Bracing for the worst as they prepare their budget proposals for the next school year, school district officials across Westchester said they feared that many residents would reject needed increases.

School Districts Gird for Bad-News Budgets

A company has begun marketing its laser for use on toenail infections, even though it has not received clearance from the F.D.A.

False Start on a Laser Remedy for Fungus

General Electric presented analysts a detailed look inside GE Capital in an attempt to prove that its finance division is better positioned than the competing banks.

G.E. Makes the Case for Its Finance Unit

The depth and speed of the manufacturing plunge are striking, and recall conditions that led to the Great Depression.

Rapid Declines in Manufacturing Spread Global Anxiety

Residents who had been pillars of Connecticut towns are finding themselves the focus of populist rage.

Scorn Trails A.I.G. Executives, Even in Their Driveways

Christopher Dodd’s constituents unleashed their anger over his role in allowing post-bailout bonuses at A.I.G.

Connecticut Senator Draws Voters’ Ire for His Bonus Role

Michelle Obama is planning the first vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden in World War II.

Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House

However you describe it, “Duplicity” is superior entertainment, the most elegantly pleasurable movie of its kind to come around in a very long time.

Effervescent Espionage With Two Irresistible Forces

A dispute over islets and reefs in the sea between South Korea and Japan is playing out on dry cleaners’ bags in New York.

On City’s Plastic Bags, an Old and Distant Dispute

With stimulus dollars headed their way, area housing agencies are hoping that the money will help reverse the negative effects of years of funding cuts.

Stimulus Plan Raises Public Housing Hopes

So unsettling have the budget numbers proved that some elected officials have begun to ask aloud a question that previously was uttered only in private.

He Who Dares to Mention Police Pay

While some people are fantasizing about beheading Wall Street executives, others are finding constructive ways to channel their anger.

A.I.G. Revenge Is All the Rage, but It Isn’t Healthy

There are many ways to give support to friends and former colleagues who’ve lost their jobs.

Not Laid Off? How to Aid the Less Fortunate

New projections for the fiscal years 2010 through 2019 show deficits totaling $2.3 trillion, more than the White House’s predictions.

New Deficit Forecast Casts Shadow on Obama Agenda

School officials fear residents will reject needed increases when budgets come up for a vote.

Orchestras in the New York region are trying new ways to make music with less, including trimming rehearsal time, shortening seasons and scaling back productions.

Making Music With Less

Four women who are star screenwriters have a tight bond, and they’re not afraid to use it.

An Entourage of Their Own

A complaint from an ex-student of a high-profile all-girls boarding school offers a tantalizing window into a world that has been glamorized and vilified by everything from “The Official Preppy Handbook” to “Gossip Girl.”

At a Prep School, the Gloves Are Off

Prisoners turn cameras on themselves in films created while in jail.

For Young Inmates, Judgment’s a Theme

With lenders demanding more money upfront, some condominium buyers not only can’t move in, they can’t get their hard-earned deposits back either.

Up in Smoke: The Deposit Vanishes

Tired of commuting into Manhattan to dance for American Ballet Theater, Kristi Boone and Isaac Stappas found a one-bedroom on East 94th Street.

A New Performance on 94th Street

The anger and drama over the bonuses at A.I.G. may be undermining efforts to shore up the economy.

The Problem With Flogging A.I.G.

Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman, hardly stands out in the snowcapped resort town in Colorado where celebrities and athletes come to ski and seek repair at a renowned medical clinic.

As Rodriguez’s Hip Heals, a Ski Town Shrugs

In the Queens neighborhood that produced the hip-hop pioneers Run-DMC, young people still yearn to make it big in the world of rap.

Straight Out of Hollis

Apollo Management and several other investment firms are in talks to convert their debt holdings in Charter Communications into equity stakes, a person briefed on the negotiations said Thursday.

March 20, 2009

Headlines from March 20, 2009

School Districts Gird for Bad-News Budgets

False Start on a Laser Remedy for Fungus

G.E. Makes the Case for Its Finance Unit

Rapid Declines in Manufacturing Spread Global Anxiety

Scorn Trails A.I.G. Executives, Even in Their Driveways

Billboard 200

No Line On The Horizon

Fearless

Middle Cyclone

The Fame

Dark Horse

Historical Context for March 20, 2009