March 21, 2006

Richard S. Schweiker, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, today rejected proposals by his top aides to reduce the Government's role in insuring proper health, safety and staffing at the nation's nursing homes.

Transit Workers Union and Metropolitan Transportation Authority wage acrimonious battle over new contract months after New York City transit strike; union objects to recommendation for binding arbitration; union president Roger Toussaint wants MTA to honor second vote on contract rejected by workers in January, but authority says terms of that contract are off table; photo (M)

A federal appeals court yesterday overturned the obstruction-of-justice conviction of Frank P. Quattrone, the investment banker who rose to prominence in the 1990's technology boom, and granted him a new trial. The ruling, a rare reversal of a jury verdict, is considered a big setback for the Justice Department, which had sought to portray Mr. Quattrone as a symbol of Wall Street excesses during the boom years.

PEN American Center is expected to ratify best-selling biographer Ron Chernow as its next president; Chernow will succeed Salman Rushdie, who recommended him for position; Rushdie will become president of PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature to be held in April; photo (M)

Roy Peek had about $40, three credit cards and a debit card in his wallet. But to pay for a Coke and a slice of pizza here at a Philips Arena concession stand, he whipped out his cellphone. ''With this, I don't have to hurry, I don't have to stop at an A.T.M.,'' said Mr. Peek, shortly after tapping the device against a coaster-size terminal that flashed lights and beeped as it billed his credit card account.