Tighten Belts, Bloomberg Tells Officials

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, responding to shrinking revenues from a cooling economy, imposed a hiring freeze for all agencies yesterday and directed commissioners to devise spending reductions of 2.5 percent this fiscal year and 5 percent in the next.

It is the first time officials have resorted to a citywide plan to make cuts since October 2002, when the budget was still reeling from the aftershocks of the Sept. 11 terror attack. Since then, the city’s superheated real estate market and fat payouts on Wall Street have led to surpluses, including a record $4.4 billion in the last fiscal year, which allowed the mayor to increase spending and services while cutting taxes and offering rebates.

But the mayor’s latest move, which came on the same day that the state comptroller said turmoil in the credit and housing markets would batter Wall Street and take a toll on tax revenues for the city and state, is a sign that Mr. Bloomberg’s regular predictions of tighter times are coming true.

Subsidized Housing is becoming Extinct in New York City

With gentrification spreading into low-income areas, many landlords in struggling neighborhoods of New York City, who once welcomed tenants with federal rent subsidy vouchers, are now turning them away, according to some housing activists and real estate agents.

Section 8 vouchers have long been a pillar of rent support for needy families, serving about 270,000 residents in the city. And for decades the program has virtually guaranteed landlords a steady source of rent and a modest profit.

But now, apartment listings routinely exclude voucher holders, marking a significant shift in the way many landlords have come to view the program. Many property owners and real estate agents say the program is overly cumbersome, and in a hot rental market, they say, there is no need to take on a Section 8 tenant.

Could the National Urban League possibly help some of these people?

The National Urban League's Economic Empowerment agenda reaches out to people of all ages and financial levels, helping them better their current situation and build for the future. While personal goals can often seem out of reach - whether it's getting a good job, buying a house, starting a business or being financially secure - Urban League affiliate counselors can lay out the steps to help make them a reality.

The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest community-based organization of its kind in the nation.

The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was founded in New York City on September 29, 1910 by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others. It merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York (founded in New York in 1906) and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women (founded in 1905), and was renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes.

NUL grew out of that spontaneous grassroots movement for freedom and opportunity that came to be called the Black Migrations.

In 2003, Marc Morial was appointed the league's eighth President and Chief Executive Officer. Since his appointment to the National Urban League, Morial has worked to reenergize the movement's diverse constituencies by building on the strengths of the NUL's 95 year old legacy and increasing the organization's profile both locally and nationally.

Today, there are over 100 local affiliates of the National Urban League located in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Today's Top Stories

The following are today's top stories:


* Shai Agassi, a top Silicon Valley technologist, has devised a plan to reinvent the auto industry around electric-powered cars by building battery-charging stations around the world.

* After a series of crash landings caused by landing gear malfunctions, Scandinavian Airlines said it would pull all Bombardier Q400 turboprops from its fleet.

* The European Union has proposed that car advertisements shown in member countries carry tobacco-style labels warning of the environmental impact they cause.

* The number of customers buying travel online has begun to shrink, the first time a category has lost shoppers since Forrester Research began tracking e-commerce 10 years ago.

* In New York City neighborhoods hit hard by the subprime lending crisis, most loans that ended up in foreclosure came from three companies- Fremont Investment and Loan, WMC Mortgage, and the New Century Financial Corp (NEWCQ.PK: Quote, Profile, Research), according to a new report.

* Having emerged as a leading candidate to succeed Stanley O'Neal at Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research), BlackRock Inc (BLK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) founder Laurence Fink may be the king of Wall Street's chief executive officer short list.

Mayor to Ease Permit Rules for Capturing City's Image

Amateur photographers and independent filmmakers looking to chronicle bird life, take snapshots in Times Square or capture the distinctive thrum of New York’s streets will not need to obtain permits or insurance under new rules being proposed by the Bloomberg administration.

The rules, to be released on Tuesday for public comment, would generally allow people using hand-held equipment, including tripods, to shoot for any length of time on sidewalks and in parks as long as they leave sufficient room for pedestrians.

The proposal, drafted as part of a settlement in a lawsuit, was revised after a passionate outcry over the summer from fine-art photographers, independent filmmakers and civil libertarians concerned that the original rules would have restricted unobtrusive video recording. Under the first proposal, any group of two or more people using a camera in a public location for more than half an hour, and any group of five or more people using a tripod for more than 10 minutes, would have needed permits and at least $1 million in insurance.

Apple Imposes New Limit on iPhone Sales

Apple Inc. no longer accepts cash for iPhone purchases and now limits sales of the cell phone to two per person in a move to stop people from reselling them.

The new policy started Thursday, said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. Before then, there was no cash restriction and the purchase limit was five per person.


"Customer response to the iPhone has been off the charts, and limiting iPhone sales to two per customer helps us ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift," Kerris said. "We're requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers."

More than 1.4 million units of the hybrid cell phone-iPod have been sold since it debuted on June 29, according to Apple. It is expected to be a hot gift for the holidays.

Bogus New York City Dentist Charged

A fake dentist is accused of dumping a critically ill woman on the curb outside his office after she lost consciousness during surgery, prosecutors said Friday.

Alexander Poperetchny, 47, pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice at his arraignment Thursday.

Poperetchny's attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.

The patient, Villimin Colleti, 71, was taken to Coney Island Hospital suffering from heart and brain damage, said the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes. She fell unconscious while in the dental chair Tuesday at Poperetchny's office, the statement. It was not immediately clear what caused her to become ill.

Criminal Court Judge Richard Allman set scheduled a preliminary hearing for Oct. 30.

NUL Denounces Senate Confirmation of Anti-Civil Rights Judge

The National Urban League denounced the confirmation of Judge Leslie Southwick by the U.S. Senate yesterday to fill the vacant seat on the 5th Circuit Court -- one of the most heavily minority circuits in the nation -- that covers Mississippi, Louisiana and east Texas.

Several members of the so-called Gang of 14, senators who agreed in 2005 not to hold up judicial nominations unless under “extraordinary circumstance,” joined with Southwick supporters to kill the filibuster that would have blocked a final vote. The 57-year-old jurist was then confirmed on a 59-38 vote.

During his tenure as a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals from 1995 to 2006, Southwick tended to favor the employer over the employee and the corporation over the consumer. In a 1998 employment case, he pulled an about-face, siding with a white state social worker rightly fired for using a racial slur against a black colleague.

“This nomination was exactly the kind of ‘extraordinary circumstance’ that provides an exception to the so-called Gang of 14 deal that paved the way for the confirmation of several anti-civil rights judges in 2005 and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in 2006,” said NUL President and CEO Marc Morial .

“If the inability to understand the meaning and damage of the most vicious racial slur in a workplace environment (or anywhere else, for that matter) is not an extraordinary trait in a federal judge, then nothing is and the ‘extraordinary circumstance’ exception is obviously meaningless,” Marc Morial added.

"This is certainly a sad day for Americans of color in this nation – especially for those who reside in the 5th Circuit,” Morial added.

Established in 1910, the National Urban League is the nation's oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream.

The National Urban League (www.nul.org), headquartered in New York City, spearheads the non-partisan of the National Urban League located in 36 states and the District of Columbia providing direct services like job training, home ownership and educational assistance to millions of people nationwide along with extensive advocacy and research.

New York City Reintroduces Calorie Rule

The Bloomberg administration, in its continuing fight against obesity, reintroduced a measure yesterday to force chain restaurants to display calorie information on their menus or menu boards, after a federal judge struck down a similar measure last month.

The new regulation would apply to all restaurants operating in the city that have 15 or more outlets here or across the country.

Many chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks, already provide calorie information on their Web sites or on posters or tray liners.

But health officials say customers rarely see this information before deciding what to order. The regulation would require the calorie counts to be posted as prominently as the price of each menu item. For many fast food outlets, that means the information would be added to the big signs behind the cash registers that list food items and prices.

Ex-city worker pleads guilty to stealing N.Y.C. 9/11 funds

An ex-worker at the city medical examiner's office pleaded guilty to accompanying her former boss with embezzling millions of dollars, some of which was intended to help identify Sept. 11 terrorist attack victims, authorities said.

Previously director of records at the medical examiner's office, Rosa Abreu may face a maximum 75 years in prison on charges of embezzlement, money laundering and conspiracy. She will be sentenced on Jan. 23, federal prosecutors said.

Abreu's co-defendant is her former boss, Natarajan Venkataran, who is scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 26.

Abreu was responsible for supporting computer systems used to track and identify forensic evidence, including DNA, from crime scenes, prosecutors said. After the Sept. 11 attack, the office needed more computer services to identify victims through evidence collected at ground zero.

The two, charged in 2005, steered over $13 million in computer service contracts and purchase orders between 1999 and 2004 in exchange for cash payments to companies that did little or no work, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia.

They also transferred millions of dollars to three shell companies they created, withdrew cash and made payments to personal accounts and sent money overseas, prosecutors said.

Many of the office's Sept. 11-related expenses were reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which forwarded more than $46 million to the office in 2002 and 2003, federal authorities said.

Louisiana Legislator claims he is wrongly targeted by the FBI

A Louisiana legislator said Wednesday he is being investigated by the FBI and claimed it may be because he wouldn't give agents information about possible wrongdoing by Rep. William Jefferson and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

State Sen. Derrick Shepherd denied any wrongdoing and said he has no evidence of wrongdoing by either Jefferson or Nagin. He has not been charged with a crime.

Earlier this week, an FBI agent testified in a court hearing that Shepherd, a Democrat from suburban Marrero, helped a convicted felon launder more than $140,000 in bogus construction bond fees last year and kept nearly half the money.

Shepherd, at a news conference, said FBI agents visited his home months ago asking if he could provide evidence of wrongdoing by Jefferson or Nagin.

"I would hate to think that this investigation of me is in any way, connected to my inability to provide any information related to the prosecution of Congressman Jefferson or any investigation of Mayor Nagin that may be under way," Shepherd said.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who has aggressively prosecuted New Orleans corruption cases, would not comment on Shepherd's claims. "I am not going to respond to anything Mr. Shepherd says," he said.

An FBI spokesman had no comment on Shepherd's claims.

Nagin, a Democrat who toyed with a run for governor this fall but did not qualify for the race, was not immediately available for comment, a spokesman said. In his two terms in office he has not been linked to allegations of wrongdoing and he has boasted that he has run a scandal-free administration.

In August, City Councilman Oliver Thomas stepped down after pleading guilty to federal charges of taking bribes during the administration of Nagin's predecessor, Marc Morial. Federal authorities have been investigating City Hall corruption for years, netting several guilty pleas from people connected to Morial's administration though Morial has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Jefferson, also a Democrat, is under indictment in Virginia on bribery, racketeering and other charges connected with an alleged Nigerian business scheme.

Jefferson was re-elected last year despite the indictment. Shepherd was one of several challengers in the primary election, placing third. He later endorsed Jefferson in a runoff election, which Jefferson won over the second-place finisher, state Rep. Karen Carter.

States Set to Sue the US over Greenhouse Gases

New York is one of more than a dozen states, led by California, preparing to sue the Bush administration for holding up efforts to regulate emissions from cars and trucks, several people involved in the lawsuit said on Tuesday.

The move comes as New York and other Northeastern states are stepping up their push for tougher regulation of greenhouse gases as part of their continuing opposition to President Bush’s policies.

On Wednesday, Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s administration is to issue regulations requiring power plants to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions, part of a broader plan among 10 Northeastern states, known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, to move beyond federal regulators in Washington and regulate such emissions on their own.

New York's Good Old Days Were Often Far From Nice

The phrase “a blast from the past” comes immediately to mind.

A scene from “A Glance at New York” at the Axis Company.

Axis Company has shaken the dust off a lowbrow stage work called “A Glance at New York” that was a hit in 1848 and injected it with a huge dose of 21st-century adrenaline. The players don’t so much perform the show as attack you with it. Who knows how this play, by Benjamin A. Baker, was rendered in 1848, but here it’s a visual and aural treat.

The story, such as it is, concerns a rube named George (Ian Tooley) who comes to the city and is fleeced repeatedly by street swindlers. The character who apparently electrified those pre-electricity audiences, though, was Mose (Jim Sterling), a burly firefighter with a gift for slugging people.

Axis serves up their sketchy tale with ridiculous declamatory deliveries and elaborate costumes (by Lee Harper and Matthew Simonelli) that might be described as thrift shop “Masterpiece Theater.” Mr. Sterling is decked out like Daniel Day-Lewis in “Gangs of New York,” and everyone else appears to have escaped from a Dickens novel. The griminess feels almost contagious; when you get home, your bathtub will never have looked so good.

The director, Randy Sharp, keeps the actors in constant motion, except when they pause to deliver, with incongruous beauty, a few musical numbers. Why “A Glance at New York” was popular way back when will be no clearer to you at the show’s end than it was at the beginning, but you’ll still be wishing that the performance, which clocks in at about 50 minutes, hadn’t ended so soon.

“A Glance at New York” continues through Nov. 16 at the Axis Company, 1 Sheridan Square, Greenwich Village; (212) 352-3101.

Is New York's Economy Due for a Hit?

Wall Street’s fortunes may be taking a turn for the worse — a development that would have major ramifications for the local economy. Major banks - most recently Bank of America — have announced shrinking profits, job cuts or both.


The gloomy reports are dashing hopes that large year-end bonus checks for investment bankers and traders would continue to fuel the local economy, Patrick McGeehan writes in a news analysis. The chief economist for the city comptroller’s office says the chance of a recession is increasing.


Wall Street is a critical fulcrum of the local economy, generating one of every five dollars of income in the region. Economists estimate that each new job on Wall Street leads to at least 1.3 other jobs, so for every three investment bankers laid off, four other workers are in jeopardy.

At a Hell's Kitchen Landmark, an Epic Landlord-Tenant Dispute

A grand eight-story apartment house in the Romanesque Revival style, the Windermere at West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue, was once famed for its marble fireplaces, its uniformed “hall boys,” and such technological wonders like the hydraulic elevator and the telephone. But today it is scarred with graffiti, its bright red brick a sickly gray covered in scaffolding. As Anthony Ramirez reports, the landlord, Masako Yamagata, wants the tenants to vacate the building, which is a prime piece of Manhattan real estate.


The tenants say Mr. Yamagata has turned a blind eye to mice, roaches, water from the ceilings, shattered windows, hallways cold enough in winter to fog the tenants’ breath, and pigeons in all seasons flying and defecating indoors. On Sept. 19, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development cited the landlord for 209 violations, including fire safety problems like exposed wiring, “the accumulation of refuse and/or rubbish” and “no electrical supply entire building.” At a contempt hearing today in Housing Court, Mr. Yamagata could agree to the repairs. If he does not, the city could perform the repairs and send him the bill.

Long Island Naval Officer, Killed in Action, Is Honored for Heroism

A Navy Seal from Long Island will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, in a White House ceremony today. As Raymond Hernandez describes in an article today:

In June 2005, Lt. Michael P. Murphy and three fellow members of the Navy Seals were on a mission in the mountains of Afghanistan when they were pinned down by a swarm of enemy fighters. Trapped in a steep ravine, they were unable to get a radio signal to call for help. With the Americans suffering injuries, ammunition running low and roughly 100 Taliban fighters closing in, Lieutenant Murphy made a bold but fateful decision: He left the sheltering mountain rocks into an open area where he hoped to get a radio frequency. He managed to make contact with Bagram Air Base, calling in his unit’s location and the size of the enemy force, even as he came under direct fire, according to a declassified Navy account of the battle.

Lieutenant Murphy, of Patchogue, N.Y., is the first member of the Navy to receive the medal since the Vietnam War, a Navy spokesman said.

As Great Lakes Lose Water, Cargo Carriers Lose Money

Water levels in the Great Lakes are falling. Lake Ontario, for example, is about seven inches below where it was a year ago. And for every inch of water that the lakes lose, the ships that ferry bulk materials across them must lighten their loads by 270 tons — or 540,000 pounds — or risk running aground, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association, a trade group for United States-flag cargo companies.


As a result, Fernanda Santos reports from the port of Oswego, more ships are needed, adding millions of dollars to shipping companies’ operating costs. Most environmental researchers say that low precipitation, mild winters and high evaporation, due largely to a lack of heavy ice covers to shield cold lake waters from the warmer air above, are depleting the lakes. The International Joint Commission, which advises the United States and Canada on water resources, is conducting a $17 million, five-year study to determine whether the shrinking of the Great Lakes is related to the seasonal rise-and-fall cycles or is a result of climate change.

NYC has 2nd. Cab Strike in Six Weeks

Second Cab Strike in Six Weeks

New York City cabdrivers began their second strike in six weeks at 5 a.m. today, to protest the Taxi and Limousine Commission’s decision to require a series of technological devices, including G.P.S. systems, video screens and credit and debit card readers. But it is not clear whether the strike, called by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, will have much effect. Many drivers opted not to participate in the last strike, calling the effort fruitless, and the city is allowing cabs to pick up multiple passengers at the same time today, making it much more lucrative for drivers to work than stay off the job.

In other taxi-related news, The New York Post reports that the T.L.C. has hired Ricardo Inc., a firm with expertise in hybrid engines and vehicle design, to generate ideas and coordinate with car manufacturers on plans for a distinctive-looking and environmentally friendly cab by March.

Deadly boat crash in NY waters caused by collision with tow cable

A watery crash off the coast of Brooklyn that killed two passengers and injured two was caused when a 24-foot boat ran into a tow cable between a barge and tugboat, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The boat apparently ignored the tug's warning blasts from its horn and its light shining on the cable, which was more than 1,500 feet long, a U.S. Coast Guard official said Sunday.

The boat collided with the tow line and capsized, spilling its passengers into the dark waters of the Ambrose Channel, the busy shipping lane in Lower New York Bay, the official said.

With Wall Street Slowing, Uncertainty Descends

Now that the biggest firms on Wall Street, widely regarded as the economic engines of New York City, have begun to sputter, economists and city officials are beginning to fear that the city’s run of steady growth will stall.

One big bank after another has announced shrinking profits, job cuts or both. And the gloomy reports are dashing hopes that large year-end bonus checks for investment bankers and traders would continue to fuel the local economy.

The latest psychic blow came on Thursday when the chief executive of Bank of America hinted that his company might reverse the expansion of its investment banking operations after suffering big trading losses in the last three months. That warning seemed particularly ominous because the bank, based in North Carolina, is building a $1 billion office tower on 42nd Street to herald its arrival as an important player in the financial capital of the country.

With the tally of casualties from the turmoil in the financial markets mounting, analysts are rethinking their predictions of a gradual cooling of the local economy.

The city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., had been forecasting a general slowdown this year after three years of steady growth. But now Frank Braconi, the chief economist in the comptroller’s office, says he is not yet sure whether the troubles in the financial markets will turn into “something worse than we were predicting.”

The comptroller’s office is not forecasting a local recession in the next several months, but the odds that one will occur are rising, Mr. Braconi said. A national recession would almost certainly drag the local economy down with it, he said.

Cabbies Plan 2nd Strike to Protest New Devices

A group that says it represents about 10,000 cabdrivers is calling for a strike today, its second in less than two months, to protest a city plan requiring the more than 13,000 medallion taxicabs to install global positioning systems and credit card machines.

The group, New York Taxi Workers Alliance, staged a two-day work stoppage last month, but it had limited participation and failed to achieve its goals. The group plans a 24-hour strike this time, beginning at 5 a.m. today.

Crash of Frontline, Teekay Nears Amid Record Crude, Tanker Glut

(Bloomberg) -- The record increase in oil prices and the unprecedented number of new tankers transporting crude is a stock market crash waiting to happen.

That, at least, is the growing consensus among analysts who say the widening gap between West Texas Intermediate crude and the rate for supertankers shipping Middle East oil to Asia means industry titans Frontline Ltd., Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. and Teekay Corp. have unsustainable valuations.

The Bloomberg Tanker Index has risen 19 percent in the past two years, even as reight rates sank 38 percent. The price of marine fuel, the biggest cost for shipowners, has dvanced 73 percent to a peak of $446.50 a metric ton and the number of ships available is near a record.

``It doesn't look good at all,'' said Andreas Vergottis, who helps manage $1.2 billion at Isle of Man-based Tufton Oceanic Ltd., the world's biggest hedge fund dedicated to shipping. ``We've got a wall of worry and a wall of new buildings flooding the market ahead of us.'' He said the stocks are 30 percent overvalued.

Frontline, the world's largest tanker company, gained 50- fold in the past nine years, helping to make Chairman John Fredriksen into Norway's richest man, with a fortune that Forbes magazine estimates at $7 billion. Frontline shares this year have gained 33 percent to 238 kroner in trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Sealy closes New York plant amid labor talks

Mattress maker Sealy said on Sunday it would temporarily close a Green Island, New York, manufacturing plant on Oct. 22 because of labor negotiations with the UNITE HERE Union Local 1714T.

The plant closing will affect 350 workers and Sealy will shift manufacturing operations to other facilities, the company said

"We expect minimal disruption in our supply chain. We are working hard to end the impasse with the union as quickly as possible," said Mike Hofmann, Sealy's executive vice president, operations North America.

Additional details were not immediately available.

Tough Love for the Big Easy

Changing Louisiana's reputation for corruption would do more than just make over its image, Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal said Sunday: It could help the state attract businesses and win federal aid for hurricane recovery.

The Republican congressman, a day after his historic win in an election that featured a dozen candidates for governor, pressed ahead with his campaign pledge, saying in an interview with The Associated Press that one of his first acts will be to call a special legislative session to reform ethics laws.

"I think we're setting the bar too low when we say, 'Look, isn't it great that we haven't had a statewide elected official go to jail recently?'" Jindal said.

"The reality is there are a lot of practices that are accepted ways of doing business in Baton Rouge that are considered unethical in other parts of the country, that are considered illegal in other parts of the country," Jindal said.

His two predecessors, Democrat Kathleen Blanco and Republican Mike Foster, governed with no allegations of cronyism, but the state has a well-earned reputation for shady politics.

Four-term Democratic Gov. Edwin Edwards is serving prison time in a bribery and extortion case involving the awarding of riverboat casino licenses. In the past decade, Louisiana has had an insurance commissioner and elections commissioner serve time in jail, and a litany of corruption cases are pending in New Orleans.

Giants back in business with defense

For the last few weeks, Antonio Pierce has been using the New York Giants' awful start to motivate himself and his teammates.

"We want to keep playing like we're 0-2 right now,'' the Giants' middle linebacker says every week.

That won't work much longer as New York continues to climb toward the top of the NFC, with five straight wins and a game in London next week against the winless Dolphins.

NYC Mayor receives award from Harvard for public health efforts

NEW YORK (AP) _ Mayor Michael Bloomberg was named the recipient of an award from the Harvard School of Public Health for his administration's efforts to improve the health of New Yorkers, the school announced Sunday.

Bloomberg will receive the 2007 Julius B. Richmond Award, the school's highest honor, Oct. 29 at a private ceremony and lecture at Harvard.

The Bloomberg administration has mounted successful campaigns to improve millions of residents' health and safety, the school said, noting the city's bans on smoking and trans fats in restaurants, and efforts against gun violence.

Wall Street Hopes for a Better Week of Earnings

NEW YORK - Lukewarm third-quarter earnings reports to date imply that corporate America has some thorny problems. For the stock market to get back on track, this week’s releases will have to offer Wall Street some more upbeat news.

Last week’s batch of earnings reports, along with some downgrades from Standard & Poor’s on mortgage-backed securities, indicated credit tightness lasted well after summer ended. That suggests the fourth-quarter comeback Wall Street bet on when it hit record highs earlier this month may not happen.

It wasn’t only banks and housing-related companies that revealed troubles last week. Big Dow components including 3M Co., Honeywell Inc., and Caterpillar Inc. posted third-quarter profit rises, but their outlooks were much dimmer than anticipated.

Are the Red Sox Ready to Become the Yankees?

Terry Francona, the even-tempered Boston Red Sox manager, was asked Friday about the departure of the Yankees’ Joe Torre, whom he considers a colleague and a friend.

“It’s unbelievable,” Francona said of Torre’s decision to reject the Yankees’ incentive-based offer to return as manager. “It’s almost like ‘The Bronx Is Burning.’ You’re watching something unfold that’s just unbelievable.”

Francona went on to say that any franchise had the right to do as it pleased for the good of the team.

“That’s the way it goes,” he said. “But to do it very publicly, which Joe had to endure, I think was difficult. I’m sure it was difficult, and I feel for him.”

The Red Sox, who trailed Cleveland by three games to one at one point in the American League Championship Series, have roared back to tie the series. They pummeled the Indians in Cleveland on Thursday, and routed them without mercy at Fenway Park last night, 12-2.

But even as the Red Sox were fighting for their playoff lives, their closest rivals, the Yankees, dominated the baseball headlines. The Yankees waited about 10 days after their season ended to make an offer to Torre, who had guided them to 12 consecutive playoff appearances.

For some Boston fans, the Yankees’ hogging of the spotlight is a frustrating signature of the rivalry. One way or another, New York always takes center stage, and that will seemingly never end.

New York City Program Gets Kids Up and Running

Approximately 20,000 New York City schoolchildren have enrolled in the Mighty Milers, a program run by the New York Road Runners Foundation that aims to get kids up and running.

The program, which targets childhood obesity, is in more than 100 New York City schools plus 20 schools in other states and 20 in Cape Town, South Africa, where a non-governmental organization became interested.

The children earn prizes like medals and certificates each time they notch 26 miles _ a marathon _ and they can track their progress on personal Web pages.

The running club is best known for putting on the New York City Marathon, which draws world-class runners and hobbyists alike on the annual race through the five boroughs. But foundation Executive Director Cliff Sperber said the purpose of the Mighty Milers isn’t to raise a new generation of marathoners.

Can Rudy convert the Christian Right?

Maybe it's the right place for a Biblical metaphor: At this weekend's gathering of Christian conservatives, the highlight was something right out of Daniel entering the lion's den, only this Daniel is named Rudy.

Giuliani, who leads all Republicans in the seriously premature presidential polling despite liberal views on abortion and gay rights, came to the Family Research Council's "values voters" summit to argue that he was, if not their natural ally, more friend than foe.

"You have nothing to fear from me," he said.

But the question is, does Giuliani have something to fear from them? Ever since Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign, evangelicals - nearly a fourth of the total electorate - have formed a key component of the GOP base, delivering two-thirds of their votes to GOP Presidential candidates, all of whom have embraced the anti-abortion cause. A Republican nominee must have their backing to win the White House.

But what could a pro-choice, pro-gay rights former Mayor of New York possibly say here that would lead these ardent social conservatives to go with him? Maybe it's less what he says that who he is … and isn't?

Yes, he backed the ban on partial-birth abortions, promised to appoint Supreme Court justices like conservative icons Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas (both committed to overturning Roe v. Wade), and hit tried-and-tested grace notes for the faithful:

"The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion," was one.

Indian-American Wins Vote to Be Louisiana's Governor

Bobby Jindal, a conservative Republican congressman from the New Orleans suburbs and the son of immigrants from India, was elected Louisiana’s governor Saturday, inheriting a state that was suffering well before Hurricane Katrina left lingering scars two years ago.

Mr. Jindal, 36, defeated three main challengers in an open primary, becoming this state’s first nonwhite governor since a Reconstruction-era figure briefly held the office 130 years ago.

With more than 90 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Jindal received 53 percent, above the 50 percent-plus-one threshold needed to avoid a runoff in November. He will be the nation’s first Indian-American governor when he takes office in January.

Mr. Jindal’s victory over a state Democratic party weakened by perceptions of post-hurricane incompetence and corruption was expected, as he has had an overwhelming lead in polls for months. The incumbent, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, hurt by stumbles after Hurricane Katrina, did not seek re-election.

The ascendancy of the Brown- and Oxford-educated Mr. Jindal, an unabashed policy wonk who has produced a stream of multipoint plans, is likely to be regarded as a racial breakthrough of sorts in this once-segregated state. Still, it is one with qualifiers attached.

For one thing, he is by now a familiar figure in Louisiana, having made a strong run for the governorship in 2003, though losing to Ms. Blanco. Before that he had held a series of high-profile administrative jobs, including state health secretary at the age of 24, when he earned a reputation for efficiency — critics said cold-bloodedness — for slashing a bloated budget, cutting jobs and lowering reimbursements to doctors.

For another, he did not have the support of a majority of the state’s blacks, about a third of the population, who vote Democratic.

Yet Mr. Jindal, with his decisive victory on Saturday, appears to have overcome a significant racial hurdle that blocked him in 2003, according to analysts: race-based opposition in the deeply conservative northern and eastern parishes of Louisiana that once supported the Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

A born-again Roman Catholic, Mr. Jindal made a particular campaign target of these areas, visiting them frequently and bringing his brand of devout Christianity to their rural churches. His social-conservative message — teaching “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution in public schools, a total ban on abortion, repealing hate-crimes laws — would have been welcome in these areas.

Mr. Jindal campaigned as a cautious reformer, promising a more ethical government, for example, with greater transparency from lobbyists and legislators. His extensive résumé helped him project an image of competence, as did his detailed if conventional policy prescriptions — both evidently appealing to voters here weary of missteps in government since Hurricane Katrina.

But he faces significant challenges. He takes over what is now the nation’s poorest, most uneducated and most unhealthy state, by a number of important measures.

Cleaning up the Capitol in Baton Rouge, which Mr. Jindal has promised to make his first order of business, is unlikely to be regarded as a top priority, as it hardly has been in the past, by a Legislature jealous of its perquisites.

Mr. Jindal has promised to focus resources on the state’s ports, roads and research universities, which have received little state investment. But again, parochial interests and factionalism in a state with strong regional and ethnic divisions often work against these broader initiatives at the Capitol.

And Mr. Jindal, as a fiscal conservative, has had much to say about what he terms “out-of-control spending” but little about a regressive tax structure that relies heavily on sales taxes.

City Official: 9/11 Dust did not kill detective

New York City's chief medical examiner has concluded that the death of a city police detective who worked hundreds of hours on the smoldering debris pile at ground zero after the Sept. 11 attacks was not caused by exposure to toxic dust.

Contradicting a New Jersey pathologist who had found the death "directly related" to ground zero dust, the medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, acknowledged that "foreign material" had been found in the lungs of the detective, James Zadroga, but insisted that it had not come from the trade center site.

In a letter to the detective's father, Joseph Zadroga, of Little Egg Harbor, N.J., Hirsch did not cite a cause of death. But he said his review of medical records, the earlier autopsy report and slides of the victim's lung tissue - all provided by the detective's family - had found no link to the trade center.

Manhattan welcomes 720,000 Ladybugs, as killers

Imagine this spectacle in the middle of Manhattan: 720,000 ladybugs from Montana, on the attack.

The red-and-black creatures have purposely been released into the greenery of one of New York's biggest apartment complexes _ a sprawling 40-acres of high rises on the East Side. These normally gentle ladybugs have a mission: to harm and destroy pests infesting the neatly landscaped property.

The bugs from Bozeman arrived at the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex Thursday afternoon, packed in boxes shipped by a natural gardening company.

Several upstate schools report drug-resistant staph cases

More reports are coming in from schools around upstate New York and the rest of the country about cases of antibiotic-resistant staph infections.

That's been prompting schools to scrub down facilities, particularly locker rooms, gyms and sports equipment.

Among school districts that have reported cases are Corning-Painted Post in the Southern Tier, Fairport in western New York, Central Square and North Syracuse in central New York, and Guilderland and Watervliet in the greater Albany area.

Insulin flop costs Pfizer $2.8 Billion

Pfizer Inc.'s decision to shelve a novel insulin inhaler and take a $2.8 billion pretax hit on the product - one of the drug industry's costliest failures ever - rids the company of an albatross. But it suggests the risks Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler and other industry executives face as they steer makers of traditional pills more deeply into biotechnology drugs.

The world's largest drug maker by sales said it is pulling Exubera, a biotech medication that offers diabetes patients an alternative to injected insulin, after the product recorded a disappointing $12 million in sales this year, in part due to concerns among doctors about its long-term safety. Earlier the company predicted the drug would be a $2 billion-a-year product.

Drug companies often cancel drugs during human trials, and occasionally after they go on the market if there are any red flags about safety. But to pull a new drug from the market because it didn't sell - in the absence of a red flag - is almost unprecedented.


"This is one of the most stunning failures in the history of the pharmaceutical industry," said Mike Krensavage, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates. "I hope it would give Pfizer pause about buying any more assets."

During a conference call with analysts, Mr. Kindler said Thursday that he would take a hard look at how his company could have made such a mistake, which contributed to a sharp decline in the company's third-quarter earnings. "We will, of course, evaluate closely what happened here," Mr. Kindler said. He added, "When I started this job it was clear that this business needed to be fixed in a lot of ways."

Mr. Kindler added that Pfizer is canceling plans to develop a next-generation inhaler. Pfizer declined to make executives available for an interview.

The company's stock slipped a penny Thursday to $24.54 in 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Clinton ally rips "Cheating Husband" Rudy

Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., the dean of the New York congressional delegation, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, longtime political booster of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and a member of the steering committee for "Veterans and Military Retirees For Hillary" has joined another co-chair of the Clinton campaign, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, in attacking the personal life of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.

In a cover story on Giuliani in this week's New York Observer, Rangel went after Giuliani in unusually personal ways, expressing confidence that Giuliani's frontrunning status will fade either because of the former mayor's liberal positions on social issues or the operatic drama of his personal life.
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"Referring to Andrew Giuliani's reportedly distant relationship with his father since the ugly bust-up of Mr. Giuliani's marriage with Donna Hanover," the article says, "Mr. Rangel said it was because 'sons respect and admire their fathers, but they love their mothers against cheating goddamn husbands.' ... Rangel said he regretted that all the personal problems surfaced so soon in the electoral process. 'I'm sorry this damned thing turned out so early because, really, just like [embattled former Giuliani aide Bernard] Kerik, it would have bombed his ass out.'"

The Giuliani campaign declined to comment to ABC News about the attack, referring a reporter to comments made in the story by Randy Mastro, a former Giuliani deputy mayor, who said of Rangle's remarks, "Comments like that are not worthy of a response."

Rowling reveals Harry Potter Secrets

The author was in the U.S. this week for a book tour, mainly for schoolchildren, but I had been lucky enough to win a ticket in a sweepstakes for the only evening event in New York City. So there I sat, gazing down in awe as she read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, answered questions from the audience, and then signed two thousand books, including mine. As Rowling settled down, the crowd did not. On the edge of their seats, they clung on to every word coming from the woman on the velvet-covered throne, often bursting into applause or laughter. As she started to read a passage from the book, the last in the Harry Potter series, it was clear that she was just as excited as the audience. She read with obvious delight, putting on brilliant voices that rang true to every character, and even bursting into a fit of giggles when Ron, holding up the magical Deluminator gadget, said he heard Hermione "coming out of my pocket."

But when the questions began — they had been submitted by audience members before the event — she came into her own. Finally able to talk freely about the end of a series that had been so long-anticipated, she left nothing out. The big revelation of the night came when she was asked if Dumbledore had ever found love. With a sigh, she seemed on the verge of saying no, but then revealed, "my truthful answer to you... I always thought of Dumbledore as gay." After a collective gasp, the audience roared with applause. Rowling was clearly astonished by the positive reaction and exclaimed, "if I'd known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!" She went on to say that she thought Dumbledore had fallen in love with Grindelwald, a Dark Wizard he defeated in battle in 1945, which possibly made it forgivable that he had not seen Grindelwald's true nature, because "falling in love can blind us to an extent."

As the questions went on, she opened up even more, having conversations with the audience and making jokes about herself in a very British, self-deprecating way. When a voice resonated through the theater from an unseen source, she exclaimed "God...And they say I don't believe in you," alluding to the many people who claim her books are anti-Christian. It was clear that no matter how "bereaved" she felt when she finished writing Deathly Hallows, she loved talking freely about it to so many dedicated fans. After being careful and secretive for so long, she now went above and beyond what anyone had expected.

And the fans were just as delighted to be hearing the answers to their long-pondered questions. Those who asked questions often prefaced them with a heartfelt thank you, and though most people were in muggle clothes, there were quite a few young Harry Potters running around. As those of us upstairs waited to line up for the signing, watching others hug and high-five the author down below, there was an air of satisfaction and conviviality.

This, and the whole evening, reaffirmed my belief that the Harry Potter phenomenon was not over, and would never be over. Sitting next to me during the reading was a seven-year old girl and her mother. She was just starting the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and clutched it tightly all night. Here was living proof that the next generation of fans will discover the books when our copies are falling to pieces. And then, of course, Rowling reminded us that there will always be something new to discover about the series. The beauty of the Harry Potter books is that she has it all worked out — she knows everything there is to know about the world she has created, so no question will stump her. Reaction to the Dumbledore-is-gay revelation has already proven that each new announcement will be greeted by a flurry of Internet postings and theories, just like in the days before Deathly Hallows was released in July.

Last night's event was much better than the first time I saw Rowling, last summer at Radio City Music Hall for a reading. Back then, in between the sixth and seventh books, she found it very hard to say anything (though her big declaration was also about Dumbledore — that he was definitely dead). The half-answers and stalling were frustrating, albeit necessary, and she clearly felt confined by it. Her new freedom to talk about whatever she liked added an entirely different dimension to the evening, and to the series. As fans spilled out into the night, taking pictures with their newly signed books, I realized that this was not the end of Harry Potter, it was just the beginning of a new phase of the phenomenon.

Living Paycheck to Paycheck getting harder

The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder.

What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.

Across the nation, Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday as they juggle higher rent, food and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families as well as the poor, and has reached the point of affecting day-to-day calculations of merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 7-Eleven Inc. and Family Dollar Stores Inc.

Food pantries, which distribute foodstuffs to the needy, are reporting severe shortages and reduced government funding at the very time that they are seeing a surge of new people seeking their help.

While economists debate whether the country is headed for a recession, some say the financial stress is already the worst since the last downturn at the start of this decade.

From Family Dollar to Wal-Mart, merchants have adjusted their product mix and pricing accordingly. Sales data show a marked and more prolonged drop in spending in the days before shoppers get their paychecks, when they buy only the barest essentials before splurging around payday.

"It's pretty pronounced," said Kiley Rawlins, a spokeswoman at Family Dollar. "It seems like to us, customers are running out of food products, paper towels sooner in the month."

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said the imbalance in spending before and after payday in July was the biggest it has ever seen, though the drop-off wasn't as steep in August.

And 7-Eleven says its grocery sales have jumped 12-13 percent over the past year, compared with only slight increases for non-necessities like gloves and toys. Shoppers can't afford to load up at the supermarket and are going to the most convenient places to buy emergency food items like milk and eggs.

"It even costs more to get the basics like soap and laundry detergent," said Michelle Grassia, who lives with her husband and three teenage children in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, N.Y.

Her husband's check from his job at a grocery store used to last four days. "Now, it lasts only two," she said.

To make up the difference, Grassia buys one gallon of milk a week instead of three. She sometimes skips breakfast and lunch to make sure there's enough food for her children. She cooks with a hot plate because gas is too expensive. And she depends more than ever on the bags of free vegetables and powdered milk from a local food pantry.

Grassia's story is neither new nor unique. With the fastest-rising food and energy prices since the 1980s, low-income consumers are stretching their budgets by eating cheap foods like peanut butter and pasta.

Industry analysts and some economists fear the strain will get worse as people are hit with higher home heating bills this winter and mortgage rates go up.

It's bad enough already for 85-year-old Dominica Hoffman.

She gets $1,400 a month in pension and Social Security from her days in the garment industry. After paying $500 in rent on an apartment in Pennsauken, N.J., and shelling out money for food, gas and other expenses, she's broke by the end of the month. She's had to cut fruits and vegetables from her grocery order - and that's even with financial help from her children.

"Everything is up," she said.

Many consumers, particularly those making less than $30,000 a year, are cutting spending on nutritious food like milk and vegetables, and analysts fear they're further skimping on basic medical care and other critical services.

Coupon-clipping just isn't enough.

"The reality of hunger is right here," said the Rev. Melony Samuels, director of The BedStuy Campaign against Hunger, a church-affiliated food pantry in Brooklyn.

The pantry scrambled to feed 5,000 new families over the past 12 months, up almost 70 percent from 3,000 the year before.

"I am shocked to see such numbers," Samuels said, "and I am really concerned that this is just the beginning of what we are going to see."

In the past three months, Samuels has seen more clients in higher-paying jobs - the $35,000 range - line up for food.

The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, which covers 23 counties in New York State, cited a 30 percent rise in visitors in the first nine months of this year, compared with 2006.

Actor says new film gives new point of view on New York

Irish-born actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers recommends watching his new film, "August Rush," as if one were a 10-year-old boy, saying the eyes of a child give New York City a whole new perspective.

Rhys Meyers, who was in Rome Saturday for the world premiere of "August Rush" at the city's film festival, said the movie offers a different point of view about the city.

"To really get the most out of the film you have to start seeing through the eyes of a boy. You have to throw away your adult glasses," the actor said in an interview with The Associated Press before the official opening of the movie. "How a 45-year-old man and a 10-year-old boy see New York are completely different things."

The movie, which also stars Robin Williams, tells the story of a talented young musician who plays in the streets of New York with an eccentric companion looking for parents he has never met.

Rhys Meyers plays the young boy's father who doesn't know about his child's existence. The actor said he wanted to portray the man as compassionate. "He is not a guitar genius ... but the true gift of his music passes on to his son."

Two-Year Treasuries Rise Most on Credit Since Sept. 11 Attacks

Treasury two-year notes rose the most since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as credit-market losses increased speculation the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates this month.

Yields fell this week to the lowest in two years and U.S. stocks tumbled as home foreclosures led three of the biggest U.S. banks to report declines in third-quarter profit. Economic data next week is forecast by economists to show new home sales fell in September to the lowest in more than 10 years.

``The housing slowdown is going to play out for the next six months, not the next month,'' said Bill Chepolis, who helps manage $9 billion in New York at Deutsche Asset Management. ``The market is more aggressively pricing in an ease by buying two-year notes.''

Mission Discovery: Space Shuttle Commander, Pilot Ready to Fly

NASA's only active female shuttle commander and a born flier are ready to launch into orbit next week to continue assembly of the International Space Station (ISS).

Veteran astronaut Pamela Melroy will command the space shuttle Discovery's planned Tuesday launch, with first-time spaceflyer George Zamka serving as pilot during their STS-120 mission to the ISS.

"This is a fantastic moment for any crew...arriving where your vehicle is ready and waiting for you at the pad," Melroy told reporters here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Friday. "We're really excited to be here."

Melroy, Zamka and five crewmates are set to launch toward the ISS on Oct. 23 at 11:38 a.m. EDT (1538 GMT) to install a new connecting module to the space station. The astronauts will also relocate an older solar array segment and ferry a new crewmember to the orbital laboratory during their planned 14-day mission.

'Pambo' in charge

Known by the nickname 'Pambo' to her crew, Melroy is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel from Rochester, New York, who is making her third spaceflight with Discovery's STS-120 mission.

Critical Letter to Limbaugh fetches $2 Million

After Rush Limbaugh referred to Iraq war veterans critical of the war as “phony soldiers,” he received a letter of complaint signed by 41 Democratic senators. He decided to auction the letter, which he described as “this glittering jewel of colossal ignorance,” for charity, and he pledged to match the price, dollar for dollar.

On Thursday night, Mr. Limbaugh, the conservative radio talk show host, said he thought the letter would bring in as much as $1 million. He was wrong.

When the eBay auction closed yesterday afternoon, the winning bid was $2.1 million. It is the largest amount ever paid for an item sold on eBay to benefit a charity.

The money will go to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation Inc., a nonprofit organization in New Jersey that provides scholarships and other assistance to families of marines and federal law enforcement officials who die or are wounded in the line of duty. Mr. Limbaugh is a director of the organization, which had total revenues of $5.2 million last year.

“It’s unbelievable,” said James K. Kallstrom, the retired head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in New York, who is chairman of the foundation.

Clinton returned $7,000 Campaign says

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign returned $7,000 in donations last spring that were linked to a fund-raising event in Chinatown in New York City, campaign officials said yesterday, acknowledging another instance where questionable donors came into Mrs. Clinton’s political orbit.

But unlike Mrs. Clinton’s trouble with the former fund-raiser Norman Hsu — whose extensive legal problems and dubious fund-raising practices came as a surprise — her campaign identified the concerns about the Chinatown fund-raising on its own, campaign officials said.

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that it had reviewed the cases of more than 150 donors apparently linked to the Chinatown event or to Chinese neighborhoods, and that dozens of donors could not be found, were not registered to vote or held jobs that probably did not pay well enough to finance such donations.

Government Accuses 6 Men of $55Million Offshore Fraud

Federal prosecutors charged six men yesterday, including a New York corporate lawyer, three former executives and two Israeli investors, with making $55 million in fraudulent profits via private stock sales.

In Federal District Court in Brooklyn, prosecutors said that Edward and Steven Newman, Martin E. Weisberg, Andrew Brown, Zev Saltsman and Menachem Eitan ran a four-year scheme that revolved around Xybernaut and Ramp, two companies now in bankruptcy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against them yesterday as well.

Delta goes all out in hugely competitive market

Delta Air Lines has declared what promises to be an expensive and very uncivil war in the Big Apple.

The Atlanta-based carrier, which emerged from bankruptcy last spring, has decided to bet a huge chunk of its future on one of the most hotly contested markets in the world — a landscape dominated by well-heeled fliers, aging terminals, crowded airspace and fierce rivals who aren't shy about calling you out by name.
The Delta Air Lines Business Elite check-in area at JFK International Airport, where the carrier has made numerous improvements to upgrade service.


This is a battleground for us," Delta President Ed Bastian said during a recent interview as he made his way through the frenetic lunch crowds in Midtown Manhattan.

Just a few blocks away, Delta competitor Continental Airlines had hoisted huge billboards near the intersection of Seventh Avenue and West 49th Street. One read: "Who flies to the most destinations in France? (Hint: It ain't Delta.)"

NY state appoints new HIV advisor

The chief executive officer of New York City's Gay Men's Health Crisis has been appointed to the state's AIDS Advisory Council. Marjorie Hill will join the 24-year-old board, which is responsible for advising the state's commissioner of health and making recommendations for HIV/AIDS issues.

Experts Seek Ban on Cold Medicines for those Under 6

A Food and Drug Administration panel of experts voted today to ban scores of popular over-the-counter cough and cold products intended for children under the age of 6.

If put into practice, the vote could transform pharmacy shelves and change the way many parents cope with the myriad colds caught by young children. The vote comes a week after major manufacturers agreed to withdraw more than a dozen cough and cold products labeled for use in infants and babies.

Rowling reveals 'Marriage' to Harry Potter at reading

J.K. Rowling says she's tied the knot with her main character.

``I actually married Harry Potter. My husband's here, and if you have seen a photo of my husband, I think Harry Potter will look like that once he hits a certain age,'' the bestselling author said.

Rowling, 42, sat on a scarlet throne onstage at Carnegie Hall in New York this morning as her young audience whooped enthusiastically. It was her third of four readings in the U.S. since the publication of the seventh and final Harry Potter book.

New U.S. vaccine guidelines for adults released

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has released the 2007-2008 recommended immunization schedules for adults in the US, according to a report in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The schedule, which is established each year by the CDC, has been endorsed by the American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Physicians (ACP).

Rupert Murdoch sees $200 Million Investment in Fox Business Network

A proposal to eliminate News Corp.'s dual-class stock structure won some support among shareholders, signaling discontent with a system that allows Rupert Murdoch's family to maintain control over the global media conglomerate.

Murdoch's family trust is the largest holder of Class B voting stock with 30.1 percent of the shareholder vote, while John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. is the second-largest with 19.1 percent, according to News Corp.'s proxy statement.

The proposal did not come close to passing, winning approval of just 22.9 percent at the company's annual meeting Friday, which was held in a theater near New York's Times Square.

But the sponsor of the measure, Australian shareholder activist Stephen Mayne, pointed out that once the shares controlled by Murdoch and Malone were excluded — since they both voted against it — the measure won support from roughly half of the remaining shareholders.

Sharp drop for stock market

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 360 points Friday - the 20th anniversary of the Black Monday crash - as lackluster corporate earnings, renewed credit concerns and rising oil prices spooked investors.

The major stock market indexes turned in their worst week since July after Caterpillar Inc., one of the world's largest construction equipment makers, soured investors mood Friday with a discouraging assessment of the U.S. economy. In a week dominated by mostly negative results from banks facing difficult credit markets and rising mortgage delinquencies, investors appeared surprised that an industrial name was feeling an economic pinch, too.

Nobel Winner Watson Cancels Tour over Race Comments

James Watson, winner of the Nobel Prize as co-discoverer of DNA's molecular structure, canceled a book tour after being suspended from his research position in New York for questioning the intelligence of Africans.

Watson, 79, left England this morning as the uproar over his comments, reported in the Sunday Times, led to his suspension as chancellor of New York's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, said Kate Farquhar-Thomson, a spokeswoman for Oxford University Press.

The Sunday Times reported this week that Watson said he was ``inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa'' because ``all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really.'' Watson apologized yesterday in a speech to a private audience at the Royal Society in London, Farquhar-Thomson said.

9/11 Worker's Kin Rejects Death Ruling

Fresh from ruling that World Trade Center dust did not kill a police detective, a medical examiner offered the man's relatives other reasons Friday for his death, an explanation the family found lacking, their lawyer said.

Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch would not publicly elaborate on his findings in the death of James Zadroga, who had worked hundreds of hours in the toxic dust at ground zero after the Sept. 11 attacks, Hirsch's spokeswoman said. Hirsch asked the family not to disclose what he told them, said Michael Barasch, the Zadrogas' attorney.

"Dr. Hirsch felt that there were other reasons for Zadroga's death. The family disagrees with it. I disagree with it," Barasch said. The doctor "came up with reasons that were not acceptable to us," the attorney said.

Look....CSI:New York Mystery

The producers of CSI: New York, last week announced a cross-media initiative in Second Life. They'll devote their Oct.24 episode, and another in February, to solving a murder of a woman who's popular in Second Life. They're also opening an area in Second Life devoted to CSI-based role-playing games.

Roger Ebert to be honored

Roger Ebert will be honored at the 17th annual Gotham Awards for a career of championing independent cinema.

The 65-year-old film critic will receive the honor at the Nov. 27 event at Brooklyn's Steiner Studios. The Gotham Awards celebrate independent movies and films set in New York. An official announcement of the Ebert tribute was planned for Monday.

"Through his columns, books and television show, Roger Ebert has almost single-handedly introduced independent film to American moviegoers," said Michelle Byrd, executive director of the Independent Feature Project, which presents The Gotham Awards. "His championing of high-quality, undiscovered films has put countless films, filmmakers and actors on the map."

Ebert is only the second film critic to receive the Gotham Awards Tribute. In 1995, Gotham honored Pauline Kael.

New York oil prices hit record high

Oil prices soared to another record high above 90 dollars per barrel on Friday amid global supply jitters and tensions between Turkey and crude producer Iraq, dealers said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, touched 90.07 dollars per barrel in early afternoon deals. That beat the previous high of 90.02 dollars set late on Thursday.

The contract later retreated to stand at 88.59 dollars, down 88 cents from Thursday's close.

On Friday, London's Brent North Sea crude for December delivery slid 73 cents to 83.87 dollars after hitting a record 84.88 dollars on Thursday.

Media Executives arrested in Phoenix

Two executives from Village Voice Media — a company that owns a number of alternative weeklies including The Village Voice, The LA Weekly and The Phoenix Times — were arrested Thursday night in Phoenix on charges that a story published earlier in the day in The Phoenix New Times revealed grand jury secrets.

Michael Lacey, the executive editor, and Jim Larkin, chief executive, were arrested at their homes after they wrote a story that revealed that the Village Voice Media company, its executives, its reporters and even the names of the readers of its website had been subpoenaed by a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor had been appointed to look into allegations that the newspaper had violated the law in publishing the home address of Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s home address on its website more than three years ago.

All Bets May be off for New York OTB

"It's probably not a good time to make a wager on the future of off-track betting in New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city may shut down the money-losing operation.

The New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. operates more than 60 branches throughout the city where gamblers gather to bet on the day's races. Bettors place an average of 1.6 million wagers per day, totaling more than $1 billion in bets per year, according to NYCOTB.

The organization makes a profit but is mandated by law to hand over so much of its money to the state that the venture may no longer be worth it for the city, Bloomberg said Thursday.

"The state uses it as a cash cow, and the city has been subsidizing the state, and we are not going to continue to do that, I can just tell you," Bloomberg told reporters.

The threat of a shutdown got a mixed reaction at an OTB branch in lower Manhattan, where dozens of mostly older men stood watching television screens, their hopes riding on horses with names like Diamond Isle, Never Faster and Malibu Moonshine." |Read more|