March 25, 2005

Clyde Haberman NYC column gives Lawrence G Reuter, president of New York City Transit, 'unsolicited advice' on number of small courtesies transit authority could extend to city's subway riders that would increase their patience when inevitable problems occur; includes untimely door closings, station litter and garbled announcements among problems easy to solve with big payoff in customer satisfaction (M)

Article on visit to Wisconsin Dells, Wis, which, over last 15 years, has become indoor hydropark capital of world; town has 18 indoor water parks that attract 2.5 million visitors annually; photos (M)

Ben Brantley reviews musical All Shook Up, with book by Joe DiPietro and directed by Christopher Ashley featuring Elvis Presley songs; Cheyenne Jackson stars; photos (M)

Brad Grey, who only recently took charge of Paramount Pictures, is not wasting time spending money on splashy new projects; Grey announced on March 2, second day on job, announced that film Babel would be distributed by Paramount; agreed to pay $25 million--considerable sum for what is described as 'an arty movie'; spent $9 million for John Singleton's film Hustle and Flow plus $3.5 million for each of Singleton's next two projects; insiders say Grey is bidding up prices for other projects, and other studios are paying more than they want to stay competitive; photo (M)

Retailers begin selling Son y PlayStation Portable, or PSP, at midnight; retailing specialists note that off-hour shopping extravaganza, at midnight or crack of dawn, has been used to bring out cultish consumers for films, shoes and books; photo (M)

Hoboken City Council agrees to resume paying city workers despite continued impasse in approval of city budget, forcing freeze on all nonessential services; Mayor Dave Roberts says situation is not financial crisis, but political one, and that City Council members rejecting his plans to close $7.9 million budget gap are attempting to force him to raise taxes just before election (M)

Domed roof of New York City Center, performing arts hall built in 1920's, is undergoing reconstruction to stop water damage; project, unprecedented because of rare shape of roof and unique configuration of its tiles, presents wealth of challenges to project managers and workers; photos (M)

Scientists report that 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex discovered in Montana, unlike other dinosaur fossils found so far, has soft tissues, including blood vessels and possibly cells lining them, that have retained some of their original flexibility, elasticity and resilience; say examination with scanning electron microscope shows dinosaur's blood vessels to be 'virtually indistinguishable' from those recovered from bones of ostrich, which many paleontologists think are living descendants of some dinosaurs; study is reported in journal Science; discovery team says remarkable preservation of tissue might enable them to study dinosaur physiology and some aspects of their biochemistry; photo; drawings (M)

GOLF courses alone aren't enough for some second-home shoppers. They want fly fishing, river rafting and more, and they want an ''adventure concierge'' to arrange it all for them. New communities are offering guides and other professionals to help these part-time residents make the most of their getaway time. Page 3.

Steve Jones takes first-round lead at Players Championship; photo (M)0

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column discusses men's NCAA tournament, which after Round of 16 is largely depleted of any underdog storylines and is rife with basketball powerhouses (M)

IN HIS SPRING F