Big cellphone companies, with market saturated, are beginning to focus on improving customer service in order to gain new customers and retain existing ones; Yankee Group says some 45 million customers, or about 20 percent of all subscribers, switch providers each year and some swear never to return; photos; graph (M)

Suddenly, an Industry Is All Ears

Chicago Bulls defeat New York Knicks, 108-101; photos (M)0

Another Day, Another Collar: Knicks Choke

William C Rhoden Sports of The Times column contends that underdog college basketball teams do not really have fair shot at NCAA title, as best players are generally attracted to bigger-market schools (M)

Cinderella Is a Myth, and David Is a Lie

Jim Tehan, spokesman for Myvesta.org, credit counseling Web site, explains why it is ludicrous to use credit card to pay taxes in order to accumulate reward points; last year, 1.57 million people paid their taxes by credit card, 54 percent increase over year before; photo (M)

Tax Bills and Plastic Don't Mix

Dominican Republic national team fans arrive at team's first practice for autographs and pictures, hoping team can make it through World Baseball Classic; photos (M)

Dominicans Draw Crowd as Deep as Their Lineup

Dan Barry column on efforts by William B Styple to erect tombstone on unmarked grave of James Edward Kelly, sculptor of Civil War generals and battles, in St Raymond's Cemetery in Bronx (M)

An Epitaph for a Man of Monuments

New York City officials acknowledge that Mayor Michael R Bloomberg knew of inquiry into Brian M McLaughlin, president of New York City Central Labor Council and state assemblyman for Queens, when group gave backing to mayor's re-election campaign; say he did not know details of investigation, which concerned alleged scheme to rig bids for millions of dollars worth of city streetlight contracts; photo (M)

Mayor Knew of Investigation of Labor Leader

Former Rep Randy Cunningham is sentenced to eight years and four months in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors in return for smoothing way for government contracts; government says sentence is longest ever handed down for member or former member of Congress in federal corruption case; Judge Larry Alan Burns, in recognition of what Cunningham's lawyers have described as his failing health, recommends sending him first to prison medical center; photo (M)

Ex-Congressman Gets 8-Year Term in Bribery Case

Ray Pentkowsi, principal of Poultney, Vt, elementary school, says his school is down to 208 children and has lost third of its student population since 1999; Poultney, town of 3,600, is just one example of situation that increasingly alarms many in Vermont; state is losing young people at precipitous clip; Vermont, with population of about 620,000, has lowest birth rate among states; three-quarters of its public schools have lost children since 2000, and total number of 20- to 34-year-olds in Vermont has shrunk by 19 percent since 1990; Gov Jim Douglas is treating situation like crisis; while Vermont's population of young people shrinks, number of older residents is multiplying because Vermont increasingly attracts retirees from other states; graph; photos (M)

Vermont Losing Prized Resource as Young Depart

Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Scott Verplank and Camilo Villegas share second-round lead at Ford Championship; photo (M)

Doral Delivers an Encore of Dueling Honchos

Puerto Rico national team, with five New York Mets, prepare for World Baseball Classic; photos (M)

A Little Bit of Puerto Rico Finds the Mets' Complex

Pres Bush arrives in Islamabad for 24-hour visit to capital locked down under extraordinary security, as broad coalition of political parties close shops and halt transportation across Pakistan; visit, first by US president in six years, threatens to roil nation still seething over cartoons of Prophet Muhammed that were first published in Danish newspaper; thousands of people have turned out in protests that are increasingly directed at Bush and pro-American policies of Gen Pervez Musharraf; photo (M)

Pakistan Is Tense as Bush Arrives on 24-Hour Visit

Industry analysts are keeping close watch on Chrysler, which has so far eluded financial troubles that General Motors and Ford face, as it deals with high inventories and continues to offer steep incentives and rebates; chief executive Thomas LaSorda is confident problems are result of only momentary sales lull and that 10 new vehicles it plans to introduce this year will increase sales momentum; photo; graphs (M)

Chrysler's Goal: Keep Success but Lose Incentives

Students at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan are grieving, raising reward money and planning memorial for Imette St Guillen, classmate whose strangled body was found in desolate area of Brooklyn on Feb 26; details and nature of crime are seeping into discussions among budding criminologists in hallways and classrooms, and some students are applying lessons from their classes to profile attacker; photos (M)

Anatomy of a Schoolmate's Murder

Sentencing of Lynne F Stewart, lawyer convicted in New York of conspiring with imprisoned terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, is delayed because she is recovering from surgery for breast cancer; photo (M)

Breast Cancer Delays Sentencing of Lawyer Convicted in Terrorism Case

Housing market is in confusing state, with average prices still rising even though homes are taking much longer to sell and number on market has soared; economists and industry executives predict that either home buyers or home sellers will have to capitulate; many real estate agents argue that current slowdown is merely pause, pointing out that interest rates remain low and Americans still seem convinced that houses are great investment; National Association of Realtors reports that number of existing homes for sale nationwide jumped 36 percent between Jan 2005 and Jan 2006; graphs; photo (M)

Hoping for Best in Home Sales, 2 Sides Sit Tight

Residents of Lanzhou, China, are angry because price of large bowl of noodles has increased to 31 cents from 27 cents; local officials have promised to investigate allegations of price fixing against noodle cartel; controversy is reminder of millions of Chinese who still live on margins so slender that bump of 4 cents for bowl of noodles constitutes real money; map; photos (M)

Noodle Prices Rise, Along With Chinese Tempers

 Hamas, in Moscow, Tries Its Hand at Diplomacy  A Hamas delegation arrived in Moscow for its first official visit to a non-Muslim country since winning the Palestinian elections. A lecture by Russia's foreign minister on recognizing Israel seemed to have little effect.   PAGE A6    Details of Port Deal Review  Review of a Dubai company's plan to take over some terminal operations at American ports will include inspections, background checks and a look at United Arab Emirates anti-terrorism efforts.   PAGE A10    Guantánamo Names Released  The Pentagon released documents that have the names of detainees at the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay.   PAGE A9    The Bard in the Solid Flesh?  A new computer model, below, and a show at the National Portrait Gallery in London reveal how little is known about how Shakespeare looked.   THE ARTS, PAGE B9    BlackBerry Dispute Settled  BlackBerry users can breathe a sigh of relief and keep tapping out messages. The patent dispute that threatened to disrupt service has been settled.   BUSINESS DAY, PAGE C1    Mayor Knew of Union Inquiry  Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was aware of an inquiry involving the leader of a labor group while the group was backing his re-election campaign, city officials said.   PAGE B1    THIS WEEKEND    The Collective Conscious  Several artists who pose as one person. One artist who poses as a group. And art that is given away free. New collectives are challenging the way the art market treats its stars and values their work.   ARTS & LEISURE    Manhattan Mollusk  In ''The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell,'' Mark Kurlansky tells how the oyster helped shape a great city, from the era of the Lenape Indians, to the oyster boom of the 19th century, to the closing of New York's last oyster beds in 1927.   BOOK REVIEW

INSIDE

Joe Nocera column on Michael Mayo, head of financial services research team at Prudential Equity Group; says Mayo is one of few Wall Street analysts willing to put sell recommendations on stocks when he thinks it is warranted; recalls what resulted when Mayo, in spring of 2005, put sell rating on J P Morgan Chase; photo (M)

The Anguish of Being an Analyst

Malcolm Gladwell, a writer for The New Yorker, has reversed the opposition on Canada's single-payer health care system that he voiced six years ago.

Gladwell vs. Gladwell

Patent holder NTP, just days before Federal District Judge James Spencer was to issue injunction shutting down BlackBerry wireless e-mail service, drops infringement lawsuit against Research in Motion in exchange for $612.5 million (M)

BlackBerry Service to Continue

Israeli fence along Gaza's perimeter has three crossings: Erez for those going to and from Israel, Karni, which handles cargo and Rafah on Egyptian border; crossings are constant source of friction for Israelis and Palestinians, but they are crucial for Gaza, with its population of 1.4 million crammed into area far too small to be self-sufficient; crossings are struggling to function, with Hamas poised to lead Palestinian Authority and Israel warning it could respond with even tighter security controls; Israel allows 5,000 workers to cross daily, all at Erez; jobs in Israel are prized because they pay up to $40 a day; that is far more than laborer can earn in Gaza; map; photos (M)

Gaza Crossings: Choked Passages to Frustration

''I rationalized decisions I knew were wrong. Before there must be forgiveness there must be redemption. No man has ever been more sorry.''    RANDY CUNNINGHAM, a former representative from California, at his sentencing for taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors [A1].  

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

Correction on Feb 16 article about 19 watercolors by William Blake that will be auctioned at Sotheby's

Corrections

State attorney general's office reaches $6.2 million settlement with 31 chemical companies to clean up more than 600 drums and 27 tanks of potentially lethal chemicals at Bronx facilities where Hexagon Laboratories made pharmaceuticals until it went bankrupt in 1989; companies were involved in Hexagon's business or its chemical operations; cleanup will cost total of $9 million; photo (M)

Deal Reached to Clean Toxic Bronx Site

John Reynolds Gardiner was an American writer best known for writing the book Stone Fox.

John Reynolds Gardiner, American author and engineer (born 1944)

John_Reynolds_Gardiner

Edgar Valter was an Estonian graphic artist, caricaturist, writer and illustrator of children's books, with over 250 books to his name, through 55 years of activity (1950–2005). His most famous work is Pokuraamat.

March 4, 2006

Headlines from March 4, 2006

Suddenly, an Industry Is All Ears

Another Day, Another Collar: Knicks Choke

Cinderella Is a Myth, and David Is a Lie

Tax Bills and Plastic Don't Mix

Dominicans Draw Crowd as Deep as Their Lineup

Billboard 200

Ghetto Classics

Curious George (Soundtrack)

The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties

The Breakthrough

Amore

Notable Deaths

Historical Context for March 4, 2006