September 30, 2005

Judge John G Roberts Jr becomes 17th chief justice of United States, taking oath of office during brief but emotional White House ceremony just hours after Senate, with Democrats evenly divided, votes overwhelmingly to confirm him; 22 Democrats--half the caucus--join all 55 Republicans in confirming Roberts; Pres Bush declares tha Senate has confirmed man with 'astute mind and a kind heart'; photo of Roberts being sworn in by Justice John Paul Stevens, as Bush and Jane Roberts watch (L)

There came a time when the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx was in such bad shape that the state gave it away. The armory, a once-grand Romanesque fortress, had been revered by the National Guard artillery unit that relocated there from Manhattan in 1917, when it was built. By 1994, however, the armory was a cracked and leaking liability, deserted by the Guard for the two more modern annex buildings behind it. The state ceded title to the armory property to the city in 1996. In the years that followed, the building fell into further disrepair.

Three pickup trucks packed with explosives detonate in quick succession in Balad, town north of Baghdad, killing at least 62 people and wounding scores of others, almost all of them Shiite civilians; five United States soldiers are killed by roadside bomb while conducting combat operations in Ramada, insurgent stronghold; Gen George W Casey Jr, senior American military commander in Iraq, tells Congress that only one Iraqi battalion is capable of fighting without help from United States; is joined by Pentagon's senior civilian and military leaders in stressing that growing numbers of Iraqi police and army forces are increasingly able to provide security in their country; generates debate when he says history of 20th-century insurgencies indicates that most last about nine years; Defense Sec Donald Rumsfeld say that does not mean that American forces will be leading fight in Iraq for such a period; photo of Gen John P Abizaid, Gen Richard B Myers and Rumsfeld testifying before Senate Armed Services Committee (L)

Article on backlash by longtime residents of coastal resort towns from New Jersey to California who are seeking to strengthen zoning laws in effort to stop razing of older homes to make room for oversize mansions on tiny lots that block views, clog streets and weaken affordable housing market; photos (M)

WHEN will the city's newly dominant ethnic groups grab their share of the American Dream? This, we are told, is the land of opportunity. So why have recent immigrants not seized their moment? They are defying an honored tradition of offering up the most worthless, the most deviant, the most antisocial among them to be adored on screen and in print as honest-to-goodness human beings, heroes even.