1.   Early in the welfare debate, assorted government agencies began putting it about that the teen-age birth rate was dropping.

2.   And last October, they say, the agency began doing background checks on all job applicants for top managerial positions.

3.   And Monday, the agency begins addressing new questions raised by the very same crash.

4.   Around the same time, the agency had begun receiving information suggesting that bin Laden was increasingly determined to strike on U.S. soil.

5.   As a result, many agencies are beginning to reconsider their missions, looking beyond their usual bailiwick of producing ad campaigns.

6.   As a result, the agency this week began to withhold approval for area highway projects that widen roads or add lanes.

7.   As the American family has assumed new forms, adoption agencies have begun to look beyond stereotypes to find parents.

8.   At a minimum, intelligence agencies should begin by adopting some of the techniques used by private industry.

9.   At the same time, McCabe of the EPA said that several federal agencies have begun talking about a comprehensive study of the potential consequences of valley fills.

10.   Because no World Series will be played this year, players who are eligible for free agency can begin filing Saturday.