21.   About a year ago, a program began, supported by private donors.

22.   According to Birinyi Associates of Greenwich, Conn., a massive computer selling program began at that time.

23.   But despite an immediate and brief rise in the ratings, the program began to sink.

24.   But federally sponsored pilot programs are beginning in New Jersey, Virginia, Colorado and Nevada in January.

25.   But in recent weeks the program has begun to show significant cracks.

26.   But Kahn came up with an entirely different spin in his conference call with Wall Street analysts the day the program began.

27.   But Ms. Smith said that when the work program began, her income disappeared and her troubled situation bloomed into outright crisis.

28.   But the program began earning notoriety a few years ago after isolated embarassments such as the case of the Rivera family of Dorchester.

29.   But the program is finally beginning to make a difference, Iraqis say, although problems and shortfalls remain, particularly in medicine and medical equipment.

30.   But wherever such programs have begun, they have achieved only limited support from the Department of Justice, which has not made street crimes a priority.