shelved for more than four years, has been sold to Starz! cable network, and will be released on DVD in coming months; director John Madden's film Proof, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, is among pictures to be released before Weinsteins leave; photo (M)

Memo written by Marion HochbergSmith, director of equal opportunity at Johnson & Johnson, in late 1990's into making improvements in company's employment policies, along with other documents submitted to federal court in New Jersey, emerge publicly in support of motion to certify lawsuit filed in 2001 by several African-American and Hispanic employees as class action; documents open rare window into workings of big company coping with how to hire and promote fairly; HochbergSmith memo expresses concerns about inadequate tracking of promotions, reports of unequal salaries and insufficient outreach to recruit women and minorities; drug company formed diversity task force, but few of proposals, executives later conceded in legal depositions, ended up being put into practice; suit does not claim company refused to hire employees who are plaintiffs, but that executives knew years ago that they were missing their targets for promoting such employees, and did little to solve problem; photo of Linda Morgan and Nilda Gutierrez, who are among plaintiffs in lawsuit (M)

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, American student who was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for last 20 months, is returned to United States and charged with plotting with members of Al Qaeda in 2003 to assassinate Pres Bush; is charged with providing material support for terrorism; is accused of training with Al Qaeda overseas and wanting to 'become a planner of terrorist operations' like Mohammed Atta or Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, two Qaeda leaders central to Sept 11 attacks; indictment rests mainly on testimony of several unnamed co-conspirators; photo (M)

San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds answers questions about steroids and allegations made in Jose Canseco's new book Juiced; photo (M)