March 25, 2008

Remember when “politics makes strange bedfellows” was a metaphor and not an expression to be taken literally?

Stocks surged on Monday after last-minute negotiations salvaged the rescue of Bear Stearns and housing sales snapped a long streak of declines.

In “The Finder,” as in earlier thrillers like “Manhattan Nocturne” and “The Havana Room,” Colin Harrison combines a Balzacian eye for social detail and a poet’s sense of mood with a sleazily sensationalistic plot.

R. L. Stine’s American publisher, Scholastic, hoping that another generation of readers ages 8 to 12 is ready for his stories, is releasing the first of 12 books in a new series called “Goosebumps HorrorLand.”

Virus? Bacteria? Environmental toxin? Scientists are racing to diagnose a syndrome that is threatening several bat species.

The Small Business Administration has not said publicly that it is worried about a credit squeeze but signs point to a decline in business loans through its main program.

Joe Alexander of West Virginia has gone from a player who could not entice a Division II program to offer him a scholarship to one who may leave school early for the N.B.A.

Meg Wolitzer’s new book is a multicharacter meditation on a group of upper-middle-class women, mostly in Manhattan, who have stayed home for a decade to raise their children.

After coming up just short of a gold medal in the 1,500-meter run while representing Kenya in 2004, Bernard Lagat is a favorite to win the event for the United States.

If Donnie Walsh can come home to New York, can we foresee a day when a game between the Knicks and the Nets will actually be compelling?

The shortfall was chiefly caused by a sharp drop in taxes from real estate transactions, transportation authority officials said.

JPMorgan’s improved offer illustrates the deep complexity and political sensitivity of the deal, which also met the rejection and anger of Bear Stearns shareholders and employees.