DAY SEVENTY-NINE:

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Nov. 28:

New York continues to muddle through with absolutely bizarre weather. Though droplets finally fell from the sky this evening, it was far from the torrential downpour we need to end our drought. Worse, temperatures remain oddly high. It's supposed to be winter, we're dressed like winter, but by noon the whole town is breaking out in wool-clad sweats.

The US Weather Service finally confirmed what we've all known: yes, it is bizarre. Sunday's high of 64 degrees broke the record of 62 degrees set in 1990. The average high temperature for late November in New York City is 48.7 degrees. Overnight, lows in the past week have ranged from 10 to 20 degrees above the normal temperature of 30.1 degrees. And this month may also become the fourth driest November on record: only 0.73 inches of rain so far, the average being 3.23 inches.

All our precipitation, it seems, is falling out west, with record snowfalls over Utah and the Rockies.

While this is bad news for the city's flora, most of which have still not shed their leaves, it is decidedly good news for workers at Ground Zero. And it may explain why excavation operations are running ahead of schedule. Visitors to the site who have not previously seen Ground Zero now have little frame of reference by which to judge the scale of the catastrophe, and most of the several stories high mound of debris has been removed. The workers are now plowing into the more than 20 stories of the World Trade Center that were pounded into subterranean limbo.

That insight struck a friend who visited last night from Switzerland. After seeing Lou Reed's tribute to Edgar Allan Poe we walked to the Brooklyn Bridge, and he went on to Ground Zero. This morning he noted that, "There was some fresh smoke and a sickening realization of the depth to which the remains have been pounded."

The official estimates of how many people perished in there on September 11 have, again, been adjusted. New York City's total for that day is now calculated at 3,380. City officials say 959 people are still listed as missing. The medical examiner's office has issued 460 death certificates. Another 1,961 death certificates have been issued by the courts without a body, at the request of victims' families. These numbers include passengers and crew on the hijacked planes, American Airlines Flight 11 (92 people) and United Airlines Flight 175 (65 people). The attack on the Pentagon claimed the lives of 189 people, including 64 passengers and crew aboard American Flight 77. And in Pennsylvania 44 passengers and crew perished in the crash of United Flight 93.

That brings the latest official tally of carnage to 3,613 souls.

It's a grim figure, to be sure. But today the United Nations AIDS Programme released its latest estimates of HIV carnage. This year, the agency reckons, three million people died of AIDS, 5 million became newly infected with HIV and a total of 40 million people were living with HIV infection. HIV has officially eclipsed the Black Death of the 14th Century to rank as the worst epidemic in the history of the Homo sapiens species.

Efforts to slow AIDS seem to have become another casualty of September 11, as international concern and financial commitment has plummeted. Before 9/11 the UN set a target of $7-$10 billion for a Global Fund to combat HIV. malaria and tuberculosis, and a genuine momentum seemed to be underway. But after 9/11 everything came to a halt. As of today only one nation-Italy-has realized its promise and actually deposited cash in the World Bank account for the Global Fund, to the tune of $200 million. As for the USA promises total $400 million, with Bill Gates offering $100 million, the White House committing $200 million and Congress promising $100 million.

When examining the contributions list on the www.unaids.org website I was stunned to see that contributions from individuals totals just $183,000. For my birthday, which was celebrated just three days before the World Trade Center attack, I asked friends and colleagues to make donations to the Fund. The birthday party contributed $13,000, meaning we gave 9% of all individual donations. I don't know whether to cheer or cry, given what a paltry sum $13,000 is.

As the economy continues to head south, hope for generous donations to fight HIV, or rebuild New York, further diminish. It is astounding how rapidly New York's economy is falling apart, giving all the outward signs of a return to the bad old days of the late 1980s, following the Crash of '87. This afternoon I walked from a studio near Grand Central Station to my office-a distance of some 12 blocks, mostly along Park Avenue. In that relatively short span I passed no less than seven beggars, two of whom were exhibiting the sort of belligerant, aggressive panhandling style that drove New Yorkers nuts a decade ago. And crime, which had fallen to a record low in the first weeks following 9/11, is now soaring. As AP reported today:

"It's one of our most successful years in the last eight years for the reduction of crime," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. But the numbers also show that in the 10 weeks after Sept. 11, shootings increased in six of those weeks. The highest number of shootings occurred during the week of Nov. 5, when there were 58 compared with 33 last year. Shootings in November increased by an average of 50.4 percent.

In 1990, during our last major recession, the city had an all-time high murder rate of 2,262 people. As of Nov. 25 this year there were 1,464 shootings and 573 murders in New York, compared to 1,652 shootings and 619 murders during the same time last year.

As for the economic future, more bleak news came from City Comptroller Alan Hevesi. As of today New York has 50 percent more debt per resident than does any other city in the USA, and the debt burden is so great that 15 cents off every tax dollar must be used for debt servicing. That makes New York City the financial equivalent of a typical developing nation. The Comptroller predicts that unless the federal government comes to Gotham's aid in a much more generous fashion than Congress has thus far been willing to countenance within two years debt servicing will digest 20 cents of every tax dollar. That doesn't leave a lot of room for city reconstruction, job development and beautification efforts.

Be well. Stay safe. Stand defiant.
Laurie Garrett

P.S. Today Reuters offered a very useful timeline of events since September 11, both internationally and locally. I offer them below for your edification. LONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Following is a chronology of developments since the September 11 attacks on the United States:

TUESDAY SEPT 11
* World Trade Center in New York destroyed when two hijacked airliners crash into towers. Another hits the Pentagon and a fourth crashes in Pennsylvania. Thousands killed.
THURSDAY SEPT 13
* U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden, believed to be in Afghanistan, is a suspect.
* NATO and Russia call for efforts to combat global terrorism; Palestinian President Yasser Arafat calls on Arab states to join coalition.
SATURDAY SEPT 15
* U.S. President George W. Bush says United States at war, bin Laden prime suspect.
MONDAY SEPT 24
* United States freezes assets of bin Laden and his al Qaeda network; other governments follow suit.
TUESDAY SEPT 25
* Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic relations with Taliban, leaving Pakistan only state to recognise them.
SUNDAY SEPT 30
* Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef says his movement is hiding bin Laden for his own safety.
FRIDAY OCT 5
* Bob Stevens, photo editor at tabloid newspaper publisher American Media Inc, Florida, dies of inhaled anthrax infection.
SUNDAY OCT 7
* United States, Britain launch air raids on Afghan capital Kabul, Taliban stronghold of Kandahar and Jalalabad.
WEDNESDAY OCT 10
* Islamic nations' emergency meeting condemns September 11 attacks but says retaliation should not harm civilians.
WEDNESDAY OCT 17
* Thirty-one U.S. Senate staff test positive for anthrax exposure, much of U.S. Capitol shuts temporarily.
SATURDAY OCT 20
* More than 100 U.S. special forces make first ground attack in Afghan campaign. Taliban say attack repulsed.
MONDAY OCT 22
* Taliban say United States bombed a hospital killing 100 people in western city of Herat.
TUESDAY OCT 23
* Britain says U.S. air strikes destroy nine al Qaeda training camps, damage nine airfields and 24 military barracks.
FRIDAY OCT 26
* Abdul Haq, veteran Afghan opposition commander, captured and executed by Taliban.
* Britain announces ground forces joining coalition.
SUNDAY OCT 28
* Masked gunmen kill 15 Christians and a policeman at Sunday prayers in the Pakistani town of Bahawalpur.
TUESDAY OCT 30
* U.S. soldiers set up base in northern Afghanistan to help coordinate air strikes with anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
WEDNESDAY OCT 31
* Doctor says U.S. air raids on Kandahar hit Red Crescent Society dispensary, killing 11. Taliban ambassador to Pakistan says 1,500 killed in U.S. raids.
THURSDAY NOV 1
* Al-Jazeera satellite TV reports bin Laden letter urging Pakistani Muslims to defend Islam against "Christian crusade."
TUESDAY NOV 6
* German government says will mobilise up to 3,900 troops.
WEDNESDAY NOV 7
* Italy pledges 2,700-strong force to U.S.-led war.
FRIDAY NOV 9
* Northern Alliance forces take northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after intense fighting.
SATURDAY NOV 10
* Pakistan's Dawn newspaper quotes bin Laden as saying he has nuclear and chemical weapons and might use them in response to U.S. attacks.
SUNDAY NOV 11
* Northern Alliance forces capture northern province of Takhar.
* Two French radio reporters and German magazine writer killed in Taliban ambush in northeast Afghanistan.
*************************************************************************
A detailed timeline of developments in New York and New Jersey's anthrax contamination:
Oct. 12 - Officials announce that an employee of NBC in New York tests positive for anthrax.
Oct. 13 - Authorities say an anthrax-laced letter bearing a Sept. 18 Trenton, N.J., postmark was sent to NBC's Tom Brokaw. A 38-year-old assistant to Brokaw is diagnosed with the skin form of anthrax.
Oct. 15 - A package opened in Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle's office tests positive for the bacteria. Officials say it was postmarked Oct. 9 from Trenton, NJ.
Oct. 18 - Theresa Heller, a letter carrier at the West Trenton post office, is confirmed with skin anthrax. Maintenance worker at Hamilton postal facility listed as suspected skin anthrax case. Environmental samples taken at Hamilton mail processing plant by FBI, health department.
Oct. 19 - Patrick D. O'Donnell, a postal worker at the Hamilton facility, is listed as a confirmed case of skin anthrax.
Oct. 21 - Health officials take additional environmental samples from Hamilton facility. Early tests find widespread contamination.
Oct. 27 - Environmental samples taken at Princeton post office. One of 23 tests positive.
Oct. 28 - Norma Wallace, an employee at the Hamilton postal facility, is confirmed with inhalational anthrax.
Oct. 29 - Hamilton office worker confirmed to have skin anthrax. A second employee at the Hamilton postal facility is confirmed with inhalational anthrax.
Oct. 30 - Environmental samples are taken at Hamilton accounting firm where infected office worker was employed. Additional environmental samples taken at Princeton post office test negative for anthrax.
Nov. 1 - Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco seeks federal help to test every post office for anthrax and to track the infection's path.
Nov. 2 - One sample from Hamilton accounting firm tests positive for anthrax.
Nov. 9 - Health officials announce that traces of anthrax found at four post offices that send mail to and receive it from Hamilton processing center.
Nov. 14 - Irradiation begins on mail locked inside Hamilton postal facility.
Nov. 16 - Capitol police close two Senate office buildings to test for anthrax spores after a contaminated letter addressed to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is found in a batch of mail removed from congressional office buildings. Investigators say the letter bore an Oct. 9 Trenton, N.J. postmark.