December 10, 2006

The N.F.L. has made protecting the quarterback a priority. But have they gone too far in insulating the quarterback from the often brutal contact that is the foundation of the game?

Joseph Siano reviews book Daimler & Benz: The Complete History by Dennis Adler

Fissures over Iraq could make it more difficult for Republicans to coalesce on national security policy and avoid a bitter intraparty fight going into 2008.

Article on change of atmosphere in Times Square theater district over past twenty years as tourists from across America replace New York City residents; theatergoing experience has changed as well, as families with children queue up for musicals, many of them produced by Disney,in area that has lost its once-seedy reputation; photo (M)

Residents in Riverdale winced when Con Edison announced plans to dig up three and a half miles of Riverdale Avenue’s parking lane in chunks.

The families of soldiers overseas are using teleconferencing to gather with their loved ones during the holidays.

UNTIL Montana elected Jon Tester to the Senate last month, Charles E. Grassley was the only honest-to-goodness farmer in Congress. His home is New Hartford, Iowa, a town of roughly 700 people west of Cedar Falls; he returns there almost every weekend and goes to work on his tractor, tucking his cellphone into his baseball cap so that his staff can reach him as he bounces around the family fields. In the Senate, of course, he is also known as a tax geek. Over a quarter-century in Congress he has raised the hackles of countless constituencies by closing loopholes, cutting subsidies, curbing what he considers wasteful government spending and increasing protection for whistleblowers who expose it.

Weapon prices are soaring in Iraq amid sectarian strife as more buyers push prices several times higher than those that existed at time of American-led invasion; rising prices encourage migration of army and police weapons from Iraqi state armories to black-market sales; American-issue weapons are also on sale in shops and bazaars, purchased by United States for Iraqi forces; photo; map (L)

The Lexus LS sedan, now entering its fourth generation as the LS 460, keeps rolling while its trouble-prone rivals are stuck in the shop.

After a 217-year march of major presidential nominees who were, without exception, white and male, the 2008 campaign may offer voters a novel choice: a woman or an African-American.

At issue is whether scientists seeking DNA from aboriginal populations are underselling the risks to donors.

Article in series In God's Name; Federal Judge Robert W Pratt ruled in June that Iowa prison program that offered prisoners amenities in exchange for entering intensely religious rehabilitation program monitored by evangelical Christians was unconstitutional use of taxpayer money; ordered $1.5 million of federal money repaid; courts have cited more than dozen similar programs since 2000, but programs are proliferating; government agencies have been repeatedly cited for not doing enough to guard against taxpayer-funded evangelism, but improperly used money is typically not repaid; photos; chart (L)