Cavaliers-Celtics, Box

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CLEVELAND (94)

James 5-15 9-12 21, Varejao 5-8 5-9 15, Ilgauskas 4-8 4-6 12, West 2-5 1-1 5, Williams 8-15 6-6 26, Szczerbiak 2-3 0-0 4, Smith 3-8 1-2 7, Gibson 1-2 0-0 3, Hickson 0-1 1-2 1, Pavlovic 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Kinsey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-66 27-38 94.

BOSTON (105)

Pierce 11-22 4-5 29, Davis 5-8 0-1 10, Perkins 5-10 0-0 10, R.Allen 6-12 3-3 17, Rondo 3-8 0-0 6, House 2-4 0-0 5, Marbury 1-5 0-0 2, Powe 9-11 2-3 20, Moore 3-3 0-0 6, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Giddens 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 45-83 9-12 105.

Rescue Units Called in to Save a Dummy

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Police responding to a report of a body hanging from a utility pole found a mannequin left from a power company's training exercise.

Allegheny Energy Inc. was using the mannequin for exercises on pole climbing, said Martinsburg police Sgt. B.L. Yost.

A caller Wednesday reported a possible suicide on the utility's property in Martinsburg.

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Air Products.(Brief Article)

Air Products is opening two nitrogen trifluoride ([NF.sub.3]) transfills in Amagasaki, Japan, and …

The Debate on Whether to Raise Conforming Limits Continues.

The beleaguered MBS market got a reprieve from its problems last week, after Fannie Mae Chief Executive Daniel Mudd heard proposals from OFHEO Director James Lockhart and HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson to raise the OFHEO-imposed cap on GSE portfolios and raise the conforming loan limit of $417,000 for single-family homes in the lower 48 states.

Reacting favorably to the news, the market pulled mortgage spreads tighter, on the theory that the measure would boost the ability of GSEs to support the loan market. The agencies might also offset this increase by issuing callable debt, which these GSEs hedge partly by using swaptions.

Mere speculation that the OFHEO might lift the portfolio caps on the GSEs could boost the MBS market in the short run, according to Barclays Capital …

SEC SUES GLENS FALLS BROKERAGE.(Business)

Byline: James Denn Business writer

A Glens Falls-based company running a nationwide sales operation in oil and gas drilling investments has been taken to court by the Securities and Exchange Commission in an attempt to halt its sales.

The civil action, initiated in U.S. District Court in Albany, alleges "violations of the registration and antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws."

The SEC, in its action against Silver Bow Resources and Chemical Corp. of Glens Falls and its chairman and principal stockholder Raymond J. Whalen, 57, of Warrensburg, also is seeking appointment of a receiver to take over certain assets of the company and its …

1,700 balloons released outside Cambodian prison

A leading Cambodian human rights group renewed its call Tuesday for the release of two men believed to have been framed for murdering a prominent labor leader and government critic.

The "gross injustice" against Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun must end because they are innocent, the Cambodian human rights group Licadho said in a statement.

The men are serving 20-year prison terms for the 2004 killing of Chea Vichea, the former head of Cambodia's Free Trade Union of Workers and an outspoken critic of government corruption and human rights abuses.

Licadho and other rights groups say Cambodian authorities have made the men scapegoats to …

BREAIFAST BRIEFING // CHICAGO

Sears CFO quits, joins Monsanto Sears, Roebuck and Co. said Chief Financial Officer Gary Crittendenhas resigned. He will replace Robert Hoffman as chief financialofficer at Monsanto Co., effective Sept. 1. Hoffman, 61, plans toretire after the completion of Monsanto's merger with American HomeProducts. Before working at Sears, Crittenden, 45, held executivepositions at retailers Melville Corp. and Filene's Basement Corp. Allstate plans stock buyback Allstate Corp. said it plans to repurchase up to $2 billion of itsown shares by the end of 2000. The Northbrook-based insurancecompany said the new buyback program will follow a $2 billion stockrepurchase program that was completed …