June 27, 2005

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy is looming in many conservatives' minds as just the kind of mistake they hope President Bush avoids.

Harold W McGraw III, president and chief executive of McGraw-Hill Companies for last 12 years, is given good deal of credit for company's performance over that time, during which its stock has risen from $8.20 a share to $44; is praised for streamlining company from agglomeration of 15 business units into three core businesses--Standard & Poor's, educational publishing and information unit--that have capitalized on major trends in US and abroad, while moving company away from slower-growing low-return businesses; was also the man who kept company from rushing into Internet, sparing it disastrous results that some other media companies have encountered; photos (M)

Japanese are becoming hesitant to make further investments in China after wave of anti-Japanese protests in April undermined their sense that they were secure in China because they are providing jobs and quality products; Japanese companies see new need for China-plus-one policy and are directing investment to India and other countries in Southeast Asia; Japanese tourism to China has also ground to halt; Japanese exports to China stalled in May, and some market watchers speculate that Chinese companies expect government to strengthen currency later this summer and are holding back on making purchases overseas; photo (M)

Effort is under way to remove from Medicaid rolls those who are not poor by standard definitions, but who have exhausted lifetime of resources or used legal strategies to give their money away; Medicaid is straining to cover two-thirds of nation's 1.6 million nursing home residents, many of them real estate rich but cash poor; most popular idea is to slow eligibility by extending so-called lookback period, during which older people can give away or shelter assets and not be penalized when applying for Medicaid; other proposals detailed; Medicaid's demand of impoverishment has spurred growth of cottage industry of elder-care lawyers; they counsel older middle-class people, sometimes at behest of their children, how to legally rid themselves of assets in face of nursing home bills that can exceed $100,000 a year; chart (M)

Article on slump in movie box office sales, which continues into its 18th weekend; Batman Begins leads box office, with estimated $26.8 million in its second weekend and Bewitched comes in second, with $20.2 million in its opening weekend; Exhibitor Relations reports overall box office performance, while solid, has dropped by 7 percent over 2004; photo (M)