Three years after an unlikely quest for the United States Senate established Ned Lamont as a national Democratic figure, he said he is weighing a gubernatorial campaign.

Lamont Muses Over a Run Against Rell

Chinese authorities have imposed unofficial martial law in areas where ethnic Tibetans live.

50 Years After Revolt, Clampdown on Tibetans

For a guy who prides himself on a stress-free demeanor, the changes above President Obama’s temples may be speckled evidence of the strains of the job.

For Young President, Flecks of Gray

Mahmoud Karzai’s swift rise has stirred suspicion among Afghans, who resent his brother’s seeming tolerance for unsavory activities.

Another Karzai Forges Afghan Business Empire

The salaries and bonuses were great, the lifestyle grand. The party’s over, and expats are joining the ranks of the jobless.

Abruptly, Expatriate Bankers Are Cut Loose

An Indiana town dotted with vacated G.M. plants is rebuilding itself with a patchwork of small businesses.

Piecemeal Recovery Fills Void in a Former G.M. Town

Fashion directors, who were once the mainstays of the fashion industry, may be a relic of more adventurous times.

What the Fashion Seers Didn’t See Coming

Medical device makers remain insulated from the kind of lawsuits allowed by the Supreme Court’s ruling. But, perhaps, not for long.

Drug Ruling Puts Devices in Spotlight

Lawmakers in Albany have been flooded with proposals for how to spend its share of federal recovery money.

Amid N.Y.’s Budget Crisis, a Scramble to Spend Billions

The Obama administration began an ambitious effort to help troubled homeowners, offering lenders and borrowers big incentives.

U.S. Sets Big Incentives to Head Off Foreclosures

More than a dozen Wall Street trading firms systematically cheated their customers of millions of dollars by improperly slicing bits of profit from countless trades, federal regulators said on Wednesday.

14 Trading Firms Settle Charges for $69 Million

Screen Test

As G.M. reported that its survival was in doubt, the White House said that helping the auto industry was a priority.

Auditors Raise Doubts About G.M.’s Viability

A Senate panel told the Federal Reserve to identify all the parties made whole by the bailout of A.I.G. or forget about coming back to ask Congress for more rescue money.

Senators Ask Who Got Money From A.I.G.

Residents of Red Hook are worried less about car exhaust and more about idling cruise ship smokestacks docked at Pier 12.

Smoke on the Water

Horton Foote’s plays have always felt like home to me. You don’t have to have grown up Southern, as I did, to respond this way to the soft-spoken tales of small-town Texas.

A Dramatist Who Cozied Up to the Chill Within the Hearth

Food manufacturers are increasingly hiring private auditors, but problems with contamination remain.

Food Problems Elude Private Inspectors

The load of cans and bottles toted to supermarkets each week could get heavier under Gov. David A. Paterson’s plan to expand the bottle redemption program.

Can Bottles and Nickels Turn to Millions?

Dwayne Johnson, no longer billed as the Rock, finds Hollywood isn’t such a hard place.

Yep, He’s Big

For the vacation-home market on the Strip, the sky was the real estate limit. Then the economy fell, projects stalled and buyers are looking elsewhere for bargains.

In Las Vegas, a Break in the Real Estate Action

The allure of a winter day at this warm-weather getaway is the absence of crowds, the lack of traffic and an abundance of uninterrupted vistas.

Sounds of Silence on Cape Cod

Between Vail and Aspen, skiers brave white-outs and wind for a warm hut and fresh powder.

Colorado’s Backcountry Ski Huts

The new host of NBC’s “Late Night” has gone further to co-opt the Internet than his network rivals.

Fallon Faces the Camera, Conscious of the Web

“Breaking Bad,” about a terminally ill scientist who sells crystal-meth to provide for his family, returns Sunday for its second season on AMC.

Better Living Through Chemistry

Zack Snyder’s film version of “Watchmen” is a grim and grisly excursion into comic-book mythology.

March 5, 2009

Headlines from March 5, 2009

Lamont Muses Over a Run Against Rell

50 Years After Revolt, Clampdown on Tibetans

For Young President, Flecks of Gray

Another Karzai Forges Afghan Business Empire

Abruptly, Expatriate Bankers Are Cut Loose

Billboard 200

Fearless

Uncle Charlie

The Fray

Dark Horse

I Am...Sasha Fierce

Historical Context for March 5, 2009