Blue blood Benno Schmidt shook up Yale and struggled with the Edison Project, the for-profit school venture. CUNY is his third try at reforming American education. Will his tough-love standards save it or destroy it?

Once-and-future chancellor Harold Levy has a way with words.

Private nursery school is about expensive toys and wild tantrums . . . but enough about the parents. We've compiled the skinny on twenty established fast-track schools: who goes, famous alums, what strings you can pull, and, most important, what are the exmissions -- that's preschool lingo for getting your kid into Dalton, Spence, or Brearley.

To the Harvard-obsessed parents of Roslyn, New York, Frank Tassone appeared to be the ideal schools chief. Then $8 million went missing, Tassone became a prime suspect, and the details of his secret double life began to emerge.

The schools are crumbling, test scores are dismal, the teachers' ranks are depleted, the union wants a raise, and everyone has an opinion. Into the breach marches the cheerful new chancellor, armed with a philosopher's intensity and a lawyer's zeal. But will they be enough in the new blackboard jungle?

Cowed by crowds and wary of Y2K trouble, New Yorkers are staying home in droves this New Year's Eve. That means some of the best seats in the house are still available. But good luck getting a cab.

Flight delays should be the least of your worries. New York has the most crowded airspace in the world, plus antiquated equipment and lax security. Now more than ever, our airports are an accident waiting to happen.