April 27, 2005

Days after NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia Hospital said that a patient's death last month had not been caused by Legionnaires' disease, it reversed itself yesterday, saying that an autopsy showed that the disease had indeed led to the death. The hospital also said that the bacteria associated with the disease were found yesterday at a large inpatient center that it operates more than 100 blocks from the building where the case occurred. In a formal statement yesterday, the hospital said that the disease was the ''primary factor'' in the death of the patient, whose identity it would not disclose, at its Milstein Hospital building in Washington Heights. It also said that the bacteria had been detected in the water supply of its Greenberg Pavilion at the NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, on the Upper East Side.

Conference Board reports its index of consumer confidence dropped to 97.7 in April, from 103 in March; National Association of Realtors says sales of new homes rose sharply by 12.2 percent in March and hit record annual pace of 1.43 million; unexpected surge came despite slightly higher mortgage rates last month; sales of existing homes climbed 1 percent in March and have climbed 4.9 percent over last year; graphs; photo (M)

Six influential German economic institutes have cut their growth forecast for this year in half, prompting new rash of fears that Germany economy is on brink of recession; economists say downward revision, to 0.7 percent from 1.5 percent, illustrates that economic forecasting in Germany has become mostly exercise in finding ever-more-precise ways to measure stagnation; Thomas Mayer, chief European economist at Deutsche Bank, says if oil prices keep going up, Germany will not even hold on to 0.7 percent number; institutes predict growth will be only 1.5 percent in 2006, less than in 2004, which was 1.6 percent; current unemployment rate of 12 percent is record in post-World War II period, and poses mounting political threat to Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, who faces difficult state election in May in North Rhine-Westphalia; Bert Rurup, head of Schroder's council of economic advisers, says Germany needs to grow from 1.5 percent to 2 percent a year to generate significant new jobs (M)

The matchup between potential Hall of Fame pitchers was decided by a surgically repaired journeyman who had worked one inning this season. Together, Pedro Martínez and John Smoltz have been in the major leagues for more than 30 years and logged more than 5,000 innings. John Foster, on the other hand, was called up Saturday from the minor leagues.

In debating what the Olympics might deliver to New York, it might be worth recalling the forgotten legacy of Fishhooks McCarthy. The line connecting Mr. McCarthy with the Summer Games is crooked or, at best, circuitous. But it offers a timely reminder that well before the current debate over whether New York needs the Olympic Games or a new stadium to accommodate them, two ambitious World's Fairs were also touted as cost-effective vehicles to expand the city's parks and public works. The analogy is not precise, but the question it raises is instructive: Did those fairs deliver on their promise of civic improvement?