Wednesday's market. (bank stocks) (Brief Article)

Major bank stocks stirred to life as long-term interest rates fell in the bond market.

Citicorp rose $1.375 to $41, Bankers Trust New York Corp. rose $1.625 to $80.375, First Chicago Corp. was up $1 to …

Petacchi wins 2nd stage of Tirreno-Adriatico

Alessandro Petacchi beat fellow Italian Daniele Bennati in a sprint Thursday to win the second stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race.

Cofidis rider Julien El Fares of France retained the overall lead.

Petacchi followed LPR Brakes teammate Lorenzo Bernucci around a left-hand turn 300 meters (yards) from the finish and held his lead over Bennati, who rides for Liquigas.

Bennati fell before the final climb near the finish and British sprinter Mark Cavendish couldn't stay with the leading group on the uphill section.

"I was very strong on the climb and my teammates did a great job," said Petacchi, who has been bothered by a knee …

Reduced operations at Cedar Grove

This past spring, Cedar Grove Composting, Inc. was inundated with yard trimmings when record amounts of grass were cut from lawns in the Puget Sound area and two other facilities that had been accepting the material shut down. Two unfortunate consequences of this situation were a dramatic increase in odor complaints from area residents and a fine from the Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Authority in July (see "`Shock Absorber' Role Brings Cedar Grove Major Fine," September, 1997).

In October, the Seattle-King County Department of Health told Cedar Grove that it must reduce the amount of yard trimmings it handles to 800 tons per day, averaged weekly, for the rest of this year, …

BARBADOS: COASTAL MANAGEMENT LOAN

Barbados has signed an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for a $3.6 million loan and a $350,000 grant from a Canadian Technical Cooperation Program administered …

GNI Ltd., of Tokyo, and BioBase GmbH, of Wolfenbuttel, Germany, formed a technology and business alliance.(Other News To Note)(Brief article)

GNI Ltd., of Tokyo, and BioBase GmbH, of Wolfenbuttel, Germany, formed a technology and business alliance. They will further develop and market Cell Illustrator 3.0, a biological illustration and biopathway modeling software tool that was …

SPRARAGEN EXCELS AT TRANSITION GAME (FROM PLAYER TO COACH).(Sports)

Byline: Maureen Kelly

For years, Leah Spraragen, a four- year athletic standout and graduate of Niskayuna High School, has been perfecting her basketball game. While at Princeton University, her great instincts on offense led her to become the school's all-time assist leader. Now she's concentrating on her transition game.

Spraragen, a 1992 graduate of Princeton, has moved from center court to courtside, in her first season as an assistant coach at Dartmouth.

"I love it (coaching). I've only been here six months and it's been great learning more and more each and every day," said the 22-year-old. "It certainly is weird knowing that before each game …

Astronauts ready to say goodbye to Hubble for good

It's time for NASA to say goodbye to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronauts on the space shuttle Atlantis Tuesday morning will gently toss the 19-year-old observatory back into orbit. That's after five successful spacewalks to install two new scientific instruments, fix two broken ones, and do general …