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ny0113882
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2012/11/16
|
Updates to Services in New York City After Hurricane Sandy
|
DAMAGE IS DELAYING RETURN OF LIGHTS The Long Island Power Authority said power was available to all but a few customers on the Rockaway Peninsula, but damage to homes and buildings was still too severe to safely return power to most customers. About 23,000 of the authority’s 39,000 customers there remained in the dark, the utility said. In the rest of the city, fewer than 700 customers remained without power, not including the 2,000 customers who need repairs, Consolidated Edison said. QUEENS-MIDTOWN TUNNEL TO FULLY OPEN Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced online that the Queens-Midtown Tunnel would fully reopen, accepting trucks as of 6 a.m. Friday. The reopening would leave the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel as the only one with partial service. Fuel shortages were easing in all five boroughs as odd-even gas rationing continued. About 75 percent of stations were operational, said Patrick DeHaan, an analyst at gasbuddy.com . 4,000 REQUESTS FOR HOME REPAIR HELP About 4,000 people have applied for the city’s Rapid Repairs program since it began Tuesday, the mayor’s office said. The program sends out teams of contractors who will be responsible for major home repairs and getting the necessary inspections and certifications from city agencies. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said the first assessment teams went out Thursday. Business leaders at a luncheon of the Executives Association New York City warned Thursday that a second wave of the disaster could be headed the region’s way as winter sets in, with pipes in unrepaired homes and businesses likely to freeze and burst. Executives with engineering, electric and disaster recovery companies said shortages of insurance adjusters and critical supplies like electrical panels could slow reconstruction efforts. About 14,600 residents in 76 New York City Housing Authority buildings remained without heat and hot water, down slightly from Wednesday.
|
New York City;Power Outages and Blackouts;Long Island Power Authority;Hurricane Sandy (2012);Bridges and Tunnels;Queens-Midtown Tunnel (NYC);Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline;Shortages
|
ny0113462
|
[
"world",
"europe"
] |
2012/11/20
|
A Growing Void Where Facts Were Once Checked
|
LONDON — It should be the moment of truth for the mainstream media. Literally. But it seems to have all the makings of a perfect storm, from London to Gaza to Jerusalem. Just as a new world of tweets and blogs whips up a blizzard of unchecked and sometimes uncheckable information, the Internet itself has created the most severe economic challenge in decades to traditional news outlets, and to newspapers in particular. And, as costs are cut by downsizing, so, too, are the skills and resources to distill the welter of rumor and rant into something approaching fact. At the British Broadcasting Corp., embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal, a flawed investigation into misconduct by a British politician ended in recrimination and lawsuits last week after unverified and false accusations had filtered from the flagship “Newsnight” current affairs program into the Twittersphere. The BBC settled out of court for £185,000, or about $295,000, with the former Conservative Party treasurer Alistair McAlpine, who had been implicated but not identified by name in a segment that inspired several high-profile aficionados of Twitter to pass on the falsehood to tens of thousands of followers. Now, like the old media so often derided by practitioners of the new, they face the threat of lawsuits. “I helped to stoke an atmosphere of febrile innuendo around an innocent man,” one of them, the columnist and writer George Monbiot, said on his Web site , “and I am desperately sorry for the harm I have done him.” All this is happening as many in Britain say they fear that the Leveson Inquiry into the practices of British newspapers will lead to statutory regulation not only of the tabloids under scrutiny in the phone-hacking scandal but also of the British national press in general, further restricting the ability to speak truth — that word again — to power. That is what makes the storm so perfect. Some of these considerations emerged as the bloody events unfolded in Gaza, chronicled in pages like those of the International Herald Tribune, by courageous journalists risking their lives to report from the scene of rocket attacks in southern Israel and airstrikes in Gaza itself. But alongside the real war, a separate cyberbattle played out on Twitter, where the Israel Defense Forces and the military wing of the militant Hamas groups sought to mold the narrative, bypassing traditional journalism. Early Monday, the I.D.F. had attracted almost 180,000 followers to @idfspokesperson while the militant @AlqassamBrigade had garnered nearly 32,000. Clearly, the Twitter messages offer a remarkable insight into rival worlds, reflecting the region’s ability to spawn many versions: a “surgical targeting” for the I.D.F. turned into the “horrifying result” of an Israeli airstrike for those supporting the Hamas view. Surely, too, the messages contributed to the greater knowledge, adding to the available wealth of sources from television footage, newspapers, wire services or radio broadcasts on the ground. But what if the 140-character missives are plain wrong, as in the case of Lord McAlpine? What if technology opens this somber universe to impostors, bogus tweeters hiding behind false identities? What if the supposed dissemination of truth is merely a front for the manipulation of opinion — the alchemy sought by propagandists for centuries? Cyberspace generally shuns policing, so who will make the judgment calls about what, for want of a better term, constitutes good taste and decency? War reporting has always produced partisan accounts alongside the striving for objectivity. But, with both sides turning social media Web sites into weapons in their long-running struggle, some were left feeling queasy. “There is something grotesque and disturbing about two parties with a long history of conflict live-narrating the launching of bombs that kill civilians and destroy communities,” Jessica Roy, a reporter for Betabeat , a technology blog operated by The New York Observer. “There is no empowerment or revolution here: just a dark, sinking feeling as we watch the bloodshed unfold in real time.” (That sentiment surfaced at a weekend dinner party in North London, where a guest displayed a smartphone’s ability to display I.D.F. feeds of the cockpit view of airstrikes in Gaza, offering the assembly of three-course generals the perfect dessert storm.) From one perspective, the uncertainties surrounding the role of the Web in war reporting should be an opportunity for renewal rather than a threat to traditional journalism, allowing the so-called mainstream media to reclaim their onetime mantle as interpreters of events. But that only works if traditional journalism is able to straighten out the facts that cyberspace warps. And that costs money. “Nobody who works for a newspaper can afford to be complacent,” the columnist Ian Jack wrote in The Guardian, discussing the impact of personnel reductions. “In this fracturing and fragmenting of old workplaces, more than comradeship is being lost,” he said. “Error is on the loose.”
|
Great Britain;Gaza Strip;Israel;News and News Media;Newspapers;Twitter;Blogs and Blogging (Internet)
|
ny0069983
|
[
"us"
] |
2015/03/03
|
Massachusetts: Boat Is Subject of Sparring in Bombing Case
|
Lawyers for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the defendant in the 2013 bombing of the Boston Marathon, said Monday that they wanted the jury in his trial to view the entire boat in which he hid while the authorities searched for him several days after the bombing, not just cut-out panels on which he is said to have written a message. During a hearing at Boston’s federal courthouse, William Fick, a defense lawyer, called the boat a powerful piece of evidence and compared Mr. Tsarnaev’s lying in it to the way a body might lie in a crypt, adding that he did not see why the boat could not be brought to the courthouse. Prosecutors said that the suggestion was impractical, in part because the boat is still covered in blood and broken glass, and that many photographs of it exist. Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. said he may wish to view the boat himself before making a decision. Also Monday, defense lawyers filed their fourth change-of-venue motion with the court. The jury is to be seated on Tuesday, and opening arguments are expected to begin Wednesday.
|
Boston Marathon Bombings;Dzhokhar A Tsarnaev;Boston;Boats
|
ny0178544
|
[
"sports",
"basketball"
] |
2007/08/03
|
Liberty Ends Its Skid
|
Erin Thorn made three free throws in the final 16.3 seconds to help the host Liberty defeat the Minnesota Lynx, 71-66, last night at Madison Square Garden and snap a season-high seven-game losing streak. Cathrine Kraayeveld scored 16 points and Janel McCarville added 14 as the Liberty (11-15) moved to a half-game behind fourth-place Chicago in the Eastern Conference. Fourth is the playoff cutoff. Seimone Augustus had 17 points for the Lynx (7-21). “It’s always a big confidence builder when you can get over that hump,” Thorn said. The Liberty snapped its longest skid since a franchise-worst 11-game losing streak last season.
|
New York Liberty;Minnesota Lynx;Basketball
|
ny0254410
|
[
"business"
] |
2011/07/07
|
Goldman Took Biggest Loan in Federal Reserve Program
|
A unit of Goldman Sachs took the biggest single loan from a Federal Reserve lending program whose details have been secret until now. The Goldman Sachs unit borrowed $15 billion from the Federal Reserve on Dec. 9, 2008, the Fed said in data released on Wednesday. The Fed made 28-day loans from March 7, 2008, to Dec. 30, 2008, as part of an $80 billion initiative, the central bank said. The information was released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg News. The central bank resisted previous requests for more than two years and released information in March on its oldest loan facility, the discount window, only after the Supreme Court ruled it must release the data. When Congress mandated the December 2010 release of other data on the Fed’s unprecedented $3.5 trillion response to the 2007-9 collapse in credit markets, information about its so-called single-tranche open-market operations was not included. Units of 19 banks received the loans, which were all repaid in full, according to the Fed. The units are known as primary dealers, which are designated to trade government securities directly with the New York Fed. Lehman Brothers had two loans totaling $2 billion outstanding when its parent investment bank filed the biggest bankruptcy in American history on Sept. 15, 2008, the data show. Those loans were repaid on Oct. 8, 2008, the report said. Lehman’s peak borrowings from the program reached $18 billion on June 25, 2008, according to the data. RBS Securities, a unit of a British bank, had $31.5 billion in loans outstanding on Oct. 8, 2008, and UBS Securities, part of Switzerland’s biggest bank, borrowed as much as $20.5 billion on Nov. 26, 2008, the Fed said.
|
Federal Reserve System;Goldman Sachs Group Inc;Subprime Mortgage Crisis;Banking and Financial Institutions
|
ny0003545
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2013/04/18
|
For Feinstein, Gun Control Measure’s Defeat Was Personal
|
WASHINGTON — When Senator Dianne Feinstein led the successful push for a federal assault weapons ban in 1994, she had a simple pitch to skeptical colleagues: What would you need to support this bill? But when she started asking that question this year as she pushed for a renewal of the ban, the answer was almost always a resolute “Nothing.” “It was just, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t,’ ” Ms. Feinstein, Democrat of California, recalled of the refusals that kept coming. “They didn’t give me a long litany of reasons.” On Wednesday, Ms. Feinstein suffered a defeat as decisive as it was personal when she watched her fellow senators vote her bill down , 40 to 60, as they scuttled a broader package of gun control legislation. Even after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., in December reignited the national debate over gun control, Ms. Feinstein’s proposal was never close to passing the Senate, even by the most generous estimates. But that did not keep her from trying. And it did not lessen the sting any for a lawmaker who has fought for stronger gun laws since watching Harvey Milk, her friend and fellow San Francisco city supervisor, bleed to death in her arms from an assassin’s bullet in 1978. “I don’t think she was ever under any illusion that it would be easy,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, also a California Democrat. “We all have heavy hearts, every one of us,” she added. “You have to as you look at what has happened, and you look at a lot of cowardice in the Senate on these votes.” Video Following a Senate vote that defeated several gun-related measures, President Obama spoke in the Rose Garden of the White House. But renewing Ms. Feinstein’s efforts to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 left many of her allies wondering whether she had misdirected her considerable energy and passion on the issue. Almost immediately after the murders in Newtown, gun control advocates and the Democratic leadership in the Senate decided that legislation strengthening background checks for gun purchases was their best avenue for success. (Though in a sign of how they miscalculated over all, that measure was also defeated on Wednesday , falling five votes short.) An assault weapons ban was never going to attract senators like Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, and Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, with A ratings from the National Rifle Association, whose support would be needed for a compromise. And Democrats now privately complain that Ms. Feinstein’s bill seemed to rally gun control opponents, who could point to it as Exhibit A in what they perceived as a federal conspiracy to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. But she proceeded undeterred, even after Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, told her late last month that the weapons ban would not be included in the main gun control package because it lacked sufficient votes. Drawing on her lessons from the 1994 debate, Ms. Feinstein wrote and rewrote the language in her proposal in the days after Newtown to try to assuage concerns that it would ban weapons favored by hunters and target shooters. She exempted more than 2,200 different guns. She met with police fraternal organizations, sheriffs’ associations and mayors. And almost everywhere she went as Wednesday’s vote approached, she carried a file folder with her vote count on one side and, on the other, a front page of The Daily News with the headline “Shame on U.S.” written over the photos of the 20 child victims from Newtown. “This is a mission for me,” she said Wednesday in an interview. “As I look at the pictures of these children, I just can’t believe that this happened.” Reflecting on what has changed since 1994, she noted the growing power and inflexibility of the National Rifle Association on any new gun laws and the use of the filibuster in the Senate, which Democrats did not have to overcome when the assault weapons ban passed 19 years ago. “Then there was a very different feeling in the Senate,” she said. On Wednesday afternoon right before the Senate voted on her bill, she stood on the floor and implored them, “Show some guts.” Then, as the Senate clerk read through the roll call, her colleagues came up to where she was standing near the front of the well, and one by one patted her gently on the back.
|
Gun Control;Dianne Feinstein;Senate;Congress;Legislation;US Politics
|
ny0049289
|
[
"business",
"international"
] |
2014/11/22
|
Mario Draghi Says E.C.B. Will ‘Do What We Must’ to Stoke Inflation
|
PARIS — Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank president, strongly signaled on Friday that he and his colleagues were preparing a new round of powerful monetary stimulus to jolt the flagging eurozone economy. The remarks buoyed European stocks and bonds even before the Chinese central bank moved markets further on Friday by surprising investors with its first interest rate cut in two years. While slowing growth was the reason for Beijing’s move, in Europe the big concern is a worrisomely low inflation rate that is both a symptom and cause of the 18-nation euro currency union’s inability to achieve any sustainable growth at all. Speaking at a banking conference in Frankfurt, Mr. Draghi said the European Central Bank would “do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible.” If the bank’s current policies, which include some purchases of corporate bonds, do not end the threat, Mr. Draghi said, “we would step up the pressure and broaden even more the channels through which we intervene, by altering accordingly the size, pace and composition of our purchases.” The blunt call was reminiscent of a speech Mr. Draghi gave in July 2012, when he said the central bank “is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro,” an assertion that has been widely credited with having helped to ease the sovereign debt crisis. At issue is whether the European Central Bank will follow its peers around the world, including the Federal Reserve in the United States, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England, in buying government bonds on a large scale, a policy known as quantitative easing. With interest rates around most of the developed world having been effectively cut to as low as they can go, conventional monetary policy has reached its “zero lower bound.” While there is no consensus on the effectiveness of quantitative easing, many economists point to the relatively strong British and American recoveries as evidence that it works. While Mr. Draghi on Friday did not actually say much that was different from previous utterances, there was a significant new emphasis on the risk of deflation in the eurozone. He warned that the “inflation situation in the euro area has also become increasingly challenging.” The word “inflation” appeared 45 times in the text of his speech on Friday. The risk Mr. Draghi now runs is that unless the central bank’s actions keep pace with his words, he can lose credibility. Many economists have been pushing for most of this year for the central bank to take more aggressive stimulus steps, while Mr. Draghi in his monthly news conferences has been saying the equivalent of “stay tuned." If, after Friday’s statements, Mr. Draghi is unable to announce significant new measures when he and his governing council meet in early December, the financial markets could register their disappointment. Some analysts immediately predicted, though, that Mr. Draghi was simply trying to buy more time. Mr. Draghi will find himself even more on the spot at the December meeting if a closely watched report on eurozone inflation next week shows prices falling further. Mr. Draghi spoke Friday as the world’s central banks are increasingly concerned that very low inflation will tip into outright deflation — a self-reinforcing condition in which consumers and businesses put off purchases and investments in the expectation that prices will fall. Deflation can also crush fragile borrowers by raising the real interest rate on their loans, which would load weak banks with a new round of defaults on loans. Eurozone consumer prices rose just 0.4 percent in October, far below the central bank’s target of close to but less than 2 percent. In fact, some member states have already begun to experience deflation. Mr. Draghi and his peers are afraid that consumers and investors will increasingly see low inflation as the new normal, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. The European Central Bank in September cut its main interest rate target to a rock-bottom 0.05 percent, and reduced its deposit rate to minus 0.2 percent, effectively charging banks for leaving unused funds at the central bank. The bank has been buying private-sector loan assets since early October. And it has announced longer-term low-interest loans to banks in an effort to restart lending. So far, that has not been enough. Recently, Mr. Draghi has said the central bank intends to expand the size of its balance sheet — that is, to inject money into the market — by 1 trillion euros, or about $1.25 trillion. Economists say the current measures fall far short of what is needed to hit that level. Michel Martinez, chief eurozone economist with Société Générale, noted that Mr. Draghi had not provided much detail about his inflation-fighting plans. Mr. Martinez said he expected the central bank to increase its purchases of private-sector assets, including packages of housing loans known as covered bonds, as well as of debt issued by agencies like the European Investment Bank. “But when you do the math, you make a rough assumption that the E.C.B. takes 20 percent of all those available assets,” Mr. Martinez said. “That’s barely €400 billion.” If Mr. Draghi is going to hit his target, Mr. Martinez added, “obviously the answer is to purchase government bonds.” Expectations that the central bank will increase the supply of euros in the market led investors to sell the European currency in favor of dollars, particularly as the Federal Reserve has begun reining in its own bond-buying. The euro fell about 1 percent to $1.2438 in afternoon trading. The Euro Stoxx 50 index gained 2.97 percent. Yields on Spanish and Italian 10-year bonds fell roughly 1 percent. Mr. Draghi also acknowledged that weak growth had contributed to the risk of deflation. The economy of the 18-nation euro currency bloc largely has largely stagnated since April, and a private-sector survey of purchasing managers on Thursday showed more signs of deceleration . The poor labor market has kept consumer demand suppressed. And yet, the path to employing wholesale bond-buying is not an easy one. There is significant opposition to such a policy in Germany, for example, and even if the political hurdles are overcome, economists say they wonder whether the eurozone — in which each country, rather than the bloc as a whole, issues bonds — is the appropriate venue for quantitative easing. Two of Germany’s gatekeepers on the question of quantitative easing — the government’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, and the German central bank’s president, Jens Weidmann — addressed the same conference on Friday but declined to comment on Mr. Draghi’s speech. In any case, Mr. Martinez said he was not convinced that Mr. Draghi was ready to act in the near term, perhaps not before next summer. “The E.C.B. is buying time in the hope that the outlook improves,” he said. Guntram B. Wolff, who follows the European economy as director of the Brussels-based research institute Bruegel, agreed. “My take is that it will still take some time before” Mr. Draghi commits to buying government bonds, Mr. Wolff said. “My sense is that the German government is moving toward the position that this may have to happen at some point to prevent a catastrophe in terms of prolonged low inflation or even deflation. It has serious implications for Germany, too.”
|
European Central Bank;Mario Draghi;EU;Eurozone;Economy;Quantitative easing;Inflation;Deflation
|
ny0199802
|
[
"business",
"energy-environment"
] |
2009/07/14
|
Exxon to Invest Millions to Make Fuel From Algae
|
The oil giant Exxon Mobil , whose chief executive once mocked alternative energy by referring to ethanol as “moonshine,” is about to venture into biofuels . On Tuesday, Exxon plans to announce an investment of $600 million in producing liquid transportation fuels from algae — organisms in water that range from pond scum to seaweed. The biofuel effort involves a partnership with Synthetic Genomics, a biotechnology company founded by the genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter. The agreement could plug a major gap in the strategy of Exxon, the world’s largest and richest publicly traded oil company, which has been criticized by environmental groups for dismissing concerns about global warming in the past and its reluctance to develop renewable fuels. Despite the widely publicized “moonshine” remark a few years ago by Exxon’s chairman and chief executive, Rex W. Tillerson, the company has spent several years exploring various fuel alternatives, according to one of its top research officials. “We literally looked at every option we could think of, with several key parameters in mind,” said Emil Jacobs, vice president for research and development at Exxon’s research and engineering unit. “Scale was the first. For transportation fuels, if you can’t see whether you can scale a technology up, then you have to question whether you need to be involved at all.” He added, “I am not going to sugarcoat this — this is not going to be easy.” Any large-scale commercial plants to produce algae-based fuels are at least 5 to 10 years away, Dr. Jacobs said. Exxon’s sincerity and commitment will almost certainly be questioned by its most galvanized environmentalist critics, especially when compared with the company’s extraordinary profits from petroleum in recent years. “Research is great, but we need to see new products in the market,” Kert Davies, the research director at Greenpeace, said. “We’ve always said that major oil companies have to be involved. But the question is whether companies are simply paying lip service to something or whether they are putting their weight and power behind it.” But if it proves a bona fide effort, Exxon’s move into biofuels, long the preserve of venture capital firms and biotech start-ups, could provide a big push to the Obama administration’s policy of encouraging more renewable energy. Currently, about 9 percent of the nation’s liquid fuel supply comes from biofuels — most of it corn-based ethanol. And by 2022, Congress has mandated that biofuel levels reach 36 billion gallons. But developing biofuels has been tricky, and Mr. Tillerson has not been alone in his skepticism. Many environmental groups and energy experts have been critical of corn-derived ethanol, because of its lower energy content and questionable environmental record. According to Exxon, algae could yield more than 2,000 gallons of fuel per acre of production each year, compared with 650 gallons for palm trees and 450 gallons for sugar canes. Corn yields just 250 gallons per acre a year. Exxon’s partnership with Synthetic Genomics is also a vote of confidence in the work of Dr. Venter, a maverick scientist best known for decoding the human genome in the 1990s. In recent years, he has focused his attention on a search for micro-organisms that could be turned into fuel. “Algae is the ultimate biological system using sunlight to capture and convert carbon dioxide into fuel,” Dr. Venter said. Algal biofuel, sometimes nicknamed oilgae by environmentalists, is a promising technology. Fuels derived from algae have molecular structures that are similar to petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and would be compatible with the existing transportation infrastructure, according to Exxon. Continental Airlines, for example, has demonstrated the fuel’s viability in a test flight of an airplane powered in part by algae-based fuel. The Pentagon has also been looking at alternative fuels, including algae, to reduce the military’s dependence on oil. And while cost-effective mass production of algae has eluded researchers so far, it holds potential advantages over other sources of biofuels. Algae can be grown in areas not suited for food crops, using pools of brackish water or even farming them in seawater. Algae also has another benefit, which could eventually help cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Like any plant, it needs carbon dioxide to grow. But Exxon and Synthetic Genomics hope to genetically engineer new strains of algae that can absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide — like that emitted by power plants, for example. Exxon’s investment includes $300 million for in-house studies and “potentially more” than $300 million to Synthetic Genomics “if research and development milestones are successfully met,” Exxon said. Those are relatively small numbers for Exxon, which last year earned $45.22 billion on the strength of record-high oil prices. But the companies referred to their partnership as a long-term research and development effort, saying future investments could amount to billions of dollars. Photosynthetic algae are very efficient at using sunlight energy to convert carbon dioxide into cellular oils, or lipids. These can be processed into fuels and industrial chemicals using existing refining techniques. Synthetic Genomics said its scientists have been working for years to develop an efficient way to harvest these oils. “Traditionally algae have been treated like a crop to be grown and harvested in a process that can be expensive and time-consuming,” Dr. Venter said. His company has engineered algae that produce oils in a continuous process. “I came up with a notion to trick algae into pumping more lipids out,” he said. Both companies said they still had a range of problems to solve that include determining what types of algae to use and whether it is more efficient to grow them in open ponds or in closed containers called bioreactors. They also emphasized the vast scale required for making a meaningful biofuels contribution in the United States market, which consumes nine million barrels of gasoline each day — or roughly 138 billion gallons each year. “For most scientists, scalability means going from a test tube to a beaker,” Dr. Venter said. “We have to go from a test tube to millions of gallons.” The rest of the petroleum industry has been slowly shedding its reluctance toward biofuels, under pressure from government mandates that require increasing use of ethanol in the country’s energy supplies over the next decades. So far, many of the pioneering partnerships between big oil and biotech companies have involved European oil companies, including BP and Royal Dutch Shell. American companies have only slowly been following suit. The Valero Energy Corporation, the country’s largest refiner, has acquired seven corn ethanol plants from VeraSun Energy, which went bankrupt last year. Chevron has formed a joint venture with Weyerhaeuser to develop biofuels from wood waste. Dr. Venter said Exxon’s involvement in developing biofuels was a critical component to bringing large-scale alternative fuels. “These changes can’t take place without the leader in the fuel industry,” he said.
|
Exxon Mobil Corp;Environment;Biofuels;Algae;Synthetic Genomics
|
ny0011097
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2013/02/23
|
Obama’s Backers Seek Deep Pockets to Press Agenda
|
President Obama’s political team is fanning out across the country in pursuit of an ambitious goal: raising $50 million to convert his re-election campaign into a powerhouse national advocacy network, a sum that would rank the new group as one of Washington’s biggest lobbying operations. But the rebooted campaign, known as Organizing for Action , has plunged the president and his aides into a campaign finance limbo with few clear rules, ample potential for influence-peddling, and no real precedent in national politics. In private meetings and phone calls, Mr. Obama’s aides have made clear that the new organization will rely heavily on a small number of deep-pocketed donors, not unlike the “super PACs” whose influence on political campaigns Mr. Obama once deplored. At least half of the group’s budget will come from a select group of donors who will each contribute or raise $500,000 or more, according to donors and strategists involved in the effort. Unlike a presidential campaign, Organizing for Action has been set up as a tax-exempt “social welfare group.” That means it is not bound by federal contribution limits, laws that bar White House officials from soliciting contributions, or the stringent reporting requirements for campaigns. In their place, the new group will self-regulate. Officials said it would voluntarily disclose the names of large donors every few months and would not ask administration personnel to solicit money, though Obama aides will probably appear at some events. The money will pay for salaries, rent and advertising, and will also be used to maintain the expensive voter database and technological infrastructure that knits together Mr. Obama’s 2 million volunteers, 17 million e-mail subscribers and 22 million Twitter followers. Image President Obama has said that his public campaign against Republicans is not producing results. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times The goal is to harness those resources in support of Mr. Obama’s second-term policy priorities, including efforts to curb gun violence and climate change and overhaul immigration procedures. Those efforts began Friday, when thousands of Obama supporters were deployed through more than 80 Congressional districts around the country to rally outside lawmakers’ offices, hold vigils and bombard Congress with e-mails and phone calls urging members to support stricter background checks for gun buyers. “There are wins we can have on guns and immigration,” Jon Carson, the group’s new executive director, told prospective donors on a conference call on Wednesday, according to people who participated. “We have to change the conventional wisdom on those issues.” But those contributions will also translate into access, according to donors courted by the president’s aides. Next month, Organizing for Action will hold a “founders summit” at a hotel near the White House, where donors paying $50,000 each will mingle with Mr. Obama’s former campaign manager, Jim Messina, and Mr. Carson, who previously led the White House Office of Public Engagement. Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama’s group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president, along with other meetings at the White House. Moreover, the new cash demands on Mr. Obama’s top donors and bundlers come as many of them are angling for appointments to administration jobs or ambassadorships. “It just smells,” said Bob Edgar, the president of Common Cause, which advocates tighter regulation of campaign money. “The president is setting a very bad model setting up this organization.” Mr. Obama’s new organization has drawn rebukes in recent days from watchdog groups, which view it as another step away from the tighter campaign regulation Mr. Obama once championed. Over the past two years, he has reversed course on several campaign finance issues, by blessing a super PAC created by former aides and accepting large corporate contributions for his second inauguration. Many traditional advocacy organizations, including the Sierra Club and the National Rifle Association, are set up as social welfare groups, or 501(c)(4)’s in tax parlance. But unlike those groups, Organizing for Action appears to be an extension of the administration, stocked with alumni of Mr. Obama’s White House and campaign teams and devoted solely to the president’s second-term agenda. Robert K. Kelner, a Republican election lawyer who works with other outside groups, said the arrangement “presents a rather simple loophole in the otherwise incredibly complex web of government ethics regulations that are intended to insulate government officials from outside influence.” Image Advocates of efforts to curb violence, a priority of President Obama, in Manhattan on Friday. Credit Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times The closest precedents for Organizing for Action exist at the state level. In New Jersey, a 501(c)(4) called the Committee for Our Children’s Future, set up by friends of Gov. Chris Christie, has run hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of advertising praising Mr. Christie’s proposals. In New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo encouraged the formation of a nonprofit group, the Committee to Save New York, that is run by business leaders allied with him, and it has raised millions of dollars from corporations, private sector unions, and individuals. The group supported Mr. Cuomo’s agenda — but it also thrust him into controversy when The New York Times revealed that gambling interests poured $2 million into the group as Mr. Cuomo was developing a proposal to expand casino gambling. Organizing for Action said it would accept unlimited personal and corporate contributions, but no money from political action committees, lobbyists or foreign citizens. Officials said they would focus — for now — on grass-roots organizing, amplified by Internet advertising. Friday’s “day of action” involved half a million dollars’ worth of targeted Internet ads and events in Florida, Maine, Pennsylvania and California, among other states. “O.F.A.’s first day of action was about bringing the issue of closing background-check loopholes into communities across the country that feel very strongly about supporting the president’s plan to reduce gun violence,” said Katie Hogan, a spokeswoman for the group. Organizing for Action has also promised to steer clear of electoral politics, unlike the politically active nonprofit groups like the right-leaning Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies and Americans for Prosperity. Such groups spent hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising during the recent election campaign season, ostensibly for issue advocacy, spurring a wave of lawsuits, ethics complaints from campaign watchdogs and criticism from Mr. Obama himself. But the distinction between campaigning and issue advocacy may be hard for Organizing for Action to maintain in the prelude to the 2014 elections, especially if it continues its emphasis on pressing lawmakers on delicate issues like immigration and guns. In Wednesday’s conference call, Mr. Carson said the group hoped to form partnerships with other 501(c)(4) groups on the left, including America Votes, which was at the center of Democratic efforts to defeat President George W. Bush in 2004 and now serves as a coordinator for progressive advocacy organizations. He also said Organizing for Action wanted to be a counterweight to grass-roots organizations on the right, like the N.R.A., according to people who took part in the call. There should be “as much of a price to pay if you tick off the gun violence people” as there is for angering the N.R.A., Mr. Carson said, according to those people. “Let’s build an organization that means that Republicans are embarrassed to have climate change deniers running for office.”
|
Barack Obama;Organizing for Action;Lobbying;Campaign finance;PACs;Nonprofit;2012 Presidential Election
|
ny0056192
|
[
"world",
"middleeast"
] |
2014/09/11
|
Struggling to Gauge ISIS Threat, Even as U.S. Prepares to Act
|
WASHINGTON — The violent ambitions of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been condemned across the world: in Europe and the Middle East, by Sunni nations and Shiite ones, and by sworn enemies like Israel and Iran. Pope Francis joined the call for ISIS to be stopped. But as President Obama prepares to send the United States on what could be a yearslong military campaign against the militant group, American intelligence agencies have concluded that it poses no immediate threat to the United States. Some officials and terrorism experts believe that the actual danger posed by ISIS has been distorted in hours of television punditry and alarmist statements by politicians, and that there has been little substantive public debate about the unintended consequences of expanding American military action in the Middle East. Daniel Benjamin, who served as the State Department’s top counterterrorism adviser during Mr. Obama’s first term, said the public discussion about the ISIS threat has been a “farce,” with “members of the cabinet and top military officers all over the place describing the threat in lurid terms that are not justified.” “It’s hard to imagine a better indication of the ability of elected officials and TV talking heads to spin the public into a panic, with claims that the nation is honeycombed with sleeper cells , that operatives are streaming across the border into Texas or that the group will soon be spraying Ebola virus on mass transit systems — all on the basis of no corroborated information,” said Mr. Benjamin, who is now a scholar at Dartmouth College. Mr. Obama has spent years urging caution about the perils of wading into the Syrian civil war, a position that has led critics to argue that his inaction has contributed to the death and chaos there. Now, he faces criticism that he has become caught up in a rush to war with no clear vision for how the fighting will end. In his speech Wednesday night , the president acknowledged that intelligence agencies have not detected any specific plots aimed at the United States. ISIS is a regional threat, he said, but if the group is left unchecked it could ultimately directly threaten the country. Some American officials warn of the potential danger of a prolonged military campaign in the Middle East , led by the United States, and say there are risks that escalating airstrikes could do the opposite of what they are intended to do and fan the threat of terrorism on American soil. In recent days, American counterterrorism and intelligence officials have sought to tamp down the political speech used to describe the threat from ISIS — the wealthy militant army that has seized wide portions of two countries and attracted thousands of foreign fighters who some officials fear could at some point be sent home to carry out attacks — with a more nuanced assessment of its weaknesses. “As formidable as ISIL is as a group, it is not invincible,” Matthew G. Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said last week, using an alternate name for the group. “ISIL is not Al Qaeda pre-9/11” with cells operating in Europe, Southeast Asia and the United States. Mr. Olsen’s assessment stood in contrast to more pointed descriptions by other American officials like Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who has said that ISIS poses an “imminent threat to every interest we have.” The group has been vulnerable, for instance, to airstrikes coordinated with Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces in northern Iraq in the past month, Mr. Olsen said, noting that as a result, “ISIL is losing arms, it’s losing equipment, and it’s losing territory.” Despite the attention ISIS has received, when American counterterrorism officials review the threats to the United States each day, the terror group is not a top concern . Al Qaeda and its affiliates remain the most immediate focus. That is because ISIS has no ability to attack inside the United States, American and allied security officials say, and it is not clear to intelligence officials that the group even wants to. In a speech Wednesday morning, Jeh C. Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary, said, “We know of no credible information that ISIL is planning to attack the homeland at present.” But a chorus of voices demanding tough action to blunt the advances of ISIS — a chorus that has grown louder with the recent release of videos showing the beheadings of American journalists — appears to have had a substantial impact on public opinion. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted Sept. 3 to 7 reveals that nearly half of the country thinks the United States is more at risk of a major terrorist attack than it was before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. While ISIS may have long-term aspirations for war with America, the group’s immediate focus is forming an Islamic state under a puritanical version of Sunni Islam. American officials have said publicly that their greatest fear is that ISIS has inspired radicals in the West. The concern is that jihadists with American or European passports will fight alongside ISIS or other terrorist groups in Syria, then return home trained to carry out an attack of their choosing. It is not clear that airstrikes against ISIS will, at least in the short term, diminish that threat. Even a limited air campaign could play into an ISIS narrative that American infidels were intervening on behalf of apostate governments in Iraq and Syria. Airstrikes are also risky because the new Shiite-led government in Iraq is unsettled, officials say. Under Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the government inflamed sectarian tensions, enraging Sunnis who are not natural allies of ISIS. If American airstrikes are seen as supporting the Iraqi government against the Sunnis, bombings could become ISIS recruiting tools. The officials said any military action would have to be closely coordinated with Iraq and other governments in the region to avoid worsening a Shiite-Sunni rift. One unintended consequence of the United States’ attacking ISIS will be weakening the strongest remaining opponent of the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Analysts are also concerned that ISIS has destabilized the Middle East and is fostering the growth of its violent version of Islam, much like the way the Taliban allowed the growth of Al Qaeda. “It’s pretty clear that upping our involvement in Iraq and Syria makes it more likely that we will be targeted by the people we are attacking,” said Andrew Liepman, a former deputy director at the National Counterterrorism Center who is now a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation. “But this is different than many other situations we’ve been involved in because the ISIS narrative is so vicious and so brutal that it has virtually no external allies.” It was only three months ago, when Mr. Obama first announced plans to send military advisers to Iraq, that much of Washington — from Congress to think tank pundits — seemed deeply skeptical about greater American military engagement in the region. Kenneth Pollack, a former C.I.A. analyst now at the Brookings Institution who rose to prominence in 2002 for advocating the toppling of Saddam Hussein and later expressing regret for that position, said in a July interview that he had deep reservations about sending the American military back to the volatile region for fear of “opening Pandora’s box.” Now, some of Mr. Pollack’s concerns appear to have taken a back seat to his alarm over ISIS and the destabilizing impact of Syria’s civil war. In the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Pollack wrote, “the rationale for more decisive U.S. intervention is gaining ground.”
|
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State;Iraq;Syria;Terrorism;US Military;Barack Obama;US
|
ny0273703
|
[
"world",
"americas"
] |
2016/05/13
|
Brazil’s Impeachment Trial of Dilma Rousseff: Readers React
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Brazil’s Senate voted on Thursday to suspend President Dilma Rousseff and begin an impeachment trial against her. During the trial, which could last more than six months, Ms. Rousseff will be replaced by her former vice president, Michel Temer. The vote stirred an impassioned response from Brazilians on nytimes.com and on The New York Times Facebook page, where thousands of readers shared their thoughts on the news. Here is a sampling of those comments, edited for length and clarity. ‘These are dark times for Brazil.’ Vitória Fernandes , 23: Brazil will not change. The problem with our country and economy is not the president herself, but our senators and everyone else who’s been stealing, and ruining our country to their personal gain. I’m sad to say that, even though I don’t support Dilma and never voted for her, what’s coming is much, much worse than her. I was hopeful we’d have emergency elections and elect a new president, that should be our next step, after all, no one votes for Temer to be president. He and those behind him are more corrupt than Dilma herself, and I fear for the future of my country. Brazil Impeachment: The Process for Removing the President Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, is facing removal from office. Here is a step-by-step explanation of the proceedings. Patricia Esse , 40: The removal of a democratically elected president represents a major setback in the development of the country and a disrespect for its citizens. The illegality of the lawsuit and the whole procedure is truly astonishing, and it makes me fear for the future. I expect a right-wing government with all that it entails… These are dark times for Brazil. Lucas Barbosa Direito Uel , 20: The removal of our president represents the enforcement of law against her and the corrupt political party that ruled Brazil for the last 13 years. ‘It means Brazil may now dream of a new future.’ Raul G Dagir , 16: With Dilma out and Michel Temer as our new president, we now take the first step towards leaving the economic crisis we’re facing in the present moment… The whole impeachment process may have put Brazil in an even worse situation than before, but it is the only solution to put Brazil back on track. Mauro Bento , 31: Her removal means hope for the people. The country will be free of the most corrupt and incompetent party on earth. Michel Temer is prepared and certainly going to be the leader Brazil needs. Thiago Mourão , 29: It means Brazil may now dream of a new future. It doesn’t mean our problems are solved, but may be the beginning of punishments for crimes of fiscal responsibility, as we are a rich country controlled by irresponsible politicians. Brazil’s Line of Succession Is Engulfed in Scandals João Paulo Roland , 36: Her temporary (and most certainly permanent) removal from office means that our economy now has a chance to recover from her wrongdoings. ‘There is now a dangerous precedent being set.’ Eduardo Araújo: A pack of wolves conspired to oust an honest, legitimate president. Yet another coup in Brazil. Yet again supported by white, middle-class Brazilians, like many times before. A sad day for those who support democracy in my country. Pedro Rasera , 27: The biggest issue I see is the cultural impact and the message being sent. There is now a dangerous precedent being set against democracy and due process is out of the window. Also, there is a worrisome trend of politics mixing with religious agendas. Aline Hond, 22: Dilma was democratically elected by the people, and she will remain our president until 2018. We don’t recognize a president put in power by an institutional coup! Thomás Abers Lourenço , 16: A completely hypocritical sense of morality has once again fallen upon the Brazilian middle class, which supposedly condemns every form of corruption (even the nonexistent), but does not care for the law or for elections… What most upsets me in this scenario is the growing sense that Brazil, only decades after the end of a long military dictatorship, has a problem with democracy, which still seems like an optional procedure, only used when convenient to the powerful.
|
Dilma Rousseff;Brazil;Impeachment;Michel Temer
|
ny0212158
|
[
"sports",
"baseball"
] |
2017/01/08
|
All-Star. Defendant. The New Plaque at the Hall of Fame?
|
Now that it seems quite possible that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are headed into the Baseball Hall of Fame someday, the people who will be assigned to write the bios for those two plaques could be starting to sweat. Barry Lamar Bonds … A slugger without peer and a 14-time All-Star. … Left fielder with Pittsburgh, where he won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards. … In San Francisco, he broke two of baseball’s most hallowed records, hitting 73 homers in a season to surpass Mark McGwire and finishing his career with 762 home runs, topping Hank Aaron. … Hat size rivals the length of his home runs. … Late-30s devotee of flaxseed oil … Made many public appearances, especially with the government, even years after the end of his career. … Ugh, how many words did you say they need for these plaques? … It’s going to take some finesse to gussy up the fact that Bonds and Clemens would arrive on the Hall’s doorstep with a baggage full of suspicion regarding drug use. It’s not often that you get a pair of players so good at baseball who were also indicted on federal charges of lying about the use of steroids and human growth hormone. It’s an awkward situation that has spurred a conversation that won’t be over any time soon considering that the list of tainted Hall hopefuls will grow. They include Alex Rodriguez — a guy who insisted he never did drugs, then admitted using drugs, then insisted he was clean, then was caught again, then sued both Major League Baseball and his own players’ union because Bud Selig, the commissioner, had initially slapped him with a lifetime drug suspension. Do any of these players belong in the Hall when the voting guidelines say to choose candidates based “upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played”? Not if voters follow those rules strictly. Some baseball fans and voters, though, don’t want to see a morality play, either on the field or in the Hall. After all, they reason, this is just sports. Consider Rodriguez. His past didn’t keep him from being invited onto national television as a featured commentator for last season’s playoffs. So what if he spat in baseball’s face, again and again? Image Barry Bonds arriving at federal court in San Francisco after being indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges in 2007. Credit Paul Sakuma/Associated Press And in the balloting for the newest members of the Hall, the results of which will be announced next week, some members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America chose to vote for Bonds and Clemens when they hadn’t in the past. They did so, primarily, after a separate veterans committee voted Selig into the Hall last month. If Selig is going to be in the Hall, they reasoned, then why shouldn’t Bonds and Clemens be there, too? Selig presided over the steroids era. Bonds and Clemens participated in it. What really is the difference? So where does all this leave the Hall and its character clause? Actually, it has become as intricate as the federal cases against Bonds and Clemens were. Bonds was convicted in 2011 of obstructing justice, although his trainer and the man accused of being his supplier, Greg Anderson, refused to testify and weakened the government’s case. Bonds’s conviction was overturned in 2015 . Clemens stood trial not once but twice for what prosecutors said was his decision to lie to Congress about his drug use. Their case had merit, although jurors seemed fed up with the government’s choice to go after a sports star instead of focusing on bigger targets. The first trial ended in a mistrial. The second ended in his acquittal. I sat through all three Bonds and Clemens trials, listening to often graphic descriptions of the two men’s suspected drug use as if they were play-by-plays of a game. At the Bonds trial, I heard tales about his back acne, his short temper and other hints of possible drug use, some told by his former mistress, who at one point testified that Bonds had threatened to cut out her breast implants “because he paid for them.’’ From my seat in the courtroom, I never became aware of even a speck of evidence that made Bonds out to be an admirable citizen. Except maybe that he was loyal to Anderson, who, in turn, felt enough loyalty to Bonds that he went to jail for him. And then there was Clemens, who evidently couldn’t stir up that same loyalty in his own trainer, Brian McNamee, because McNamee was the prosecution’s lead witness against him. In both cases, few observers came away with the thought that the two were good guys with integrity, the attributes that fit the Hall’s suggested profile. They came away feeling grimy. So pity the main man who will have to deal with the legacies of Bonds and Clemens as they move closer to Cooperstown. That man is Jeff Idelson, president of the Hall. For the past 10 years, he has pondered what he would do if players with ties to performance-enhancing drugs were voted into the Hall. “Have I thought about it? Of course,” he said when I talked to him last week. “Have we all thought about it? Of course.” Idelson has also thought a lot about performance enhancers. So much so that last year he received an award from the Taylor Hooton Foundation for fighting drug use in sports. The foundation was formed by the parents of a Texas teenager who died by suicide after using anabolic steroids. After Jose Canseco published his 2005 tell-all about baseball and steroids, a sign in the Hall appeared, stating that there was mounting evidence of drug use in the sport and that the museum would address baseball’s story “honestly and impartially.” In 2007, a copy of the Mitchell report, baseball’s investigation into drug use that prominently cited Clemens, was added to Cooperstown’s library. Image The former Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens after testifying before a congressional committee in 2008. Credit Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press In 2008, Bonds’s historic home run ball that broke Aaron’s career record also ended up in the museum, an asterisk etched into it by the person who donated it. The bat that Rafael Palmeiro used to hit his 500th home run is in there, too, with an explanation that Palmeiro testified to Congress that he never used steroids, not long before testing positive for steroids. In 2012, the same year that players like Bonds, Clemens and the tainted slugger Sammy Sosa first appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot, Idelson started a campaign aimed at students that warned of the dangers of steroid use. He said the timing was purely coincidental. In our conversation last week, Idelson wouldn’t say how he and the Hall would handle the possible induction of players like Bonds and Clemens. “I’ve made a policy of not dealing with hypotheticals,” he said. “So I don’t know how I’d handle it, until it happens.’’ He said he would continue to use the Hall to present the facts about drug use and baseball, no matter how ugly they might be. “Our job is to let families see the facts and start a conversation,” he said. As for the character clause that some voters now seem to be kicking aside, Idelson said the Hall’s board of directors had no plans to revisit it or change it. It’s up to the writers, he said, to decide what character means to them when they cast their vote. So if Bonds and Clemens do reach the 75 percent of votes they need to be inducted, there will be a conversation about how to move forward. And some unlucky people will have to come up with wording for their plaques. And if those words just happen to mention the steroid issue that continues to loom over both of their careers, Idelson doesn’t think Bonds and Clemens will protest all that much. “It’s so difficult to get in and so prestigious, when players are elected, they are just so thrilled,” he said. Thrilled because they proved, once again, that rules — for the Hall and for the game — were meant to be broken? How fitting.
|
Roger Clemens;Barry Bonds;Hall of fame;Steroid;Doping;Baseball
|
ny0108366
|
[
"sports",
"baseball"
] |
2012/05/20
|
Mets Fall to Blue Jays Despite Stout Pitching
|
TORONTO — There was regret in Mike Baxter’s voice as he described the instant Saturday afternoon when he seemed to lose his cool, throwing his arms into the air in frustration and stalking off the field at Rogers Centre with a tight scowl on his face. “I hate doing that,” Baxter said. “I’m not trying to show anybody up. I definitely got caught in the moment there.” But perhaps Baxter should be forgiven. The moment was an important one for the Mets . Down by two runs against the Blue Jays in the ninth, Baxter laced a ball into the right-field corner and appeared to slide safely into second base. The play would have placed the tying runs on second and third with only one out. But the second-base umpire, Brian Knight, saw it differently. Believing Yunel Escobar had connected with his tag, Knight punched the air for the second out of the inning. That spurred Baxter’s brief outburst and drew his manager, Terry Collins, sprinting from the dugout to argue. It was to no avail. Brandon Morrow, the Blue Jays’ starter, soon induced the final out of the game, and the Mets slinked to a disheartening 2-0 loss . The defeat, the Mets’ second in a row and their sixth in nine games, dropped their record to 21-19. “We’ve lost a lot of games in exactly the same manner, where the other team all of a sudden, they start banging out hits,” said Collins, referring to the Mets’ recent bullpen problems. “I know Brandon pitched a good game, but that’s a tough one to lose.” Morrow breezed through the Mets’ lineup for eight innings, relying heavily on a fastball that topped at 97 miles per hour to record eight strikeouts. He allowed only three hits and one walk. Against him, the shortcomings of the Mets’ offense were laid bare, particularly with David Wright, owner of baseball’s highest batting average, on the bench for a scheduled day off. After the game, Collins echoed a concern of his from a few weeks ago, that some of his batters were taking the team’s shared philosophy of patience at the plate a bit too far, to the point where they were letting hittable balls pass by. “It’s not about taking pitches,” Collins said. “It’s about being patient, and when you get the pitch you want to hit, hit it.” He said he would have conversations with a few of his players and added, “I don’t want these guys to think they’ve got to go out there and take good pitches they can hit.” The Mets’ offense remains worrisome because Jason Bay, Ruben Tejada and Josh Thole are all out with injuries. Tejada could be the first of the three to return — a hopeful time frame has him back by the end of the week — but that will depend on how he reacts in his first rehabilitation game. The Mets’ failures at the plate undermined a solid day for those on the mound. One day after Jon Niese went only three innings during the Mets’ 14-5 loss to the Blue Jays, Miguel Batista managed only two. The brevity of his start, however, had nothing to do with his performance. During the second inning, Batista felt a pull in his back. He warmed up before the start of the third, but was removed from the game after a quick discussion with Collins. Batista, for whom the early diagnosis was a strained back, said he had been eager to help the Mets bounce back from the previous night. “They had a good game yesterday, and they were all fired up, they had their best pitcher out there,” Batista said. “But I was determined to go 9, 12, 15, whatever they needed.” Instead, he was replaced by Jeremy Hefner, a right-hander who was called up from Class AAA Buffalo earlier in the day and picked up where Batista left off. While receiving CliffsNotes versions of scouting reports on the Blue Jays’ hitters between innings, Hefner, who gave the Mets three scoreless innings in his major league debut last month, pitched five innings, allowing two runs while striking out five. Those runs came with two outs in the fifth. Kelly Johnson lined a double to the gap in right-center field that scored Jeff Mathis from first base. Johnson, who went to third when Andres Torres misplayed his double off the turf, scored on Escobar’s single to right. “I got out of my mechanics a little bit and left a few balls up,” said Hefner, who has been a pleasant surprise for the Mets this season and would fill in for Batista if his back injury is serious. “I’m not trying to change anything, and I’ll see how my stuff plays.” The Mets’ hitters, on the other hand, may have some adjustments to make.
|
Baseball;Toronto Blue Jays;New York Mets
|
ny0059309
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2014/08/17
|
Events in Connecticut for Aug. 17-23, 2014
|
A guide to cultural and recreational events in Connecticut. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to [email protected]. Comedy HARTFORD Xfinity Theater Oddball Comedy Festival, Louis C. K., Aziz Ansari, Amy Schumer and others. Aug. 23 at 5 p.m. $35 to $400. Xfinity Theater, 61 Savitt Way. livenation.com; (860) 548-7370. MASHANTUCKET Comix at Foxwoods Nikki Glaser. Aug. 21 through 23. $15 to $30. Comix at Foxwoods, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. comixatfoxwoods.com; (866) 646-0609. Film HARTFORD Cinestudio Masterpieces of Polish Cinema, series. Through Aug. 28. $7 and $9. Cinestudio, 300 Summit Street. (860) 297-2463; cinestudio.org. HARTFORD Real Art Ways “Siddharth,” directed by Richie Mehta. Through Aug. 20. “Rich Hill,” documentary by Andrew Droz Palermo. Aug. 22 through 28. $4.50 to $10. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. (860) 232-1006; realartways.org. NEW LONDON Garde Arts Center “Garde Summer Cinema: The Real Movie Palace Experience,” series. Through Sept. 14. $8 per screening. Garde Arts Center, 325 State Street. gardearts.org; (860) 444-7373. RIDGEFIELD Ridgefield Playhouse “National Theater Live: ‘Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,’ ” screening of the play adapted by Simon Stephens. Aug. 22 at 6 p.m. $15 to $25. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. (203) 438-5795; ridgefieldplayhouse.org. STAMFORD Avon Theater “Legends of Rock Live: Neil Young and Crazy Horse,” hosted by Bill Shelley. Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m. $6 to $11; Carte Blanche members, free. Avon Theater, 272 Bedford Street. (203) 967-3660; avontheatre.org. For Children GREENWICH Bruce Museum “Roz Chast: A Cartoon Creation,” art-making activities. Aug. 20, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Free. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. (203) 869-0376; brucemuseum.org. NEW HAVEN Long Wharf Theater “Much Ado About Nothing,” Shake-It-Up-Shakespeare Youth Ensemble. Aug. 21 through 24. $10. Long Wharf Theater, 222 Sargent Drive. (203) 787-4282; longwharf.org. NORWALK Maritime Aquarium “Food for Thought,” international children’s art exhibition. Through Sept. 2. (203) 803-4376; creativeconnections.org. “Lorikeets.” See and feed tropical birds. Through Sept. 1. Free with museum admission. $12.95 to $19.95; children under 3, free. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maritime Aquarium, 10 North Water Street. maritimeaquarium.org; (203) 852-0700. NORWALK Stepping Stones Museum for Children “Healthyville,” exhibition on nutrition, fitness, hygiene and safety. Through Sept. 1. Stepping Stones Museum for Children, 303 West Avenue. (203) 899-0606; steppingstonesmuseum.org. STAMFORD Stamford Museum & Nature Center “Tree-mendous Treks,” activities and guided trail walks. Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. through Aug. 21. Animal Meet and Greet, with animals from Overbrook Nature Center or Heckscher Farm. Sundays at 3:30 p.m. through Aug. 31. “Treehouses: Look Who’s Living in the Trees,” interactive. Through Sept. 1. Free with gate admission. $5 to $10; members and children under 3, free. Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stamford Museum & Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Road. (203) 322-1646; stamfordmuseum.org. WESTPORT Levitt Pavilion Fiddlefire, world music and dancing for families. Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. Free. Levitt Pavilion, 40 Jesup Road. levittpavilion.com; (203) 221-2153. Music and Dance CLINTON Andrews Memorial Town Hall Emily Bear Quartet, classical. Aug. 17 at 4 p.m. Free. Andrews Memorial Town Hall, 54 East Main Street. georgeflynnclassicalconcerts.com; (860) 669-1208. COLLINSVILLE Bridge Street Live Mark Hummel, Anson Funderburgh and Charlie Baty, blues. Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. $25 and $35. Black 47, Irish rock. Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. $25 and $35. Truck Stop Troubadours, country. Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. $20 to $60. Bridge Street Live, 41 Bridge Street. (860) 693-9762; 41bridgestreet.com. DANBURY CityCenter Danbury West Afrikan drumming. Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Mad Satta, soul. Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. Gunsmoke, country. Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. Free. CityCenter Danbury, 186 Main Street. (203) 792-1711; citycenterdanbury.com. DANBURY Ives Concert Park The Moody Blues, rock. Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. $40 to $130. Ives Concert Park, 43 Lake Avenue Extension. (203) 837-9226; ivesconcertpark.com. FAIRFIELD StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company Albert Lee, country and blues. Aug. 17 at 7:45 p.m. $35. Tab Benoit, blues. Aug. 19 at 7:45 p.m. $47. The Hollywood Allstars, funk. Aug. 21 at 7:45 p.m. $35. Rich Robinson, Southern rock. Aug. 23 at 7:45 p.m. $35. The Slide Brothers, gospel and soul. Aug. 24 at 7:45 p.m. $28. StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company, 70 Sanford Street. fairfieldtheatre.org; (203) 259-1036. FALLS VILLAGE Music Mountain St. Petersburg String Quartet, classical. Aug. 17 at 3 p.m. $30. Baroque Italian Opera Arias and Duets. Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m. $27. Blair String Quartet, classical. Aug. 24 at 3 p.m. $30. Music Mountain, 225 Music Mountain Road. musicmountain.org; (860) 824-7126. MASHANTUCKET Grand Theater, Foxwoods Casino Yanni, world music and jazz. Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. $65 to $85. The Isley Brothers, R&B. Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. $45 to $85. Grand Theater, Foxwoods Casino, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. (800) 200-2882; foxwoods.com. MIDDLEBURY Westover School “Die Zauberflöte,” Connecticut Lyric Opera and Connecticut Summer Opera Foundation. Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $40. Westover School, 1237 Whittemore Road. ctsummeropera.org; (203) 266-4500. NORFOLK Infinity Hall Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, blues. Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m. $35 to $45. CSN Songs, tribute to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. $30 to $45. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, country and rock. Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. $55 to $75. Martha Davis and the Motels, pop. Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. $39 to $54. Chris Thomas King, country and blues. Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m. $25 to $35. Infinity Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road. infinityhall.com; (866) 666-6306. NORTH STONINGTON Jonathan Edwards Winery Taj Mahal, blues. Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. $50. Jonathan Edwards Winery, 74 Chester Main Road. jedwardswinery.com; (860) 535-0202. OLD LYME The Side Door Ben Wolfe Quartet, jazz. Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. $28.50. Darren Barrett Quintet, jazz. Aug. 22 at 7:30 p.m. $28.50. Kavita Shah, jazz. Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m. $28.50. The Side Door, 85 Lyme Street. thesidedoorjazz.com; (860) 434-0886. OLD SAYBROOK The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Sounds of Frank, pop and swing. Aug. 17 at 3 p.m. $25. The Hit Men, pop. Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. $55. “Hungarian Flair,” Chestnut Hill Concerts. Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. $30 and $35. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main Street. (877) 503-1286; thekate.org. RIDGEFIELD Chirp, at Ballard Park Ruthie Foster, blues. Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. The Wiyos, folk and blues. Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. Free. Chirp, at Ballard Park, Main and Gilbert Streets. (203) 431-6501; chirpct.org. RIDGEFIELD Ridgefield Playhouse Natalie Cole, R&B. Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. $125 and $135. The Wallflowers, rock. Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. $75. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. ridgefieldplayhouse.org; (203) 438-5795. STAMFORD Stamford Center for the Arts “A Taste of Paris,” Wendy Gerbier, mezzo-soprano. Aug. 24 at 5 p.m. $20. Stamford Center for the Arts, 61 Atlantic Street. (203) 325-4466; stamfordcenterforthearts.org. UNCASVILLE Mohegan Sun Josh Groban, pop. Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. $70 and $90. Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard. (888) 226-7711; mohegansun.com. WALLINGFORD Oakdale Theater Jesse McCartney, pop. Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. $35. Jackson Browne, rock. Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. $50 to $150. Oakdale Theater, 95 South Turnpike Road. oakdale.com; (203) 265-1501. WESTPORT Levitt Pavilion Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, jazz. Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. Sultans of String, gypsy jazz. Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. The Sweet Remains, folk. Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. Vent Du Nord, folk. Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. Cynthia Sayer and her Joyride Band, jazz. Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. Free. Levitt Pavilion, 40 Jesup Road. levittpavilion.com; (203) 221-2153. Outdoors NEW HAVEN Lighthouse Point Park New Haven Bird Club walk and preparation for the Migration Festival, with trail maintenance. Aug. 23 at 8 a.m. Free. Lighthouse Point Park, Lighthouse Road. newhavenbirdclub.org; (203) 946-6086. POMFRET CENTER Connecticut Audubon Society at Pomfret Evening Bird Walk, guided hike. Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. $5 and $10. Connecticut Audubon Society at Pomfret, 218 Day Road. (860) 928-4948; ctaudubon.org. Spoken Word BRIDGEPORT The Barnum Museum “Beauty and the Beast: Three Centuries of Architecture in Connecticut,” lecture by William Hosley. Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m. $5 suggested donation; children under 12, free. The Barnum Museum, 820 Main Street. barnum-museum.org; (203) 331-1104. HARTFORD Real Art Ways “Creative Cocktail Hour,” discussion, art and music. Aug. 21, 6 to 10 p.m. $5 and $10. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. realartways.org; (860) 232-1006. Theater EAST HADDAM Goodspeed Opera House “Fiddler on the Roof,” musical by Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein. Through Sept. 7. $36.50 to $84.50. Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main Street. (860) 873-8668; goodspeed.org. HARTFORD TheaterWorks Hartford “Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie,” devised by David M. Lutken, Nick Corley, Darcie Deaville, Helen J. Russell and Andy Teirstein. Through Sept. 14. $15 to $65. TheaterWorks Hartford, 233 Pearl Street. (860) 527-7838; theaterworkshartford.org. IVORYTON Ivoryton Playhouse “La Cage Aux Folles,” musical by Harvey Fierstein, Jean Poiret and Jerry Herman. Through Aug. 31. $15 to $42. Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street. (860) 767-7318; ivorytonplayhouse.org. NEW BRITAIN Hole in the Wall Theater “The Impracticality of Modern-Day Mastodons,” comedy by Rachel Teagle. Through Aug. 23. $15 and $20. Hole in the Wall Theater, 116 Main Street. (860) 229-3049; hitw.org. NEW HAVEN Edgerton Park “Pericles,” Elm Shakespeare Company. Through Aug. 31. Donations accepted. Edgerton Park, 75 Cliff Street. elmshakespeare.org; (203) 874-0801. NEW LONDON Flock Theater “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” drama by Tennessee Williams. Aug. 21 through 31. $20 and $25. Flock Theater, 10 Huntington Street. (860) 443-3119; flocktheatre.org. STRATFORD Stratford Library Outdoor performance of “Pericles,” Hudson Shakespeare Company. Aug. 23 at 2 p.m. Free. Stratford Library, 2203 Main Street. (203) 385-4164; stratfordlibrary.org. WESTPORT Westport Country Playhouse “Things We Do for Love,” comedy by Alan Ayckbourn. Aug. 19 through Sept. 7. $25 to $85. Discussion of the playwright’s work, with the director John Tillinger and the actress Geneva Carr, after the 3 p.m. performance on Aug. 24. Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court. westportplayhouse.org; (203) 227-4177. Museums and Galleries BRIDGEPORT Housatonic Museum of Art Astoria Park Residents’ Art Therapy Program Exhibition. Through Aug. 22. Weekdays, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Housatonic Museum of Art, 900 Lafayette Boulevard. housatonicmuseum.org; (203) 332-5052. Image HARTFORD Louis C.K. will be one of the many comedians performing at the Oddball Comedy Festival on Aug. 23 at 5 p.m. at the Xfinity Theater, 61 Savitt Way. Tickets are $35 to $400. For further information: (860) 548-7370 or livenation.com . Credit Kevin Mazur/HBO BRIDGEPORT The Barnum Museum “Envisioning the Future,” artifacts that belonged to P. T. Barnum, Tom Thumb and others; exhibition on view in the People’s United Bank Gallery adjacent to the museum. Through Aug. 30. Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Barnum Museum, 820 Main Street. barnum-museum.org; (203) 331-1104. BRIDGEPORT Webster Bank Arena Connecticut ComiCONN, comic book and science fiction convention. Through Aug. 17. $22.50 and $26.50. Webster Bank Arena, 600 Main Street. (203) 345-2400; websterbankarena.com. CORNWALL The Cornwall Library “Faces and Flowers,” Hillary Cooper. Aug. 19 through Oct. 4. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays, 2 to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Cornwall Library, 30 Pine Street. cornwallfreelibrary.org; (860) 672-6874. DANBURY The Gallery at Still River Editions “Wide Awake in Dreamsville,” toy camera photographs by James Rohan. Through Sept. 26. Mondays through Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Gallery at Still River Editions, 128 East Liberty Street. (203) 791-1474; stillrivereditions.com. DARIEN The Darien Historical Society “Here Come the Brides: Grace and Elegance 1855-1950.” Through Oct. 1. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. The Darien Historical Society, 45 Old Kings Highway North. (203) 655-9233; darienhistorical.org. ESSEX Gallery19 “Helen Cantrell and Judy Friday: Summertime.” Through Aug. 31. Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gallery19, 19A Main Street. (860) 581-8735; gallery19essex.com. GREENWICH Bruce Museum “Greenwich Collects: Wyeth, Italian Renaissance Drawings, Chinese Antiquities” and “Tales of Two Cities: New York and Beijing.” Through Aug. 31. “Being, Nothingness and Much, Much More: Roz Chast, Beyond The New Yorker.” Through Oct. 19. “Extreme Habitats: Into the Deep Sea.” Through Nov. 9. $6 and $7; members and children under 5, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. brucemuseum.org; (203) 869-0376. GROTON Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, University of Connecticut Late summer exhibition, group show. Through Sept. 13. $3 suggested donation. Members and students, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, University of Connecticut, 1084 Shennecossett Road. averypointarts.uconn.edu; (860) 405-9052. GUILFORD Guilford Art Center “Process to Painting: 4 Artists,” Lady McCrady, Larry Morelli, Lenny Moskowitz and Robert Reynolds. Through Aug. 31. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Guilford Art Center, 411 Church Street. (203) 453-5947; guilfordartcenter.org. HAMDEN Arnold Bernhard Library “The Lady Sligo Letters: Westport House and Ireland’s Great Hunger,” more than 200 letters. Through April 30. Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Arnold Bernhard Library, 275 Mount Carmel Avenue. (203) 582-8633; quinnipiac.edu. HARTFORD 100 Pearl Street Gallery “Jazz Notes: Selections From the Connecticut Fiber Arts Collective,” group show. Through Aug. 23. Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. 100 Pearl Street Gallery, 100 Pearl Street. letsgoarts.org/gallery; (860) 525-8629. HARTFORD Real Art Ways “Victor Pacheco: Extraction.” Through Sept. 7. “RealUnreal,” group show. “John Spray: Collision Repair.” Through Oct. 10. $3 suggested donation; members and cinema patrons, free. Daily, 2 to 9 p.m.; and by appointment. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. realartways.org; (860) 232-1006. HARTFORD The Mark Twain House and Museum “At Your Service,” photographs and artifacts. Through Sept. 1. $6 to $18; members and children under 6, free. Mondays through Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Mark Twain House and Museum, 351 Farmington Avenue. marktwainhouse.org; (860) 247-0998. HARTFORD Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art “Ruben Ochoa/Matrix 169.” Through Sept. 7. Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; first Thursday of every month, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. $5 to $10; members and children under 12, free. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main Street. thewadsworth.org; (860) 278-2670. LAKEVILLE The White Gallery “Landscapes, Landscapes, Landscapes,” group show. Through Sept. 7. Fridays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. The White Gallery, 344 Main Street. thewhitegalleryart.com; (860) 435-1029. LITCHFIELD Wisdom House “Inner Light,” sculpture by David Colbert. Through Sept. 13. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wisdom House, 229 East Litchfield Road. (860) 567-3163; wisdomhouse.org. MYSTIC Mystic Arts Center “Figures, Faces and Food,” Doug Aaberg. Aug. 1 through Sept. 20. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mystic Arts Center, 9 Water Street. (860) 536-7601; mysticarts.org. NEW BRITAIN New Britain Museum of American Art “This One’s Optimistic: Pincushion.” Through Sept. 14. “Glass Today: 21st-Century Innovations.” Through Sept. 21. “Science Fiction Pulp Art.” Through Oct. 6. “New/Now: Bob Gregson.” Through Oct. 26. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. $8 to $12; members and children under 12, free. New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington Street. (860) 229-0257; nbmaa.org. NEW CANAAN Silvermine Arts Center Galleries A Guild Group Show. “Baltimore, Contemporary Cross Section,” group show. Through Sept. 14. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Silvermine Arts Center Galleries, 1037 Silvermine Road. silvermineart.org; (203) 966-9700. NEW CANAAN The Philip Johnson Glass House “Fujiko Nakaya: Veil.” Through Nov. 30. Tours are $30 to $100. Thursdays through Mondays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Philip Johnson Glass House, 199 Elm Street. philipjohnsonglasshouse.org; (203) 594-9884. NEW HAVEN Azoth Gallery, at the New Haven Public Library “Everything You Treasure: For a World Free From Nuclear Weapons,” posters commemorating the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through Aug. 26. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Azoth Gallery, at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Elm Street. (203) 387-4933; azothgallery.com. NEW HAVEN Kehler Liddell Gallery Winfred Rembert, exhibition and film screenings. Through Aug. 31. Thursdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Avenue. (203) 389-9555; kehlerliddell.com. NEW HAVEN New Haven Museum “Nothing Is Set in Stone: The Lincoln Oak and the New Haven Green,” group show. Through Nov. 2. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; first Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. $2 to $4; children under 12, free. New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Avenue. newhavenmuseum.org; (203) 562-4183. NEW HAVEN Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History “Tiny Titans: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies.” Through Aug. 30. $4 to $9; members and Yale ID holders, free. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Avenue. peabody.yale.edu; (203) 432-5050. NEW HAVEN Yale University Art Gallery “Jazz Lives: The Photographs of Lee Friedlander and Milt Hinton.” Through Sept. 7. “Contemporary Art/South Africa.” Through Sept. 14. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street. (203) 432-0600; artgallery.yale.edu. NEW LONDON Lyman Allyn Art Museum “Inside the Natural World of Jan Beekman,” nature paintings. Through Dec. 31. “Still Life Studio,” group show. Through Jan. 5. “Lost at Sea: Shipwrecks of the Ancient World.” Through Feb. 1. $5 to $10; members and children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street. lymanallyn.org; (860) 443-2545. NORWALK Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum Watercolors by Mimi Adams Findlay. Through Oct. 31. $6 to $10; members and children under 8, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, 295 West Avenue. lockwoodmathewsmansion.com; (203) 838-9799. NORWALK The Leclerc Contemporary “PreterNatural Selections,” group show. Through Sept. 7. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Leclerc Contemporary, 19 Willard Road. leclerccontemporary.com; (203) 826-8575. NORWALK The Maritime Garage Gallery “Vicarious,” group show. Through Aug. 30. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Maritime Garage Gallery, 11 North Water Street. (203) 831-9063; norwalkpark.org. OLD LYME Cooley Gallery “The World in Motion,” photographs by Peter Daitch. Through Aug. 23. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme Street. (860) 434-8807; cooleygallery.com. OLD LYME Diane Birdsall Gallery “Give Me Love,” by Robin Halpren-Ruder and Margarita Hernández-Maxson. Through Aug. 22. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m. Diane Birdsall Gallery, 16 Lyme Street. dianebirdsallgallery.com; (860) 434-3209. OLD LYME Florence Griswold Museum “Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art From the Fenimore Art Museum” and “Thistles and Crowns: The Painted Chests of the Connecticut Shore.” Through Sept. 21. $8 to $10; children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme Street. (860) 434-5542; flogris.org. RIDGEFIELD Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum “Standing in the Shadows of Love: The Aldrich Collection 1964-1974,” including Robert Indiana, Robert Morris, Ree Morton, Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Smithson. “Taylor Davis: If you steal a horse, and let him go, he’ll take you to the barn you stole him from.” “Jessica Jackson Hutchins: Unicorn.” “Michael Joo: Drift.” “Michelle Lopez: Angels, Flags, Bangs.” Through Sept. 21. $5 and $10. Members, K-12 teachers, active-service military families and children under 18, free. Tuesdays, free. Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main Street. (203) 438-4519; aldrichart.org. RIDGEFIELD “Art Walk Ridgefield,” works by more than 70 artists displayed in windows in the downtown area. Aug. 22 through Sept. 14. (203) 438-8863; rgoa.org. ROXBURY Minor Memorial Library “Thirty or Forty Scratchy Drawings of American Presidents,” Barry Blitt. Through Sept. 13. Mondays, noon to 7 p.m.; Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Minor Memorial Library, 23 South Street. minormemoriallibrary.org; (860) 350-2181. STAMFORD Franklin Street Works “Showing the Work,” group show. Through Aug. 31. Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, noon to 7 p.m. Franklin Street Works, 41 Franklin Street. (203) 595-5211; franklinstreetworks.org. STAMFORD Loft Artists Association “Fun in the Sun,” group show. Through Aug. 17. Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Loft Artists Association, 575 Pacific Street. (203) 247-2027; loftartists.com. WASHINGTON Gunn Memorial Library and Museum “Over There: Washington and the Great War.” Through Jan. 18. Thursdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Gunn Memorial Library and Museum, 5 Wykeham Road. (860) 868-7756; gunnlibrary.org. WASHINGTON DEPOT Washington Art Association Faculty show. Through Aug. 23. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Washington Art Association, 4 Bryan Memorial Plaza. washingtonartassociation.org; (860) 868-2878. WATERBURY Mattatuck Museum “Haven and Inspiration: The Kent Art Colony,” group show. Through Aug. 24. “Steel Garden,” sculpture by Babette Bloch. Through Aug. 31. “Balance Beam,” Ryan Frank. Oil paintings by Hugo Bastidas. Works on paper by Lauren Seiden. Aug. 14 through Oct. 12. “Fancy This: The Gilded Age of Fashion.” Through Oct. 19. $6 and $7; members and children under 16, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street. mattatuckmuseum.org; (203) 753-0381. WESTPORT Amy Simon Fine Art “Summer Rotation 2014,” group show. Through Aug. 30. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and by appointment. Amy Simon Fine Art, 1869 Post Road East. amysimonfineart.com; (203) 259-1500. WESTPORT Westport Arts Center “Scents and Soles,” Robert Cottingham and Nina Bentley. Through Sept. 7. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Westport Arts Center, 51 Riverside Avenue. westportartscenter.org; (203) 222-7070. WESTPORT Westport Historical Society “Larry Silver/Westport Visions,” photographs. Through Oct. 18. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place. westporthistory.org; (203) 222-1424. WILTON Wilton Historical Society “Changing Times — Hand Tools Before the Industrial Revolution: Connecticut Tools of the Trades From the Walter R. T. Smith Collection.” Through Oct. 4. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road. wiltonhistorical.org; (203) 762-7257. WINDSOR 226 Jazz Art Java “Water,” Holly Pelton. Through Sept. 14. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 226 Jazz Art Java, 226 Broad Street. (860) 219-1947; 226jazz.org. WINDSOR Windsor Art Center “Living With Art: Selected Works From the Margaret Penn Collection of Haitian and African American Art.” Through Aug. 30. Thursdays, 6 to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Windsor Art Center, 40 Mechanic Street. windsorartcenter.org; (860) 688-2528.
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The arts;Connecticut
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ny0053417
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[
"technology"
] |
2014/07/16
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Slump in Advertising Sales Dragged Quarterly Revenue Down at Yahoo
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Nearly two years to the day that Marissa Mayer took the helm at Yahoo, the company’s turnaround is still a work in progress. And its fortunes are still very much tied to its stake in Alibaba, the private Chinese Internet company expected to go public next month. It’s easy for Wall Street to overlook Yahoo’s lackluster performance, when it is so busy salivating over the company’s holdings in Alibaba. On Tuesday, when Yahoo announced its second-quarter earnings, it said it had reached an agreement with Alibaba to reduce the number of shares it is required to sell in the initial public offering, to 140 million shares from 208 million shares. Conservative estimates predict Alibaba will be valued at $150 billion when it goes public, more than four times Yahoo’s current $35 billion market valuation. Image Profit disappointed analysts, and revenue growth disappointed Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s chief. Credit Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press More good news for shareholders came from the earnings report: Kenneth A. Goldman, Yahoo’s chief financial officer, told investors that Yahoo planned to return at least half of its after-tax profits from the Alibaba offering to shareholders. If Yahoo can find a tax-efficient way to distribute those fortunes, Wall Street has reason for optimism. Still, even the hoopla over the Alibaba news was not enough to distract from the other problems at Yahoo, where Ms. Mayer’s best efforts to drive more content and acquire fresh talent and innovative products through acquisitions have done little to bolster the company’s financial performance. “Things aren’t getting better,” Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners, put it bluntly. “The core business is still dismal.” On Tuesday, Ms. Mayer announced the worst revenue number since she took over. Yahoo’s revenue fell 4 percent last quarter, to $1.08 billion from the year-ago quarter. Ms. Mayer was the first to admit disappointment. “Our top priority is revenue growth, and by that measure, we are not satisfied with our Q2 results,” she said. “While several areas showed strength, their growth was offset by declines.” Yahoo’s revenue from its display advertising business fell 8 percent last quarter, to $436 million, compared with the same quarter a year ago, in large part because Google and Facebook continue to capture ever larger shares of the United States display ad market. Image Yahoo— once the top seller of display ads in the United States— has been losing its share of the display advertising market for years. Credit Yahoo Yahoo, once the top seller of display ads in the United States, is projected to drop to 6 percent market share, from 7.1 percent market share last year, even though the overall display ad market is expected to grow by 23.8 percent this year, according to eMarketer. On Tuesday, Yahoo said its income from operations slid 72 percent, to $38 million, from the year-ago quarter, much of that because of a restructuring charge. Net earnings for the second quarter were down 19 percent, to $270 million, or 26 cents a share, from $331 million or 30 cents a share. That net income was below the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who forecast an average of 33 cents a share. But the biggest black hole continues to be Yahoo’s revenue from mobile advertising, considered the hottest growth area for Internet companies. Yahoo did not report its mobile ad revenue on Tuesday, even though the market for mobile advertising is expected to reach $17.73 billion this year, an 83 percent jump from last year, according to eMarketer. Even with the fortunes from Alibaba’s looming I.P.O., shares of Yahoo fell 2 percent in after-hours trading, after ending regular trading down 9 cents, or 0.25 percent, to $35.61.
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Yahoo!;Marissa Mayer;Earnings Reports;Computers and the Internet;Tech Industry;Alibaba
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ny0006560
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[
"us"
] |
2013/05/27
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CapeFlyer Begins Train Service From Boston to Hyannis
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HYANNIS, Mass. — On Friday night, as the CapeFlyer rumbled over the canal that separates Cape Cod from the rest of Massachusetts, some of the officials aboard were not regarding the scenic waters or the marvels of the silver lift bridge that carried the train. Their eyes were on smartphones and the Twitter posts that would tell them how much traffic was backed up on the two bridges that allow cars to cross the canal. And they could not suppress their delight at the news: traffic was bumper to bumper for four miles at the Bourne Bridge and at a standstill for two miles at the Sagamore Bridge. And all the while, the CapeFlyer — on its inaugural run from Boston to Cape Cod — rolled on through the dusk, carrying relaxed and stress-free passengers. That, in a nutshell, is the best advertisement for the new train. The ritual of going to the cape in recent decades has become synonymous with jammed traffic and snarly drivers, with cranky children and wilted perishables, all basking in the exhaust of the 130,000 cars that cross the two bridges on any given summer day as the cape’s winter population almost triples. So terrible are the traffic backups that Jody Ray, deputy rail administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, is fantasizing about putting a real-time visual monitor of road traffic on the train so that rail passengers can better appreciate their decision to choose the rails over the roads. At certain times of day — say, 3 a.m. — driving can be faster. With no traffic, the 80-mile trip from Boston to Hyannis can take about 90 minutes. On Friday night, the CapeFlyer, which is still working out the kinks, took about 2 hours and 48 minutes from Boston’s South Station, 10 minutes longer than its scheduled time. That was partly because the train is the extension of a commuter line, and it had to make its regular stops for the first part of the trip. But as more signal work is completed, the train is expected to shave more time off the route. “By the height of the summer, we will be more than ready,” said Rob DiAdamo, a principal at TPRG, a transportation consulting group working with the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, which operates the Flyer. CapeFlyer Makes Its Debut 10 Photos View Slide Show › Image Charlie Mahoney for The New York Times Trains had been coming to Hyannis since the 1850s, but the rise of the automobile — and the financial woes of various railroads — undermined them. The last direct train from Boston to Hyannis stopped a half-century ago; the last train that came indirectly stopped in 1995. For now, the Flyer will run only on weekends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, when road traffic is heaviest. But transportation officials are talking about extending the train through Columbus Day and by next year improving the performance time to two hours. Thomas S. Cahir, the administrator of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, said the train needed only 315 passengers per weekend — about 50 on each of its six runs — to break even. On Friday night, there were about 200 passengers. The cold, rainy weather probably discouraged more from traveling, but about 100 people took the train on Saturday and another 100 on Sunday. “We’re pretty confident we’ll make it,” Mr. Cahir said. The revenue comes from the fares of $35 round trip from Boston to Hyannis and from advertising on the train cars, which also offer free Wi-Fi and transport for bicycles. Many passengers on the inaugural run were young professionals. Johanna Silverio, 26, an asset management analyst; Chris Nunnally, 26, a wholesaler; and Cambridge Lestienne, 23, who works in investment management, had each planned to read or sleep or catch up on e-mail but wound up chatting. Outside they saw red-tinged cranberry bogs, the Great Salt Marsh and clusters of people who waved as the train passed. “If I weren’t here I’d be having road rage,” Ms. Lestienne said. The inaugural run also included rail buffs who kept close watch on the signals, tracks and passing stations. Their only complaint was that the concession car did not sell hot food, and they urged train officials to offer New England clam chowder. Mr. Cahir said he would try to get chowder on the menu. But he said success would more likely hinge on the Flyer coordinating schedules with the bus lines that serve all 15 towns on the cape and the ferries to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. There are also rental cars and taxis on hand. Previous trains had left passengers in the lurch in Hyannis. Mr. Cahir said there were even more reasons now for people to take the train to the cape: the tracks are better, gas prices are higher and car traffic is more congested. And he was heartened by comments on social media that essentially said, “We don’t care if we’re late — it’s better than sitting in traffic on the bridge.”
|
Railroads;Cape Cod;Travel,Tourism;Roads and Traffic;Boston;Massachusetts
|
ny0189138
|
[
"world",
"middleeast"
] |
2009/05/05
|
Hamas Head, Meshal, Says Rocket Strikes on Israel Have Halted
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DAMASCUS, Syria — The leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas said Monday that its fighters had stopped firing rockets at Israel for now. He also reached out in a limited way to the Obama administration and others in the West, saying the movement was seeking a state only in the areas Israel won in 1967. “I promise the American administration and the international community that we will be part of the solution, period,” the leader, Khaled Meshal , said during a five-hour interview with The New York Times spread over two days in his home office here in the Syrian capital. Speaking in Arabic in a house heavily guarded by Syrian and Palestinian security agents, Mr. Meshal, 53, gave off an air of serene self-confidence, having been re-elected a fourth time to a four-year term as the leader of the Hamas political bureau, the top position in the movement. His conciliation went only so far, however. He repeated that he would not recognize Israel, saying to fellow Arab leaders, “There is only one enemy in the region, and that is Israel.” But he urged outsiders to ignore the Hamas charter, which calls for the obliteration of Israel through jihad and cites as fact the infamous anti-Semitic forgery, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Mr. Meshal did not offer to revoke the charter, but said it was 20 years old, adding, “We are shaped by our experiences.” He explained why he was giving the interview, his first to an American news organization in a year, by saying: “To understand Hamas is to listen to its vision directly. Hamas is delighted when people want to hear from its leaders directly, not about the movement through others.” That also seemed aimed at the Obama administration, which has decided to open a dialogue with Iran and Syria, but not with Hamas until it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and accepts previous Palestinian-Israeli accords. Regarding President Obama , Mr. Meshal said, “His language is different and positive,” but he expressed unhappiness about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying hers “is a language that reflects the old administration policies.” On the two-state solution sought by the Americans, he said: “We are with a state on the 1967 borders, based on a long-term truce. This includes East Jerusalem, the dismantling of settlements and the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.” Asked what “long-term” meant, he said 10 years. Apart from the time restriction and the refusal to accept Israel’s existence, Mr. Meshal’s terms approximate the Arab League peace plan and what the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas says it is seeking. Israel rejects a full return to the 1967 borders, as well as a Palestinian right of return to Israel itself. Regarding recognition of Israel, Mr. Meshal said the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Mr. Abbas had granted such recognition, but to no avail. “Did that recognition lead to an end of the occupation? It’s just a pretext by the United States and Israel to escape dealing with the real issue and to throw the ball into the Arab and Palestinian court,” he said. In April, only six rockets and mortar rounds were fired at Israel from Gaza, which is run by Hamas, a marked change from the previous three months, when dozens were shot, according to the Israeli military. In late December, Israel began a three-week invasion of Gaza, saying that it sought to stop the rockets, which land on its southern communities. About 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the invasion. Mr. Meshal made an effort to show that Hamas was in control of its militants as well as those of other groups, saying: “Not firing the rockets currently is part of an evaluation from the movement which serves the Palestinians’ interest. After all, the firing is a method, not a goal. Resistance is a legitimate right, but practicing such a right comes under an evaluation by the movement’s leaders.” He said his group was eager for a cease-fire with Israel and for a deal that would return an Israeli soldier it is holding captive, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, in exchange for many Palestinian prisoners. Iran is a major sponsor of Hamas, and Israel and the United States worry that Gaza has become an Iranian outpost. But Mr. Meshal said: “Iran’s support to us is not conditioned. No one controls or affects our policies.” Asked whether his movement, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist in outlook, wanted to bring strict Muslim law to Gaza and the West Bank, he said no. “The priority is ending the occupation and achieving the national project,” Mr. Meshal said. “As for the nature of the state, it’s to be determined by the people. It will never be imposed upon them.” Mr. Meshal, one of the founders of Hamas, barely escaped assassination at the hands of Israeli agents in 1997 in Jordan. He was injected with a poison, but the agents were caught. King Hussein, furious that this was taking place in his country, obliged Israel to send an antidote. Mr. Meshal ultimately went to Damascus, the base for Hamas apart from its leaders inside Gaza. The Israeli prime minister during that assassination attempt was Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been returned to that post. Mr. Netanyahu has said that Hamas is a tool of Iran and that Iran is the biggest danger to world peace and must be stopped. Mr. Meshal was born in the West Bank city of Ramallah in 1956, the son of a religious leader who was a farmer, and moved with his family to Kuwait in 1967 when he was 11. He studied physics in college and taught it at school for six years. He is married with seven children, aged 13 to 27. Asked if he feared assassination, Mr. Meshal said no, he would view it as martyrdom. Moreover, he said, since the first attempt, “death has become like drinking water.”
|
Israel;Hamas;Palestinians;Terrorism;Arab League;Palestinian Authority;Meshal Khaled;Abbas Mahmoud;Netanyahu Benjamin;Obama Barack
|
ny0271598
|
[
"us"
] |
2016/05/20
|
California to Revise How India Is Portrayed in Textbooks
|
LOS ANGELES — After months of sifting through public critiques over how India is portrayed in the sixth and seventh grades, California education officials on Thursday approved a curriculum that includes teachings about the caste system and uses the term India rather than South Asia. Nearly 200 people lined up to speak during a meeting of the instructional committee from the state Board of Education. Dozens voiced complaints over how castes and the so-called untouchables are portrayed. Others applauded the committee for rejecting the use of the term South Asia, which some scholars said should be used to refer to an area that includes modern-day India, Pakistan and Nepal. Those who wanted the panel to adopt the term India say that it accurately reflects what the region has long been called and represents the most influential culture in the area. The committee debated dozens of specific sentences in the history curriculum framework, which is more than 400 pages. “Whether we like our history or not for any particular reason, we have to stick with the facts,” said Risha Krishna, a committee member, in discussing how to phrase a sentence about jatis, groups in India that are primarily defined by birth. Some suggested describing such groups as self-governing, a definition Ms. Krishna questioned. “These groups did not have autonomy to decide how they would function. It was top down,” she said. Some Hindu advocates argued that the curriculum puts too much emphasis on the caste system, saying that it leaves Indian students vulnerable to bullying in schools. Dozens of students told committee members that they were taunted after learning about castes in school. But activists for the Dalits, members of the “untouchable” caste, said that glossing over the caste system would do little to protect students and would be an inaccurate portrayal of India. “There is no way that one would self-govern yourself into oppression,” said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a leader of a coalition that includes Dalits, Sikhs and Muslims. After listening to four hours of public comment, Bill Honig, the vice chairman of the committee, said that the group was focused on giving all sides a fair portrayal in the curriculum. “We try to avoid any characterization of illegitimacy,” Mr. Honig said. “We try to convey to sixth-grade students and seventh-grade students about the diversity of this region. We tried to put in strong contributions of these societies. I think we set it in the proper context.”
|
K-12 Education;Caste System;Hinduism;California;India;Asia;Los Angeles
|
ny0070659
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2015/03/27
|
In Menendez Inquiry, Government Renews Push for Friend’s Cooperation
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WASHINGTON — Senator Robert Menendez , the powerful New Jersey Democrat, and Dr. Salomon Melgen, a wealthy Florida eye surgeon, have been close friends for years. Mr. Menendez may soon find out just how close their friendship remains. Federal investigators met with Dr. Melgen’s lawyers recently in an effort to persuade him to cooperate in the corruption case they are building against Mr. Menendez, according to officials and others close to the investigation. Such a deal would make Dr. Melgen the star witness in a case over whether Mr. Menendez, the highest-ranking Latino Democrat in Congress, traded political favors for gifts and lavish vacations. With the threat of an indictment looming, Mr. Menendez, 61, is making a last-minute appeal of his own. His lawyers recently urged senior Justice Department officials not to bring charges at all, law enforcement officials said. Prosecutors had planned to bring charges this week but delayed while they considered Mr. Menendez’s arguments. The late maneuvering highlights the stakes for both sides in a long-running corruption investigation that could end Mr. Menendez’s political career or be an embarrassing, high-profile loss for the Justice Department. Image Dr. Salomon Melgen of Florida, a wealthy political donor. Credit Hector Gabino/The Miami Herald, via Associated Press Those who discussed the case did so only on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Neither the Justice Department nor lawyers for Mr. Menendez or Dr. Melgen had any comment. The investigation surfaced when the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Dr. Melgen’s offices in West Palm Beach, Fla., in January 2013. It revolves around gifts Mr. Menendez accepted from the doctor, including two round-trip flights worth $58,000 aboard his private jet. Mr. Menendez also took actions that stood to enrich Dr. Melgen, who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit Mr. Menendez and the Democratic Party. The senator encouraged Obama administration officials to change Medicare ’s reimbursement policies in a way that would make millions for Dr. Melgen, one of the country’s biggest recipients of Medicare funds . He also urged the administration to prod the Dominican Republic to honor a contract with a port-security company in which Dr. Melgen had invested, unrelated to his medical practice. Investigators believe they can show a pattern of such political favors in exchange for gifts, according to law enforcement officials. And Mr. Menendez did not disclose the free trips as required by Senate rules. Only after the F.B.I. began investigating did he reimburse Dr. Melgen for the value of the trips. Mr. Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee and a member of the Banking and Finance Committees, says that was an oversight, not a deception. He argues that his actions regarding Medicare and the Dominican port-security contract were legitimate policy discussions. He maintains that the gifts he received from Dr. Melgen should be seen in the context of a friendship that dates to the 1990s. The two men have spent holidays together, often in the Dominican Republic, where Dr. Melgen, 60, has a home in the gated oceanfront resort Casa de Campo. Image Abbe D. Lowell, a lawyer for Senator Menendez, met with prosecutors last month and again more recently to argue against an indictment of the senator. Credit Travis Dove for The New York Times That friendship has been tested by the investigation. Federal investigators have made a renewed push recently to win Dr. Melgen’s cooperation. He has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer, Anne Lyons, this month denied that Dr. Melgen was working with investigators. “I don’t know why people keep saying that to us, but no, he’s not,” she told Politico . Ms. Lyons declined to comment for this article. As a matter of policy, the Justice Department’s public-corruption team typically allows lawyers to meet with prosecutors to argue that their clients should not be charged. One of Mr. Menendez’s lawyers, Abbe D. Lowell, did so in a meeting last month, after which Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. gave prosecutors the go-ahead to proceed with a criminal case against the senator. But Mr. Lowell persuaded the Justice Department to have another meeting, which occurred within the past week, according to several law enforcement officials. Prosecutors agreed to consider Mr. Lowell’s arguments, the officials said, but added that the Justice Department remains confident that it has a strong case against Mr. Menendez. Mr. Lowell declined to comment. Mr. Menendez has been adamant that he committed no crime and plans to fight any charges. “Let me be very, very clear,” he said this month. “I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law.” His lawyers also plan to argue that many of his official actions are shielded from prosecution under the speech or debate clause of the Constitution, which prohibits the Justice Department from using its law enforcement powers to interfere with lawmaking, according to court documents that were inadvertently filed publicly recently. Image The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Dr. Melgen's offices in West Palm Beach, Fla., in January 2013. Credit J Pat Carter/Associated Press The looming case against Mr. Menendez has potential consequences that could extend beyond his own political career. It could complicate the confirmation of President Obama’s nominee for attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch. Ms. Lynch, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, is awaiting a vote of the full Senate, but many Republicans oppose her nomination because they are angry over the president’s executive order last year giving work authorization to many immigrants who came to the country illegally. Some estimates have the count at 50-50, with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. casting the tiebreaking vote. But federal officials say Mr. Menendez is considering abstaining from casting a vote on the attorney general, since his fate is so closely tied to the Justice Department, and voting either way could open him up to criticism. An abstention by Mr. Menendez would sink Ms. Lynch’s nomination, though, unless the Obama administration could persuade another Republican to vote for her. A spokeswoman for Mr. Menendez, Patricia Enright, said the senator was waiting to see where things stand when Ms. Lynch’s confirmation comes up for a vote.
|
Robert Menendez;Salomon E Melgen;Justice Department;New Jersey;US;Ethics Misconduct Malfeasance;Gifts to Public Officials;Senate;Congress;US Politics
|
ny0217538
|
[
"sports",
"baseball"
] |
2010/04/25
|
Slow Start and Some Controversy for the Sox
|
After a winter in which they retooled their roster and a spring interrupted by a series of nettlesome distractions, the White Sox could have used a strong start to the season. Didn’t happen. Their first road trip was a dispiriting 2-5 slog through Toronto and Cleveland that brought them home in last place, five games behind division-leading Minnesota. Not exactly dangerous territory with more than five months remaining in the season, but not a good spot for a team that appeared on the brink of a leadership fissure last month over social-media issues, of all things. A silly dispute over the propriety of Twitter usage left Manager Ozzie Guillen and General Manager Ken Williams glowering at each other and cost Guillen’s son Oney his entry-level job with the organization. The Sox also vetoed an Ozzie-themed Web site Guillen’s sons were about to start. Play ball? Whenever you’re ready. Given their comparably strong yet wildly dissimilar personalities, Williams and Guillen had co-existed nicely as they entered the seventh year of their partnership — nothing like a World Series title to ensure domestic tranquillity. But there has been just one playoff appearance since the 2005 victory parade and only five players remain, which gives the championship the feel of moderately ancient history in a notoriously fickle business. “If we win 10 games in a row, 2005 will come back to people’s minds,” Guillen said this week. “If we lose five in a row, they’ll hate me.” Guillen, by nature, is as volatile as the Iceland volcano, rarely possessed of an unspoken thought, with no filter to moderate what passes between his mind and his mouth. “I’m not an easy guy,” he said. “People either like me, or they hate me. There’s no in-between.” His pregame soliloquies are as entertaining as ever, capable of veering off and heading anywhere. But Guillen has seemed uncharacteristically defensive this year, railing against talk radio hosts and callers in one snit and suggesting another managing job will find him should the White Sox decide he’s no longer their man. That hasn’t come up, even when training camp was all atwitter over Twitter. And it’s not likely to come up as long as Jerry Reinsdorf rules the White Sox. The chairman loves Guillen, having more or less ordered Williams to interview him when the Sox were searching for a manager to replace Jerry Manuel after the 2003 season. He loves Williams just as much, having entrusted him with baseball operations over more senior executives when Ron Schueler stepped down as general manager in 2000. A choice between his general manager and his field manager is not one Reinsdorf would relish making. This is a different White Sox team from the six others Guillen has managed. The popular but ponderous sluggers Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye have been discarded in favor of a swifter, more athletic approach Guillen has long advocated. But he discounts the notion that it’s “my team,” that he’ll live or die with his own creation. “This has been my team since the day I got here,” Guillen said. “When it’s not my team, I won’t be here anymore.” Williams shipped Thome to the Dodgers at last season’s trade deadline and has distanced himself from the decision not to re-sign him as a free agent, suggesting it was Guillen’s call. Guillen said he couldn’t offer the 39-year-old enough at-bats to justify a roster spot. “I love Jim Thome,” he said, “but it took him six hours to get ready to bat four times.” Dye’s departure had economic overtones. The Sox held an option worth $12 million, a big number for a 36-year-old outfielder who batted .197 in last season’s second half as his skills declined in the field. Any payroll flexibility they might have had was gobbled up by the late-season waiver-wire addition of outfielder Alex Rios and the trade for pitcher Jake Peavy, which cost the Sox roughly $106 million in combined salary obligations and some intriguing prospects. So Williams has as much skin in the game as Guillen, with a payroll above $100 million. The Sox will probably have to draw more than 2.5 million fans to cover it, but history says they won’t if they don’t contend. They drew 2,284,163 while finishing third last season and haven’t had a crowd of 30,000 this year since an opening-day sellout. Williams and Guillen insist there are no problems between them. And neither is in panic mode. Guillen ascribed the slow start to quiet bats — the Sox were hitting .215 as a team and averaging 3.7 runs per game in losing 11 of their first 16 games. “It’s hard to believe these guys will hit .190, .200, .210 all year,” Guillen said. “It could happen, but it’s hard to believe. The guys we put out there, they have the credentials to play good.” If they don’t, Guillen knows he’ll hear about it. He professes not to care. “If the fans are mad at me,” he said, “I invite them to come out and boo me because at least we’ll have people in the stands.” Williams, typically, has a more measured view. “I am not going to criticize our fans,” he said. “If you have a passionate fan base, you’re going to get a heightened sense of urgency when you’re not playing well, and a heightened level of excitement when you are.” The excitement will come — the White Sox will contend if they pitch and hit like they can. It’s probably not saying much, but they’re clearly the city’s best bet to play on into October.
|
Chicago White Sox;Baseball
|
ny0127680
|
[
"sports",
"baseball"
] |
2012/01/15
|
Yankees Deal From Depth in Their Prospects
|
So this is why the Yankees stockpiled so many catchers in their farm system. Teams need only one starting catcher, after all. Yet on the Baseball America list of the Yankees’ top 10 prospects, they had four catchers — and only two pitchers. We spend so much time analyzing the Yankees, dreaming up trades, calling sources or talk shows or buddies from the bleachers. And it turns out that an obvious move was there all along, just waiting to be sprung on a Friday night in January, along with a significant bonus acquisition. The Yankees sent the best of their catching prospects, Jesus Montero, to the Seattle Mariners in a four-player trade that landed Michael Pineda, an All-Star right-hander who turns 23 this week. They also signed Hiroki Kuroda, a veteran right-hander of the Los Angeles Dodgers, for one year and $10 million. The moves are contingent on the players’ passing physical examinations. Years from now, the trade could be a punch line on some latter version of “Seinfeld,” if Montero slugs like Jay Buhner and Pineda fizzles like Ken Phelps. But that is the nature of this deal, and precisely what makes it so fascinating. It is a classic challenge trade by the general managers, Brian Cashman of the Yankees and Jack Zduriencik of the Mariners. Forget finances — your top young arm for my top young hitter, with an extra young pitcher thrown in on either side (Jose Campos to the Yankees, Hector Noesi to Seattle). There is risk, because Montero, for all his defensive questions, could be a star . But credit Cashman for dealing from depth, maximizing Montero’s value to get five years of contractual control over a high-impact starter. Hitters tend to be much easier to find — and cheaper — in free agency. This feels like a move in that “Minesweeper” computer game in which Cashman clicks on one box and opens up a whole field of open space. Suddenly, instead of the 22-year-old Montero clogging the designated hitter spot, the Yankees have a place for Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez works hard to prepare his body for the long haul, and his powerful infield arm has always been his most underrated tool. But he turns 37 in July, and his body has already started breaking down. To protect the six remaining years (thank you, Hank Steinbrenner) on his contract, the Yankees must keep him off defense. Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira could also use more time at D.H. The Yankees have long maintained that Eduardo Nunez can play every day, and they did compile the American League’s best record last season with Nunez starting 83 games. Now he can start more often at shortstop and third, or remain a supersub if the Yankees sign a veteran to share the D.H. role with Rodriguez. (Hey, old friends Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui are still available.) The effect on the rotation is extraordinary. In Pineda, Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes and the prospects Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances, the Yankees now have a wealth of young starters to go with C. C. Sabathia for the next several years. Together with the veterans Kuroda , A. J. Burnett and Freddy Garcia, the Yankees have plenty of choices for this season. There is much to like about Pineda, whose fastball averaged 94.7 miles per hour last season, according to Fangraphs, trailing only Alexi Ogando, Justin Verlander and David Price among qualifying starting pitchers. Pineda also struck out 9.11 hitters per nine innings; only six averaged more, and four of them — Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum — have won the Cy Young Award. Pineda did rank sixth in fly-ball percentage, which may hurt him more at Yankee Stadium than it did at Safeco Field. He must develop a changeup to go with his fastball and slider; the lack of a reliable third pitch contributed to his fade in the second half, when his earned run average was 5.12, two runs higher than it was before the All-Star break. But Pineda thrives on challenging hitters, the way Pedro Martinez, his idol growing up in the Dominican Republic, did. Pineda pitches like an intimidator , and at 6 feet 7 inches and 260 pounds, he looks the part. “Pedro is a little guy, but on the mound, he’s a big guy,” Pineda said last May after a start in Baltimore. “He’s never scared of the hitter. He throws the ball, focused. I like this a lot. He’s never scared — never.” Pineda’s mentor in the Mariners organization was the former major leaguer Jaime Navarro, who coached him in the minors and lived with him in Seattle last season. Navarro helped Pineda learn English and encouraged Pineda to trust himself. “You have the height, you have all the tools, you have the arm, you have a great career in front of you,” Navarro said he told Pineda. “You’re in a position to attack the hitter, and don’t be afraid of anybody. I don’t care if Babe Ruth or Ted Williams come and stand at home, you go to face a guy with the confidence that you believe in yourself; you’re going to go after these guys. “And he heard it.” The Yankees noticed, too, and moved decisively to get him. They still have three catchers for the future — Gary Sanchez, Austin Romine and J. R. Murphy — while turning a shaky rotation into a strong point. Nobody knows if they will win the deal in the long run. But it made too much sense to turn down.
|
New York Yankees;Baseball;Montero Jesus;Pineda Michael;Seattle Mariners;Kuroda Hiroki;Trades (Sports)
|
ny0166462
|
[
"technology"
] |
2006/08/24
|
The Mall Is an Armory Where Zombies Roam
|
I NEVER realized how many deadly weapons were lying around shopping malls until the zombies came. The sports store had baseball bats and hockey sticks, and the hardware store had crowbars and chainsaws. At a snack shop, I discovered that pouring cooking oil on the floor would cause zombies to slip and slide helplessly. Even items left behind by janitors came in handy; a bucket could be shoved on a zombie’s head, blinding it, and a lawnmower left on the grounds mowed more than grass. Then there is the gun shop. In Capcom’s action game Dead Rising, almost everything is a weapon, including mall benches, mannequin arms, stuffed animals and wire hangers. Not that beating a zombie with a stuffed animal is very effective, but you can do it. The game begins as Frank West, a photojournalist, arrives by helicopter in a small town that has been sealed off by the National Guard. The game begins, not with killing zombies, but with photographing them; one can unlock new skills through points awarded for photos of zombie hordes, imperiled humans or the cleavage of scantily clad female zombies. To get the story, Frank lands on the roof of a shopping mall and tells his pilot to return in 72 hours. The mall is teeming with slow, shambling zombies who ignore Frank until he is a few feet away and then attack with surprising swiftness. Frank can often zigzag past them, but if his path is blocked, he must charge through with a knife, a shotgun or even a soccer ball, which when kicked will bounce from one zombie to the next. As weapons break with use, Frank must grab whatever is handy, like frying pans or brooms. While many video games pride themselves on the canny artificial intelligence of their monsters, Dead Rising’s zombies are amusingly stupid and will simply walk off platforms or take pratfalls down stairs. Unfortunately, that same stupidity is present in the nonzombified mall dwellers Frank must save. Some must be carried, some must be led by the hand and some can use weapons, but all are idiots who will inexplicably stop in a semicircle of zombies, ignoring an easy escape until it is too late. The carnage has driven some survivors mad, and these “psychopaths” go after you with homicidal glee. Apparently madness makes people virtually invincible; many villains can take 30 bullets in the chest before dying. Frank locates psychopaths and other survivors through the constant cellphone updates from a helpful janitor, Otis. By constant, I mean the phone rings about every 15 seconds throughout the game, which is incredibly annoying, especially since Otis often appears to be calling just to repeat a previous message. I say “appears” because Otis’s dialogue, like that of the survivors, is text only, and is done in type so small I could not quite read it. Game programmers working on the best equipment often use text that is hard to read on my aging TV, but the advent of the HDTV -compatible Xbox 360 has made things worse, as designers playing on large-screen, high-definition monitors are not able to see a problem with using small type. The greatest frustration in Dead Rising is not the tiny text but the game’s unusual structure, which is also, oddly enough, one of the most interesting things about it. The game takes place in real time, with events in the game happening at specific times, when Frank must be in the right location. So if you want to go vanquish a psychopath and save a few survivors, you need to make sure you can make it back to the right location in time for the event. You can save your progress at only a handful of specified locations. Most games give you multiple save slots, allowing you to try something tricky and, if it doesn’t work, go back to a safe time, but Dead Rising gives you only a single save slot. If you save your progress, then find that it is impossible to reach the next key event in time, you simply have to start the game over. There are a lot of places to explore and a lot of things to try in the game, but the save structure makes experimentation very costly. Each time you start over, though, it will be a little easier, because as Frank saves people and takes pictures, he becomes stronger and faster, and when you die, you can restart the game with all the upgrades you have earned intact. This makes for a fascinating but infuriating experience reminiscent of the movie “Groundhog Day”; you have to keep reliving the same three days over and over, each time saving a few more people and killing a few more psychopaths until you perfect your game. Like most games from Capcom, Dead Rising is clearly designed by and for hard-core gamers who enjoy perfecting their skills by playing a game to death. I would unhesitatingly recommend the game to such players. But I would also recommend it to people who are put off by the idea of having to play the game and individual sections of it over and over (although they may want to wait until they can buy it cheap on eBay). Dead Rising is so much fun at its best that it sort of makes up for its many, many aggravations. When some people hear that a game lets you run down zombies with a lawnmower, they will be desperate to play it, but other gamers will be just as desperate to avoid it. The latter might prefer Eets, an adorable puzzle game from Klei Entertainment. Eets is an odd little creature who must navigate a series of floating platforms to collect puzzle pieces. To get Eets past obstacles, the player must carefully place and use explosive mushrooms, gravity pills that allow Eets to walk upside down and whales that can suck up objects and shoot them out their spouts. The game is reminiscent of the Incredible Machines puzzle games, which required players to build Rube Goldberg-style contraptions. The difference is Eets, whose abilities are affected by his emotions: an angry Eets can leap huge chasms, a fearful Eets refuses to jump at all. You can manipulate his mood in various ways; pelting him with chips from a chocolate cloud will make him angry, while eating chocolate chips will make him happy. The game gives players as many wondrous ways to move Eets as Dead Rising gives players ways to kill zombies; there are platforms that are affected by Eets’s moods, angry but easily distracted robots and irritable pigs that shoot out explosive baby pigs. The designers of both games were clearly having fun, and whether you are shooting mood-altering mushrooms out of a whale’s spout or beating zombies senseless with a giant stuffed teddy bear, it’s all about having fun.
|
Computer and Video Games;Virtual Reality (Computers)
|
ny0130132
|
[
"world",
"europe"
] |
2012/06/15
|
Family Ties Can Help Illuminate Labor Markets
|
NEW YORK — Close families and flexible labor markets don’t go together. That’s the conclusion of a fascinating paper by a quartet of trans-Atlantic economists. Their work should be required reading for all European politicians and for the economists and pundits around the world who seek to advise them. One truth universally acknowledged in Europe today is that the countries of the south need to overhaul their labor markets: Rigid rules on hiring and firing and on the minimum wage are blamed for the high unemployment and subpar economic growth in these states. Economists are right to point out that inflexible labor markets exact a high economic toll. So why has there been such resistance in countries like Spain and Italy to changes that would create more jobs and stronger growth? One classic answer is the ability of vested interests — workers who do have protected jobs — to defend their own cushy deal at the expense of everyone else. Another is political dysfunction. Alberto F. Alesina, Yann Algan, Pierre Cahuc and Paola Giuliano — the four authors of “ Family Values and the Regulation of Labor ” — wondered whether deeper, cultural factors might also be at play. In their cross-country comparison, the researchers found a correlation between close family ties and a preference for more regulated labor markets. In countries with weaker family ties, there was more support for more open labor markets. That doesn’t mean the people in countries with close family ties are acting irrationally. Instead, rigid labor markets — notwithstanding their economic costs — might actually be a better choice for societies with close family ties. Here is how Ms. Giuliano, an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management, explained the trade-offs: “Suppose you live in a strong family tie society. You don’t want to go far away from home, so you are tied to a certain geographical location. The company that dominates a specific area knows you don’t want to leave to search for a better job, so it offers you a low wage. For that reason, people in those societies may prefer more regulated labor markets.” The work by Ms. Giuliano and her colleagues is a timely rebuke to the one-size-fits-all school of economics. “It could be that those regulations that economists consider effective actually work in some societies and not others,” Ms. Giuliano told me by phone from Rome. “If you make the labor market more flexible, in some countries this reform will work. But if the cultural beliefs are different, the reforms can produce unexpected results.” This cultural lens also offers a possible explanation for the remarkable tolerance of some countries, like those of southern Europe, for high unemployment. A study by the economists Samuel Bentolila and Andrea Ichino argues that close family ties are the key to this mystery as well. “In some sense, unemployment is less painful near the Mediterranean,” they write. That is because extended family networks cushion the blow: “The evidence supports the hypothesis that extended family networks, which appear to be stronger near the Mediterranean, provide a fundamental source of insurance against unemployment in southern Europe.” If you can count on your family to support you, being unemployed isn’t as hard; but staying close to that same family may lead you to favor the rigid labor markets that contribute to your own unemployment. Ms. Giuliano is no flat-earther. She left her native Sicily, first to study in Milan and now to work in the United States, and she took pains to insist that, like the overwhelming majority of the economic fraternity, she believes southern Europe needs to reform its labor markets. Her point is that those reforms will work best if economists take the time to understand the cultural conditions that prompted societies to choose highly regulated systems in the first place. “Economists should understand that when they introduce reforms, they need to take into account cultural conditions,” she said. One reason culture matters so much is that it is remarkably persistent. For a civilian, one of the most striking findings in the paper by Ms. Giuliano and her colleagues is the correlation between family patterns in the Middle Ages and current desires for labor market regulation. Your country’s family structure centuries ago influences how you feel about the minimum wage and severance rules. And the power of culture persists even in immigration . Ms. Giuliano and her colleagues found that the attitudes and the economic circumstances of second-generation immigrants to the United States were shaped by the nature of family relations in their countries of origin — “today as well as 70 years ago, immigrants coming from strong family ties societies tended to have lower mobility rates, lower wages and a higher level of unemployment.” These findings are most relevant to Europe and its raging debate about labor rules. But they also make interesting reading in the United States, where the most ardent advocates of liberal labor markets are also the most vocal defenders of family values. Led most recently by the scholar Charles Murray, the American right has been lamenting the decline of those family values within the white working class. Perhaps the unregulated labor markets that conservatives also champion are partly to blame. One question Ms. Giuliano and her colleagues don’t ask is how technology might change the trade-offs between flexible labor markets and close families. Jane Austen’s heroine Elizabeth Bennet observes that distance between family members is a function of wealth. It is also a function of technology. In the age of Skype, Facebook and cheap air travel, 300 miles today may be closer than 30 miles was a century ago. This could be yet another quandary that we assume to be the province of economists and legislators, which turns out to be solved by technologists. Chrystia Freeland is global editor at large at Reuters.
|
Europe;European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- );Families and Family Life
|
ny0206294
|
[
"business",
"worldbusiness"
] |
2009/01/22
|
Global Industrial Slump Prompts Plant Closings and Layoffs Across Asia
|
KARAWANG, Indonesia — At a three-story factory here that used to make television remote controls, most of the fluorescent lights have been turned off. The hallways are nearly silent, and three-quarters of the workers have been laid off. A pencil factory down the road closed last September, laying off 100 workers. Another nearby factory that turned out carved and painted wooden window frames shut down and laid off 800 workers. And two Toyota factories, one here in Karawang and another in a nearby city, have not renewed the contracts of 277 temporary workers. “In our 11 years here, this is the worst situation with so many layoffs — not even in 1998 was it this bad,” said Abraham Sauate, the manager of the TV remote factory, comparing today with the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998. “The problem now is we don’t know where to go, and we don’t know how long it will last.” On Thursday, Japan said exports fell 35 percent in December from a year earlier as the crisis hurt its main markets. China and Japan draw the most attention, but the global slump in manufacturing is spreading across Asia. Industrial production is dropping in South Korea at the fastest pace since record keeping began in 1975. Taiwanese exports dived 40 percent in December compared with a year earlier. And ports from Indonesia to Thailand are handling ever fewer shipping containers. “There’s not a country in the region that is not slowing sharply or in outright recession,” said Stephen S. Roach, the chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia. During the last crisis, investors took their money out of country after country. Asian leaders thought they had found a solution — increases in exports to the West, particularly of electronics. But that dependence on exports fed this crisis. Now American and European buyers are pulling their import orders from country after country. And while governments have short-term economic stimulus plans, long-term answers seem more elusive. Hard times in factory towns are especially troubling in Asia, where countries depend on manufacturing for a far greater share of economic output than Western countries do, as much as 40 percent in the case of China and other big exporters. That is triple the current 13 percent in the United States, and much higher even than the American peak of 28 percent in 1953. While all of Asia is suffering, some economies are feeling the effects of the global downturn less than others. Many of these countries are latecomers to the world market. They have even lower wages than China and were just starting to benefit from the arrival of businesses seeking to avoid increases in wages and other costs in China from 2003 through last summer. For example, Bangladesh’s exports are dominated by the sale of low-cost garments to mass-market retailers like Wal-Mart that have fared well as consumers have begun shifting toward thriftier purchases. Garment workers in Bangladesh still earn $40 to $50 a month, barely half the minimum wage in export-oriented coastal cities in China. Economic difficulties in the West “will have an impact on Bangladesh in terms of our growth rate, but I’m not concerned it will eat into our share” of the global garment market, said Mustafizur Rahman, the executive director of the Center for Policy Dialogue, a nonpartisan research group in Dhaka that specializes in trade and other economic issues. The numbers bear that out. While overall American imports dropped 12 percent in November compared with a year earlier, imports rose from Bangladesh and from Vietnam. Each country shipped more knit apparel to the United States, and Vietnam also shipped more furniture. Few countries were hit harder in the Asian financial crisis than Indonesia. Much of the banking system collapsed, economic output plunged, riots ensued and the government fell. But Indonesia is often described as one of the less vulnerable countries in Asia, because its insular economy relies less on trade than other countries in the region. With the world’s fourth-largest population — after China, India and the United States — Indonesia has long had a domestic market big enough to sustain large industries without the need for foreign markets. Yet the difficulties here in Karawang show how far the global downturn now reaches. The factories here have attracted workers from all over Indonesia. More are now losing their jobs, just as tens of thousands of migrant Indonesian workers are coming home after being laid off in neighboring countries like Malaysia and Singapore. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is expected to seek a second term in elections in July, has already been forced to announce plans for $6.8 billion in extra government spending this year to stimulate the economy. The stimulus program will help pay for road construction and neighborhood projects. (Indonesia’s constitution is unusual in requiring that a fifth of government spending be dedicated to education, so the program may have long-term benefits as well.) President Obama lived in Jakarta as a boy, and many here hope that he will be able to pull the United States and the rest of the world, including Indonesia, out of its economic slump. “When Obama is president, everything will be better — we hope so because there are so many promises from him,” said Mr. Sauate, the manager of the television remote factory. Other Indonesians are more cautious. “It’s an illusion that Obama can solve all the problems,” said Khamid Istakhoria, the secretary general of the Indonesian Trade Union Alliance Congress, “because no matter who is president, they will face real economic troubles.”
|
Far East South and Southeast Asia and Pacific Areas;Layoffs and Job Reductions;Subprime Mortgage Crisis;International Trade and World Market;manufacturing;Factories and Industrial Plants
|
ny0198419
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2009/07/28
|
Dodd’s Uneasy Dance With Drug Lobbyists
|
As Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut assumes a central role in the debate over health care, the pharmaceutical industry has helped finance efforts to bolster his image back home as he braces for a potentially bruising re-election contest. The industry’s campaign-style push for Mr. Dodd, part of a larger effort to highlight the work of certain lawmakers around the country, portray him as a defender of ordinary citizens in brochures sent to more than 100,000 homes in Connecticut and in a 30-second television spot that ran for three weeks. For Mr. Dodd, the support provided by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America , or PhRMA, the industry’s lobbying arm, comes at a politically sensitive, if not awkward, time. He is trying to combat a perception that he has become too close to powerful interest groups in Washington after 28 years in the Senate. As part of that effort, Mr. Dodd’s own campaign has produced two videos, “ Lobbyists Cry ” and “ The Blues ,” presenting him as a politician who has caused grief for Washington lobbyists. He also sent a fund-raising solicitation asserting that lobbyists do not have access to him. “The lobbyists can’t get meetings with Chris,” the solicitation says. “He won’t return their phone calls. He even yells at them during hearings.” But even as Mr. Dodd attempts to distance himself from these special interests, he is clearly relying on their help as he prepares for his re-election, a reality seized upon by his Republican critics. He has not only benefited from the hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisement courtesy of the pharmaceutical industry and Families U.S.A., a health-care advocacy group the industry teamed up with. But a few weeks ago, Mr. Dodd attended a $1,500-a-plate campaign fund-raiser sponsored by lobbyists representing U.S. Oncology, a provider of cancer drugs and services. Mr. Dodd’s aides say he has often opposed legislation sought by the pharmaceutical industry and other groups that have contributed to him. Jay Howser, Mr. Dodd’s campaign manager, also said the senator had nothing to do with the decision to run the ads and described PhRMA’s partner in the ad campaign, Families U.S.A., as a liberal group. “We have no control over what these groups do,” he said. The efforts drug companies have undertaken to promote — and, presumably, to curry favor with — Mr. Dodd underscore the major stake they have in the debate in Congress over how to pay for coverage of the uninsured. PhRMA has pledged to provide $80 billion over 10 years to help cover the costs of the health-care overhaul. But powerful House members do not think the drug makers have given enough. Other lawmakers also benefited from the ad campaign. The drug industry, along with Families U.S.A., also ran commercials praising a few dozen other members of Congress, largely from states where drug companies have a large presence, according to PhRMA. But Mr. Dodd, a senior Health Committee member, is no ordinary lawmaker. He has assumed the leading role on the committee that his friend, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, had until he was stricken by a brain tumor. “Obviously, Senator Dodd is a player in the health-care reform debate,” acknowledged Ken Johnson, a PhRMA spokesman. “He also represents a state where our companies have a large economic footprint.” The organization would not say how much was spent on the television spot and brochures promoting Mr. Dodd. But according to the research firm TNS Media Intelligence , which tracks advertising spending, it cost about $187,000 to run the television spots from May 30 to June 22. The brochure mailings, in turn, cost at least $40,000, according to political consultants who are not involved in the race. The support Mr. Dodd has received from PhRMA comes at a crucial time politically for him, with polls showing voters in his home state disapproving of his performance. The group’s campaign coincided with an advertising blitz Mr. Dodd undertook from May 28 to July 2 at a cost of nearly $500,000, according to his campaign. Rob Simmons, a former Republican congressman, is expected to challenge Mr. Dodd in the November 2010 election. Mr. Dodd’s problems stem in part from the view among some voters that he has developed cozy ties with the corporations he is supposed to oversee in his capacity as a senior member of several committees with jurisdiction over the financial, health care and other industries. In some ways, he is to blame for this perception. In March he faced a firestorm over his support for a measure that would serve to exempt American International Group, a big campaign contributor of his, from Congressional efforts to limit some executive compensation packages to Wall Street firms that received federal bailout money. After initially denying that he was behind the measure, he acknowledged that his staff introduced it at the urging of the Obama administration. That came only months after he was accused of receiving preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial Corporation, which assigned him to a V.I.P. program in 2003 when he refinanced mortgages on his homes in Connecticut and Washington. Mr. Dodd said that he did not believe that he received preferential rates, however. Mr. Dodd recently went to Martha’s Vineyard for a retreat organized by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, where 30 senators mingled with party donors, including lobbyists. Over his decades in Congress Mr. Dodd has raised more than $550,000 from drug company representatives, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In addition, Mr. Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, was paid nearly $80,000 as a member of the board of Cardiome Pharma Corporation, according to the documents most recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ms. Clegg also holds more than 200,000 shares in Javelin Pharmaceuticals, where she is also a board member. Colleen Flanagan, a Dodd spokeswoman, said Ms. Clegg consulted an ethics lawyer to see if the board positions posed a conflict of interest given her husband’s Senate role. “Her career is entirely her own,” she added.
|
Dodd Christopher J;Lobbying and Lobbyists;Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America;Politics and Government;Drugs (Pharmaceuticals);Conflicts of Interest;Senate
|
ny0208283
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2009/06/13
|
More Lower Manhattan Businesses Disrupted by Rebuilding May Get Aid
|
Long before the recession hit or any of the biggest banks on Wall Street imploded, merchants in Lower Manhattan were complaining that the post-9/11 construction in their neighborhoods was threatening their livelihoods. Now, as the recession wears on, dragging down small businesses at a quickening pace, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is reconsidering who is a victim of the rebuilding of the financial district. The development corporation decided on Thursday to broaden its definition of affected businesses that could be eligible for as much as $4 million in compensation over the next two years. The change, which requires approval of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, would more than triple the number of blocks in the mazy financial district affected by publicly financed construction, making hundreds of additional businesses eligible for aid. The proposal came in response to complaints from business owners and members of Community Board 1, who wondered why the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation had given out so little of the $5 million fund it created in early 2008. About halfway through the program’s life, the development corporation has handed out less than $1 million, said a spokesman, Michael Murphy. The organization’s goal now, he said, is “to get this money out as quickly as possible” to “the maximum number of businesses.” Grants are available to street-level businesses that have no more than 50 employees and that are within a block of a construction or improvement project that closed a street or sidewalk. The businesses must be able to prove that they have suffered from the disruption. Those that do can receive as much as $5 per square foot of their premises for every month they have been affected. “A lot of these merchants are saying they lost 50 percent of their business — and that was even before the recession,” said Edward D. Sheffe III, the chairman of the community board’s financial district committee. “They are operating at the epicenter of the nation’s largest urban-renewal project in history.” Some of them have been frustrated by the omission of their blocks from the development corporation’s list of those affected by construction work. Until now, that list has included about 60 blocks. But Mr. Sheffe said that more than 200 blocks have suffered from disruptions of vehicle and pedestrian traffic caused by major public works like the construction of the Fulton Street Transit Center and smaller projects to repair the district’s basic infrastructure. The program’s expansion could produce a lifeline for merchants like Mouhamad Shami, who runs Alfanoose, a Middle Eastern restaurant on a narrow arc of Maiden Lane between Broadway and Nassau Street. Mr. Shami has been struggling to keep his restaurant open as his Wall Street clientele shrinks and cuts spending. In recent weeks, he said, orders from the big financial companies in the district’s office towers have been down by about half from a year ago. “Whatever they give us, it will be great,” Mr. Shami said of the proposed expansion of the assistance program. “Every bit helps.” But it would come too late to help Klatch, a cafe that opened across the street from Alfanoose in March 2003, on a day when George E. Pataki, who was governor at the time, and several officials of the development corporation paid a surprise visit. Klatch’s owner, Pam Chmiel, was evicted one morning this past April, after she fell behind on the cafe’s rent. “The marshals showed up at my door and said, ‘We’re closing you down,’ ” Ms. Chmiel recounted. “It was so humiliating and shocking.” She said that just before Klatch was shuttered, she appealed to the development corporation, whose board meetings she had catered. But she was told that the construction on her block had ended too soon for her to qualify for any assistance, she said. The aid that Klatch might have been eligible for could have made the difference between success and failure, Ms. Chmiel said. “It would have gone straight to my landlord to appease him and maybe to inspire him to lower my rent, as I was asking,” she said. “It could have definitely helped restore the business.” A week after Klatch closed, a neighboring business, Mardi Gras Pizza, also shut down. “While still not fully recovered from the devastating economic effects of 9/11, Lower Manhattan’s business community is now suffering a second major crisis due to the hardships of the current recession,” said Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat who is on the development corporation’s advisory council. “This small-business assistance is immensely important for the survival of these businesses — and for economic development — in my district.”
|
Lower Manhattan Development Corp;New York City;Recession and Depression;September 11 (2001);Grants (Corporate and Foundation);Infrastructure (Public Works)
|
ny0052207
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2014/10/13
|
Ballot Item Would Reform Redistricting, at Least in Theory
|
It has divided good-government groups, alienated some liberals and reformers from the governor, been ruthlessly edited for veracity by a State Supreme Court justice and, with Election Day just a little more than three weeks away, virtually ignored by the voters. Still, Proposal 1 will be on the statewide ballot Nov. 4 and, given the way things work in Albany, is likely to benefit whichever party wins control of the State Senate after the next decennial census in 2020. Democrats comfortably control the Assembly; the Senate has teetered between the two parties. In theory, at least, the compromise proposal would amend the State Constitution to change the way state legislative and congressional districts are drawn after every census, a process that traditionally has been meticulously, if sometimes awkwardly, designed to favor incumbents. Under existing law, districts are created by a six-member legislative task force, with the majority leaders of the Senate and Assembly each picking two members and the minority leaders each choosing one. The districting plan is subject to approval by the Legislature. Proposal 1 would establish a 10-member commission, with two members appointed by each of the four legislative leaders. Those eight individuals would, in turn, name two more members, neither of whom could be an enrolled Democrat or Republican. After holding 12 hearings, the commission would submit a plan. If the Legislature rejects that plan twice, it could then amend it as it saw fit. Last month, a state judge ordered the Board of Elections to delete the word “independent” from the description of Proposal 1 that will appear on the ballot since most of the commission members would in fact be named by the Legislature, which could also reject the commission’s redistricting recommendations. “Legislative semantics do not change the reality that the commission’s plan is little more than a recommendation to the Legislature, which can reject it for unstated reasons and draw its own lines,” Justice Patrick J. McGrath wrote. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said New Yorkers should support the proposal, which he negotiated with legislative leaders. His Republican opponent in the election, Rob Astorino, opposes it on the grounds that the commission would not be independent enough. So far, the proposal, one of three statewide initiatives on the ballot, has not attracted much attention beyond that of editorial writers and civic groups. “This is a classic example where the perfect should not be the enemy of the good,” said Dick Dadey, the executive director of Citizens Union, which is supporting it along with the League of Women Voters of New York. “This is a good incremental step. “We’ve tried to change this for the past 50 years and haven’t succeeded,” Mr. Dadey said. “We cannot trust legislators to give up power voluntarily. This amendment curbs their power and bans the drawing of districts for political advantage. You can quibble about whether it’s independent or not, but what it is is politically balanced.” But the proposal is opposed by, among others, the New York Public Interest Research Group, and by Common Cause New York, whose executive director, Susan Lerner, argues that it looks good only at first glance. “We should not be memorializing partisan control of redistricting — this requires it,” she said. “There is a set of voting rules that is dependent on who is in the majority of either house. And the criteria for redistricting are deliberately structured so they can do anything they want to with the maps and not provide guidance for the courts. They don’t have to consciously discriminate. They can just ‘respect the cores of existing districts.’ ” Instead of tinkering with the system now, Ms. Lerner said, “we have time between now and 2022 to set up a good system through statute or a constitutional amendment. If we settle for the crumbs that the Legislature is willing to give us, then we don’t actually get reform.”
|
New York;Redistricting and Reapportionment;gerrymandering;Referendum;Constitutional amendment;Patrick J McGrath;Politics
|
ny0151751
|
[
"business"
] |
2008/08/21
|
Report Rejects Medicare Boast of Paring Fraud
|
Medicare ’s top officials said in 2006 that they had reduced the number of fraudulent and improper claims paid by the agency, keeping billions of dollars out of the hands of people trying to game the system. But according to a confidential draft of a federal inspector general’s report, those claims of success, which earned Medicare wide praise from lawmakers, were misleading. In calculating the agency’s rate of improper payments, Medicare officials told outside auditors to ignore government policies that would have accurately measured fraud, according to the report. For example, auditors were told not to compare invoices from salespeople against doctors’ records, as required by law, to make sure that medical equipment went to actual patients. As a result, Medicare did not detect that more than one-third of spending for wheelchairs, oxygen supplies and other medical equipment in its 2006 fiscal year was improper, according to the report. Based on data in other Medicare reports, that would be about $2.8 billion in improper spending. That same year, Medicare officials told Congress that they had succeeded in driving down the cost of fraud in medical equipment to $700 million. Some lawmakers and Congressional staff members say the irregularities that the inspector general found were tantamount to corruption and raise broader questions about the credibility of other Medicare figures. “This is outrageous,” said Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, who has repeatedly credited the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with reducing improper expenditures. “If heads don’t roll, you can’t change the culture of this organization,” he added. Senator Grassley had not yet received the full report from the inspector general but had been briefed on its contents. The report — a draft of which was obtained by The New York Times — will probably be made public within the next week, according to federal officials. The inspector general may change or edit the findings of the report before it is officially released. Congressional staff said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — the agency overseeing Medicare — was lobbying the inspector to play down the report’s conclusions. A spokesman for Medicare said that the agency agreed with the inspector general that the agency’s reported level of improper billing for durable medical equipment, or D.M.E., should have been higher. But Medicare says the $2.8 billion figure is unsupported. “Allegations of manipulation of this error rate are preposterous,” said the spokesman, Jeff Nelligan. “The agency has aggressively targeted fraud and improper payments in the D.M.E. program. We have a history of working closely with the inspector general and will continue to do so.” A representative of the Office of Inspector General that created the report — part of Medicare’s parent, the Department of Health and Human Services — said it did not comment on draft reports. Fraudulent and improper payments have long bedeviled Medicare, a $466 billion program. In particular, payments for durable medical equipment, like power wheelchairs and diabetic test kits, are ripe for fraud. Equipment sellers have submitted counterfeit documents, forged doctors’ signatures and filed claims on behalf of patients who were dead or had never been seen by the prescribing physician, according to many reports by government oversight agencies. For example, a Florida businessman was sentenced last year to 37 months in prison for submitting more than $5.5 million of fake claims to Medicare. The businessman operated for months, despite giving the agency an address that was actually a utility closet. On July 1, Medicare instituted a new competitive bidding system that officials said would reduce both fraud and costs for medical equipment. On July 15, however, Congress suspended the program, after equipment manufacturers and sellers began an aggressive lobbying campaign. Senator Grassley said Congress might push for an investigation into the private company that was hired to fulfill Medicare’s auditing program, the AdvanceMed Corporation, a division of the Computer Sciences Corporation. The report mentions AdvanceMed by name. Representatives of AdvanceMed did not return calls. The company has received contracts worth more than $34 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services since 2005. “This report doesn’t surprise me,” said Representative Pete Stark, Democrat of California and a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee. He has pushed to cut improper Medicare spending. “To look better to the public, you cook the books,” he said. “This agency is incompetent.” The Office of Inspector General’s report details scrutiny of a program known as Comprehensive Error Rate Testing, or CERT, that audits a sample of Medicare claims submitted by sellers of durable medical equipment. That program is supposed to randomly choose claims and review the medical records and other documents supporting submitted claims to determine whether payment is justified. According to the inspector general’s report, officials at Medicare instructed AdvanceMed to disregard those policies. Instead, AdvanceMed was told to examine only the documents submitted by the companies selling the medical equipment, rather than verify those documents against physicians’ records. Medicare reported to Congress that, for the fiscal year of 2006, AdvanceMed’s investigations had found that only 7.5 percent of claims paid by Medicare were not supported by appropriate documentation. But the inspector general’s review indicated that the actual error rate was closer to 31.5 percent. For instance, according to the report, the Office of Inspector General examined a claim for an electric wheelchair that AdvanceMed had said was appropriate. The inspector general’s investigation revealed that the physician who was listed as having prescribed the wheelchair had no knowledge of the prescription. The person who received the wheelchair said that he had never met with the physician, that he did not need a wheelchair and that he had never used it, according to the report. His wife had also received a wheelchair that she had not asked for and never used. Equipment sellers can pocket more than $2,500 every time they send a powered wheelchair to a patient and bill Medicare. “This is like letting the fox guard the henhouse,” said Malcolm Sparrow, a Harvard University professor who focuses on health care fraud. “The supplier has an incentive to supply fabricated documents or to imply that medical records support a purchase when they don’t. If you don’t ask the physician or ask for medical records, you can’t really verify anything.”
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Medicare;Frauds and Swindling;Health Insurance and Managed Care
|
ny0129721
|
[
"us"
] |
2012/06/01
|
Washington: Man In Cafe Called a Hero During Shooting
|
Someone inside the Seattle cafe where a gunman opened fire on Wednesday threw stools at him, allowing others to run to safety, the police said. The attacker, Ian Lee Stawicki, 40, used two .45-caliber handguns to kill four people at Cafe Racer. The police said he fled and later killed a motorist, taking off with her S.U.V. He killed himself as police officers closed in. The police did not identify the man they called a hero, or say whether he was a patron or an employee, but they said two or three people had been able to flee as a result of his actions. The gunman’s father, Walter Stawicki, struggled Thursday to understand how his son could have gone on a shooting rampage, and he apologized to the victims’ families. “It sounds so trite, that I feel their grief.” he said. “I just hope they understand he wasn’t a monster out to kill people.” He said that his son had suffered from mental illness for years and gotten “exponentially” more erratic, but that family members had been unable to get him to seek help. “We couldn’t get him in, and they wouldn’t hold him,” he said. “The only way to get an intervention in time is to lie and say they threatened you. Our hands were so tied.”
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Murders and Attempted Murders;Seattle (Wash);Stawicki Ian Lee
|
ny0289267
|
[
"us"
] |
2016/01/05
|
As Justices Weigh Affirmative Action, Michigan Offers an Alternative
|
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Kedra Ishop got results. A year after Dr. Ishop began her new job here as enrollment manager at the University of Michigan — responsible for shaping the makeup of incoming classes — the university increased the number of minority students in the 2015 freshman class by almost 20 percent, to the highest percentage since 2005. African-Americans gained the most. It was a significant change at an institution where minority enrollment plunged after Michigan voters banned affirmative action in 2006. “It’s a courtship,” Dr. Ishop said, explaining the strategy. Now, Dr. Ishop may be showing the way forward for many colleges as the Supreme Court considers a challenge to the affirmative action policy of the University of Texas at Austin, where she honed her skills. The case could result in a decision that applies narrowly to the Texas process, or it could take the bigger leap of ending the use of race as a factor in college admissions. If the court rules more broadly, public and private universities across the country that want to create more racially diverse classes will have to find new ways of doing so. The University of Michigan, a highly competitive public university, has long been at the center of affirmative action battles, with two landmark Supreme Court cases, both decided in 2003. In Grutter v. Bollinger , the court upheld the use of race as a factor in the university’s law school admissions, saying it helped achieve a “critical mass” of minority students. But the decision foresaw a day, perhaps 25 years in the future, when race-conscious admissions would no longer be necessary. In Gratz v. Bollinger , however, the court struck down a system of undergraduate admissions that automatically awarded 20 points, a fifth of those needed to guarantee admission, to “underrepresented minorities” — African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. The court said the point system was not individualized enough and violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment . In 2006, Michigan voters took their own stand on the matter, in a referendum banning affirmative action at public colleges and universities. Lee Bollinger, who was Michigan’s president during the Supreme Court cases and now leads Columbia University, considers this chain of events a serious blow. “What is the reality that we are trying to address in our society, including at colleges and universities trying to build diverse student bodies?” he said in an interview. “It really is trying to overcome two centuries of legacies of discrimination and active disempowerment and wealth transfer.” But Richard Sander, an economist and law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the most prominent critics of affirmative action, said that even though small racial preferences may be justified, when there is a very large disparity between the entering credentials of white and black students, black students become demoralized by their inability to compete and are less likely to succeed. Image Students on Michigan's campus. Despite an increase in minority enrollment in the 2015 freshman class, the overall number of minority students is lower than it was in 2006, when the state banned affirmative action. Credit Laura McDermott for The New York Times Dr. Sander said he thought colleges were more concerned with having “a politically correct balanced student body,” in part by admitting wealthy black and Hispanic students, than with the harder work of finding truly disadvantaged students and giving them a chance to thrive. What constitutes a critical mass, as the Supreme Court put it, of minority students at a place like Michigan remains subjective. As far as Robby Greenfield, a senior engineering student there and the former treasurer of the Black Student Union, is concerned, that number is still elusive. “There needs to be enough to culturally shift the dialogue on campus,” said Mr. Greenfield, who is from Atlanta and whose parents are doctors. After thinking about it for a moment, he added, only half-facetiously, “I think it should be the same as the percentage of Michigan football players who are black.” The battle over affirmative action has been waged across the country as Arizona, California, Florida, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington have also banned the practice. The results, according to a report by the Century Foundation , a public policy research group, have been mixed. Seven of 11 flagship universities in those states achieved as much or more diversity through strategies like guaranteeing admission for top graduates from each high school in the state, giving priority to low-income students, improving financial aid packages, stepping up recruitment and eliminating legacy preferences. The main exceptions, the foundation said, were the three most elite universities: the University of Michigan; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of California, Los Angeles. Given the long-term trend, Michigan officials are wary of calling their approach an unqualified success. They say one year is not enough to consider the matter closed, especially after years of sluggish minority enrollment. In a brief that Michigan filed in the Texas case, officials told the justices that the overall drop in minority enrollment since 2006 was a “cautionary tale” about the difficulty of choosing a diverse class without being able to consider race. They said that since the statewide ban, a panoply of recruitment and outreach efforts had fallen short. Using low income as a proxy for race also had not been effective, they said, because there are far more white students than black students in Michigan who come from low-income families and have the threshold test scores for admission. And they said that even now, the overall numbers of minority students are still lower than they were in 2006: 12 percent down for undergraduates and 14.5 percent lower for professional-school students. A major problem, the brief argued, is that other elite institutions draw on the same population of blacks and Hispanics that it wants to admit. On this point, Richard Kahlenberg, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, agreed, but he said the problem was that just about everyone else has affirmative action, not that Michigan lacks it. Image From left, Robby Greenfield, Julian Turley and Arnold Reed, who have been Black Student Union officers at Michigan. Mr. Greenfield said minority enrollment needed to be high enough to "culturally shift the dialogue on campus." Credit Laura McDermott for The New York Times “The University of Wisconsin can give you a preference, Princeton can give you a preference,” said Mr. Kahlenberg, who favors preferences for low-income students as a way of achieving diversity. “So if you’re getting into Michigan without a preference, you’re probably getting into an even more prestigious institution with a preference, and where are you going to go? You’re not going to go to Michigan. So Michigan has unilaterally disarmed in selection of black and Latino students.” Mr. Greenfield, the engineering student, scoffed at this logic, saying that in his personal experience, it was not true that the Ivy League and Michigan were accepting the same students. At Michigan, Dr. Ishop has focused on maximizing the number of students offered admission who enroll, what educators call “yield.” At Michigan, the yield is close to 70 percent for in-state undergraduates, which hardly changed from 2014 to 2015; for all freshmen, it was 45 percent last fall, up from 41 percent in 2014. After the 2015 freshman class was offered admission, everyone from faculty members to deans to alumni to students made personal calls to encourage students to attend. Student aid was increased and relabeled as “tuition” scholarships, because families were found to respond to that word more than to the dollar amount. In addition, the size of the freshman class was cut, by 434 students to 6,071, and no one was admitted off the waiting list, which favors higher-income — often white and Asian — students, who can afford to put down a deposit to reserve admission at another college while they wait. While the number of black and Hispanic freshmen jumped by a combined 23.5 percent, the number of whites and Asians fell. Black enrollment gained the most, rising to 5.11 percent of the freshman class from 3.84 percent the year before, a gain that though small, just 58 students, has been surprisingly visible, students said. “There’s black people everywhere,” Mr. Greenfield said. Michigan students have expressed their sense of racial isolation by sharing experiences through a popular Twitter hashtag, #BBUM (Being Black at the University of Michigan). Mr. Greenfield said that in the wake of such protests, which began in 2013, the university had shown a new sensitivity, by improving minority enrollment and approving the construction of a $10 million multicultural center. Julian Turley, who is also black, grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich. His mother teaches in the second grade, and his father, who died a year ago, was a truck driver. Mr. Turley did not get into Michigan straight out of high school, but he transferred from a community college after raising his grades a bit. He was glad he had been given a second chance. The difference between community college and Michigan had been “mind-boggling,” the senior said, peering through large tortoise-framed glasses as he ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant, part of his goal to try every restaurant in Ann Arbor before he graduates. “It’s been a lot like drinking water from a fire hose,” he said of attending Michigan. “Whoa — there is so much opportunity.” Arnold Reed, a senior who came to Michigan from a private school in the affluent Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield, and who is applying to law school, said being one of a few black students on campus had made him stronger: “I have been driven because of those low numbers to succeed.”
|
College;Affirmative action;Supreme Court,SCOTUS;Minorities;Black People,African-Americans;University of Michigan;University of Texas at Austin;University of Texas at Austin
|
ny0050447
|
[
"us"
] |
2014/10/28
|
Justices Drawing Dotted Lines With Terse Orders in Big Cases
|
WASHINGTON — People used to complain that Supreme Court decisions were too long and tangled. Those were the days. In recent weeks, the court has addressed cases on the great issues of the day without favoring the nation with even a whisper of explanation. In terse orders, the court expanded the availability of same-sex marriage , let a dozen abortion clinics in Texas reopen , and made it harder to vote in three states and easier in one . Judges and lawyers who used to have to try to make sense of endless, opaque opinions now have to divine what the Supreme Court’s silence means. There is something odd about the court’s docket these days. When the court considers a minor case on, say, teeth whitening, it receives a pile of briefs, hears an hour of arguments and issues a carefully reasoned decision noting every justice’s position. When the stakes are higher, the court turns oracular. “The court’s unexplained orders don’t always live up to its otherwise high standards of legal craft,” said William Baude , a law professor at the University of Chicago. “The court doesn’t tell us its reasoning, and we don’t even know for sure which justices agree with the result.” It is probably useful to distinguish between two kinds of orders: ones denying petitions urging the court to hear appeals and ones taking action on emergency applications in cases pending in the lower courts. On Oct. 6, the court issued the first kind of order, turning down seven petitions asking it to review appeals court decisions striking down bans on same-sex marriage . The Supreme Court’s move in short order effectively increased the number of states that allow gay couples to marry to 35 from 19. The court receives about 8,000 petitions seeking review every year and accepts roughly 75. It would be a lot of work to explain why it turns down the rest. “If the court is to do its work, it would not be feasible to give reasons, however brief, for refusing to take these cases,” Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote in a 1950 opinion . It takes four votes to add a case to the Supreme Court’s docket. All a denial means, Justice Frankfurter said, is that fewer than four justices thought it was a good idea to hear that case. “This court has rigorously insisted that such a denial carries with it no implication whatever regarding the court’s views on the merits of a case which it has declined to review,” he wrote. “The court has said this again and again; again and again the admonition has to be repeated.” Thomas C. Horne, Arizona’s attorney general, may need another reminder. In explaining why he would not appeal a federal judge’s order striking down his state’s ban on same-sex marriage, he said the Supreme Court “has shown an unwillingness to accept review” of the issue. In light of that, Mr. Horne said, it would be foolhardy to pursue an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, and then to the Supreme Court. “The probability of persuading the Ninth Circuit to reverse today’s decision is zero,” he said. “The probability of the United States Supreme Court accepting review of the Ninth Circuit decision is also zero.” That may well be right. But it is an inference from vanishingly thin evidence. And that evidence, the Supreme Court has repeatedly instructed judges and lawyers, should be ignored. The Supreme Court’s other recent orders came in response to emergency applications concerning elections and abortion. It is less clear why those orders did not give reasons, particularly as some of them came with dissents. The orders certainly gave lower-court judges very little guidance. Consider Judge Edith Brown Clement, who recently had to try to figure out what to make of three of the court’s orders in election cases. The justices had allowed Ohio to cut back on early voting and let North Carolina bar same-day registration and the counting of votes cast in the wrong precinct. But they had stopped Wisconsin from requiring voters there to provide photo identification. Judge Clement, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, did the best she could to identify a theme. “While the Supreme Court has not explained its reasons for issuing these stays, the common thread is clearly that the decision of the court of appeals would change the rules of the election too soon before the election date,” she wrote on Oct. 14. “The stayed decisions have both upheld and struck down state statutes and affirmed and reversed district court decisions, so the timing of the decisions rather than their merits seems to be the key.” Judge Clement guessed right. The Fifth Circuit allowed Texas to use its strict voter ID law in the November election, and a few days later the Supreme Court agreed, again without explanation. Professor Baude said a murmur of reasoning might have been in order. “The justices are being cautious, but too cautious,” he said. “They’re used to having time to be thoughtful. When they issue an order under time pressure, they may want to avoid saying too much and setting a bad precedent. But when the order reverses a lower court or disagrees with a dissent they should tell us why, at least a little bit.” At his confirmation hearing, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said he would strive to make the court’s opinions clear and accessible. “I hope we haven’t gotten to the point where the Supreme Court’s opinions are so abstruse that the educated layperson can’t pick them up and read them and understand them,” he said. In a way, he has achieved his goal. The court’s opinions in this fall’s orders are not abstruse. They are absent.
|
Supreme Court,SCOTUS;Same-Sex Marriage,Gay Marriage;Voter registration;Abortion;Judiciary;Edith Brown Clement
|
ny0202292
|
[
"business",
"smallbusiness"
] |
2009/08/05
|
And the Next C.E.O. Will Be...
|
You aren’t going to be in charge of the company forever. Who is going to be your successor? If you don’t know, aren’t sure or haven’t thought about it, the following advice could help. AVOID MISTAKES There are three common pitfalls you want to guard against, as you go about choosing your successor, says Francie Dalton, president of Dalton Alliances Inc., a management consulting firm. She refers to these as “the three Cs.” The first is capitulation, or completely avoiding the decision of who is going to replace you. The second is clone — trying to find a twin you, or someone as good as you perceive yourself to be. If you go that route, she says, “no one will ever meet your standards.” Finally, you don’t want to pick someone primarily on the basis of chemistry — that is, the candidate’s No. 1 qualification is that you like him or her. STARTING FROM SCRATCH Not certain where to begin in thinking about a successor? Carole Matthews, writing on Inc.com , interviewed Leslie Dashew, president of the Human Side of Enterprise, on the issue. Ms. Dashew provided three good questions to stimulate your thinking: ¶Where is the business heading, and what skills will be needed to take it there? ¶Will family members, employees and investors have confidence in the person you are thinking of picking? ¶Can the potential successor work well with the management team and you? GET HELP Picking your successor can be an emotional and potentially overwhelming decision, of course. After asking those opening questions, if you are still not sure who your successor should be, experts suggest turning the problem over to your board or an outside search firm. Having them evaluate candidates can add objectivity. WHAT TO DO Having settled on your successor, Heath Finn writing on Score.org , suggests you take the following three steps : 1. “Develop a formal training plan for your successor. Immerse your successor in the business of your company so he or she sees both the depth and breadth of the operation. This may sound simple enough, but there is a certain amount of ‘letting go’ that goes along with teaching your successor by allowing him or her to learn, grow and make mistakes before assuming the helm.” 2. Determine when the change in command will happen. Employees need to be clear who is going to be in charge when. “Once that’s accomplished, you need to be prepared to let your successor carry out the role for which he or she has been trained. Ultimately, your successor’s success or failure is up to him or her.” 3. Prepare to retire. “As your successor takes on more and more responsibilities, spend time planning how you will continue to be energized and involved in other activities away from the business.” LAST CALL And then there is the advice you want to leave for the person who comes after you. The following, from Notboring.com , may not be the way to go: On his final day, the outgoing chief executive hands his successor three numbered envelopes. “Should you encounter a problem you feel you’re not capable of solving,” says the old executive, “open these.” Six months later, sales start to fall, and the new chief executive doesn’t know what to do. Then, he remembers the envelopes and opens the first one, which contains the message, “Blame your predecessor.” The new executive does, and the media, his bankers and Wall Street are placated. Sales began to pick up and the problem is soon behind him. About a year later, the company again experiences problems. Having learned from his previous experience, the executive quickly opened the second envelope. The message: “Reorganize.” Again, the advice pays off. But after several consecutive profitable quarters, the executive needs help again, so he opens the last envelope. The message: “Prepare three envelopes.”
|
Small Business;Entrepreneurship;Executives and Management;Appointments and Executive Changes
|
ny0091318
|
[
"sports"
] |
2015/08/04
|
Katie Ledecky Breaks World Record, Almost by Accident
|
KAZAN, Russia — Out of the water, Katie Ledecky does little to draw attention to herself. She dresses demurely, wears her hair in a relaxed bob and is quiet in a crowd, content to leave the performing to others. When she does talk, she speaks the way she writes: succinctly, with nary a run-on sentence. The swimming pool is Ledecky’s phone booth. She enters it and changes into a superhero who swoops into public consciousness a couple of times a year to single-handedly save distance swimming from disappearing off the face of the earth. The three preliminary heats of the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle, Ledecky’s only race of the day at the world championships, were placed at the end of Monday’s morning session for a reason. By that time, most of the athletes and many of the fans had left, leaving the 15,000-seat Kazan Arena less than a quarter full. Even before the advent of the short attention span, the universal belief has been that meets can be enough of an exercise in endurance without subjecting spectators to the scene of bodies swimming facedown in the water for several minutes or more. Then along came Ledecky. In her own low-key way, she has made people stand up and take notice of her and the long races that fuel her journey of self-discovery. Singular feats of human achievement never grow mundane, and what Ledecky, 18, would produce on this sleepy morning was her eighth world record in the past two years. As Ledecky settled into her metronomic pace, the traffic in the warm-down pool, which usually flows in a steady current, clogged up as swimmers stopped or hopped out of the pool to glance at the giant video screen and check her progress. Image Ledecky on her way to setting a world record Monday at the world championships. Credit Patrick B. Kraemer/European Pressphoto Agency The few thousand people left in the building gradually stirred to life as the scoreboard flashed splits that showed Ledecky was under her world-record pace. The distance between Ledecky and her nearest competitor, Jessica Ashwood of Australia, stretched from two body lengths to 20 meters, then to almost 29 seconds. Roughly a dozen of Ledecky’s American teammates moved down from the top of the grandstands and cajoled a taciturn security guard into letting them reposition themselves in a corner closest to the starting blocks so she could better hear their cheers. By the final lap, some Russian fans in the grandstand at the end of the pool, opposite the starting blocks, were banging their CheerStix together as if they were cymbals. In the grandstands running the length of the pool, on the side where Ledecky breathed on the even laps, stood her parents, her uncle and her brother, who was operating a video camera in his right hand and gesturing madly with his left, trying to hurry her home. Ledecky stopped the clock in 15 minutes 27.71 seconds, which was 65-hundredths of a second better than her record time in last summer’s Pan Pacific Championships . She laughed when she saw the time. It was like Taylor Swift taping herself singing in the shower and having the recording become the best-selling song of all time. Ledecky’s instructions from her coach, Bruce Gemmell, had been to treat the swim as a standard warm-up: Swim the first 900 meters easy, increase the effort over the next 300 meters, and swim the last 300 meters in whatever way she preferred. Ledecky thought she had done an exemplary job of following his directions, which accounted for her stunned look when she saw her time blazing on the scoreboard. In 2015, only 14 American men have gone faster over 1,500 meters. Ledecky’s time would make her 96th in the men’s world rankings. Image Ledecky, who had been instructed by her coach to treat the heat as a standard warm-up, was surprised by her result. Credit Michael Sohn/Associated Press As she let the time settle in, Ledecky leaned across the lane line, locked eyes with Gemmell and shrugged. Athletes from every sport and of any skill level could surely read the message conveyed by her body language: Sometimes the less you consciously try, the more you conspicuously achieve. “I think the biggest takeaway is when you can relax and perform without expectations,” Gemmell said, “those are where the highest-level performances come.” He added, “When you can relax and not have expectations and let yourself perform at the level you’ve prepared for, sometimes you get your best performances.” Ledecky, who came up maddeningly short in her world-record bid in the 400 freestyle Sunday, offered another explanation: numerology. She informed Gemmell afterward that she won the 800 freestyle at the London Olympics on Aug. 3, 2012, and set her first world record in the 800 at the 2013 world championships on Aug. 3. Monday was another Aug. 3 — and she was in the third heat to boot. Ledecky’s world record was the first of three set on the second day of the meet. In the evening session, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden lowered her day-old mark in the 100 butterfly by a hundredth of a second, winning in 55.64 seconds. Katinka Hosszu of Hungary broke the longest-standing individual women’s world record with a 2:06.12 in the 200 individual medley. She surpassed the American Ariana Kukors’s 2:06.15, recorded in 2009 in a suit that has since been outlawed. The women’s 1,500 final is Tuesday, and Ledecky hopes it will serve as a similarly sublime warm-up for the 200-meter freestyle semifinals that will follow roughly 20 minutes later. The 200 freestyle has a marquee field that includes the defending champion — and Ledecky’s teammate — Missy Franklin. Franklin, who left the pool before Ledecky’s race to rest for her 100-meter backstroke semifinal, was eating lunch when she heard about the record. “Katie’s so special in that some people might almost get used to breaking a world record every time they swim,” Franklin said. “But I feel like she really, really appreciates it, but she also doesn’t do it for the world record. She’s just going out there and trying to be her best, and that just happens to be a world record.” It must be a sinking feeling for Ledecky’s rivals, many of whom are accustomed to setting the pace and swimming from ahead, to be falling farther and farther behind. How do they relax and be their best when they are getting lapped on a world stage? Before she was done, Ledecky had lapped the swimmers in Lanes 1, 8 and 9. The competitor in Lane 1 happened to be her teammate Katy Campbell, a U.C.L.A. standout who won the national title in the 1,500 free last summer after Ledecky scratched. Campbell, who finished 1 minute 12 seconds behind Ledecky, said, “I mean, it’s tough racing her, but you know you’re racing the best, and you know that if you can get close to her, you are probably one of the best, too.” In 2004, a talented 19-year-old American entered the men’s 1,500 at the Olympic trials and produced a top-eight time. He was Ryan Lochte, who has gone on to win 11 Olympic medals at much shorter distances. Asked Monday if he could remember his time, Lochte said, “A 15:22?” It was a 15:28.37. Lochte sighed. “Ledecky beat me,” he said. “Nice.” He added: “She’s one of the best distance freestylers I’ve ever seen. I trained with her in Colorado once, and she made me look like I was stopping. She flew by me.” Somewhere, someone is going to pay close attention whenever Ledecky races. “There’s some 13-year-old out there right now,” Lochte said, “who looks at Katie and says: ‘I can do that. I can beat her.’ They’re full of energy and naïve enough and full of hope and everything else, and it’ll happen.”
|
Swimming;Katie Ledecky;Records and Achievements
|
ny0296516
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2016/12/15
|
The Trials of a Boxing Romantic
|
In a glowing underpass in Central Park one night last month, a man and woman danced through a boxing routine. They skipped rope and sparred. He swung and she ducked. Echoing through the space, playing on a cellphone, was a piano composition by the Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona. It had the feel of a dirge, possibly because Fidel Castro had died three nights earlier. “I still don’t want to accept it,” the trainer, Brin-Jonathan Butler, said. “A year after from now, no one will believe it all ever existed.” Mr. Butler, 37, is among his generation’s foremost boxing writers — the candidate pool for his anachronistic profession is admittedly small — and his book, “ The Domino Diaries ,” an immersion into Cuba’s boxing culture, positions him in a line of literary acolytes of Ernest Hemingway. But being a boxing writer now is a less viable career path than it was in Hemingway’s day, and the exotic Havana he visited is becoming a popular Instagram destination for JetBlue passengers . So Mr. Butler makes ends meet by teaching boxing to a dozen or so clients at $90 a session in Central Park, no matter the weather. “When I came to New York, someone told me ‘You’re either rich or you have a second job,’” he said. His book, which Picador published last year and recently came out in paperback, recounts his trip to Cuba in 2000 with little more than boxing gloves, a wad of cash and a vague plan to research Cuban boxing. He ended up living there on and off for a decade. His small apartment in an East Harlem walk-up is filled with tattered pictures of Che Guevara and Castro. “Some people have a feeling home is not where you were born,” he said. “I felt I’d come home when I went to Havana.” For boxing fans, Cuba holds an outsize mystique . Since Castro took power in 1959, the island has won more Olympic gold medals in boxing than any other country , but its fighters have for the most part resisted the temptation to defect to the United States, turning down multimillion-dollar offers in apparent loyalty to the revolution. Mr. Butler found the paradox worth exploring, and his book argues that the sport is as entwined with Cuba’s narrative of defiance toward America as much as anything else. Image Mr. Butler’s book “The Domino Diaries,” an immersion into Cuba’s boxing culture, positioned him in a line of literary acolytes of Ernest Hemingway. Credit via Brin Jonathan Butler His adventures over the years were plentiful. He interviewed Cuba’s most decorated boxers, finding them living in poverty: Several had sold their gold medals because they needed the money; another agreed to train him for $6 a day, and another decreed he chug a glass of vodka as a test of character. The book chronicles Mr. Butler’s fling with one of Castro’s granddaughters and the time he bet his life savings on a fight (he won). He also retraced Hemingway’s footsteps, talking his way into his literary idol’s home and traveling to a small fishing town to find the old man who inspired “The Old Man and the Sea,” who was then 102 . These days, you can find him in Central Park. Another tune started to play as his student agonized through push-ups. “You’d see these boxers dominate at the Olympics, and then they’d just disappear,” he said. “They were fighting for something more important than money. I had to go find out why.” Mr. Butler was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1979 and began boxing, he said, for the same reason everyone starts boxing. “When you get into the ring, you think everyone’s there for a different reason than you, but that’s not true,” he said. “It’s all the same reason: to reclaim respect.” In his case, classmates violently ambushed him on an empty field when he was 11. He retreated into reading Dostoyevsky and punching heavy bags. He arrived in Havana when he was 20, around the time of the Elián González conflict . His book started writing itself on the plane. An antique bookseller seated beside him claimed to know the location of Gregorio Fuentes, the fisherman who inspired Hemingway; flight attendants had cut off the bookseller from more alcohol, however, and he agreed to help only if Mr. Butler ordered him more whiskey. Soon after settling into Havana, Mr. Butler found himself knocking on a door in the quiet fishing village of Cojímar, east of the capital. He spent only 20 minutes with the wrinkled man who emerged. “He said that after Hemingway committed suicide, he never fished again,” Mr. Butler recalled. “He told me, ‘He was my friend, and I never wanted to fish again after that.’” Mr. Fuentes died two years later. John Hemingway, one of Ernest Hemingway’s grandsons , became a fan of Mr. Butler’s writing and started a correspondence with him. “I really liked a piece he wrote about bullfighting in Spain, so I wrote him a letter,” Mr. Hemingway said in a phone call. “Brin looks at the corrida as the art form we consider it to be. We almost went to see José Tomás in Mexico City together. He’s the best bullfighter in the world right now. Anyone who gets the chance to see him before he retires or gets killed is in for a treat.” Image Mr. Butler with Gregorio Fuentes, left, the inspiration for the fisherman in Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” Credit via Brin-Jonathan Butler But Mr. Butler spent most of his time in Cuba, living in a crumbling apartment on Neptune Street, exploring the thesis of his book. “Heroes weren’t for sale,” he wrote. “But how long could that last? How long could anyone resist not cashing in? And if no price was acceptable to sell out, what was the cost of that stance?” He enlisted at Rafael Trejo , a historic boxing gym in the city’s old red-light district, where wrenches were banged against fire extinguishers as bells. “These old women guarded the door,” he said. “They reminded me of the sisters from ‘Macbeth.’ You had to pay them $2 to enter, but then you trained outside under the stars and punched tires instead of punching bags.” Everything Mr. Butler thought he knew about boxing got turned backward: At government-funded stadium matches, there were no cameras, no concession stands, no corporate sponsorships, no ticket scalpers and no V.I.P. seating. There was also no air-conditioning. “Without the incentive of money, I watched people fight harder than anywhere else I’d ever seen,” he wrote. “But I knew full well that most Cuban champions were so desperate for money that many had sold off all their Olympic medals, and even uniforms, to the highest tourist bidder. That part of the Cuban sports legacy was omitted from their tales.” He found his first Olympian, Héctor Vinent , shortly after arriving. Mr. Vinent, who won Olympic gold medals in the 1990s, started training Mr. Butler at the gym for $6 a session. Mr. Butler then found Teófilo Stevenson, whom the BBC once described as Cuba’s “most famous figure after Fidel Castro .” Mr. Stevenson became a Cuban legend after winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals (’72, ’76, ’80) and turning down $5 million to fight Muhammad Ali in the United States. Tall and strapping, his refusal to defect made him a potent symbol of the revolution. When Mr. Butler found him, he was living in penury at 59, charging $130 to be interviewed on camera at his Havana home. He died a year later. “He turned down millions to leave, and here was begging for $130 to talk about turning down millions,” Mr. Butler said. “He was the perfect canary in the coal mine because his situation reflected the health of the revolution.” Image The cork board above Mr. Butler’s writing desk in Harlem. Credit Hilary Swift for The New York Times The former champion was self-conscious of his living conditions, Mr. Butler said, and initially requested that the camera focus on a wall. He also made the unusual request, as it was 9 in the morning, that Mr. Butler consume a tall glass of vodka to establish trust . The conversation is believed to be the boxer’s last videotaped interview. Mr. Butler also encountered Félix Savón and Guillermo Rigondeaux. Mr. Savón was similarly elevated to heroic status after winning three gold medals and refusing multimillion-dollar offers to fight Mike Tyson . He is said to have told the boxing promoter Don King, “What do I need $10 million for when I have 11 million Cubans behind me? ” And when promoters came to his Havana home, Mr. Butler reported in his book, Mr. Savón’s wife boasted, “Félix is more revolutionary than Fidel.” Mr. Rigondeaux, on the other hand, broke ranks while Mr. Butler was there, defecting to the United States in 2009. Indications of his rebelliousness, perhaps, were apparent when Mr. Butler encountered him: He claimed he had melted his two Olympic gold medals to wear as grills on his teeth. The Ring magazine now ranks him the No. 1 junior featherweight in the world. Of course, Mr. Butler didn’t devote his every waking moment to studying Cuba’s sports system. At a New Year’s Eve party in 2006, he met one of Castro’s granddaughters. “She asked me for a cigarette,” he said. “She seemed impressed I didn’t care who she was.” In an unusual gesture of flirtation, she recited Castro’s personal phone number. A retelling of what followed was published on the sports website Deadspin with the cheeky headline: “The Time I Went to Havana and Hooked Up With Castro’s Granddaughter.” He concluded his travels the same day Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. Even as he headed to the airport, he said, the nation’s idiosyncrasies followed him. “No one in Cuba knew that he had been killed yet,” he said. “I only found out because I ran into a New Yorker who was yelling to everybody, ‘We got him!’ His hotel had a TV with an American news channel.” In New York, a short-lived marriage ended in divorce. A documentary he made about his adventures left him $50,000 in debt (he has struggled to get the film released), and though “The Domino Diaries” received good reviews, it sold poorly. But Mr. Butler didn’t linger on the financial outcome of his travels. “J. D. Salinger said, ‘Write the book you want to read,’ and I got to do that,” he said. “Writing about Cuba was an honor.” Image Mr. Butler with Alix Kram for a training session. Credit Hilary Swift for The New York Times He prepped boxing gear at his East Harlem apartment before a lesson in Central Park last month. His library is cluttered with books by sportswriters like Jimmy Cannon and A. J. Liebling. A “private property” sign he said he pried off a tree from Salinger’s property hangs on a wall. The ticket to a fight at the Kid Chocolate Arena in Havana is pinned above his desk alongside a picture of a shirtless Castro doing a pull-up. His cat, Fidel, stared down from atop a pile of books. Mr. Butler is aware that he writes about a sport that increasingly exists on the margins. “Fighters complain to me about boxing writers now,” he said. “‘You guys aren’t as good as you used to be.’ And I say, ‘There’s not the money there used to be.’” He continued, “‘I’m on Medicaid, I’m living below the poverty line, and I’m also in Vegas at the ring writing about your fight.’” And in Manhattan, boxing is a lonely sport to love when even many of those he teaches cannot name the current heavyweight champion of the world. He is something of a holdout in that sense and has become a walking repository of the city’s boxiana . The daughter of one the sport’s best writers, Mark Kram, is a student of Mr. Butler’s; his coffee companion and confidant, Thomas Hauser, is Ali’s official biographer; and he often passes Saturday evenings in the boxing-memorabilia-filled apartment of a widow in Hamilton Heights who tapes practically every televised fight. (“I can’t believe we paid $30 for that miserable pay-per-view out of Puerto Rico,” she lamented as she and Mr. Butler watched the recent Manny Pacquiao fight over wine and her homemade tacos.) Mr. Butler calls his lessons “guerrilla style.” Of the trend of boxing as fitness for “Wall Street guys,” he said: “They do it to feel something. Anything. Boxing gyms are parks for rich people now. Black fighters are exotic as trainers to them. Gyms aren’t the lifelines they were to kids anymore.” The gig is necessary to support his craft, he said, though he has written lengthy literary articles for publications like the The Paris Review, Esquire and ESPN the Magazine, and has been mentioned in the Best American Sports Writing anthology three times. He is working on a book about chess for Simon & Schuster. “I wrote well over a million words before I was paid for one,” he said. “I’m having to struggle and grind like the fighters I write about,” he concluded. “That makes it easy for me to sympathize with them.” But Mr. Butler tends to stay away from doom and gloom, focusing on the tale at hand. Indeed, he brightened at the park when he thought about Castro’s love for boxing. “He was a fanatic,” he said, starting to wind up another story: Félix Savón was battling the American boxer Shannon Briggs at the 1991 Pan-American Games. Castro was watching in the audience. “Cuba is absolutely demolishing the U.S. in the ring,” Mr. Butler said. “Everyone in the stadium starts doing the wave and Fidel jumps up with them. Fidel Castro started doing the wave.”
|
Cuba;Boxing;Books;Fidel Castro;Ernest Hemingway;Sports
|
ny0080023
|
[
"sports",
"hockey"
] |
2015/02/07
|
Lundqvist, Hit in Throat, Will Miss at Least 3 Weeks
|
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist will be sidelined at least three weeks after sustaining a vascular injury when he was hit in the throat in a game last Saturday. Lundqvist was struck during the second period against the Carolina Hurricanes, but he stayed in the game, a 4-1 win. He also played in a 6-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday. But the backup Cam Talbot started Wednesday against Boston, making 18 saves as the Rangers beat the Bruins, 3-2 . At the time, the Rangers listed Lundqvist’s status as day to day. “We have been conferring with leading medical experts to ensure the best possible care,” the Rangers said in a statement Friday after practice. “Henrik will remain sidelined at least three weeks, until he is re-evaluated and we have completed the process of conferring with the medical experts.” The New York Post reported earlier Friday that Lundqvist, the franchise’s leader in wins with 334, would be out of action for a month. If Lundqvist is out for three weeks, he will miss 12 games, including Wednesday’s, which would be the longest injury-related absence of his career. He was sidelined for seven games because of a hip flexor injury in 2005-6, his rookie season. The Rangers play at Nashville on Saturday and host Dallas on Sunday before starting a four-game trip. “This is a medical issue that we will have to deal with,” Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault said. “My players’ focus is totally on a team that’s playing extremely well, and that’s the Predators.” The Rangers have won 19 of their last 24 games, thanks largely to Lundqvist, who is 16-4-0 with a 1.82 goals-against average in his last 20 contests. He is 25-11-3 with five shutouts in his 10th season with the Rangers. The Rangers are in a tight race in the Metropolitan Division. Through Friday’s games, they are in fourth place with 64 points, only 3 behind the first-place Islanders. Talbot was 12-6-1 last season, his first as Lundqvist’s backup. He is 5-4-1 with a 2.14 goals-against average and three shutouts this season. Talbot, 27, has never started more than three games in a row since joining the Rangers. “I’m not going to change anything in my approach,” he said Friday. “Right now, I’m focusing on not missing a beat. We’ve been on a bit of a roll here.” The Rangers recalled Mackenzie Skapski, 20, from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Wednesday to back up Talbot. DEVILS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1 Patrik Elias scored his 400th career goal, and the Devils handed visiting Toronto a franchise-record 11th straight loss. Cory Schneider had 33 saves. The Devils won their third straight. (AP) CAPITALS 3, DUCKS 2 Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom scored shootout goals, Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 shots in his first N.H.L. action of the season, and Washington won at home over Anaheim. (AP) BLUE JACKETS 7, BLUES 1 Nick Foligno set a career high with his 19th and 20th goals of the season and added an assist to lead host Columbus past St. Louis. (AP) BLACKHAWKS 2, JETS 1 Brandon Saad scored in overtime to help Chicago end a two-game skid with a win at Winnipeg. (AP) JETS’ KANE OUT Winnipeg forward Evander Kane will have surgery on his left shoulder and will be out of the lineup for four to six months. (AP)
|
Ice hockey;Henrik Lundqvist;Sports injury;Rangers
|
ny0009829
|
[
"business",
"global"
] |
2013/02/16
|
U.S. Signals Support for Japan’s Yen Policy
|
MOSCOW — Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, strongly indicated on Friday that the United States did not intend to censure Japan for weakening its currency over the last several months, something that has aided Japanese exporters and angered its competitors. Mr. Bernanke spoke in brief introductory remarks at a conference in Moscow of the Group of 20, a club of the world’s largest industrial and emerging economies. At issue are stimulus programs backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is also maintaining pressure on the Bank of Japan to keep interest rates near zero and flood the economy with money to support Japanese manufacturers. As a result, the yen has lost about 15 percent of its value against the dollar over the last three months, meaning products made in Japan, like some Sony electronics or models of Toyota cars, are relatively cheaper. Japan’s maneuver touched off fears that other countries and the European Union might follow suit in a so-called currency war, which has been the main topic of the Group of 20 meeting here, which runs through Saturday. Initially, it seemed the world’s largest economies might agree on a firm statement at the end of the meeting to condemn a currency war, or competitive devaluations. This tactic is now widely seen as a beggar-thy-neighbor approach to creating growth that would ultimately harm a global recovery and is understood to be a cause of the lingering nature of the depression in the 1930s. Mr. Bernanke, an advocate of the loose monetary policy in the United States known as quantitative easing, but also a student of the Great Depression, suggested a distinction should be drawn based on the intention of the monetary easing. “The United States is using domestic policies to advance domestic agendas,” Mr. Bernanke said, speaking in a gilded and colonnaded chamber in the Kremlin to a round table of the world’s leading central bankers and finance ministers, in addition to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Image Christine Lagarde, chief of the International Monetary Fund, said Japan’s efforts to defeat deflation was “sound policy.” Credit Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press “We believe that by strengthening the U.S. economy, we are helping to strengthen the global economy as well,” Mr. Bernanke said. “We welcome similar approaches by other countries.” He said he endorsed an earlier statement at the meeting from Christine Lagarde, the director of the International Monetary Fund, who had said the risk of a currency war was “overblown.” The global recovery has become unbalanced, Ms. Lagarde said in her statement to the group. Developed countries are swooning, while the emerging markets bounced back quickly, and yet such countries, including Russia, have been critical of the stimulus efforts of the developed nations. Japan’s devaluation of the yen is “sound policy,” she said. “The international monetary system can function effectively if each country follows the right policies for their domestic economies,” she said, ultimately lifting the tide of the global marketplace. Ms. Lagarde did caution that too bald a ploy to prop up exports would not count as a justified weakening of a currency. Because loose monetary policy encourages economic growth while also helping exports, critics of such tactics say these are distinctions without a difference. Germany’s finance minister offered a contrarian view, saying that countries should not use easy money to avoid reducing their deficits over the long term, with measures like reducing government waste. The Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, the host of the meeting, has also been pushing for a strong statement against competitive devaluations in the final communiqué from the forum, expected Saturday. Mr. Siluanov said in his opening remarks that a statement endorsing market mechanisms to set exchange rates would “find a place in the communiqué.” That reiterated the position of a statement issued by the Group of 7 earlier this week. But it now seems a watered-down version is more likely.
|
G20;G8,G7,G-7,Group of Seven;Currency;Japanese yen;European Central Bank;Bank of Japan;Moscow;Japan;Ben S Bernanke
|
ny0248603
|
[
"sports",
"baseball"
] |
2011/05/08
|
Mets Stop Ethier’s Streak and Beat Dodgers
|
The person most disappointed to learn that Chris Young would not pitch Saturday might have been on the opposing bench. At 7:05 p.m., five minutes before the scheduled start of the game, the Mets announced that Young could not get loose in the bullpen warming up and would be replaced by the rookie right-hander Dillon Gee. The switch meant that Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier, who had a 30-game hitting streak , would not face a pitcher he has usually pounded. Instead, Gee made the eighth start of his career and pitched strongly, helping end Ethier’s streak as the Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-2 . Gee pitched five and a third effective innings, allowing two runs and leaving with the score tied. The Mets went on to win their third straight game after pinch-hitter Justin Turner broke the 2-2 tie with a two-run single to deep center field. Young said after the game that he had been feeling stiffness in the back of his shoulder since his previous start, on May 1. He received two anti-inflammatory shots during the week but could not make it through his warm-ups Saturday. Gee said that his coaches had told him to prepare as if he might start, but that he thought Young would pitch as planned. He said it was around 6:50 p.m. when he learned for sure that he would start. “I walked down to the pen like it was a normal day, and as soon as I got down there, they told me to start getting hot,” Gee said. “I definitely wasn’t very good tonight. I was kind of all over the place. I didn’t really have a good feel tonight.” Gee, who last started on April 23, was shaky at the outset, loading the bases but escaping unscathed in each of the first two innings. But he settled down in the third, notching a 1-2-3 inning. He allowed seven hits and three walks, struck out three, and received polite applause from the announced crowd of 31,464 when he was replaced by Mike O’Connor n the sixth. The Mets gave Gee a 2-0 lead after Josh Thole and Jose Reyes each drove in a run in the second against Dodgers starter Jon Garland, who gave up two runs, seven hits and three walks in six innings. The Dodgers clawed back to tie the score, getting a run back in the fourth when Dioner Navarro homered to right and another in the sixth, when Aaron Miles’s one-out single drove in Jamey Carroll and knocked out Gee. The Mets’ winning rally came in the eighth, when a leadoff walk to Jason Bay, a throwing error by pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo on Jason Pridie’s sacrifice bunt attempt and a walk to Ronny Paulino loaded the bases. Then Turner, pinch-hitting in the ninth spot, received a fastball down the middle, which he lashed over the head of Matt Kemp in center field to drive in the go-ahead runs. “I hadn’t had an at-bat in a few days,” said Turner, who last played on Tuesday. “It felt good to get a fastball and not miss it.” Francisco Rodriguez converted his third save in three days with his first 1-2-3 inning of the season. “He’s unbelievable,” Mets Manager Terry Collins said. “I told him so when the game was over. I said, ‘You’re incredible.’ ” When the Mets signed Young in the off-season to a one-year, $1.1 million contract, they did so knowing the risk. The last time Young made 30 starts in a season was in 2007. In the three seasons that followed, he made only 36 total starts, and in August 2009, he had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder. He has pitched strongly in four starts this season, going 1-0 with a 1.88 earned run average. But on April 15, the Mets placed him on the 15-day disabled list with biceps tendinitis. Young is scheduled to have a magnetic resonance imaging test Sunday morning, after which the Mets will make a decision about whether to place him on the disabled list again. “It’s possible rest and recuperation might bring it back,” Collins said of Young’s sore arm. Sandy Alderson, the Mets’ general manager, said after the game that the Mets had called Pat Misch down to New York from Class AAA Buffalo as a precaution. “We’re not making any moves till tomorrow morning,” he said. The Mets were probably not the only ones disappointed to see Young scratched from his start. Ethier — who on Friday extended his hit streak to 30 games, one short of a Dodgers record — came into Saturday expecting to face Young, whom he has hit for a .414 average with two doubles and six home runs in 29 career at-bats. After walking in the first inning, Ethier flied out to left field with the bases loaded to end the second. He opened the fifth with a soft fly to center field and closed the sixth with a soft bouncer to second. In the eighth, he struck out to end his night 0 for 4 and his streak at 30.
|
Baseball;New York Mets;Los Angeles Dodgers;Gee Dillon;Ethier Andre
|
ny0027542
|
[
"world",
"europe"
] |
2013/01/19
|
British Leader Sees Wider Threat in Algeria Attack
|
LONDON — With more than 60 hostages still missing and many feared dead, Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament on Friday that the Qaeda-linked attack on a remote Algerian gas installation demonstrated the need for Britain and its Western allies, including the United States, to direct more of their diplomatic, military and intelligence resources to the intensifying threat emanating from “the ungoverned space” of the North African desert, treating it with as much concern as the terrorist challenge in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mr. Cameron offered little new information about the showdown at the In Amenas plant, nearly 1,000 miles from Algiers, the Algerian capital, in the oil-and-gas-rich emptiness of the Sahara, saying the information reaching London about what he described as a “continuing situation” remained sketchy. He added that Britain learned overnight that the number of British citizens caught up in the hostage-taking and the subsequent shootout was “significantly” fewer than the 30 people feared on Thursday. As part of the effort to learn more, he said, a special plane had been assigned to carry Britain’s ambassador in Algiers and other British diplomats to the area of the gas plant on Friday. But in an hourlong session in the House of Commons, Mr. Cameron pointed to the somber implications of underestimating recent events in Mali and Algeria as a regional problem for North Africa rather than as an increasingly fertile arena for Islamic militants and their hostility to the West. He said he had discussed his concerns in a telephone conversation with President Obama on Thursday. The British leader said the growth of Islamic terrorist networks in the countries of the Sahel, the broad area of North Africa that runs more than 3,000 miles from Mauritania in the west to Sudan and Somalia in the east, should be a renewed focus of Western counterterrorist concerns and resources. At one point, he said military assistance to the affected countries needed to be part of NATO military planning, though he again emphatically ruled out any British combat role in support of France’s campaign against militants in Mali. Pointing to the leading role played in the Algerian attack by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a terrorist ringleader and smuggler with links to North Africa’s main Islamic terrorist group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Mr. Cameron warned that the Algerian attack was symptomatic of a far broader threat. “What we know is that the terrorist threat in the Sahel comes from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which aspires to establish Islamic law across the Sahel and northern Africa, and to attack Western interests in the region and, frankly, wherever it can,” Mr. Cameron said. “Just as we have reduced the scale of the Al Qaeda threat in other parts of the world, including in Pakistan and Afghanistan, so it has grown in other parts of the world. We need to be equally concerned about that, and equally focused on it.” Video The Times’s Steven Erlanger discusses the lack of information surrounding an Algerian military response to a hostage situation at a remote gas field facility. Credit Credit Anis Belghoul/Associated Press To some British commentators, Mr. Cameron’s remarks sounded like an effort to prompt the United States to become more deeply involved in North African security matters. In the 2011 Libyan conflict, the United States stepped back from the lead role it has traditionally taken in NATO military operations and left Britain, France and Italy to conduct the bulk of the bombing in support of the Libyan rebels’ successful campaign to topple Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Since then, high-ranking British officials have expressed concerns that the Obama administration is stepping back from European political and security issues and turning its attentions increasingly to the nations of the Pacific. With the approach of Mr. Obama’s second inauguration on Sunday, The Spectator, a London-based weekly that is influential in Mr. Cameron’s Conservative Party, devoted its cover this week to an article headlined “The Pacific President,” and an illustration showing Mr. Obama in a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt and shorts surfing off a palm-lined beach. “As Barack Obama is sworn in again as president, his allies in the West will ask themselves the same nervous question they posed four years ago: how much does he care about us?” the accompanying article asked. White House officials said on Thursday that Mr. Obama had used his telephone conversation with Mr. Cameron to underscore American concerns that Britain remain a robust force within the 27-nation European Union, a hot-button issue for Mr. Cameron. The prime minister had planned — then canceled, amid the Algerian crisis — a landmark speech in Amsterdam on Friday in which he was to have outlined his plan to negotiate a much sparer role for Britain in the European bloc. In his remarks to lawmakers on Friday, Mr. Cameron offered what could have been construed as an oblique riposte to Mr. Obama, or at least to officials in the Obama administration who have urged that Europe take greater responsibility for confronting terrorist and other security threats at its own doorstep. He may also have been addressing domestic critics in Britain, or other NATO countries that have been less active than Britain in counterterrorism efforts aimed at confronting the spread of Islamic militant groups. “There is a great need for not just Britain but other countries to give a priority to understanding better, and working better, with the countries in this region,” he said. “Those who believe that there is a terrorist, extremist Al Qaeda problem in parts of north Africa, but that it is a problem for those places and we can somehow back off and ignore it, are profoundly wrong. That is a problem for those places, and for us.” Mr. Cameron noted that Britain had been “the first country in the world” to offer France military assistance in its campaign in Mali, deploying one of the largest military transport aircraft it has, an American-made C-17 Globemaster, to ferry French troops and military equipment to Bamako, the Malian capital. He said it was time for Britain and France to move beyond their spheres of influence in Africa dating back to the colonial era, “and recognize that is in our interest to boost the capacity of all African states” confronted by the terrorist threat.
|
David Cameron;Great Britain;Algeria;Mali;US Foreign Policy;Hostage
|
ny0292724
|
[
"sports",
"basketball"
] |
2016/06/18
|
In Sneaker Wars, It’s Also Curry (Under Armour) vs. James (Nike)
|
With the climactic Game 7 of the N.B.A. finals on tap for Sunday — and with LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers recently outplaying Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors to even the series — there is a business question looming along with the basketball ones. Are we about to see a new version of the infamous sneaker wars that Nike and Adidas fought in the 1990s? Back then, Nike beat back Adidas; indeed, it now has more than 90 percent of the basketball shoe market — a number that compares to Microsoft’s monopoly over operating systems in its heyday. Now, however, Nike has a new challenger: a cocky upstart named Under Armour. In case you hadn’t noticed, Curry, one of the most popular players in the N.B.A., wears shoes made by Under Armour. But that wasn’t always the case: When he first entered the league, in 2009, he was under contract with Nike. Over the next four years, he showed he was a terrific player, but, in part because of ankle problems, hadn’t yet become what he is now: the N.B.A.’s marquee player — an amazing shooter with a transcendent game and an appealing, down-to-earth personality. In 2013, with Curry’s contract up for renewal, Under Armour, which had been selling basketball shoes for only a few years, sensed an opportunity . Under Armour offered him $4 million a year to switch. Nike, which was paying him a reported $2.5 million, declined to match the offer. The rest, as they say, is history. At a time when sales of basketball shoes have been sluggish, Under Armour’s have taken off. They were up 95 percent in the fourth quarter of last year (compared with 2014’s fourth quarter) and another 64 percent in the first quarter of this year. Its footwear revenue was $678 million in 2015, up from $127 million in 2010. Although Nike dominates the business of basketball shoes, Under Armour has made inroads. Much of that growth is directly attributable to Curry’s enormous popularity. Since the beginning of the year, according to Jay Sole, who follows the company for Morgan Stanley, “Curry basketball footwear has accelerated meaningfully.” In a note he wrote to clients a few months ago, Sole said that shoes with Curry’s name on them are likely to see $160 million in sales this year. That would put his signature shoes ahead of every other current player’s, including Nike’s marquee endorser, LeBron James, who has a lifetime contract with the company worth a reported $500 million. In the N.B.A. finals, Under Armour’s guy, Curry, plays for the defending champion Warriors, while Nike’s guy, James (not to mention another key Nike athlete, Kyrie Irving), plays for a team that lost to the Warriors in last year’s finals and is still looking for its first N.B.A. championship. But in the world of business, Nike is still the 800-pound gorilla of the sportswear industry, with $30 billion in revenue last year and tentacles in every sport imaginable. Under Armour, which is on track to generate $5 billion in revenue this year, is very much the striving newcomer. But Under Armour is the first company since the 1990s to knock Nike off its stride. For instance, earlier this year, Nike hired away a key Under Armour shoe designer — only to have Under Armour rehire him two months later before he worked a single day for Nike. Last year, when Nike discovered that Under Armour was trying to get the University of Texas to switch allegiances, it swooped in and re-signed Texas with a 15-year, $250 million contract. Earlier this week, Nike announced the departure of Michael Jackson , who ran its $3.7 billion global basketball business. Under Armour was founded 20 years ago by a former University of Maryland football player named Kevin Plank. His is a classic entrepreneur’s tale: He started the company, at age 23, in his grandmother’s basement in Washington. His original idea was to replace the heavy cotton T-shirt that football players wore under their pads and uniforms with one made of microfibers that would wick away sweat. In its first year, Under Armour took in $17,000. Image The Nike shoes that the Cavaliers’ LeBron James wore in Game 6 of the 2016 N.B.A. finals in Cleveland. Credit Ronald Martinez/Getty Images There are two things that are striking about Plank’s initial business model. The first is that his shirts were aimed strictly at elite athletes rather than the general public; he was making “performance wear,” as they say in the trade. The second was the way he built the Under Armour brand in the early days: by handing his shirts to football players he knew from high school or college who had gone on to the N.F.L. “My contacts among these N.F.L. players were a vital part of my strategy,” he later wrote in an article for the Harvard Business Review . (Although I was able to interview several top Under Armour executives for this column, Plank was unavailable, a company spokeswoman said.) In other words, endorsements have been critical to Under Armour’s success from the very beginning. The N.F.L. players who wore his shirts talked them up, which led teams, beginning with the Atlanta Falcons and the Giants, to start buying them for all the players. When the Miami Dolphins asked him to supply the team with free shirts, Plank said no. He needed to be able to sell to teams because they were his target market. (The Dolphins ended up buying the shirts.) Endorsements have been critical to Nike’s success, too, of course — indeed, they’ve been as much a part of the company’s marketing as the “Just Do It” commercials. Nike started with running shoes. In the company’s early days, the great University of Oregon runner, Steve Prefontaine, who was close to the Nike founders Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman (Oregon’s track coach for many years), wore its track shoes. John McEnroe was an early endorser of its tennis shoes. When Nike started selling basketball shoes in the late 1970s, it came up with the idea of paying college coaches to have their teams wear Nikes. And, of course, in 1984, Nike landed the greatest sports endorser of them all: Michael Jordan. His first signature shoe, the Air Jordan 1, was an instant success, and his appeal has continued well into his retirement. Today, the Jordan Brand , which is a Nike subsidiary, is a $3 billion business. Flush with cash, Nike now tries to corner the market on big-name basketball players — Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook also have big Nike contracts — while also trying to tie up as many other players as possible. Almost three in four N.B.A. players suit up with Nike shoes. “Nike’s approach is to have all the right guys to defend its position,” said David Abrutyn, a partner at Bruin Sports Capital. To put it another way, it spreads its bets. Under Armour doesn’t have the money to play that game. So it has to make choices. Sometimes they pay off — as when the company signed Cam Newton out of college — or when it added Jordan Spieth to its roster of endorsers not long before he won the 2015 Masters. And occasionally, they don’t; its first N.B.A. endorser was Brandon Jennings, who has been in the league since 2009 but never became the star Under Armour hoped he would be. Now, of course, it has captured lightning in a bottle with Curry. During Under Armour’s first quarter earnings call in April, Plank couldn’t stop dropping Curry’s name. “Our footwear M.V.P. is Stephen Curry,” he said at one point. The company’s revenue had risen 30 percent in the quarter; he claimed, somewhat absurdly, that “when Steph Curry decided to put up 30 points a game, and wear the number 30, we thought putting up 30 percent growth was our way of showing our support.” ( Curry’s deal with Under Armour was extended last year to 2024 — and includes stock in the company.) Here’s the thing, though. Nike didn’t become a $30 billion company solely by relying on Michael Jordan. At a certain point in the 1980s, it went well beyond performance wear and began making shoes and clothes for people who had no athletic aspirations at all. According to Matt Powell, the sports industry analyst for the NPD Group, “only 25 percent of athletic shoes are used for athletic activities.” Walk through an airport and just look at how many people are wearing Nike shoes — not fancy athletic shoes, but everyday walking shoes, comfortable shoes that have nothing to do with Michael Jordan. There is not much doubt that Kevin Plank wants to build Under Armour into the next Nike. In my conversations with Under Armour executives, they never uttered the word “Nike” — they simply referred to the company as “our competitor.” Sole, the Morgan Stanley analyst, has said that if Curry does indeed turn out to be an endorser akin to Jordan, it could be worth $14 billion in Under Armour’s stock market valuation. But that’s still a long way from Nike, which currently has a market value of $90 billion to Under Armour’s $23 billion. Plank has said that the company wants to reach $7 billion in revenue by 2018. Nike is on record as wanting to hit $50 billion in revenue by 2020. Under Armour has spent 20 years selling itself as a “performance” company, marketing to athletes and wanna-be athletes. To become a company generating Nike-type revenue, it will have to become a brand that appeals to everybody. Which means that Steph Curry, hot as he is right now, can only get them part of the way to the place they want to go.
|
Basketball;Under Armour;Nike;Shoes;advertising,marketing;LeBron James;Stephen Curry;Cavaliers;Golden State Warriors;Sneakers
|
ny0116373
|
[
"world",
"middleeast"
] |
2012/10/18
|
Syrian War Reaches Damascus
|
DAMASCUS, Syria — Rifa was growing frantic. Her husband had called to say that he and her brother were stuck on their way home from work outside the Syrian capital, normally a 25-minute drive. There was fighting in a northern suburb, he said, and traffic was frozen. Tensions rose as the hours passed. It is never good to be out after dark in Damascus now, especially trapped in a traffic jam, unable to flee. Finally, Rifa’s husband called again. They had escaped and returned to their workplace to pass the night, another concession to their changing world. War has come to Damascus. Not on the scale of Aleppo or Homs, at least not yet. But the difference from just a few months ago is unmistakable. With sandbagged checkpoints every half-mile and soldiers methodically searching vehicles for weapons, simple movement is becoming impossible. “Where is Damascus headed? Are we the next Aleppo?” Rifa asked a few days later. “How soon before our city, our markets, are destroyed?” This is the center of Bashar al-Assad ’s power, the stronghold he tried for months to shield from a popular uprising that has inexorably been transformed into a bloody civil war. As his troops battled insurgents all around the country, Mr. Assad was determined that here, at least, he would preserve an air of normalcy, of routine, of certainty that life would go on, as it had before. Such illusions are no longer possible. The reality of war has crept into daily life, and there is a sense of inevitability. Even supporters of the government talk about what comes next, and rebels speak of tightening the noose around this city, their ultimate goal. Damascus was once known for its all-night party scene. Now, few people venture out after dark, and kidnappings are rampant. Gasoline is increasingly scarce, and as winter approaches, people are worried about shortages of food and heating oil . Streets are closed at a moment’s notice, traffic diverted, bridges shut down. Even longtime residents and taxi drivers get lost and have to weave in and out of parking lots to avoid barriers and dead-end streets. Shelling and machine-gun fire are so commonplace, children no longer react. As recently as summer, while war raged in various neighborhoods surrounding the city, Damascus existed in a bubble of denial. War, people seemed to feel, was happening elsewhere — and the residents of Mr. Assad’s stronghold were determined to live their lives as if nothing had changed. There were garden parties and fashion shoots, and the Opera House hosted Italian tenors. There were elegant dinners at embassies — before the ambassadors fled, that is. But as summer faded, the strangulation of Damascus began. More checkpoints appeared. The shabiha — Arabic for ghosts — progovernment paramilitary forces who are often held responsible for the most violent crimes, were defiantly visible in foreign hotels. Now, suicide bombings are more frequent, and the rebels of the Free Syrian Army say they are slowly establishing control of the suburbs that ring the city, with the aim of slowly strangling the government. Some families say they are taking their children out of school and teaching them at home, because the drive to school is too dangerous. Discussions among friends are no longer “of the real world,” as one writer put it. Talk turns more naturally to the fate of the homeless in the city’s parks, or the traumatization of the children. “People,” one woman said, “talk of death.” To a reporter based in Paris who has been granted three visas in recent months to report freely in the country, Damascus seems now like a city under siege, where for most people danger is a wearying companion — so much so that the last names of those interviewed for this article are being withheld for their protection. Kidnapping of wealthy Syrians is on the rise, sowing fear in the city’s finest precincts. In Mezze, a politically and ethnically mixed neighborhood once known as the Beverly Hills of Damascus, people talk of the daughter of a local businessman who was kidnapped three weeks ago and ransomed for about $395,000. She was returned to her family, according to local residents, sexually abused, tortured and traumatized. Residents say the kidnappers are from either the Free Syrian Army or renegade offshoots of radical groups or are, in the government’s catchall phrase, “foreign terrorists.” One man, an Armenian Christian — “a minority within a minority,” he joked — said he was wary of laying blame on any one group. “I am not aware of a unified opposition,” he said. “People call themselves groups — F.S.A., Salafists.” In the past, he added, neighbors lived so close together — Druze, Christians, Muslims — that “when something happened, we all offered condolences.” “We went to each other’s funerals,” he said. “We did not have a feeling that one was different than the others.” Now, the man, a professor of linguistics, says, “I have a lump in my throat when I think about it.” While people will openly complain of government corruption — even in Alawite pro-Assad regions like Latakia — they also fear what will come if and when Mr. Assad falls. Many are painfully aware that the breakdown of society into sectarian groups has echoes of earlier tragedies, in Bosnia and neighboring Iraq . As Samir, a resident of a Christian neighborhood, Bab Touma, said, “No one knows who is who anymore — what side they are on.” Rifa supports the government and is the only one in her family who is pro-Assad. In her affluent Sunni clan, the political persuasions run from a brother who supports the opposition to a sister who simply wants to keep her 10-year-old son in school and run her business. A third sister said she was slowly “waking up to the reality of what is happening here — though I tried to deny it.” In addition to growing shortages, cash flow is a problem. The sanctions have made it impossible to wire money into the country, and the price of food has risen drastically. “A kilo of tomatoes has doubled in price in six months,” one of Rifa’s sisters said. It is common to go to at least four gas stations before finding one that is open; at night, groups of men come selling “bootleg” gasoline in tin canisters. Abu Khalil, a Free Syrian Army commander in Douma, a suburb south of Damascus that saw heavy fighting and is now controlled by the rebels, said the “dream plan” was to eventually encircle Damascus, throttling commerce and disrupting utilities. His “office” was littered with shards of broken glass, weapons, mattresses on the floor and a group of “shabab” — young fighters — loitering around, smoking. While he said the opposition forces do not have enough weapons — “The government has MIGs and howitzers, which we fear the most” — it does have the manpower “to squeeze Damascus from neighborhoods like Midan.” “We take orders from ourselves,” he said, “not like the Aleppo fighters, who take orders from Turkey .” For the future, said Abu Khalil, a former shop owner, there must be free and fair elections. “But we must have a Sunni leader,” he says, “a guy who knows about God. And everyone now who is carrying a gun must throw it away.” Still, he added optimistically, “It won’t become Sarajevo.” Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, is dreaded for its outbreaks of bloody violence, and even more roadblocks go up. Even one month ago, people escaped to the countryside to relax, or went out to smoke water pipes and watch soccer on large-screen televisions. Now people stay home. Shops are shuttered. The Old City is closed. In Bab Touma, a shopkeeper in the popular Ted Lapidus boutique said business was down by 50 percent. “Maybe someone buys a suit for a wedding or a special party,” he said. “That’s it. No impulse spending.” Tarik, a lawyer, was buying cologne at an ancient perfumery. “People only buy the absolute necessary,” he said. “In my profession, I have to smell good.” But even with that, he said, his business is down 40 percent. “Even the biggest lawyers in Damascus are suffering,” he said. Last week, an impromptu Saturday salsa evening was organized by a group of young people. “It’s our attempt to keep living normally,” said Roni, a 27-year-old marketing executive. But the dance floor was clear before midnight — in a country where the people usually stay up till dawn. “We used to dance till 5 or 6,” Roni said. “But everyone is worried about driving at night. And there are very few taxis going around that late.” Roni said that for her generation, life had frozen. Relationships are breaking down under stress. University degrees have been put off. People cannot afford the elaborate weddings Syrians love to host. “My fiancé and I were together for three years, but he lost his job — no money — and has left for America,” she said. “I refused to go because I support my own family.” Even so, Roni’s salary has been cut by 10 percent. A few months ago, her rent went up: “The landlady just called and apologized that this is war and everything is so expensive.” She sits at her desk every day in the Kafersouseh district of Damascus hearing guns and explosions. “What can I do?” she said. “I get up and take a taxi to work and pray one doesn’t hit me.” For many Damascenes, what is most difficult is coming to terms with the harsh reality of a civil war, of Syrians against Syrians. Under the law, Syrians are required to donate blood when they graduate from high school or college, or receive a driver’s license. “It means we all shared the same blood in some ways,” Roni said. “Now when these guys kill each other, they might be killing someone whose very blood is in their veins. It’s crazy.” But perhaps the thing that everyone fears most is expressed in graffiti in the Old City rebel stronghold of Zabadani: “We don’t like you,” it reads. “Soon we will be in the middle of Damascus.”
|
Arab Spring;Bashar al-Assad;Damascus;Free Syrian Army;Syria
|
ny0063479
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2014/01/12
|
Immigrants and Red Scare Case Studies
|
Some years ago, Dr. Gabor Nagy, chairman of the Budapest City Council’s Committee on Human Rights and Minorities (the largest minority in his city was Gypsies), was shocked by what he viewed as the Balkanization of the New York City Council. “Each group in this city is a minority, but this is not just a city of ethnic concerns,” he said during an official exchange visit to New York in the summer of 1991. “It’s a city that requires taxation and services. This guy will represent the gays, and that one the African-Americans and this one Hispanic people and that one the Asians,” he said. “But who will represent the majority?” Prof. Nancy Foner of Hunter College of the City University of New York and her academic colleagues try to answer that question by exploring how gateway cities on two continents are coping with immigrants from new places. “ New York and Amsterdam : Immigration and the New Urban Landscape” (New York University Press) focuses on how relatively liberal cities faced an influx of non-Europeans, bringing their first- and second-generation immigrant populations to more than 50 percent. New York’s newcomers — mostly nonwhite Latinos, West Indians and Asians — benefited from a large native minority presence. That was not the case for the large number of Muslims who immigrated to Amsterdam — where the most popular name among newborn boys is now Mohammed. The book instructively delves into differing definitions of race, religion and ethnic politics, of integration versus assimilation. In New York, immigrants and their children are approaching a majority of voting-age citizens. In Amsterdam, noncitizens are allowed to vote in local elections after five years of legal residence in the Netherlands. Image The 10 essays — one for each city under five topics, like culture, politics and race — generally avoid conclusions, preferring instead to let the reader find connections. A guide to New York dining from the 1930s demystified pizza by describing it as “an inch-thick potato pan-cake sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and stewed tomatoes.” In “ The Italian-American Table : Food, Family and Community in New York City” (University of Illinois Press), Prof. Simone Cinotto traces how Italian food evolved from an ethnic mainstay in East Harlem, the South Village and Little Italy into an American national staple. Professor Cinotto, who teaches at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy, authoritatively writes: “Even a perfunctory look at the representations of Italian-Americans in film and on TV reveals the centrality of food in Italian-American culture.” “From domestic kitchens to luxurious restaurants,” he concludes, “Italian immigrants framed a food culture that, responding to the needs of their working-class world, created a nation and shaped their self-representation as a group.” Back in the 1950s, when an American Communist Party leader was deported to Britain on the Queen Elizabeth, The New York Daily News, wholly unsympathetic, captured him waving in a front-page photograph with the playful headline “Red Sails in the Sunset.” Philip Deery, a history professor at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, takes a grimmer view of the human consequences of the Red Scare in the 1940s and 1950s in “ Red Apple : Communism and McCarthyism in Cold War New York” (Fordham University Press). He focuses on six individuals, including Lyman Bradley and Edwin Burgum, who taught at New York University; the writer Howard Fast; and O. John Rogge, who would become the lawyer for David Greenglass, whose testimony sent his sister and brother-in-law to the electric chair in the Rosenberg spy case. “Their collective stories illuminate the personal costs of holding dissident political beliefs in the face of intolerance and moral panic,” Professor Deery writes, “and this is as relevant today as it was 70 years ago.”
|
Books;Immigration;Nancy Foner;Food;Italian American;Philip Deery;Simone Cinotto
|
ny0240034
|
[
"business"
] |
2010/12/09
|
A Bond Rush as Treasury Prices Fall
|
Prices on Treasury bonds fell sharply on Wednesday, continuing a sell-off that was ignited by the extension of the Bush tax cuts . Equity markets on Wall Street looked to close slightly higher. Financial markets have interpreted the tax cut deal, which was announced on Monday and must be approved by Congress, as contributing to economic growth over the next couple of years but also increasing the federal deficit and raising borrowing costs. Yields on the 10-year benchmark bond rose 19 basis points to 3.318 percent early Wednesday afternoon before retreating to 3.259 percent, after the Treasury Department reported the results of its sale $21 billion in 10-year notes. Wednesday’s sale attracted almost three times as many buyers than bonds sold, a ratio characterized as fairly typical. The Treasury plans to auction $13 billion in 30-year notes on Thursday. Demand for $32 billion in 3-year bonds on Tuesday was low, lost in a market already awash with supply. “We have seen a really extreme move in the last few days and now we are going to see potential investors examine the markets and whether they will allow it to persist or reverse,” Guy LeBas, the chief fixed income strategist for Janney Montgomery Scott, said. The frenzy in the bond market, which some analysts described as the worst they have seen, comes as the Federal Reserve is trying to stimulate the economy by buying about $600 billion in government bonds through June 2011. The Fed’s monetary easing was intended to keep borrowing costs low and spurring growth, but that has run headlong into the tax cut compromise, which could increase borrowing costs for the government. In an interview broadcast last weekend, the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, left open the possibility of expanding the central bank’s bond purchases, defending the purchases as a way to stimulate a sluggish recovery. He said the fear that they would cause inflation was “way overstated.” For consumers, the increased bond yields could eventually mean higher rates for home mortgages, which have already been rising in recent weeks. “Watch mortgage rates soar and housing activity and prices dive even more in the aftermath of this bond market action,” David A. Rosenberg, the chief economist for Gluskin Sheff, said. The fiscal expansion announced by President Obama over the weekend appeared to have caught the Fed by surprise. Supporters of the program argued that the yields would be even higher had the Fed not started its bond buying program. Bond yields continued to settle Wednesday as the session wore on, falling to 3.24 percent. “We are seeing a partial reversal of the morning’s selling,” Mr. LeBas said. “I think many traders were using today’s 10-year auction to express opinions of the value in the market. They were using the auction as a way to get in at cheap levels.” Bond markets in Europe were also lower, as yields rose. The sale of bonds by the German government received a weak response on Wednesday. European officials also exchanged pointed comments about the need to create euro-bonds as a way to pay for bailouts of struggling countries on the Continent, which has added pressure on the bond market. Some analysts said there were also supply and demand dynamics in action. Mr. Rosenberg said in addition to foreign central banks withdrawing their support from the Treasury markets, investors were “spooked by the supply” of bonds available for purchase. “Much of the backup in bond yields seems to be more fund-flow related than due to any meaningful change in the macro-economic background,” he said in a research note. Other economists said fixed income investors were taking profits in a Treasury market that had become overpriced in reaction to the Fed’s quantitative easing program and were possibly rebalancing their portfolios. “The market was over extended,” said Robert S. Gay, the managing partner for Fenwick Advisers. “It is evidence that the market was over bought.” In the equity markets, stocks wavered within a narrow range. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.32 points or 0.12 percent, to 11,372.48. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index gained 4.53 points, or 0.37 percent, to 1,228.28, while the Nasdaq composite index was up 10.67 points, or 0.41 percent, to 2,609.16. In the European equity markets, Britain’s FTSE 100 was 13.92 points, or 0.24 percent, lower. In Frankfurt, the DAX lost 26.04 points, or 0.37 percent, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.56 percent. The dollar firmed against its index weighted against a range of currencies.
|
United States Economy;Stocks and Bonds
|
ny0068669
|
[
"sports"
] |
2014/12/07
|
Michael Phelps Will Compete After Suspension Ends
|
Michael Phelps is back in training and will return to competition after his six-month suspension ends in March. Phelps’s coach, Bob Bowman, said he did not yet know which meets Phelps would enter once he was eligible. Phelps, an 18-time Olympic gold medalist, was suspended by USA Swimming in October after a second arrest on charges of driving under the influence. He is barred from competing at next summer’s world championships but is moving forward with plans to compete at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. After completing a six-week inpatient program, Phelps returned to training under Bowman’s guidance a couple of weeks ago. Bowman said Phelps was in reasonably good shape, much better than he was a year ago after coming out of retirement.
|
Swimming;USA Swimming;Michael Phelps;Bob Bowman
|
ny0075926
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2015/05/18
|
Amtrak Service to Resume Between New York and Philadelphia
|
Amtrak trains will resume running between New York City and Philadelphia on Monday, several days after service was shut down because of a train derailment in Philadelphia. Trains on Amtrak’s Acela Express and Northeast Regional routes will be back in service on Monday morning, with the first trains leaving Philadelphia at 5:53 a.m. and New York at 5:30 a.m., the railroad said on Sunday evening. Amtrak service between the two cities had been suspended since the derailment on Tuesday night. Eight passengers were killed in the crash and more than 200 were injured. Amtrak’s president, Joseph Boardman, said in a statement that the safety of passengers and crew members “remains our number one priority.” “Our infrastructure repairs have been made with the utmost care and emphasis on infrastructure integrity including complete compliance with Federal Railroad Administration directives,” Mr. Boardman said. “Amtrak staff and crew have been working around the clock to repair the infrastructure necessary to restore service for all the passengers who travel along the Northeast Corridor.” On Saturday, the Federal Railroad Administration instructed Amtrak to take several steps to increase safety on the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak was ordered to use a technology to control train speeds, known as automatic train control, for northbound trains at the derailment site. The technology was in use for southbound trains, but not for northbound trains like the one that derailed.
|
Train wreck;Amtrak;NYC;Philadelphia
|
ny0095225
|
[
"world",
"middleeast"
] |
2015/01/26
|
Libya: Gunmen Abduct an Official
|
Gunmen have kidnapped the deputy foreign minister of Libya’s internationally recognized government, the interior minister said Sunday. The kidnapping of the deputy minister, Hassan al-Saghir, happened on Saturday in the eastern city of Bayda, Interior Minister Omar al-Zanki said. Kidnappings have become frequent in Libya, where two governments and parliaments, allied to different armed factions, are vying for legitimacy and control four years after Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi was ousted as the country’s leader. As sporadic factional fighting continued in several parts of the country, six people were killed when rockets hit houses in the city of Benghazi on Sunday, medics said.
|
Libya;Kidnapping and Hostages;Hassan al-Saghir;International relations;Al Bayda Libya
|
ny0207066
|
[
"sports",
"soccer"
] |
2009/06/29
|
Soccer in the U.S. Is Still Waiting for Its Moment
|
Another loss on a major stage: Brazil 3, United States 2. This is the epitaph in the wake of a heartbreaking loss in Sunday’s Confederations Cup championship game. Too harsh? Perhaps, considering the United States was facing a great Brazilian team. On the other hand, there must come a point in the discussion of soccer in the United States when the training wheels must be removed. Either this is youth soccer, in which the goal is to let everyone play, or this is the big time, in which second or third place is no longer acceptable. There was so much momentum heading into Sunday’s game, so much enthusiasm after the United States’ stunning victory over Spain on Wednesday. That victory became the talk from Johannesburg to New York. Over coffee one morning, Irv Smalls, the executive director of Harlem Youth Soccer , spoke about the implications of a strong showing by the United States on the continuing initiative to bring soccer to the underserved. “It definitely will get kids excited,” said Smalls, a former Penn State football player. Speaking from Johannesburg before Sunday’s match, Sunil Gulati , the president of the United States Soccer Federation, cautioned against placing too much weight on one result. At the same time, Gulati conceded that back-to-back, high-profile victories over Spain and Brazil in the Confederations Cup would give a much-needed jolt to a sport that continues to make inroads in the minds and hearts of the American audience. “Anytime you’re playing for the championship against a team generally considered the best team in the world for the last 75 years, it’s a great chance to get a lot of people who are part of the soccer community in the United States interested in the national team and excited to be part of an international game,” Gulati said. The United States carried a 2-0 lead over Brazil into halftime Sunday, and suddenly, a universe of possibilities emerged. This was the great American sports story. Finally, a breakthrough on the international championship stage. Finally, long-sought respect for United States soccer. Don Garber, the commissioner of Major League Soccer , spoke of the United States’ victory over Spain and reaching the championship game. “We’ve always believed we deserved more respect than we receive,” he said. “In sports, you’ve got to earn respect, you can’t just ask for it, and we’ve earned some respect this past week.” Then the roof caved in: Brazil scored three unanswered goals in the second half. And just like that, the United States was back to being the little engine that could someday win on the world stage. “Of course it’s disappointing, especially when we were up, 2-0,” Gulati said after the match Sunday. “On the positive side, we made progress at this tournament and are proud of reaching the final.” Nice try, good effort. For the rest of us, it’s back to baseball until next summer’s run to the World Cup. Garber was far from discouraged. “Today, we proved that we can compete at the highest level,” he said. “For 45 minutes, we had one of the best teams in the world shocked and on their heels. Our guys weren’t happy to just play in the final, they wanted to win. And for a time, I thought we would. “Over all, this was a great day for U.S. soccer that will go down in history as one of the truly great moments for our sport.” Still, instead of talking about a great triumph, we’re back to talking about what United States soccer needs to break through at home. Regardless of Sunday’s outcome, the sport faces two major challenges in the United States. The first is how to continue to attract great athletes. Gulati said that a high-profile championship by the United States national team would, and still could, inspire young athletes to cast their lot with soccer. “There are so many cases along the way in all sports when professional athletes say, ‘I was turned on because I saw this moment,’ whether it was Hank Aaron ’s home run or Pelé’s bicycle kick,” Gulati said. American soccer’s struggle to attract great talent is baffling because there are so many young people looking for something to do. The United States is one of the most powerful nations, one with phenomenal human resources. The sprawling soccer federations reflect the nation: some have a lot, some have very little. The leadership must find the will — and a way — to redistribute resources. This is crucial for the long-term goal of having a great national team, year in and year out. The more difficult challenge is to cultivate a broader consumer appetite for soccer in the United States. Debates continue about changing the nature of the sport to fit the American mind-set. Please, no. Soccer does not need to be dumbed down to accommodate our Twittered attention span. The sport does not need more scoring or more commercial timeouts. “People don’t need the sport to be different,” Garber said. “They just need a reason to believe, and every now and again, something happens where they have that reason.” That’s the greatest misfortune of Sunday’s loss to Brazil. A victory would have been that reason.
|
Soccer;Confederations Cup;Garber Don;Pele;Aaron Hank
|
ny0272215
|
[
"sports",
"soccer"
] |
2016/05/28
|
It’s Madrid vs. Madrid in the Champions League Final
|
MILAN — The stars. The fans. The weirdly operatic anthem . All of it combines to make the UEFA Champions League final a fixture of the global sports calendar. This year, club soccer’s biggest game serves two purposes: as the final act of the long European season and as the kickoff to a remarkable stretch of soccer. The coming weeks will bring the opening to the Copa América Centenario tournament in the United States (the first game is June 3) as well as the European Championships in France (which run from June 10 to July 10). But first there is the matter of this final on Saturday. For the second time in three years, it will be a meeting of intracity rivals: Real Madrid, the winner of a record 10 European titles, versus Atlético Madrid, which is seeking its first. Here’s what you need to know: Image Cristiano Ronaldo was treated in training this week. He is expected to play. Credit Daniel Ochoa De Olza/Associated Press Cristiano Ronaldo is Playing Well, actually that is not a certainty — Ronaldo, Real’s Portuguese winger, reportedly had an injury hiccup this week in training — but assuming he is out there, Ronaldo remains one of the game’s greatest offensive forces. Ronaldo has scored 16 goals in the Champions League this season, one short of the record he set when Real Madrid won the title two years ago. If he scores on Saturday, he will become the first player to score in three Champions League finals. Image Atlético Madrid’s coach, Diego Simeone, is a demonstrative presence on the sideline. Credit Lluis Gene/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Atlético Isn’t a Scrappy Underdog Anymore Bookmakers still favor Real Madrid, but that may reflect reputation as much as anything else. Atlético, led by its fiery, black-clad Argentine manager, Diego Simeone, has the defense to shut down any opponent, including Real Madrid, and the confidence to match . The Rojiblancos (the Red and White) did not lose to their city rival this season, with one draw and one victory, and they allowed only 18 goals during the entire Spanish league season, giving them the best goals againstaverage of any team in Europe’s top five leagues. Goalkeeper Jan Oblak recorded 24 league shutouts, the most in team history. Image Gabi, center, is an unstoppable force in the midfield for Atlético. Credit Angelika Warmuth/European Pressphoto Agency Ronaldo’s Not the Only Player to Watch For Los Blancos, look out for Gareth Bale (who scored the decisive goal the last time these teams met in the final) and Karim Benzema (who would be a leading striker on any team but his own), as well as Luka Modric (who is often the primary operator behind the Real offense) and Dani Carvajal (who makes strong runs from the back). The Uruguayan central defender Diego Godín is the spine of the Atlético defense while the team’s captain, Gabi, is an unstoppable force in the midfield. The French striker Antoine Griezmann and the well-traveled Fernando Torres lead the attack. Image Zinedine Zidane’s trousers have suffered at matches this season. Credit Darren Staples/Reuters Someone Might Split a Pair of Pants Zinedine Zidane, who won the title as a player with Real Madrid in 2002 and is seeking to win it again in his first year as the club’s coach, has shown a knack for innovation and motivation on the field as well as destruction of his trousers on the sideline. Zidane endured worldwide exposure twice in April when his tight suit pants ripped during particularly aggressive exhortations from the bench area at Champions League matches. Diego Simeone has not had a similar wardrobe malfunction, although it does sometimes appear as if he might burst a blood vessel, particularly when he is stomping around after a referee’s decision goes against his team. He has already struck one match official during this year’s competition. Image Antoine Griezmann and Atlético vanquished Barcelona in the quarter final. Credit Juanjo Martin/European Pressphoto Agency The Roads to the Final Were Very Different There is not much debate: Real Madrid had a softer draw on the way to the final, beating Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City in the knockout rounds. Atlético, meanwhile, started off with PSV Eindhoven in the round of 16 before dispatching the defending champion, Barcelona, in the quarterfinals and the 2013 winner, Bayern Munich, in the semifinals. Real Madrid has had the more tumultuous year over all, however, as the team’s tempestuous president, Florentino Pérez, fired Rafael Benítez as manager in January afteran inconsistent start. Zidane, who had never led a first-division team, replaced him, and he responded by winning 21 of 26 matches, although the club fell just short of catching Barcelona in the Spanish league. Image Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid, bottom, spoke highly of his coach, Zinedine Zidane. Credit Lalo R. Villar/Associated Press Many Words Have Been Spoken About This Game Here are some. Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos, on Zidane: “I think when you have been a player you have a way of focusing on things in football that is different to a coach who hasn’t been. Perhaps that’s why although he has only been in charge for a short time, it seems like he has for 30 years.” Atlético Madrid’s Koke, on his team’s strategy: “I think we have to defend well and take advantage of their errors because in these games they commit very few.”
|
Soccer;UEFA Champions League;Atletico Madrid Soccer Team;Real Madrid
|
ny0190682
|
[
"world",
"americas"
] |
2009/05/24
|
New Requirements on Border ID Stir Worries at Crossings
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WASHINGTON — After years of delay and hundreds of millions of dollars in preparations, Customs and Border Protection officials said new security measures would go into effect on June 1, requiring Americans entering the country by land or sea to show government-approved identification. Currently, Americans crossing borders or arriving on cruise ships can prove their nationality by showing thousands of other forms of identification. But after the start of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative , Americans will be required to present a passport or one of five other secure identification cards. Coming as the summer vacation season starts, the measure is expected to lengthen lines at least temporarily at border crossings and seaports. But the biggest impact is expected along the nearly 4,000-mile border that the United States shares with Canada , which both countries once boasted was the world’s longest undefended frontier. Before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Americans and Canadians crossing that border were required to do little more than state their nationality. Security has been gradually increased since then, causing longer lines and a steady drop in casual cross-border excursions, according to business and travel associations that monitor border traffic. Now some local and state officials are concerned that the new measures might further disrupt a major trading relationship for the United States and drive apart border communities that have deep economic and cultural ties. “We treat Canada like going to Ohio or to Chicago for the weekend,” said Sarah Hubbard of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce. “We have families living on both sides of the border. We have business partnerships on both sides of the border. “We believe our community is unique because it is bi-national,” Ms. Hubbard added. “It’s seamless in many ways.” Nearly 20 percent of all land trade between the United States and Canada — valued at an estimated $130 billion — crosses the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics . Ms. Hubbard said some 461,000 trucks, buses and cars crossed the Ambassador Bridge each month. She said an estimated 4,000 Canadian health care workers commuted into Detroit to work. And the manufacturing industry is so transnational, she said, that a single car can be sent back and forth across the border 12 times before the finished product is ready to be shipped to a dealer. Still, she said, cross-border traffic has fallen since Sept. 11. Traffic across the Ambassador Bridge is down by nearly 100,000 crossings a month this year compared with last year, Ms. Hubbard said. Representative Louise M. Slaughter, Democrat of New York, said that at border crossings in her state, traffic was down 13 percent to 19 percent this year from what it was last year. Ms. Hubbard said some of the decline had been caused by the recession . But some of it she attributed to “confusion about documents and hostile treatment by border officials.” “We have many people who come from Canada and tell us they don’t feel welcome when they cross the border,” she said. “We talk about those complaints with our friends on the border, and they tell us their job is security, not customer service.” Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary who forged her political career on the southern border and plans to travel to the northern border next week, makes no apologies for the tightened security measures, including using unmanned Predator aircraft from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota to patrol the border with Canada. Ground sensors were added along the border in Vermont, and towers equipped with cameras and sensors are being built around Buffalo. “One of the things that I think we need to be sensitive to is the very real feeling among southern border states, and in Mexico, that if things are being done on the Mexican border, they should also be done on the Canadian border,” Ms. Napolitano said at a recent conference on the northern border at the Brookings Institution. Her comparisons between the northern and southern borders have stirred outrage in Canada, where 80 percent of the population lives within 100 miles of the border and the government considers itself one of America’s most reliable allies. Seizures of illegal drugs and the detention of immigrants along the northern border are a small fraction of what they are along the southern one, which is considered the busiest transshipment point for illegal immigrants and drugs in the world. Still, Canadian officials said that their government, like the United States, had become much more sensitive to terrorism threats since Sept. 11. Canada has invested heavily, they said, in improving immigration controls, upgrading security at airports and seaports, sharing intelligence with its allies, and establishing its own homeland security agency, which includes joint American-Canadian border enforcement teams. And Canadian border guards began getting their first weapons in 2007, after years of debate about whether they should be armed. A Canadian diplomat in Washington said his country’s biggest diplomatic problem had been dealing with the American perception that Canada poses a threat because of its open immigration policy and concerns that it is a haven for terrorists. “We spend a lot of time trying to explain the fact that just because you don’t have the National Guard or a fence along the border, it doesn’t mean it’s not secure,” said the diplomat, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of his comments. Plans to put the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative into effect two years ago were postponed because of a significant backlog in passport applications and delays getting sufficient staff and equipment in place. In a meeting with reporters on Wednesday, Jayson P. Ahern, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said Congress had allotted $350 million to help the agency resolve those problems. Mr. Ahern said recent surveys of drivers across the border suggested that more than 80 percent of them had the required identification. The State Department, he said, has issued a million passport cards, wallet-size identification. And at least two million other people have gotten one of the four other kinds of acceptable border crossing cards. “I don’t expect any major delays or traffic jams as a result of this program,” Mr. Ahern said. “There will be no story on June 1.”
|
Canada;Identification Devices;Customs and Border Protection (US);United States International Relations;Security and Warning Systems;United States;Passports
|
ny0043351
|
[
"technology",
"personaltech"
] |
2014/05/01
|
Alibaba I.P.O. May Unleash Global Fight Over Users
|
The largest technology stock offering in history is looming, but few in Silicon Valley seem to care. The initial public offering expected soon in the United States by Alibaba Group Holding, China’s largest e-commerce company, could surpass the amount raised in the I.P.O. of Facebook. It would not even be surprising if it surpassed the combined amounts raised in the I.P.O.s of Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, AOL and Yahoo. But unlike the flurry of attention that accompanies high-profile floats by American tech stars, Alibaba’s stock offering has barely registered among the valley’s tech set. San Francisco’s artisanal toast bars have not been abuzz with commentary on Jack Ma, Alibaba’s chairman, and Palo Alto’s Tesla dealerships aren’t bracing for a surge in new buyers. In interviews, a few Silicon Valley investors said they didn’t expect the offering to be a big deal in the markets they follow, though they declined to speak on the record about their apathy. The issue isn’t that the valley is ignorant of the rise of Chinese Internet giants. It’s more that American tech firms have long been spurned and surprised by China’s tech market, and many here aren’t sure how to gauge the ambitions of the giants like Alibaba now bent on crossing the Pacific. “Chinese Internet companies and American Internet companies are eyeing each other’s markets, but they’re very disconnected from one another,” said Yan Anthea Zhang, a professor at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University who closely studies businesses in China. A decade ago, American tech companies saw an economically emergent China as the next great frontier, a place where new money and users would combine to form the world’s greatest market for their products. Image Credit Stuart Goldenberg But cultural, political and technological forces buffeted their dreams. While American firms largely failed to make headway in China, a raft of homegrown companies, Alibaba among them, took over vast swaths of the growing Chinese market. There are now Chinese analogues to Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter, eBay and PayPal. American and Chinese firms operate across a vast gulf, each eyeing global domination — and each essentially pretending the other doesn’t exist. Alibaba’s gigantic I.P.O. may signal a shift, the end of an era of mutually beneficial provincialism. “They are now going to try to fight more directly in each other’s territory,” Dr. Zhang said. “In both the United States and Chinese markets, we are going to see competition heating up.” Before we get to that fight, it’s worth examining how American web companies lost the Chinese market. In 2004, Meg Whitman, then the chief executive of eBay, predicted in an interview with CBS News that the company’s Chinese subsidiary, eBay EachNet, would soon become the auction site’s largest moneymaker. At the time, American web companies were initiating a spree of investments and expansion plans in China. Yahoo invested $1 billion in Alibaba in 2005. Amazon purchased Joyo.com, a Chinese e-commerce firm, which was expected to be the vanguard for the retailer’s plans to dominate China. But many American tech efforts to expand in China proved fruitless, often because the American companies didn’t understand China. For example, in its early years, eBay EachNet grew to command more than 70 percent of the Chinese e-commerce market for sales between consumers, as William P. Barnett, a professor at the Stanford Graduate Business School, writes in a fascinating case study on the Chinese e-commerce market. Image Jack Ma started Alibaba in 1999 with 17 other people. The company's expected initial public offering could surpass the amount raised in the I.P.O. of Facebook. Credit Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Then in 2003, Jack Ma, of Alibaba, started a consumer-to-consumer site, Taobao, that quickly eroded eBay’s lead by relying on a simple, powerful advantage: Ma gave Taobao features that tapped into the nuances of the Chinese market. “EBay may be a shark in the ocean, but I am a crocodile in the Yangtze River,” Mr. Ma once told an interviewer . “If we fight in the ocean, we lose — but if we fight in the river, we win.” Unlike EachNet (and the American eBay), Mr. Ma’s company did not charge sellers fees to list their merchandise. This appealed to struggling Chinese who were looking to start small side businesses without a huge investment. Taobao also incorporated tech features that resonated with local culture. An online chat included on the site — again, not available on EachNet — gave users a sense of community that they reported lacking on eBay. Taobao also let buyers and sellers bargain with one another, and its web design mimicked the departments of offline Chinese retailers, while eBay’s categories were lifted from its American site. And given its international operation in markets with strict laws around trademarks, eBay was also forced to remain wary of counterfeit merchandise appearing on its pages, a concern that Alibaba didn’t have to consider. EBay EachNet’s market share began to plummet, and by around 2007, it was dead. Amazon — with which Taobao and its sister site, Tmall, also compete — has been similarly stalled in China; the American online retailer, through its Amazon.cn site, now accounts for less than 1 percent of China’s e-commerce market, according to some estimates . Taobao has become one of the jewels of Alibaba’s empire, accounting for more than 70 percent of the Chinese market for consumer-to-consumer online sales. Altogether, Alibaba has been said to account for four-fifths of online purchases in China. But the problems of American tech firms in China go beyond culture. They have also suffered as a result of politics. Image Tmall.com is one of the e-commerce sites run by Alibaba. In 2010, after an attack by Chinese hackers on its corporate infrastructure, Google decided to remove its Chinese service. Though the company had acceded to the Chinese government’s demand to censor its site, the firm had long lagged behind the search engine Baidu in China. After Google’s withdrawal, Baidu became even larger. The Google story — in which government interference creates a difficult business climate for American companies — is a common one in China. “The Chinese government does not want foreign Internet companies to have a big piece of that market,” said James McGregor, the chairman of the Greater China office of APCO Worldwide, a strategy consulting firm. “They want their own Facebooks, they want their own Twitters. It’s not an open market for foreign Internet companies.” Alibaba’s offering now raises the opposite question: Will Americans and the American government tolerate the rise of Chinese Internet firms on their soil? More than that, will Alibaba and other rising Chinese companies manage cultural differences any better than American firms did in China? So far, Alibaba’s approach has been to go slow. The company lately began a string of investments in the United States, including in ShopRunner , an e-commerce company that offers a rival to Amazon’s Prime free-shipping service, and Lyft , a ride-sharing service. WeChat, a messaging application owned by the Chinese web king Tencent, began marketing its app more aggressively to American users this year. At the same time, the battle for global Web domination has spread far beyond just home turfs. American and Chinese companies are now increasingly competing over emerging markets in Asia and Africa, where Internet infrastructure is just beginning to roll out, and which may prove to be the next great battleground for global Internet hegemony. To ring in that fight, Tencent’s WeChat recently began airing an ad in South Africa featuring a Mark Zuckerberg impersonator weeping on a therapist’s couch over the customers he’s losing to WeChat. The doctor warns the Facebook founder to pipe down — or else he, too, will drop Facebook for the Chinese app. Sure, it’s a gimmicky bit of marketing. But maybe the direct approach will finally get American technology giants to pay attention to their Chinese counterparts.
|
IPO;Alibaba.com;Silicon Valley;E Commerce;Jack Ma;Taobao;Computers and the Internet;Tech Industry;China
|
ny0252314
|
[
"technology"
] |
2011/11/10
|
Google’s Chief Works to Trim a Bloated Ship
|
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Larry Page , Google ’s chief executive, so hates wasting time at meetings that he once dumped his secretary to avoid being scheduled for them. He does not much like e-mail either — even his own Gmail — saying the tedious back-and-forth takes too long to solve problems. Mr. Page has never been more impatient than he is now. He is on an urgent mission to pull Google through a midlife crisis that threatens to knock it off its perch as the coolest company in Silicon Valley. Founded in 1998, Google is not yet 15, but in tech years, it is an aging giant that moves a lot slower than it did when it was a hot start-up. It is losing employees to the new, hotter start-ups, and is being pushed around by government regulators and competitors like Facebook , Apple and Amazon , which are all vying for people’s online time. So Mr. Page, Google’s co-founder and former chief executive, who returned to the top job in April, is making changes large and small. He dropped more than 25 projects, saying they were not popular enough. He masterminded Google’s biggest deal by billions, the $12.5 billion Motorola Mobility bid, a bold move that positions the company to enter the hardware business. Borrowing from the playbooks of executives like Steven P. Jobs and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg , he has put his personal imprint on the corporate culture, from discouraging excessive use of e-mail to embracing quick, unilateral decision-making — by him, if need be. “Ever since taking over as C.E.O., I have focused much of my energy on increasing Google’s velocity and execution, and we’re beginning to see results,” Mr. Page, 38, told analysts recently. Naysayers fret that in his rush to refocus the company, and especially in ending projects, he risks squelching Google’s trademark innovation, which bubbles up when engineers are given the time to experiment. “He’s going to lose some people at the end of the day,” said one employee who, like others, agreed to speak only anonymously because the company bars them from talking to the press without prior approval. “He’s certainly been active,” said Mark Mahaney, an analyst covering Google at Citigroup . “Whether he’ll be active and successful, we don’t know.” His new responsibilities have changed Mr. Page, an engineer by training and personality. Judging by his few public appearances, he has learned to talk the corporate talk to shareholders and analysts, though he still generally declines to speak to the press, including for this article. He even broke down and hired an administrative assistant, after letting his previous one go years ago. She schedules him for those dreaded meetings. But they are only 50 minutes long, because in one of his first companywide memos after he took the job, he decreed that hourlong meetings must allow time for a bathroom break in between. Despite the many external pressures on Google, it is dominant in its business and highly profitable. But, when asked at a recent conference about the biggest threat to his company, Mr. Page answered in one word, “Google.” The problem was that the company had ballooned so quickly — it now has more than 31,000 employees and $27.3 billion in revenue so far this year — that it had become sclerotic . A triumvirate of Mr. Page, his co-founder, Sergey Brin , and Eric E. Schmidt , Google’s former chief and current chairman, had to agree before anything could be done. The unwieldy management and glacial pace of decision-making were particularly noticeable in the Valley, where start-ups overtake behemoths in months. It is different now. “It’s much more of a style like Steve Jobs than the three-headed monster that Google was,” said a former Google executive who has spoken with current executives about the changes and spoke anonymously to preserve business relationships. “When Eric was there, you’d walk into a product meeting or a senior staff meeting, and everyone got to weigh in on every decision. Larry is much more willing to make an O.K. decision and make it now, rather than a perfect decision later.” The changes began just a week after Mr. Page started the new job. He streamlined Google’s notoriously labyrinthine structure, and sent the e-mail on meetings. He began requiring senior executives to show up at headquarters for an informal face-to-face meeting at least once a week to plow through decisions, an idea he borrowed from Mr. Bloomberg. Salar Kamangar, senior vice president of YouTube , said Mr. Page forced him and another executive to settle a dispute in person that they had been waging over e-mail. “He called us into the office that day, very principal-style, and made sure we resolved the difference before we left the room,” Mr. Kamangar said. Although Mr. Page is more attentive to detail than Mr. Schmidt — becoming deeply involved in initiatives as small as giving Gmail’s home page a bigger sign-in box — he is also pushing employees to think big. “He tried to get all of us to step back a little bit and just make sure that the long-term things weren’t getting drowned out by the incremental,” said Alan Eustace, senior vice president for search. The most significant change at the company is the killing of projects Mr. Page deems unworthy. One of the initiatives he has abandoned is Google Buzz, an ill-fated social networking tool. Some employees find it frustrating to discover they do not fit into Mr. Page’s plans. “These teams are unfortunate casualties of these types of decisions,” one said. Google risks losing its next business before it has time to grow, some say. Gmail, for instance, grew out of so-called 20 percent time, which Google gives employees to experiment with new ideas. That risk is worth it, and signals a more mature Google, Mr. Brin said in a recent interview. “We’ve launched some weaker services, honestly,” he said. “We don’t want to be left with a complicated array of good-but-not-great services.” Still, Mr. Page remains popular among the rank and file, not the least because he has “geek street cred,” another employee said. That does not go over as well with the outside world, and Mr. Schmidt has remained the public face of Google in many instances at conferences and before the Senate. But Mr. Page has showed newfound warmth on earnings conference calls that are obligatory for chief executives. At a recent one, his long speech began, “I’m excited to be on the call.” He has also been forced to adjust to other aspects of the chief executive job, like near-constant demands on his time. Some of the only personal posts on his public Google+ account these days are kiteboarding pictures from a trip to Alaska . “These are from a while ago,” he wrote — there is apparently little time for hobbies now.
|
Larry Page;Google;Computers and the Internet
|
ny0041008
|
[
"us"
] |
2014/04/22
|
Beleaguered Albuquerque Department Reports Another Fatal Shooting by Police
|
ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque police officer fatally shot a suspected car thief on Monday during a foot chase in which, officials said, the suspect pointed a gun at the officer as he closed in on her. The shooting occurred 11 days after the Justice Department rebuked the Police Department for engaging in a “pattern or practice of unconstitutional use of deadly force.” Police Chief Gorden Eden made a terse statement to reporters in the morning, reciting the basics of the shooting, like its location — “the officers spotted the suspect running east” of Wyoming Boulevard on Zuni Road. Later, the department released the sex of the victim, the first woman to be fatally shot by the police here since 2010. As of early evening, her name had not been released because her relatives had not been notified. Chief Eden said the officer had been placed on administrative leave, standard procedure in shootings involving the police. Tensions over the department’s use of deadly force have resulted in heated protests against the police in recent weeks. Twenty-four people have been killed by the police since 2010, and the city has paid several millions of dollars in legal settlements as a result of some of the deaths. None of the officers involved in the shootings have faced criminal charges or, in most cases, other types of internal reprimand. The Justice Department report said inadequate training, improper oversight and “systemic deficiencies” had fostered a culture of permissiveness among officers and undermined the community’s trust in them. In its report, the result of a 16-month investigation into allegations of abuse by the police here, the Justice Department listed 44 remedies. Among them were significant revisions to training so officers learn to rely more on verbal warnings and less on stun guns. Stun guns were used pervasively in nonlethal confrontations, including those that involved elderly, drunken or emotionally disturbed individuals. The report also suggested the use of clearer procedures for handling people with mental illness, a common thread among most of those killed or wounded in police shootings here. It is unclear if mental illness was a factor in Monday’s shooting. Mayor Richard J. Berry named a retired veteran of the department, Robert Huntsman, this month as the assistant chief in charge of overseeing the changes, particularly as they apply to the $1 million set aside for crisis-intervention training and programs. The choice raised questions among community leaders because of Mr. Huntsman’s close ties to Chief Eden — The Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico’s largest newspaper, described them as close friends — and because many of the shootings took place before he retired in May 2012. “While he was there” at the Albuquerque Police Department, “it was pretty bad,” Ralph Arellanes, state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Monday. The league was one of the first groups to call for a federal investigation of the police. Mr. Huntsman is just one part of a team that the mayor is assembling to help overhaul the department, Mr. Berry said Monday afternoon. Others include Scott Greenwood, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union national board, and Tom Streicher, a former police chief of Cincinnati, he said. Mr. Berry said he saw no problem with the friendship between Mr. Huntsman and Chief Eden. “I have two individuals who have known each other over the years and have a mutual respect for each other,” he said. Mr. Huntsman will serve as a go-between for Chief Eden and the Police Department’s field services, support services and investigative bureaus, and will supervise its internal affairs unit and training academy. He is to attend a training session scheduled for police officers on Thursday, and the Justice Department has invited residents to attend that event and bring suggestions. Federal officials have also urged the community to submit comments and concerns by phone or through email, and invited advocacy and civic groups, victims, police officers and union representatives to a series of yet-to-be-scheduled meetings.
|
Albuquerque;Police;Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings;Justice Department;Gorden E Eden Jr
|
ny0047595
|
[
"sports",
"golf"
] |
2014/11/17
|
Charley Hoffman Wins in Mexico
|
Charley Hoffman rallied from a three-shot deficit by closing with a five-under-par 66 for a one-shot victory over Shawn Stefani at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Hoffman ended another long drought with his third career PGA Tour victory. He had gone 105 starts between his first and second victories, and this time, he went 108 starts until winning the final PGA Tour event of the calendar year. ■ The American Christina Kim won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico City for her first L.P.G.A. Tour title in nine years, beating China’s Shanshan Feng in a playoff after blowing a five-stroke lead. (AP) ■ Frank Esposito Jr. won the Senior PGA Professional National Championship, closing with a one-under-par 71 for a four-stroke victory in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Esposito, 51, the PGA head professional at Brooklake in Florham Park, N.J., holed a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole on PGA Golf Club’s Wanamaker Course. He finished at 16-under 272. ■ Brooks Koepka won his first European Tour title after overcoming a two-shot deficit in the final round to win the Turkish Airlines Open by a stroke in Belek, Turkey. Koepka, an American, shot a final-round, seven-under-par 65 for a 17-under 271 total.
|
Golf;Charley Hoffman;Shawn Stefani;PGA Championship;LPGA;Christina Kim
|
ny0065186
|
[
"technology"
] |
2014/06/10
|
2nd China Army Unit Implicated in Online Spying
|
SAN FRANCISCO — The email attachment looked like a brochure for a yoga studio in Toulouse, France, the center of the European aerospace industry. But once it was opened, it allowed hackers to sidestep their victim’s network security and steal closely guarded satellite technology. The fake yoga brochure was one of many clever come-ons used by a stealth Chinese military unit for hacking, said researchers at CrowdStrike, an Irvine, Calif., security company. Their targets were the networks of European, American and Japanese government entities, military contractors and research companies in the space and satellite industry, systematically broken into for seven years. Just weeks after the Justice Department indicted five members of the Chinese army, accusing them of online attacks on United States corporations, a new report from CrowdStrike, released on Monday, offers more evidence of the breadth and ambition of China’s campaign to steal trade and military secrets from foreign victims. The report, parts of which The New York Times was able to corroborate independently, ties attacks against dozens of public and private sector organizations back to a group of Shanghai-based hackers whom CrowdStrike called Putter Panda because they often targeted golf-playing conference attendees. The National Security Agency and its partners have identified the hackers as Unit 61486, according to interviews with a half-dozen current and former American officials. Those officials say the N.S.A. and its partners are currently tracking more than 20 hacking groups in China , over half of them units of the People’s Liberation Army, as they break into public and private sector companies ranging from satellite, drone and nuclear weapon component makers to technology and energy companies and research groups. Unit 61486, researchers say, in some instances shared computing resources and communicated with members of Unit 61398, the P.L.A. unit whose members were the focus of last month’s indictments. “If you look at all the groups that we track in China, the indictments are just the very tip of the iceberg,” said George Kurtz, a co-founder of CrowdStrike. Knowledge of the attacks, which continue even now and are being reported for the first time, emerge amid an escalating conflict between the United States and China over online espionage. Tensions had been simmering for years, but grew more pointed last year when an American cybersecurity company, Mandiant, identified Unit 61398 as the source of thousands of attacks on foreign companies. The Justice Department’s indictment last month named five members of that group and, for the first time, named some of its victims, which included Alcoa, Westinghouse Electric and the United States Steel Corporation. In response, Chinese officials have denounced the indictments, denied the charges, cited recent revelations that the United States has engaged in its own cyberespionage , and announced retaliatory measures , including new inspection procedures for American technologies, all raising the prospect of a trade war. The decision to issue indictments against the members of Unit 61398 has proved controversial, even inside the Obama administration. The members of the unit are almost certain never to see the inside of an American courtroom, and American officials fear that it could become more difficult to negotiate norms of behavior with China. The same issue will arise in the case of this newly disclosed unit, whose operations pose as large a threat to American infrastructure as the one whose members have been indicted. Image George Kurtz, co-founder of CrowdStrike. Researchers there believe they have identified a group of Chinese hackers that for years has been systematically breaking into the networks of government entities and companies around the world. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times CrowdStrike’s forensic investigation revealed that members of Unit 61486 took steps to hide their origins — by using compromised foreign websites to launch their attacks, for instance — but left behind digital traces of their identities and whereabouts. The report does not name the companies that were targeted because of confidentiality agreements CrowdStrike has with clients. The hackers’ tools were developed during working hours in Chinese time zones, researchers say, and Internet records show that in one case hackers used the same I.P. address as members of Unit 61398 to launch their attacks. The use of that address for simultaneous attacks suggests cooperation between Unit 61398 and Unit 61486, said Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike’s head of threat intelligence. CrowdStrike, founded by two former executives of the security software company McAfee, is one of a new generation of computer security companies that specialize in so-called computer forensics. Rather than reacting to attacks by hackers, the company tries to understand who hackers are and what methods they are using. It has released several reports on global hacking over the last year. The firm’s investigation revealed that the group targeted its victims with custom malware disguised as emails containing PDF invitations to aerospace and satellite conferences, job postings and, in one case, the brochure for a yoga studio in Toulouse. Once victims clicked on decoy files, they inadvertently downloaded malicious programs onto their computers. That opened the door for attackers to enter the victim’s network, see which other devices and networks their victim was connected to, and eventually steal trade secrets and design schematics for satellite and aerospace technology. CrowdStrike’s researchers said they traced attacks on dozens of the company’s clients in the space and satellite industry to the group; the researchers say the list of victims could number in the hundreds, if not thousands. In some cases, researchers said, attackers slipped up and registered websites used in their assaults under the same email address they used to register personal blog and social media accounts. In one case, an attacker deployed a remote access tool, or RAT, from a web domain registered to an email address that belonged to a onetime student at the School of Information Security Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a top university long suspected of being a state recruiting ground for hackers. Representatives for Shanghai Jiaotong did not respond to fax messages requesting comment. In another case, an email address — which popped up repeatedly in Internet records for attack domains — was used to register a personal blog on Sina.com, the Chinese Internet portal, to a 35-year-old who listed the military as his profession. The soldier did not return requests for comment, but in security discussion forums, CrowdStrike’s researchers uncovered discussions between that person and two other hackers, whose noms de guerre, ClassicWind and Linxder, have been linked to members of Unit 61398. The 35-year-old’s Picasa albums show photos of him in military training and celebrating his birthday with friends in military garb, and pictures of his dormitory, where P.L.A. officer hats are conspicuously in the background. And in his album labeled “office,” photos show a tall white building in Shanghai, surrounded by satellite dishes and dormitory-style residences. Researchers at CrowdStrike believe it is the headquarters for Unit 61486. Visited by The New York Times, the P.L.A. headquarters — just north of downtown Shanghai in the Zhabei district — were clearly marked as a “military zone.” Soldiers guard the entrance to the building, which is surrounded by tall walls topped with wire fencing, a moat and trees that camouflage military satellite dishes. Viewed from nearby landmarks, the building is full of military personnel and patriotic military slogans. Military analysts at the Project 2049 Institute , a defense research group in Arlington, Va., suspected that Unit 61486 supported China’s space surveillance network and maintained close ties with the Beijing Remote Sensing Research Institute, a state-sponsored organization whose mission is to explore “leading technologies in earth observation and the mechanisms for acquiring and distributing remote sensing information,” according to its website. The analysts never presented any evidence. CrowdStrike believes its report offers the final proof. “We’ve got the gun, the bullet and the body,” Mr. Meyers said of evidence connecting attacks on its clients, in the space and satellite sectors, back to Unit 61486. “The awareness level may be going up,” said Mr. Kurtz of CrowdStrike. “But the Chinese are not slowing down. They keep plowing away.”
|
China;Cyberwarfare;NSA;CrowdStrike
|
ny0275299
|
[
"world",
"middleeast"
] |
2016/02/10
|
Reprimands for 3 Lawmakers Rekindle Debate About Israel’s Arab Minority
|
JERUSALEM — The debate about national identity among Israel ’s Arab minority and its representatives in Parliament burst out again after three Arab lawmakers met recently with the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces when they attacked Jews. The lawmakers, members of the Balad faction of the Knesset, or Parliament, were censured this week by the legislature. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they had overstepped the boundaries of appropriate behavior, declaring from the podium of Parliament, “There is such a thing as national pride.” A leading Arab lawmaker suggested that such questions of pride were not so single-minded for him and his colleagues. “We are Arab Palestinians, and we are also Israeli citizens,” Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties, said. “There is always tension between the two identities.” The controversy over the lawmakers’ meetings exposed again the inherent frictions and complex emotions dividing Israel’s Jewish majority and its Arab citizens, who make up about a fifth of the country’s population of more than eight million. The Arab lawmakers and many of their constituents identify themselves as Palestinians in terms of nationality, while they are afforded the rights of citizenship in the Jewish state. The country’s conservative government, which holds a slim majority in Parliament, has said it recognizes the importance of integrating Arab citizens, but bristles when Arab Israelis identify closely with the Palestinian cause. The absence of any substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the recent surge in Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks against Israelis have only compounded the political pressure and raised the public’s anxiety. Image From left, the Israeli Arab politicians Jamal Zahalka, Ayman Odeh, Ahmad Tibi and Masud Ghanayem in 2015. Mr. Zahalka was one of three Arab lawmakers censured Monday. Credit Uriel Sinai for The New York Times Israeli Jews were particularly incensed at reports that the Arab lawmakers had stood for a moment of silence, suggesting sympathy and support for the Palestinian assailants. The lawmakers said that they had been reciting the Fatiha, a prayer that Muslims offer on the occasion of any death, and that their meetings had been humanitarian missions to discuss terms under which the Israeli authorities might release the assailants’ bodies for burial. The Parliament’s ethics committee voted late Monday to suspend two of the lawmakers, Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas, from plenary sessions and committee hearings for four months for meeting with the families of attackers whom the Israeli government brands as terrorists. A third Arab lawmaker, Jamal Zahalka, was punished for two months. The lawmakers — all from the Balad faction, one of the parties occupying the Joint List’s 13 seats in the 120-member Parliament — will still be allowed to participate in votes. One of their colleagues, Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Arab Movement for Change and a member of Parliament since 1999, denounced the disciplinary action and said the lawmakers had met with the families because the families had no other legal recourse. “It is just humane, just natural, to listen to them and to transfer their request to the Israel internal security minister,” Mr. Tibi said in an interview Tuesday. Mr. Netanyahu, speaking in Parliament on Monday, said, “We are in favor of the integration of Israel’s Arab citizens into society, the economy and the state.” In fact, the Israeli government recently announced a roughly $2.5 billion five-year investment plan for Israel’s Arab sector, an effort to narrow the gaps between Jewish and Arab citizens. But Mr. Netanyahu added Monday: “We are not willing to accept a situation in which members of the Knesset support the families of people who murder Israeli citizens. There is a limit.” To enforce the limits, Mr. Netanyahu is promoting a contentious bill that would allow members to be banned from Parliament for “unbecoming conduct” with a supermajority vote of 90 members. Mr. Odeh of the Joint List said it was for the Israeli people, not fellow lawmakers, to elect their leaders and decide which ones to remove. Image Jamal Zahalka, an Israeli Arab lawmaker, in Parliament on Monday. Credit Ariel Schalit/Associated Press Ms. Zoabi has been suspended from plenary sessions in Parliament before for offending her Jewish colleagues, including in 2014, for a period of six months, after the ethics committee received numerous complaints against her. She had insisted, among other things, that the Palestinians who kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank that year were not terrorists. This month, Ms. Zoabi was fined and given a six-month suspended prison sentence for insulting Arab Israeli police officers, whom she accused of being traitors. Ms. Zoabi lashed out on Tuesday against the latest actions in Parliament. “There is a racist atmosphere; there is even a fascist atmosphere that empties democracy of its content,” she told Israel Radio. “Already, I have to ask right-wing Knesset members if they will let me deal with things that are in the public interest, and now I have to ask them if I can deal with humanitarian issues?” She added that the meetings with the families of the Palestinian assailants had been “an issue of sensitivity for the dead.” Eyal Ben-Reuven — a member of the ethics committee from the center-left Zionist Union, which leads the parliamentary opposition — supported the suspension of the Balad legislators, describing the visits to the Palestinian families as a “very grave” act. But on Israel Radio, he criticized the bill that Mr. Netanyahu is promoting to allow the expulsion of members of Parliament, saying, “Instead of fighting terrorism, Mr. Netanyahu is fighting democracy.” Referring to the Arab minority, Mr. Ben-Reuven added, “They are citizens of Israel, whether you want them or not.”
|
Israel;Palestinians;Benjamin Netanyahu;Basel Ghattas;Haneen Zoabi;Jamal Zahalka;Legislature;Ethics Misconduct Malfeasance;Arabs
|
ny0050098
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2014/10/11
|
In Upstate New York, Fight Pits Gambling Empire vs. a Baron’s Heirs
|
HARRIMAN, N.Y. — There was a time when E. H. Harriman, the railroad baron of the Gilded Age, could stand on the steps of his blue granite mansion on a ridge line in the Hudson River Valley and see almost nothing but his own land stretching across Orange County. The Harriman family later donated 10,000 acres for the creation of Harriman State Park on the east side of Interstate 87, and much of the land in Sterling Forest State Park, on the west side of the highway, was also once theirs. The mansion still stands, high above this town now called, yes, Harriman. The descendants of Mr. Harriman, a blue-blood New York aristocrat who died in 1909, are now battling an interloper whose name is linked to a modern empire, Caesars Entertainment, and its plans for an $880 million casino hotel and resort on a wooded tract here. Caesars is among 16 casino developers competing for up to four state licenses and promising thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue to towns begging for both. Despite the developers’ lofty talk, their proposals have met stiff local resistance, from the Amish in upstate New York to conservationists closer to New York City. The bitter dispute here — the proposed site also borders the communities of Woodbury and Monroe — involves the environment but is rooted in 100 years of history and long forgotten legal documents. It pits a formidable establishment family with inherited wealth against a politically connected Goliath whose 53 casinos straddle the globe. The Harriman family wants to continue “its rich legacy of preserving the natural beauty of the lands in this valley,” their lawyer, James G. Sweeney, said. “They consider what’s going on now — the casinos — to be violative.” In letters to the town of Harriman and the state’s Gaming Commission, Mr. Sweeney said Caesars was barred from building on a 115-acre parcel next to the Harriman train station by deed restrictions imposed by the Harriman family, some of which date back 104 years. Image The heirs of E. H. Harriman, for whom the village is named, are opposed to the plan. Credit George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress The Harrimans are threatening legal action and have rebuffed a $2 million offer from the casino developer to drop their claims. Lawyers for Caesars dismiss the Harrimans’ claims in their own letters to the state as being “without merit” and an attempt to manipulate the Gaming Commission’s review process through a “public relations battle.” But the family has its allies. The Palisades Interstate Park Commission, which manages Harriman State Park and Sterling Forest State Park, has also raised objections to the casino, as has Scenic Hudson, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving open space. David Harriman Mortimer, the president of the company that oversees the family landholdings on behalf of three dozen heirs, declined to be interviewed. Mr. Mortimer, a former investment banker, is vice president of the Park Commission and a contributor to Scenic Hudson and a former vice chairman of the group. David Flaum, the Rochester developer who is Caesars’ partner in the casino project, takes a harsh view of the Harrimans’ objections. “They’re trying to kill more than 2,000 jobs in the Woodbury community,” he said, citing the resort’s projected number of employees. “They’re trying to stop the Woodbury community from getting $40 million a year in tax revenue and hosting fees.” The Harrimans have waived deed restrictions in the past, including one for a parcel in Woodbury center, where a Hampton Inn now stands, said Asher Flaum, Mr. Flaum’s son and the president of Flaum Management. The Harrimans’ claims are “simply noise from those who will say or do anything to oppose a casino under any circumstances,” Jan Jones Blackhurst, an executive vice president for Caesars, said. Supporters of Mr. Flaum and Caesars include Michael Queenan, the mayor of Woodbury, who said the Caesars site, about 60 miles north of New York City, is “ideal for a casino or resort-type hotel” because of its proximity to a train station, I-87 and Woodbury Commons Premium Outlets, a sprawling mall that attracts 13 million visitors a year. As for the Harrimans, Mr. Queenan said, “If they’re morally against it, fine, but I don’t feel they should be putting their will on the majority of people, who want a casino.” Mr. Mortimer and other Harriman heirs still have homes on the 2,200 acres that the family owns in Orange County. A resolution of the dispute will require a tour through a pile of documents and local history. By the early 1900s, E. H. Harriman had amassed as much as 50,000 square acres — roughly 78 square miles — in Orange and Rockland Counties. But he wanted to raise his family in the Ramapo Mountains, where he built a mansion called Arden House without too many neighbors nearby. After he died in 1909, his heirs began a tradition of giving large tracts to the state and to local towns, including 10,000 acres and $1 million to create Harriman State Park. In return for changing the name of the town to Harriman, from Tucker, Mary Harriman, E. H. Harriman’s wife, gave the local government $6,000 for a new train station and $25,000 for improvements. Her son, W. Averell Harriman, who served as the governor of New York and became a powerful diplomat in the administrations of four Democratic presidents, donated Arden House to Columbia University in the 1950s. Even today, the family is selling 625 acres of land in Orange County to the Open Space Institute, which preserves and protects natural and historic landscape in the state. But the Harrimans had a relatively quiet presence in the county until Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, moved to expand casino gambling as a way, the governor has said, to revive beleaguered upstate communities. While there are proposals for casinos in Albany, Tyre and Nichols, the most hotly contested region is Orange County because it is so close to New York City. Image Michael Queenan, the mayor of Woodbury, N.Y., a community bordering the proposed casino site, is a key supporter of the plan. Credit Richard Perry/The New York Times Whatever the merits of the Harriman claims, casino developers were well aware of the risk. The first casino developer to consider the land next to the Harriman train station was David S. Cordish, the chairman of Cordish Companies who along with Penn National Gaming was pushing a casino proposal in nearby South Blooming Grove. It seemed ideal, Mr. Cordish said, until he noticed the Harriman deed restriction on the land. W. Averell Harriman had sold the land in 1971 to Avon Products, which planned to build a corporate campus. At his insistence the deed stated: The land “shall never be used for hotel or motel purposes.” Although the land changed hands several times, the restriction remained. “I turned it down,” Mr. Cordish said. But a few weeks later, Asher Flaum called Mr. Cordish asking if he would like to join forces on a proposed casino resort at the Harriman station land, where the Flaums had signed a purchase contract. “I said, ‘Read the deed; you can’t get around it.’” A few days later Mr. Flaum contacted the Harrimans, offering $2 million if they would waive the hotel restriction. Mr. Mortimer responded by email: “At this time I am not able to meet with you nor do I have an interest in releasing the restrictive covenants on the property.” Undaunted, the Flaums and Caesars announced plans to pursue a license for a “world class” hotel, casino and resort on 104.5-acres next to the train station. The Flaum-Caesars partnership later seemed to have found a way around the Harriman restriction by leasing an adjoining 10.7 acres from Norfolk Southern Railroad, where they planned to put the 300-room hotel. The Harrimans’ lawyer said the project still violated the restriction because the hotel and casino were essentially one building. But after digging through property records, Mr. Sweeney discovered the Norfolk Southern property was also under a Harriman deed restriction. E. H. Harriman’s wife, Mary, had granted an easement to the Erie Railroad in 1910. But the contract included a clause, Mr. Sweeney said, stating that the land would revert to the Harrimans if the railroad no longer needed the property for railroad purposes. The Harrimans notified Norfolk Southern that a casino resort was not a railroad purpose, and therefore, wanted their land back.
|
Casino;Caesars Entertainment;Harriman;Land use;Gambling;Woodbury Orange County NY
|
ny0208677
|
[
"business",
"economy"
] |
2009/12/05
|
Jobs Report Is Strongest Since the Start of the Recession
|
The nation’s employers not only have stopped eliminating large numbers of jobs, but appear to be on the verge of rebuilding the American work force, devastated by the recession . The unexpected improvement comes as a relief to the Obama administration, which plans to unveil new proposals next week to ease the plight of the jobless following its labor forum in Washington on Thursday. In the best report since the recession began two years ago, only 11,000 jobs disappeared last month, the government said on Friday, and the unemployment rate actually dipped, to 10 percent, from 10.2 percent the previous month. “There are going to be some months where the reports are going to be a little better, some months where the reports are worse, but the trend line right now is good,” President Obama said in a visit to Allentown, Pa., offering reassurance to a city besieged by unemployment and a country still suffering from the highest unemployment rate in 26 years. Many forecasters suggest that the turning point — from jobs being cut to jobs being added — will come by March, assuming the economy continues to grow, as it finally started to do in the third quarter. If they are right, the beginning of a work force recovery would come more quickly than after the last two recessions, in the early 1990s and 2001, despite the much greater severity of this downturn. Stock markets rose sharply early Friday after the employment report was released and ended the day slightly higher, while the dollar had its biggest one-day rally since January. Although 15.4 million people are struggling to find work, the November report revealed signs of improvement across the country. More than 50,000 temporary workers were hired, the first surge in months and often a precursor to companies hiring permanent workers. Employees worked more hours, even in manufacturing. And, reflecting the increased hours, the average weekly wage for most of the nation’s workers rose by nearly two-thirds of a percentage point in a single month, to $622. “Many companies have reached the point that they can’t extract more work from their existing employees,” said Nigel Gault, chief United States economist for IHS Global Insight. “That means they have to add hours for existing workers or add people. Just how many depends on how quickly the economy grows.” It also depends on business executives feeling confident enough about the economy to invest and expand their operations. That may take months of steady economic growth even after they have stopped peeling back their work forces. In the end, the unanticipated improvement in November may turn out to be partly a correction of too much bad news in October — particularly the unemployment rate, which shot up four-tenths of a percentage point that month and has retreated somewhat. But economists in the Obama administration were having none of that. They see the November improvement as payback from the $787 billion stimulus package . In briefings with reporters, they said the federal spending saved or created 1.6 million jobs. Without that lift, the total job loss over the 23 months of recession would have been 8.8 million instead of 7.2 million. “I think you have to give our interventions a lot of credit,” said Jared Bernstein, chief economist for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. And then, insisting that Thursday’s job conference in Washington was a step along the way to more job creation activity, he said: “By no stretch of the imagination does this report mean less pressure on us for job creation.” Republican economists were hardly as sanguine. “Even if you accept their analysis that we are creating jobs this year, when you remove the stimulus you are going to destroy jobs,” said Kevin A. Hassett, director of Economic Policy Studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute and chief economist for John McCain in his failed presidential campaign. Mr. Hassett’s preferred tonic, like that of many Republicans, is tax cuts for job creation, not public spending. Adding to the positive signs, a broad measure of unemployment — one that includes those forced to work only part time and those too discouraged to look for work — fell to 17.2 percent, from 17.5 percent in October, the first decline in several months. In addition, job losses in September and October turned out to be far less than previously reported: 250,000 instead of 409,000. “All this good news is miles above the underlying trend rate of improvement, so we expect a correction in the next month or two,” Ian Shepherdson, chief domestic economist for High Frequency Economics, said in a message to the firm’s clients. Even without a correction, once the economy turns and hiring resumes, nearly 18 million people are likely to be vying for jobs, as if they were all trying at once to jam themselves through a door too narrow to accommodate more than a few. In a strong economy, the work force seldom grows by more than 300,000 workers a month. Nearly one-third have an even greater burden. They are the long-term unemployed, out of work for six months or more, and in many cases longer than a year. Not since records were first kept in 1948 has the percentage of long-term unemployed been as high as it is today: 38.3 percent of all those seeking work, or more than 10 percentage points above the previous high, in the aftermath of the early 1980s recession. “Assuming we have a strong recovery, it will take at least five years or more to get the unemployment rate down to a more normal 5 percent,” said Jan Hatzius, chief domestic economist at Goldman Sachs, adding that the long-term unemployed have lost skills and some of the habits of work because of their extended idleness. Because of this, the nation may have to get used to an unemployment rate that seldom falls below 6 percent. Annette Mercado, 39, a single mother in Chicago, said that she had retained her skills, even though she has been hunting for work since July of last year, when she was laid off from a $12-an-hour clerical job in a motorcycle accessory shop. She attributes that layoff to her refusal to work extra hours. “I told them I wasn’t willing to spend more time away from my 14-year-old daughter,” Ms. Mercado said. She spent months scouring Craigslist, CareerBuilder and other job sites, but the best she could do, she said during an interview at the state unemployment office, was temporary holiday season work last December at a liquor store. Ms. Mercado gets $984 a month in unemployment benefits as well as food stamps, but that is not really enough, she said, to pay all her expenses and those of her daughter without falling behind on the rent. Her plan, if work doesn’t materialize soon, is to put her belongings in storage and move in with her parents. “They are barely making it themselves,” she said.
|
United States Economy;Unemployment;Labor and Jobs;Obama Barack
|
ny0231281
|
[
"business",
"media"
] |
2010/09/06
|
Life Without a TV Set? Not Impossible
|
Most people do not think they need a television. Only 42 percent of Americans in 2010 said they felt that a television set was “a necessity,” according to a telephone survey of nearly 3,000 people conducted in May by the Pew Research Center. The proportion of people counting a TV as a must-have has shrunk by one third since 2006, when 64 percent of Americans said they needed one. This year, more people prized their microwaves than their televisions. More people valued their landline phones, their clothes dryers, and even their air-conditioners. However, as Pew points out, these numbers do not mean that Americans are throwing away their televisions. The number of televisions per home has risen steadily, according to Nielsen , so that more than half of American homes have three or more televisions. Rather, they suggest a decline in the perceived status of the television set, as other devices — like computers and smartphones — edge into its territory and take over TV’s functions. ALEX MINDLIN
|
Polls and Public Opinion;Television;Recordings and Downloads (Video);Computers and the Internet;Wireless Communications
|
ny0158593
|
[
"sports",
"football"
] |
2008/12/19
|
Giants’ Offensive Line Vows to Rebound After Stumbling at Dallas
|
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — At the beginning of Giants games, when the television producers show tapes of starters introducing themselves, offensive tackle David Diehl usually says he is from “the University of Chief Illiniwek.” It is a sly reference to the mascot of his alma mater, Illinois. These words were barely out of Diehl’s mouth last Sunday when quarterback Eli Manning took his first snap as the Giants played at Dallas. As Manning dropped back to pass, the camera showed linebacker DeMarcus Ware darting around Diehl to jump on the back of Manning, whose fumble was recovered by Rich Seubert, the Giants’ left guard. It set the tone for the game. Manning was sacked seven more times in a 20-8 defeat. He has some of the best blockers in the game, but it was their worst performance of the season, an effort they hope to avoid repeating Sunday when Carolina visits Giants Stadium to determine the regular-season champion of the National Football Conference. “That always gets your attention, that’s nothing you ever want to do,” Diehl said of the offensive line having allowed eight sacks. “You can’t point a finger. There’s nothing you can say. We’ve put that on our shoulders. We’re going to make sure this week is different.” Diehl was hardly the only lineman to suffer against the Dallas rush, and there were extenuating circumstances in the Giants’ second consecutive defeat. Right tackle Kareem McKenzie left early with a sore back; Seubert left late with flulike symptoms. Without the injured running back Brandon Jacobs and the suspended wide receiver Plaxico Burress, the Giants could not stop rushers who felt free to charge while not worrying too much about the running game, letting their defensive backs check wide receivers in man-to-man coverage. Coach Tom Coughlin said there was plenty of blame to go around. “If you want to say just the offensive line, yeah, they are guilty of a few things,” Coughlin said. “Could we have helped them more? Sure. Have they displayed a need to be helped to any great extent prior to that? No. I would hope we can play better. And that will be the big challenge. They have heard about this enough.” Seubert is expected back Sunday against the Panthers, who, like the Giants, are 11-3 and trying for a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs. McKenzie practiced again on a limited basis Thursday and plans to play. “Put up or shut up,” McKenzie said. He said that watching the sacks on film was not “a very joyous occasion” because “no offensive line takes pride in giving up eight sacks.” McKenzie was asked whether Manning might have had more success against the Cowboys by countering their aggression with draw plays or screen passes lobbed over the charging linemen and linebackers. McKenzie did not take the bait. “We’ve been pretty successful on offense; you can’t second-guess the judgment of the coaches,” he said. “It’s like a chess match. It’s like cat-and-mouse.” Kevin Gilbride, the offensive coordinator, will make adjustments against Carolina and defensive end Julius Peppers, who leads the Panthers with 12 sacks. When asked Thursday about changes, Gilbride answered in generalities. “It does no good to explain in detail,” he said. “It is just something that needs to be addressed, and I think there are a lot of different ways. We are going to try to solve those problems with a number of different approaches, philosophical changes or adjustments.” But Gilbride added that he thought the Giants still could be aggressive about passing. “All of us have to contribute and join in to make sure that doesn’t take place again,” he said of the sacks. These linemen are a veteran group, tightly bonded, the starters all teammates since 2004. Shaun O’Hara, the center, said: “We’re all disappointed with eight sacks. We’ve prided ourselves on our play and being physical. It is never pretty when you give up that many sacks. It is painful to watch it again.” Chris Snee, the right guard, said: “It’s just a matter of not holding your blocks, and you can’t ask a quarterback to perform under those situations. It’s our fault and we have to fix it.” Snee was voted to the Pro Bowl this week. “Obviously, all the votes came in before that game,” he said. Another lineman victimized by the Cowboys’ rush was Kevin Boothe, a backup at several positions who subbed for McKenzie. After watching the film, Boothe said he had some hope. “Everything is correctable,” he said. “It’s not the end of the world. We will regroup. We know we’re a better group than what we showed. We learned from it. Hopefully, we won’t ever have to go through that again.”
|
New York Giants;Football
|
ny0103795
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2012/03/28
|
Bloomberg’s Stance on Gracie Mansion a Billionaire’s View
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Ever since Gracie Mansion became the official residence for New York mayors, in 1942, very few of the 10 eligible tenants have turned up their noses at the chance to live, rent free, in the stately riverside home. Well, one, to be precise — Michael R. Bloomberg . Of course, he’s the only one of the past 10 mayors who could hang his baseball cap anywhere in 12,500 square feet of town house right down the street from Central Park, in a walled estate in Bermuda or in a grand residence in London. On Tuesday, Mr. Bloomberg suggested that his successor follow his example. “The mayor should not live there,” he said. His reasoning, which we will get to in a moment, is not rigorously linear. But this is not the sentiment of a man residing in an apartment with children, a brownstone in Brooklyn or a house in Queens. Outside the known billionaire universe, it would be hard to find many New Yorkers who, having taken on one of the most grueling jobs in the world, would then resist a basic law of science as applied to city real estate: Nature abhors an empty mansion. Not Mr. Bloomberg; he has empty ones all over the globe. He was keen to tell the future mayors that they should sleep somewhere else, on their own dimes, just as all city employees do, and as he has done himself since he took office in 2002. Not that he doesn’t appreciate the place. Soon after he became mayor, Gracie Mansion was fixed and polished to a high gloss, under the guidance of the mayor’s own interior decorator — and paid for, in typical Bloomberg fashion, through the private, unnamed philanthropy of a man whose behavioral silhouette strongly resembled that of Michael Bloomberg. He also made an interest-free loan for the restoration and upkeep. Since then, it has been used for ceremonies, to entertain guests and for children and tourists. Of course, it had provided many of these functions in its public areas for the 70 years that mayors had lived there. Still, Mr. Bloomberg argued on Tuesday, the full-time presence of people in the residential portion of the building would be a big, unwarranted expense to the public. “Everybody’s going to understand if a mayor lives there, then what they’re doing is they’re costing this city a lot of money and depriving the rest of the city of one of the great facilities any city has,” he said. How so? It’s not as if Gracie Mansion has become a catering palace for weddings, a Leonard’s of Great Neck shifted to the East River. Well, Mr. Bloomberg says, many gatherings at the mansion, many agency meetings would not be possible if a family were living upstairs. “And to take one of the great houses in this city away from the public I just think is wrong,” he said. It was a mark of his common sense that Mr. Bloomberg chose not to move into Gracie Mansion, and it is in no way poor-mouthing his exemplary generosity to note that living in a town house mansion on 79th Street near Fifth Avenue and entertaining official visitors there, as Mr. Bloomberg does, cannot be counted as a sacrifice when the alternative is living in a mansion near 88th Street and East End Avenue. Nevertheless, he correctly notes that the free residency amounts to a perk and argues that it is unnecessary in the current marketplace. “You know,” he said, “a lot of people want to be mayor. You don’t have to give them extra money as a housing allowance.” It may be that future mayors will want to live in their actual homes and be able to manage when 24-hour operations encroach on their households. Still, it is not crazily off the scale for the mayor of New York City to be given an official residence. Nearly 40 states have populations smaller than the city’s, and most of them provide such places for their governors. Mr. Bloomberg also has taken a salary of $1 a year, a hefty discount off the $225,000 that the law allows for the mayor. When he travels on official business, he uses a private jet at his own expense and pays the costs of all who accompany him; he goes where he wants, when he wants, how he wants. Unless another fabulously rich person winds up as the mayor, the next one will not be able to buy the kind of buffer and respites that Mr. Bloomberg has. No mansion for the mayor? That’s easy to say, if you already have them to spare.
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Mayors;Bloomberg Michael R;New York City;Mansions;Real Estate and Housing (Residential);Politics and Government;Gracie Mansion (NYC)
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ny0112625
|
[
"world",
"middleeast"
] |
2012/02/15
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Fayza Abul Naga Presses Inquiry Against U.S. in Egypt
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CAIRO — She is a holdover from the Mubarak era, a friend of the former first lady and the driving force behind the indictment of 16 Americans in a criminal investigation that threatens to undermine the decades-old alliance between Egypt and the United States . Now Fayza Abul Naga, 61, is defying even Egypt’s military rulers. With $1.5 billion in annual American aid hanging in the balance, Egypt’s top military officer and de facto chief executive is asking Ms. Abul Naga to moderate her tone. But she has become more caustic than ever, issuing her own warnings for Washington to back off. If the United States is not careful, she says, it may push Egypt closer to Iran . “Every country has pressure cards in the political field,” she said this week, according to the state newspaper Al Ahram. “Egypt is no exception.” When Ms. Abul Naga, the minister of planning and international cooperation, requested the investigation into foreign financing of nonprofit groups here, she was widely perceived as a mere agent of the ruling generals. At least two of the generals even hinted that the investigation might reveal the “foreign hands” they blamed for stirring up street protests. But as her case has escalated, officials in Cairo and Washington say she has been acting independently to exploit an emerging power vacuum as the military council’s power erodes. Now the supposedly all-powerful generals appear afraid of a backlash if they interfere in her campaign, which has tapped into a deep reservoir of anti-American sentiment. Over the weekend, Egypt’s military ruler, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi , publicly called for strengthening relations with the United States and, according to news agency reports, privately urged Ms. Abul Naga and other cabinet officials to moderate their tone. But this week Ms. Abul Naga unloaded as never before. On Tuesday, state media reported that she had told prosecutors in closed-door testimony in October that the United States had poured money into federally financed nonprofits that promote political organizing — the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute and Freedom House — in an effort to sow chaos, thwart the development of a strong and democratic Egypt and turn the revolution to the interests of the United States and Israel . The Republican Institute served the “right wing” agenda of its namesake party, she charged, while the Freedom House was a tool of the “Jewish lobby.” With her vocal support, the case has only gained momentum. In addition to the indictments, the prosecuting judges have issued a travel ban trapping more than a half-dozen Americans in Egypt. Three, including the son of the secretary of transportation, have sought shelter at the American Embassy for fear of arrest. Although Ms. Abul Naga’s comments this week only aggravated the tensions between the United States and Egypt, it was unclear who might intercede. With a transfer of power to a civilian president promised within just four months, almost everyone in the Egyptian government, including the 19 members of the ruling military council, appears preoccupied with his or her own personal fate after the generals leave power, American and Egyptian officials say. Some have reason to fear that they could face trials for corruption or charges related to the crackdowns, as former President Hosni Mubarak and many of his lieutenants already have. But others are eager to preserve their positions, buttress their institutions or seek elected offices in the new government. Ms. Abul Naga declined repeated requests for comment. “This is a country of separate islands now,” said Mohamed Anwar el-Sadat , the nephew of former President Anwar el-Sadat and a newly elected lawmaker who recently called Ms. Abul Naga to testify before a parliamentary committee. “The Foreign Ministry, the Justice Ministry, the Parliament , the generals of the military council — everyone is his own island.” The ruling generals were “surprised” by the actions against the American groups, Mr. Sadat said, recounting what he said were conversations with top military officials. “They had not been informed, and they believed the timing was wrong,” he said. “But she knows that Tantawi is only in charge while the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces is there. His time is over, so her time is over.” Signs abound that the military’s authority is fading fast. Civilian judges have for the first time begun to rule against the military council. The police hesitate to use force or even take action for fear of retribution, and earlier this month their diffidence contributed the deaths of more than 70 soccer fans in a riot in Port Said, a parliamentary inquiry found. Lawmakers, in turn, are moving to dismiss the interior minister, but no one yet knows whether Parliament or the military can claim that power. The Muslim Brotherhood , whose party dominates Parliament, abandoned its policy of avoiding confrontation with the military to call for the dissolution of the entire military-appointed cabinet — including Ms. Abul Naga — to make room for it to form a coalition government. But it is unclear whether even a new cabinet can last more than four months, beyond the promised vote for president. “Power is in a very fluid state right now,” one American diplomat said, speaking anonymously under diplomatic protocol. “American pressure scares them less than the mob in the street demanding the execution of Tantawi.” The diplomat added, “It means society is really coming apart at the seams.” Already many here say that Ms. Abul Naga’s campaign against the Americans has made her all but untouchable — if not potentially electable — in the next stage of Egypt’s transition. “She is a hero,” Mr. Sadat said archly. Ms. Abul Naga’s leading role in the crackdown is surprising, some old friends say, because she spent many happy years in the West. She speaks fondly of living in New York as one of the closest aides to Boutros Boutros-Ghali , then the secretary general of the United Nations , who recruited her from the Egyptian foreign service. She later worked for years in Geneva , as Egypt’s representative to the United Nations office there, and to the Human Rights Council. She was also aware that as recently as 2010 Egypt had pledged to the council to liberalize the strict regulations of nonprofit groups that are now being used to prosecute the Americans — a commitment that American officials say led them to believe that the rules were effectively dead after the ouster of Mr. Mubarak. But Ms. Abul Naga always stood out for her round-the-clock work habits, deft political skills and personal ambition. “I always told her, ‘When you become foreign minister of Egypt, don’t forget to appoint me your spokesman,’ ” said Ahmad Fawzy, an Egyptian friend of Ms. Abul Naga from the United Nations. Mr. Mubarak always considered Egypt’s reliance on American aid “a humiliation,” American diplomats wrote in a cable disclosed by WikiLeaks . And Ms. Abul Naga was his chief negotiator in years of battles to stretch and control the American aid money. Married to a diplomat now serving as Egypt’s ambassador to Japan , Ms. Abul Naga often spent time with a circle of female friends she shared with the former president’s wife, Suzanne, her friends and former officials say. After Mr. Mubarak’s ouster, Ms. Abul Naga was one of the only cabinet members to retain a post. She even expanded it, adding economic planning as well. Her dual role means that as Ms. Abul Naga defends the crackdown on foreign financing of Egyptian nonprofits she is also in charge of asking the West for billions more in aid to help stabilize the Egyptian economy. Sometimes she does both at the same news conference. It reminded Mr. Sadat, the lawmaker, of an old Egyptian proverb. “I beg you for charity,” he said, “but I’m your master.”
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Politics;Egypt;Fayza Abul Naga;US Foreign Policy;Nonprofit
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ny0235924
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[
"nyregion"
] |
2010/01/12
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Prosecutors to Examine Accident Involving Howard Safir
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The Manhattan district attorney’s office is investigating an accident last week in which Howard Safir , the former New York City police commissioner, backed his sport utility vehicle into a pregnant woman on the Upper East Side and then drove away, a spokeswoman for the office said Monday. “The office is looking into the circumstances surrounding the former police commissioner’s accident,” said Erin Duggan, a spokeswoman for Cyrus R. Vance Jr. , the Manhattan district attorney. Initially, detectives from the 19th Precinct had tracked down Mr. Safir, questioned him and “determined there is no criminality,” a law enforcement official said last week. But on Monday, a person familiar with the investigation said that Mr. Vance wanted to make sure that the Police Department’s review was thorough, and so he has tapped his office’s vehicular crimes unit to do a full inquiry. Mr. Vance was alarmed not only by the accident involving Mr. Safir, but also by two traffic-related fatalities that have happened this year, and he has called on his office’s vehicular crimes unit to look into each of those incidents, Ms. Duggan said. Because the investigation is continuing, Ms. Duggan said she could not comment on what the office has uncovered so far in the accident involving Mr. Safir. The investigation was reported by Streetsblog.org on Monday. On Friday, Mr. Safir backed his black 2009 Cadillac Escalade into Joanne M. Valarezo, 30, of the Bronx, the authorities had said. Ms. Valarezo was not knocked down and was not seriously injured in the accident, which occurred at 2:25 p.m. in front of 1418 Third Avenue, the authorities said. She was taken by ambulance to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was treated for a bruised shoulder and then released, the police said. Ms. Valarezo’s unborn child, nearing its seventh month, was apparently not affected, she later said. Detectives determined that Mr. Safir was unaware that he had struck the woman before driving away, a law enforcement official said, but Ms. Valarezo, in a telephone interview on Friday night, questioned that.
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Safir Howard;Police Department (NYC);Vance Cyrus R Jr;Accidents and Safety
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ny0055741
|
[
"us"
] |
2014/09/02
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After a Father’s Plea, Few in Missouri Try to Disrupt Traffic
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FERGUSON, Mo. — The father of the unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by a white police officer here last month asked protest organizers on Monday to postpone their planned shutdown of highway traffic in the St. Louis region. At a march in Ferguson on Saturday, organizers called on their supporters to shut down area highways on Labor Day to protest the killing of Michael Brown, 18, urging motorists to stop their vehicles at 4:30 p.m. in a four-and-a-half minute blockade. Mr. Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., asked that the action be called off after meeting with organizers and state law enforcement officials. Most adhered to his request though several protesters did walk onto Interstate 270 around 4:30 holding up their hands, slowing and then stopping traffic for about four minutes before walking onto the shoulder. No arrests were made, said Mike O’Connell, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Public Safety. The announcement came the same day that one of the lead coordinators of a mass protest in St. Louis in 1999 that shut down Interstate 70 for one hour and led to more than 100 arrests alerted black leaders and officials that he wanted demonstrators to hold a similar blockade next week. Image Motorists in Missouri stopped their vehicles at 4:30 p.m. in a an effort to hold a four-and-a-half minute blockade in a protest intended to symbolize the four and a half hours Michael Brown's body lay in the street in Ferguson, Mo. Mr. Brown, 18, was shot by a white police officer last month, leading to outrage and protests. Credit Whitney Curtis for The New York Times The organizer — Eric E. Vickers, chief of staff for State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, a St. Louis Democrat — sent emails on Monday announcing that a shutdown of Interstate 70 was planned for Sept. 10, and was necessary to persuade Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri to remove the St. Louis County prosecutor, Robert P. McCulloch, from the case and appoint a special prosecutor. Mr. Vickers and other St. Louis activists have repeatedly used the threat of a traffic shutdown as a protest tactic in recent years. In 1999, protesters were demanding more highway construction jobs for black workers and contractors, and they persuaded state officials to create a training program that exists today. Several African-American leaders were skeptical that a new traffic shutdown would help their cause this time, but others supported the idea. In an interview on Sunday, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was among those arrested in St. Louis in 1999, said he was not against participating in a similar action, but only if it were organized properly. “We were very successful in 1999,” Mr. Sharpton said. “I will not call for something we cannot achieve. You’ve got to be very careful that your enthusiasm does not overstep the bounds of where it’s capable.” Mr. Vickers informed the governor of his plans in an email on Thursday, warning Mr. Nixon that activists would shut down Interstate 70 for four hours “if you do not immediately act.” The length of the blockade is symbolic. Mr. Brown’s body lay on the street for more than four hours before it was removed after he was shot and killed. Mr. Nixon’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Capt. Ronald S. Johnson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol declined to comment about any planned highway shutdown.
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Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings;Civil Unrest;Michael Brown;Ferguson;Black People,African-Americans;Roads and Traffic;Michael Brown Sr.;St Louis;Jay Nixon;Eric E Vickers
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ny0199226
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[
"world",
"americas"
] |
2009/07/08
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Diplomats and Friends, Two Hondurans Part Ways
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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The two men were much more than just colleagues. They were longtime friends who had negotiated the rough-and-tumble circles of Honduran politics to become their nation’s top ambassadors in the United States, if not the world. Then both received early morning telephone calls, and had to make a fateful choice. The government they were representing had been toppled and a new one was sworn in hours later, requiring each man to quickly search his conscience and pick a side. They chose differently. “We have always shared the same values; then we separated,” Jorge Arturo Reina, the Honduran ambassador to the United Nations, said of his erstwhile ally, Roberto Flores Bermúdez, the Honduran ambassador to the United States. “He took one path. I took another.” The gaping divide over the ouster of this nation’s president, Manuel Zelaya, has been on violent display in recent days, with angry street demonstrations for one side or the other in the capital and intense diplomatic jockeying on the world stage. But there has been another, deeply personal fallout from the debate over the president’s removal, as friendships and even family ties are strained by the nation’s sudden political schism. In the insular elite of Honduran politics, the ruptures are evident, perhaps inevitable. Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, the wife of the ousted president, talks about her lost friendship with Xiomara de Micheletti, the wife of the man who helped depose her husband. “I don’t know what happened,” she said, almost as if the two men were not locked in a bitter, international tug of war for control of the country. “We were friends.” Less than a year ago, Mr. Zelaya endorsed Roberto Micheletti’s attempt to become the presidential nominee for the Liberal Party, of which both men are members. Mr. Micheletti’s candidacy failed, but as next in line for the presidency he took over after Mr. Zelaya’s ouster. Now he is vowing to arrest Mr. Zelaya if he tries to return to the country. So divided is the country that discussion of the ouster is banned in some households. “In my family, it’s a very delicate topic,” said Luis Estrada, an architect. “I have relatives on both sides and I have friends on both sides. If you don’t want a fight, you talk about something else.” The rift is a lot harder to smooth over for the two ambassadors. Mr. Reina used to be Mr. Flores Bermúdez’s law professor, and later became his mentor. But when Mr. Zelaya was rousted out of his home by soldiers at the end of June and shuttled from the country, the two men found themselves taking drastically different paths. Mr. Reina called the change in government illegal and refused to recognize the new one as anything other than a collection of coup plotters. Mr. Flores Bermúdez cast his lot with the new government and called the ousted president a crook who tried to subvert the Constitution. “It was not an easy decision,” Mr. Flores Bermúdez said in an interview. “The difficulty was because I had been the ambassador for Zelaya. I had undertaken a lot of efforts on his behalf to bring our country closer to the United States. Then he was gone.” Convinced Mr. Zelaya had been ousted legally, Mr. Flores Bermúdez returned home to get instructions from a new foreign minister, then went back to Washington. But his task became more complicated than ever, since Honduras has been condemned across the world for deposing its president and tossing him out of the country without a trial. Mr. Flores Bermúdez argues that Mr. Zelaya flouted judicial orders against plans to remake the Constitution. The president’s removal from office came after a court order for the army to detain him, he said, and Mr. Micheletti was voted in by Congress. But Mr. Reina dismisses such arguments. He has refused to recognize the new government, has rebuffed calls to return home and continues to operate at the United Nations even though his budget has been frozen. “This was simply a coup d’état covered up as a legitimate change,” Mr. Reina said. ”I don’t even call these new people a government.” Mr. Reina has continued to speak out on behalf of Mr. Zelaya at the United Nations, arguing that if there were charges against him he should have been prosecuted. There is nothing in the law that allows a president to be sent off on a plane at gunpoint, he noted, a point to which even those who back Mr. Zelaya’s ouster, including Mr. Flores Bermúdez, reluctantly agree. Mr. Reina insists that he still reports to Patricia Rodas, Mr. Zelaya’s foreign minister, who was briefly detained after the president’s ouster and now lives in exile. As for a recent letter Mr. Reina received, firing him from his ambassadorship, he said in a recent radio interview: “I do not abide by it, by whatever name it may be called, because I do not recognize the legal legitimacy of those who have sent it.” Which of the two diplomats is the renegade remains in some dispute. According to Mr. Micheletti’s government, Mr. Reina is a rogue ambassador who is using the government’s offices in New York without authorization. Mr. Flores Bermúdez, by contrast, was stripped of his diplomatic credentials by the State Department on Tuesday afternoon, a move that seemed to be in keeping with the Obama administration’s condemnation of the Honduran president’s ouster. “Since that moment,” Mr. Flores Bermúdez said, “I have been presenting myself as the former ambassador from Honduras.” Both are major figures back home. Mr. Reina, 74, is the brother of Carlos Roberto Reina, who was president from 1994 to 1998. A former law professor, university dean and member of Congress, Mr. Reina has sought the presidency himself, representing a leftist faction of the Liberal Party. Mr. Flores Bermúdez, 59, who remembers Mr. Reina’s teaching him law years ago, served as ambassador to the United Nations from 1990 to 1994 and foreign minister from 1999 to 2002. “I’ve always respected him,” Mr. Reina said of his friend and former student. But, he added: “I think he’s made a mistake. I regret his decision and I think he will one day too.” Mr. Flores Bermúdez said he called Mr. Reina before he announced that he would be siding with the new government. He hoped the breach between them would one day be repaired. “We’re both thinking of our country,” he said.
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Honduras;Coups D'Etat and Attempted Coups D'Etat
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ny0136541
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[
"world",
"middleeast"
] |
2008/05/03
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Israel’s Tactics Thwart Attacks, With Trade-Off
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NETANYA, Israel — Suicide bombings in Israel have dropped off so significantly that the nation’s security officials now dare to speak openly of success. But the very steps they are taking to thwart bombers appear to collide head-on with the government’s agenda of achieving peace with the Palestinians . It is a classic military-political dilemma. The progress in stopping suicide bombers, the vast majority of whom cross into Israel from the West Bank, has brought enough quiet for Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinian leadership there. But the current calm is fragile, and to maintain it Israeli security officials say they must continue their nightly arrests and sometimes deadly raids in the heart of the West Bank — tactics at odds with a peace effort that envisions a separate Palestinian state, an eventual Israeli withdrawal from much of the West Bank and, in the meantime, a gradual transfer of authority to the Palestinian police. “The price of staying out” of the West Bank, said one senior Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of military restrictions, “might be one that we don’t want to pay.” The military’s faith in its efforts comes across in its charts showing a steep decline in suicide bombings — from a high of 59 in 2002 to only one in 2007, and one so far this year. “It is far from a coincidence,” said Col. Herzi Halevi, commander of the Israeli Army’s Paratroops Brigade, which is at the forefront of the military campaign in the West Bank, where the borders are longer and more permeable than those in the Gaza Strip, the other Palestinian territory. “It is not that the terrorists did not try enough. They did. We know.” The military’s change in policy came after a particularly bloody spring in 2002, when a Palestinian from the West Bank traveled nine short miles across Israel and walked into the modest Park Hotel here in Netanya, a coastal resort town, blowing himself up in the dining hall during a Passover seder. The Park Hotel massacre, as it became known, was the climax of a bloody month in which 130 Israelis died in suicide bombings and other attacks. Within days Israeli forces invaded most of the Palestinian cities of the West Bank in an operation named Defensive Shield, wresting back control from the Palestinian Authority security forces who were supposed to be laying the foundations for a nascent Palestinian state. Six years later, the glass doors at the entrance of the Park Hotel were flung wide open to catch the slightest breeze. In the lobby, a teenager casually played a video game while a tourist collected a hair dryer from the reception desk. Scores of guests were booked for the Passover meal. Still, Israel is taking nothing for granted. The country will soon be going on heightened alert in the days leading to the 60th anniversary celebrations beginning Wednesday, and security officials are loath to surrender the option of striking at suicide bombers and their dispatchers at any time, on Palestinian turf. “You cannot play from the touchdown line,” Colonel Halevi said. Israel also started building the West Bank separation barrier in 2002, describing it as an answer to the suicide bombers. Made up mostly of fences and some sections of wall, the barrier is now about two-thirds complete. Security officials say it has proved effective, but they do not rely on it alone. Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has managed to straddle the seeming contradictions between the peace process and the military’s continued campaign in the West Bank largely by putting off the matter until a later date. Despite the Bush administration’s urgings to reach a peace deal by the end of the year, Mr. Olmert has said that his goal in talks with the Palestinians is to try to define the basic parameters for a Palestinian state, not to reach a comprehensive agreement that will be put in place any time soon. Instead, Israeli security officials point to what they call the basic conditions for safeguarding the country. According to a new study published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a policy research institute with conservative leanings, those include a willingness to bear the political costs of military offensives, good intelligence and control of the territory from which militants operate. In theory, Palestinian security forces would assume the responsibility of preventing such attacks, and a test of that approach will come this summer when a 600-member battalion of the Palestinian National Security Force completes an American-financed training program in Jordan. The Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, has stated that the recruits will be deployed in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, once considered the capital of the suicide bombers. Additional Palestinian forces are already due to start deploying in the city in order to prepare the ground. But leading Israeli security figures, past and present, seriously doubt that the Palestinian police will have the capacity or the will to fight terrorism in the foreseeable future. “It is an old naïveté that nobody believes anymore,” said Yaakov Amidror, a major general in the reserves who wrote the study. Nor has the precedent in Gaza inspired confidence. After Israel unilaterally pulled out its troops and Jewish settlers in 2005, some hoped that with Western support, the tiny coastal strip might become a model for a future Palestinian state. Instead the Islamic militant group Hamas took over and the rockets from Gaza went from hitting Sderot, a small Israeli border town plagued for years by rocket fire, to the major city of Ashkelon about 10 miles up the coast. In recent months the army has been back in Gaza on an almost daily basis, searching for the militants and carrying out arrests. The security hawks fear that losing control of the West Bank would turn the Israeli cities of Netanya and Tel Aviv into Sderot. But the resurgence of suicide bombings is still seen as the primary threat. “They are the most dangerous type of terrorist,” said Maj. Gen. Shachar Ayalon, deputy commissioner of the Israeli police, whose special units also operate in the West Bank. “Human bombs can change direction, can change targets. They are not easy to stop.” General Ayalon speaks of “building circles of security” in and around Israel to slow the bombers’ advance. Among them he lists the West Bank separation barrier and the hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints that dot the West Bank, which the Palestinians and the international community want to see removed. Even more important, he said, is to seek out those who send the bombers “and put a threat on their life.” There appears to be little disagreement within the security establishment, and the government seems to be acting largely in line with its recommendations. Still, there are Israelis who differ. Some attribute at least part of the reduction in suicide bombing to fatigue and self-interest on the part of the terrorist organizations. The suicide bombing in the desert town of Dimona in February, in which one woman was killed, was the first claimed by Hamas in more than three years. Some former officials advocate relying more on the pragmatic Palestinian leadership in the West Bank. “We have to take a risk,” said Ilan Paz, a retired brigadier general at the Economic Cooperation Foundation, a research institute in Tel Aviv that supports the peace effort. “Otherwise we will have Hamas later, and we will have an even bigger risk to take.” The alternative to controlling all the territory, he said, was to reach an agreement with a partner, namely President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who wants to keep the peace. A few weeks ago the Palestinian Authority interior minister, Abdel Razak al-Yahya, visited the training camp in Jordan and told the trainees that their mission was to go after “the thugs and gangs and all those who would damage the Palestinian national project,” according to a senior Western official who was there. Israel sees some value in the Palestinian policing efforts against local criminals, but has made it clear that when it comes to fighting terrorism, overall security responsibility will remain in Israel’s hands. “First they have to prove themselves, and then we can pull out,” one senior Israeli military officer said. Palestinian officials have accused Israel of trying to thwart and belittle their security efforts by continuing with army raids in areas where the Palestinian security forces are active, as in Nablus. “Because if we succeed there will be no need for Israeli troops to stay in the occupied territories,” said the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, Riad Malki. Those wanting to advance the peace process, including the American backers, hope that Israel will gradually wind in its security net in the West Bank while the Palestinians spread theirs out. Nobody knows how long that will take. The battalion now training in Jordan is meant to be the first of five. But for now there are no more dollars allocated for the program, and the money has run out.
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Israel;Armament Defense and Military Forces;Palestinians;Politics and Government;Terrorism;Palestinian Authority;Hamas
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ny0158651
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2008/12/21
|
Sexual Harassment Claim Arises After Official Quits
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The commissioner of the city’s Department for the Aging, whose resignation on Dec. 12 was attributed by the mayor to “personal reasons,” has been accused by his former secretary in a federal lawsuit of sexual harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit was filed in February, and followed an investigation by the New York State Division of Human Rights, which determined that the former secretary, Auritela Santos, had probable cause to proceed with a legal claim against the commissioner, Edwin Méndez-Santiago. But the case went unnoticed until Mr. Méndez-Santiago resigned unexpectedly amid strong opposition to plans to overhaul programs for the elderly. City lawyers have denied Ms. Santos’s allegations in court papers. City officials declined to comment, citing the continuing litigation. Ms. Santos said she did not want to discuss the case; her lawyer, Doris Traub, also declined to comment. The case appeared to take a turn on Nov. 20, when city lawyers sought another extension to reply to Ms. Santos’s request for more than 4,000 e-mail messages, presumably involving Mr. Méndez-Santiago, many of them in Spanish. Ms. Santos said some of the e-mail messages were sexual or even violent in nature, according to court documents. In a letter to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan, Eamonn F. Foley, a lawyer for the city, said, “The parties believe that it currently is an opportune time to consider possible settlement.” The accusations against Mr. Méndez-Santiago represent a rare moment of awkwardness for an administration that has generally won plaudits for the quality — and longevity — of its cabinet members. Almost none of the administration’s senior officials have been touched by even a whiff of personal scandal since Mr. Bloomberg was elected in 2002. The issue of sexual harassment is one that Mr. Bloomberg has had to deal with before; the financial services company he founded, Bloomberg L.P., has been sued on numerous occasions since the 1990s by employees claiming discrimination and sexual harassment. One senior city official who knows Mr. Méndez-Santiago said the allegations seemed out of character; a 54-year-old family man, he had a good reputation among community activists prior to his being chosen as commissioner in December 2001. Still, the allegations were serious enough that Mr. Méndez-Santiago had little choice but to resign, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the pending litigation. “I heard it was the harassment charges,” said the official, explaining the reason behind Mr. Méndez-Santiago’s departure, which takes effect on Jan. 1. “I heard it was ugly.” According to complaints filed with the State Human Rights Division and in federal court, Ms. Santos, now 38, became Mr. Méndez-Santiago’s secretary in 2004. He made frequent sexual remarks and rated the physical appearance of female employees, saying that one was so loathsome that he had lost his appetite, according to the complaint. Mr. Méndez-Santiago, according to the federal complaint, had “physical and/or sexual relations with subordinate female employees in his office, while plaintiff had to sit at her desk directly outside his office.” And he sent sexually explicit e-mail messages to Ms. Santos to try to entice her into joining him on out-of-town trips, despite the fact that she told him repeatedly that she was married and had three children. Undeterred, Mr. Méndez-Santiago said that a close friend would “buy plaintiff a house in the Dominican Republic if she agreed to accompany the two of them on a trip to that location with a female friend,” the federal complaint states. But when she resisted, according to the state complaint, Mr. Méndez-Santiago began sending Ms. Santos threatening e-mail messages. “The e-mails had a hostile tone to them,” the complaint said. “These e-mails were written in Spanish, and he would tell me to warn people of his propensity for violence.” By the summer of 2007, the federal complaint says, Ms. Santos was unable to continue working in such an environment and left the agency. The State Human Rights Division determined in August 2007 that probable cause for a case existed, and in February this year, Ms. Santos filed her federal lawsuit. For the better part of the last year, Mr. Méndez-Santiago had been involved in one of Mr. Bloomberg’s more controversial initiatives: revamping the city’s decades-old system of managing more than 300 senior centers. The policy sought to incorporate a business-oriented, results-driven approach that has been a Bloomberg hallmark. But older citizens and most of the City Council protested. So when Mr. Méndez-Santiago left so abruptly, some advocates and council members speculated that Mr. Méndez-Santiago had misgivings about the policy. The fact that Mr. Bloomberg quickly named a replacement on Wednesday — a well-respected government veteran, Lilliam Barrios-Paoli — only cemented that belief. So, too, did the announcement on Friday that the administration was scrapping the plan . But Mr. Bloomberg brushed aside such speculation during a news conference on Wednesday to introduce Ms. Barrios-Paoli . “He left for totally personal reasons, and it had nothing to do with any policy whatsoever of the Department for the Aging,” he said. “Never even came up. He did a good job. I’m sorry he chose for personal reasons to resign.”
|
Mendez-Santiago Edwin;Sexual Harassment;Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations;Federal District Courts;Politics and Government;Suits and Litigation
|
ny0065729
|
[
"business",
"international"
] |
2014/06/09
|
Having Telescopic and Microscopic Visions
|
Francis Yeoh is managing director of YTL Corp., an infrastructure conglomerate based in Malaysia. Q. When did you become a manager? A. I started at 16, working in one of my father’s construction sites. His business was in financial difficulties; actually it nearly went under. I was the older son and I volunteered to help. There was no choice. I only did it for a short period of time, because I was still going to school, but it was an incredible lesson working with all these men. Getting up at 5 in the morning, I had to lead and motivate them, and it was very difficult because sometimes they weren’t paid on time, yet they had to be kept motivated. I remember once it was midnight, and a truck came with a cement batch and I told some guys to come and help me to put the bags to the side because I wanted to start work first thing in the morning. They had already taken their showers, they were quite reluctant. So I went out myself, alone, and when they saw me doing that — the boss’s son — they started coming out to help me. That was an early lesson in learning how to lead by example. Q. What other qualities make a good leader? A. When I was 16 I became a Christian, and my faith has been leading me. For me it’s very important to have godly values, which are to help other people prosper wherever you can, and doing so humbly. From early on, I realized it was important to build a business model with a strong foundation, thinking very long-term, and building this with people who are like-minded and don’t suffer the myopia of thinking selfishly, wanting instant gratification. I believe in thinking out of the box, doing things people have not done before rather than competing and trying to outfox the next guy. I like to bring good to the people. If I build a home, I want to build a very good home at the right price. For me, a good leader should have a telescopic view, an ability to see from afar, but he must also have a microscopic ability to see granular issues. Once you have a vision, you have a sense of purpose, but then you need to look at the details, including numbers and balance sheets, to deliver the vision. Q. Do the people who work for you need to share your religious beliefs? A. No, but if you want to work for YTL, particularly in a leadership position, you have to master three languages. The first one is the language of God. That means you must have morality and integrity. The second one is the language of man: Having the morality, you have to learn how to articulate your views and evangelize them, inspiring people to get on board if you have a good cause. The third is the language of machine, which is using the best and latest tools available. You must master those in that order. It starts with morality and integrity. You shouldn’t be guilty of corruptive practices. We are dealing today in a world where many people have no moral values and you have to be cognizant of the fact. I am not a strong Christian; I’m a faithful one. My faith tells me to do good, and I have. I don’t pontificate, nor do I apologize for my beliefs. I don’t bring my faith to the boardroom, but there are certain things, like morality and integrity, that I will not compromise on, and people know this. Q. You joined the family business early on. Was it difficult to be the boss’s son? A. It was very easy because my father never took on the traditional role of the old patriarch of the family, one who doesn’t give up the reins and is cynical about his sons’ abilities. He was refreshingly modern and very humble in his ability to delegate very early on. I was also well supported because I had an army of motivated siblings who joined me, and we worked well together. Q. Four of your children have joined the business. Are you able to delegate as your father did? A. In general I do not find it hard to delegate. If you’re quite sure of your telescopic vision and you also have your microscopic vision on how to get there, then you will know what kind of people you need to be surrounded with. For me, it became a journey of finding leaders around me who could share that telescopic view and then have the microscopic ability to deliver the outcomes. I’m happy my children have joined. They all are doing this on merit. As I went to university, I insisted on them getting double degrees in their field or a master’s. But I do believe they need to learn the ropes. They are still in their 20s and not yet ready to take on senior roles. I’m very proud of them. I know they’ll be tremendous assets to the company and I don’t want to spoil them. So for me it’s important to put them under the shadow of good executives who are not family. They’re working up from the bottom of the ladder, so they understand how I felt when I went to the laborers’ camp.
|
Management;Francis Yeoh;YTL Corp
|
ny0271804
|
[
"us"
] |
2016/05/27
|
Geraldine Largay’s Wrong Turn: Death on the Appalachian Trail
|
AUGUSTA, Me. — She was afraid of being alone and prone to anxiety, a diminutive 66-year-old woman with a poor sense of direction, hiking the Appalachian Trail by herself, who wandered into terrain so wild, it is used for military training. She waited nearly a month in the Maine woods for help that never came. Geraldine A. Largay chronicled her journey in a black-covered notebook that summer of 2013, and she kept writing after she lost her way, even as her food supply dwindled along with her hopes of being found. Her last entry reflected a strikingly graceful acceptance of what was coming. “When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry,” she wrote. “It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you found me — no matter how many years from now.” It would be two years before a logging company surveyor stumbled upon her campsite and remains, solving a mystery that had tormented her family and defied teams of experienced searchers. Ms. Largay, a retired nurse from Tennessee, had survived nearly a month on her own — longer than many old backwoods hands thought possible — before dying of exposure and starvation. On Thursday, the Maine Warden Service released more than 1,500 pages of its files on her disappearance, shedding light on the fears of her friends and family and the search that pursued countless false leads. The documents include brief excerpts from her journal and the plaintive text messages she tried in vain to send to her husband from a place beyond the reach of cell towers. “Lost since yesterday,” she texted. “Off trail 3 or 4 miles. Call police for what to do pls.” In fact, she had set up camp less than two miles off the trail. There, with her black tent and her possessions neatly sorted into Ziploc bags, she penned a note to her husband on the cover of the journal: “George Please Read XOXO.” Ms. Largay had adopted the trail name Inchworm, making light of her pace, but that pace had taken her nearly 1,000 miles from Harpers Ferry, W.Va., where she and a friend, Jane Lee, had set off on April 23, 2013. Her husband of 42 years, George Largay, drove ahead and met them in prearranged spots with supplies, and sometimes took them to motels for showers and a night indoors. On June 30, in New Hampshire, Ms. Lee cut short her hike to tend to a family emergency, but Ms. Largay insisted on continuing. Later, Ms. Lee would tell an investigator “that Geraldine had a poor sense of direction,” the Warden Service’s investigative report said. “Ms. Lee said that Geraldine had taken a wrong turn on the trail, more than once,” and Ms. Largay “became flustered and combative when she made these kinds of mistakes.” Ms. Largay, a meticulous planner, was gregarious and made friends easily on the trail. But she feared the dark and being alone, said Ms. Lee, who told park wardens “that George did not know the extent of Geraldine’s inability to deal with the rigors and challenges of the trail.” But after he reported his wife missing, Mr. Largay told an investigator that “Gerry was probably in over her head.” Her doctor would tell investigators that once she ran out of the medication she took for anxiety, she could suffer panic attacks. Ms. Largay spent the night of July 21-22 in the Poplar Ridge lean-to in western Maine, less than 200 miles from the end of the trail. Her smile was so infectious that before she set off the next morning, a fellow hiker, Dottie Rust, asked to take her picture. In the photo, she is beaming and wearing her backpack, her socks pulled high, as hikers do to ward off scrapes and blisters. It was about 6:30 a.m., the last time anyone was known to see her alive. By 11 a.m., she was lost. “In somm trouble,” Ms. Largay wrote in a text message to her husband. “Got off trail to go to br. Now lost.” She asked him to call the Appalachian Mountain Club “to c if a trail maintainer can help me. Somewhere north of woods road. Xox.” The message was never received. Ms. Largay had left the trail in one its most rugged sections, with thick underbrush and fir trees packed so tightly they almost seem to merge. “You step off the trail 20 or 50 feet and turn around, it’s very difficult to see where the trail was,” said Douglas Dolan, 53, a volunteer who spent time last summer doing trail maintenance in the area. “If you didn’t know which way the trail was, you could easily walk in circles for hours.” Ms. Largay sought high ground, possibly hoping for a cell signal. She tried over and over to send messages, but none went through. On July 23, she set up camp, laying her tent atop sticks and pine needles, under a canopy of hemlocks that probably obscured her from airborne rescuers. She tied a shiny silver blanket between two trees, possibly to attract attention, and nearby trees had burn marks. “It looks like some sort of fire was attempted on those trees by Gerry,” wrote Lt. Kevin Adam, of the Warden Service, in a report. She was supposed to meet Mr. Largay on July 23, at Route 27 in Wyman Township. The next day, he reported her missing. Multiple agencies and volunteers joined the hunt, with searchers on foot, on horseback and in helicopters. She was less than a mile from the trail, close enough that searchers probably passed near her without realizing it. Investigators questioned hikers who might have crossed paths with Ms. Largay, and they tested the DNA on a discarded Band-Aid. And they were inundated with false tips to be pursued. People suggested that she had been murdered, that she might be lodged in treetops, that she had fallen in the river and that she had been spotted at a women’s shelter in Tennessee. Some hikers thought they might have seen her on the trail but weren’t sure; others had seen sketchy men who they thought might have done her harm. Psychics called to report visions of her, including one who insisted, incorrectly, that she had broken her ankle. Search efforts were scaled back on Aug. 4. Ms. Largay kept writing daily observations and letters to her family in her journal until Aug. 10, even drawing out a calendar to keep track of the days. She wrote a final entry that she dated Aug. 18, though investigators are not sure the date is accurate. Her remains were found on Oct. 14, 2015, inside her sleeping bag, in a campsite she had kept neat until the very end. Around her was the ample gear she had hauled — items like a blue and white bandanna, a rosary, birthday candles, lighters, dental floss, a sewing kit and two water bottles, one still containing water. When Ms. Largay’s family visited the patch of wilderness, two weeks later, they left a white wooden cross, decorated with messages etched in black marker. One, written in a child’s hand, said, “I wish you were here.”
|
Geraldine Largay;Missing person;Appalachian Trail;Maine;Hiking
|
ny0226740
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2010/10/06
|
Poll: Hispanics May Skip Midterms Over Immigration
|
PHOENIX — Arizona ’s immigration law has prompted denunciations, demonstrations, boycotts and a federal lawsuit. But it may not bring the protest vote that many Democrats had hoped would stem a Republican onslaught in races across the country. That is because although many voters are disillusioned with the political process, Latino voters are particularly dejected, and many may sit these elections out, according to voters, Latino organizations, political consultants and candidates. A poll released Tuesday found that even though Latinos strongly back Democrats over Republicans, 65 percent to 22 percent, in the Congressional elections just four weeks away, only 51 percent of Latino registered voters said they would absolutely go to the polls, compared with 70 percent of all registered voters. The other side in the immigration debate is suffering no such lack of enthusiasm. One measure of its high spirits is the dance card of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix . Mr. Arpaio conducts raids in Latino neighborhoods that have led critics to label him a racist and the Justice Department to start a racial-profiling investigation. Despised by some, he is also in demand. As conservatives across the country seek to burnish their tough-on-immigration credentials, Mr. Arpaio’s endorsement is much sought after. “Every day I get calls from candidates,” the sheriff said recently, acknowledging that he draws protesters, too. “Tomorrow, I’m going up to Colorado to help out Tancredo; I helped that gal in Nevada , Angle,” Mr. Arpaio said, referring to former Representative Tom Tancredo , who is running for governor in Colorado as an independent, and Sharron Angle , the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada. “I’m a poster boy on this issue.” The Arizona law seems to be rewriting not just the rules on immigration, but also the rules on how it is talked about on the campaign trail. Even in New Mexico , a state with a large Hispanic population and traditional tolerance for illegal immigration, the issue is seen as a vote-getter for Republicans. Susana Martinez, a prosecutor and the Republican nominee for governor, would be the first Hispanic woman to run a state if elected. She is ahead in the polls, partly on the strength of television advertisements that show her standing at the border talking about how she has convicted law-breakers who have entered the country illegally from Mexico . Both Ms. Martinez and her Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, support ending the policy of departing Gov. Bill Richardson that allows illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses; Ms. Martinez would also take away licenses from those who already have them. “This has been an issue that we don’t usually talk about,” Lonna Rae Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico , said of immigration. “Something’s different this year.” Political analysts and candidates say the anti-establishment sentiment roiling the electorate, as well as widespread frustration over the country’s porous borders, seems to be helping candidates who favor tougher immigration rules. “In every single race I’m looking at, candidates are being asked, ‘Would you sign an Arizona-like immigration law?’ ” said Jennifer Duffy, an editor for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “It’s now on the list of issues like a balanced-budget amendment and a tax cut. It’s part of the political lexicon, and it fires people up.” Often that is to the chagrin of politicians in heavily Hispanic states. In Florida , for instance, both parties have typically tried to steer clear of immigration out of fear of angering either older white voters, who turn out in high numbers and tend to support stricter immigration enforcement, or Latinos, who are a growing segment of the electorate. When Senate candidates debated last month, the hosts from Univision repeatedly raised the issue, while the candidates — Gov. Charlie Crist , Representative Kendrick B. Meek and Marco Rubio — did their best to avoid picking a side. In Texas , where a poll conducted last month by Blum & Weprin Associates showed support for the Arizona law, especially among Republicans, Gov. Rick Perry , a conservative Republican, has said that such legislation would be inappropriate for Texas. And Mr. Perry has avoided making illegal immigration the centerpiece of his campaign against his Democratic opponent, Bill White, a former mayor of Houston . No Texas politician wants to alienate Latinos, given demographic trends showing they will only increase in political clout, said James Henson, a University of Texas political scientist. In California , where the Arizona law divides voters, the Republican nominee for governor, Meg Whitman , has moderated her tough stance on illegal immigration in what is seen as an effort to woo Latinos. She has been on the defensive, however, amid accusations that she knowingly employed a housekeeper who was in the country illegally. The results of the poll released Tuesday, by the Pew Hispanic Center , suggest that the raging debate over Arizona’s law and the lack of Congressional action on immigration overhaul may have turned off many Latinos. Latinos have usually voted in lower percentages than non-Latinos, but the current gap between their enthusiasm to vote and that of the general population is wider than in the last midterm election. Just 32 percent of all Latino registered voters said they had given this year’s election “quite a lot” of thought, compared with 50 percent of all registered voters in the country, the poll found. The nationwide poll is based on telephone interviews with 1,375 Latinos, of whom 618 are registered voters. The survey was conducted Aug. 17 to Sept. 19 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points for registered voters. The Pew poll also found that for Latinos, education, jobs and health care trump immigration as major issues, which could be bad news for Democrats hoping to capitalize on Hispanic anger over the Arizona law. But Tomas Robles, a student at Arizona State, was so enraged by the law, which would require the police to ask people they stopped about their immigration status if they suspected them to be here illegally, that he registered 12 of his family members to vote, and joined other activists here in a door-to-door campaign that signed up more than 20,000 Latinos. “For the first time, I felt it was time for me to get involved,” Mr. Robles said. He was surprised to find that while some Latinos were as fired up as he was, others slammed the door in his face. With the registration deadline past, the new focus is on motivating voters to actually vote. Matt A. Barreto , a political science professor at the University of Washington who is a pollster for Latino Decisions , a research group, said, “Latinos feel that on many of their key issues, promises were made and not delivered on” by the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats. Latinos strongly supported Mr. Obama in 2008, so they do not have the enthusiasm of opposition that his detractors do. “It’s much easier to raise enthusiasm about kicking people out,” Mr. Barreto said. That has prompted a variety of campaigns to motivate Latino voters, including radio ads in Phoenix and eight other cities sponsored by the Service Employees International Union and various advocacy groups accusing Republicans of obstructionism when it comes to big changes in immigration laws that President Obama and Congressional Democrats have called for. In the Arizona races, immigration hard-liners have the clear upper hand. Gov. Jan Brewer , a Republican, is running a strong campaign against the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Terry Goddard, in large part because of her decision in April to sign the law making illegal immigration a state crime. The fact that a federal judge blocked the most controversial parts of the law only seemed to have increased her popularity as a foil to the Obama administration. Debate over the law has quieted somewhat since the summer. But emotions on both sides are expected to rise as legal proceedings in the case are scheduled to resume — the day before Election Day.
|
Hispanic Americans;Immigration;Election;Arizona Immigration Law;Polls;Pew Hispanic Center;Voting
|
ny0111421
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2012/02/29
|
New York to Renew Push for Wind Power
|
Despite Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ’s long-expressed dream of putting wind turbines on skyscrapers and bridges, the constraints of an urban landscape have so far proved too challenging for reliable wind power in the city, energy experts said. As a result, New York City has been largely inactive — and behind the national curve — in embracing wind power. But that is about to change. This spring, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection will solicit plans for the first major wind project, the installation of turbines atop the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. And city planners are working on zoning changes, now under review by the City Planning Commission, to allow turbines up to 55 feet high on the rooftops of buildings taller than 100 feet, and even taller turbines on commercial and industrial sites along the waterfront. But the biggest potential for supplying wind power to the city lies offshore, where the Bloomberg administration is supporting an application filed last September by a coalition led by the New York Power Authority to lease a swath of the ocean floor for a wind farm 13 miles off the coast of the Rockaways in Queens. City officials say they are ready to take advantage of their coastal proximity to seek bigger renewable-energy projects and quicken the pace toward cleaner air and the jobs and economic benefits that would accompany those projects. A study commissioned by the city last year said wind farms could play a major role in replacing power now generated by the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County. The plant supplies up to 25 percent of consumption in Consolidated Edison’s service area, including New York City. “When you’re talking about huge wind, offshore is really a unique opportunity,” said Farrell Sklerov, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection. The proposal for the offshore wind farm, which is scheduled for a public hearing before the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management next month, is considered a game changer in that it would start at 350 megawatts but have the potential to double its capacity — eventually generating enough electricity to power a half-million homes in New York City and Long Island. The plans are in the initial stages, but they are part of a push by states along the Eastern Seaboard to make wind power a significant staple of their energy mix. The region lags behind the West and Midwest, where flat, open spaces are plentiful and wind turbines already supply up to 20 percent of electric power in some states. “We certainly have an ocean in our backyard that can host these turbines,” said Katherine Kennedy, clean-energy counsel at the Natural Resources Defense Council . “If we can develop wind and solar, all of a sudden we look like a European city.” Through most of the last decade, turbines have been springing up all over the country, including in dairy farms in upstate New York. As a result, New York State, which has set a goal of deriving 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015, now ranks 12th among the states in wind power installations, with 1,400 megawatts, or enough to meet 2 percent of the state’s electricity demand, says the American Wind Energy Association , a trade group. Some states got a lift this month when federal officials from the Department of the Interior cleared the way for companies to seek federal leases in wind-energy areas off New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, speeding the process to approve wind projects. Environmental groups say New York has been less focused on tapping into wind than some of these neighboring states but this year the New York Department of State is expected to identify the most viable locations for offshore wind farms with an eye toward protecting shipping, commercial fishing and ocean habitats — an approach that experts say should save time and red tape and help attract developers looking to begin such a project. Long processes to win approvals and the higher cost of wind compared with less sustainable sources of electricity are not the only obstacles to developing wind installations. The projects must also withstand public scrutiny. Despite support from environmental groups, the only federally approved offshore wind project to date, Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound off the coast of Cape Cod, has been stalled, in part by opposition over aesthetics and the impact on American Indian artifacts and burial grounds, among other issues. Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, opposed a proposed wind farm three-and-a-half to five miles off Jones Beach in Long Island over concerns about the potential harm to fish. The project was ultimately derailed in 2007 by high costs. Ms. Brady said the proposal off the Rockaways , while farther offshore, was still worrisome. It calls for at least 70 wind turbines that could each soar 430 feet above the water. “The biggest problem we have is that there’s really no science to either support or negate wind power as something that wouldn’t affect the fish negatively,” she said. “If there’s a problem, once you’ve done the damage, who’s responsible?” While more expensive to produce than wind power, solar energy is more suited to cities, energy experts said, because it can be harnessed more discreetly from thousands of rooftops. New York City has so far grown its solar production to seven megawatts , a modest amount but well over its practically nonexistent wind production. This runs counter to what is occurring in the rest of the state and the country, where wind installed capacity, 46,000 megawatts, vastly outpaces the 3,800 megawatts of solar. Some New York buildings are already experimenting with private wind production, like the Eltona apartments in the Melrose section of the Bronx. But they have found that they do not get enough wind to make turbines a reliable source of power. City planners are revising zoning regulations to allow more private turbines, but still concede that wind turbines may not thrive here unless they are on or near the shore. City officials say the former environmental wasteland known as Fresh Kills is an ideal location. The Department of Environmental Protection will, in the next two months, ask for wind and solar proposals to develop 75 acres of the landfill, with the goal of adding 15 megawatts of energy, enough to power 3,300 homes. Officials said at least a third of the production would be wind power. The Fresh Kills plan could double the city’s solar output, but it is the wind turbines that excite the Staten Island borough president, James P. Molinaro , who has lobbied for a wind farm for years, and persuaded the state to finance a study that showed the site could support seven 400-foot turbines. City officials say it has taken them this long to evaluate the challenges of installing wind turbines on the landfill’s unique subsurface. Fresh Kills closed as a landfill handling the city’s residential garbage more than a decade ago and is now undergoing a transformation into a 2,200-acre park. “It’d change the biggest tragedy that ever happened to Staten Island and convert it to something wonderful,” Mr. Molinaro said. “Windmills that would give us clean energy in a beautiful park. It’d be a model for the rest of the world to look at.”
|
Wind Power;Department of Environmental Protection (NYC);Bloomberg Michael R;New York Power Authority;Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement;Molinaro James P;New York City;Electric Light and Power;Fresh Kills Landfill (Staten Island)
|
ny0274752
|
[
"sports",
"baseball"
] |
2016/02/27
|
For a Yankees Prospect, Training Camp Involves Part Healing, Part Hope
|
TAMPA, Fla. — While the Yankees were on the baseball fields on Friday, throwing, catching, running and hitting, Greg Bird was doing none of those. He is one of 69 players the Yankees have in camp, but his routine is different. He walks around the nearby minor league complex, as much to clear his head as to work his legs. He cannot lift anything with his right hand, though he took a small step forward on Wednesday when he took his right arm out of a sling. On Friday, he had begun doing range-of-motion exercises, a little more than three weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a tear in his labrum. Bird, a first-base prospect who the Yankees clung to at the nonwaiver trade deadline last July, was called up shortly afterward to provide a break for Mark Teixeira and designated hitter Alex Rodriguez. What was supposed to be a cameo for Bird, now 23, turned out to be headlining role when Teixeira fouled a ball off his own shin on Aug. 17 and had only three more at-bats the rest of the season. Thrust into the lineup in the middle of a playoff chase, Bird hit .261 with 11 home runs and 31 R.B.I. in 178 plate appearances. Teixeira was the only Yankee with more than 60 plate appearances who topped Bird’s .871 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. “This is a guy that proved in those two months that he belongs in the big leagues,” Teixeira said. “There are lot of guys that have hype coming out of the minors and never do anything. I think he’s going to have a great career.” The way Bird and pitcher Luis Severino performed down the stretch, neither one being overwhelmed and at times becoming the Yankees’ best hitter and pitcher, helped confirm that the long-awaited next generation of homegrown anchors might finally be on its way — even if Teixeira’s return meant that Bird might spend most of this season in the minor leagues. But when Bird’s right shoulder, which had been troublesome most of the season, still felt unstable after a couple of months of rest and rehabilitation, the Yankees’ doctors recommended surgery so that the injury would not become chronic. “You work your whole life to get to that point, to be in the major leagues and go out and help your team win games every day,” said Bird, who will miss the 2016 season. “To not be able to do that is extremely disappointing.” The shoulder injury sidelined him in May and continued to be uncomfortable at times, though the discomfort was something he learned to manage. He rarely threw at the end of the season. While General Manager Brian Cashman had been saying since the end of last season that Bird would play every day at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rather than sporadically for the Yankees, Bird said he wanted to force the issue with his play. “I was open to doing whatever,” Bird said. “But I was coming into camp to make the team. I wasn’t coming into camp to go to Scranton.” Manager Joe Girardi said that Bird could still get something out of this camp, even if the most challenging exercise is a sudoku puzzle. It is an opportunity to observe, talk to veterans and be engaged. “I think it’s important for him to be here, just for his psyche,” Girardi said. The injury could also complicate the Yankees’ plan for next season. If Bird had a productive year in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and in the Bronx, he would have been primed to take over at first base next season, when Teixeira’s eight-year, $180 million contract runs out. Now, if Teixeira, who will be 36 in April, produces another year like last season — he was leading the Yankees with 31 home runs and 79 R.B.I. when he was hurt — and there are questions about Bird’s health, what do the Yankees do? “It’s tough now,” Bird said. “The best thing for the Yankees and the best thing for me is to be healthy when I do get back.” INSIDE PITCH Aaron Judge, the 6-foot-7, 275-pound outfielder, hit a mammoth home run in batting practice, belting it about 40 feet above the left-field scoreboard. “I didn’t see them, I heard them,” Alex Rodriguez said of some of Judge’s long drives. ... Joe Girardi said it was hard to put too much stock in spring training when assessing prospects like Judge, who struggled at times last season when he was promoted to Class AAA, where pitchers were generally craftier than at Class AA. A better indicator of Judge’s progress will be how he performs at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Girardi said. ... The Yankees accommodated Greg Bird’s request to switch uniform numbers, to 33 from 31. He said it was a coincidence that No. 33 was worn by Larry Bird.
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Baseball;Greg Bird;Sports injury;Yankees
|
ny0217100
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2010/04/15
|
Elena Kagan’s Stints in Court May Hint at a Style On It
|
WASHINGTON — Two weeks ago, Solicitor General Elena Kagan , a leading contender for appointment to the Supreme Court , presented her sixth argument there. She bantered easily with the justices, and she seemed to have a special rapport with Justice Antonin Scalia, at one point responding to a question from him with one of her own. Justice Scalia’s reply suggested she had crossed a line. “Well, I’m not making the argument,” he said, declining to answer her question. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who has had some testy exchanges with Ms. Kagan over the last seven months, made the point more sharply. “Usually we have the questions the other way,” he said. “I apologize,” Ms. Kagan replied. Ms. Kagan, a former dean of the Harvard Law School, has never served as judge and so has no paper trail of judicial opinions. Her academic writings are dense, technical and largely nonideological. But a look at her service as solicitor general, the federal government’s top appellate lawyer, provides unusually direct insights into how she would interact with her new colleagues were she appointed to the court. Ms. Kagan appears popular with the justices, and they seem to appreciate her candor, quick mind and informal style. But she tangles regularly with Chief Justice Roberts, who has emerged as her primary antagonist, frequently criticizing her tactical decisions and trying to corner her at oral arguments. In February, for instance, at an argument about a law making it a crime to provide material support to terrorists, Chief Justice Roberts tussled with Ms. Kagan over what he called a shift in the government’s position. “I looked at your briefs,” he said. “I didn’t see the argument we’ve spend a lot of time talking about, which is that the legitimate activities allow the illegitimate activities to take place.” Ms. Kagan replied with a sort of apology. “If we didn’t emphasize it enough,” she said, “I will plead error.” The concession was typical of Ms. Kagan, who has a brisk, businesslike style and is unwilling to be distracted by side issues that do not advance the government’s interests. Ms. Kagan’s first argument in the Supreme Court was in September in Citizens United, the big campaign finance case that gave rise to a 5-to-4 decision in January allowing corporations to spend freely in candidate elections. The decision is quite unpopular among Democrats, and President Obama alluded to it in remarks on the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens last week. Mr. Obama said he would appoint a justice who “knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.” But Ms. Kagan did not press that point in the Supreme Court. Indeed, she abandoned that rationale, one that had supported the central precedent at issue in the case, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce , a 1990 decision that upheld restrictions on corporate political spending. Ms. Kagan instead offered two other rationales: the possibility that independent corporate spending would corrupt or appear to corrupt politicians and the possible misuse of shareholders’ money. In her briefs and in arguing her point, Ms. Kagan threw overboard the interest mentioned by President Obama, that the government may limit corporate speech to make sure it does not distort the marketplace of political ideas. “We do not rely at all on that,” she said at the argument. To be sure, she would have faced an uphill fight in arguing the point, as the Supreme Court had recently been skeptical of the notion that the First Amendment permitted the government to try to level the playing field among different sorts of speakers. Chief Justice Roberts pressed Ms. Kagan on the shift in rationales. “You are asking us to uphold Austin on the basis of two arguments, two principles, two compelling interests we have never accepted in the expenditure context?” “Fair enough,” Ms. Kagan said. The chief justice discussed Ms. Kagan’s changed approach in January in his concurrence in the Citizens United decision, which overruled Austin. Respect for precedent means respect for reasoning rather than result, Chief Justice Roberts wrote. “To the extent that the government’s case for reaffirming Austin depends on radically reconceptualizing its reasoning,” he wrote, “that argument is at odds with itself.” Richard L. Hasen, an authority on election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said Ms. Kagan had taken a calculated risk. “I disagreed with the strategy at the time, and I still think it was a mistake,” he said in an e-mail message. “But I don’t think it would have changed the result. It just would have allowed for a better dissent and a worse concurrence.” At the argument two weeks ago, in a case about criminal contempt prosecutions, Ms. Kagan said a decision by one federal prosecutor’s office to drop criminal charges need not bind another office, prompting another sharp exchange with the chief justice. “That’s absolutely startling,” Chief Justice Roberts said. “The different U.S. attorneys all work for your boss, right? They work for the attorney general.” Ms. Kagan did not retreat. “The United States government is a complicated place,” she said, and its units should be allowed to make their own decisions. The last time a justice was named to the court from service as solicitor general was in 1967, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall. (Ms. Kagan served as a law clerk to Justice Marshall 20 years later; he called her Shorty.) In his first term on the court, Justice Marshall disqualified himself from more than half of the court’s merits decisions, presumably mostly because he had participated in forming the government’s arguments in them. For those same reasons, appointing Ms. Kagan, who has been solicitor general since March 2009, “would essentially leave them short-handed for at least a year,” said David J. Garrow, a University of Cambridge historian who has written widely on the court. On the other hand, service as solicitor general, or S.G., is exceptionally good preparation for a job as a justice, said Lincoln Caplan, the author of “The Tenth Justice: The Solicitor General and the Rule of Law.” “The S.G.’s office reads the Supreme Court, both its personnel and its opinions, as closely as anyone in the universe,” Mr. Caplan said. The office’s approach is, moreover, a practical one, aimed at capturing the votes of a majority of the nine justices. “The S.G. learns to count to five,” he said. Chief Justice Roberts frequently asks questions that make advocates squirm, and there is no indication that he has been singling out Ms. Kagan. Indeed, the judge and the lawyer may view their scuffles as a sort of sport. But Ms. Kagan’s tone is often lighter with the other justices, notably Justice Scalia. At an argument in January, for instance, Ms. Kagan misspoke in addressing him. “Mr. Chief — excuse me, Justice Scalia — I didn’t mean to promote you quite so quickly,” Ms. Kagan said. There was laughter in the courtroom, and then Chief Justice Roberts spoke up. “Thanks for thinking it was a promotion,” he said.
|
Supreme Court;Appointments and Executive Changes;Kagan Elena;United States Politics and Government;Legal Profession
|
ny0261133
|
[
"us"
] |
2011/06/21
|
Anger and Mystery on Cape Cod in Wake of the Killing of Six Gray Seals
|
HARWICH, Mass. — Summer’s arrival, usually cause for celebration on Cape Cod, has been dampened this year by a grim question: Who is killing the gray seals? Six of them have been found shot in the head since late May, their carcasses discovered on beaches from Dennis to Chatham. The mystery has gripped people up and down the cape, and theories here are as plentiful as beach plums. Was it a fisherman, fed up with seals that steal his catch and get tangled in his gear? Or someone fearful of great white sharks, which have been drawn to the area to feed on herds of seals? Or maybe a person with a cruel streak? “Whoever did it, I still can’t believe it,” said Steve Eldredge, a Harwich resident who was watching his dog roam the beach here at sunset Wednesday. “I was born and raised here, and I can tell you, this type of thing doesn’t happen.” In fact, it does happen, but rarely. Last fall, a gray seal had to be euthanized after it was found shot in the head in Truro. And in 2007, a young harp seal was shot in Sandwich. Todd Nickerson, a special agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who is investigating the new cases, said the odds of finding the culprit were long. “It’s difficult,” Mr. Nickerson said, adding that bullet fragments were the main evidence and that his agency was encouraging people to come forward if they had any leads. A few tips have come in, Mr. Nickerson said, though he would not elaborate. Several groups, including the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Humane Society of the United States, are offering a reward of nearly $15,000, he said. News of the shootings, announced earlier this month, jarred the communities here, where the growing seal population has been considered both a boon and a nuisance. So many gray seals crowd islands, shoals and sandbars this time of year that seal tours are now a thriving summer business. Tourists and part-time residents love them; fishermen do not. Andrew Cummings, a charter boat captain and an oyster farmer in Wellfleet, said he believed voracious seals were depleting fish stocks. “It’s a very, very, very serious issue,” Mr. Cummings said. “I’m not saying they should be shot, but I think there are other ways to possibly control and manage the seal population.” When he heard about the Truro shooting last fall, he said, “My opinion was, well someone finally has had enough.” Mr. Cummings added that the great white sharks that have been spotted off the cape might eventually help keep the seal population down, but he doubted there were enough to do so yet. Others worry that a real-life “Jaws” episode is inevitable. Massachusetts has not had a fatal shark attack since 1936, but sightings of great whites brought about the closing of Cape Cod beaches several times last summer. A fisherman spotted the first great white of the season off Martha’s Vineyard in May, earlier than usual. “I’m like, ‘Oh no,’ ” said Mr. Eldredge, who takes his small skiff out to watch seals. He talks to them and they listen, he said. “I love seals, but I hate the great whites.” Harassing or injuring seals is a federal crime under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. But from the late 1800s until 1962, Massachusetts placed a bounty on seals, paying up to $5 per nose and thinning the population. Lisa Sette, a biologist with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, said the gray seal population around Cape Cod had been growing steadily in the last four decades, though researchers have no current estimate. The skulls of the six dead seals, packed in boxes marked “evidence,” sit in a laboratory freezer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where researchers conducted CT scans to confirm they were shot and necropsies to try to answer crucial questions. Did the seals die in the water, for instance, or on land? How long had they been dead? Dr. Michael Moore, a senior research specialist who conducted the necropsies, said the work was challenging, especially since the seals were decomposed. If he had a theory about who killed them, Dr. Moore was keeping it to himself. “There are a lot of guns out there,” he said. “I’m not drawing any conclusions about the who, what, when, where and why.” He will, though, acknowledge being rattled by the shootings. A colleague on the West Coast “does a lot of this work,” Dr. Moore said, referring to the more common occurrence of sea lions, considered a nuisance by fishermen, being shot in the Pacific Northwest. But Dr. Moore said most of the roughly 200 marine mammals he examines annually died of natural causes or after getting entangled in fishing gear. “Certainly the gunshots will stay with me for awhile,” he said. Sheila Fitzgerald, who owns the Old Yarmouth Inn restaurant in Yarmouth Port, said she was so sickened by the deaths that she donated $1,000 of the reward money. “I was almost nauseous at the thought of it,” Ms. Fitzgerald said. “To bully an animal is one of the greatest acts of cowardice that mankind possesses, and I despise a bully.” Mr. Eldredge’s wife, Sheila, believes a fisherman was responsible. Seals are “awesome,” she said, but times are tough. “A lot of the fishermen are not making it financially,” Ms. Eldredge said. “They may say, ‘Hey, they’re just a detriment.’ ” Mr. Eldredge said he thought the motive was more mundane. “Maybe some guys got drunk and did something stupid,” he said. “As simple as that.” Regardless, Ms. Fitzgerald believes that whoever did it is likely to boast and therefore be caught. “Someone who might even be their friend could be romanced by the money,” she said. “Money is a great motivating factor, and this just needs to stop.”
|
Seals (Animals) and Sealing;Cruelty to Animals;Cape Cod (Mass)
|
ny0006315
|
[
"business",
"economy"
] |
2013/05/02
|
Fed Stands By Stimulus, and Says It’s Open to More
|
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that its economic stimulus campaign would press forward at the same pace it has maintained since December, putting to rest for now any suggestion that it was leaning toward doing less. The Fed emphasized that it was ready to increase or decrease its efforts to spur growth and reduce unemployment as necessary, a more balanced position than it took earlier in the year, reflecting the reality that a strong winter has once again yielded to a disappointing spring. It was the first time that the Fed had explicitly mentioned the possibility of doing more in a policy statement , although officials, including the Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, have made the point repeatedly in public remarks. Analysts disagreed about the central bank’s intent. Some saw it as a signal that the Fed’s next move could be an expansion of its stimulus. Others, however, said the Fed was simply underscoring that it did not plan to reduce its asset purchases. It is buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage-backed securities. “I don’t think there’s much chance of them stepping it up,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief United States economist at High Frequency Economics in New York. “But this is certainly their way of saying there’s no bias toward scaling down.” The Fed maintained a relatively sunny economic outlook in its statement, released after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee. It said that the economy was expanding at a “moderate pace” and that the labor market had shown “some improvement.” It added, however, that federal spending cuts were “restraining economic growth,” an implicit critique of the rest of the government. That language was stronger than the Fed had used in previous assessments of the economic impact of fiscal policy. Fed officials have repeatedly expressed frustration that fiscal policy is working at cross-purposes with their own monetary policy. The statement also noted that the pace of inflation had slackened, a potential sign of economic weakness. Bringing the annual rate of inflation closer to its target of 2 percent has been a primary goal of the Fed’s four-year-old stimulus campaign, but the statement expressed little concern about the recent deceleration to a pace of only about half that level. Investors and the Fed have taken the view that inflation is likely to return to a more normal pace without additional effort. “The committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic growth will proceed at a moderate pace and the unemployment rate will gradually decline” to a level the Fed regards as acceptable, the statement said. Michael Feroli, chief United States economist at JPMorgan Chase, said the stability of the Fed’s economic outlook suggested that policy, too, would remain stable. Image The floor of the New York Exchange on Wednesday. The Fed said it would keep its bond-buying campaign at current levels. Credit Richard Drew/Associated Press “In effect, the Fed signaled that the pace of asset purchases would be data dependent in both directions, but that right now the data gives them little reason to change in either direction,” Mr. Feroli wrote Wednesday in a note to clients. The statement won support from 11 of the Federal Open Market Committee’s 12 members. Esther George, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, cast the dissenting vote, as she has at each meeting this year, citing concerns about potential “economic and financial imbalances” and the risk of excessive inflation. The pace of economic growth appeared to slow in the weeks between the Fed’s previous meeting and the one this week. Inflation slackened in March to the slowest pace in two years, while employers added the fewest jobs in any month since last summer. And economists say that the pain of federal spending cuts is just beginning to tell. Inflation was 1.1 percent during the 12 months ending in March, according to the most recent data from the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the Commerce Department’s index of personal consumption expenditures. That is well below the 2 percent annual pace that the Fed considers healthy. The share of Americans with jobs has not increased since the recession . The central bank is modestly expanding its stimulus campaign each month, as it increases the size of its bond portfolio. The Fed’s most recent economic projections, published in March, showed most officials expected persistently low inflation and persistently high unemployment for years to come. Officials, however, are reluctant to do more. They see modest benefits and uncertain costs in buying more bonds. The volume of the Fed’s first-quarter purchases already roughly equaled the volume of new mortgage bond issuance and about 72 percent of the volume of new issuance of long-term federal debt. And the Fed already has tied the duration of low interest rates to the unemployment rate, announcing in December that it intended to hold its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero at least as long as the unemployment rate remained above 6.5 percent, provided that inflation remained under control. An official account of the Fed’s previous meeting, in March, showed that officials discussed reducing the monthly volume of bond purchases. Some officials who supported the purchase program when it began last year said they saw evidence that the economy was growing more quickly , and that the Fed might be able to curtail the volume of its asset purchases by the third quarter. An account of this week’s meeting will be released in three weeks, providing a comparable look at the latest round of internal debate. But analysts said that the changed language in the statement reflected a shift in that debate. The statement said, “The committee is prepared to increase or reduce the pace of its purchases to maintain appropriate policy accommodation as the outlook for the labor market or inflation changes.” The Fed’s previous statement said it would adjust the level of purchases based on economic conditions. Michael Gapen, director of United States economic research at Barclays Capital, wrote in a note to clients that the statement was “a fairly obvious nod to some of the recent softness in economic activity, labor markets and inflation.” He said it reinforced his view that the Fed would maintain its $85 billion pace through the end of the year. The Fed also could increase the impact of its campaign by telling investors how long it will run — either in terms of a date or an economic target. But officials say that it has been impossible to reach a consensus on that issue.
|
Federal Reserve;US Economy
|
ny0293868
|
[
"world",
"europe"
] |
2016/06/30
|
Norwegian Court Approves Extradition of Mullah Krekar, a Terror Suspect
|
OSLO — A Norwegian court on Wednesday cleared the way for the extradition of an Iraqi Kurdish imam to Italy to face terrorism-related charges. The cleric, Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, commonly known as Mullah Krekar, arrived in Norway as a refugee in 1991, but is not a citizen. He has been imprisoned for making death threats against numerous people, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Mr. Ahmad has also praised the militants who attacked the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo last year, killing 12 people, and in November the Italian authorities named him in a multinational terrorism investigation . Fifteen people in four countries were arrested as part of that investigation, which focused on Rawti Shax, a group that Mr. Ahmad is accused of leading and that grew out of Ansar al-Islam, a terrorist network with ties to Al Qaeda. Rawti Shax plotted to overthrow the Kurdish government in northern Iraq and to recruit militants to fight in Iraq and Syria, officials said. On Wednesday, the Oslo District Court ruled that there were no legal obstacles to extraditing Mr. Ahmad to Italy. “It is the opinion of the Norwegian authorities that Krekar should not be in Norway,” Ms. Solberg, the prime minister, told the newspaper Aftenposten on Wednesday. “We have no need to have him here. But the extradition process is a legal one, not a political one.” This was not the first time the Norwegian government tried to extradite Mr. Ahmad. In 2003, when Ms. Solberg was the minister for local government, responsible for the integration of immigrants, she began proceedings to return Mr. Ahmad to Iraq because he was considered a threat to national security. The extradition was blocked on human rights grounds, because Iraq has the death penalty. Image Najmaddin Faraj Ahmad, commonly known as Mullah Krekar, in 2015. Credit NTB Scanpix, via Reuters In a phone interview on Wednesday, Brynjar Meling, Mr. Ahmad’s defense lawyer, said his client would appeal. “Whether or not Italy might extradite my client to Iraq will be a vital question when we appeal this decision,” Mr. Meling said. He argued that Mr. Ahmad should instead be tried in Norway, where he also faces terrorism charges. The Norwegian authorities have said they would prefer to expel Mr. Ahmad. Mr. Meling said that Mr. Ahmad had been in prison for making death threats against Ms. Solberg and three Kurdish men during the time the Italian authorities say he was directing Rawti Shax. After his release last year, Mr. Ahmad was closely monitored by the Norwegian Police Security Service, which is responsible for domestic security, Mr. Meling said. In October, before the Italians announced their charges, Mr. Ahmad was again convicted in Norway of making death threats, and he has been in jail since. “The government is boiling soup on the same old nail,” Mr. Meling said, using a Norwegian idiom for making something out of nothing. Another Iraqi citizen in Norway, Kamil Jalal Fatah, also faces extradition to Italy under Wednesday’s ruling. Both men have three days to appeal. Any appeal would go first to a regional court and then to the country’s Supreme Court. If those courts side with the district court, it is likely that Mr. Ahmad will be extradited, though the final decision will rest with the country’s Justice Ministry and the government. The justice minister, Anders Anundsen, said in an interview in November that he had “no second thoughts about extraditing a person who is not a citizen of Norway to Italy,” and described Mr. Krekar as “a threat to national security.” Mr. Anundsen’s spokesman declined to comment on the case on Wednesday, saying he could not discuss an active legal proceeding.
|
Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad;Rawti Shax;Terrorism;Norway;Ansar al Islam;Extradition;Iraq;Decisions and Verdicts
|
ny0248871
|
[
"world",
"europe"
] |
2011/05/24
|
Searching for a Way to Share History
|
KALININGRAD, RUSSIA — On a balmy Saturday afternoon, there was a real sense of anticipation among the hundreds of students sitting in a lecture theater at Immanuel Kant State University, awaiting a rare chance to quiz the foreign ministers of Germany , Poland and Russia — Guido Westerwelle, Radek Sikorski and Sergey V. Lavrov. Kaliningrad was once called Königsberg, the first capital of Prussia and birthplace of Kant. In 1945, it was conquered and annexed by the Soviets. Since the end of the Cold War and the independence of Lithuania from the Soviet Union, Kaliningrad has been an exclave of Russia. It is 320 kilometers, or 200 miles, from Russia proper and sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland , both E.U. and NATO members. Here, the students witnessed the establishment of a German-Polish-Russian forum designed to encourage a rapprochement among three countries with fundamentally different historical narratives of World War II. Any such process would ultimately mean Russia confronting its past, particularly Stalinist crimes and the gulags, and reassessing its role as victim and victor during and after World War II. It would also mean Russia embracing the European idea of dealing with memory and the past, now so much a part of the European identity. “Being European is about being aware of what we did,” said Ivan Krastev, historian and chairman of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia. Germany and Russia have worked hard to deepen their reconciliation. So have Germany and Poland. A Polish-Russian rapprochement, said Tomas Janeliunas, political science professor at Vilnius University in Lithuania, “would end Poland’s deep-seated suspicions about Germany and Russia doing deals behind its back.” Reconciliation between Poland and Russia became a real possibility after a plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, including dozens of top Polish officials, crashed en route to marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre by the Red Army of 4,000 Polish Army officers at Katyn. Russian and Polish reactions were extraordinary. The Russian prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, who rushed to the scene, embraced his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk. Russians left flowers at the Polish Embassy in Moscow. Poles lighted candles at graves in Red Army cemeteries in Poland. But somehow, the rapprochement lost momentum. Russian-led investigations of the plane crash, begun in a spirit of transparency and cooperation, degenerated into recriminations and conspiracy theories on the Polish side. “We still hope for a rapprochement between Poland and Russia,” said Karolina Wigura, a historian of ideas at the Institute of Sociology in Warsaw. “But I am not optimistic that this will happen. It has to be backed up politically,” added Ms. Wigura, author of a fascinating new book, “The Guilt of Nations,” that deals with memory and reconciliation in Europe. The loss of momentum has not deterred Mr. Westerwelle and Mr. Sikorski. They seem determined to work together to bring Russia closer to Europe. As Mr. Westerwelle said in Kaliningrad, Germany and Poland need Russia’s help in resolving outstanding security issues in the region, including Belarus and the “frozen conflict” in Transnistria, Moldova. “We are talking about cooperation, about practical ways for Poland, Russia and Germany to work together,” Mr. Sikorski told the students here. Mr. Lavrov said Russia was seeking a strategic partnership with Europe. When asked by the students to explain, he said that Europe and Russia should cooperate in modernizing the Russian economy, easing border controls and building a new security architecture. The Germans and Poles have accepted this pragmatic approach. They will increase student exchanges among Kant University, the Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, and Viadrina European University in Frankfurt an der Oder. A trilateral historians’ commission has been set up to start examining their mutual histories. Germans and Poles know the difficulties and emotions involved. That is why Germany and Poland have tacitly agreed that the path toward a rapprochement with Russia cannot yet be achieved through delving into the past. “The political power in Russia is not ready for that,” Ms. Wigura said. “When you deal with rapprochement and reconciliation, the idea of political power is the power of the strength to admit to atrocities.” Alexey Miller, history professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow said Russia was not ready to do so. “The potential for society and historians to counter the politics of the past is smaller in a society where pluralism and democracy are weaker,” he argued. Germany has spent the past 65 years dealing with its past, its role as perpetrator and its European and historical responsibility toward memory and rapprochement. In the early 1950s, France reached out to its defeated enemy, West Germany. The reconciliation led to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the precursor to the European Union. As the Franco-German relationship deepened over time, West Germany, under Willy Brandt, the Social Democratic chancellor, embarked on the path to reconciliation with Poland, then under Communist rule. In 1970, Mr. Brandt fell to his knees in front of a memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto. Poland has also recently come to terms with its role in killing the Jewish population in Jedwabne, in northeastern Poland, in 1941. The Nazis had long been blamed for that atrocity. “These gestures and the politics of forgiveness have been an essential part of European identity,” Mr. Krastev said. But as Russian politicians still hesitate about confronting memory, the impatience of the students at Kant University was palpable. “We want to go to Europe,” they told the ministers.
|
Europe;Germany;Poland;Russia;World War II (1939-45);Kaczynski Lech
|
ny0277668
|
[
"sports",
"football"
] |
2016/11/16
|
Tony Romo Concedes Cowboys’ Starting Job to Dak Prescott
|
Tony Romo has ended the Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback controversy with a concession speech. In one of the more graceful moves by a professional athlete whose starting job was threatened, Romo, who has been the Cowboys’ starting quarterback since 2006, acknowledged on Tuesday that Dak Prescott deserved to continue as the starter when Romo returns from injury. Romo has been working his way back from a back injury sustained during the preseason, and the Cowboys had insisted that he would not lose his job because of injury. But Romo avoided the usual drama surrounding such situations by saying in a prepared statement that he believed that Prescott had surpassed him on the depth chart. “Dak Prescott, and what he’s done, he’s earned the right to be our quarterback,” Romo said. “As hard as that is for me to say, he’s earned that right. He’s guided our team to an 8-1 record, and that’s hard to do.” Tony Romo on Dak Prescott & 2016 Cowboys (Full Press Conference) | NFL Credit Credit Video by NFL While Romo is a four-time Pro Bowler with a 78-49 career record as a starter, he managed just four games last season because of injuries to his collarbone and at 36 years old it has not been clear how effectively he could return from having suffered a compression fracture in his back. In his absence, Prescott, a rookie drafted in the fourth round out of Mississippi State, has teamed with his fellow rookie, Ezekiel Elliott, to lead the Cowboys to eight consecutive victories and the best record in the N.F.L. Prescott has drawn praise for his presence on the field, his accuracy on deep throws, and his ability to exploit the threat of Elliott’s running ability to make play-action passes particularly effective. After the duo led Dallas to a dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Elliott called Prescott a beast in a televised interview and discussed his leadership on the game-winning drive. “I looked at him before the drive and said, ‘Dak, this is why we’re here. This is why we came to Dallas,’” Elliott said. “He didn’t flinch.” For much of the season the Cowboys had insisted that Romo would return to his starting role, but Prescott’s play during the winning streak, which included wins on the road in Green Bay and Pittsburgh, forced the issue. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys, had all but named Prescott the starter after Sunday’s win. “We’re going to let this decision in this case make itself,” Jones told reporters. “Dak’s got a hot hand and we’re going to go with it.” Romo, who signed a contract with $55 million in guarantees before the 2013 season, is an older, more fragile, and far more expensive option than Prescott, which potentially affected Dallas’s decision-making. But in his remarks, Romo acknowledged that he had no plans to retire even if the Cowboys now belong to Prescott. “If you think for a second I don’t want to be out there, then you probably never felt the pure ecstasy of competing and winning,” Romo said. “That hasn’t left me. In fact, it may burn now more than ever.”
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Football;Dallas Cowboys;Tony Romo;Dak Prescott
|
ny0291965
|
[
"business",
"dealbook"
] |
2016/01/14
|
Brookfield-Led Group to Buy Stake in Colombian Utility
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SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Brookfield Asset Management of Canada continued its push into Latin America on Wednesday with a $2 billion purchase of the Colombian government’s 57.6 percent stake in that country’s third-largest electricity producer, Isagen. The deal requires Brookfield and its institutional partners to make an offer in March for the rest of the company’s shares, currently in private hands. If all the other shareholders choose to sell, the investment could rise to $3.4 billion. Colombia’s government announced the privatization of Isagen in 2013 to raise funds to invest in highways. At the time, the finance minister, Mauricio Cárdenas, said the government expected about $2.4 billion from the sale. By 2014, the government was hoping to raise closer to $3 billion after receiving preliminary proposals from seven companies, including Duke Energy in the United States, Huadian of China and Engie of France, formerly GDF Suez. But the government decided to postpone the sale to give potential buyers more time to study the company. Then, in May 2015, a court blocked the privatization. Legal challenges were overcome last September, but the Colombian peso had fallen sharply along with prices for the country’s commodity exports, and one bidder after another had dropped out of the running. After Colbun of Chile withdrew from the auction on Monday, Brookfield was left as the only bidder. The sale took place at the minimum price: 6.486 trillion Colombian pesos, or $2 billion. Still, given the devaluation in the peso, the government is actually receiving significantly more in local currency than it would have if the deal had gone through in 2014. “It’s a good deal for the government,” Jaime Pedroza, utilities analyst with Credicorp Capital in Bogotá, said on Wednesday. “Brookfield is paying a premium compared to prices for peers in the region and our estimate of fair value, but they probably see room for synergies and improvements in productivity.” Brookfield’s new investment in Colombia comes after several recent acquisitions in Brazil. Its chief executive, Bruce Flatt, reaffirmed the firm’s interest in emerging markets in November, saying that he saw “value opportunities which are not available in scale in many other places in the world today” and that Brazil and China were merely suffering “growing pains in otherwise solid markets.” Over the last 18 months, Brookfield spent about $900 million to buy a 26.5 percent stake in the logistics company VLI from the mining giant Vale, $600 million to buy real estate from BR Properties of Brazil and $120 million to buy hydroelectric plants in Brazil. Brookfield is also negotiating to buy a stake in the Brazilian logistics company Invepar for about $350 million and to take private a Brazilian toll road company, Arteris. Credit Suisse advised the Colombian government on the auction.
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Mergers and Acquisitions;Privatization;Brookfield Asset Management;Colombia
|
ny0199781
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2009/07/14
|
Fashion Institute Student From Queens Smothered in Apartment
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A 23-year-old fashion student whose body was found in her mother’s bedroom in Queens on Sunday night had been smothered, the police said on Monday. The body of the victim, Carmen Saldaña-Mundo, was discovered by her mother, Susana Saldaña, who called 911 at 9:53 p.m. on Sunday. The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said the door to the second-floor bedroom in the family’s apartment, at 47-17 30th Avenue. Astoria, had been kicked in and the chain lock broken. Mr. Browne said that the death was being investigated as a homicide and that the city medical examiner’s office had concluded that she died of asphyxiation. Her mother found her in bed with a comforter pulled up to her neck, Mr. Browne said. She had sandals on but almost nothing else. A cardigan sweater was wrapped around one arm. Mr. Browne said it had not been determined whether Ms. Saldaña-Mundo was sexually assaulted. Mr. Browne said Mrs. Saldaña last saw her daughter, who attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, on Friday evening before leaving for the Hamptons, where Mrs. Saldaña works as a maid. Friends said that Ms. Saldaña-Mundo moved into the apartment a couple of years ago, sharing it with her mother and an older brother, after several years in Las Vegas, where the man she was then married to was a police officer. Johnny Mera, a jewelry appraiser who said he had known Ms. Saldaña-Mundo from classes they both took at LaGuardia Community College about five years ago, said she had married when she was 18. A wedding announcement in The Daily News from December 2004 said her husband was Cesar Quesada, who had worked at an insurance company and was applying to the police academy. “He took me out for dinner and said how much he cared about me and wanted me to be a permanent part of his life, and popped the question,” she was quoted as saying. Other friends said that Mr. Quesada became an auxiliary police officer here and that they moved to Las Vegas, where he joined the police force and she worked in real estate. But the friends said the marriage foundered, and she returned to Queens. Segundo Cabrera, who lives in the apartment above the one in which Ms. Saldaña-Mundo’s body was found, said the building’s front door was flimsy and often stuck as it closed. Mr. Cabrera said he had heard no alarming noises from the Saldañas’ apartment on Sunday night. He said he was so upset by Ms. Saldaña-Mundo’s death that he checked the closets in his apartment and the corridor outside to make sure no one was hiding there. He said that he and his wife have two daughters — one 12, the other 15 — who are on vacation with relatives in Ecuador. “I’m so glad they’re not around,” he said. “Imagine my relief.”
|
Murders and Attempted Murders;Queens (NYC);Manhattan (NYC)
|
ny0282388
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2016/07/16
|
Trump Wants War Declared on ISIS and ‘Extreme Vetting’ of Immigrants
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Within four hours of the attack on the French Riviera, Donald J. Trump pledged to seek a rare declaration of war from Congress against Islamic terrorists and called for “extreme vetting” of immigrants and a complete ban on those from “terrorist nations.” Minutes later, two finalists to be Mr. Trump’s running mate began weighing in. Newt Gingrich proposed a loyalty test for American citizens who are Muslim and deporting those who believe in Shariah law, while Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, referring to terrorism, called for America to “defeat this enemy of civilization at its source.” Yet for all the bellicose proclamations, Mr. Trump and his allies would be sharply constrained — by lawmakers, foreign allies, treaties and the Constitution — in achieving these goals, and Mr. Trump is not much closer to providing specific proposals on national security than he was 13 months ago when he began running for president. On Friday, as he announced Mr. Pence as his choice and prepared to claim the Republican nomination at the party’s convention next week, Mr. Trump still lacked a detailed foreign policy agenda and a deep bench of advisers, appearing instead like a man who had taken his cues about war from Fox News commentators and Twitter users. These latest statements strike the same chords of hostility and suspicion toward Muslims and immigrants that are at the heart of Mr. Trump’s appeal to many voters who feel insecure amid terrorist attacks abroad and mass shootings at home. His ideas may be unworkable, according to some foreign policy experts in both parties, but his message has unquestionable political power. Video A State Department spokeswoman, Elizabeth Trudeau, confirmed that two American citizens, Sean Copeland and his son Brodie, 11, were killed in the attack in Nice. Credit Credit Associated Press “I’m not sure what a declaration of war would add,” said Elliott Abrams, a veteran foreign policy adviser in the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations who is neutral in the presidential race. “But Trump is right in thinking we need a new basis to go after ISIS, and also right in thinking we should go after them harder.” Mr. Trump’s remarks after the carnage in Nice, France — such as agreeing with Bill O’Reilly of Fox News that “we are in a world war scenario” — are the latest in a startling pattern in which he has projected an image of a country willing to throw out international laws and treaties and use any means to protect Americans at home and abroad. He has said he would approve the use of waterboarding “in a heartbeat” because “only a stupid person would say it doesn’t work.” He has suggested that he would not be as concerned as President Obama about the Islamic State’s use of civilians as human shields. He has advocated killing the family members of terrorists . And on Thursday night, during one of two appearances on Fox News, he endorsed Mr. O’Reilly’s suggestion to declare war on terrorists — even though such a move would bog down a Trump administration in a lengthy congressional debate. The George W. Bush and Obama administrations have used the post-Sept. 11 authorization of military force to wage battle against terrorists, but Mr. Abrams and many national security experts in both parties favor a new authorization that specifically names the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, as the focus of military action. “From Trump’s point of view, a declaration of war probably sounds strong and bold and makes his opponents look weak, but it’s really just symbolic,” said David A. Martin, a professor of international law at the University of Virginia who was a deputy general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama. “A good idea is updating the use of military force to make it very clear who we are targeting, so we can fight propaganda from the Islamic State that we are targeting all Muslims.” A Trail of Terror in Nice, Block by Block Documenting devastation along a one-mile stretch of waterfront. In interviews with media organizations, Mr. Trump has been largely unwilling to grapple with the complexities of his national security aims, such as balancing his go-it-alone pronouncements with America’s obligations to alliances and international laws. He has called NATO “obsolete” and even proposed leaving it, but on Thursday night he concurred with Mr. O’Reilly’s view that NATO countries should “commit forces both ground and air to wipe ISIS off the face of the earth.” But he did not offer any detailed proposals to execute such a plan, instead arguing that the destruction of ISIS would be “a good thing for NATO to be involved in.” At the Pentagon, interviews with more than a dozen top generals revealed alarm over many of Mr. Trump’s proposals for the use of American power, even among officers who said privately that they lean Republican. While no serving officer interviewed was willing to speak publicly about Mr. Trump — reasons ranged from wanting to maintain a distance between the military and politics to not wanting to criticize a potential commander in chief — a number of top-ranking admirals and generals said the military is governed by laws and rules of engagement that are far stricter than politicians may realize. And justifications that troops would be “following orders” are unlikely to sway war-crimes courts, they said. “We remember the Nuremberg trials,” said Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, now retired, who was in charge of training the Iraqi Army in 2003. “Just following orders is not going to cut it.” Hillary Clinton, who reacted to the attack more cautiously, saying “we will never allow terrorists to undermine” American values, has been caustic in rebuking Mr. Trump’s comments on national security and war, arguing that he would put the United States in danger and wreck its traditional alliances. Image Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia last week. She has responded to the attack in France more cautiously than Mr. Trump has. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times She has called for accelerating the current military campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and in Iraq while working with NATO and putting new pressure on Arab allies to combat terrorists. She has also emphasized working with Muslim communities in the United States and abroad to counter terrorism, and argues that Mr. Trump is alienating both Muslim citizens and Muslim leaders overseas who are needed to defeat the Islamic State. Still, Mrs. Clinton’s ringing defense of alliances like NATO does not have the same emotional resonance for some Americans as Mr. Trump’s America-first language. Mr. Trump has drawn passionate crowds to his political rallies with his promises to wipe out the Islamic State and, initially, to bar Muslim noncitizens from entering the United States. He has changed that proposed ban to focus on countries with links to terrorism while, domestically, calling for greater surveillance of mosques and possibly shutting some down. He has not echoed Mr. Gingrich’s call for a test for Muslim citizens about loyalty and Shariah law — a proposal that is almost surely unconstitutional. And many voters, exhausted by a state of war over the last 15 years, may ultimately resist an effort by Mr. Trump to get the country and Congress to make a new declaration of war. “He would be asking Americans to agree to put our service members into a blood bath, where there would be carnage up to our necks,” said Gunnery Sgt. Emir Hadzic, a Marine who came to the United States as a Bosnian-Muslim refugee from Sarajevo in 1995. Sergeant Hadzic, a Republican who plans to write in a candidate for president in November, said he believed that references to war declarations and religious tests were “all about scoring political points.” Asked what he thought about posing a Shariah test to American soldiers who were Muslims, he was silent for several seconds. “That’s what I think,” he said. “Speechless.”
|
2016 Presidential Election;Donald Trump;ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State;Immigration;Islam;US Foreign Policy;Nice Attack;Terrorism;Hillary Clinton
|
ny0141565
|
[
"sports",
"football"
] |
2008/11/18
|
Romo’s Return Leaves Owens Feeling Delighted
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The return of quarterback Tony Romo managed to relax and energize the Cowboys. His presence even overshadowed a spectacular effort by the maligned Dallas defense. By defeating the Washington Redskins on Sunday night, the Cowboys reasserted themselves in the National Football Conference playoff race. With consecutive home games against San Francisco and Seattle (on Thanksgiving), Dallas could be 8-4 as it begins a brutal final month of the season. Aside from Romo’s return, the game Sunday night might have solved a more vexing problem: finding ways to use receiver Terrell Owens. He had been quietly grumbling all season about the play-calling of Jason Garrett, the team’s offensive coordinator. In nine games before Sunday, Owens had just 35 receptions for 467 yards and 6 touchdowns. (He had 81 receptions for 1,355 yards and 15 touchdowns last season.) In the three games without Romo, as the offense ground to a halt, Owens had 12 mostly meaningless receptions for 100 yards and a touchdown. With the new receiver Roy Williams now deployed, the Cowboys moved Owens all over the field, and the Redskins had trouble staying with him. He went in motion. He ran reverses. He lined up on the same side of the field as tight end Jason Witten, which must have been an awful sight for Washington defenders. Because Romo had a splint on the pinkie of his throwing hand — he said he had some trouble gripping the ball — he made few of the deep passes that Owens loves. Romo also missed Owens on a few occasions, including one pass that resulted in an interception. Still, the Cowboys kept trying to feed Owens the ball, and late in the second quarter, Romo hit him for 25 yards on a crossing route — a sign, perhaps, of things to come. The final stat line may not look any better than it did a few weeks ago: five receptions for 38 yards, no touchdowns and an average of 7.6 yards a catch. But everyone seemed happy with the results. Jerry Jones, the Cowboys’ owner, said he had been curious to see how everything would work with everyone on the field, meaning Owens and Williams. He was thrilled. And for one of the few times this season, Owens was delighted. “It’s what I did in San Francisco and Philadelphia,” he said about being put in motion. “I was open, and we took advantage of it.” The Makeover in Miami Almost a year ago, the Dolphins’ owner, H. Wayne Huizenga, wept while embracing his team’s coach at the time, Cam Cameron. Miami had just defeated Baltimore in overtime to win its first (and only) game of the season. A year later, Cameron is the offensive coordinator in Baltimore; the Dolphins’ rookie coach, Tony Sparano, is a coach-of-the-year candidate; and somebody better have the tissues ready because — cue the tear ducts — Miami is in the playoff race. Really. The Dolphins’ remarkable turnaround may be Bill Parcells’s greatest reclamation project yet. Is there a player on the roster, besides the rookie tackle Jake Long and maybe running back Ronnie Brown, whom anyone would choose to build a team around? And it comes just in time for Huizenga, who is likely to be little more than a minority shareholder by the time the playoffs start. Huizenga has already sold half of the team and the stadium to Stephen Ross, and N.F.L. owners unanimously approved a plan last month to allow Huizenga to sell another 45 percent of the team to Ross. Huizenga is going to keep a small stake. That deal is expected to be completed before the end of the year, because Huizenga is concerned that Barack Obama’s administration will raise capital-gains taxes — the same issue that is spurring four of the Rooney brothers to complete a deal to sell their shares in the Steelers to the oldest brother, Dan, by the end of the year. What a way to go for Huizenga. Four consecutive victories have put the Dolphins in a tie with the New England Patriots, one game behind the Jets in the American Football Conference East, with a titanic matchup against the Patriots this Sunday in Miami. The Dolphins unveiled the Wildcat offense to stun the Patriots in their first meeting this season, 38-13. The system has become a leaguewide craze, and the Patriots will undoubtedly be better prepared for it now. But the Dolphins are not surviving merely on a few gimmicks. Quarterback Chad Pennington has been virtually mistake-free, the running game averages 117.5 yards, and linebacker Joey Porter is having a career renaissance. Still, the Dolphins have largely beat up on bad teams, and they allowed a 98-yard punt return for a touchdown that gave the Raiders a lead with little more than four minutes left Sunday. Miami needed a field goal with 38 seconds remaining — set up by a 7-yard completion from Pennington to Ted Ginn Jr. on fourth-and-5 — to beat Oakland, the N.F.L.’s most dysfunctional team. “I’m too young for this,” Sparano said. With six games remaining, including meetings with all three division opponents — remaining, the Dolphins can control their destiny. That is especially true because none of the three out-of-division opponents remaining on the schedule (St. Louis, San Francisco and Kansas City) have more than three victories. It is too early for Dolphins fans to relax, though: Parcells was said to be concerned about their ownership situation when he was considering the job late last year. So just how will he get along with the new boss? Problems for the Vikings The N.F.C. North is parity — or is it mediocrity? — defined. The top three teams are tied at 5-5, and the Lions are making a determined run at 0-16. But things could shake out very soon, especially for the Vikings, who lost on Sunday to the Buccaneers, 19-13. The N.F.L. is scheduled to hear player appeals this week in the cases of those who tested positive for a banned diuretic under the performance-enhancing drug policy. Two of the players caught in the net were the Vikings’ mammoth Pro Bowl defensive tackles, Pat Williams and Kevin Williams. The players are expected to argue that they did not know the supplements they took contained the diuretic. That usually does not sway the N.F.L., which maintains that players are responsible for everything they ingest. If the players lose their appeals, they will be suspended for four games, which could torpedo the Vikings’ playoff chances by damaging a run defense currently ranked second in the league. Their appeals probably will not be decided before the Vikings’ game against the Jaguars. After that, Minnesota faces Chicago (21st-ranked running game), Detroit (31), Arizona (29), Atlanta (2) and the Giants (1). Jaguars Lack Protection Jacksonville Coach Jack Del Rio made a point of demoting linebacker Mike Peterson last week in an attempt to seize control of his fading team. But when the Jaguars and the Titans played Sunday, with Tennessee coming from behind to win by 24-14, the game exposed one of the biggest differences between the promising Jaguars of last season and the underachieving ones of this season. Last year, quarterback David Garrard had a breakout season, providing balance to an offense that also enjoyed a two-headed running attack. This year, not so much. With injuries to the offensive line, Garrard has regressed. In 12 games last season, Garrard was sacked 21 times, threw 18 touchdown passes and was intercepted 3 times. This year, in the first 10 games, he has been sacked 26 times, tossed 8 touchdown passes and thrown 6 interceptions. Because he has much less time to throw, Garrard has watched his yards-per-completion average decline, to 10.7 this season from 12.1 last season. Much of the damage came in the first three weeks (four interceptions). But a clunker against Cincinnati two weeks ago and a miserable game against the Titans left the Jaguars at 4-6 and all but out of the wild-card chase. The Jaguars’ collapse is an example of why many coaches — like Parcells — value the lines more than any other part of the team.
|
Romo Tony;Dallas Cowboys;Football
|
ny0252224
|
[
"business"
] |
2011/11/16
|
Wal-Mart’s 3rd-Quarter Profit Slips
|
At Wal-Mart , shoppers cut back on staples like milk and meat that had price increases of a few cents. At Saks Fifth Avenue, they paid full price for shoes and designer fashions at a rate higher than before the recession . As several big chains reported third-quarter results on Tuesday, the divide between hard-pressed and prosperous Americans remained a defining characteristic of the retail economy. “Clearly it’s a bifurcated market,” said Stephen I. Sadove, chairman and chief executive of Saks, in an interview. “The high-end consumer is much more tied to the stock market and the Dow and how they’re feeling about their personal situation, more so than the lower end of the market,” where concerns about gas prices and unemployment were more prevalent. Over all, retail sales last month were higher than analysts had expected, rising 0.5 percent, according to the Commerce Department, contributing to the third-quarter results reported Tuesday. But Jay H. Bryson, an economist at Wells Fargo, predicted that the growth would soon slow as consumers stop using their savings, rather than their income, to pay for goods. “Growth in nominal income is relatively weak,” Mr. Bryson wrote in a note to clients, and “the increase in food and energy prices over the past year has eroded consumer purchasing power.” Wal-Mart, the country’s biggest retailer, said it had posted a quarterly increase in sales at stores open at least a year after nine consecutive quarters of declines in that important measure. But its third-quarter profit took a hit as the retailer chose not to pass on all of its price increases to consumers. Company executives said they were not confident that Wal-Mart shoppers could afford more expensive goods. “Our customers are still feeling pressured to reduce expenses wherever they can,” said William S. Simon, president and chief executive of Wal-Mart United States. “Cost increases in numerous categories were not passed on to our customers in the form of increased prices.” At the other end of the retail spectrum, Saks said Tuesday that its revenue had risen 5 percent, to $692.3 million, from the same quarter a year ago. Its same-store sales, sales for stores open at least a year, rose 5.8 percent. “Full-price selling is at record levels,” Mr. Sadove said. “We’re now in a less promotional environment than we were before the recession.” At Saks, profit fell by 51 percent, to $17.8 million, in the quarter. But that was a tough comparison with the third quarter of 2010, when profit was pumped up by a gain related to tax reserves. Some areas where Saks had placed big inventory bets, like shoes, turned out particularly well in the quarter, he said. “If you look at it in the first half of the year, our same-store sales were up 13 percent,” Mr. Sadove said. “If you look at the third quarter, it was not quite as strong as you saw in the first half of the year. Maybe that was tempered by the stock market volatility. Having said that, you still had very strong consumption on the part of the luxury consumer — it wasn’t as though it was flailing about.” Mr. Simon said Wal-Mart shoppers seemed especially worried about food prices — Wal-Mart’s food costs rose 4 percent over the last quarter, though it passed on “substantially less” to consumers via grocery prices. “We hear from some shoppers that they believe it will be more difficult than ever to afford holiday meals for their families,” he said. “We understand their concern, and we see it every month in our customers’ purchasing behavior.” In another sign of tight consumer budgets, Wal-Mart’s layaway program for holiday gifts, which it began offering in October after a hiatus of several years, has exceeded projections for the number of layaway transactions so far. “This is one of the top areas that the customer had asked us to bring back to help meet their needs for the holiday season,” said Jeff Davis, senior vice president and treasurer, in a call with reporters. “What we have seen is, once again, this bevy of activity out there particularly in layaway and the traffic it brings to our stores.” Wal-Mart said its domestic same-store sales increased by 1.3 percent, above its projections. That compared with a 1.3 percent decline in the same quarter a year ago. However, profit fell 2.9 percent from a year ago to $3.3 billion, below analysts’ expectations. Executives said that while visits to Wal-Mart’s stores in the United States fell from the same quarter a year ago, shoppers were spending more each visit. Net sales domestically increased 2.7 percent to $63.8 billion. Home Depot executives said that although the housing market showed little buoyancy, its customers were spending a bit more on refurbishing their homes. The average ticket, or amount on a receipt, grew 3 percent in the quarter from the same period in 2010, while transactions increased by 1.2 percent. Part of that was related to the storms in recent months, with people buying expensive items like generators and roofing supplies. But they were also spending on areas like kitchens. “Our consumers continue to want to maintain their homes,” chief financial officer Carol B. Tomé said in an interview. Home Depot posted a profit of 60 cents a share on Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations of 58 to 59 cents a share. Its sales rose 4.4 percent to $17.3 billion, and it had a 4.2 percent increase in same-store sales. Whether their consumers are feeling pressured or flush now, the retail executives indicated they did not expect things to change soon. “In the U.S., we still do not see, and do not expect to see in the near term, any meaningful tailwind from the housing market,” said Frank Blake, Home Depot’s chairman and chief executive. “I feel good about the luxury consumer,” Mr. Sadove of Saks said. Referring to the Wal-Mart shopper’s dependence on paychecks and government-assistance payments rather than savings, Mr. Davis said that “going forward we really would not expect anything different.”
|
Wal-Mart Stores Inc;Shopping and Retail;Sales;Company Reports;Saks Fifth Avenue;Consumer Behavior
|
ny0133277
|
[
"science",
"space"
] |
2012/12/25
|
Volunteers Helped Piece Together an Asteroid’s Story
|
On April 22, a fast-moving fireball flew through the sky over Nevada and California and exploded. Some people witnessed the event, others snapped photos, and a security camera near Lake Tahoe caught it on video. Now, using pictures, videos and rock fragments, 70 scientists from around the world have pieced together the back story. From analyses of dozens of fragments that fell to Earth, they report that the fireball was a small asteroid — about 10 feet in diameter — belonging to a rare and primitive class of bodies called carbonaceous chondrites, from the inner region of the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. The asteroid was going unusually fast when it entered the atmosphere — about 18 miles per second, according to the scientists. “That’s twice as a fast as many other meteor falls,” said Peter Jenniskens , an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and an author of the report, which appears in the journal Science . “It’s the fastest meteor impact we’ve been able to record.” Doppler weather radar picked up falling meteorites, giving clues to where to look for fragments, Dr. Jenniskens said. Many of the fragments were found by volunteers. Dr. Jenniskens and a colleague held town meetings to teach people how to identify and handle meteorites. “It was a big help because it allowed us to collect pieces quite quickly,” he said — a good thing, because some minerals in the fragments “are very sensitive to water” and could have been ruined by rainfall.
|
Meteors and Meteorites;Space;Nevada;California;Science (Journal);Asteroids
|
ny0036826
|
[
"business"
] |
2014/03/09
|
When Employees Confess, Sometimes Falsely
|
When an AutoZone investigator approached Chris Polston, asking for his help investigating a theft, Mr. Polston was happy to oblige. He was 20, had worked for AutoZone all through high school in Maryland, and, after graduation, moved to take a job with the chain in Houston. He and his wife had a child on the way, and he thought that AutoZone, the car parts retailer, could be a place to build a career. That morning in 2010, it all came undone. According to an account of the day given by Mr. Polston in interviews and in a civil suit against AutoZone, Conrad Castillo, an AutoZone investigator, sat him down in the store’s overstock room between a cinder-block wall and a row of batteries. At first, he said, the investigator was friendly, making small talk about the joys of fatherhood. “He was talking to me as if we’d known each other for 10 years and we were at a barbecue,” Mr. Polston said. Then Mr. Castillo’s tone changed, Mr. Polston said: Mr. Castillo asked him to sign a statement that said he was not recording their talk. After Mr. Polston signed it, Mr. Castillo accused him of having stolen auto parts. When Mr. Polston denied the accusation, Mr. Castillo insisted. He pointed to a DVD that he said contained proof that Mr. Polston had stolen parts. Mr. Castillo, however, would not let Mr. Polston review the DVD. (In his own testimony, Mr. Castillo, who did not respond to requests for comment, denied showing Mr. Polston a DVD; he said he found Mr. Polston deceptive and hostile.) “It just became a battle between me and him of me saying no and him saying yes, me saying no, him saying yes,” Mr. Polston said. “I told him I had to go; I have to get my wife to work. He said you’re not allowed to leave. He said, if I confessed, he could promise I wouldn’t lose my job, wouldn’t be charged, everything would be O.K.” After about two hours, Mr. Castillo said he was going to have to call the authorities. Mr. Polston watched him go to a corner of the store and make a call on his cellphone. When Mr. Castillo returned, he asked Mr. Polston if he had anything to add. Mr. Polston imagined the police arresting him for a theft he had not committed, and having to explain that to his family. “I had to say something to make him shut up,” he said. “He was just drilling and drilling and drilling. I said, look, only thing I didn’t pay for was a candy bar and soda.” Suddenly, the interrogation was over. Mr. Castillo took Mr. Polston’s keys and escorted him from the store. The next day, he was fired for theft of the candy and soda. Stolen auto parts were not mentioned. AutoZone is the country’s largest auto-parts retailer, with about 5,000 stores in the United States and Mexico and more than $9 billion in annual sales. A public company with a share price that has more than tripled in the last five years, it has more than 70,000 workers, and every year some steal money or inventory. Losses from employee theft cost American retailers $16 billion a year, according to the National Retail Security Survey . That number is almost half the amount lost to shoplifting, and the problem can be very hard to stop. “Once an employee is hired, they have keys and access codes,” said Richard C. Hollinger , a professor of criminology and law at the University of Florida, who compiled the survey. “They’re very hard to deter and very hard to catch.” Sometimes, he said, there is hard evidence, like a video, but that is rare. “Mostly what you have is a cash register that’s a couple hundred dollars short and a couple of people who might be suspects,” he said. And what is to be done with those suspects? Increasingly over the last 20 years, retailers have turned to internal investigations, often using investigators trained in the same interview and interrogation methods as the police. Their job is to ferret out employee thieves and get them to confess. “An admission makes the case much, much stronger,” Mr. Hollinger said. But as retailers have used the same methods as the police, they have come under criticism for some of the same unintended results: false confessions. Retailers don’t think this is a big problem. “Is there a prevalence of false confessions in retail? I’d have to say no,” said Rich Mellor, a recently retired vice president for loss prevention at the National Retail Federation . Loss-prevention people, he said, know that coercion can cost them their jobs and lead to expensive lawsuits. Because retailers are reluctant to talk to the press, he added, the public generally gets only the former employee’s side of the story, meaning that a lot of cases that seem to be false confessions may not be. AutoZone did not reply to requests for comment, but lawsuits filed since 2000 have opened a window into how its loss-prevention department operates. Sean Simpson and Charles Moore of the Simpson-Moore law firm in San Diego have represented 10 former AutoZone employees, including Mr. Polston, in lawsuits against the company. The first was filed in 2001 by Joaquin Robles, an AutoZone employee in San Diego who had helped put store deposits into an armored truck. One day, when the truck arrived at the bank, $820 was missing, and Octavio Jara, a loss-prevention investigator, was sent to speak with him. According to Mr. Robles’s subsequent testimony, Mr. Jara questioned him for nearly three hours, accusing him of stealing the money and telling him that if he would confess, he could keep his job. Otherwise, Mr. Jara would have to call the police. Eventually, Mr. Robles signed a confession, apologizing for taking the money, which he said he needed to pay family debts. In July 2000, AutoZone fired him, recovering the stolen money from his last paycheck. Two weeks later, the bank found the money. It had been misplaced, not stolen. This did not, however, win Mr. Robles his job back. Mr. Robles sued AutoZone and Mr. Jara, contending that he had been falsely imprisoned by being detained by his employers. Mr. Simpson and Mr. Moore presented three former AutoZone employees who testified that Mr. Jara had done the same thing to them. (Mr. Jara did not respond to repeated requests for comment.) In a subsequent trial over punitive damages, the lawyers turned to AutoZone’s internal loss-prevention manual to argue that the tactics Mr. Jara had used on Mr. Robles simply followed company policy. The manual, which the company stopped using after the Robles trial, laid out a script for the standard interview. After taking the suspect to an isolated place and making sure that the conversation wasn’t being recorded, the investigator would make small talk to build rapport. Then he or she would ask questions, like whether the suspect thought that a theft had occurred. An employee who answered, “Yes, it was probably stolen,” was considered more likely to be innocent than one who said, “No, I’m sure it was a mistake.” An employee who slouched in a seat was considered likely to be hiding something. If the employee was deemed guilty, the manual instructed the investigator to get an admission. First, the investigator would tell the employee that AutoZone knows that he or she is guilty, brushing aside any denials. To make the case appear solid, the manual encouraged using props like “bulging files” or videocassettes. Next came a process called minimization and rationalization, intended to make it “easier for an AutoZoner to admit wrongdoing.” One common example, which Mr. Robles said Mr. Jara used with him, was to distinguish between need and greed. “Did you take the money to support your family,” the manual encouraged investigators to ask, “or was it for drugs?” The interrogation system prescribed in AutoZone’s former manual closely follows the dominant methods used throughout the retail industry, as well as by police departments across the country. Image Chris Polston says that while he was employed at an AutoZone store in Houston a company investigator interviewed him for two hours, wrongly accusing him of stealing auto parts. Credit J.M. Eddins Jr. for The New York Times It is based on the Reid Technique, which was invented in the 1930s by Fred E. Inbau, a Northwestern University law professor, and John E. Reid, a Chicago police officer and forensics tinkerer. In 1947, Mr. Reid went into business as a private contractor, selling his services as a professional investigator to police departments across the country and teaching his method. In the early 1980s, two Reid investigators, Douglas E. Wicklander and David E. Zulawski, formed a company to teach the method to the private sector, where their classes are now the industry standard for interview and interrogation training. Today, Wicklander-Zulawski & Associates , according to its website, provides training to many major American retailers. Several clients that Wicklander lists, including Walmart, United Parcel Service and Costco, are defending against false-confession litigation. (Wicklander-Zulawski, which did not respond to requests for comment, is not a defendant in any of the suits, and it could not be determined what services the company provided these clients or when they were provided.) In addition, class-action lawsuits were filed recently against Home Depot and Macy’s, accusing them of using their loss-prevention departments to coerce confessions from customers suspected of shoplifting. It’s hard to know how widespread false confessions are. In retailing, “the dirty little secret is that there are no data,” said Saul Kassin , a psychologist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a specialist in the issue. “As far as I can tell, normal people who sign confessions to thefts they didn’t commit tend to be embarrassed, don’t want to come forward. Cases are more likely to settle quietly.” Almost since the Reid method was invented, psychologists and lawyers have feared that, if misused, it could prompt innocent people to confess. In 1966, the Supreme Court, looking at an earlier version of the Reid manual in Miranda v. Arizona, concluded that police interrogations existed only “to subjugate the individual to the will of his examiner.” Without legal protections, the court ruled, no statement could be viewed as made by free choice. These protections, which would become known as the Miranda rights, require the police to remind suspects that they have the right to remain silent and to have a lawyer present. Despite the Miranda rights, evidence has mounted in the last 20 years that false confessions are more common than one might expect. And the Miranda rights apply only to criminal investigations, not to internal corporate investigations. When deposed for the Robles trial, Mr. Jara testified that he had obtained admissions in 98 percent of his interviews. According to Dr. Kassin, if Mr. Jara’s numbers are accurate, it is all but certain that he has obtained “a lot of false confessions.” Mr. Jara also testified that he had followed AutoZone policy, which prohibited him from making threats or promises. “You want to gather the facts,” he said. “If they admit to what they’ve done, good. If they don’t, they don’t.” At trial in San Diego County Superior Court, AutoZone did not contend that Mr. Robles’s confession was true. Instead, the company’s lawyer asserted that Mr. Robles could have left the interview whenever he wanted: Mr. Jara had interviewed him at work, with the door open. Following standard practice, however, Mr. Robles was kept on the payroll clock during his interview. “How free really was he to get up and leave the workplace, on a workday, during his own shift, without being fired?” asked Dr. Kassin, who testified as an expert at Mr. Robles’s trial. “He was for all practical purposes in custody.” The jurors agreed. In 2006, they found that AutoZone and Mr. Jara had falsely imprisoned Mr. Robles and used fraud to make him confess. They awarded him $7.5 million; AutoZone appealed, and the damages were reduced to less than $700,000. After that, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Moore took more cases representing former AutoZone employees who contended that they had been forced into false confessions. Three ended in judgments in the plaintiff’s favor, although AutoZone appealed all of them; two of the appeals are pending but a California appellate court upheld the other judgment against AutoZone last month. In another case, Gomez et al. v. AutoZone, a San Diego County jury found that Mr. Jara had used fraud to get confessions from three employees, but the jury did not award damages. The lawyers have three additional suits in progress against AutoZone, including Mr. Polston’s. In a 2008 deposition for Gomez v. AutoZone, Elizabeth Rabun, head of AutoZone’s loss-prevention office, testified that her department conducted 2,000 to 3,000 loss-prevention interviews a year. Every loss is investigated, she testified, and virtually every investigation involves an interview. While employees who confess are normally fired, she said the company does not threaten to call the police. “We do not use coercion,” she said. In a 2013 deposition for the Polston suit, Ms. Rabun testified that the false confessions had prompted AutoZone to make changes. For example, after the Robles verdict, the company stopped using its manual and hired Wicklander-Zulawski to train investigators directly. She testified, however, that the company continues to interview workers while they are clocked in and without a lawyer present. She also testified that AutoZone still forbids the taping of interviews, citing a concern that the tapes could be “manipulated.” While recording of interrogations is now mandatory for police interrogators in 17 states and the District of Columbia, the first question on AutoZone’s question-and-answer form, filled out by every loss-prevention investigator at the start of an interview, is this: “Do you understand recording this interview is a violation of AutoZone policy?” Mr. Moore said that means that at AutoZone, “It’s still the Wild West.” Part of the problem, he said, is that once the investigator gets a confession, the investigation generally stops. In Mr. Polston’s case, the store manager later testified that he had given Mr. Polston the candy bar and soda he was fired for stealing. But Mr. Castillo testified that he never talked to the manager. Mr. Simpson asked Ms. Rabun in a deposition why Mr. Polston had been interviewed at all — in Texas, workers can be fired without cause, which means that if AutoZone suspected Mr. Polston of theft, it could have fired him without an interview. “Well,” she said, “I think part of our obligation as an employer is to bring the allegation to the individual that is maybe being accused of wrongdoing and give them a chance to give their side of the story.” Mr. Moore offers a darker motive, suggesting that AutoZone managers have at times used loss prevention to get confessions from employees it wants to fire for other reasons. In 2010, Mr. Moore and Lawrance A. Bohm , a Sacramento lawyer, won a suit on behalf of Travis Kell, who, after reporting his manager to human resources, accusing the manager of making racist remarks, received a visit from Mr. Jara. According to the lawsuit, the investigator pressed Mr. Kell to admit to falsifying an internal audit. After Mr. Kell admitted only to rushing the audit, he was fired for what AutoZone termed falsification of documents. At trial, Mr. Moore and Mr. Bohm presented evidence that another loss-prevention manager had falsified the audit to frame Mr. Kell. The jury awarded Mr. Kell $1.4 million in punitive damages. The verdict was upheld, with reduced damages, in California appellate court last month. Mr. Polston said that after he confessed, falsely, to stealing the candy bar and soda, he went to his car and cried. The worst part, he said, was the sense of betrayal. “It changed my whole perspective about everything,” he said. “I was raised to give trust to people until they broke it. But I’m not going to raise my kids that way. I don’t want them to be blindsided like I was.” His lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in July in Harris County District Court in Houston, where he is seeking $300,000 to $400,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. But he says he is not concerned about winning money from AutoZone. He has a good job now, doing collision repair for BMW. What he wants is more subtle, something that he says he was denied by his interrogator. “This time I’m going to get to say how I feel, without some loss-prevention person talking down to me and belittling me,” he said. “I’m going to get to say my side of the story.”
|
Confessions;Interrogation;Shoplifting and Employee Theft in Retail;Lawsuits;AutoZone;Retail
|
ny0185645
|
[
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] |
2009/03/31
|
Purdue Women Regain Balance After a Season Spent Stumbling
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Every time she leaves a game, Purdue guard Jodi Howell rides a stationary bike to keep her aching, surgically repaired knees limber. In a broader sense, the Boilermakers (25-10) have been pedaling up a steep incline against injury, loss of composure and national indifference to reach the final of the Oklahoma City Regional. A victory over Oklahoma (31-4) on Tuesday would make Purdue only the sixth women’s team seeded sixth or lower to reach the Final Four. Earlier this season, seemingly secure leads against Stanford and Maryland deflated like tires. Point guard FahKara Malone dislocated the ring finger on her shooting hand and missed nine games. For the first time, the Boilermakers, who won a national title in 1999, were seeded as low as sixth entering the N.C.A.A. tournament. When conversation turned to potential champions, nobody mentioned Purdue. “Flying under the radar, sometimes that’s a good thing,” Howell said. What has emerged lately is a team of exquisite completeness. One that is tall, deep, balanced. One that attacks inside and out with a motion offense and throws up a dense thicket of arms in a matchup zone defense. One that has learned to take a lead and hold it. All this was on mesmerizing display Sunday night in a 67-61 victory over Rutgers in the regional semifinal. The Boilermakers shredded the normally disruptive Scarlet Knights defense, shooting 53 percent. Most impressively, Purdue prevented Rutgers from pressing as Malone dribbled with speed seldom found outside a particle accelerator. When the Scarlet Knights made a late run, the Boilermakers found another gear. Malone hit a pull-up jumper to beat the shot clock and Howell sank a pair of free throws in the final seconds. Once again, Purdue crested a hill that, in the vocabulary of professional cyclists, formerly seemed so precipitous as to be beyond category. “Early in the season, we would have easily lost that game,” Malone said. It can be a wondrous thing, watching a lost team find itself. The most puzzling question is not how Purdue won 25 games, but how it lost 10. Six different players have led the team in scoring this season. The Boilermakers led the Big Ten Conference in assists. Howell is shooting 48.4 percent from 3-point range. The freshman guard Brittany Rayburn, another gunner, was the conference’s sixth man of the year. “We just share the ball,” Purdue Coach Sharon Versyp said. “A lot of teams say, ‘One person is going to take over the game.’ ” There are few front lines with the size, agility and range of Purdue’s. Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, a 6-foot-2 forward, has a name that belongs on PBS and skills that belong on ESPN, with a midrange jumper and elegant spin moves inside. She leads the Boilermakers with 13.1 points and 9.1 rebounds a game along with 87 steals and 54 blocked shots. Lakisha Freeman, a 6-1 forward, hit her first seven shots against Rutgers, floating inside and out with an ethereal grace. Danielle Campbell, a 6-4 center, grabbed 12 rebounds against the Scarlet Knights. Their replacements stand 6-4 and 6-3; in the women’s game, this amounts to more of a front range than a front line. “It’s hard to defend a team where everyone can score at any time and no one stops moving,” Malone said. Defensively, Purdue’s height left Rutgers cautious and uncertainly launching 3-pointers instead of driving to the basket until the final, desperate minutes. Occasionally a 6-4 player forbiddingly patrols the front of the Boilermakers’ matchup zone. Most teams have only one true post player; Purdue has two. Common purpose has also been forged from a sense of loss. Wisdom-Hylton missed the 2007-8 season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee. Howell tore the ligament in both knees before arriving at Purdue, then sat out the 2007-8 season after having shoulder surgery. Freeman postponed the start of her career to have hernia surgery. “When injuries come into play, you come together more as friends than teammates,” Wisdom-Hylton said. “It helps having someone to talk to, and it ends up carrying over to the court.” When Malone was shelved with a dislocated finger, Lauren Mioton, Purdue’s homecoming queen and a Rhodes Scholarship finalist, started eight games at point guard and assisted in seven victories. Even while relaxing, the Boilermakers seem to be in step. The other night, the team took time off and went line dancing. “They can all score; they have great size,” Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale said of the Boilermakers. “Intangibly, what makes them special is they really are a team, really together. You can feel that.”
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Purdue University;NCAA Basketball Tournament (Women);College Athletics;Basketball
|
ny0269472
|
[
"sports",
"baseball"
] |
2016/04/10
|
Very Early Fan of Springsteen, Cubs Manager Keeps Own Beat
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CHICAGO — Whether there was a mime leading warm-ups, a 1970s van blasting disco music or Chicago Cubs mingling with real cubs this spring, Cubs Manager Joe Maddon was in top form long before the season’s first pitch. If everything falls into place, Maddon, who brought a magician to the clubhouse last year, just might pull off the ultimate trick. Manage the Cubs to a championship? It is not a long shot. Maddon’s second season began with huge expectations after 97 wins in 2015 and a march to the National League Championship Series, fueling hopes among fans that a championship drought dating to 1908 is in its final stages. It figures to be a charged atmosphere at Wrigley Field on Monday when the Cubs host Cincinnati in their home opener. And it could be that way all season for the Cubs. “We haven’t won a World Series in more than a century, so there’s nothing to get complacent or cocky about,” Maddon said. “Bring that all on the table, talk about it, say it up front, and then we’ll go from there.” While Maddon and the Cubs looked forward, his childhood friend Willie Forte could not help looking back. Long before Maddon turned Wrigley Field into a miniature zoo with animals or had his team wear onesies on a trip home last season, long before the mime and the real cubs and the retro van, there was a Dodge. An eight-track. And, for Forte, a life-changing moment. They were in Maddon’s Dodge one night in the early 1970s when Maddon popped in an eight-track tape and told his buddy: “I think this guy is going to be the biggest guy ever. I think he’s going to be a huge, huge star.” Image The Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo with a bear cub that Maddon took to spring training last month in Mesa, Ariz. Credit Jason P. Skoda, via Associated Press It was “The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle,” and yes, Bruce Springsteen did rather well for himself. Forte, a keyboardist, started the B Street Band, a successful cover act. Maddon did all right, too. He spent over three decades in the Angels’ organization as a player, coach and scout. He was on Manager Mike Scioscia’s staff during the 2002 championship season before leaving to manage Tampa Bay after the 2005 season. “His insights were terrific,” Scioscia said. “I realized that very early. He was a guy that I definitely wanted to pick his brain and talk baseball with him.” Forte saw the leadership and vision, not to mention a strong arm, when he and Maddon were growing up in Hazelton, Pa., a onetime mining town built by immigrants. He remembers Maddon throwing a football 40 yards and blowing everyone else away at a punt, pass and kick competition when they were 9 years old. The two struck a friendship not long after that while playing for the State Trooper Eagles youth team. When Maddon and Forte were about 12 or 13, they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar by their coaches during a trip to Pittsburgh. The team was staying at a school cafeteria, and the orders were clear: Do not raid the kitchen. That was all the incentive Forte, Maddon and another teammate needed to chow down. They stuffed themselves on the next day’s meals, then tried to run away when the coaches returned. The three were forced to eat the leftovers, and while Forte and the other player became ill, Maddon — calm as always — quietly consumed the equivalent of another lunch or dinner. That is how Maddon was, rarely rattled, even in high school, when he was the quarterback and captain of the offense. “Joe’s father, Joseph, was an incredible man,” said Forte, who was a 5-foot-4 guard and linebacker. “Humble. Never had a mean bone in his body. Never raised his voice. Just a perfect guy. Some of Joe’s personality, that he’s unflappable, comes from his father. As much as you ribbed him, you could never get him to go one degree higher.” About the only thing he questioned back then was his friend’s taste in music, which was why he was skeptical when Maddon popped in that Springsteen tape. While Forte listened to Jimi Hendrix, he said, Maddon was into the Carpenters. “Joe springing that Springsteen thing on me really shaped the rest of my life,” Forte said. Forte has performed all over the country, even at Rays exhibition games when Maddon was the manager. He has formed friendships with members of the E Street Band and would love to introduce his friend to Springsteen. “I think Bruce would love to sit down and talk to Joe Maddon,” said Vini Lopez, the original E Street Band drummer and a friend of Forte’s and Maddon’s. “I think if Bruce and Joe got to sit down, they would both be enamored by each other.” Maddon made a big impression on Lopez when they met at a Rays-Yankees game in Tampa Bay not long after the E Street Band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. And it was not just because Maddon had “Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey” and “The Wild, the Innocent and & the E Street Shuffle” — the two albums Lopez played on — hanging on the wall in his office. “He’s so nice, you know?” Lopez said. “The way he does his thing is mind-boggling to me. He’s in charge of so much and he knows it all.” Forte reflected on how far he and his friend had come, from a childhood with little money and a love of sports, and he remembered the shock when Maddon — then a catcher in the Angels’ system — told him his career plan. Forte said he had been on tour in the Midwest and they had been dining in the Quad Cities area. Forte recalled Maddon saying: “I think I found something I’m better at and that I could be really, really good at. I think I could be a really good coach to young kids.” Maddon added that he thought he could eventually be “a really good manager.”
|
Baseball;Chicago Cubs;Joe Maddon
|
ny0217419
|
[
"business"
] |
2010/04/22
|
Income Falls, but Wells Fargo Sees Improvement
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Wells Fargo & Company said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income declined 16 percent to $2.54 billion as the bank dealt with continuing losses on consumer loans. However, the bank said it had “turned the corner” with its credit problems. Income in the quarter a year ago was $3.04 billion. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo joined other big banks in the most recent quarter in reporting improvement in their consumer loan businesses. Wells Fargo set aside $5.3 billion to cover soured loans during the quarter, down 9.9 percent from $5.9 billion in the previous quarter. A year earlier, it had set aside $4.6 billion. Many analysts predict loan losses should peak some time in the first half of 2010. “We believe quarterly provision expenses and quarterly total credit losses have peaked,” the bank’s chief credit and risk officer, Mike Loughlin, said in a statement . Wells Fargo earned 45 cents a share after payment of dividends on preferred stock, versus $2.38 billion, or 56 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts expected profit of 42 cents a share in the most recent quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 2 percent, to $21.4 billion. As one of the biggest banks in the country, Wells Fargo’s performance provides insight into the financial state of consumers. With the acquisition of the Wachovia Corporation in late 2008, its operations now stretch across the country.
|
Wells Fargo & Co;Company Reports
|
ny0148290
|
[
"business"
] |
2008/09/05
|
New York Plans to Sue Student Loan Company
|
The attorney general of New York is preparing a lawsuit against a student loan company, Goal Financial, charging that the lender broke state and federal laws by luring borrowers with iPods, cash and other gifts and that it misled consumers about loan terms and benefits, said a senior official in the office. The attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, has been investigating the student loan industry since early last year and has uncovered an array of troubling practices. Separate from the Goal lawsuit, the office is close to agreements with about a dozen loan companies on what marketing tactics are appropriate, according to the official, who cited the investigation and the pending lawsuit as reasons he could not be identified. “The hope is that those settlements will set a new industry standard when it comes to how direct-to-consumer lenders are operating,” the official said. Goal is being sued because it has failed to demonstrate a willingness to change its practices, he added. As of 2006, Goal was one of the top 10 companies in the country in loan consolidation, according to Student Marketmeasure, a company in Bethesda, Md., that tracks the industry. Loan consolidation permits students to combine multiple federal loans. On its Web site, Goal says it has made $8.7 billion in loans since 2001. Calls made to Goal Financial, which is based in San Diego, were not returned. Lewis Rose, a lawyer in the Washington office of Kelley Drye & Warren who is representing Goal, declined to comment. The approach by the attorney general’s office is similar to the one it used when investigating questionable ties between student loan companies and college financial aid offices beginning early in 2007. The office discovered gifts were made to aid officials, among other incentives, apparently to encourage colleges to steer potential borrowers to specific lenders. Several of the nation’s largest lenders ultimately signed a code of conduct developed by the attorney general’s office; many provisions of that code were later adopted by lawmakers in New York and in Washington. Mr. Cuomo’s office warned Goal that it would sue and outlined its concerns over the firm’s marketing tactics in a letter in July. A copy of the letter was provided to The Times by the attorney general’s office. The tactics included gifts that could induce borrowers to apply for federal loans, incentives for students who persuaded their classmates to apply and misleading advertising. For example, some Goal advertisements gave misleading information about the benefits of private student loans, which are not guaranteed by the federal government, over federal student loans. In most cases, federal loans carry better terms, with fixed rates, for example. In the letter, lawyers for Mr. Cuomo also criticized a Goal subsidiary, eStudentLoan.com , which had a tool to help students choose a loan with the best terms. But the site did not disclose Goal’s ownership or explain that only loans from lenders who paid a commission to Goal were included, said the official in Mr. Cuomo’s office. The model code of conduct would expand on an agreement reached last year with Student Financial Services, a loan company in Clearwater, Fla. Mr. Cuomo’s office found that the company had paid kickbacks to universities and their athletic departments in return for getting students to submit loan applications and to use college logos in marketing materials. Representative George Miller, the California Democrat who is chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate marketing tactics used by lenders. The F.T.C. responded in June by releasing a guide for students on how to evaluate such loans. Mr. Miller was particularly concerned about marketing materials that looked like official documents from the government. “No company should be able to get away with using aggressive scare tactics to profit off students who are already taking on enormous amounts of college loan debt,” Mr. Miller said in a statement at the time. “Students and their families deserve to be protected.”
|
Student Loans;Suits and Litigation;Consumer Protection;Goal Financial
|
ny0223754
|
[
"us",
"politics"
] |
2010/11/08
|
Republicans Talk Deficit and Tax Cuts on Sunday Programs
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Rand Paul , the newly elected senator from Kentucky who received ardent Tea Party backing, said Sunday that the movement’s success was “equal parts chastisement” to Democrats and Republicans, particularly on the issue of the ballooning federal debt. “You know, Republicans doubled the debt when we were in charge and then Democrats are tripling the debt,” he said on “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” on ABC. To rein in annual deficits and cut that debt, he said he would reduce the federal work force and its wages by 10 percent and freeze hiring. He said an average federal worker earns $120,000 in wages and benefits a year, twice what an average worker in the private sector earns. Congress, he said, should also consider raising the age of eligibility for retirement benefits under Social Security and apportioning those benefits on the basis of a means test. The military budget, he said, should not be spared and such cuts might require an earlier withdrawal from Afghanistan. “The Tea Party is about the debt,” he said. “It is concerned and worried that we’re inheriting or passing along this debt to our kids and our grandkids.” Asked whether the Tea Party was “co-optable,” by the culture of Washington, Mr. Paul replied, “actually the Tea Party is co-opting Washington.” “We’re proud, we’re strong, we’re loud and we’re going to co-opt,” he said, “And in fact I think we’re already shaping the debate.” In the wake of the Republicans’ decisive showing in the midterm elections, in which the party won control of the House by capturing 60 seats and gained six seats in the Senate, Republicans dominated most of the Sunday television news programs. Despite post-election talk of working with President Obama , Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, took a hard line on one of the most pressing issues facing the government — whether to extend tax cuts put into effect during the Bush administration for those earning more than $250,000. Mr. McConnell said rejecting an extension would amount to tax increases in the middle of a recession and would raise taxes on “750,000 of our most productive small businesses,” whose payrolls support 25 percent of the American work force. “Small business is the biggest job generator in America,” he said on “Face the Nation” on CBS. Nevertheless, he said, Republican leaders are “happy to talk to the president about that and all the other issues that he has on his mind.” He did not rule out a temporary extension of the tax cuts for perhaps two years or so. “We’re willing to start talking about getting an extension of some kind so that taxes don’t go up on anybody,” Mr. McConnell said. Addressing the Obama health care plan, he said his preference was to repeal or replace it, but falling short of that he would consider ways of blocking financing for agencies like the Internal Revenue Service that are charged with enforcing the health care law. Mr. McConnell said the Republicans had “a commitment to the American people to keep this awful 2,700-page monstrosity that took over one-sixth of our economy from going into effect.” In an interview broadcast Sunday night on “60 Minutes” on CBS, Mr. Obama blamed the tone and rhetoric he adopted with his opponents for disappointing Americans. The president signaled, however, that he was ready “to have a serious conversation” with Republicans on issues including the Bush-era tax cuts . Mr. McConnell, in his “Face the Nation” appearance, said the major issues for many Americans were the level of federal spending, the debt and the health care law. The voters, he said, “wanted to have a midcourse correction.” “I think he’s a good salesman,” Mr. McConnell said of the president. “I think his problem was not his sales job. It was the product.”
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United States Economy;Federal Budget (US);Taxation;Tea Party Movement;Republican Party;Democratic Party;Paul Rand;Obama Barack
|
ny0277883
|
[
"us",
"elections"
] |
2016/11/10
|
Cheering for the First Female President, Until They Weren’t
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They had already iced champagne and inflated pink “It’s a Girl” balloons. To cast their ballots, they had worn their grandmothers’ brooches, white in honor of the suffragists or pantsuits bought for the occasion. They were gathering at Susan B. Anthony’s grave in Rochester and at the corner of President and Clinton Streets in Brooklyn. Women with terminal diseases cast their votes with hope, saying that at least they would live to see the election of a female president. Throughout the day Tuesday, many women supporting Hillary Clinton said they could already hear the sound of glass shattering. Instead, Donald J. Trump won the presidency, beating the only woman to ever come close to the Oval Office. The success of the Republican real estate mogul left many American women in a state of shock over a victory they had counted on belonging to them, their sisters, aunts and girlfriends. Late into the night, mothers said they were not sure how they were going to break the news to their sleeping daughters in the morning. At what was supposed to be the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s celebration in Philadelphia, several devastated women were lying on the carpeted ballroom floor, tears welling. A few said they could barely speak. “I pretty much have a broken heart,” said Lisa Graham, 45, a life coach from Troy, N.Y., dressed in a red pantsuit. She had left her job to spend the last six weeks of the campaign working in Philadelphia for Mrs. Clinton — “the most qualified presidential candidate in history,” she said. Image Supporters of Hillary Clinton watching results during her event at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York. Credit Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Mrs. Clinton’s support among women was always far from complete, of course. Throughout the campaign, plenty of Democratic-leaning women said they never felt much enthusiasm for her candidacy. On Tuesday night, many female Trump supporters began to rejoice with the gusto that Clinton supporters thought they would feel. But as the campaign drew to a close, many women had allowed themselves to imagine what a first female president would look and feel like. Five-star generals saluting a female boss. An empty spot at the first lady’s inaugural gown exhibit at the Smithsonian. A resonant handoff in January, with the first African-American president passing the baton to the first female one. In the days before the election, a private Facebook group of Clinton supporters, called Pantsuit Nation, grew to three million members, an online hotbed of anticipation and premature triumph. As Mr. Trump pulled ahead in the Electoral College count, many female Clinton supporters said they were experiencing a depth of loss and frustration that some of the women, especially the young ones, had never felt before. “Was excited and ready for history to move forward tonight, not 100 years back,” Maggie Kyle, a 19-year-old student at Emory University in Atlanta, said in an email. She said she had cherished voting for a female presidential candidate in her very first election. Jessica Reilly, 22, had waited in a two-hour line on Tuesday to give thanks at the grave of Susan B. Anthony, who helped women win the right to vote. “The enthusiasm and hope in that line was amazing,” Ms. Reilly said. “I never imagined, while waiting in line, that the race would be this close or I would be this terrified of a potential president.” “Feeling like I might not ever see a female President,” Rachel Monday, a teacher in Knoxville, Tenn., said on Twitter . “And I’m 34.” Image Many voters waited for hours to visit the grave of Susan B. Anthony, a leader of the movement for women’s suffrage, in Rochester. Credit Katherine Taylor for The New York Times As the election turned in Mr. Trump’s favor, women (and men) turned to their televisions and social media accounts and friends to ask the same question: What did being a woman have to do with the sudden collapse of Mrs. Clinton’s political fortunes? What were they to make of the election of a man many considered an open misogynist, who had bragged of groping women and made disparaging comments about their bodies? “The world not ready for a woman, since the most qualified among us was disrespected and defeated in degrading way,” Katie Scullion , a marketing consultant in the Chicago area, said on Twitter. “Soul-crushing and gut-wrenching to accept misogyny of USA,” Cheri Heflin Callaghan , a 50-year-old real estate broker in Charleston, W.Va., said on Twitter. Sitting on the floor at what was supposed to be the Philadelphia celebration, Tanisha Humphrey, 26, clasped her hands in front of her face and looked stricken as she watched the returns on a big-screen television. “I’m a gay woman, I’m a black woman, I’m a woman. I just wonder what kind of future there is for me,” she said. She volunteered at age 15 for Barack Obama, then a state senator in Illinois, and later moved to Washington to work for his Labor Department and came to Philadelphia to canvass. To see Mr. Obama replaced with Hillary Clinton would have been one thing, she said; to see him replaced with Mr. Trump is quite another. Late Tuesday, the mood in the Pantsuit Nation Facebook group swung quickly from celebration to pained examination. “What’s the plan? Who will we be for the next four years?” someone asked. When one woman said she would never vote again, the others rallied with reassurances. They would organize and resist, they said. They would become an effective opposition. Amy Rosenberg, a 51-year-old communications consultant in Palo Alto, Calif., was trying to comfort her sobbing daughter, Jessie. Many other Clinton-voting parents across the country said they were trying to do the same for their own children. Ms. Rosenberg tried to think of something uplifting to say. “The good news is, you now have a chance to be the first woman president,” she told her 10-year-old daughter.
|
2016 Presidential Election;Women and Girls;Hillary Clinton
|
ny0243252
|
[
"sports",
"ncaabasketball"
] |
2011/03/08
|
St. Peter’s Tops Iona to Claim N.C.A.A. Bid
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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — St. Peter’s was a founding member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1981, but history never equated with tradition. The program had only two conference championships despite six appearances in the tournament’s title game. That was before the current group upset its way into St. Peter’s annals by winning the MAAC championship with a tense 62-57 victory over Iona on Monday night at Arena at Harbor Yard. After knocking off top-seeded Fairfield on Sunday, St. Peter’s slowed the second-seeded Gaels’ up-tempo offense to earn its first N.C.A.A. tournament berth since 1995, its third over all. The fourth-seeded Peacocks had lost their two most recent appearances in the conference title game , including a loss to Iona in 2006. “Nobody respects us,” said Jeron Belin, who led St. Peter’s with 17 points. “Nobody in the MAAC respects us as a team, as a school. And now they’ve got to respect us. We just won the championship.” St. Peter’s (20-13) represents a surprise addition to the N.C.A.A. tournament. While Iona was favored to win its 10th straight game, the Peacocks entered the title game with a Ratings Percentage Index of 101, a so-so record and nary a big win to their credit. In fact, St. Peter’s lost its final two games, including a 73-59 defeat to Iona on Feb. 25 . “These dudes persevered,” St. Peter’s Coach John Dunne. “After that Iona game, it could have been easy for us to hang our heads and separate. But the seniors didn’t want to go out that way. I’d like to take the credit that it’s something I did, but it’s not.” The Gaels (22-11) looked out of sorts when forced to play at a deliberate pace, but they cut the score to 60-57 on a 3-pointer by the junior guard Scott Machado with 18 seconds to go. The St. Peter’s senior guard Wesley Jenkins sealed the win with two free throws. “Our guys fought back valiantly at the end and gave it a run,” said Iona Coach Tim Cluess, whose team was down by 11 with 2 minutes 42 seconds to play. “But unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time left to change the outcome.” As Iona’s crowd died down, fans started chanting “S.P.C.!” for St. Peter’s College while the players piled on one another at halfcourt. OLD DOMINION WINS AGAIN Old Dominion (27-6) withstood a second-half rally by Virginia Commonwealth to successfully defend its Colonial Athletic Association tourney title with a 70-65 victory. (AP) WOFFORD TAKES SOUTHERN TITLE Wofford (21-12) defeated Charleston, 77-67, in the final of the Southern Conference tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn., to earn a bid to the N.C.A.A. tournament. (AP) 13TH IN A ROW FOR GONZAGA Gonzaga (24-9) defeated St. Mary’s, 75-63, to win the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas and lock up its 13th consecutive trip to the N.C.A.A. tournament. (AP) TECH AND KNIGHT PART WAYS Texas Tech fired Pat Knight as its coach after three disappointing seasons. Knight, who succeeded his father, Bob, at Tech in 2008, was 50-60 over all in his first Division I head-coaching job. (AP) IVY PLAYOFF, IF NECESSARY If a one-game playoff is needed between Harvard and Princeton to decide the Ivy League title, it will be at 4 p.m. Saturday at Yale’s John J. Lee Amphitheater. The game would be broadcast live on ESPN3.com . Harvard finished 12-2 and clinched at least a share of the title with a victory over Princeton on Saturday. The Tigers (11-2) will conclude their schedule Tuesday at Penn (7-6). If Princeton wins, it forces Saturday’s playoff. (AP) Women BIG EAST SEMIFINALS Maya Moore scored 22 points to lead top-ranked Connecticut to a 75-51 win over Rutgers in Hartford. UConn (31-1), which has won 19 in a row, advanced to the final for the 21st time in the past 23 seasons. Rutgers (19-12) is the last Big East team to beat UConn — in 2008. No. 10 Notre Dame (26-6) beat No. 9 DePaul, 71-67, in the other semifinal. (AP) XAVIER CLAIMS ATLANTIC 10 No. 5 Xavier (28-2) pulled away in the closing minutes for a 67-60 win over Dayton in the conference tournament final in Lowell, Mass. (AP) SIXTH STRAIGHT BID FOR MARIST No. 19 Marist (30-2) clinched an N.C.A.A. tournament bid for the sixth straight season with a 63-45 victory over Loyola (Md.) in the final of the MAAC tournament in Bridgeport, Conn. (AP) GONZAGA WINS W.C.C. No. 20 Gonzaga (28-4) defeated St. Mary’s, 72-46, in Las Vegas to capture its third straight West Coast Conference tournament title and a berth in the N.C.A.A. tournament. (AP) SAMFORD EARNS FIRST N.C.A.A. BID Samford (25-7) beat Appalachian State, 57-54, in the Southern Conference final in Nashville. (AP)
|
Knight Pat;Texas Tech University;Coaches and Managers;Basketball;College Athletics;Basketball (College);St Peter's College;Iona College;Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
|
ny0245862
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2011/04/01
|
Cuomo Budget Met With Praise, Then Concern Over Cuts
|
ALBANY — After the State Legislature on Thursday adopted one of the leanest budgets in recent years, thousands of workers are facing the threat of layoffs, school systems across the state are preparing teacher cuts, and prison guards face losing their jobs as the state decides which prisons to close. While Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state lawmakers hailed the passing of an on-time spending plan for the first time in five years as a sign of Albany’s behaving responsibly in tackling the state’s financial woes, the consequences of a budget that makes deep cuts in education, health care and other areas will certainly prove severe. The job cuts would be the biggest single-year decrease in the state work force in at least 15 years, the last time the state’s year-to-year spending decreased. Now that lawmakers have passed a $132.5 billion budget, the pain predicted by many advocates may soon become real. “It’s a new day in Albany,” the governor said in a video released Thursday. “Government needs to recognize the new economic reality. Government needs to tighten its belt and cut the waste.” The belt-tightening will not come without a price, according to officials around the state who were scrambling on Thursday to confront the fallout from the cuts. While the Legislature restored some of the education cuts Mr. Cuomo had proposed, many local officials said it was not enough. “The state’s cuts will be devastating,” said Micah Lasher, the Bloomberg administration’s chief lobbyist in Albany. The city has warned of up to 4,600 teacher layoffs and said they were more likely than ever given that the state had failed to restore anywhere near what the city had asked for in local aid. The New York State School Boards Association had estimated that school districts not among the state’s five largest cities might lay off about 5,000 teachers, based on the governor’s initial proposal for a $1.5 billion cut. Even though the Legislature restored about $230 million of that cut, it would probably not be “enough to move the needle significantly in terms of layoffs in many districts,” said David Albert, a spokesman for the school boards association. Mr. Cuomo, for his part, has insisted that no layoffs are necessary because school districts can turn to reserves or unspent federal financing, among other things. The budget also includes $450 million in savings from the state work force, which the Cuomo administration hopes to achieve through contract negotiations that are under way with public-employee unions. If that does not happen, Mr. Cuomo has said he would have to lay off up to 9,800 workers. “Aside from all of this celebration that seems to be going on over having an on-time budget,” said Stephen Madarasz, a spokesman for the Civil Service Employees Association , “no one should lose sight of the fact that there is going to be a lot of pain for a lot of people and a lot of communities from all of the cuts.” Mr. Cuomo has acknowledged the hurt that his budget would cause. (“You have to remember that every time you talk about a layoff, you’re talking about a family,” he said shortly before unveiling his budget.) But at the same time, his aides say that it is important not to ignore the wider picture. “This is a transformational and historic budget that, while it does result in short-term shared sacrifice, includes critical long-term reforms that put our state on a path of fiscal stability and future growth,” a spokesman for the governor, Josh Vlasto, said on Thursday. That is of little consolation to officials who must deal with the short-term consequences. New York City officials and the Cuomo administration have had a running battle over how to calculate state aid to the city. The city had asked the state to restore $200 million in school aid, of which it received about $53 million, with some additional money for special-education programs. But city officials said that the shortfall was greater because the state did not provide an extra $400 million in general aid and pension savings that the city had relied on in its budget. City officials are now figuring out how to plug the gap, though they do not expect to release new layoff projections for weeks. But the teachers’ union, like Mr. Cuomo, continues to maintain that no layoffs are necessary. “The city has a huge surplus — it always has — and I’m sure that it is growing as we speak,” said Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers. Besides New York City, other urban school districts as well as smaller, poorer districts, particularly those upstate, are also facing difficult choices because they are heavily dependent on state aid. Yonkers had proposed laying off 20 percent of the school district’s work force, including more than 400 teachers and administrators, though an increase in state aid would probably mean fewer layoffs, officials said. Even affluent suburban districts, which are less heavily dependent on state aid, said they were struggling to absorb the cuts even as they faced rising expenses for personnel and mandated services. Even so, several districts said they would be able to avoid layoffs and program cuts by tapping into reserves and raising additional local revenue through property tax increases. “As our outside sources of revenue decrease, the challenge is to maintain the quality and breadth of programs that we offer and not to overly burden our taxpayers,” said Henry L. Grishman, the superintendent of the Jericho district on Long Island. Then, there is the issue of prisons. Under the budget deal struck between Mr. Cuomo and the Legislature, the governor will have the authority to close prisons in order to eliminate 3,700 prison beds, which would provide $72 million in savings. The closings will be announced in the next several weeks. The governor agreed to balance the prison closings around the state and to consult the Legislature in deciding which facilities to close. The budget also included economic development grants for communities that would be affected by prison closings. Mr. Cuomo, for his part, has tried to emphasize the positive. In a two-minute video message to New Yorkers he released Thursday — a virtual victory lap of sorts — Mr. Cuomo did not directly mention unresolved matters like state worker layoffs or prison closures.
|
New York State;Budgets and Budgeting;State Legislatures;Politics and Government;Teachers and School Employees;Labor and Jobs;Cuomo Andrew M;New York City
|
ny0064431
|
[
"world",
"americas"
] |
2014/06/20
|
Support From the Left Helps Keep a Right-Wing President in Power in Colombia
|
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Going into Sunday’s presidential election here, many people expected that the right-wing former president, Álvaro Uribe, would be the one whose outsize influence might tip the balance in favor of his preferred candidate, Óscar Iván Zuluaga. But instead it was an unlikely kingmaker, Clara López, a soft-spoken leftist who is the polar opposite of Mr. Uribe, who threw her support behind the re-election bid of President Juan Manuel Santos and was singled out at his victory celebration for playing a decisive role in his triumph. Mr. Uribe, a charismatic and choleric populist who was president from 2002 to 2010, casts a long political shadow in Colombia, but he came up empty on election night. Ms. López, thoughtful and even-tempered, has nothing like Mr. Uribe’s political muscle. To support Mr. Santos, she had to take a leap across a political divide, backing a right-of-center president whose policies she mostly opposed. But by declaring that a vote for Mr. Santos was a vote in favor of peace negotiations with rebel groups, which the president has championed, she managed to mobilize the country’s usually fractured left and make it politically relevant again. “The right elected Santos in 2010,” a Green Party politician and former guerrilla leader, Antonio Navarro, wrote on his Twitter account on election night. “In 2014, he was re-elected by the left. A paradox.” Ms. López, 64, who once served as interim mayor of Bogotá, the capital, had run against Mr. Santos as the presidential candidate of the leftist Alternative Democratic Pole Party, in a first round of voting last month. She came in fourth among five candidates, but received nearly two million votes, 15 percent, which was considered significant in a country where the left has often been persecuted and pushed to the fringes of the political process. Mr. Zuluaga, a former finance minister in Mr. Uribe’s cabinet, received the most votes in the first round, while Mr. Santos came in second. The two candidates went to a runoff election, held last Sunday. Mr. Santos won that round handily, with 51 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Mr. Zuluaga. Analysts credited Ms. López with helping to tip the balance, in particular by urging supporters in Bogotá, a leftist stronghold, to back the president. He tripled his vote tally there in the second round. The strong show of leftist support for Mr. Santos, a scion of one of the country’s most powerful families, was a complete turnaround from the president’s first election four years ago. At that time, Mr. Santos, the defense minister in Mr. Uribe’s cabinet, pledged to continue Mr. Uribe’s policies, and ran with the backing of the right-wing president. But Mr. Uribe later split with Mr. Santos after his successor surprised the nation by starting peace talks with the country’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, saying he wanted to end decades of war. Mr. Uribe saw it as a betrayal, and many expected that Mr. Zuluaga would cut off the peace talks if he became president, and start a new military offensive. They also feared a Zuluaga victory would essentially mean a return to power by the polarizing Mr. Uribe. Some on the left, including other leaders in Ms. López’s party, wanted to stay on the sidelines in the second round of voting, urging their supporters to check a blank box on their ballots as a protest against the two right-wing candidates. But Ms. López decided to energetically endorse Mr. Santos. She recorded a television ad and appeared with Mr. Santos at campaign events, drawing harsh criticism from some in her own party who accused her of selling out. “I dedicated myself to promote the vote for peace,” she said in an interview at her home here, decorated with paintings by famous Colombian artists. “No society can function if it is permanently in confrontation with itself, to the point where rifles are used to defend political positions.” She said that for decades in Colombia, it was too easy to justify repression of the left by equating it with the guerrilla groups. That pattern, she hopes, will end with a peace deal, creating new opportunities for left-wing candidates like herself. Jorge Restrepo, director of the Conflict Analysis Resource Center, a research institution, said that Ms. López occupied a unique place in Colombian politics. “She has entry into the working-class unions, but also the same kinds of acceptance in high-level circles of the Colombian elite,” he said. “That’s precisely what makes her very interesting and defines her as someone who can get votes in a wide spectrum of Colombian electoral constituencies.” Like Mr. Santos, Ms. López was born into the upper crust of Colombian society, with a family that counted presidents and other influential figures in its family tree. It was a life that she once described as, “That happy world of big houses, horse rides on the hacienda, good manners, stimulating conversation and elegant figures.” At 14, Ms. López was sent to the Madeira School, an elite boarding school in Virginia. She later went to Harvard, studying economics, and joined protests there against the Vietnam War. She traveled with friends around South America, where their pedigree allowed them to mix with high society and meet with presidents, including Salvador Allende, the socialist president of Chile. After graduating, she returned to Colombia and took part in the presidential campaign of her father’s cousin, Alfonso López, who was her godfather. Once he was elected in 1974, she served as an economic adviser in his cabinet. Her marriage to a Wall Street investment banker, Edmond Jacques Courtois Jr. , lasted only briefly, she said. He was indicted and eventually pleaded guilty in New York in an insider-trading scheme. In the mid-1980s, Ms. López joined the left-wing Patriotic Union Party and ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Bogotá. The party was the target of brutal right-wing repression and hundreds, if not more, of its candidates and members were killed. Ms. López was appointed mayor of Bogotá in 2011, serving about six months to finish the term of a mayor who was removed from office in a corruption scandal. She is critical of the economic policies of Mr. Santos and advocates alternatives to fight poverty and counter the nation’s highly unequal distribution of wealth. Ms. López casts herself as a more modern, pragmatic leftist and, in a region where the left often disparages the United States, she acknowledges a debt to America, where she says she learned to look beyond class. “I attribute this attitude to having been educated in the United States,” she said. “In the United States, you are much more egalitarian than here.” Ms. López and Mr. Santos share an unusual political connection: They have relatives who served as presidents, back to back, in the 1930s and 1940s. Ms. López mused whether history might repeat itself, allowing her to succeed Mr. Santos in four years. “But there’s a lot of water that has to flow under the bridge before that happens,” she said.
|
Juan Manuel Santos;Clara Lopez;Colombia;Election;South America;Bogota Colombia
|
ny0159413
|
[
"sports",
"soccer"
] |
2008/12/23
|
For British Players, Taste of Italy Is Often Bitter
|
In Italian soccer, a bidone is known as a dud, a flop. And when it comes to British players in Italy since World War II, the bidoni have been the rule. “Very few have built any kind of career,” said John Foot, the author of a book about Italian soccer, “Winning at All Costs,” and a professor in the Italian department at University College London. “You can count them on the fingers of one hand.” Now that David Beckham has arrived in Italy, on a loan deal between Major League Soccer and A.C. Milan that is supposed to last until March, the Rossoneri, as the club is known, is in the spotlight more for its off-the-field luster than its mediocre performance on the field. And although Beckham is expected to be with Milan only on a short-term loan, his star presence has rekindled the discussion about why there are so few British players in Italy, and why Beckham is there now. “It’s kind of a commercial thing as much as football,” Foot said about the loan, which will enable Beckham to play in about 10 Serie A games and several UEFA Cup matches. “He wanted somewhere to play in Europe for a short time, but it is a very bizarre idea.” Beckham arrived in Milan over the weekend, attended Sunday’s 5-1 win over Udinese, and will travel with the team to Dubai for a midseason training camp. “As a saleable commodity, Milan is the perfect place for Beckham,” Foot said Friday in a telephone interview from Milan. Foot asserts that rigorous discipline in training, in tactical awareness and in technique have been a challenge for the few adventurous British players who have played in Italy. Plucked from a familiar environment, some top British players over the years struggled and ultimately failed in Italy — forever bidoni. They were the good, the bad ... and Gazza. JOHN CHARLES At 6 feet 2 inches, the Gentle Giant grew into a mythic figure with Juventus (1957-1962) when he scored 93 goals in 150 games. “In the early ’60s, there were a lot of successful Brits, maybe not very good players, but you didn’t have to be very good,” Foot said. Charles went to Italy from Leeds United on a transfer fee of more than $90,000, which was then a record. Juventus won three Serie A and two Italian Cup titles with him. JIMMY GREAVES Greaves went from Chelsea (where he had scored 124 goals in 157 games) to A.C. Milan in 1961. “I can pinpoint the day, the hour, the minute, the second that I doomed myself to life as an alcoholic,” Greaves wrote in his autobiography, “Greavsie.” “It was the moment I signed my name on a contract that tied me head and foot to A.C. Milan.” He played in 10 games, and scored nine goals (four from penalty kicks) before returning to England. He scored 220 goals for Tottenham from 1961 to 1970. DENIS LAW Perhaps a bad experience in Italy (10 goals in 27 games for Torino in 1961-62) transformed Law, a Scot, into the man who scored 171 goals for Manchester United from 1962 to 1973. “He was just not used to the tactical discipline in Italy,” Foot said. LUTHER BLISSETT Fresh off winning the Golden Boot as England’s top scorer in 1982-83, Blissett left Watford for A.C. Milan. In Italy, he was so bad he was good. “He became a folk hero because he was so bad,” Foot said. “He was a fantastic personality, but people thought he was John Barnes. Perhaps it was a matter of racism. But Blissett was able to hit the post from any position in front of the goal. A specialist. He became an absolute myth in Milanese history, quite liked, popular.” But, in the end, a failure who scored only five goals and became a cult figure comparable to the film director Ed Wood. IAN RUSH “He was at the peak of his career when he left Liverpool for Italy,” Foot said. “But he was like a fish out of water.” After scoring 139 goals for Liverpool from 1980 to 1987, Rush had seven goals in 29 games in his only season at Juventus. A Welshman, he did not help himself when he reportedly said about his time in Turin, “It’s like living in a foreign country.” LIAM BRADY A near legend during his time at Arsenal from 1973 to 1980, Brady used his midfield acumen to become a relative success in Italy. After two seasons at Juventus, where he scored 15 goals, he was supplanted by Michel Platini and moved on to Sampdoria, Inter and Ascoli. Brady, an Irishman, returned to England and finished his career with West Ham. PAUL GASCOIGNE The king of the bidoni. He was the last English player to sign with an Italian team at the peak of his career. Known by his nickname, Gazza, he was still a superstar in England, but had problems with alcohol and his mental health. Sold by Tottenham to Lazio for an $8 million fee in 1992, Gascoigne receives most of the credit for popularizing Serie A on English television. In three tumultuous years in Rome, Gazza played in only 41 league games, scored six goals and was substituted 30 times. WEEK'S NOTABLES CLUB In Chile, Colo Colo won the Clausura (closing tournament) for its 28th league title over all and fifth in the past six competitions. Colo Colo defeated Palestino, 4-2 on aggregate, with a 3-1 win in the second leg of the final. PLAYER In England, the American goalkeeper Brad Friedel registered his seventh shutout as Aston Villa beat West Ham United, 1-0, on Saturday to move into third place in the Premier League. Aston Villa trails first-place Liverpool by 5 points, and hosts Arsenal on Friday.
|
Italy;Soccer;Major League Soccer;Beckham David;England
|
ny0239143
|
[
"world",
"europe"
] |
2010/12/18
|
E.U. Nations That Pay the Most Plan to Call Timeout
|
BRUSSELS — In a new sign of Europe’s embrace of austerity, Britain, France and Germany made a joint call Friday for an effective freeze on European Union spending for much of the rest of the decade. The three countries, all of which pay more into the €120 billion, or $159 billion, annual bloc budget than they receive, plan to publish a joint statement Saturday and hope to be supported by several other countries. The initiative is expected to be divisive within the European Union and marks the first early skirmish in a difficult negotiation over the next seven-year budget, which begins after 2013. Speaking at the end of a two-day summit meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said he would publish a “text” Saturday with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France calling for a “real-terms freeze” in the next spending period. He also said he wanted restraint in annual budgets running to 2014. “This is Britain, France and Germany, the three biggest countries in the E.U., standing together, united, on the need to stop this budget from getting out of control,” he said. “I’ve no doubt that other countries will want to back that.” Mrs. Merkel gave a slightly different account, saying she would support a move to limit spending to 1 percent of the bloc’s gross national income — a marginally more generous formulation. E.U. officials said it was unclear how precise the declaration would be and whether specific figures would be identified. The Netherlands, Finland and Austria are expected to support the text, with other countries possibly coming on board depending on the final wording. The initiative is not unique, as Britain, France and Germany agreed to a joint statement calling for restraint before the last seven-year budget negotiation, which covers 2007 to 2013. But the bloc’s newer member states, including Poland, have grown more influential since then. They stand to lose the most from such restraint because the main cuts probably would involve the so-called structural and cohesion budgets, which provide billions of euros to former Communist countries in the East. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, played down the initiative, stressing that nothing had been written into the formal summit meeting communiqué, and adding that the push to cut the budget was “not in the mainstream.” “We are at the beginning of the negotiations and it is perfectly understandable that those who pay most would like to pay less,” he said. Mr. Cameron rejected suggestions by some news organizations that he had made a deal with Mr. Sarkozy in which Britain would agree to support the Union’s farm subsidy program in exchange for French support for maintaining a special British financial concession known as a budget rebate. This rebate was given in 1984 in recognition that Britain received relatively low farm subsidies, and it has strong symbolism in British politics. “There is no backroom deal, no secret agreement,” Mr. Cameron said. France and Germany supported the proposal, providing that the declaration was delayed until after the summit meeting, so that it did not detract attention from moves to help the euro. In another development, the 27-nation bloc agreed to make Montenegro a candidate for membership in the bloc, meaning it would start detailed talks on joining. James Kanter contributed reporting.
|
Budgets and Budgeting;Brussels (Belgium);European Union;Sarkozy Nicolas;Merkel Angela
|
ny0251772
|
[
"us"
] |
2011/02/22
|
Indiana: Restaurant Removes Tasteless Billboards
|
A South Bend restaurant that erected billboards referring to the 1978 Jonestown cult mass suicides in which more than 900 people drank cyanide-laced punch has removed the signs after complaints that they were offensive. Jeff Leslie, vice president of sales and marketing at the Hacienda restaurant, acknowledged that the billboards were a mistake. “We made a mistake and don’t want to have a negative image in the community,” Mr. Leslie said. The billboards included the statement, “We’re like a cult with better Kool-Aid,” over a glass containing a mixed drink, as well as the phrase “To die for!”
|
Outdoor Advertising;Restaurants;Indiana;Jonestown (Guyana)
|
ny0175718
|
[
"sports",
"football"
] |
2007/10/14
|
Blue and Gold, Then Green and White as the Titans Became the Jets
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Titans is now the nickname for that team in Tennessee. But when the Jets wear their throwback blue and gold Titans uniforms today, they will be celebrating their ancient history as an impoverished franchise that nearly half a century ago dared to challenge the Giants for New York’s pro football dollar. When renamed and refinanced, it eventually succeeded so well, the two franchises are sharing the cost of a dazzling $1.3 billion stadium that is scheduled to open in 2010. But without the Titans, the Jets might have never existed. And without the four Titans who will be honored today at halftime of the Eagles-Jets game — the Hall of Fame wide receiver Don Maynard, linebacker Larry Grantham, running back Bill Mathis and punter Curley Johnson — maybe Joe Namath and the Super Bowl III Jets would not have justified the American Football League’s 1966 merger with the National Football League. • So whenever you think of the Jets, remember their ancestors, the Titans. In three seasons before Sonny Werblin and Leon Hess organized a group that purchased the franchise in 1963 and renamed it, the Titans were 7-7 in 1960 (the A.F.L.’s first year) and in 1961, then skidded to 5-9 in 1962, when some players’ paychecks from the loudmouth owner Harry Wismer began to bounce. “What was it like playing for the Titans?” Grantham recalled the other day over the telephone from his Mississippi home. “Well, we dressed in a rat-infested locker room at the old Polo Grounds, and when Wismer announced there were 30,000 people at the games, maybe there were 10,000 people, if that many. “Before a game in Buffalo, we told Wismer we wouldn’t practice unless we got paid. He told us we could practice on our own, but if we did, the coaches wouldn’t coach. So I coached the defense, and guard Bob Mischak coached the offense.” “We went up to Buffalo on our own, so did the coaches, and we won,” Grantham added. “The next week, Lamar Hunt showed up, sat at a table in our locker room, asked each guy how much his paycheck was and wrote a personal check for the amount. That’s how much he knew the A.F.L. needed a New York team.” Then the multimillionaire owner of the Dallas Texans before their move to Kansas City as the Chiefs, Hunt had organized the A.F.L. after having been rebuffed by the N.F.L. to put a team in Dallas. “You’ve got to remember, until the A.F.L. came along, there were only the 12 teams in the N.F.L.,” said Maynard, who had been cut by the Giants after the 1958 season. “The A.F.L. gave jobs to players, coaches and front-office people. The A.F.L. had the 2-point play and put names on the back of the uniforms. And in New York, people who couldn’t get Giants tickets went to our games.” The Titans’ original coach was Sammy Baugh, who had been a Hall of Fame quarterback for the Washington Redskins. “To meet and play for Sammy Baugh, that was a thrill,” Johnson said. “He taught me a lot. Most people don’t know that as great a passer as he was, he still holds some N.F.L. punting records. He taught me how to never shank a punt. If the ball was on the right hash mark, aim down the left center of the field. If the ball was on the left hash mark, just the opposite.” • Baugh grew disenchanted with Wismer’s shoestring operation. When the A.F.L. owners were about to meet late in the 1961 season to determine if the franchise should be taken from Wismer, Baugh’s sentiments were obvious. “I wish I had a vote,” he told reporters. The next season, the coach was Bulldog Turner, a Hall of Fame center-linebacker for the Chicago Bears. Turner was once chalking on a blackboard a play known as 60 Banana when he asked, “How do you spell banana?” Mathis, who was later joined in the backfield by Matt Snell and Emerson Boozer after the Jets moved to Shea Stadium in 1964, remembered the confusion in the Titans’ offense in 1962 with Johnny Green at quarterback. “Green would be calling signals,” Mathis said with a laugh, “and Bob Mischak, the left guard, would turn around and argue with him.” As the Jets evolved under Coach Weeb Ewbank into the 1968 A.F.L. champions, Johnson emerged as one of their locker-room philosophers. In the days before Super Bowl III against the heavily favored Baltimore Colts, he kept repeating his uncle A. R. Johnson’s favorite saying. “Chicken ain’t nothin’ but a bird,” Johnson chirped, “and this ain’t nothin’ but a football game.” A football game that the Jets won, 16-7, with four important players who had been Titans in those blue and gold uniforms that the Jets are wearing today.
|
New York Jets;Football;Athletics and Sports;Franchises;Maynard Don;Namath Joe
|
ny0042112
|
[
"nyregion"
] |
2014/05/16
|
Reverend Billy Brings a New Sermon to Joe’s Pub
|
During Occupy Wall Street a few years ago, the Miser moseyed over to Zuccotti Park for a firsthand look. A singular figure in a white suit over clerical garb and collar, his blond-highlighted pompadour bopping in sync with his sermonizing, stood out. He immediately called to mind an angry televangelist, a species the Miser happens to know, having grown up mere miles down the road from Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s empire and alongside sheep from the flocks of Falwell, Swaggart and Robertson. But the Bible tells us not to judge, and sure enough, while this pastor, who went by Reverend Billy, was as telegenic as his predecessors, his preaching couldn’t have been more different. Reverend Billy, also known as Bill Talen, is not exactly a man of God but rather a primate of the Church of Stop Shopping, a veteran street activist and an Obie-winning performer. More recently, Reverend Billy and his several-dozen-strong Stop Shopping Choir have turned their focus to environmental activism. On Sunday afternoon, Joe’s Pub will become their cabaret-tabernacle for “ The Honeybeelujah! Show ,” which highlights the fate of the honeybee in the face of the Harvard-designed RoboBee drones intended to replace it. Tickets are $15 and can be reserved on Joe’s Pub website, so you won’t have to wait until the next time Reverend Billy and singers spontaneously swarm Times Square or infest an unsuspecting conglomerate’s lobby. The show runs through June 22. (Sunday at 2 p.m., 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village; 212-967-7555, joespub.com.) MUSIC AND ART IN QUEENS The effort and expense involved in reviving a musical means that typically only critical and commercial successes enter the canon. Rodgers and Hammerstein achieved that consensus with shows like “Oklahoma!,” “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music,” all of which have been mounted and remounted in countless settings. In 1947 Rodgers and Hammerstein conceived the artistically ambitious “Allegro.” It polarized critics, ended early and is rarely revived. This weekend, at the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Queens, you can judge for yourself at the Astoria Performing Arts Center’s production , which runs through next weekend. Tickets are $18; $12 for students and adults over 65. (Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; 30-44 Crescent Street, at 30th Road, Astoria; 718-706-5750, apacny.org.) Another great reason to be in Queens on Saturday: the L.I.C. Springs! festival. Four blocks of Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City will feature music, art, exercise and dance classes. The festival coincides with the L.I.C. Arts Open and the L.I.C. Flea . (Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m., Vernon Boulevard between 50th and 46th Avenues, Long Island City; licpartnership.org.)
|
Joe's Pub;Bill Talen
|
ny0111114
|
[
"science"
] |
2012/02/02
|
Deal to Salvage Britain’s Victory May Yield Richest Trove
|
A deal was struck on Wednesday to save what could prove to be one of the richest treasure wrecks of all time. Four years ago, in the depths of the English Channel, explorers found the remains of a legendary British warship that sank in 1744 and lost more than 1,000 men. But intruders disturbed the site, dragging and damaging some of the 44 bronze cannons visible on the sandy bottom and hauling one of them away. The wreck’s fate became a topic of public debate in Britain, and not just because of the nation’s efforts to preserve its maritime heritage: documents suggested that the warship, the H.M.S. Victory, had carried a secret cargo of gold coins weighing about four tons. If melted down, the gold might be worth $160 million. But if sold for their historic value, the coins might fetch $1 billion. On Wednesday, the discoverers of the wreck said they had signed an agreement in which they would document and recover the artifacts, ending a long period of uncertainty. They praised the accord as an innovative new way for nations to save historic wrecks. “We’ve come up with the model that everybody’s been looking for,” said Gregory P. Stemm, head of the discovery team and chief executive of Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Fla., a publicly traded company that specializes in deep-sea exploration and recovery. Odyssey will recover the warship’s remains for the Maritime Heritage Foundation, a British charity that received the title to the wreck from British authorities. Its chairman, Lord Lingfield, the Conservative peer formerly known as Sir Robert Balchin, said teaming up with Odyssey was aimed at preserving an important aspect of British history. “Therefore, we have planned an archaeological survey that will record the site before it deteriorates further,” he said. Lord Lingfield is a relative of Adm. Sir John Balchin, who commanded the Victory when it went down in a gale. The agreement between the foundation and Odyssey is to be formally announced on Thursday. The Victory was armed with as many as 110 bronze cannons, making it one of the deadliest vessels of the age. The largest cannon weighed four tons and could fire cannonballs of 42 pounds, making it the most powerful gun then used in naval warfare. In July 1744, the flagship Victory and a fleet of warships were sent to rescue a Mediterranean convoy blockaded by a French fleet at Lisbon. After chasing the French away, the Victory escorted the convoy as far as Gibraltar and then headed home. A raging storm hit the British fleet shortly after it entered the English Channel, and on Oct. 5, 1744, somewhere off the Channel Islands, the Victory went down with all hands. A month after the loss, a Dutch newspaper reported that the Victory had been carrying from Lisbon £400,000 destined for Dutch merchants. Odyssey has extensively researched the reliability of that report and concluded that the claimed shipment was most likely genuine and consisted of nearly four tons of gold coins. In early 2008, Odyssey found the wreck lying at a depth of about 260 feet, beyond the limits of most scuba divers. Recently, the British Ministry of Defense hailed the discovery as having “unique importance to British naval heritage, as it is unusual to find the remains of a British First Rate warship of this period.” “In its day,” the ministry said, “the ship represented the pinnacle of naval technology.” The signing of the recovery pact follows long consultations between the Ministry of Defense and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as well as a period for public comment on how to deal intelligently with disposition of the wreck. The Maritime Heritage Foundation was established in 2010 to recover, preserve and display artifacts from the Victory and to promote awareness of British maritime heritage. Its advisers include the National Museum of the Royal Navy. Odyssey plans to lower a robot for an archaeological survey of the site and to recover artifacts. The company says the position of every item will be plotted, with the entire project conducted according to the highest scientific and archaeological standards. The company expects to begin its fieldwork early this year, once the foundation has approved its plans. The agreement calls for the foundation to reimburse Odyssey’s project costs and to pay a percentage of the fair market value for recovered artifacts. The company will receive 80 percent for items used primarily in commerce — including coins — and 50 percent for objects typically associated with the warship, including its weapons. Mr. Stemm, Odyssey’s chief executive, said in an interview that only recovery and close inspection of the artifacts would make possible a realistic estimate of their market value. “We have to see the quality,” he said. “Otherwise it’s impossible to say.”
|
Shipwrecks;Great Britain;Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc;Archaeology;Ships and Shipping
|
ny0117470
|
[
"sports",
"football"
] |
2012/10/07
|
Jaguars Hope Luxurious Locker Room Will Overhaul Image
|
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars have one victory, the lowest-ranked offense and one of the worst run defenses after the first month of the N.F.L. season. But they do have wenge-wood lockers and backlighted mirrors. The Jaguars, who use tarps to cover empty stadium seats, are now also using tablecloths at swank soirees, after spending more than $3 million to construct the N.F.L.’s most luxurious locker room , at EverBank Field, where they practice and play. The locker room looks like a cross between a high-end nightclub (a 41,600-watt sound system) and a five-star hotel (stacked stone wall tile) and is so deluxe that the team recently used it to host a dinner for sponsors. That would have been an unappetizing proposition in the days of cinder-block rooms decorated with overflowing laundry baskets and crumpled tape. But in the most visible attempt to overhaul their image — and they hope, their fortunes — under the new owner Shahid Khan, the Jaguars have embraced their inner interior designer, replete with two waterfalls that splash into plunge pools, Euro-style toilets inside individual private stalls and leather chairs custom-built extra wide to accommodate even the heftiest linemen. There are ventilation systems built into each locker to dry equipment, helping the Jaguars to pull off the unimaginable: the locker room smells like a new car instead of a sweaty sock. “It’s first class, just to show that’s how he does things,” said Khan’s son, Tony, who is also a team executive. “It’s the best locker room in the N.F.L. He wants this to be the best organization in the N.F.L.” Shahid Khan, who made his fortune in auto parts, did not just pay for this. He personally met with the designers and approved the details. He ordered the oversize leather swivel chairs at each locker after nixing the original plan of having metal folding ones — with an eye on the win column, not just the bottom line. (Tony Khan joked that it would have cost a lot more if his mother had been involved.) The locker room is more than just a potential entry in Architectural Digest. It is a step into an architectural arms race, contested by teams seeking any edge in the pursuit of free agents, the link between ventilation systems and victories. The Jaguars play in one of the N.F.L.’s smallest and most nondescript markets and have made the playoffs just twice in the last 13 seasons. When they recruit players, they may struggle to sell history or endorsement opportunities. But when the door to the locker room swings open, one of the first things visible is an 80-inch television, and that sells something else: the signal that the team will spare no expense to be excellent at everything. “You want to like your work environment; you want to feel comfortable and know it’s nice,” Jacksonville receiver Laurent Robinson said. During free agency this off-season, the Jaguars showed Robinson and the backup quarterback Chad Henne the plans for the new locker room. “I was like, Wow, this is like heaven,” Robinson said. “It does attract free agents. They want to show you they value their players.” Think new carpet doesn’t help seal a new contract? The Jets opened their huge, airy Florham Park, N.J., training facility — which replaced their cramped, crumbling one at Hofstra University on Long Island — in the fall of 2008. But before it was completed, they used it to pitch linebacker Calvin Pace on the merits of signing with the Jets, taking him out to the leafy suburban site to show him where he would live and work. The Jets, the former coach Eric Mangini said, were offering Pace close to the amount of money that the Miami Dolphins were, and Mangini said he thought the new facility might have helped sway Pace. When Mangini, who is now an ESPN analyst, moved on to become the coach of the Cleveland Browns, the team immediately began to revamp its antiquated facilities, renovating meeting rooms, the team room, the weight room, the training room and the outside practice field. The Browns brought in high-definition cameras to film practices, because they knew the league would be using them. They purchased the latest in hot and cold tubs and shower systems to help recovery. The Browns’ spotty record suggests there is not a direct correlation between shower fixtures and success, but in the detail-obsessed world of football, no hanging lighted logo fixture should be overlooked. “The first thing that has to be equal is the money,” Mangini said of using facilities to lure players. “If you’re in a competition where the dollars are going to be same, there is real value to that. The thought process is when the player comes in, you’re selling him on a lot of things, on the team and the location and then the organization, and it’s not necessarily in that order. The salary cap is $130 million. If you put that much money into people, why wouldn’t you create the absolutely best learning environment and a place they wanted to spend time at?” The Jaguars seem to have accomplished that. The locker room looks like a modern SoHo apartment — that is, if modern SoHo apartments had space for shoulder pads — all high ceilings and dim lights. There are a few issues remaining. The large garbage cans around the room, which look like shiny black plastic, do not quite fit the aesthetic the way, say, stainless steel might. Uche Nwaneri, who has been an offensive lineman for the Jaguars since he was drafted in 2007, said he liked coming to the locker room now because it felt more “homey.” “The locker room is where you’re going to spend most of your time in a season,” he said. “You want to feel you have your own space. The old locker room, you couldn’t tell the difference between his locker and my locker. There were clothes everywhere.” At that, Nwaneri crinkles his nose in disgust. “This is like a spa, right?” he added. Maybe the victories will come later. But at least the Jaguars have won the design wars.
|
Jacksonville Jaguars;Football;Interior Design and Furnishings;Stadiums and Arenas
|
ny0084879
|
[
"business",
"dealbook"
] |
2015/10/14
|
As Some Hedge Funds Sink, the Challenge Buoys Others
|
It has been a bad stretch for hedge funds that make bold bets on big economic trends. Two prominent multibillion-dollar macro hedge funds have shut down in the last week after double-digit losses. The Bain Capital Absolute Return Capital fund blamed a “challenging environment” for its shutdown. And Michael Novogratz, the well-known Wall Street trader who ran Fortress Investment Group’s flagship macro fund, which is also closing, went further, stating that the environment was “not conducive to achieving our best results.” But it is not all bad news for macro hedge funds, the corner of the hedge fund universe where managers wager on everything from currency moves to central bank interest rate increases and the direction of the price of oil. Some lesser-known macro-focused hedge funds like Element Capital Management and Atreaus Capital have made double-digit gains for investors so far this year. “Whenever you have a challenge, that is in itself an opportunity,” said Ari Bergmann, founder of Penso Advisors, a global macro manager. “I think that macro strategies thrive when there is divergence in monetary policy in central banks and market volatility,” Mr. Bergmann added, referring to the market expectation that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates while most other major central banks continue to hold rates steady. Bain Capital and Fortress were not the first firms to liquidate their hedge funds this year. Across the hedge fund industry, firms are shutting down after months of market turmoil that has pulled some of Wall Street’s most well-versed traders into the riptide. Prominent investors like David Einhorn, William A. Ackman, Leon G. Cooperman and Daniel S. Loeb have had a reversal in gains made this year. On Tuesday, the $27 billion Renaissance Technologies became the latest to tell investors that it would close a fund — its $1 billion Renaissance Institutional Futures Fund — citing a “lack of investor interest,” according to an investor letter seen by The New York Times. The fund has lost 1.75 percent so far this year. Many macro hedge fund managers were unable to stem losses because of violent moves in the market this year. Several were clobbered at the start of the year after an unexpected move by the Swiss central bank to lift its cap on the Swiss franc against the euro. Others were hurt by the Chinese central bank’s sudden decision to devalue its currency , the renminbi, in August. “It’s no secret that it’s been really difficult to trade this year,” Adam Taback, deputy chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank, said. “Macro hedge funds in particular have seen this because of the commodity rout that not only impacted commodities but currencies too,” Mr. Taback said. While this year has been full of market surprises, the losses at Bain Capital and Fortress have been years in the making. When the Bain Capital Absolute Return Capital fund, run by Jonathan J. Goodman and Jeff Woolbert, told investors last week that it would close down its macro fund, it had already been losing money for three years. This year, the fund was down by more than 14 percent. Bain Capital told investors that it had received requests from investors to withdraw a sizable amount of their money from the fund. Bain did not respond to a request for comment. Fortress’s flagship macro fund lost more than 17 percent this year, pulled down by wrong-footed positions, such as a bet against the Swiss franc. Last year, it was down 1.6 percent for the year. On Tuesday, Fortress notified investors that it would liquidate its macro hedge fund and that Mr. Novogratz, the chief investment officer, would leave the firm. Mr. Novogratz, well known on Wall Street for his outspoken views on the markets and his penchant for wearing colorful clothing, told investors that it had been “an extremely challenging two years.” In a joint statement, Fortress’s top executives, Peter L. Briger Jr., Wesley R. Edens and Randal A. Nardone, expressed disappointment. “While we regret closing a fund that has been productive in the past, we also recognize the market’s reluctance to ascribe value to this strategy even in its best years,” they wrote. Yet even so, several financial advisers have also recommended that investors allocate more money to macro hedge funds in recent months. SkyBridge Capital , a fund that invests in hedge funds, began the year with no money in any macro managers. Today it has more than 6 percent of its total $13.4 billion in assets under management in macro strategies. And macro hedge funds have outpaced other hedge fund strategies, according HFR , a firm that tracks industry data. Macro hedge funds have lost 0.6 percent so far this year, compared with 2.2 percent for the broader industry index and 2.7 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. “There are going to be winners and losers, and if you missed those big moves and if you got a couple of things wrong it becomes very hard for investors to become patient,” said Troy Gayeski, a senior portfolio manager at SkyBridge Capital. “In general, everyone goes through tough patches,” Mr. Gayeski added. “One of the keys is to be able to articulate to your investors that you know how you will get out of the tough patch in the future.”
|
Hedge fund;Renaissance Technologies;Bain Capital;Fortress Investment Group;Michael Novogratz
|
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