Pakistan Fast Tracks Execution of Militants

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif directed his top legal officer on Monday to fast-track the execution of militants on Pakistan ’s death row, amid a continuing public clamor for a tough response to last week’s Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar. Mr. Sharif issued the order after local courts in several Pakistani cities halted the planned execution of at least seven convicted militants, officials said. Mr. Sharif ended a six-year moratorium on capital punishment for convicted militants in the hours after last week’s Taliban assault on the Army Public School. At least 148 people, 132 of them children, were killed in the eight-hour attack. Since then six people have been executed by hanging, most of whom were convicted in connection with an assassination attempt against the former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf in 2003. An additional 63 prisoners are on death row for terrorism charges, according to the Interior Ministry. “Their executions will take place in phases,” said a government official who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to comment publicly. The executions are a response to public outrage over the Taliban massacre. But human rights groups and the United Nations have come out against them, warning that innocent people could be put to death as a result of Pakistan’s notoriously weak judicial system. The case of Shafqat Hussain, a prisoner who was sentenced to death at the age of 14 and could soon face execution, illustrates the problem, campaigners say. Mr. Hussain is accused of kidnapping and killing a 7-year-old in 2004 while working as a guard at an apartment building in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital. Mr. Hussain says he confessed only after being tortured by the police during nine days of interrogation, according to the Justice Project Pakistan, a law firm specializing in human rights cases that is representing him. During a court hearing in Karachi on Monday, a High Court judge asked the government to explain why Mr. Hussain was on the list of death-row militants. Mr. Hussain’s murder charge was reduced to manslaughter on appeal, but the terrorism charges against him stuck. Under Pakistani law, any crime that creates “a sense of fear or insecurity in society” can be classified as a terrorist offense. “We are dying inside,” said Mr. Hussain’s brother Manzoor, during a phone interview from Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani Kashmir. Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said Mr. Hussain should have been tried as a juvenile. “Kidnapping and murder are crimes,” she said. “But this man was not involved in terrorism in the sense that Taliban militants are.” On Monday, a court in Rawalpindi stayed the execution of five men convicted of involvement in an attack on an army camp in Gujrat, a city in Punjab Province. That order, and a similar one in Karachi, caused embarrassment to the government. Prime Minister Sharif directed the attorney general, Salman Aslam Butt, to take steps to “vacate stay orders against death penalties,” his spokesman said. In Islamabad, rights activists continued their protests against Maulana Abdul Aziz, a conservative pro-Taliban cleric at the city’s Red Mosque, which has been a focus of extreme Islamist thought. Jibran Nasir has been one such vocal critic, and since last week has led a campaign to have Mr. Aziz arrested on charges of terrorism. On Monday, dozens of protesters marched toward a police station to press the police to take action against Mr. Aziz. “Who is the enemy of Pakistan?” shouted one woman. “Taliban! Taliban!” responded the crowd. It was a much smaller protest, however, than demonstrations last week. Mr. Nasir, the main organizer, said he had received a threatening phone call a day earlier from a man who claimed to be a Taliban spokesman. Mr. Nasir released a recording of the phone conversation on social media on Monday. The police assured the protesters that they would investigate the complaints against the cleric. “We can come back if police doesn’t make the arrest,” Mr. Nasir told the protesters before the demonstration ended.

Pakistan
Capital punishment
Nawaz Sharif
Terrorism
Taliban


E.U. Considers Easing Rules on Biotech Crops in Animal Feed

Abstract: BRUSSELS — The European Union is considering allowing a trace amount of unapproved genetically modified material in imports of animal feed but not human food, according to draft proposals that the United States and other big grain exporters called unworkable. The proposals from the European Commission, seen by Reuters on Friday, are designed to avoid a repeat of last year’s disruption to animal feed supplies in Europe, when cargos of soybeans from the United States were blocked for a couple months after traces of unapproved material were found. The E.U. authorized several of the biotech crops that had been causing the problem in November, but the new proposal is meant to be a longer-term solution. Importers and the European Union’s major trade partners, however, criticized the proposals for only covering imports for feed, and not food, which they said would not work in practice. Under the proposals, the zero tolerance policy will remain for food. “Grain shipments from third countries are indistinguishably used for food and feed purposes in the E.U.,” said a letter sent to the commission this week by ambassadors of the United States, Brazil, Canada and Argentina. “Any attempt to separate into ‘food-only’ and ‘feed-only’ would pose insurmountable difficulties for trade operators and E.U. food and feed processors,” the letter, seen by Reuters, added. Environmentalists said the E.U. should maintain zero tolerance of unapproved genetically modified organisms in food and feed, and that exporters in other parts of the world should work harder to avoid contamination. “I don’t see why the customer — in this case the E.U. — should accept a diktat from the seller to allow contamination with products that have not been approved as safe in Europe,” a Greenpeace activist on agriculture issues, Marco Contiero, said. The commission proposal said the need for a solution to the problem of traces of genetically modified material in imports was most pressing for Europe’s feed and livestock sector. “Potential trade disruptions would much more affect the feed sector than the food sector,” it said. “It appears therefore appropriate to limit the scope of this regulation” to animal feed. The commission’s “technical solution” sets new rules for E.U. customs authorities on how to interpret tests on grain cargos. The tolerance margin of 0.1 percent will only apply to biotech crops that have been approved in the exporting country and for which E.U. approval is pending. But that should cover many of the soy and corn varieties that have been causing the problem. Europe’s seed-crushing industry has an annual turnover of about €20 billion, or $28 billion, and last year imported some 13 million tons of soybeans, producing 10 million tons of animal feed meal and 2.5 million tons of oil, almost half of which was used in food. The head of the European seed-crushers’ association Fediol, Nathalie Lecocq, said that for her industry, the food and feed market are completely interlinked, so a feed-only solution would fail. “It would put at risk the market for oil, and potentially the whole of our soybean imports,” she said. “If you can’t rely on 40 percent of your outlet for oil, you would have to consider if it’s economically viable to continue crushing in Europe.” The proposals are due to be discussed by the E.U.’s 27 commissioners before publication. After that, it needs to be approved by a committee of E.U. government experts to become law, where it could face resistance from countries where opposition to biotech in food remains strong.

Biotechnology
Agriculture
European Union
Genetic Engineering


West Point Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Videotaping Female Cadets

Abstract: WASHINGTON — A sergeant responsible for advising students at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., has pleaded guilty in a case that included accusations that he secretly videotaped female cadets, some as they undressed in the locker room, and will serve a 33-month sentence, the Army said Thursday. Sgt. First Class Michael McClendon will be reduced in rank to private before being thrown out of the Army with a bad-conduct discharge after serving out his sentence, officials said. Those punishments were handed down after a general court-martial was convened at Fort Drum, N.Y., on Wednesday. In accordance with a pretrial agreement and a guilty plea to one charge with eight specifications of committing indecent acts, Sergeant McClendon’s confinement for five years was reduced to 33 months. The case became public last May as outrage was growing in Congress, at the Pentagon and the White House over reports of sexual harassment and assault across the armed forces . Adding to concerns in this case was that it involved a decorated noncommissioned officer whose specific job was overseeing “the health, welfare and discipline” of a company of 125 cadets at West Point, the nation’s oldest military academy. The person in the position held by the sergeant is expected to “assist each cadet in balancing and integrating the requirements of physical, military, academic and moral-ethical programs,” according to Army publications. Sergeant McClendon’s sentencing comes as the Army has begun moving women into more combat positions, and as all of the armed services are under intense scrutiny to provide fair and equal treatment for everyone in uniform. During the inquiry, more than a dozen female West Point cadets were alerted that their privacy might have been violated by the videotaping conducted without their consent, Army officials said. Officials said some of the videos were taken in the showers or the bathrooms, and some elsewhere on campus. Documents in the case indicate that, in some instances, Sergeant McClendon entered the women’s bathroom and shower areas without knocking. There are about 4,500 cadets at West Point, and slightly more than 15 percent are female. The Army at first made no announcement of the case, but officials provided details after The New York Times learned of the inquiry from people with ties to West Point who said they were alarmed by the allegations and wanted to learn of the academy’s plans to investigate and prevent future violations. The Army did provide an official announcement on Thursday describing the outcome of the court-martial. According to military service records, Sergeant McClendon joined the Army in 1990 and trained as a combat engineer. He was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and from 2007 to 2009 and was awarded a Bronze Star.

Sexual harassment
US Military
West Point
Michael McClendon
College
Peeping Toms
Video Recordings
Downloads and Streaming


U.S. and UBS Get More Time to Reach a Deal

Abstract: A federal judge has given Switzerland and the United States more time to try to settle a legal case that sought to force the Swiss banking giant UBS to disclose the names of wealthy American clients suspected of tax evasion. “There are still some issues that remain to be resolved,” Stuart Gibson, a Justice Department lawyer who is trying the case, said in a conference call on Friday with the judge overseeing the matter. Mr. Gibson told Judge Alan Gold of Federal District Court in Miami that “the parties are working through these issues and plan to continue talking.” Mr. Gibson said he hoped a deal could be completed by Aug. 12. If not, Judge Gold said that both sides would be back in court on Aug. 17. It is unclear how many client names UBS will ultimately disclose or whether it will pay a fine under a settlement in principle reached last month. At that time, Judge Gold said that if the two sides had not completed an agreement by Aug. 7, they would be back in court on Aug. 10. UBS and the Swiss government have been fighting efforts by the Justice Department to force it to disclose the names of 52,000 wealthy American UBS clients suspected of offshore tax evasion. The efforts have threatened to erode Swiss banking laws, and have shaken UBS, one of the world’s largest private banks. The push to force UBS to disclose client names, which came in a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in February, has unsettled the Swiss banking industry and escalated into a diplomatic incident between Switzerland and the United States. In February, UBS agreed to pay $780 million to settle charges that it helped wealthy Americans evade taxes on nearly $20 billion hidden in offshore accounts. One day later, the Justice Department filed a civil suit seeking to force UBS to disclose 52,000 client names. Of the names on the agency’s original list, prosecutors are focused on several thousand Americans with offshore accounts containing tens to hundreds of millions of dollars. UBS had fiercely resisted disclosure, arguing that doing so would cause it to violate Swiss banking laws. The Swiss government has said it will block UBS from turning over the names if ultimately ordered to do so, while the Justice Department has said that it might consider indicting the bank if it ultimately refused to do so upon a judge’s order.

UBS AG
Justice Department
Tax Evasion
Suits and Litigation


Nets End Their Bid to Obtain Anthony

Abstract: NEWARK — The Nets spent months tying up phone lines from here to Russia, discussing possibilities with the team’s majority owner, Mikhail D. Prokhorov , by which they could obtain the Denver Nuggets ’ Carmelo Anthony . Finally, they received permission to talk with Anthony and agreed to meet with him and Leon Rose, his agent, on Thursday. But on Wednesday, hours before the Nets snapped a six-game losing streak by beating the Utah Jazz, 103-95, Prokhorov abruptly canceled the meeting, saying he had decided to end the pursuit, which had evolved into a public spectacle of conflicting reports. Denver’s price was too much, the toll it had taken on his players — nearly all except center Brook Lopez had been mentioned — was too great and clear information was not forthcoming, Prokhorov said. “Everything was expensive,” Prokhorov said. “It has been too long and it’s too expensive.” The Nuggets — led by a new management group of Josh Kroenke and General Manager Masai Ujiri — have offered Anthony a three-year, $65 million contract extension that he has not signed. Anthony, a three-time All-Star, can become a free agent when the season ends. He can influence his next destination because if he does not choose to sign an extension, he will become a short-term and costly rental. At the same time, Denver is aware of the gaping holes that LeBron James and Chris Bosh created when they left their teams through free agency. While Prokhorov said he had ended talks, it was unclear if Anthony would have agreed to an extension with the Nets. General Manager Billy King said the team never talked with Anthony to know whether he would. “You get signs and indications — you guys have all your sources to say one way or another, but end of the day, we haven’t met with him or talked to him directly about that,” King said. Both Prokhorov and King were unequivocal in saying that their roles in the pursuit of Anthony had ended. “For sure,” Prokhorov said. They have until the Feb. 24 trading deadline to change their minds. “I’m not surprised,” Nuggets Coach George Karl said. “I think I’ve been the one guy that’s been kind of hinting to all you this is a lot further away from happening.” The Nets paved the path for the Knicks to assume the role of front-runners for Anthony’s services. The Knicks have been his preferred destination, but the Nets had more draft picks and could have provided better salary relief in a trade. The Knicks’ president, Donnie Walsh, is not inclined to trade a core that is overachieving this season. If not through a trade, the Knicks could also lure Anthony in free agency. “If he goes there, he goes there,” King said. “I have no control over that.” The Bulls and the Rockets have also been linked to discussions, but Chicago refuses to part with Joakim Noah and Houston may not have enough assets. Prokhorov announced his decision in the same manner that he disclosed that the team would not retain King’s predecessor, Kiki Vandeweghe. He informed the news media first while King hurried to text the information to Denver. “Everything was very mixed information,” Prokhorov said. “I never received any straightforward information. It was too complicated to continue.” King, in his first year with the Nets, said: “It’s been a long process. In all my years, I guess 16 years in the N.B.A., I’ve never seen anything like this, covered like this, discussed to try and get it done.” Prokhorov said that his goal remained for the Nets to win a championship within five seasons. That route remains murky. The Nets are 11-31 and have struggled under the weight of the negotiations. Troy Murphy is still requesting to be dealt. In Prokhorov’s brief tenure, he has witnessed the team drop to third in the draft after holding the best odds of winning the lottery; come up empty in its free-agency pursuit of James, Bosh and Dwyane Wade; and pull out of the Anthony negotiations. “It’s not a secret that we need just one very good player,” Prokhorov said. He added: “But really, I’m not ready to overpay because as soon as you make mistake in the N.B.A., you can wait for the next chance for the next five to six years.” Prokhorov spoke in front of a backdrop that declared the organization’s theme of the night: “An Evening of Russian Culture.” “Really, I’m not happy with the way this deal has gone until now,” he said. “There comes a time when the price is simply too expensive.” He then smiled and told reporters, “I didn’t expect there were so many fans of Russian culture.” Rebounds Brook Lopez scored a team-high 20 points, while Derrick Favors had 12 points and 6 rebounds in the Nets’ victory. The Nets held off a late rally after the Jazz whittled a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit down to 2 points with 1 minute 52 seconds left.

Anthony Carmelo
New Jersey Nets
Trades (Sports)
Basketball
Prokhorov Mikhail D
Denver Nuggets


Dylann Roof, Addressing Court, Offers No Apology or Explanation for Massacre

Abstract: CHARLESTON, S.C. — Seeming to abdicate one of his last chances to save his own life, the convicted killer Dylann S. Roof stood on Wednesday before the jurors who will decide his fate and offered no apology, no explanation and no remorse for massacring nine black churchgoers during a Bible study session in June 2015. Instead, in a strikingly brief opening statement in the sentencing phase of his federal death penalty trial, Mr. Roof repeatedly assured the jury that he was not mentally ill — undercutting one of the few mitigating factors that could work in his favor — and left it at that. “Other than the fact that I trust people that I shouldn’t and the fact that I’m probably better at constantly embarrassing myself than anyone who’s ever existed, there’s nothing wrong with me psychologically,” Mr. Roof, who is representing himself, told the jury, which found him guilty last month of the killings at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Three minutes after walking to the lectern, Mr. Roof returned to the defense table, exhaling deeply. Any prospects for mercy by the jury had perhaps already been drained by the prosecution’s disclosure, in its opening statement, of a white supremacist manifesto written by Mr. Roof in the Charleston County jail sometime in the six weeks after his arrest. “I would like to make it crystal clear I do not regret what I did,” he wrote in his distinctive scrawl. “I am not sorry. I have not shed a tear for the innocent people I killed.” Mr. Roof, who was then 21, continued: “I do feel sorry for the innocent white children forced to live in this sick country and I do feel sorry for the innocent white people that are killed daily at the hands of the lower race. I have shed a tear of self-pity for myself. I feel pity that I had to do what I did in the first place. I feel pity that I had to give up my life because of a situation that should never have existed.” As the government laid out its case for a death sentence, the prosecutor who read from the journal, Nathan S. Williams, an assistant United States attorney, told the jury of 10 women and two men that Mr. Roof’s deadly rampage was a premeditated act that had devastated the families of his victims. “The defendant didn’t stop after shooting one person or two or four or five; he killed nine people,” Mr. Williams said, a few moments before he declared, “The death penalty is justified.” Later, aided by a slide show, he described each of the victims and their lives, setting the stage for several days of gut-wrenching testimony by family members and friends of the victims. Mr. Williams emphasized that Mr. Roof was capable of remorse and regret, reminding jurors that he had left his mother a note of apology, but only for the pain he knew his actions would cause his own family. The presentations were a startling beginning to the trial’s sentencing phase, which is expected to run into next week in Federal District Court. On Dec. 15, after six days of testimony in which defense lawyers did not contest his guilt, the jury found Mr. Roof guilty of 33 counts, including hate crimes, obstruction of religion resulting in death, and firearms charges. Eighteen of those counts require the jury to decide whether to sentence Mr. Roof, now 22, to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole. To impose a death sentence, jurors must unanimously find that aggravating factors like premeditation and the number and vulnerability of the victims outweigh any mitigating factors, like the absence of prior violent behavior and demonstrations of redemption and remorse. Mr. Roof is also facing a death penalty trial in state court. Although many people in the courtroom had already heard Mr. Roof’s flat, Southern-inflected monotone during the guilt phase, when prosecutors played a video recording of his post-arrest confession to F.B.I. agents, his statement on Wednesday was his first to the jury. Mr. Roof chose to allow his court-appointed legal team to represent him during the guilt phase, but sidelined them during the penalty proceedings to prevent them from introducing any evidence regarding his family background or mental capacity. “The point is that I’m not going to lie to you, not by myself or through somebody else,” Mr. Roof told the jury. As his paternal grandparents watched from the second row on the left side of the courtroom, several women on the right side, which is reserved for victims’ family members, left their seats, one of them muttering curses. Mr. Roof has said he does not plan to call witnesses or present evidence on his behalf, and he did not cross-examine any of the prosecution’s witnesses on Wednesday. His approach stands in sharp contrast to the strategy of Justice Department lawyers, who have said they may call more than 30 witnesses, including at least one survivor of the attack, family members of the victims and federal law enforcement officials. Prosecutors began Wednesday with the widow of the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, the church’s slain pastor, and his two best friends. Jennifer Benjamin Pinckney, who was married to Mr. Pinckney for 15 years, narrated an affectionate and often lighthearted telling of their life together, illustrated by dozens of photographs of her husband — as a young saxophone player in a school band, attending the births of their two daughters, vacationing on Caribbean cruises and on a trip to Seattle. She described him as a soul-stirring preacher who extended his ministry as “a voice for the voiceless” to his work in the South Carolina Legislature, where he served first in the House and then the Senate. Often exhausted by his dual roles, he was depicted in several pictures as having fallen asleep in the back seat of the family car and on a couch while reading to his daughters. Video In an interview with F.B.I. agents in June 2015, Mr. Roof confessed to the shooting at a church in Charleston, S.C. Credit Credit United States Attorney's Office, via the Federal District Court “He was the person that I think every mom would be happy that her daughter would marry,” Ms. Pinckney, a school librarian, said. “He was that great catch.” Ms. Pinckney also described her terror on the night of June 17, 2015, as she and the couple’s younger daughter, Malana, then 6, listened to the gunfire from their hiding place beneath a desk in her husband’s study. As her husband and the others were gunned down in the adjacent church fellowship hall, Ms. Pinckney struggled to keep her daughter quiet and still. “I was just like, ‘Shh, shh, shh,’ ” Ms. Pinckney said, “and I put my hand over her mouth, and she was holding on to me, and she put her hand on my mouth.” “Mama, is Daddy going to die?” her daughter asked, Ms. Pinckney said. She said the hardest thing she had ever done was telling her two daughters early the next morning that their father had been killed. Ms. Pinckney said she had heard Mr. Roof try to open the door to the study, which she had locked when the shooting began. Another assistant United States attorney, Julius N. Richardson, asked why she thought she had been spared. “It wasn’t my time,” Ms. Pinckney answered. “I couldn’t see God taking both parents away from two small kids.” The Rev. Kylon Middleton , an A.M.E. minister who had known Mr. Pinckney from childhood, described his lifelong friend as immensely precocious (he began preaching at 13) and strategically ambitious (he aspired to be both a bishop and, perhaps, the state’s first African-American governor). In addition to Mr. Pinckney, the victims were the Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor, 49; Cynthia Hurd, 54; Susie Jackson, 87; Ethel Lee Lance, 70; Tywanza Sanders, 26; the Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons Sr., 74; the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; and Myra Thompson, 59. Near the end of the day, Ms. Thompson’s widower, the Rev. Anthony B. Thompson, the vicar of a Reformed Episcopal Church here, told jurors about their 16-year marriage, their anniversary date to a beach, his wife’s determined demeanor and her commitment to the historic congregation. In testimony that was mixed with laughter and tears, Mr. Thompson recounted their final day together as she prepared for the evening study of the Gospel of Mark. “She had her glow,” he said. “I mean, this smile on her face. She was radiant. I just kept looking at her.” Word of a shooting came hours later, and Mr. Thompson rushed to the church. He demanded to know whether she had been injured or killed. He eventually found out. “My whole world was gone,” he said. “I literally did not know what to do. Everything I did was for her, and she was gone. What am I here for? If she’s gone, what am I here for?” The Dylann Roof Trial: The Evidence Prosecutors and defense lawyers are introducing scores of exhibits in the federal trial of Dylann S. Roof, the self-avowed white supremacist who is accused of killing nine black people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Although the judge has forbidden the release of some exhibits, such as certain crime scene photographs, he has allowed many to be made public beyond the courtroom.


An Organization Paves a Path Out of Rikers Island and Into the Job Market

Abstract: At 19, Michael Vanleuvan was in jail at Rikers Island awaiting sentencing for armed robbery when he found himself listening with other inmates to a retired business executive talk about a program that could help them when they got out. The retiree, Mark Goldsmith, who in 2004 had helped found Getting Out and Staying Out , told the men that his organization offered counseling, college preparation, job training and even alarm clocks to help them stay on schedule. To sign up, they had to write an essay about why they were interested in the program and make an appointment with the organization, based in Manhattan. It took Mr. Vanleuvan several years to get started, but at a reception last week, he was applauded for his promotion to manager at the Dos Toros Taqueria restaurant in Union Square, where he has worked for 14 months. The event, at the Goldman Sachs headquarters in Lower Manhattan, was organized by Getting Out and Staying Out to honor its employers of the year, Oliver and Leo Kremer, brothers who founded the Dos Toros chain. “I just mostly really want to say thank you for not looking at my background, but at my hard work and determination to succeed,” Mr. Vanleuvan, 29, told the Kremer brothers. Leo Kremer, with Oliver beside him, said, “To be able to offer a fresh start to these young men, who are not looking for any favors but merely an opportunity to prove themselves while making a living wage and learning a new skill and potentially building their career, is something we’re extremely proud of.” Melissa Mark-Viverito, the City Council speaker, praised Getting Out and Staying Out and its partners for helping young convicts “come back and successfully reintegrate into our civic life and into society and our communities.” Image Christopher Dorante, left, with John Rusk, the owner of Rusk Renovations, a Manhattan construction company where Mr. Dorante now works after serving four years in prison. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times She added, “And we are a better city — we’re a better country — when that happens.” But the stars of the evening were men like Mr. Vanleuvan, an alumnus of Getting Out and Staying Out’s three-year-old internship-to-employment program, GOSOWorks. The initiative places former inmates in jobs with 45 companies or organizations, including Dos Toros; Ovenly, a bakery; Superiority Burger; the Horticultural Society of New York; and Steep Rock Bouldering. The program uses donations and funding from New York City’s Works Progress Program to pay the interns’ salaries for their first 240 hours of work. After that, the employer can hire the intern and assume all costs. Geoffrey Golia, a social worker who created GOSOWorks, said 217 people had been placed in New York jobs so far. Christopher Dorante, 24, of Brooklyn, served four years in prison for weapons possession. Describing himself as “nine months free and nine months employed,” he now works at Rusk Renovations, a Manhattan construction company. “I’m trying to catch up in a positive way and a productive way,” Mr. Dorante said. John Rusk, the owner of the construction company, is teaching a course in blueprints that Mr. Dorante is taking. Mr. Rusk called Mr. Dorante a “rocket ship” fueled by hustle, spirit and a willingness to learn and share knowledge with his colleagues and classmates. Mr. Golia estimated that each year, the Getting Out and Staying Out program helped more than 1,000 people ages 16 to 24 at Rikers or at the organization’s East Harlem headquarters. He said that only about 10 percent of the people who signed up for the program were arrested again later, and he attributed that low rate to intensive counseling. Mr. Goldsmith said everyone was welcome at Getting Out and Staying Out. “We take anyone who wants to come into the program,” he said, adding, “We believe as soon as somebody gets locked up, start talking to them about when they’re going to get out.” Mr. Vanleuvan got that talk from “Mr. G,” as he calls Mr. Goldsmith, but it took some time to sink in. Once Mr. Vanleuvan got out of prison, he violated parole and was sent back to Rikers, where he ran into Mr. Goldsmith again. “He actually remembered me,” Mr. Vanleuvan said, “and he accepted me back into his program and said since I had signed up when I was younger, when I come home again, if I’m still interested in getting my life together, I can stop by.”

Ex Cons
Prison
Getting Out and Staying Out
Manhattan
Jobs


Cabinet Minister in Pakistan Resigns in Protest of Musharraf’s Re-election Efforts

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan , Aug. 27 — A cabinet minister resigned from the Pakistani government on Monday to protest President Pervez Musharraf ’s plans to run for re-election while remaining head of the army. In the first sign of cabinet-level trouble for the president, Ishaq Khan Khakwani, the state minister for information technology and telecommunication, said in his resignation letter that as a member of Parliament, he would still support General Musharraf’s re-election, but only if he were to relinquish the post of chief of army staff. Mr. Khakwani said he made the decision even before meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who expressed deep concern about Mr. Khakwani’s recent public criticism of the president’s intention to retain both posts. Mr. Khakwani said he was not asked to resign. “I thought before I am told to restrain myself, I should resign,” he said in an interview. Mr. Khakwani had been making statements that were often at odds with the ruling party’s position. He had not supported the president’s suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Recently, he expressed concerns over General Musharraf’s plans to seek re-election while still in uniform. A number of other senior members of the ruling party have voiced similar concerns. Mr. Khakwani said that many other cabinet ministers agreed with him in principle, but that General Musharraf was not listening to dissenting voices. The senior party members who have spoken out have said they would continue to support General Musharraf’s candidacy as a civilian president, but have warned that the Supreme Court is likely to rule his nomination illegal unless he steps down as army chief. Any attempt to force his nomination through, they warn, will incite widespread protest. Two cabinet ministers denied that close aides to the president had met in London with Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister who was ousted in the 1999 coup that brought General Musharraf to power. But they confirmed that contacts with the other opposition leader and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, were continuing. The News, a leading daily newspaper, reported Sunday that the chief of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency, Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani, and General Musharraf’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Hamid Javaid, had arrived in London to hold talks with Mr. Sharif. Mr. Sharif has emerged as a major challenger to General Musharraf after the Supreme Court ruled last week that the former prime minister had the right to return from exile. ‘These reports are mere speculation and political kite-flying,” said Tariq Azim Khan, the state minister for information. Sheik Rashid Ahmed, the minister for railways, also denied that aides to General Musharraf had met with Mr. Sharif in London. On Monday, Dawn, one of the country’s most authoritative daily newspapers, reported that top aides to President Musharraf were in London to salvage a “deal” with Ms. Bhutto. Ms. Bhutto has been in negotiations with General Musharraf and his aides for months over a power-sharing deal that would allow him to continue for another term as a civilian president and allow her to return to take part in elections, perhaps as a candidate for prime minister, freed of legal impediments stemming from corruption charges and limits on her running for prime minister for a third time. Ms. Bhutto has been demanding concrete concessions, including a pledge that General Musharraf stop wearing his uniform.

Pakistan
Musharraf Pervez
Appointments and Executive Changes
Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations


Brazil Prepares Indictments in Oil Company Graft Case

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil ’s prosecutor general said over the weekend that he was preparing to indict at least 11 executives from the country’s largest construction companies on charges including bribery and money laundering, in connection with a graft scandal shaking Brazil’s oil industry and the government of President Dilma Rousseff . In pressing ahead with the case, Rodrigo Janot, the prosecutor general, is opening the way for a trial that would focus scrutiny on growing testimony about a web of illicit dealings between former executives at Petrobras , the state-controlled oil company, powerful contractors and political figures in Ms. Rousseff’s government. “We are following the money and we will reach all of these perpetrators,” Mr. Janot said Saturday night in an interview with the Globo television network. The scandal, which involves claims of bribes to obtain contracts with Petrobras, stunned Brazil’s business establishment in November, when police arrested the executives and transferred them to a jail in the southern city of Curitiba. If testimony already obtained in the case is proven true, the case would dwarf previous corruption scandals in Brazil. In a country where business executives rarely spend time in jail, corporate leaders including José Adelmário Pinheiro Filho, the chief executive of the construction giant OAS, and Dalton dos Santos Avancini and João Ricardo Auler, top executives at Camargo Corrêa, a rival construction group, have awaited their fate in the Curitiba jail since the mid-November arrests. Disclosures at each step in the case are shaking Petrobras, Brazil’s largest corporation, while opening Ms. Rousseff, the president and a former energy minister and the company’s former board chairwoman, to claims of responsibility for, at the very least, lax oversight. Pedro Barusco, once an obscure, third-tier executive at Petrobras, has agreed to return about $100 million in bribes related to his time at the company, a disclosure that could rank him among the largest known bribery recipients in Brazil’s history. Separately, Augusto Mendonça, an executive at Toyo Setal, a shipbuilding company, testified last week that he paid more than $23 million in bribes directly to the governing Workers Party and to Petrobras executives in exchange for contracts to build oil tankers. A new opinion survey released on Sunday by Datafolha, a prominent Brazilian polling company, showed that 68 percent of Brazilians hold Ms. Rousseff responsible for the bribery scandal. At the same time, Ms. Rousseff, who narrowly won re-election in October, has an approval rating of 42 percent, the survey showed. The poll, conducted in 2,896 interviews on Dec. 2 and 3, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus two percentage points. Mr. Janot, the prosecutor general, came under pressure over the weekend after a report in the magazine Isto É claimed he had offered the contractors a deal in which they would accept responsibility for some illicit activities while effectively shielding Ms. Rousseff’s government from coming under greater legal scrutiny over bribery claims. In a statement, Mr. Janot did not explicitly refer to the magazine article, but said he would resist attempts to discredit the investigations of those involved in the bribery scandal. He added that he would comply with his constitutional duty to independently examine testimony and evidence in the case under Brazilian law.

Brazil
Petrobras
Dilma Rousseff
Bribery and Kickbacks
Fraud
Corruption
Workers' Party Brazil
Rodrigo Janot Monteiro de Barros


Alaska: Lawsuit Over Marriage Ban

Abstract: Five gay couples filed a lawsuit in federal court in Anchorage on Monday, challenging Alaska’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. Alaska voters in 1998 approved a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. But in the past year, the United States Supreme Court has struck down a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that prevented legally married same-sex couples from receiving a range of federal benefits. Federal courts have struck down state constitutional bans in a number of states, though appeals are pending. A lawyer for the couples, Caitlin Shortell, said lawsuits had been filed in almost every state with a ban on same-sex marriage. A lawsuit in Alaska was seen as “necessary and important,” Ms. Shortell said.

Same-Sex Marriage,Gay Marriage
Lawsuits
Alaska


Powder Sent to Times Is Hoax, Police Say

Abstract: An envelope containing a defaced editorial and a white powdery substance was delivered to The New York Times yesterday in what the authorities said appeared to be a hoax. Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said that field tests of the powder indicated it was an organic substance, probably cornstarch, but that a definitive analysis would be done at the Health Department’s laboratory. The white business-size envelope was addressed to the newspaper, not to an individual, and bore a Philadelphia postmark, the police said. The editorial within, published on June 28 and titled “Patriotism and the Press,” had a red “X” drawn across it, they said. An employee in the newspaper’s postal services department on the eighth floor of the Times headquarters on West 43rd Street opened the envelope about 12:35 p.m., officials said. The police said he was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center as a precaution.

Newspapers
News and News Media
New York Times


Democratic Group to Return Donations

Abstract: MIAMI — The Democratic National Committee, faced with the possibility that it had accepted illegal campaign contributions from straw donors, decided Thursday to return sizable donations made last fall in the names of the children of a Florida cardiologist whose lucrative medical practice has caught the attention of Medicare regulators. The doctor, Asad U. Qamar, 50, is a prolific campaign donor who found himself politically sidelined last year once word got out that he had asked his contacts in Congress for help with a federal review of his Medicare payments. Still, Dr. Qamar, himself a Republican, found a way to maintain his relationship with the party in power. His family continued sending substantial donations to the Democratic committee, but in the names of his two of his three children, one of whom — his son, Ehsun — was 16 and a junior at a Florida high school. Ehsun donated $32,400 to the committee in October, according to the Federal Election Commission. His sister, Sana, who attends the University of Florida, contributed the same amount a few weeks earlier, bringing her total to $75,340 in contributions in 18 months, most of it to the Democratic committee and the Obama Victory Fund. The party committee’s communications director, Mo Elleithee, defended the donations, saying he was “comfortable that they were all fully compliant with campaign finance law.” Dr. Qamar’s lawyer said his client believes that his children’s contributions were legal. “It’s just ironic that you can turn the table and nobody questions whether the government is doing something right,” said the lawyer, Tracy J. Mabry. Courts have upheld donations made in the names of minors, but the accounts the money is drawn from must be in the children’s names and under their control, said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center. It is illegal to make a donation in someone else’s name, and donors must sign a form verifying that the money comes from them. When asked to show copies of the checks or credit card receipts, the Democratic committee said that upon further review, it had decided to refund the younger Qamars’ contributions. “What kid do you know that has that kind of money in their own checking account?” said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, which promotes transparency in government. “Clearly, he used them as straw donors.” Dr. Qamar’s story underscores the role money can play in politics, and his exile demonstrates the fleeting nature of political relationships built on cash. Image The family of Dr. Asad U. Qamar, who is under federal scrutiny, donated to the Democratic National Committee. The Qamars’ campaign donations have totaled more than $450,000. That included $75,000 to Organizing for Action, a nonprofit group closely tied to President Obama, with the doctor saying he hoped to become an ambassador of sorts for the Affordable Care Act. Donations also went to politicians in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Iowa. Then, in 2012, a contractor hired to weed out Medicare fraud put Dr. Qamar (pronounced KUM-mer) on what is known as prepayment review, meaning he had to submit patient medical records to demonstrate the need for each service he billed. The federal government recently released data that showed Dr. Qamar was the second-highest recipient of Medicare money — $18.2 million in 2012 alone — although the billings involved several doctors in his office. As the Medicare difficulties intensified, the doctor became more involved in politics, attending fund-raisers at the homes of celebrities like Tyler Perry and George Clooney. In June 2012, Dr. Qamar hosted a fund-raiser at his eight-bedroom house in Ocala for Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida. The congresswoman, who is the chairwoman of the Democratic committee, received $17,500 from the family, including $2,500 from Ms. Qamar, records show. A spokesman for Ms. Wasserman Schultz said that her aides were confident that Ms. Qamar’s donation was legal because she presented it in person at her parents’ fund-raiser, but that they planned to look into it further. By the time Mr. Obama began his second term in January 2013, the Medicare prepayment review had been underway for three months, and Dr. Qamar was beginning to feel the squeeze from a lack of cash flow. Lawyers helped prepare a letter explaining his predicament, urging lawmakers to consider that delaying Medicare payments put jobs at risk. The letter, Mr. Mabry said, was sent to members of various House committees. Although he declined to provide a copy, Mr. Mabry said it complained that the auditing process was haphazard and that it unfairly withheld payments for extended periods. In an interview, the doctor said he had sought help for his Medicare problems from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And he made sure the letter got into the right hands. At a photo lineup with the president at a pre-inaugural event, he took an envelope out of his suit jacket and handed it to Mr. Obama, according to two Democratic activists. Dr. Qamar did so again at an event that week with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., they added. Some White House officials became alarmed over the appearance that a donor was trying to pay to have an investigation quashed, the two Democrats said. (Both spoke on the condition that their names not be published because they would face professional repercussions in the coming elections.) “There was a lot of ‘who is this guy?’ ” said a Democrat who described seeing Dr. Qamar distribute the letter to White House staff members. “We needed to take steps to back away from him.” Some members of Congress made calls on the doctor’s behalf. A lawyer for the doctor asked Representative André Carson, Democrat of Indiana, for help setting up a meeting with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to discuss the claims review, said Mr. Carson’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Wagner. Then, in August, Reuters published a report about Dr. Qamar’s letter-writing campaign. His plans to become an ambassador for the Affordable Care Act suddenly fizzled. Senator Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, returned Dr. Qamar’s donations. The doctor is now considered such damaged goods that spokesmen for Representative Bruce Braley, Democrat of Iowa, who accepted about $14,000 from the family, including funds from Ms. Qamar, refused to say whether Mr. Braley had ever attended a fund-raiser at Dr. Qamar’s house. Ms. Qamar declined to comment, citing a coming exam.

Asad U Qamar
DNC
Campaign finance
Medicare
Florida
Fraud
Doctor


Sammy Lee, First Asian-American Man to Earn Olympic Gold, Dies at 96

Abstract: In the golden California summers before World War II, Sammy Lee, a Korean-American, was just one of the “colored” boys in the Pasadena pool on Wednesdays. That was “International Day,” when Asian, black and Latino children were allowed to swim. After they were gone, the pool was drained and refilled with clean water for the white children who came every other day of the week. Years later, fulfilling a vow to his father, he stood on the high diving platform at the Olympic Games in London and looked down at cheering crowds. It was like standing atop a three-story building. But he had long ago conquered his fear of heights, and of bigotry. He was a doctor and a compact athlete representing the United States. He ran forward and rose majestically into the air. Dr. Sammy Lee, who died of pneumonia on Friday in Newport Beach, Calif., at age 96, faced prejudice growing up, and discrimination when he tried to buy a home in a white community in Southern California. But he also became the first Asian-American man to earn Olympic gold, and the first American to win consecutive gold medals in Olympic platform diving. (The Filipino-American diver Victoria Manalo Draves won a gold medal two days before he did.) The University of Southern California announced his death on its website . Dr. Lee won a gold medal in 10-meter platform diving and a bronze in 3-meter springboard diving at the 1948 Olympics in London , and a gold in platform diving at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. He also won three national diving championships as a collegian in the 1940s and was named America’s outstanding amateur athlete of 1953 by the Amateur Athletic Union. He became an ambassador to the Olympics for Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan; coached Greg Louganis, Bob Webster and other American diving champions, as well as the American diving team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome; and was elected to the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968 and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1990. Image Dr. Lee won a gold medal and a bronze medal in diving at the 1948 Olympics. He also earned gold in platform diving in 1952. Credit Associated Press An ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Lee was an Army major and medical officer in the Korean War. But in 1955, as he ended eight years of military service, all his achievements did not spare him from racial discrimination when he tried to buy a home in Garden Grove, a booming postwar community in Orange County, where he wanted to open a medical practice. When turning him away, real estate agents were candid. “I’m sorry, Doctor,” he remembered one telling him, “but I have to eat, and I’d lose my job for selling to a nonwhite.” Dr. Lee’s wife, Rosalind, then tried to buy a building lot in a development in Anaheim. He recalled, “The agent said the value of the property would drop so badly if he sold to me that he wouldn’t be able to sell the rest of the homes.” That day, Dr. Lee was at the White House, dining with President Eisenhower. When word got out that he had been a victim of housing discrimination, the news media picked up the story, and it became a national scandal. Protests, apologies and offers of assistance ensued. Housing discrimination has always been common in America, despite laws against it. But Dr. Lee’s status as an Olympian made a difference. Vice President Nixon said he was “shocked” and pledged help. Anaheim’s mayor spoke out. A newspaper offered to pay the Lees’ house-hunting expenses, and real estate agents jumped to show them homes. Image Dr. Lee, left, and his wife, Rosalind, in June 1952 at a pool in Astoria Park in Queens. Dr. Lee would win another Olympic gold medal in diving that year in Helsinki, Finland. Credit Jacob Harris/Associated Press The Lees bought one in Garden Grove, and the county gave a welcome party when they moved in. Neighbors came, and politicians gave speeches. “My belief in the American people is substantiated,” Dr. Lee said. He later toured Asia for the State Department. “Whenever I was asked by those people in the Far East how America treated Oriental people, I told them the truth,” he recalled. “I said Americans had their shortcomings, but they had guts enough to advertise them, whereas others try to cover them up.” Dr. Lee practiced medicine in Orange County for 35 years, retiring in 1990. He later moved to Huntington Beach, Calif. His condominium community had a pool, and even in his 90s he swam a few laps every day. Samuel Lee was born on Aug. 1, 1920, in Fresno, Calif., the youngest of five children of Soonkee Rhee and Eunkee Chun, who married in Korea as children, fulfilling a traditional contract by families. They moved to California in 1905 and settled in Fresno, where they changed their surname and opened a restaurant. Sammy learned to swim in Fresno. After the family moved to Highland Park, in northeast Los Angeles, in the late 1920s, he swam at Brookside Park in nearby Pasadena — but only on Wednesdays, because the pool was reserved for whites on other days. Image Dr. Lee, while serving in a United States Army hospital, learned he was named the outstanding amateur athlete of 1953 by the Amateur Athletic Union. Credit George Sweers/Associated Press The Lees encountered racial abuse from neighbors, who used slurs and urged them to move. Sammy also heard it in school, where distinctions among Japanese, Chinese and other Asians were lost in a blur of angry abuse. Dr. Lee said his father called the bigots misguided, and urged him to be proud of his heritage. Inspired by Americans who took all the diving medals at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Dr. Lee promised his father he would someday be an Olympian. He graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in 1939, Occidental College in 1943 and the University of Southern California medical school in 1947. In 1950, he married Rosalind M. K. Wong. She survives him, as do their two children, Pamela Lee and Sammy Lee II, and three grandchildren. Trained privately, Dr. Lee won the national A.A.U. springboard and platform championships in 1942, and was the national A.A.U. platform champion in 1946. The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were canceled because of World War II, but on Aug. 5, 1948, as the Olympic diving competitions drew to a close in London, he stood on the high platform, as he had vowed. He was lithe and muscled, just over five feet tall, and in recent days had dazzled crowds and judges with dives of balletic precision, with front and back somersaults and elegant pikes and twists. He had already won a bronze for springboard dives, and he led the pack in platform scores. The cheers stopped. He ran forward and rose majestically into the air. He hovered at the peak, his arms reaching for heaven, and curled into a tuck — a man wrapped into a tight ball, chin brushing kneecaps, hands grasping shins — before rolling forward into the power dive. A blur of speed, he somersaulted three and a half times in a 33-foot pinwheeling plunge, coming out of it just in time and opening into a perfect illusion of the vertical body — a knife entering the water. He had the gold. And he would do it again four years later.

Sammy Lee
Obituary
Diving
Korean American


Tribe Claims Approval for Martha’s Vineyard Casino, Reviving Fight

Abstract: BOSTON — An Indian tribe on Martha’s Vineyard said Tuesday that it had obtained approval from a federal agency to open a casino on tribal land on the resort island, but others challenged that conclusion and said the tribe had no such authority. The tribe’s announcement reopened a long-running dispute with the state and local governments, which have maintained that the tribe, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), forfeited its right to build a casino on the Vineyard in the 1980s when it agreed to a land settlement. An expert on gambling in Massachusetts said the move appeared to be an indirect attempt by the tribe to try to win a license for a casino on tribal lands on the mainland, the theory being that the threat of a casino on the Vineyard would be so awful that the governor would give in to one on the mainland. A casino in the small town of Aquinnah, formerly known as Gay Head , which sits at the western edge of the island and is served only by a two-lane road, would not be easily accessible and would strain the local infrastructure. And local opposition could be fierce, with a casino being antithetical to the island’s noncommercial aesthetic. “All the legal issues aside, just from a pure economic standpoint, it’s a terrible place for a casino,” said the expert, Clyde W. Barrow , a professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. “What this is really about,” he said, “is trying to get leverage to force the governor to negotiate” for a casino on the mainland. In a news release on Tuesday, the tribe said that the National Indian Gaming Commission , a regulatory agency, had concluded that its lands qualified for a gambling facility under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. “The tribe has consistently asserted that we have the right to game on our lands in Aquinnah,” Cheryl Andrews-Maltais , chairwoman of the tribe, said in a statement. “These approvals affirm our position. We are thrilled!” But Gov. Deval L. Patrick’s office has long maintained that the tribe gave away its rights to a casino in the settlement agreement, and state officials have refused to negotiate with the tribe. Ronald H. Rappaport, Aquinnah’s town counsel, also said he did not believe the tribe could go ahead with the plan. He said the town’s zoning, which was incorporated into the settlement agreement, prohibited commercial gambling. And, he noted, the settlement agreement was ratified by the State Legislature and Congress. In an afternoon conference call with reporters, Ms. Andrews-Maltais said that the tribe planned to build a temporary Class II gambling facility, which allows bingo, poker and certain slot machines, in an unfinished community center on its tribal land in Aquinnah. But, she said, she still hopes to negotiate with the Patrick administration to upgrade to a permanent Class III facility, which covers casinos with blackjack and roulette. And she said she had not ruled out pushing for a casino on the mainland. “We’re leaving all options on the table,” she said. Ms. Andrews-Maltais said that the tribe would take care to maintain the island’s quality of life. “As the People of the First Light, we are responsible for preserving the atmosphere and beauty of the island,” she said in her statement. “Any gaming facility we operate will blend in with the rest of the island, and the tribe will work with local businesses to ensure the casino’s positive economic impact on our neighbors in the larger island community.”

Martha's Vineyard
Casino
Zoning
Native Americans


Rafael Nadal to End Season

Abstract: Rafael Nadal will have season-ending appendicitis surgery next month, ruling him out of the Paris Masters and the ATP finals in London. Nadal announced the decision Friday after losing to the 17-year-old Borna Coric, 6-2, 7-6 (4), in a subpar performance in the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors in Basel. Nadal said he will have surgery on Nov. 3, and that his 2014 season is over.


In Anticipation of Tax Changes, Companies Are Expected to Increase Buybacks

Abstract: Investors are bracing for companies to ramp up purchases of their own shares in response to expected tax changes in the new year, despite growing criticism of buybacks. Companies have two main ways to return cash to investors: paying money in quarterly dividends or repurchasing shares on the open market. A number of academics and investors, and a new industry survey, suggest that companies are likely to shift more money to buybacks after this year because taxes on those gains are expected to grow less than a proposed tax increase on dividends. Peter C. Andersen, a portfolio manager at Congress Asset Management, expects share repurchases to increase and has added them to his list of the 10 most important things to consider when analyzing a stock. Last week, Mr. Andersen added News Corporation to the 23 other stocks in a mutual fund he runs because of, in part, the company’s growing buyback program over the last two years. “Dividends were the big thing,” said Mr. Andersen, who manages the All Cap Opportunity mutual fund. “I think we’ll stop seeing that popularity, and the new focus will be on stock buyback programs.” Wall Street and corporate America have been taking steps to prepare for the broad array of tax increases and spending cuts set to fall into place at the end of the year. While the White House and Congress are negotiating a compromise that could avert some of these changes, most executives and investors expect at least some tax rates to grow even if a deal is struck. The Obama administration is pushing to sharply increase the rate at which dividends are taxed, to 39.6 percent from 15 percent. At the same time, the White House has proposed that the benefits derived from share repurchases, capital gains, be subject to a smaller tax increase: to 20 percent from 15 percent. Both types of investment income would also be hit by a 3.8 percent surcharge tied to the administration’s health care legislation. Companies including Wal-Mart and Las Vegas Sands recently decided to pay out their fourth-quarter dividend this year instead of early in 2013 to take advantage of the current tax rate on dividends. Some investors have sold off winning stock positions to lock in the current rate on capital gains. But while these are one-time changes aimed at capitalizing on existing rates, any moves to increase share buybacks could continue in the long run. Mr. Andersen likes the prospect of more buybacks because he thinks they lift the price of a stock. Share repurchases are popular with executives because they lower the number of outstanding shares and increase the amount of profit per share, a popular measure used to evaluate companies and determine executive pay . But some academics and investors believe the growth of the practice could lead to more misuse of corporate funds. Gregory V. Milano, chief executive of Fortuna Advisors, said that companies frequently buy back their stock when it is at a peak; then the price drops, erasing any potential benefit to shareholders. The number of share buybacks hit a low in 2009 when companies would have had the greatest advantage from buying their own shares. More important, he said, companies generally get lower returns from buying back stock than they do from investing in their businesses and staff. Mr. Milano is expecting the number of buybacks to tick up with the coming changes, but he is not happy about it. “When you buy back stock with money you could have reinvested, you not only deliver worse returns, you wind up employing less people,” he said. A surge in stock repurchases is still far from a sure thing. Taxes on dividends could rise less than is currently projected, allowing dividends to maintain their appeal to corporate executives. Even if those rates do rise, executives could choose to use their cash for other purposes, such as acquiring other companies or investing in new facilities and employees. But in recent years, buying back stock has become one of the most popular ways for executives to use their excess cash. In recent days, Chipotle, Starbucks and Bebe Stores all announced plans to ramp up their buyback programs. Procter & Gamble executives announced this month that they were increasing the amount of money available for stock buybacks to $6 billion from $4 billion at the same time that they were preparing to lay off over 5,000 employees. None of these companies has mentioned the prospect of tax increases as a motivating factor. But in a recent survey of 100 American companies, conducted by the financial data firm Markit, half of the companies willing to talk about their dividend policies said that if the tax rate on dividends increased, they were likely to shift money to share buybacks. “You will see companies essentially scaling back their tendency to do dividends and moving into repurchases,” said Douglas J. Skinner, an accounting professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. “They won’t do this radically, but the rate will increase from what it otherwise would have been.” The surge in the popularity of both dividends and buybacks is attributed to, at least partly, the Bush administration’s 2003 move to lower the tax rate on most investment income to 15 percent. In the two years after those cuts, 145 new companies began paying out dividends, and 222 companies initiated buyback programs, according to a study led by Jennifer Blouin, an accounting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and two economists at the University of North Carolina. Companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 spent $2.7 trillion on buybacks from 2004 to 2011, and paid $1.8 trillion in dividends in the same time, according to a Credit Suisse research paper released in June. So far this year, companies have announced share buybacks worth over $220 billion, more than were announced in all of 2011, Markit found. The 2003 tax cuts made dividends a more attractive option than they had been in the past, as compared with share repurchases, while the coming changes are set to work the other way, making buybacks more attractive than they currently are. The study led by Ms. Blouin found that some companies showed a preference for dividends over buybacks after the 2003 changes particularly when the companies had board members who would benefit from the policies. This time around, Ms. Blouin is expecting to see those same sorts of companies shifting their money to buybacks, which could make these companies more attractive to investors than dividend-paying companies. “If you are looking to move out of a dividend-paying company, now you are going to look more favorably on a company that has a repurchase regime,” Ms. Blouin said. In the long run, though, investors who opt for buybacks may not benefit. By one recent estimate from Credit Suisse, most of the buybacks done by companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index from 2004 to 2011 have not yet added much value for remaining shareholders.

Corporate Taxes
Federal Taxes (US)
Stocks and Bonds
Capital Gains Tax


Events in New Jersey for April 20-26, 2014

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in New Jersey. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to njtowns@nytimes.com. Comedy HASBROUCK HEIGHTS Bananas Comedy Club Sebastian Maniscalco, comedian. April 25 through 27. $30. Bananas Comedy Club, 283 Route 17 South. bananascomedyclub .com; (201) 727-1090. NEWTON The Newton Theater Tom Cotter, television and radio personality. April 26 at 8 p.m. $22 to $32. The Newton Theater, 234 Spring Street. thenewtontheatre .com; (973) 383-3700. Film NEW BRUNSWICK State Theater “Enemy of the Reich — The Noor Inayat Khan Story” (2014), a documentary drama directed by Rob Gardner. May 4 at 3 p.m. $15. State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue. statetheatrenj.org; (732) 246-7469. PRINCETON Taplin Auditorium, Princeton University “Unquiet Traveller” (2008), documentary, directed by Bruno Monsaingeon. April 28 at 6:30 p.m. Free. Taplin Auditorium, Princeton University, Nassau Street; princeton.edu/music/events. For Children ENGLEWOOD Bergen Performing Arts Center “Sid the Science Kid Live!” based on the PBS Kids television show. April 24 at 7 p.m. $29 to $49. Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 North Van Brunt Street. (201) 227-1030; bergenpac.org. MILLBURN Paper Mill Playhouse “Charlotte’s Web,” based on the children’s book by E. B. White. April 25 and 26. $12.75. “Seussical,” a sensory-friendly performance for children with autism. April 27 at 10 a.m. $12.75. Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive. (973) 376-4343; papermill.org. NEW BRUNSWICK State Theater Sesame Street Live, “Can’t Stop Singing,” a musical. Through April 20. $18 to $75. State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue. (732) 246-7469; statetheatrenj.org. PRINCETON Princeton University Art Museum “Art for Families: A Chip off the Old Block,” sculpture art projects. April 26 at 10:30 a.m. Free. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton University Campus. (609) 258-3788; artmuseum.princeton .edu. RED BANK Count Basie Theater “Sid the Science Kid Live!” based on the PBS Kids television show. April 28 at 3 p.m. $19.50 and $25. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. (732) 842-9000; countbasietheatre.org. RED BANK Two River Theater “Hatched: Life on the Farm,” a play written and directed by Mara McEwin, performed by Treehouse Shakers. April 26 at 10 a.m., 1:30 and 4 p.m. $15 and $20. Ages 2 to 6. Two River Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue. (732) 345-1400; trtc.org. WAYNE Shea Center for Performing Arts, William Paterson University “The Ugly Duckling,” performed by Lightwire Theater. April 27 at 2 p.m. $10 and $12. Shea Center for Performing Arts, William Paterson University, 300 Pompton Road. (973) 720-2371; wplive.org. Music and Dance ENGLEWOOD Bergen Performing Arts Center “Ballet on Broadway,” Broadway dance sequences performed by the New Jersey Ballet. April 26 at 8 p.m. $29 to $49. “Brahms’ First Symphony,” presented by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra featuring works of Brahms and Beethoven. May 1 at 7:30 p.m. $20 to $80. For tickets: njsymphony.org; (973) 624-3713. Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 North Van Brunt Street. (201) 227-1030; bergenpac.org. HILLSIDE Enlow Recital Hall at Kean University “Steps in Time,” a song and dance performance by Tommy Tune. April 27 at 3 p.m. $40 to $55. Enlow Recital Hall at Kean University, 215 North Avenue. enlowhall.kean.edu; (908) 737-7469. MORRISTOWN Mayo Performing Arts Center Melissa Etheridge, rock. April 28 at 8 p.m. $59 to $109. Merle Haggard and the Strangers, country. April 29 at 7:30 p.m. $49 to $79. “MOMIX: Botanica,” an abstract multi-media performance celebrating botanical forms. May 1 at 8 p.m. $29 to $49. Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South Street. (973) 539-8008; mayoarts.org. NEW BRUNSWICK State Theater New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents “The Wizard of Oz,” led by Constantine Kitsopoulos. April 27 at 3 p.m. $20 to $88. Paul Rodgers, rock. April 30 at 8 p.m. $35 to $85. For New Jersey Symphony Orchestra tickets: (973) 624-3713; njsymphony.org. “ABBA the Concert,” a tribute, featuring original members of the band’s rhythm section. May 2 at 8 p.m. $35 to $65. State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue. (732) 246-7469; statetheatrenj.org. NEWARK New Jersey Performing Arts Center “Brahms’ First Symphony,” presented by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra featuring works of Brahms and Beethoven. May 3 and 4. $20 to $90. For tickets: njsymphony.org; (973) 624-3713. New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street. njpac.org; (888) 466-5722. NEWARK Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents “The Wizard of Oz,” led by Constantine Kitsopoulos. April 26 at 8 p.m. $20 to $88. For tickets: (973) 624-3713; njsymphony.org. Julio Iglesias, Latin singer. April 27 at 7 p.m. $39.50 to $99.50. Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street. njpac.org; (888) 466-5722. NEWARK The Chase Room, New Jersey Performing Arts Center Norm Lewis, Broadway actor and singer. May 3 at 6 and 8:30 p.m. $56 and $78. The Chase Room, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street. njpac.org; (888) 466-5722. NEWARK Victoria Theater, New Jersey Performing Arts Center Ani DiFranco, singer and songwriter. April 23 at 8 p.m. $66.65 and $89.50. “Jersey Moves! Festival of Dance,” performances by the American Repertory Ballet, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Cleo Mack Dance Project, Maurice Chestnut, Timothy Kochka and Claire Porter. May 3 at 8 p.m. $24 to $39. Victoria Theater, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street. (888) 466-5722; njpac.org. PRINCETON McCarter Theater Center Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano. April 21 at 7:30 p.m. $20 to $55. Nico Muhly, contemporary classical composer. April 25 at 8 p.m. $50. McCarter Theater Center, 91 University Place. (609) 258-2787; mccarter.org. PRINCETON Procter Hall Gallicantus, Renaissance Vocal Ensemble, performing music by William Byrd and Philippe de Monte, directed by Gabriel Crouch, Princeton’s director of choral programs. April 26 at 7:30 and 10 p.m. $5 and $15. Procter Hall, Graduate College, Princeton. (609) 258-6115; princetonuniversityconcerts.org. PRINCETON Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University “Brahms’ First Symphony,” presented by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra featuring works of Brahms and Beethoven. May 2 at 8 p.m. $20 to $90. For tickets: njsymphony.org; (973) 624-3713. Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University, Nassau Street. (609) 497-0020; princeton.edu. PRINCETON Taplin Auditorium, Princeton University “PLOrk — Princeton Laptop Orchestra,” an experimental musical performance. April 23 at 7 p.m. Taplin Auditorium, Princeton University, Nassau Street. (609) 258-4241; princeton.edu/music/events. RAHWAY Union County Performing Arts Center “NJIO 20th Anniversary Concert” presented by New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra. April 27 at 3 p.m. $10; free for students and children. Union County Performing Arts Center, 1601 Irving Street. (732) 499-8226; ucpac.org. RED BANK Count Basie Theater Julio Iglesias, Latin singer. April 29 at 8 p.m. $35 to $125. Merle Haggard, country. April 30 at 8 p.m. $39 to $110. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. (732) 842-9000; countbasietheatre.org. SOUTH ORANGE South Orange Performing Arts Center “Jazz in the Loft: Wincey Terry,” featuring up-and-coming musicians and professionals. May 4 at 7 p.m. $17. South Orange Performing Arts Center, 1 Sopac Way. (973) 313-2787; sopacnow.org. TEANECK Puffin Cultural Forum DanzaNova, a quintet. April 26 at 8 p.m. $10 suggested donation. Puffin Cultural Forum, 20 Puffin Way. puffinculturalforum.org; (201) 836-3499. WEST LONG BRANCH Pollak Theater, Monmouth University Alejandro Escovedo and the Sensitive Boys with special guest Amy Cook, rock, presented by the Light of Day Foundation. April 25 at 8 p.m. $24 to $54. Pollak Theater, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue. (732) 263-6889; monmouth.edu/arts_events. WEST ORANGE Luna Stage Oscar Perez and Bob DeVos Quartet, jazz. April 27 at 7 p.m. $18. Luna Stage, 555 Valley Road. (973) 395-5551; lunastage.org. Outdoors PRINCETON Paul Robeson Center for the Arts “Communiversity Festival of the Arts,” featuring musicians, dancers, artists, artisans, foodies and more. April 27 at 1 p.m. Free. Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, 102 Witherspoon Street. (609) 924-8777; artscouncilofprinceton.org. Theater HAMPTON Hunterdon Hills Playhouse “Busybody,” comedy-mystery by Jack Popplewell. Through May 22. $50.50 and $63.50; includes entree and desserts. Hunterdon Hills Playhouse, 88 Route 173 West. hhplayhouse.com; (800) 447-7313. LONG BRANCH New Jersey Repertory Company, Lumia Theater “A View of the Mountains,” drama by Lee Blessing. April 24 through May 24. $35 and $42. New Jersey Repertory Company, Lumia Theater, 179 Broadway. (732) 229-3166; njrep.org. MIDDLETOWN Navesink Library Theater “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” by Neil Simon. Through May 2. $18; students and seniors $15. Navesink Library Theater, Sears and Monmouth Avenues. (732) 291-9211; monmouthplayers.org. MILLBURN Paper Mill Playhouse “South Pacific,” musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. Through May 4. $35 to $100. Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive. (973) 376-4343; papermill.org. NEW BRUNSWICK Crossroads Theater “Lift,” drama by Walter Mosley. Through April 24. $10 to $65. Crossroads Theater, 7 Livingston Avenue. (732) 545-8100; crossroadstheatrecompany.org. NEW BRUNSWICK George Street Playhouse “Our Town,” by Thornton Wilder. April 21 through May 25. $40 to $67. George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Avenue. (732) 246-7717; gsponline.org. PRINCETON McCarter Theater Center “The Figaro Plays” by Pierre Beaumarchais, both adapted and directed by Stephen Wadsworth. “The Marriage of Figaro,” through May 3. “The Barber of Seville,” through May 4. Each, $20 to $87.50. McCarter Theater Center, 91 University Place. mccarter.org; (609) 258-2787. RAHWAY Hamilton Stage “Marry Harry,” musical with book by Jennifer Robbins, music by Dan Martin and lyrics by Michael Biello. April 23 through May 11. $35. Hamilton Stage, 360 Hamilton Street. (732) 499-8226; ucpac.org. RED BANK Count Basie Theater “Shrek the Musical,” with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, presented by Phoenix Productions. April 25 at 8 p.m. $22 to $29. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. countbasietheatre.org; (732) 842-9000. RED BANK Two River Theater “Trouble in Mind,” drama by Alice Childress. Through April 27. $24 to $45. Two River Theater Company, 21 Bridge Avenue. (732) 345-1400; trtc.org. SOUTH ORANGE South Orange Performing Arts Center “Dido and Aeneas,” opera presented by Seton Hall University Arts Council and the MidAtlantic Opera. May 1 through 4. $7 to $24, children under 18 free. South Orange Performing Arts Center, 1 Sopac Way. sopacnow.org; (973) 313-2787. SUMMIT Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater at Oakes Center “Motherhood Out Loud,” a compilation of pieces about motherhood featuring the work of 14 playwrights. April 24 through May 11. $30 and $35. Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater at Oakes Center, 120 Morris Avenue. dreamcatcherrep.org; (908) 514-9654. WEST ORANGE Luna Stage “Marisol,” urban fantasy by José Rivera. Through May 11. $25 to $35. New Moon Reading Series: “A Wire in Water,” reading of a play by Justin Warner, playwright. April 21 at 7:30 p.m. $5. Luna Stage, 555 Valley Road. (973) 395-5551; lunastage.org. Museums and Galleries CAMDEN Fine Arts Complex, Rutgers — Camden campus “Compulsive Narratives: Stories That Must Be Told, the Graphic Novel as Confession and Inspiration.” Through April 26. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Rutgers-Camden campus, Fine Arts Complex, on Third Street between Cooper Street and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. (856) 225-6245; rcca.camden.rutgers.edu. CLINTON Hunterdon Art Museum “Glass! From the Wheaton Arts Museum of American Glass.” Through May 11. $5 suggested donation. Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hunterdon Art Museum, 7 Lower Center Street. hunterdonartmuseum.org; (908) 735-8415. ENGLEWOOD Bergen Performing Arts Center “Salute to Women in the Arts @40,” group show. Through April 29. Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 North Van Brunt Street. (201) 503-8324; bergenpac.org. ENGLEWOOD Mark Gallery “America’s Women,” paintings and works on paper by America Martin. Through May 22. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mark Gallery, 11 Grand Avenue. mark-gallery.com; (201) 568-6275. FREEHOLD Monmouth County Historical Association Museum and Library “Properly Dressed: Art and Reality in 18th- and Early-19th-Century Dress in Monmouth.” Through Aug. 2. $5, $2.50 seniors and students. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monmouth County Historical Association Museum and Library, 70 Court Street. (732) 462-1466;monmouthhistory.org. GLASSBORO Rowan University Art Gallery “Tom Nussbaum: Heads and Tales,” solo show featuring a variety of mediums. Through May 10. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Rowan University Art Gallery, 201 Mullica Hill Road. rowan.edu/artgallery;(856) 256-4521. HALEDON American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark “Outsourced!” Images of mixed technique on paper by Robin Holder. Through April 26. $3 to $5 suggested donation; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 1 to 4 p.m., or by appointment. American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark, 83 Norwood Street. (973) 595-7953; labormuseum.org. LAMBERTVILLE The Artists’ Gallery “Down East,” works by the artist Michael Schweigart and the photographer Paul Grecian. Through May 4. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street. lambertvillearts.com; (609) 397-4588. LAYTON Sally D. Francisco Gallery at Peters Valley School of Craft “Considering the Kylix: Contemporary Interpretations of a Classical Form,” works by 45 contemporary craft artists. Through May 18. Mondays and Tuesdays, and Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sally D. Francisco Gallery at Peters Valley School of Craft, 19 Kuhn Road. petersvalley.org; (973) 948-5202. MADISON Drew University “Palestinian Textiles,” from the collection of Robert J. and Vivian A. Bull at the Korn Gallery. Through April 24. Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue. (973) 408-3758; drew.edu/korngallery. MADISON Museum of Early Trades and Crafts “The American Revolution in New Jersey: Where the Battlefront Meets the Homefront.” Through Feb. 13, 2015. $3 to $13; free for members. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, 9 Main Street. (973) 377-2982; metc.org. MAHWAH Mahwah Museum “Neighborhoods of Mahwah.” Through June 29. $3 to $5; members and children under 5, free. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Mahwah Museum, 201 Franklin Turnpike. (201) 512-0099; mahwahmuseum.org. MONTCLAIR Montclair Art Museum “Spencer Finch: Yellow,” a site-specific installation for the museum’s facade. Through July 31. $12 adults, $10 seniors and students; members and children under 12, free. “Robert Smithson’s New Jersey,” works by Robert Smithson (1938-1973). Through June 22. $12 adults, $10 seniors and students; members and children under 12, free. “100 Works for 100 Years,” a centennial exhibition. Through July 31. $12 adults, $10 seniors and students; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Montclair Art Museum, 3 South Mountain Avenue. (973) 746-5555; montclairartmuseum.org. MORRIS TOWNSHIP Morris Museum “Egg-Zibit: The Art, Science and Culture of Eggs.” Through April 20. $7 to $10. “An Alternate Vision: A Celebration of the National Association of Women Artists,” works produced by members over the past 125 years. Through July 1. “Legacy in Clay: Contemporary American Indian Pottery.” Through Sept. 28. $7 to $10. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road. (973) 971-3700; morrismuseum.org. MORRIS TOWNSHIP Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth “A Moveable Feast: Art, Food and Migration,” 32 contemporary artists explore the effects of travel and migration on food, cooking and dining. Through May 4. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 2 to 6 p.m. Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road. (973) 290-4315; maloneyartgallery.org. MORRISTOWN Gallery at 14 Maple “Capturing Nature,” Natalia Margulis and Joseph Losavio. Through Aug. 27. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Fridays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and by appointment. Gallery at 14 Maple, 14 Maple Avenue. morrisarts.org; (973) 285-5115. MORRISTOWN Haggerty Education Center, Frelinghuysen Arboretum “From the Artist’s Eye,” watercolors and oils in floral, landscape and nature scenes. Through April 30. Daily, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Haggerty Education Center, Frelinghuysen Arboretum, 353 East Hanover Avenue. (973) 326-7600; arboretumfriends.org/events. MORRISTOWN Macculloch Hall Historical Museum “Thomas Nast Brings Down Boss Tweed,” political cartoons. Through Aug. 3. $6 to $8; children 6 to 12, $4; children under 5, free. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, 45 Macculloch Avenue. maccullochhall.org; (973) 538-2404. NEW BRUNSWICK Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum “Maples in the Mist: Chinese Poems for Children, Illustrated by Jean and Mou-sien Tseng.” Through June 22. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. “Striking Resemblance: The Changing Art of Portraiture.” Through July 13. “Odessa’s Second Avant-Garde: City and Myth,” an exhibition that explores the formal and conceptual trends in unofficial art created from the 1960s to the 1980s. April 30 through Oct. 19. Closed for the month of August. General hours: Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton Street. (848) 932-7237; zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu. NEW BRUNSWICK Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation “Eva Zeisel: Life, Design and Beauty,” modern industrial design. Through June 29. Donation: $5. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Museum of the American Hungarian Foundation, 300 Somerset Street. (732) 846-5777; hstrial-pfazekaz.homestead.com. NEWARK The Newark Museum “American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell.” Through May 26. “Papyraceous: Recent Acquisitions, Contemporary Works on Paper,” printmaking, collaging, drawing and painting. Through June 29. “City of Silver and Gold From Tiffany to Cartier,” more than 100 objects documenting the rise of the city’s gold and silver industry. Through 2015. $7 and $12; members, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. The Newark Museum, 49 Washington Street. (973) 596-6550; newarkmuseum.org. PENNINGTON Silva Gallery of Art “5: Five Artists, Five Visions,” group show. Through April 25. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Silva Gallery of Art, Pennington School, 112 West Delaware Avenue. pennington.org/arts/silva-gallery-of-art/index.aspx; (609) 737-4133. PRINCETON Bernstein Gallery “Jaune Quick-To-See Smith: Water and War,” works by the Native American artist Jaune Quick-To-See Smith. Through Aug. 4. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bernstein Gallery, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. (609) 258-8880; wws.princeton.edu/about-wws/bernstein-gallery. PRINCETON Morven Museum and Garden “Micah Williams: Portrait Artist,” featuring works by the portrait painter Micah Williams (1782-1837). Through Sept. 14. $5 and $6. Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Morven Museum and Garden, 55 Stockton Street. (609) 924-8144; morven.org. PRINCETON Princeton University Art Museum “500 Years of Italian Master Drawings From the Princeton University Art Museum.” Through May 11. “Edvard Munch: Symbolism in Print,” 26 compositions in various printmaking techniques. Through June 8. “Installation of Outdoor Sculpture by Alexander Calder.” Through June 15. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton campus. artmuseum.princeton.edu; (609) 258-3788. PRINCETON Princeton University Library “From a Thankful Nation: The Robert L. Ross Collection of Latin American Orders and Medals.” Through Aug. 3. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Princeton University Library, 1 Washington Road. princeton.edu/rbsc/; (609) 258-3184. PRINCETON JUNCTION West Windsor Arts Center “What the Fiber!” fiber arts. Through May 2. West Windsor Arts Center, 952 Alexander Road. (609) 716-1931; westwindsorartscenter.org. RIVERDALE Riverdale Public Library David John Rush, watercolors and oils. Through April 28. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Riverdale Public Library, 93 Newark-Pompton Turnpike. (973) 835-5044; riverdalelibrary.org. STONE HARBOR William Ris Gallery “Flora, Fauna and Far East,” paintings by Jane Hartley. Through April 30. Sundays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. William Ris Gallery, 9400 Second Avenue. williamris.com; (609) 368-6361. TEANECK Puffin Cultural Forum “Revisiting Renewal and the Holocaust,” art in various styles, media and moods by Holocaust survivors. Through April 30. Tuesdays through Thursdays, noon to 4 p.m. Puffin Cultural Forum, 20 Puffin Way. puffinculturalforum.org; (201) 836-3499. TRENTON New Jersey State Museum “Artists of Roosevelt,” exploring the community of visual artists that developed in Roosevelt, N.J. Through May 25. $5 suggested donation. “Nano,” an interactive exhibition of nanoscience. Through Aug. 17. Tuesdays through Sundays, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street. (609) 292-6464; statemuseum.nj.gov. WEST ORANGE Luna Stage “Goddess on Earth: Women of Essex County,” multimedia installations by Lisa Levart, a photographer. Through May 11. Free. Luna Stage, 555 Valley Road. (973) 395-5551; lunastage.org. WESTWOOD Westwood Art Gallery “Jonathan Singer: Photographs on Metal,” floral images printed by dye sublimation into aluminum. Through May 4. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Westwood Art Gallery, 10 Westwood Avenue. westwoodartgallery.com; (201) 666-1800.


After the Harvest, Claiming the Bounty

Abstract: AT 7:11 a.m. on a recent Sunday morning, a box truck making its sixth delivery of the day turned onto a quiet residential street in South Orange, N.J. The truck, which bore no name but was well known to the neighbors because it appeared every Sunday from June through November, backed into the driveway of a large white house. Two men wordlessly jumped out of the cab and unloaded 20 identical bushel boxes, including one that was mine. Each contained garlic, eggplants, sweet and hot peppers, chard, cilantro, potatoes, shallots, green beans and grape tomatoes . The men also left behind 20 bunches of flowers and 20 smaller boxes of tomatoes. After 9 a.m., people started arriving to fetch their boxes. All were shareholders in Honey Brook Organic Farm in Hopewell Township, where the produce was grown. Rather than sift through bins at a supermarket, where all vegetables are available all the time, they had chosen to eat locally and seasonally by joining a movement known as community-supported agriculture. These suburbanites are part of a small but growing band of eaters who know exactly where, and how, their vegetables are grown. They also eat no food before its time. Strawberries are eaten in June; arugula is enjoyed in the fall. Food used to be something I bought at a store. After reading about the operation at Honey Brook in 2006, it turned into much more. “Community-supported agriculture” is a clumsy term for a business model pioneered in 1986 on two small farms in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Today, it is exploding, in the suburbs of New York and elsewhere. Under the arrangement, a farmer forges a personal relationship with consumers by selling them shares of his crops in advance of the growing season. At Honey Brook, one of the largest C.S.A.’s in the country, farm members don’t have to work in the fields. Nor do they even have to go there. Most members pick up their weekly shares at the farm, seven miles west of Princeton, but the farm also delivers boxed shares three times a week in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Figuring that a weekly bushel box of vegetables would be too much for my small household, I found a friend willing to split the price of a box share, then $577. On a cold evening in January 2007, I wrote the check, and voilà! Strawberries and lettuce appeared five months later. Then came bok choy, collards, chard, beets, potatoes, spinach and other crops. My friend and I were happy to support agriculture in an urbanized state. I certainly enjoyed eating local food . But I did not feel a connection to the farm. I did not take advantage of the “pick your own” privileges, or meet the farmer. And I did not partake of the farm’s social events, like the local-fare potluck dinner, or the end-of-season invitation to pick the fields clean. No, this was a long-distance relationship, and to be honest, it felt a little furtive. Early Sunday mornings I drove to South Orange, parked, walked up the driveway and entered an open garage. The boxes were stacked next to a clipboard, where I checked off my name. I did not know who owned the house, and never saw anyone. This year I accepted an assignment to research the story behind my box, and everything changed. I met the farmer, Jim Kinsel, 50; his wife, Sherry Dudas, 44; and their dog, Jack. I was introduced to their staff, including members of the Camacho family, who provide most of the backbreaking farm labor. The oldest grew up on a ranch in Mexico, but they are now based in Texas. During New Jersey’s growing season, they live apart from their families, in a rented house in Trenton. Over a week’s time, I watched farm members — many of them families with children — collect their weekly shares and go to the pick-your-own fields for more. I picked jade beans, raspberries, blackberries and purple basil myself. I helped with the coming Sunday’s delivery, cutting flowers on Saturday with a farm intern, Yau Li, a recent Rutgers graduate from Jamaica, Queens. On Sunday, I joined the farm’s driver, Mike Monk, as he hauled 226 boxed shares, including mine, to North Jersey. At 3:30 a.m., Mr. Monk, a truck driver from Ewing Township for whom this is a second job, put the truck in gear and inched off the dirt road. “Whoa, she’s heavy,” he said. “Can feel the load over my rear wheels.” Over the next five and a half hours, assisted by Juan Camacho, he unloaded the cargo in nine towns. In the process, I developed an affinity for the farm. I also discovered who lived in the house in South Orange. Not all C.S.A.’s function alike. Some require members to work; others don’t. Some involve members in decision-making; others view them as subscribers. But all are bound by the idea that members share the risks inherent in farming, as well as the bounty. While family farms continue to decline across the country, the number of C.S.A.’s has jumped from 50 in 1990 to more than 2,000, according to www.localharvest.org in Santa Cruz, Calif., an Internet guide to organic and local food. C.S.A.’s have become so popular that many in Connecticut and New Jersey have waiting lists. Most are small, and many of the growers are tenants. Mr. Kinsel leases Honey Brook from the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, an environmental group that manages a large nature reserve. In 2008, the farm sold out, with 2,313 shares, 525 of them delivered. Members paid $600 for delivery of a box share, $604 for a family-size farm pickup, and $358 for an individual share, also picked up at the farm. Ms. Dudas described the price as “a good value,” and said that in 2006 (the most recent calculation) members paying $528 for a family share received the equivalent of produce that would have cost $1,861 at a nearby Whole Foods Market. Before getting hooked on agriculture, Mr. Kinsel started out after college in the actuarial department of Prudential, the insurance company, in Newark. Ms. Dudas is a former state employee who worked on farmland preservation issues. They live on the farm and employ a permanent staff of 11. The farm started small, in 1991, with Mr. Kinsel farming 3.5 acres for 50 local families. After 9/11, membership boomed. Ms. Dudas worked to broaden the farm’s appeal. “We starting looking at our mission. I wanted to address criticism that organic only addressed the upper middle class,” she said. She put Trenton on the farm’s delivery route, and advertised in publications catering to minorities. Honey Brook turned its first profit around 2001. Today, it provides a good living. “Wholesaling for a farm this size is no longer viable, even for an organic farm, but a C.S.A. can work,” Mr. Kinsel said. “We have a customer base who’s affluent and well educated, and New Jersey has shown a commitment to farmland preservation.” By 2007, the couple had saved enough money to buy their own farm, in Chesterfield. My Sunday box began to take shape on Wednesday, when Mr. Kinsel drew up a preliminary plan with David Camacho, his field manager since 1993. Mr. Camacho has a finely honed ability to anticipate when a vegetable or fruit will ripen, and seems to know exactly when to harvest. Unlike produce grown far away and delivered to supermarkets, many of the farm’s crops remain in the ground until a day or two before members get them. The two men debated what to include outside the box, as extras. At least once a season, the farm likes to deliver flowers. Would the flowers, now blooming, hold another week? What about the watermelons ? The final decision on the boxes’ contents came at noon on Thursday, when the field boss made his final assessment. From her office in the farmhouse, Susan Barosko, the office manager, talked by walkie-talkie to Mr. Camacho. Then, in an e-mail message, she advised members what they were likely to get. As usual, she included a recipe (“Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots”). Most of the crops were harvested on Saturday, beginning at 6:30 a.m. Field workers harvested and washed them; two teenagers, including Mr. Kinsel’s niece, sorted and packed them. A different crew arranged flowers in bunches, a process that took hours. The boxes, meanwhile, were set up in a refrigerated trailer. After being filled, they were transferred to the delivery truck and kept chilled overnight. Quitting time was around 7 p.m. Sunday’s ride started in darkness. By the time we hit Morristown, our fourth stop, it was light. In Summit, we spied our first farm member, returning home from walking her dog. In South Orange, Sam Stoloff, a literary agent in Manhattan with three young children, was not home when we arrived with the boxes. But I knew his story. “When we moved out to New Jersey six years ago, my wife and I had already started talking about eating locally and eating organic, so I just started searching on the Web,” he said when I phoned him a few days earlier. “I saw the farm delivered to a town nearby and contacted them. They said they would deliver here, if I could organize 20 members.” He did. And they came.

Organic Food
Local Food
Agriculture
Vegetables
Farmers
New Jersey
Connecticut
Long Island (NY)
Westchester County (NY)
Sustainable Living