Investor's Business Daily articles from May 2002, page 10

Investor's Business Daily archives from May 2002

Mystery Shoppers Going High-Tech They "Spy' On Retailers Small digital cameras and laptop computers now tools of the trade.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 3, 2002... Byline: STEPHANIE WILKINSON The man sits in his car in a Krispy Kreme parking lot, but he's not eating doughnuts. He's tapping into his laptop computer. He stops and opens the box of doughnuts on the seat next to him. He cuts open a...

Cox Chief Is Frustrated By McCain's Frustration.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
May 3, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE When Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in April asked Congress' General Accounting Office to probe cable TV rates, it hit a nerve at Cox Communications Inc. Phoenix is one of the fastest-growing markets for Cox, the...

NEW-ISSUE PIPELINE Owner Of TV Stations Sends Signal To Street.(THE NEW AMERICA)
May 3, 2002... Byline: Kirk Shinkle LIN TV Corp. Providence, R.I. 401-454-2880 lintv.com Lead underwriters: Deutsche Bank Securities Offering price: $19-$22 Expected date: May 3 Ticker: TVL THE BUZZ Looser...

UNITED SURGICAL PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL INC. Addison, Texas Convenience, Partnerships Key Growth Here.(THE NEW AMERICA)
May 3, 2002... Byline: AMY REEVES Hospitals can be dramatic and unpredictable places. That's what makes them such great settings for TV shows. But it can make them tough places to work. That's one reason doctors like working for United Surgical...

Bonds Might Be Growing Overvalued, Managers Hint.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
May 3, 2002... Byline: CLAIRE MENCKE While many stock sectors struggled in April, there were no losing sectors among bond funds last month. There weren't any standout fixed-income sectors, either. Most returns were centered around 1.5%. Mid-...

April Showers Rained Hard On Domestic Stock Funds Small-cap value managed a gain of 2.19% in month, but large growth fell 6.9%.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
May 3, 2002... Byline: DAN MOREAU April showered losses on most U.S. diversified mutual funds. Only small-cap value, small-cap core and specialty diversified funds managed to turn in gains, according to Lipper Inc. Large-cap growth stocks...

Pimco's Schneider Edges Into Finance Issues.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)(FUND MANAGER Q & A)
May 3, 2002... Byline: CLAIRE MENCKE Since joining Pimco's all-cap Renaissance Fund three years ago, value manager John Schneider has kept the fund's six-year peer-beating streak alive. In 2000, the fund's 37.7% return beat the S&P by more than 45...

Japan Led April's Strong Foreign Lineup.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
May 3, 2002... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF April found markets climbing in the Land of the Rising Sun. The 3.66% gain by Japanese funds topped all foreign-fund categories. The only stock-fund category in the U.S. or abroad that performed better was gold....

Gold Funds Notch Another Gain: Up 6.44% In April Market slices 12.18% more out of science and tech; health/biotech falls 7.3%.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
May 3, 2002... Byline: DAN MOREAU Call it a broken record made of gold -- though you may not tire of hearing it. Gold once more led sector funds in April, rising 6.44%. For the year, gold funds were up on average 44% through April, Lipper Inc....

Top Managers Climb Aboard Anthem Mohawk Industries is put on funds' buy lists also; Washington Mutual sold.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)(BUYS & SELLS)
May 3, 2002... Byline: JULIE HUYNH The country's leading funds added health issuer Anthem and textile issue Mohawk Industries to their portfolios in their latest reporting periods. Top funds also favored home furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports. ...

New Buys Of Top-Rated Mutual Funds.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
May 3, 2002... Joseph Banks Cloth JOSB Retail-Apparel/Shoe 18.4099981732 Orleans Homebldrs OHB Bldg-Resident/Comml 8.8698981011 Singing Machine SMD Household-Audio/Video 13.6098981410.1 Sonic Auto Cl A SAH Retail-Misc/Diversified 38.459799181630...

Latest Sells Of Top-Rated Mutual Funds.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
May 3, 2002... Tyco Intl TYC Diversified Operations 391326 Dominion Res VA D Utility-Electric Power 29425 Amerisourcebergen ABC Medical-Whlsle Drg/Suppl 421725 Barrick Gold ABX Metal Ores-Gold/Silver 25520 Valero Energy VLO...

Fix Mistakes With An Amended Tax Return.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)(TAXES)
May 3, 2002... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF April 15 has come and gone. But what if you forgot to claim a big charitable contribution? That and any other oversights can be fixed by filing an amended tax return. "You can fix three types of mistakes or...

Chutzpah In Hawaii.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)
May 3, 2002... Energy: With the hubris born of lessons forgotten, Hawaii is going to impose price controls on gasoline. That despite having the highest gas taxes in the nation. Of course, the politicians there paint their move as a victory for...

Arafat's Charade.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)
May 3, 2002... Middle East: Yasser Arafat has been freed, but not because it's good policy. Israel was compelled to release him because of the force of world opinion. The world prefers to pretend that Arafat is a statesman, not a terrorist. This...

FACT BOX.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
May 3, 2002... ON THIS DAY In 1979, Margaret Thatcher became Europe's first woman prime minister as she and her Conservative Party won a decisive victory in Britain's general election. She promised to cut personal taxes and restrain unions. In...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
May 3, 2002... Step Up For Tax Relief "Good For What Ails" (Editorial, Tuesday) and William O'Neil's "Stimulus Plan To Please All" ( National Issue, Tuesday) provided important facts. Pro-growth legislators must stress these facts, including: Our weak...

Will Steel Tariffs Help Bush Sway Votes In Union States?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(NATIONAL ISSUE)
May 3, 2002... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS Robert Zoellick has had a hard time lately. The U.S. Trade Representative has had to convince foreign nations to keep markets open to American goods. At the same time, he's had to defend the U.S.' new 30% steel...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P Hold Up; Volume Stays Light.(MAKING MONEY)
May 3, 2002... Byline: JONAH KERI A lighter-volume session left NYSE stocks mostly unchanged Thursday. The Dow edged up 0.3%. Weighed down by slumping techs, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2%. Breadth finished positive, though, as NYSE winners beat losers by a...

Winnebago Motoring Through New Base.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
May 3, 2002... Byline: Jonah Keri When big-money investors chucked techs starting in 2000, they needed a safe haven for their cash. Among their hideouts? Consumer product vendors. Winnebago Industries has benefited from this trend. The maker of...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Logs Lowest Close Since October.(B)
May 3, 2002... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE Earnings worries once again cast a shadow over the Nasdaq Thursday. By the close, the composite index had shed nearly 2% of its value. Despite data showing an increase in semiconductor sales in March, a number...

Advisory Board Beats Analysts' Profit Views.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
May 3, 2002... Byline: Christina Wise Advisory Board Co. went public at 19 a share in November, and by mid-February had climbed as high as 35.80. The stock shed 26% of its value in a little more than two weeks as it tumbled into its current base. ...

Know Limits Of Buy-Stop Orders.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
May 2, 2002... Byline: JONAH KERI In a perfect world, we'd have all day to watch the stock market, free of other responsibilities. Actually, in a perfect world we might spend all day lolling on some tropical beach, but that's another story. For...

Factory Gauge Slides, Stays Positive In Sign Of A Modest Recovery Data, O'Neill Pinch Dollar Construction outlays fall, first drop since Sept. as public spending declined.(A)
May 2, 2002... Byline: IBD STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS U.S. factories expanded for a third straight month in April, but at a slower pace. The tepid factory data and comments from Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill sent the dollar lower. That'll cheer...

Disney Struggles To Right ABC, Put Fun Back In Its Bottom Line Profit has been on a slide for four years amid ills at network, parks' slump.(A)(COMPANY IN THE NEWS)
May 2, 2002... Byline: STEVE WATKINS Michael Eisner was once held up as one of the nation's best and brightest CEOs. But in recent years, Walt Disney's results were more like something out of a scary movie than a fairy tale. He took the helm at...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
May 2, 2002... Factories Expand At Slower Pace 1The manufacturing index fell more than expected to 53.9 in April from 55.6 in March. It's the third straight month above the break-even 50 mark. The prices paid index surged to 60.3 after a sharp rise in...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... XEROX'S credit ratings were cut by Moody's, citing concerns over cash flow and debt. AMERICAN AIR'S load factor fell 2.1 points in April to 69.3%. Traffic fell 15.9%. PRICELINE.COM earned 2 cents a share in Q1, meeting views. It lost...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... FINANCE AIG names possible heirs to CEO American International Group named Martin Sullivan and Edmund Tse co-COOs, making them the most likely successors to CEO Maurice Greenberg, 76. Investors have long worried about who'll replace...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... INTERNET Overture loses AOL deal, plunges The Web search firm crashed 36% after AOL chose Google for search services. Overture, formerly GoTo.com, raised Q2 estimates to 23 cents a share due to new tax estimates. It projects '02...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... TECHNOLOGY Cisco buys two firms for $258 mil Cisco will buy Hammerhead Networks for $173 mil in stock and Navarro Networks for $85 mil in stock. Hammerhead makes software that helps carry billing and security services. Navarro makes...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... Low rates lift home loan demand The Mortgage Bankers Association's mortgage application index climbed 9.2% last week. The refinance index rose 16.1%. The purchase application index, which measures demand for loans to buy a home, rose...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... Cendant sweetened terms of $1 billion of zero-coupon convertible bonds maturing in 2021 to avoid having to buy back for cash all of the bonds at face value Saturday. Security firm Kroll beat Q1 views, fueled by a restructuring and...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... House panel caps welfare budget House Republicans turned back a Democratic bid to sharply hike spending on child care as a key committee neared approval of a welfare bill. Instead, the House Education and Workforce Committee agreed to a...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... Musharraf wins disputed vote Claims of widespread fraud followed a vote that extended the rule of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf by five years. Critics who questioned the voting pounced on final figures showing 97.7% backed the...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... Most Americans breathe dirty air The U.S. doesn't fully enforce clean-air laws, the American Lung Association said. Nearly 400 counties have smog levels above legal limits. The three most polluted areas are Los Angeles, Riverside and...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
May 2, 2002... Scientists at biotech start-up Nucleotech have transformed human skin cells into immune cells. That might bypass the need for stem cells or cloning technology for many medical therapies. A sharp rise in diabetes and other diseases linked...

Giannini At A Glance.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
May 2, 2002... Giannini At A Glance Born: 1870 in San Jose, Calif. Died: 1949 in San Mateo, Calif. Education: Left school at 14. Achievements: Founded the Bank of Italy to serve San Francisco's working immigrants in 1904. ...

NEVER STOP LEARNING Reading Is An Art Form.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
May 2, 2002... Byline: Robin Grugal 4 If you're like most people, you probably think of reading as something as simple and natural as walking. But by doing so, you're cheating yourself out of a great learning experience. At least that's how...

Drive Built Bank Of America Create Your Market: A.P. Giannini's hard work brought banking to the people.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
May 2, 2002... Byline: J. BONASIA A.P. Giannini had a clear idea of what made for a successful bank. And it wasn't the big financial wheelers and dealers. "The little fellow is the best customer that a bank can have," he told his bank's branch...

TECHBITS.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 2, 2002... Byline: J. Bonasia and Reinhardt Krause Software To Keep Wheels Turning Technology just keeps rolling along in the auto world. Out are all those shiny Oldsmobiles and Cadillac Eldorados, bygone symbols of too much chrome and...

Intel Setting Its Sights On Growth '02 Sales Outlook Good Chipmaker is resuming construction on a plant, rolling out new products.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 2, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR Intel Corp. is finishing the big cost-cutting program it began last year. Those measures saved $1 billion last year. Intel says that put it in position to make market gains in 2002. With its expenses down, and the...

Sun Sinks Into Black Hole On News Of President Ed Zander's Exit Fifth Exec To Leave Recently Zander's retirement alarms investors, who send stock plunging to three-year low.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 2, 2002... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Sun Microsystems Inc. expects to climb back into profitability by the end of June. But a new cloud of doubt is rising. In recent weeks, as its stock was sinking to a three-year low, investors learned that four...

New Wireless Services Help Cell Phone Users Find Where Friends Are Overseas Carriers Use Service Location technology should roll out in U.S. this year, with safety first, then fun.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 2, 2002... Byline: SARAH Z. SLEEPER Swedes have a new way to locate friends -- by using a cell phone. Telia Mobile, that country's largest wireless carrier, sells a messaging service that lets customers use specially enabled phones to track...

DVD Players Put ESS Technology In Lead Role Top Chipmaker In This Field As digital video discs rise, so too does a small firm that makes key component.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 2, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR Most of the semiconductor industry is still waiting for a recovery. For a few chip companies, though, recovery is here. ESS Technology Inc. is one of them. ESS has emerged as the leading maker of chips for the hot...

Contract Chipmaker TSMC Looks To Show Innovative Side.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
May 2, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is out to prove it's a technology leader. TSMC doesn't design chips. It manufactures them for its chip customers. It's recruited new management talent in its bid for the...

U.S. LABORATORIES INC. San Diego, California Government Contracts Equal Steady Business.(THE NEW AMERICA)
May 2, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA The slowdown in commercial construction might concern a lot of execs at engineering inspection companies. But it doesn't bother Dickerson Wright. His firm continues to log double-digit revenue and earnings gains...

FTI CONSULTING INC. Annapolis, Maryland Not That Anyone Likes A Recession, But...(THE NEW AMERICA)
May 2, 2002... Byline: STEVE WATKINS Sure, no one really likes an economic downturn. But if there's going to be one, at least someone should benefit. FTI Consulting Inc. is one firm that does. Its business grows as more companies grapple with...

KEY FUND HOLDINGS.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
May 2, 2002... Key Fund Holdings / Christopher & Banks was a top holding of Liberty Acorn Fund as of the latest reporting date. Earnings rose 32% and 18% the past two quarters and an average of 65% the past five years. The stock shot out of a base April 4...

Managers Engage ICN In Proxy Battle Board Balance May Tip Franklin and Iridian trying to lift shareholder value with shareholder activism.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
May 2, 2002... Byline: CLAIRE MENCKE In the end, it may be that owners of companies -- shareholders -- can take the fastest and most direct action when they see corporate governance going off the track. That was what Tim Rankin and David Winters of...

The Public's Land?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)
May 2, 2002... Energy: Federal land-use policies have locked up decades' worth of resources in the name of the environment. It's time to rethink this luxury. Times have changed. A shadowy enemy has emerged, and it's going to require a lot of resources...

Devalued Thinking.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)
May 2, 2002... Dollar: Is it too strong or too weak? Everyone has an opinion. But it's better to leave the answer to markets -- not trade groups, pundits or lawmakers. The White House says it wants to keep its strong dollar policy -- a linchpin of the...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
May 2, 2002... Our Own Worst Enemy If drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge really will prevent national disasters ranging from economic recession to a war in the Middle East, as editorial after editorial in IBD seems to suggest, then it is a...

France's Le Pen Wins Votes By Bringing Up Taboo Topics.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(NATIONAL ISSUE)
May 2, 2002... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL Europe, it's been said, is fast becoming a continent of "old people in old houses with old ideas." The data are there on the people, and no one would argue about the houses. But whose ideas are really old is a...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE NYSE Stocks Rally Late, Lack Volume.(MAKING MONEY)
May 2, 2002... Byline: JONAH KERI NYSE stocks started the day underwater before popping above the surface for decent gains Wednesday. The Dow climbed 1.1%, the S&P 500 0.9%. Volume closed lower than Tuesday's level. United Auto Group gapped out of...

99 Cents Moves To 5 Cents Off Breakout.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
May 2, 2002... Byline: Jonah Keri 99 Cents Only Stores briefly crossed its pivot point on low volume Wednesday. The stock cleared its pivot of 31.30, or 0.10 above its April 15 high, the top of its handle. Its handle has been mostly flat rather than...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Strong Profits Don't Help Some Nasdaq Names.(B)
May 2, 2002... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE The Nasdaq sank Wednesday morning, then spent the rest of the day recovering lost ground. After popping briefly above water, the composite index finished with a 0.6% loss. Last week Overture Services shares...

Peet's Meets Street's Profit Estimate In Qtr.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
May 2, 2002... Byline: Christina Wise Peet's Coffee & Tea is moving up the right side of an eight-week base. It finished Wednesday just shy of its March 7 high. The stock went public in January 2001 and promptly fell into a base that lasted more than a...

Daily Screens Yield Repeat Visitors.(THE SMART INVESTOR)(INVESTORS.COM CORNER)
May 2, 2002... If you're a steady user of Screen Of The Day at investors.com, you may have noticed some stocks make repeat appearances across a variety of screens. Pay attention to them. Underlying strength like this shouldn't be ignored. The market's...

Learning When To Hold, When To Fold.(THE SMART INVESTOR)(IBD INVESTOR PROFILE)
May 2, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG If you have a hard time holding on to a good stock for a long while, meet Somabhai Patel. He's held shares of Amgen since 1986. And smartly so. The stock, up 11,000% from where he bought it, taught him one...

Upward-Sloping Handle Signals Problems Ahead.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
May 1, 2002... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE In a bull market, stocks with questionable bases and fundamentals can find themselves swept up in the northward price march. But a whipsaw market like the current one can be brutally efficient in exposing a...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
May 1, 2002... Broad-Based Rally Lifts Market 1Reversing a nasty losing streak, the major indexes staged their best day in two weeks. The Dow industrials rose 1.3%, the S&P 500 1.1% and the Nasdaq 1.9%. Volume swelled across the board. Small and mid...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... Tech pay dips; 1st time in decade Information technology managers should see an 8% drop in total compensation this year, while standard IT worker pay should fall 11%, trade publication Information Week said. IT managers earn $83,000 a...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... Dentists are more likely to suffer memory and kidney problems, the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine said. That could be due to long-term exposure to mercury in tooth fillings. The formation of brain deposits tied to...

SBC's Using Everything In Its Tool Kit To Deal With Regulators A key move was hiring former Gore campaign chairman William Daley.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY)
May 1, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE When a local phone company hires a top political honcho as president, that says a lot about how much regulation matters. That's just what SBC Communications Inc. did in November. It reached out to William...

Consumer Market For Wi-Fi Grows Businesses Holding Off Wireless network gear took a hit as companies cut tech budgets in '01.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 1, 2002... Byline: MIKE ANGELL The U.S. economy is rebounding -- thanks to spending by consumers, not businesses. Perhaps nowhere is that more evident than in the market for wireless network gear. Wireless networking -- which uses a technical...

Some Firms Find It's OK Again To Be A "Dot-Com'.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 1, 2002... Byline: NICK TURNER Well, well. Suddenly it's OK to be a dot-com again. Hotel Reservation Network Inc. last week changed its name to Hotels.com. Such a move was common in the late 1990s and 2000, when companies embraced the Internet....

TECHBITS.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
May 1, 2002... Byline: Doug Tsuruoka and Patrick Seitz Finding Room For Name Change What's in a name? A lot, if you're the company that used to be called Hotel Reservations Network Inc. HRN, one of the Net's biggest sellers of discount hotel...

Spammers Aim Unwanted Ads At Instant-Message Users.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(COMPUTERS MADE PLAIN)
May 1, 2002... Byline: PAUL KORZENIOWSKI As a watcher of technology trends, David Ferris spends a great deal of time online. He's no stranger to unsolicited Internet pitches, whether e-mail spam or pop-up Web ads. But earlier this year, he had his...

MIM CORP. Elmsford, New York Move To Specialty Drugs Proves The Right Rx For Benefits Manager.(THE NEW AMERICA)
May 1, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA When Mim Corp. recently signed on as the specialty drug and services provider for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in western Pennsylvania, company execs were thrilled. No matter that only 1% of Highmark's 1.9...

KEY FUND HOLDINGS.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
May 1, 2002... Key Fund Holdings / Davita and Stericycle were top 10 holdings of Columbia Small Cap Fund in its latest reporting period. Davita has been consolidating since notching a high of 26.08 on March 18. Earnings growth has ranged from 14% to 767%...

New Funds Free Of Bearish Baggage Unger Has Hilton, KLM Rookies outperformed in 2000-01 bear market and again so far this year.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
May 1, 2002... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF For about a month the market has drifted down like a blimp with a slow leak. One group of funds outperforming the market consists of portfolios that have opened to the public since March 10, 2000. That was the last...

Wasted Energy.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)
May 1, 2002... Politics: Gas price probes in the Senate so soon after the last round of investigations? Oh, that's right. This is an election year. Dragging corporate types into a congressional hearing room makes for good populist drama -- especially...

Uncompassionate.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)
May 1, 2002... Health: President Bush's call for "mental health parity" in insurance may get votes. But what happens when only the rich can get any health insurance? Bush got the headlines he no doubt sought. "Bush Backs Mental Health Parity." Or "Bush...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
May 1, 2002... The States Of California In "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, But L.A. Might Do It Anyway" (National Issue, Friday), Los Angeles-based IBD laments the possible secession of the San Fernando Valley from the city of Los Angeles. Breaking up...

IRA Builds Ties In Colombia With Narco-Terrorist Groups.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(NATIONAL ISSUE)
May 1, 2002... Byline: PETER BENESH Last Sept. 20, President Bush told Congress the war on terror "will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated." But how global is global? Does a link tying the Irish...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... U.S. indicts Islamic charity head An Islamic charity and its director face charges they supported terrorists, including a man who allegedly tried to get nuclear arms for Osama bin Laden. Benevolence International Foundation's executive...

Senate Panel Probing Gasoline Price Spikes Questions Firms' Aims No Evidence Of Collusion But senator insists jump across all brands shows they want tight supplies.(A)
May 1, 2002... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., suspects the problem is "parallel pricing." "In Michigan, the price of gas seemed to leap up overnight by the same amount across all brands of gas at all stations," he told executives...

As Age Of Fast Wireless Dawns, Some Question Market, Claims Junk At High Speeds?(A)
May 1, 2002... Byline: SARAH Z. SLEEPER The much-hyped arrival of 3G may be more talk than walk. This "third generation" of cellular is touted as blazing fast and able to deliver vast and nifty services like photo e-mails and games, plus grab and...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... PEGASUS SOLUTIONS' Q1 net doubled to 8 cents, 2 cents over views, the hotel reservation services firm said. Revenue fell 1.5% to $45.4 mil. DARDEN RESTAURANTS' April same-store sales at its Olive Garden venues rose 9%-10%, while Red...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... TELECOM Baby Bell broadband bill is back Sens. John Breaux, D-La., and Don Nickles, R-Okla., introduced a bill to ease restrictions on local Bells to try to speed up the rollout of high-speed Internet services. It's an attempt to...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... DIVERSIFIED Tyco shares rebounding from fall Bargain hunters bid Tyco up more than 7% after a brutal slide to '97 levels. Tyco was down 17% early, then rallied when the firm held a conference call this morning to allay concerns....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... MEDIA President of Disney's ABC resigns Steven Bornstein quit as president of its ABC network after less than a year on the job. Disney President Robert Iger last week said ABC needed attention as it has struggled in the ratings. No...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... ACCOUNTING Andersen snubbed by committee A House committee probing Enron refused on constitutional grounds to turn over documents to Arthur Andersen. The papers relate to the panel's interviews of Andersen's chief auditor on the...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
May 1, 2002... Consumer confidence fell in April The Conference Board index eased to 108.8 from March's 110.7. It slightly beat estimates. The current conditions index fell to 107 from March's 111.5, as more people said jobs were hard to get. The...