March 2, 2006

Controversy surrounds film Crash as Academy Awards approach; producer Cathy Schulman files lawsuit that accuses fellow producer Bob Yari of acting from 'greed and ego' in failing to pay at least $2 million in producing fees to her and executive partner Tom Nunan; Yari took out full-page advertisements in Hollywood trade papers asking for abolishment of secret panels that award credit for best picture after he was denied producer credit; will not take home statue if Crash is named best picture; Schulman and Paul Haggis, co-writer and director of film are only producers eligible for prize, though film has six producers in its credits; photo (M)

Virginia Heffernan Critic's Notebook on parody trailers inspired by film Brokeback Mountain available to view online; trailers are made anonymously or by comedy troupes or design groups and feature mashups that combine elements of Brokeback Mountain with other movies; parody videos Brokeback to the Future and The Empire Breaks Back are two of most popular creations; photo (M)

The Justice Department sued New York State on Wednesday for failing to overhaul its election system and replace its aging voting machines. It is the first lawsuit the federal government has filed to force a state to comply with the voting guidelines enacted by Congress after the 2000 election debacle. The new federal guidelines were designed to prevent the kind of electoral chaos that marred the 2000 presidential election in Florida, and to make casting ballots easier for disabled voters. But New York State's efforts to modernize its election system have fallen far behind the rest of the nation, delayed by Albany's chronic gridlock and partisan bickering.

Memphis Grizzlies defeat New York Knicks, 101-99; photos (M)

REMEMBER the famous five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance? If you're a fan of the Macintosh computer, meet the five stages of switching to Apple's new laptop: lust, anticipation, delight, dismay and waiting. Ordinarily, it's not really news when a computer company introduces a new laptop model. You don't see newspaper headlines blaring, ''Gateway's New P32-XC5 Adds Faster Processor, Third U.S.B. Port.''

In its drive to foster a more cooperative relationship with mining companies, the Bush administration has decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001, and in nearly half the cases, it has not collected the fines, according to a data analysis by The New York Times. Federal records also show that in the last two years the federal mine safety agency has failed to hand over any delinquent cases to the Treasury Department for further collection efforts, as is supposed to occur after 180 days.

When Haji Lalai Mama, the 60-year-old tribal elder in these parts, gamely tried to organize a village defense force against the Taliban recently, he had to do it with a relative handful of men and just three rifles. ''We were patrolling and ready,'' he recalled. But they were not ready enough. The Taliban surprised them under cover of darkness by using a side road. One villager was killed, and 10 others were wounded by a grenade. Two Taliban fighters were captured in the clash. The rest disappeared into the night.

The users call the drug Lizzie, the Big Brother or sometimes Gilly. On blogs they rave over its uncanny ability to melt away pounds, although some are wary of its side effects, which can include nausea and strange welts. The users are not fad dieters or methamphetamine addicts, but people with diabetes. And the subject of their rhapsodies is not a gray-market diet pill sold on late-night television but Byetta, a federally approved diabetes medicine, available only by prescription, whose popularity and sales have soared since its introduction last June.

Carrie Fisher article on how Academy Award-winning actors display their Oscar statuettes and what it means; drawings (M)

Interview with Sam Lemheney on his fantasy designs for the 177th Philadelphia Flower Show; photos (M)

NFL looks to reach deal on new collective bargaining agreement before free agency begins in one day; photo (M)

Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines agreed on Wednesday to wage concessions of $195 million a year as the airline continued negotiating with its pilots to accept more cuts and avoid the possibility of having their contract voided by a bankruptcy court. The other major airline in bankruptcy protection, Delta Air Lines, also continued to negotiate with its pilots about concessions.