March 15, 2006

Some sample questions and answers for annual standardized mathematics test for seventh and eighth graders in New York State reappear on real exams now being administered; officials at State Education Department and CTB/McGraw-Hill, test publisher, offer no explation for what caused gaffe, which gives about 400,000 students advance peek on actual test questions; promise to adjust for mistake in scoring exams; this year's tests are first that will be used to measure school performance in New York City under federal No Child Left Behind law (M)

After the Justice Department drastically reduced its request for information from Google, a federal judge said on Tuesday that he intended to approve at least part of that request. The government first subpoenaed Web data from Google last August, as part of its defense of an online pornography law.

James L Swanson, constitutional law expert, has written book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer to feed his obsession with Lincoln's assassination; his passion is widely shared one, proven as book debuted at No 6 on New York Times best-seller list and has remained steady at No 5 since; movie rights have already been optioned by Walden Media; photo (M)

The Labor Department is investigating whether Northwest Airlines systematically shortchanged its employee pension fund over three years, then avoided having to make a $65 million payment to the fund by filing for bankruptcy protection just one day before the payment was due. The government has subpoenaed voluminous and detailed information from Northwest going back to January 2002, when both the airline and its pension fund faced severe financial pressures after the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the bursting of the technology bubble in the stock market.

When asked in an interview last April if he would ever consider retiring from the CBS News program ''60 Minutes,'' Mike Wallace said that he planned to do so only ''when my toes turn up.'' ''Well,'' Mr. Wallace said, amending that statement in an interview yesterday, ''they're just beginning to curl a trifle.''