The plan to retire dozens of slots at New York airports to reduce congestion while at the same time auctioning off a number to raise money for infrastructure has been met with resistance.

The Port Authority announced plans to block the Bush administration’s proposal to auction airport landing slots.

Democrats said that congestion at New York-area airports was a result of Republican mismanagement and that the Bush administration’s plans to auction landing slots would be a blow to the public and the airlines.

A Chinese real estate company has signed a deal to lease space in the Freedom Tower, making it the first private company to agree to occupy the future skyscraper.

If negotiations succeed, the company would be the first financial firm to return to the former World Trade Center site.

At a time when many developers around the country are being forced to pull in their reins, Larry A. Silverstein has only to look out his windows to see a new real estate empire in the making.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates does not have a celebrity architect at its helm, though it does have 16 globe-trotting principals.