DETROIT'S UGLY LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Detroit police in riot gear used pepper spray and tear gas this morning to disperse striking newspaper workers who tried for the second time since Saturday to block delivery trucks carrying the day's combined editions of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. "Either this is a prelude to a prolonged period of violence, or this is the endgame of the newspaper guild," reports Detroit bureau chief William McWhirter. "But it really looks like its the latter. As much as this is a pro-labor town, it's even more a pro-law town, and these strikers weren't going against the company today, they were going against the police. Besides, he says, "the newspaper guild has broken ranks -- about 70 percent of the influential writers and columnists have already returned -- and the advertisers are starting to come back."