November 17, 2005

George Vecsey Sports of The Times column discusses soccer fans in Brooklyn (NYC), who celebrated win of Trinidad and Tobago to qualify for World Cup for first time; photos (M)

HE is the Albus Dumbledore of green architecture. Long before the Prius hit the road and sustainability became the buzzword du jour, there was Sim Van der Ryn, now 70, the intrepid pioneer of the eco-frontier. Mr. Van der Ryn was sitting in the living room of his home near Tomales Bay the other day, his collection of 1950's miniature trucks -- a ''monument to fossil fuels'' -- on prominent display.

Congress Tumbles 2 Alaskan 'Bridges to Nowhere' Congressional Republicans decided to kill two projects in remote areas of Alaska that had become known as ''bridges to nowhere'' and threatened their party's reputation for fiscal austerity. PAGE A19 Senate Passes Pension Bill The Senate passed a bill aimed at strengthening the troubled system of company pension plans, but the White House called the measure inadequate. BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1 'This Is Your Life' Host Dies Ralph Edwards, the creator and M.C. of two of the most popular shows in entertainment history, ''Truth or Consequences'' and ''This Is Your Life,'' was 92. PAGE A28 Harry Potter Grows Up In the latest film about the young wizard, ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,'' childhood ends with terrifying screams. A review by Manohla Dargis. THE ARTS, PAGE E1 Report on Sales in Military The Government Accountability Office is strongly urging Congress to protect military personnel from deceptive sales practices. BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1 Nomination Debate Escalates The debate over the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. escalated into a full-fledged fight in the Senate. PAGE A26

THIS September 3-year-old Halley Vollmar of Bellmore, N.Y., was having her annual checkup when her pediatrician paused. ''I'm going to check your peepee now,'' he warned, and tugged down her underwear. But Halley protested. ''Mommy, why he call my vagina a peepee?'' she scolded, telling the startled physician he was a ''silly doctor'' before allowing him to proceed. Last week Kristin Hansen, Halley's mother, recounted the story to several other women with a satisfied laugh. The gathering in Wantagh, N.Y., was something of a reunion. Over the summer the mothers had convened weekly for lessons in how to educate their toddlers about sex, a program they found so necessary they are already planning to reconvene next year.

Putting power and influence where his campaign pronouncements had been, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg yesterday named four top members of his administration and two executives to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board, ensuring a larger role for City Hall in rebuilding the World Trade Center site. An hour or so later, Gov. George E. Pataki named two top members of his administration to the board, holding out the possibility of pointed monthly board meetings as the city and state pursue their sometimes competing visions for downtown.

In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. ''Goodnight Moon,'' the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free. In a newly revised edition of the book, which has lulled children to sleep for nearly 60 years, the publisher, HarperCollins, has digitally altered the photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator, to remove a cigarette from his hand.

HERVÉ PIERRE BRAILLARD is no fashion evangelist, but the other day Mr. Braillard, the self-effacing designer behind the Carolina Herrera label, was uncustomarily effusive. ''Everyone is going to be talking about this,'' he predicted, this being ''Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Barrel Apfel Collection,'' the exhibition at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since opening last month the show, assembled from the wardrobe of Mrs. Apfel, a New York society figure and a founder of a textile firm, has had people chattering with a heat and enthusiasm rare in the fashion world. Mr. Braillard himself was quick to spread the word, showering friends and acquaintances with phone calls and e-mail messages. ''To miss this if you are in the fashion business makes no sense,'' he insisted.

A day after New Jersey officials said that Bernard B. Kerik had tried to help a mob-connected company while it paid for renovations to his apartment, a lawyer for the builder who did the work said Mr. Kerik should have known the labor and materials he received were worth tens of thousands of dollars more than he paid. The renovated apartment in the Riverdale section of the Bronx has been described in published reports as ''a gem,'' with marble baths, a large rotunda entry and a renovated kitchen with a granite countertop and new appliances.

Iraq's Sunni Arab leaders accuse Shiite-led government of supporting torture of Sunni detainees and call for international inquiry; discovery by American military of secret underground prison run by police in Baghdad galvanizes Sunni Arab anger and widens country's sectarian divide one month before elections for full, four-year government; Maj Gen William G Webster Jr says American officers will help Iraqi investigators scrutinize evidence seized from prison; Prime Min Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shiite, announces that government would investigate accusations of torture at detention center, where many of 173 prisoners were found in weakened, malnourished states; Interior Ministry acknowledges that 'instruments of torture' have been found (M)

DING-DONG, the fortress of Broadway is gone! Just over a year ago, Morgan Stanley decided that with the Republican Convention coming to town and all those orange alerts emanating from Washington, its headquarters at 1585 Broadway needed more security.

The Government Accountability Office is strongly urging Congress to protect military personnel from deceptive sales practices.

BY no accident, most of the furniture Jan Blythe has bought over the past three years has come from one store, Bassett Furniture Direct, near her home in Charlotte, N.C. Unlike the old-fashioned, often family-owned stores that sell many brands of sofas and tables, the Bassett store sells just one brand: Bassett's own. ''I don't even go anywhere else,'' said Ms. Blythe, 49, who owns an accounting firm. She admits to feeling a bit lost when shopping around for furniture, confronted with a variety of makes and models at old-fashioned Main Street stores.