Citigroup Finds Out That It’s Not Nice to Mess With J.R.

Abstract: WHEN he played the oil tycoon J. R. Ewing Jr., in “Dallas,” the long-running, ’80s-era nighttime soap opera, Larry Hagman didn’t get mad at his adversaries. He got even. Last week, Mr. Hagman, 79, got even once again. This time it was against his broker. A securities arbitration panel awarded Mr. Hagman and his wife Maj, 82, a big victory against Citigroup , which had overseen some of the couple’s investment accounts. The three arbitrators who heard the case ordered Citigroup to pay the Hagmans $1.1 million in compensatory damages — slightly less than the $1.345 million they had requested — as well as $439,000 in legal fees. But the kicker was the punitive damages award in the case, which accused Citigroup’s brokerage unit, Smith Barney, of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and failure to supervise the broker overseeing the Hagmans’ funds. The panel ordered Citigroup to pay $10 million to charities chosen by Mr. Hagman. The award was the largest given to an individual this year, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which oversaw the arbitration. The Hagman award was also the only one in which a panel ordered that punitive damages go to charity, Finra said. Finra has been recording arbitration awards for 21 years, and Mr. Hagman snared the ninth-largest amount ever awarded. A spokesman for Citigroup said that “we are disappointed and disagree with the panel’s finding and we are reviewing our options.” That suggests that Citigroup — which said in its own defense that it wasn’t responsible for the losses — might seek to overturn the award. But arbitrations are rarely reversed. Moreover, it’s hard to imagine an award destined for charitable organizations being overturned. So here’s what happened to the Hagmans: In 2005, they moved their account from a registered investment adviser to Lisa Ann Detanna, a broker at what is now Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. (When the couple first invested with Smith Barney, Citigroup still owned it; Citigroup sold a controlling stake in the brokerage to Morgan Stanley in 2009.) According to documents produced in the Hagmans’ case, Ms. Detanna quickly began upending the couple’s portfolio, taking it from a conservative blend of 25 percent stocks and 75 percent fixed income and cash to the opposite: 75 percent stocks and the rest cash and bonds. Never mind that when the Hagmans first sat down with Ms. Detanna, they told her they needed income-producing investments that would preserve their principal, according to the documents. Ms. Detanna also sold Mr. Hagman a $4 million life insurance policy that required onerous annual premium payments of $168,000. PHILIP M. AIDIKOFF, a lawyer at Aidikoff, Uhl & Bakhtian in Los Angeles, represented the Hagmans in the case. “Like most retail customers, Mr. Hagman trusted Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to do what they said they would do,” he said. “He told the broker that he and his wife were conservative and did not need to take any significant risk with the assets they were transferring. This knowledge of the conservative risk tolerance was confirmed over and over to my clients.” When the market fell, Mr. Hagman’s lawyer argued, the account’s losses were far larger than they would have been had Ms. Detanna maintained the conservative portfolio. And the life insurance policy, which Mr. Hagman did not need and was therefore unsuitable according to his lawyer, generated losses of almost $437,000 when sold. The losses included an exit fee of $168,610, which Citigroup extracted when Mr. Hagman sold the policy. Mr. Hagman, who recently returned from Europe, where he made personal appearances for “Dallas” fans, said he was surprised by the award but felt it was justified. “I hire people to take care of these things for me,” he said in an interview. “I felt a little bit taken advantage of.” Documents produced in the case by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney confirmed that the firm had been advised repeatedly of the conservative nature of the Hagmans’ investment preferences. The firm also produced materials indicating that a portfolio mix dominated by equities, as the Hagmans’ portfolio was, does not qualify as conservative. Nevertheless, Ms. Detanna piled the couple into stocks. Much back and forth in the case focused on whether Don T. Davis, her manager in a Beverly Hills office, failed to supervise her properly. A broker who generates significant commissions for her firm, Ms. Detanna was named in June by Barron’s as one of the top 100 Women Financial Advisers in America. A spokeswoman for the firm said that neither Mr. Davis nor Ms. Detanna would comment for this article and noted that the problems occurred when Citigroup controlled Smith Barney. “The investment activity that was the subject of this arbitration occurred before Morgan Stanley Smith Barney came into existence,” she said. A look at Ms. Detanna’s full regulatory record, however, shows nine customer complaints in addition to Mr. Hagman’s between 2000 and 2010. Of these 10 complaints, four resulted in awards or settlements, four were dismissed, one was withdrawn and one is pending. Regardless of their disposition, the sheer number of complaints should have raised flags for Ms. Detanna’s manager if he had followed his firm’s compliance rules, Mr. Aidikoff told the arbitrators. Mr. Davis’s branch office manager compliance handbook, dated June 2006, states that a broker may require special supervision “if he/she has received three or more complaints and/or arbitrations in a rolling 12-month period or two complaints/arbitrations in a rolling six-month period.” But in testimony during the arbitration, Mr. Davis conceded that he had never placed Ms. Detanna under increased supervision, even though her record indicated four complaints within a 12-month period in 2002 and 2003. Notices to member firms published by Finra over the years also warned that managers should increase their oversight of brokers who are subjects of numerous complaints. And the number of complaints on Ms. Detanna’s record makes her a rarity in an industry where a tiny fraction of brokers receive even five. Mr. Aidikoff said he had never seen a compliance history as riddled with complaints as that of Ms. Detanna. Such complaints are recorded in a C.R.D., or central registration depository. The arbitration panel overseeing the Hagman matter rejected Citigroup’s request that the decision in the actor’s case be removed from Ms. Detanna’s regulatory record. Of course, there’s an obvious reason that some branch managers prefer not to admonish their big producers: They receive a portion of the hefty commissions that star brokers generate. Mr. Davis, the manager charged with overseeing Ms. Detanna, had such an arrangement, Mr. Aidikoff said. Mr. Hagman said he was not sure which charities he’d designate as recipients of the $10 million award. Because his wife has Alzheimer’s, he said he would earmark some money to those working on a cure. “It’s an opportunity to do some good,” he said. Mr. Aidikoff said he thought the unusual award reflected the panel’s view that the firm “refused to accept that broker supervision is really at the heart of the retail stock market. “The message the panel is sending is, ‘You guys have to take your supervisory obligations seriously,’ ” he added. “And the only way to remind them of how important this is, is to hit them over with a punitive damage award.” Or, as Mr. Hagman used to say in character on “Dallas”: “The world is littered with the bodies of people that tried to stick it to ole J. R. Ewing!”

Citigroup Inc
Hagman Larry
Financial Brokers
Arbitration Conciliation and Mediation
Stocks and Bonds


George Bush Is Out of Intensive Care

Abstract: HOUSTON (AP) — Former President George H. W. Bush ’s condition continued to improve Saturday, prompting doctors to move him out of intensive care, a family spokesman said. “President Bush’s condition has improved, so he has been moved today from the intensive care unit to a regular patient room at the Methodist Hospital to continue his recovery,” the spokesman, Jim McGrath, said Saturday. “The Bushes thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes.” Mr. Bush, 88, was hospitalized Nov. 23 for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough. He was moved to intensive care at the hospital, in Houston, last Sunday after he developed a fever. On Friday, Mr. McGrath said Mr. Bush had improved since arriving in the intensive care unit. He said Mr. Bush was alert and in good spirits and was even doing some singing. Mr. Bush, the 41st president, is the country’s oldest living former president by a few months.


Knicks Not a Pretty Picture When Painted by Numbers

Abstract: An old Johnny Mercer song said you should “accentuate the positive” and “eliminate the negative.” For the Knicks, at the season’s midpoint, that is proving to be a difficult task. Determining what the Knicks are bad at is fairly easy. They are bad on the road (8-12); they are bad at home (7-14, the second-fewest home victories in the N.B.A.). They are bad against teams with winning records (7-17); they are bad against teams with losing records (8-9). They are bad in games decided by 3 points or less (1-5); they are bad in games decided by more than 10 points (6-13). They are especially bad while wearing orange (0-6 before abandoning the alternate uniforms) or when playing matinees at Madison Square Garden (0-5, including four blowouts). Over all, they are 15-26, the opposite of where they were at this point last season. Then again, it’s not completely negative. While the Knicks have a losing record against five of the N.B.A.’s six divisions, they have a winning record against the Southeast, including an upset victory over the Miami Heat earlier this month. Going 6-5 against a single division may not seem like much — in fact, it’s pretty trivial — but other than a 2-1 record in overtime games, it is the only way to sort the standings and have the Knicks come out with a positive result. Along the road to losing in so many different ways, the Knicks produced a player who was so marginal that he didn’t leave a fingerprint on the two games in which he made cameo appearances before being released. That player, Chris Smith, J. R.’s younger brother, saw less than two minutes of action over all, hardly the time needed to put up some numbers. But Smith, seemingly on the Knicks’ roster as a favor to his brother, had zeros across the board, failing to register a single statistic that appears in a box score. When a player does that, it is known as a trillion because of all of the zeros that follow minutes played. In addition, Smith registered a 0.0 in player-efficiency rating, an advanced statistic that measures a player’s overall effectiveness and uses 15 as the predetermined league average. Perhaps Smith, 26, will get another shot at the N.B.A. some day and get rid of some of those zeros. Beyond Smith it does not get that much better. Just four Knicks have reached the league average in player-efficiency, and one of those players, Jeremy Tyler, has played all of 28 minutes. Meanwhile, lost in the losing, the bad dramatics (J. R. Smith easily warrants his own article in that regard) and the ongoing speculation (Coach Mike Woodson may not have much time left to turn things around) is a nice season by Carmelo Anthony. Accused of being a shot-happy ball-hog in the past, Anthony has sacrificed some of his own offense this season while trying to do more to help the team win. His 9.1 rebounds a game are a career high, and he has increased his per-game averages in assists, steals and blocks while reducing his turnovers and personal fouls. He is playing more minutes than ever and shooting a career-high 39.5 percent from 3-point range. Despite Anthony’s positive work, the indelible image of him this season will be of him shaking his head following a J. R. Smith blunder, as has been captured in a variety of shots. Currently on a four-game losing streak, the Knicks have, amusingly, not lost much ground in the playoff race. A .366 winning percentage puts the Knicks on pace for 30 wins this season, yet leaves them just two games behind Charlotte for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. If the positive is being accentuated, Knicks fans can at least console themselves with the knowledge that, in terms of postseason contention, their team picked a fantastic year to play poorly. It stands to reason, however, that the last few spots in the noncompetitive East will go to the teams that come into their own in the second half. There is little reason to believe the Knicks have that in them, since every time they appear to improve, they immediately short circuit. But stranger things have happened. And if the negative is being eliminated, the good news is that there are plenty of games remaining against the Southeast, including three against the Heat. Miami may be the two-time defending N.B.A. champions, but this season they are 0-1 against the Knicks.


Supporters Send Baseball Bats to Paladino

Abstract: BUFFALO — Carl P. Paladino often speaks of clobbering the ineffective state government in Albany with a baseball bat. Now, he may actually be able to do so. In recent weeks, supporters have sent Mr. Paladino, the Republican nominee for governor, a half-dozen bats of various kinds and colors: plastic, mahogany, ketchup-red, faded yellow. Most of them sit in a pile near his desk in his Buffalo office; some are on reserve in his campaign car. The latest arrived this week: a 44-inch wooden bat inscribed with the words “Corruption Crippler” and “Ethics Elixir.” It came from YesterYear’s Vintage Doors in Hammond, N.Y. “Give ’em hell, Carl!” a letter from the company said. “It seemed to work for Theodore Roosevelt!” Mr. Paladino said he would put the bats to good use, though he had no plans to use them at rallies. “We’ll probably put them up in a showcase saying, ‘These are the bats that Carl accumulated during the election,’ ” he said. One fan sent Mr. Paladino a custom-made Cooperstown bat with “Governor Carl Paladino” written on the side. A Buffalo construction company sent a plastic yellow bat. Howard W. Demick, chief executive of YesterYear’s Vintage Doors, said the bat was a symbol for how Mr. Paladino would take on corruption. “He has to make sure he smiles when he holds it up,” said Mr. Demick, who said he made the bat in about an hour. “It is not supposed to be a life-threatening thing.” JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ Sweet-and-Sour Strategy Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand is evidently borrowing a page from Andrew M. Cuomo ’s campaign when it comes to advertising. On Wednesday, Ms. Gillibrand, a Democrat who is trying to win her first statewide general election, released her latest advertisements — one a positive spot about her efforts to help veterans, and the other a negative one attacking her Republican opponent, former Representative Joseph J. DioGuardi , as a lobbyist who cheated on his taxes and voted to increase his own pay while in Congress. “Joe DioGuardi — big-spending congressman, tax violations, lobbyist,” a narrator says. “You decide if he’s right for New York.” Until this week, Ms. Gillibrand had only released positive advertisements about her efforts to make Congress more transparent, and about her advocacy for her native upstate New York. But with recent polls suggesting that Mr. DioGuardi is within striking distance, her campaign advisers felt that the time was right to give voters a bad impression of Mr. DioGuardi. The sweet-and-sour strategy echoes what Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who is the state attorney general, did last week in his bid to become New York’s next governor against Mr. Paladino. In his positive spot, Mr. Cuomo relied on a Republican woman from Buffalo to tell the story of how she was harassed by a debt collector for a bill she did not owe — harassed, that is, until she contacted Mr. Cuomo’s office, which led to the arrest of the collectors. The negative one accused Mr. Paladino, a developer, of trading campaign contributions in exchange for prized real estate contracts with the state. Ms. Gillibrand and Mr. Cuomo are able to do this, in part, because of the financial advantage they enjoy over their opponents. But Mr. DioGuardi is not about to stay quiet. He released his first advertisement this week, in which he introduces himself as the son of immigrants and as the first in his family to go to high school or college. He then says that “my No. 1 priority will be to stop this runaway spending train” and pledges to push for private-sector jobs. His advertisement features the same images of stores draped by signs that read “Going Out of Business” and “Business Closed” as seen in a commercial from John Stephen, the Republican running for governor in New Hampshire. DAVID W. CHEN

Political Advertising
Paladino Carl P
Gillibrand Kirsten E
DioGuardi Joseph J
Cuomo Andrew M
New York State
Elections


Junior Seau’s Family Sues N.F.L.

Abstract: The family of Junior Seau, a former star linebacker who shot and killed himself last year, sued the N.F.L., the helmet maker Riddell and others on Wednesday, accusing them of hiding information about the link between head hits and long-term cognitive issues. The family said the league not only “propagated the false myth that collisions of all kinds, including brutal and ferocious collisions, many of which lead to short-term and long-term neurological damage to players, are an acceptable, desired and natural consequence of the game,” but also that “the N.F.L. failed to disseminate to then-current and former N.F.L. players health information it possessed” about the risks associated with brain trauma. Seau’s family, which filed the case in state court in San Diego, is seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages. Seau was 43 when he shot himself in the chest at his home in California in May. He played 20 seasons in the N.F.L. with the San Diego Chargers, the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. This month the National Institutes of Health said tissue samples from Seau’s brain showed that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy , or C.T.E., a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head hits and brain trauma. “We were saddened to learn that Junior, a loving father and teammate, suffered from C.T.E.,” Seau’s family said in a statement after its complaint was filed. “We know this lawsuit will not bring back Junior. But it will send a message that the N.F.L. needs to care for its former players, acknowledge its decades of deception on the issue of head injuries and player safety, and make the game safer for future generations.” Greg Aiello, a spokesman for the N.F.L., said the league’s lawyers would “respond to the claims appropriately through the court.” The N.F.L. has often asked courts to move these cases to federal court in Philadelphia, where similar complaints have been consolidated. More than 4,000 retired N.F.L. players and their family members, including those of Ray Easterling and Dave Duerson, who also committed suicide, have similar cases pending there. The N.F.L. has asked that the cases be dismissed, arguing that the league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players covers these issues.

Junior Seau
Football
Suicide
Chargers
Lawsuit
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Riddell
Brain


Roaming Free in Florida, a Pig Gains Local Fame

Abstract: MIAMI — Thomas Paine and Ayn Rand, make way for Porky. Or is it Wilbur? No one really knows what to call the 150-pound pig roaming free in Panama City, Fla., but by eluding the authorities for five months, shaking off a Taser and four tranquilizer darts on Tuesday, the porker has become more than just swine. The pig is now a local libertarian hero . Supporters describe the animal as a freedom-loving outlaw with a taste for corn. His Facebook page lists more than 200 fans, like Mary K. Sittman, who asked this week, “Is the pig a symbol of our desire to live free of government controls?” In an interview, Ms. Sittman said the pig, which lives in a lush, muddy park near her home, had “to be a real survivor.” It is this independence, she said, that appeals to residents in her mostly conservative area in the Florida Panhandle. The pig is also frugal fun. “Now we have something free to do on a hot summer night,” said Ms. Sittman, 62, a real estate developer semiretired by the recession. “We can go pig-spotting.” Local officials, though, see the pig as more of a hogzilla in the making. Jim Crosby, division manager for Bay County Animal Control, said the pig charged him and his deputies on Monday and nearly tore a chunk of flesh from their calves. A woman walking her dog near the park on Thursday reported that the pig also rushed her. “It has been fed by people and chased by some teenagers,” Mr. Crosby said, adding, “We are afraid the pig could hurt humans or could run into the road and get hit by a car.” A family in a rural area about 50 miles away has volunteered to accept the pig, without turning him into bacon. So Mr. Crosby said he would keep trying, until he got Porky in a poke. “We’ve re-evaluated which tranquilizers we’ll be using,” he said. “With the four darts in him Tuesday, he looked like he had a couple of good shots of tequila, but that was it.”


John Oliver to Leave ‘The Daily Show’ to Host Weekly Show on HBO

Abstract: John Oliver has turned his widely praised stint this summer filling in for Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” into a regular program of his own on HBO. The network announced Thursday that Mr. Oliver, who will be leaving “The Daily Show,” would star in a topical, weekly comedy series to start sometime next year. The description of the show makes it sound much like what Mr. Oliver has become known for on Comedy Central, where he has been a correspondent for “The Daily Show” since 2006: a satirical show focused on politics and current events. HBO said Mr. Oliver’s new show would play on the network’s feature night for original programming, Sunday. During his summer as the anchor of “The Daily Show” when Mr. Stewart was in the Middle East directing a movie, Mr. Oliver racked up nearly universal raves. He has been the subject of some heated pursuit for his own show since then.

John Oliver
HBO
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Cable television
Comedy Central
TV


Fox News Settled Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Bill O’Reilly, Documents Show

Abstract: In the weeks after Roger Ailes was ousted as the chairman of Fox News in July amid a sexual harassment scandal, company executives secretly struck an agreement with a longtime broadcast personality who had come forward with similar accusations about the network’s top host, Bill O’Reilly. The employee, Juliet Huddy, had said that Mr. O’Reilly pursued a sexual relationship with her in 2011, at a time he exerted significant influence over her career. When she rebuffed his advances, he tried to derail her career, according to a draft of a letter from her lawyers to Fox News that was obtained by The New York Times. The letter includes allegations that Mr. O’Reilly had called Ms. Huddy repeatedly and that it sometimes sounded as if he was masturbating. He invited her to his house on Long Island, tried to kiss her, took her to dinner and the theater, and after asking her to return a key to his hotel room, appeared at the door in his boxer shorts, according to the letter. In exchange for her silence and agreement not to sue, she was paid a sum in the high six figures, according to people briefed on the agreement. The agreement was between Ms. Huddy, 47, and 21st Century Fox, the parent company of Fox News. The company and Mr. O’Reilly’s lawyer said her allegations were false. In the aftermath of Mr. Ailes’s departure, executives declared that such behavior would never again be tolerated. Mr. O’Reilly, 67, has continued to host his show on weekdays at 8 p.m., and has published two more books. Details about the allegations and the agreement between Ms. Huddy and 21st Century Fox are based on interviews with current and former Fox News employees, the letter written by her lawyers to the company, and three pages from the draft of the settlement agreement. The letter was mailed anonymously in December to reporters for The Times; its authenticity was verified by several people who have been briefed on it. A person close to Ms. Huddy told The Times that she shared accounts of Mr. O’Reilly’s unwanted advances at the time they occurred. Lawnewz.com first reported the existence of the agreement Monday afternoon. In the letter, lawyers for Ms. Huddy also said that a longtime Fox executive, Jack Abernethy, had retaliated against her professionally after she made clear that she was not interested in a personal relationship. Representatives for Fox News and Mr. O’Reilly dismissed the allegations Monday night. “The letter contains substantial falsehoods, which both men have vehemently denied,” Irena Briganti, a spokeswoman for Fox News, said in a statement. Speaking for Mr. O’Reilly, Fredric S. Newman, his lawyer, said, “There is absolutely no basis for any claim of sexual harassment against Bill O’Reilly by Juliet Huddy.” Jeanne M. Christensen, a lawyer for Ms. Huddy at Wigdor L.L.P., declined to comment. Ms. Huddy made her allegations known to Fox News in the letter her lawyers sent to the network in August. The settlement was reached on Sept. 5, at a time when the company was completing other agreements, including one with Gretchen Carlson , the former anchor whose sexual harassment suit forced the departure of Mr. Ailes. (Mr. Ailes has denied allegations of sexual harassment.) Image Juliet Huddy with her co-host, Mike Jerrick, on “The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet” in January 2007. Credit Michael Simon/Fox The company has not reached an agreement with Andrea Tantaros, another TV personality who raised similar complaints about network executives. About a month before Mr. Ailes resigned, Fox News offered Ms. Tantaros nearly $1 million for her silence and a promise not to sue the network, its executives or its employees, including Mr. O’Reilly, according to a draft of a proposed agreement. Ms. Tantaros rejected the offer and filed suit against the company in August. Mr. O’Reilly has a towering presence at Fox News. He was close to Mr. Ailes, and his show generated about $180 million in advertising in 2015, according to Kantar Media, an ad-tracking firm. He was also viewed by lower-level employees and program hosts as an influential figure in the newsroom; he was the gatekeeper to time on his show, and his support could be crucial to advancement. But Mr. O’Reilly had run into problems before. In 2004, a producer on his show, Andrea Mackris, sued him, asserting that he had made unwanted sexual advances and lewd comments in a series of phone calls and dinner conversations. According to the suit, Mr. O’Reilly told her on multiple occasions to buy a vibrator, called her when it sounded as if he was masturbating, and described various sexual fantasies. After two weeks of sensational headlines in New York’s tabloid newspapers, Mr. O’Reilly settled for millions of dollars, according to people briefed on the agreement. Both sides said that no wrongdoing had occurred. According to the letter in Ms. Huddy’s case, her lawyers said that Mr. O’Reilly began sexually harassing her in 2011. She started her career at Fox News in 1998 as a reporter based in Miami and went on to be a host of a syndicated morning show in New York that was canceled in 2009. In the months afterward, Ms. Huddy tried to find a landing place at the network and appeared as a guest on Mr. O’Reilly’s show. Ms. Huddy’s father, John Huddy Sr., who was a confidant of Mr. Ailes and a consultant to Fox News, left the network in July. Her brother, John Huddy Jr., continues to work there as a correspondent based in Jerusalem. In January 2011, Mr. O’Reilly invited Ms. Huddy to lunch near his multimillion-dollar home in Manhasset on Long Island, according to the letter. After lunch, he drove her back to his home, where he showed her every room, including his bedroom, and his collection of presidential memorabilia. “To shock and disgust, as Ms. Huddy was saying goodbye to Mr. O’Reilly, he quickly moved in and kissed her on the lips,” the letter said. “Ms. Huddy was so taken aback and repulsed that she instinctively recoiled and actually fell to the ground. Mr. O’Reilly, looking amused, did not even help Ms. Huddy up.” The next week, Mr. O’Reilly asked her to join him for dinner at the Harvard Club, followed by a Broadway show, according to the letter and to current and former Fox News employees. Ms. Huddy was not interested in having a romantic relationship with Mr. O’Reilly but, the letter said, “she felt compelled to comply with Mr. O’Reilly’s request, given that he had total control over her work assignment.” During the Broadway show, according to the letter, Mr. O’Reilly moved close to Ms. Huddy in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. He tried to hold her hand, but she pulled it away. Then he dropped a key to the room at a Midtown Manhattan hotel he was staying at into her lap, and told her to meet him there after the show. He stood up and left, the letter said. Ms. Huddy went to the hotel to return Mr. O’Reilly’s key, according to the letter. She asked him to meet her in the lobby, but he refused and asked her to join him in his room. “Ms. Huddy declined and explained that she was not interested in Mr. O’Reilly on a personal or sexual level,” the letter said. Mr. O’Reilly persisted and again asked that Ms. Huddy come up to his room, and she ultimately went up to give him the key, according to the letter. When Mr. O’Reilly opened the door to his room, he was wearing only boxer shorts, according to the letter. Ms. Huddy was “very embarrassed, handed Mr. O’Reilly his key and quickly left,” the letter said. In the months after Mr. O’Reilly and Ms. Huddy went to the show in Manhattan, his “obsession with her only escalated,” the letter said. Mr. O’Reilly started calling Ms. Huddy at all hours, even while he was on vacation. At times, the calls were about work, but they were sometimes “highly inappropriate and sexual,” the letter said. On some occasions, it sounded as if Mr. O’Reilly was masturbating, the letter said. “Disgusted, Ms. Huddy came up with an excuse and hung up the phone,” the letter said. As Mr. O’Reilly’s pursuit continued, Ms. Huddy answered and returned fewer of his calls. “Ms. Huddy’s rejection of Mr. O’Reilly apparently did not sit well with him, as he began to retaliate against her both on and off air,” the letter said. Mr. O’Reilly “nitpicked her work” and would “berate Ms. Huddy for minor mistakes,” according to the letter. Mr. O’Reilly stopped preparing her for segments and would surprise her with story angles that they had not discussed. In 2013, Ms. Huddy was replaced on one segment of his show. Another segment that she was featured in, called “Mad as Hell,” was canceled. She did not complain, fearing retaliation, she told current and former Fox News employees at the time. The letter also included a series of accusations by Ms. Huddy against Mr. Abernethy, including that he started “trashing her” after she rejected his attempts to pursue a personal relationship. Mr. Abernethy signed a new multiyear contract with Fox News in September, after having been named a president of the network in August. At the time, the company was aware of the allegations against Mr. Abernethy, which it has said are false. As part of Ms. Huddy’s confidential agreement with 21st Century Fox, she agreed not to “disparage, malign or defame” the parties; the company, on its behalf and on the behalf of Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Abernethy, agreed not to “disparage, malign or defame” Ms. Huddy. The consequences for breaking confidentiality are severe, costing either side $500,000 per infringement, according to the document. Ms. Huddy is also liable if her lawyers or a person close to her discloses the terms of the agreement. On Sept. 7, Ms. Huddy, who had hosted “Good Day Early Call” on WNYW, a Fox affiliate, went on the station and gave a tearful goodbye. “Thank you to everyone who has made the last 20 years the most challenging but best of my life,” she said. “Perhaps someday, even someday soon, you’ll see me on television again.”

Sexual harassment
Fox News Channel
Bill O'Reilly
Juliet Huddy


Just for Chiefs Fans, a Welcome Taste of Kansas City in Queens

Abstract: Few bar-stool debates are more tiresome than arguments over which team’s fans have suffered the most. But it’s hard to imagine a season much worse than the one Kansas City Chiefs fans endured last year. On the field, the team had the N.F.L.’s worst record; off it, a starting linebacker killed his girlfriend before shooting himself in front of the coach and general manager. By season’s end, Chiefs fans were wearing black to Arrowhead Stadium. Like those who relocate from other cities, emigrants from the Kansas City, Mo., area — and I’m one — use the games to reconnect with their hometown. But last season, Chiefs fans gave up the ritual of finding a bar willing to show the game. It didn’t seem worth getting off the couch. “Altogether, I think we had six people last season,” said Josh Bowen, a Kansas native who owns John Brown Smokehouse, a Kansas City-style barbecue joint in Queens that he hoped would become a hub for Chiefs fans. This season has produced much better memories. Kansas City entered Sunday night’s game at Denver — the Chiefs’ most anticipated regular-season matchup in many years — as the league’s only undefeated team. The Chiefs’ surprising success has had fans looking for a place to watch the games, and has turned Bowen’s restaurant on a sparse strip of 44th Drive into a headquarters for Kansas City supporters. “We’re maxed out,” Bowen said before Sunday’s game. “I’m bringing in tables and trying to rearrange things to fit everyone. If they beat Denver, I might need to start renting a tent out back.” The fan club that has developed at John Brown has grown with the Chiefs’ win total. Sara McKemy, who moved from Kansas City three years ago, struggled to find a base for watching the Chiefs, especially when they were bad, so she got in touch with Bowen before this season and invited several friends to John Brown for the first game. It took some coaxing. The restaurant is out of the way and has only two televisions. But McKemy’s friends invited their friends, who invited other friends, and by midseason, the back room at John Brown was filled with red jerseys. McKemy designed T-shirts with the Chiefs’ logo in place of the heart in “I [Heart] New York,” and has made several three-hour drives to a liquor store on the Pennsylvania-Maryland border to pick up cases of Boulevard, a Kansas City beer. “We’ve had some Jets and Giants fans come in and say, ‘Hey, can you turn on the Giants game?’ ” Bowen said. “I’m like: ‘Look around dude. Are you nuts? This is our special time, so leave us alone.’ I haven’t had to disrespect any native New Yorkers, but I will if I have to.” Many fans said that as much as they were attracted by the football and the cuisine, they appreciated the chance to be with others from their hometown. “Football season gets us together more often than the rest of the year,” said Kellie Johnson, who reconnected with her childhood friend McKemy. (So far, I’ve run into a former high school classmate, a cousin and my junior prom date.) Bowen, 37, sits at a preferred spot by the bar, and after each win, he plays Queen’s “We Are the Champions” over the audio system. He moved to New York in 2008 hoping to make it as a blues musician. He performed a one-man show in which he played banjo, high hat, bass drum and harmonica, using the name Trainwreck Washington, but had trouble landing stable work and started barbecuing meat in his backyard, selling it at a local bar. He opened John Brown in 2010, hoping to produce a facsimile of the barbecue he grew up with, serving strawberry soda on tap and using a rub heavy with brown sugar. “It’s hard to find good barbecue,” McKemy said of New York’s offerings. “I don’t think my roommate has ever seen me more excited than when we walked in here the first time.” Bowen said he wasn’t sure how many people to expect on Sunday. It was the Chiefs’ first game on national television, which meant many fans might watch from home. (One regular took a flight to Denver.) By kickoff, 50 fans had piled in. “We’re going to win,” Dustin Johnson, who had arrived 90 minutes before game time, said. “That’s my Midwestern optimism.” His positivity went unrewarded, but most of the crowd stayed to the game’s end, even without much to cheer. Bowen said, “We’re not really New Yorkers when we get together for these games.” He added: “Our place turns into Arrowhead. It’s nice to feel home even when you’re not home at all.”

Football
Barbecue
Kansas City Chiefs
Queens
Restaurant


Santana Pitches Gem, Then Mets’ Streak Ends

Abstract: It seemed unlikely a week ago that the injury-riddled Mets offense could be capable of averaging more than six runs per game, as it had over the team’s last five games before Thursday. The delirium had to end some time, and it did Thursday night, but not before one final bang earlier in the day. The Mets split a day-night doubleheader with the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field , winning the first game, 7-0, and dropping the nightcap, 4-2, a loss that snapped a five-game winning streak. The Mets (49-52) took three of four games in their series with the Rockies (55-47), who came to New York as one of the hottest teams in baseball and the leaders of the wild-card chase. But the Mets’ recent hot streak has caused a change in attitude in their clubhouse. The Mets say they no longer go into games hoping for a win; they expect to win. “In order to expect to win on a daily basis, you have to practice winning,” David Wright said. “And to come in and take three out of four from a very good team should give us a lot of confidence moving forward.” And though their view of the top of the wild-card standings is blocked by a number of teams, the Mets have not fallen out of the race, as it appeared they might a week ago, when their record fell to 44-51. “You’re only satisfied if you’re in first place playing good baseball,” Wright said. “I’m proud, I’m happy with the effort that we’re giving. We’ve been a resilient team all year. We’ve dealt with quite a bit and hopefully we can continue to make a push. This thing’s far from over. There’s a lot of baseball to be played.” The reason for the turnaround is good starting pitching coupled with the recent offensive outburst, as evidence in the first game, when everybody in the lineup except the starting pitcher, Johan Santana , got a hit. Santana threw seven scoreless innings on his way to an easy win. In the second game, Jon Niese, making just his seventh career start, allowed a two-run homer in the seventh inning to Clint Barmes, breaking a 1-1 tie. Niese (1-1) allowed four runs in six and a third innings. “They hit my mistakes well, and that’s basically what it came down to,” Niese said. The Mets squandered their best chance to have a big inning in the second game when they failed to score with runners on first and third and no outs in the first. Wright struck out swinging for the first out and Angel Pagan was caught in a rundown between third and home after Luis Castillo took off for second. “Yeah, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot at that point,” Manager Jerry Manuel said. “But we still had time to overcome that.” Jorge De La Rosa picked up the win after pitching six and a third innings, allowing two runs. He also doubled and scored on Barmes’s home run. When the Mets lost much of their offensive firepower to injury, their makeshift lineups struggled to score and they sank in the standings. But every fifth day, they knew Santana would pitch and they would have a good chance to win. For a change, in the opener Santana tried to keep a winning streak alive, instead of attempting to act as a stopper. His teammates gave him plenty of runs — thanks to a five-run second inning. Even with one of their hottest hitters, Castillo, out of the lineup, the Mets sent Jason Hammel, the Rockies’ starter, to an early exit and gave Santana a comfortable early lead. Castillo missed the first game because his wife, Angie, was due to give birth. Their daughter was born at 12:05 p.m. As it turned out, his teammates did not need his hot bat — he was 10 for his last 18 going into the game — to score runs. But Santana did not need all their run support. He got into one jam, when he loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth. Ian Stewart crushed a pitch foul, but Santana struck him out. Hammel, meanwhile, could not get through the second inning, when the Mets strung together five consecutive hits in their five-run inning. INSIDE PITCH Jerry Manuel said that reliever Billy Wagner was “close” to rejoining the team and that Wagner would pitch in a rehabilitation assignment Saturday. Wagner has been recovering from reconstructive elbow surgery. Manuel said that Jose Reyes, who has a torn tendon in his right hamstring, would test his leg by running the bases Thursday. If Reyes can run without pain, he can begin playing in games. ... The Mets designated Elmer Dessens for assignment and recalled catcher Robinson Cancel from Class AAA Buffalo for Thursday’s doubleheader. Manuel said Brian Schneider’s injured left knee would not allow him to play, and so the Mets recalled Cancel as the backup catcher. ... John Maine was found to have shoulder weakness after being evaluated by Dr. James Andrews and Dr. David Altchek, the Mets’ medical director. Maine will continue his rehabilitation and strengthening program in Port St. Lucie, Fla. ... David Wright’s double in the second game was the 940th hit of his career, which put him ahead of Keith Hernandez for 10th place on the Mets’ career list. His two runs batted in during the first game moved him into fifth on the Mets’ career R.B.I. list with 539.

Baseball
New York Mets
Colorado Rockies
Santana Johan
Wright David
Manuel Jerry
Wagner Billy


U.A.W. Said to Pick G.M. for Contract Negotiations

Abstract: DETROIT, Sept. 13 — The United Automobile Workers union has chosen General Motors as its lead company in negotiations on contracts that are set to expire at midnight on Friday, people with knowledge of the union’s decision said on Thursday. The choice may signal the union’s willingness to negotiate on a health care trust, the major demand by G.M., the Ford Motor Company and Chrysler. G.M. has pushed the most heavily for such a trust because it faces a health care liability of about $55 billion for its workers, retirees and their families. The selection of G.M. as the lead company followed a meeting of the union’s executive board, which is made up of its top officials, including the U.A.W. president, Ron Gettelfinger. The U.A.W. traditionally negotiates with all three companies, then selects a company where it focuses its efforts. That company is the one that would be the target of a strike, although such an action is considered unlikely in these talks. Local union presidents were notified of the decision by e-mail, and the union scheduled a conference call for Friday to give them an update, these people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the talks. Company and union officials had no comment on the choice of G.M., but Ford and Chrysler both announced that they had signed extensions of their contracts with the U.A.W. G.M. stock jumped Thursday on reports that the U.A.W. was ready to discuss creating a voluntary employee benefit association, or VEBA, that would shoulder the responsibility for nearly $100 billion in health care liabilities. G.M. shares closed at $33.29, up $3.04. The union would administer the trust, which would be financed by contributions of cash, stock and possibly real estate from the car companies, allowing them to take the obligation off their books. Automakers would not be required to cover their entire liability in the trust, but it would be in the union’s interest to get as big an investment as possible to ensure its soundness. Publicly, U.A.W. leaders have been steadfastly silent on the subject, even though they are discussing the concept with company officials. But the idea has prompted a rising debate among union dissidents. These union members regard a benefit trust as another setback for the U.A.W., whose ranks have been thinned by the auto industry downturn, and as a threat to the main benefit, along with pensions, that workers hold dear. One group, the Soldiers of Solidarity, passed out leaflets at last week’s Labor Day parade in Detroit, declaring that VEBA stands for “vandalizing employee benefits again.” The group’s leader, Gregg Shotwell, led a grass-roots movement opposed to concessions to the Delphi Corporation, G.M.’s former parts subsidiary, which filed for Chapter 11 protection two years ago. Another longtime dissident battling the idea is Jerry Tucker, a former union regional director and member of its governing executive board. He led a movement called New Directions, which fought union concessions during the 1990s. Mr. Tucker predicted that the 200,000 workers at the Detroit companies would be asked to give up future raises to help finance a benefit trust, and that more than 400,000 retired workers would be required to pay a greater portion of health care expenses for themselves and their families. “No one has confidence that a VEBA would support itself over a long period of time. Across the board there is concern about where the risk is going, because those risks will shift,” Mr. Tucker said. Local U.A.W. leaders would have to approve any tentative settlement before it was presented to about 80,000 G.M. workers for a vote. Then the union would have to repeat the process at Ford and Chrysler, although contract terms are likely to be similar under the U.A.W.’s practice of pattern bargaining. VEBAs are not new to the union. At G.M. and Ford, it agreed to small trusts that were set up two years ago in an effort to help the companies cut their medical expenses while they were suffering billions of dollars in losses. As a result, both active and retired workers pay a greater portion of their health care expenses. Similar trusts have been set up at Caterpillar and most recently at the Dana Corporation as part of its effort to emerge from bankruptcy protection. Analysts say the car companies must address their health care liabilities to rescue their sagging debt ratings, which have been cut deep into junk status. Agencies like Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services view benefit trusts as a reduction of companies’ debt. “The automakers think that health care is too expensive right now, and that if they don’t lower those numbers they will go out of business,” said Ken Goldstein, an analyst with the Conference Board. Indeed, the trusts could protect workers if the companies filed for bankruptcy protection, because they are protected in the event of bankruptcy, experts say. That sets them apart from pensions, which the carmakers could seek to terminate and replace with less expensive retirement plans. But S.& P., in a report this summer, said that a trust would not automatically result in an upgrade for G.M. or Ford (Chrysler’s debt has been rated as part of DaimlerChrysler, which sold it on Aug. 3 to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm). “The ratings on these companies have been driven down to their current levels by more than just health care liabilities,” the S.& P. report said. “These obligations are only one factor among many in our credit analysis.” Still, individual workers remain concerned. “I’m not ready to retire yet, but when I do I’m afraid I’m going to be cut short when I need health care,” said Doug Hanscom, 51, who has spent 31 years at G.M.’s plant in Wilmington, Del. “I’m afraid the fund’s going to be underfunded and run out of money.” Jonell Sayles, 55, of Mount Morris, Mich., retired from Delphi last May, but receives health care under the G.M. plan. She said she had put off seeking medical treatment for pneumonia because she could not afford the fees she now must pay for doctor visits. “I’m at a total loss as to how to project this outcome,” Ms. Sayles said. “All I know is that any time the company wants to save money, it’ll be at my expense.” Opponents frequently cite the experience at Caterpillar, which reached agreement with the U.A.W. on a health care trust in 1998. By 2005, however, the trust’s assets were smaller than its obligations. The union subsequently agreed to a series of concessions, including a two-tier wage plan, to replenish the fund. Larry G. Solomon, 65, a former local union official at Caterpillar, who is covered by its fund, said he would prefer that the company, not the U.A.W., administer health benefits. “If I work for a company, and I give my life to that company, I expect the company to take care of me, not the union,” said Mr. Solomon, of Cerro Gordo, Ill. Of his fellow union members in Detroit, Mr. Solomon said, “When workers look back, I think they’ll be sorry they voted for it.” There is no guarantee that even after months of work, the companies and the U.A.W. will agree to the plan. There has been talk of contract sweeteners, like a signing bonus of several thousand dollars for each worker, to persuade U.A.W. members to agree to the plan. Even so, “the deal will be very bitter, if there is a deal,” Mr. Goldstein of the Conference Board said. “In a way, U.A.W. leaders are in three-way negotiations. They are negotiating with the automakers, and with their own members.”

United Automobile Workers
General Motors Corp
Organized Labor
Automobiles


At Track, Red and White and a Little Less Blue

Abstract: BEIJING — The United States track and field team’s savior draped an American flag over her shoulders Monday night and ran a victory lap wearing the biggest smile she could muster, a most unlikely heroine in an event that has been an American afterthought for decades. Stephanie Brown Trafton took her place at the head of the American team with a surprising gold medal in the discus, the first by an American woman since 1932 and the country’s only medal of any color in the event since 1984. Hers was a dream spawned when she was 4 years old and watching the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics at her home in Arroyo Grande, Calif. Back then, she wanted to be a gymnast. Now 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds at age 28, Brown Trafton has found a more fitting route to Olympic glory. “I want to meet Mary Lou Retton, so please, someone hook me up,” Brown Trafton said. “She was my idol. I had a leotard like hers but I got too big to be a gymnast.” After three mostly miserable nights of competition, the American team had only three medals, a silver by the shot-putter Christian Cantwell and bronzes by Walter Dix in the 100 meters and Shalane Flanagan in the 10,000. With the Jamaicans suddenly dominating the sprints, this meet started to feel like an American slide. Brown Trafton not only halted that, she sparked a bit of a turnaround. The pole-vaulter Jenn Stuczynski snared a silver medal and American men swept the medals in the 400-meter hurdles. So by the time Angelo Taylor, Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson soared across the finish line in the 400 hurdles and celebrated in one big American-flag hug, the mood around the team had lifted considerably. “I knew America was struggling a bit, but I knew we could be the heart of the team that could bring it back,” Jackson said. The 400-meter hurdles is an event the Americans have traditionally had success in, built on the shoulders of runners like Edwin Moses, who won gold medals at the 1976 and 1984 Olympics and would have been favored to win a third had the United States attended the 1980 Games in Moscow. But while there has been an American sweep of the Olympic medals five times, it has not happened since 1960. Taylor was not the most likely of the three competitors to lead them over the line. He is 29 and his life has taken several downturns since he won the gold medal in this event in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 2004, he sustained stress fractures in his shins, did not make the finals in the Athens Olympics and was forced to take a year off to heal. He went to work as an electrician in Atlanta. In 2006, he was given three years’ probation after pleading guilty to contributing to the delinquency of two under-age girls. Weeks ago he found out he would lose the gold he won in Sydney in the 4x400 relay because his teammate Antonio Pettigrew had admitted to doping. “I’m happy right now,” Taylor said. “This replaces all that. I feel like it replaces that medal. After eight years, to win after everything I’ve gone through, I’m so happy.” The three Americans were openly talking about sweeping this event after the United States trials. They qualified for the Olympic final as the three strongest runners. Clement was coming off a world championship last year and Jackson had won one in 2005. But it was Taylor crossing the finish line well ahead, in 47.25 seconds, his personal best. Clement ran a 47.98. In the pole vault, the best woman definitely won as the competition became another example of the domination by Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva. She won the gold with two jumps and then broke her world record by clearing 16 feet 8 inches on her third try. Stuczynski, in her first Olympics, cleared 15 feet 9 inches for the silver. She said she hoped to catch up to Isinbayeva in the coming years. Stuczynski was playing basketball in college when she first tried the pole vault in 2004. “I think I just need more experience,” Stuczynski said. “In ’04, I was a 12-foot pole vaulter. She’s been in the Olympics before. She’s been to the world championships. She’s jumped for a decade longer than me. It’s just a matter of time.” For sheer audacity, all those American medalists took a backseat to Brown Trafton. The women’s throwing events have been devoid of American contenders. They are usually dominated by Eastern Europeans, while Americans struggle just to make the finals in major international meets. The last American medal was won by Leslie Deniz in 1984, in the Games that were boycotted by the Eastern Bloc. The last American to win was Lillian Copeland in the first Los Angeles Games, in 1932. “I hope this gives all the kids in high school and college the confidence that they can medal in the Olympics,” Brown Trafton said. Brown Trafton is a bit of a throwback to the Olympics of old. For one, she has a job, working as a project manager for Sycamore Environmental Consulting in Sacramento. She trains in almost complete anonymity. She did not even win the United States trials, finishing third. Her golden moment, though, came at just the right time for an American team that needed one badly.

Track and Field
Olympic Games (2008)
Taylor Angelo
Clement Kerron
Jackson Bershawn


Union of Government Workers Seeks to Build Political Muscle

Abstract: The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees announced plans yesterday to spend $60 million more a year to campaign for universal health coverage, to unionize 70,000 workers annually and to register 280,000 union members to vote. The union, the largest of the 53 unions in the A.F.L.-C.I.O. , announced what it called a 21st Century Initiative, pledging to become one of the most aggressive unions in organizing and in politics. With this initiative, the union appears to have taken to heart criticism that organized labor has been lackadaisical about seeking to reverse its decline. “We looked at ourselves in the mirror and decided that we needed to change,” the union’s president, Gerald W. McEntee, said in a news conference in Chicago. He said the union planned to increase members’ dues by $12 million in 2007, $36 million in 2008 and $60 million in 2009. That would give it a far larger budget to build political power, increase public support for public services, expand the union, and intensify member involvement. Mr. McEntee, who is chairman of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s political committee and has been one of labor’s foremost critics of President Bush, said his union would get 40,000 union volunteers to work in this fall’s campaign and to ensure that 90 percent of the union’s 1.4 million members were registered to vote. Currently, 70 percent are. “The simple fact is workers are under attack by the most antiworker president and Congress in our history,” he said. “We face budget cuts, service cuts and benefit cuts.” He said too many workers have had to forgo wage increases to maintain their health benefits. He also complained that Republican governors in Indiana and Missouri had stripped many government workers of their ability to bargain collectively. The union is planning a campaign to tell the public and government leaders about the value of public employees and services. As a union of government employees, the state, county and municipal employees are especially hurt by budget cuts and the privatization of services. To increase its political clout, Mr. McEntee said the union hoped to persuade a quarter of its members to donate at least $100 a year to the union’s political action committee, which would yield about $35 million a year. Mr. McEntee said the union organized 33,000 workers last year, and in the past two years, tens of thousands of home health care workers and child care workers in California, Iowa, Oregon and other states. The union took the lead among labor unions in beating back Mr. Bush’s plan for a partial privatization of Social Security. Mr. McEntee said his union would push for Canadian-style universal health coverage but acknowledged that the nation might not be ripe for such an idea.

American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees

American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations


In Japan’s Drill With the U.S., a Message for Beijing

Abstract: CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — In the early morning along a barren stretch of beach here last week, Japanese soldiers and American Marines practiced how to invade and retake an island captured by hostile forces. Memo to Beijing: Be forewarned. One Marine sergeant yelled for his men, guns drawn, to push into the right building as they climbed through the window of an empty house meant to simulate a seaside dwelling. The Marines had poured out of four amphibious assault vehicles as another group of smaller inflatable boats carrying soldiers of Japan’s Western Army Infantry Regiment landed in an accompanying beachhead assault. There were shouts in Japanese. There were shouts in Marine English. There was air support, from Huey and Cobra helicopters hovering above. Then larger Navy hovercrafts roared in, spitting up a spray of seawater before burping out Humvees and more Japanese troops, their faces blackened with camouflage paint. American military officials, viewing the cooperative action of the former World War II enemies from a nearby hillside, insisted that the annual exercise, called Iron Fist, had nothing, nothing to do with last fall’s game of chicken between Tokyo and Beijing over islands that are largely piles of rocks in the East China Sea. But Lt. Col. John O’Neal, commander of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said that this year, the Japanese team came with “a new sense of purpose.” “There are certainly current events that have added emphasis to this exercise,” he said, as Japanese soldiers made their way up into the rocks before disappearing into the hills above the beach. “Is there a heightened awareness? Yes.” Image The Japanese arrived nearly 250 strong as tensions with Beijing over a set of disputed islands in the East China Sea continue. Credit Joe Klamar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images In the United States military, commanders are increasingly allied in alarm with Japan over China’s flexing of military muscle. Capt. James Fanell, director of intelligence and information operations with the United States Pacific Fleet, recently said in San Diego that China was training its forces to be capable of carrying out a “short, sharp” war with Japan in the East China Sea. In a sign of continuing concern, Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, was in China over the weekend seeking to improve the limited relationship between the American and Chinese militaries, perhaps through exchanges of top officers. In recent years, the Pentagon has worried about the buildup of China’s military and a lack of transparency among its leaders. The islands at the center of the dispute, known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese, are a seven-hour boat ride from Japan, even farther from China, and thought to be surrounded by man-eating sharks. Japan has long administered the islands, but they are claimed by China and Taiwan. Last year, China set off a trans-Pacific uproar when it declared that an “air defense identification zone” gave it the right to identify and possibly take military action against aircraft near the islands. Japan refused to recognize China’s claim, and the United States defied China by sending military planes into the zone unannounced — even as the Obama administration advised American commercial airlines to comply with China’s demand and notify Beijing in advance of flights through the area. A few weeks later, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan approved a five-year defense plan that took the pacifist nation further toward its most assertive military posture since World War II. Image United States Marines participated in an amphibious assault exercise in Camp Pendleton. Credit Joe Klamar/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images This year, when Japanese troops showed up for the exercise with the Marines at Camp Pendleton, they came packing. Instead of the platoon of 25 soldiers they sent to the exercise in 2006, the first year it was conducted, the Japanese arrived nearly 250 strong. They brought along their own Humvees, gear and paraphernalia for retaking islands — or, in Marine parlance, “amphibious assault with the intent to seize objectives inland.” The monthlong exercise, which ends Monday, has been spread over a wide section of Southern California. There was the amphibious assault at Camp Pendleton, mortar shoots at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms and live firing exercises at San Clemente Island. There was a nighttime raid at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, presumably out of sight of guests sipping pink Champagne on the verandas of the bejeweled Hotel del Coronado a short distance away. This year’s Iron Fist, Colonel O’Neal said, was the largest and most involved operation so far. The exercise included drones and the kinds of air support that would be needed to protect Japanese and American troops retaking an island, though the “shaping” that would normally be done in a real-world assault — when the Air Force and Navy bomb intended targets before carrying out an actual ground invasion — was only implied. In the waters just off Coronado last month, Japanese soldiers, clutching their gear, pushed rubber reconnaissance boats out of a hovering helicopter and jumped into the cold water as part of what the Marines called “helo cast” training. The bread and butter of the Marine Corps, helo cast training, with its emphasis on fast and light movements into hostile territory, is not the type of training which Japanese troops have routinely had in the past. The Japanese soldiers and the Marines have spent much of the past month managing a considerable language barrier. Although they have worked side by side in the joint exercises, they are not intertwined, hence the reason for the parallel amphibious landings. Marine interpreters and their Japanese counterparts dashed between the two militaries, discussing coordinates and plans. Image American military officials insisted that the annual exercise was unrelated to the dispute between Tokyo and Beijing over islands in the East China Sea. Credit T. Lynne Pixley for The New York Times For Japan, the Iron Fist exercise is a “valuable opportunity where we can learn various techniques from the U.S. forces,” Col. Matushi Kunii, the Japanese commander of the Western Army Infantry Regiment, said at the opening ceremony last month. For Japan, defense experts said, the shift to the more comprehensive training with the Marines is a direct response to a more assertive China. “The Japanese have been getting more serious about broadening their training,” said Christopher K. Johnson, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, because “the Chinese are doing their own exercises that look a lot like island-grabbing.” He pointed to recent military exercises by China that Asia experts believe could be rehearsals for landing operations targeting the uninhabited islands. And imagine, Asia experts said, if China became assertive about islands where people actually live, like Okinawa. Some Asia experts believe that is already happening, pointing to recent talk from Chinese scholars, though not the Chinese government, about Okinawa, which the Japanese call Ryukyu. “All of a sudden,” said Andrew Oros, an associate professor of political science at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., and a specialist on East Asia, “it’s no longer about protecting some deserted island; it’s about protecting somewhere where more than one million Japanese people live.”

Military
US Marines
East China Sea
Tokyo
Beijing
Japan
China


Orioles’ Support Dwindles as Losses Pile Up

Abstract: BALTIMORE — When the Yankees open a three-game series against the Orioles at Camden Yards on Friday, the grandstands of Oriole Park could be close to full and the mood might feel almost like the good old days at one of baseball’s most charming venues. But the scene will mask a stark recession of fan support for the Orioles. Going into Thursday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox, the Orioles’ average attendance of 18,349 ranked 28th among 30 major league teams, and last among the 14 American League teams. Many fans this weekend, perhaps a majority, will come from out of town to cheer for the visiting team, which is “kind of weird,” Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora said. “But what can we say?” said Mora, who has played here since July 2000. “This is a free country. Everybody can cheer whatever they want. People come from New York to spend a weekend. You don’t fight with the fans.” After opening in 1992, the brick and steel Oriole Park at Camden Yards, with its retro feel, ranked among baseball’s top four in attendance for nine years. The Orioles finished above .500 for five of the first six seasons, winning the A.L. East in 1997, when they drew a franchise record of 3,711,132 customers. But since then, the Orioles have finished below .500 every season, and their average attendance plunged to 23rd last season, from sixth in 2001. Roughly a third of last season’s 2,164,822 fans came to the 18 games when the opponent was the Yankees or the Red Sox. One of those customers was the Rev. John Scotland of Brigantine, N.J., who brought a group of eight to Wednesday’s game against Chicago. Scotland wore a Red Sox jacket and a Red Sox cap. He said he planned to return when the Red Sox visit in May. Scotland said Oriole Park was the best among the dozen ballparks he has visited. But as he walked around the park Wednesday, he saw few fans in line ahead of him or in the seats around him. “This is dismal, I’ve never seen it like this,” Scotland, a Presbyterian minister, said in reference to Wednesday’s crowd of 12,080. “This is really sad.” Charting attendance totals is the equivalent of taking the fluctuating temperature or blood pressure of a sports franchise. Its long-term financial health is better judged by market valuation. According to Forbes Magazine, which estimates those figures annually, the Orioles are now worth $398 million, up one percent from last year, based on revenue of $166 million. The franchise is No. 18 in value, according to the Forbes rankings. Bob DuPuy, president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball, said in a telephone interview, “There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the franchise,” which moved to Baltimore in 1954 from St. Louis, where it was known as the Browns. “Obviously, the novelty of the new ballpark has worn off and the team has underachieved on the field,” DuPuy said. Asked whether the Orioles have been hurt by the Nationals, who moved in 40 miles away in Washington for the 2005 season, DuPuy said, “I do not think that the Washington team has had more than a modest or slight impact.” Washington, which opened Nationals Park this season, has an average attendance of 28,214. Much of the anger of Orioles fans has been directed toward Peter G. Angelos, the principal owner, who declined to be interviewed for this article. The fans’ chief complaint has been his meddling in the front office. On Sept. 14, 2006, about 1,000 fans wearing “Free the Birds” T-shirts staged a midgame walkout. One of the protesters was Randy Lotz, a local musician who wrote the song “Let Go of Them O’s, Mr. Angelos.” “I don’t care how nice a ballpark you have,” Lotz said. “His management style has proven detrimental.” Lotz, 52, said he was inspired to write his song when he took his daughter to a game against Boston for her 16th birthday, and they were surrounded by Red Sox fans. “I used to go to a dozen or 20 games a year,” he said, adding that he will not go now unless someone gives him a free ticket. Lotz said the lack of customers at Camden Yards had hurt the bars and restaurants of the Inner Harbor, where he performs. John Moag, chief executive officer of Moag & Company, a sports investment bank based in Baltimore, said, “There’s an awful lot of disgust out there.” “It becomes a dangerous situation when your fan base starts to erode,” he added. But Moag praised the hiring of Andy MacPhail as team president last summer. “He’s got the right DNA,” Moag said. MacPhail, who most recently ran the Chicago Cubs, won two World Series as the general manager of the Minnesota Twins, and his father and grandfather were baseball executives who are in the Hall of Fame. “Now, you need to let Andy MacPhail do his job,” Moag said. Under MacPhail, popular players like Miguel Tejada and Érik Bédard have been traded for prospects; Brian Roberts and Kevin Millar may be moved as the Orioles rebuild. MacPhail said that, under current circumstances, he was gratified that attendance has been even this good. Better days are ahead, he said. “We’re clearly on a course designed to make us better in the future,” he said. But until then, among the promotions to lure fans back are an all-you-can-eat section of 1,300 seats in left field and signs over the city streets with the motto “This is Birdland.” Jamie Walker, the veteran relief pitcher, saw a rebound on the field and in the seats when he was with the Detroit Tigers from 2002 through 2006. “They love baseball here,” Walker said of Baltimore. “It’s got some history. When you’ve had 10 losing seasons, it wears on the fans, wears on the organization, wears on everybody. The best way to market is to win ballgames. Everybody loves a winner.”

Baseball
New York Yankees
Baltimore Orioles


Mike Maccagnan Emerges as Favorite for Jets’ G.M. Position

Abstract: A favorite has been established in the Jets’ general manager search: Mike Maccagnan, the Houston Texans’ director of college scouting. Maccagnan, the only candidate the Jets have asked back for a second interview, was scheduled to speak with the team again on Friday. Maccagnan has a strong relationship with Charley Casserly, the longtime N.F.L. executive who is helping Woody Johnson, the Jets’ owner, find the team’s next coach and general manager. Casserly hired Maccagnan as a scout in Washington, then brought him along to Houston, where he has worked in the Texans’ personnel department since 2000. The Jets on Thursday also interviewed a seventh general manager candidate, Jon Robinson, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ director of player personnel. BEARS HIRE GENERAL MANAGER The Chicago Bears hired Ryan Pace, a New Orleans Saints executive, as general manager to replace the fired Phil Emery, with the hope that Pace will rejuvenate a franchise has missed the playoffs seven times in eight years. Pace spent 14 seasons with the Saints and was their director of player personnel the last two years, helping manage their pro and college scouting. (AP) RODGERS BACK AT PRACTICE Quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to practice for the Green Bay Packers after sitting out with a left calf injury. He was limited to a little more than half the snaps on Thursday. Rodgers, who missed two days of light practice last week and Wednesday’s practice, has said that he intends to play in Sunday’s playoff game against Dallas. (AP) BUCCANEERS HIRE COORDINATOR Dirk Koetter is the new offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who have the first overall pick in the N.F.L. draft and may use it to select a quarterback. Koetter was let go from the same position with Atlanta, one of Tampa Bay’s N.F.C. South rivals. The Falcons fired Coach Mike Smith after a 6-10 season. (AP)

Football
Mike Maccagnan
Jets
Houston Texans


Chinese Fisherman Kills South Korean Coast Guardsman

Abstract: SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean Coast Guard member was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman on Monday during a crackdown on illegal fishing near South Korea, the Coast Guard said. Nine Chinese crewmen violently resisted South Korean coast guardsmen who were trying to impound their 66-ton boat about 120 miles west of Incheon, near the border with North Korea, according to a Coast Guard statement. Another Chinese ship rammed into the boat, and amid the confusion, the Chinese rebelled, said Chi Geun-tae, a Coast Guard spokesman, citing a preliminary report from the scene. The captain of the Chinese ship was believed to have attacked the South Korean with a piece of glass from a shattered cabin window, Mr. Chi said. A 41-year-old coast guardsman was stabbed in the side and died while a helicopter was taking him to a hospital in Incheon, a port city west of Seoul. The captain, who suffered a minor injury during the clash, was under arrest. A second South Korean was stabbed in the abdomen, but his condition was not critical. The Coast Guard was taking the Chinese ship and its crew to Incheon. In Seoul, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Xinsen, to lodge a protest against illegal fishing and the fishermen’s use of violence. During a regularly scheduled news conference Monday, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the government was looking into the incident and that it would fully cooperate with the South Korean authorities. In response to a reporter’s question about the increasing number of clashes, the spokesman, Liu Weimin, said China was working to reduce illegal fishing by instructing Chinese fishermen about the law and at times physically restricting their boats from crossing into South Korean waters. Mr. Liu, however, also warned Seoul to treat the arrested men judiciously. “South Korea is obligated to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese fishermen and to provide them with due humanitarian treatment,” he said. In recent years, South Korea has complained about an increasing number of Chinese fishing boats poaching in its fishing grounds. Citing them as a leading cause of depleting fish stocks, it has stepped up patrols. Since 2006, about 2,600 Chinese fishing boats have been seized for illegal fishing near South Korea. Violent clashes have become common as Chinese fishermen try to escape arrest and thousands of dollars in fines. The Coast Guard has reported Chinese crewmen wielding axes and steel pipes. Last month, South Korean fisheries officials released photographs of a Chinese fishing boat armed with steel fences and spears to deter South Korean officers from boarding. Chinese ships also chain each other together to resist seizure, they said. During a clash in 2008, a South Korean coast guardsman drowned after he was hit by a Chinese fisherman. A year ago, one Chinese fisherman drowned and another disappeared when their ship sank after ramming into a South Korean patrol boat that was trying to seize it.

South Korea
China
Fishing Commercial
Murders and Attempted Murders
Poaching (Wildlife)


Attack U.S., Qaeda Chief Tells Muslims in a Speech

Abstract: LONDON — In an audio speech a day after the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, called on Muslims to carry out a “a few disparate attacks” on American soil and to “bleed America economically,” according to a translation on the American SITE monitoring service on Friday. Echoing some of his past themes, Mr. Zawahri laid out a strategy involving economic pressures and terrorist attacks to wage “war on its own land” against the United States and to force Washington to maintain high levels of military spending to weaken its economy. “We should bleed America economically by provoking it to continue in its massive expenditure on its security, for the weak point of America is its economy, which has already begun to stagger due to the military and security expenditure,” Mr. Zawahri said, according to the SITE translation quoted in news reports. The speech was broadcast Thursday on an Internet forum normally used by jihadist groups and lasted 72 minutes, according to Agence France-Presse. “And keeping America in tension and anticipation only costs a few disparate attacks here and there, meaning as we defeated it in the gang warfare in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan, so we should follow it with that war on its own land,” he added, referring to places where Al Qaeda and its affiliates have been active. He said such strikes could be carried out “by one brother or a few of the brothers” in anticipation of a bigger attack, apparently an acknowledgment that a diminished Al Qaeda no longer feels able to carry out major attacks itself in the short term. “With these strikes, we must monitor and lie in wait and seize any opportunity to land a large strike on it, even if it takes years of patience for this,” he said, citing April’s attack at the Boston Marathon. “The Boston incident confirms to the Americans the extent of their lying and tricking of themselves and their arrogance from accepting the truth that is as bright as the sun, which is that they are not facing individuals, organizations or groups, but they are facing an uprising” by a Muslim world “that rose in jihad to defend its soul, dignity and capabilities.” Mr. Zawahri also referred to the civil war in Syria, urging jihadists fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces to withhold cooperation from secular foes of the Damascus authorities, apparently underlining a strategy to turn Syria into a bastion of Islamic militancy at the strategic heart of the Middle East. Mr. Zawahri, a physician turned terrorist leader who is believed to be in Pakistan, ascended to the top of Al Qaeda after American forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, but he has had difficulty managing its disparate affiliated groups, terrorism experts say. In an indication of the affiliates’ growing influence, those experts say, Mr. Zawahri appears to have anointed Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of Al Qaeda’s most effective affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as his heir apparent.


Bridge Collapse Shows Transit Problems

Abstract: MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The partial collapse here on Thursday night of a heavily used river bridge on Interstate 5 caused no deaths, but as the long holiday weekend began it underscored the vulnerability of a transportation system that hinges not just on high-profile water crossings and tunnels, but on thousands of ordinary and unremarked components that travelers mostly take for granted. A 160-foot section of the 58-year-old four-lane steel truss bridge, which crosses the Skagit River about an hour north of Seattle, crumpled around 7 p.m., apparently after being struck by a truck carrying an oversize load, state officials said. Three people were injured, none of them seriously, when vehicles went into the river. Image People watched rescue operations after the partial collapse. There were no serious injuries. Credit Joe Nicholson/Associated Press But the ripple effects of the collapse could be huge — for commuters, freight haulers, residents and businesses around the bridge on detour routes and for politicians in Olympia, Washington’s capital. Lawmakers have been loudly and publicly wrestling over the hundreds of millions of dollars in state money needed to replace another aging bridge over the Columbia River that separates Oregon and Washington farther south on the Interstate 5 corridor. Interstate 5 is the main north-south route from British Columbia to California, passing through both Seattle and Portland. Washington State’s Department of Transportation has established detour routes through the cities of Burlington and Mount Vernon, which are separated by the Skagit River, but urged travelers to avoid the area if they can. More than 67,000 drivers cross the Skagit every day along that stretch of the Interstate, according to the state. “Patience is going to be the watchword,” said Gov. Jay Inslee at a news conference here. Mr. Inslee, a Democrat, said that state transportation officials were scouring the country looking for a temporary, portable structure that might be brought in to span the river until the collapsed section can be replaced. But even if that happens, he said, the disruptions could last for weeks, at the least. Image The collapsed portion of the bridge that crosses the Skagit River, as seen from the river’s south bank. Credit Elaine Thompson/Associated Press Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board also arrived Friday to begin an inquiry into the accident’s causes. The chairwoman, Deborah A. M. Hersman, said an early priority was to interview witnesses, especially the driver of the vehicle carrying the load that struck the bridge. Whether it should be considered reassuring or alarming about the state of the nation’s infrastructure, the Skagit River bridge had not been judged unsafe or structurally deficient, according to inspection records. The bridge and its approach lanes, totaling just over 1,100 feet, were only considered to be past their useful life span, meaning that the time had arrived for a bigger, broader structure. But even calling a bridge structurally deficient does not necessarily mean that it is unsafe, as federal officials often point out; it only means that at least one major component has deteriorated, and actions may be taken to address the issue, like restricting traffic to ensure that the bridge is not stressed beyond its limits. “Obviously, this is a bridge that has lived a very long life,” Ms. Hersman said. But, she added, based on performance and inspection records, “It has been healthy throughout that life.” Image A bridge on Interstate 5 north of Seattle after the bridge collapsed Thursday night, sending two vehicles into the water. Credit The New York Times Mr. Inslee said in an interview that a broader message of the collapse is that state financing for state transportation projects — now under consideration in a special session of the Legislature — can no longer wait, especially for the long-delayed Columbia River project. “It shouldn’t take an oversize load to let us know we have an oversized problem,” he said. Washington State faces a deadline this year to find money for the $3.2 billion project over the Columbia River, or risk losing up to $1.2 billion in federal financing. Oregon’s Legislature has approved $450 million, but Washington State’s $450 million share has been stalled. About $1 billion would come from tolls. Building America’s Future, an advocacy group founded by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and two former governors, Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, also issued a statement characterizing the bridge collapse as a “call to action.” Video The bridge that collapsed near Seattle is part of a nationwide infrastructure that some say is crumbling beneath us. “Regardless of how this happened, the collapse of the Skagit River Bridge in Washington State is a timely reminder of our nation’s need to invest in critical infrastructure upgrades,” Mr. Rendell said. “Our nation’s bridges, roads and highways are deteriorating before our eyes.” But Washington’s secretary of transportation, Lynn Peterson, said it was clear that money would remain tight. The bridge was constructed of four 160-foot sections, three of which could be restored to use pending inspection, she said. “Under current fiscal constraints, there is no intent at this point to rebuild the entire bridge,” she said. The fact that a portion of a high-use highway could suddenly fall and fail without serious casualties was hailed by political leaders and residents as near miraculous. It also allowed immediate discussion of economic impacts, by Mr. Inslee and others, in ways that might have otherwise seemed crass or callous. Mr. Inslee, in particular, urged people to support the small businesses in the area that he said could find themselves in trouble, with customers unwilling or unable to breach the creeping train of detoured vehicles.

Skagit River Bridge
Bridges,Tunnels
Accidents and Safety
Washington
Infrastructure,public works
Skagit River


Digging Deep and Seeing Greece’s Flaws

Abstract: ATHENS — For Paul Koptides, who works in a car rental agency here, the news that Greece ’s bonds had been reduced to junk status was just the latest in a series of blows, including wage cuts, new taxes and pressure from European neighbors for ever deeper austerity measures. But far from blaming the international community for failing to come up with a rescue package quickly, Mr. Koptides, like many Greeks, is taking a hard look at his own country these days. He sees far too much mismanagement and corruption. Greece’s shadow economy is the largest in the European Union . Bribing government officials is routine. And tax evasion is a national sport. “We did this to ourselves,” said Mr. Koptides, 37. “It is our problem. It’s not Germany or Europe’s fault. We did this to ourselves.” Greeks seem to be engaged in national soul-searching these days, wondering whether traits they once found amusing might have led to many of their difficulties now. Some say their country may have been unprepared to join the European Union in the first place. Some focus on how European Union funds sent to Greece were spent on wasteful projects. Greece’s last administration hid the extent of its debt. “There has always been this way of thinking in Greece that the thieves are the clever ones and the ones who don’t steal are the patsies,” said Petros Anagnostou, 46, a book dealer. “We have to develop a conscience as a community, to see ourselves as a collective society. If it is a jungle out there, then we will eat each other and end up in a place like we are today.” That introspection has not alleviated a sense of mounting crisis. The day’s newspapers on Wednesday carried huge headlines suggesting that the country was on the brink and that time was running out. A newspaper that is supportive of Prime Minister George A. Papandreou took aim at the European Union, saying it was going too slowly in extending a 30 billion euro loan (about $39 billion) to help Greece pay its bills. The dawdling has needlessly increased the intensity of the crisis, the editorial in the newspaper, Ta Nea, said. But most concentrated on internal Greek politics. The financial crisis has left many Greeks worried about what kind of a year they are heading into and where they can safely save their own money. Some like Costas Papadakis, an air force pilot taking the day off in Athens, said he was working on not panicking because that would only make things worse. He said he did not think the Germans had behaved well toward Greece. But he shrugged, saying he would have done the same thing in their position. “We will have to learn to pay taxes,” said Mr. Papadakis, 27, who was enjoying a frothy coffee at an outdoor cafe. “It will be all right. Other people do it.” The austerity measures have prompted a parade of protests, big and small, over the past few weeks, most of them by students and civil service workers objecting to wage reductions and tax increases. Many Greeks agree with the demonstrators’ sense of unfairness. They believe the burden of the new measures will be carried by the poor and the middle class, while the rich will continue to hide their assets offshore. But few Greeks expect much to come of the protests. “It is going to be a very tough few years,” Mr. Anagnostou said. “And the ones who did not pay their taxes, the ones who stole, have disappeared.” Vicki Apostolopoulou, 38, the manager at a costume jewelry store on a busy shopping street, said customers had stopped buying months ago. “They come in,” she said. “But they don’t open their wallets anymore.” Ms. Apostolopoulou said the fiscal crisis was the first subject of every conversation she had with her friends. “Basically, we should be angry with ourselves for this crisis,” she said. “But it is still a very scary time.”

Greece
Politics and Government
European Union
Credit
Economic Conditions and Trends


Manning Starts Game After Game Despite Hit After Hit

Abstract: In August 2005, weeks before his second N.F.L. season, there were questions about Eli Manning’s durability. Tim Hasselbeck said he remembered them well. In the second preseason game that summer, against Carolina, Manning sprained his right elbow. Hasselbeck, the Giants’ backup quarterback, started the next game, against the Jets. He started again a week later against New England and began wondering if he would soon be starting regularly. “I was going into that scenario thinking, Wow, here we are in the preseason and this dude’s getting hurt,” said Hasselbeck, now an ESPN analyst. “Let’s see how this is going to work out.” It worked out something like this: Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs will mark the 150th consecutive Giants game started by Manning, including the postseason, since he replaced Kurt Warner in November 2004. It is a noteworthy accomplishment, maybe now more than ever before. As the Giants’ injury list piles up — including three mainstays on the offensive line — Eli Manning, like his brother Peyton, quietly churns onward as a paragon of N.F.L. reliability. His is the longest active streak by a quarterback and the second longest over all. (Washington Redskins linebacker London Fletcher had started 243 games entering Sunday.) Here is what else has happened since his streak began: ■ Cleveland has used 15 quarterbacks; Miami and Oakland have had 13 each. Byron Leftwich has started for four teams. Cleo Lemon, J. P. Losman, JaMarcus Russell and two McCown brothers all came and went. ■ Michael Vick served a prison term and returned. The N.F.L. had a work stoppage. Then the referees had a work stoppage. Brett Favre retired, twice. ■ And Hasselbeck appeared in only five games in two seasons with the Giants before retiring to a television studio in 2007. As Manning’s teammate, Hasselbeck never attempted a pass. Backing up a Manning, Hasselbeck learned, can be a bit like waiting for a comet to land in one’s living room. “I believe, in his mind, not playing is not an option,” Hasselbeck said. “It doesn’t matter what it is. He’d never even let his mind go there.” Being an iron man in a sport of brutality requires more than willpower. Derrick Brooks, who started 235 consecutive games at linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said he owed his durability to a lot of luck, too. “The amount of games I played in, week in week out, day in day out, I was blessed,” Brooks said in a telephone interview. “Guys that are in this current situation are blessed. And I was lucky.” Image Eli Manning is third on the career list in consecutive starts by a quarterback behind his brother Peyton and Brett Favre. Credit Robert Caplin/The New York Times D’Brickashaw Ferguson, who has started every game in eight seasons as the Jets’ left tackle, has blocked for six starting quarterbacks. He said there was no secret to staying healthy, nothing a player could eat or drink to remain active, but said a healthy dose of desire and attitude was required. “I know guys that do a lot of maintenance activities, and they still find themselves on that injury list,” Ferguson said. “It’s a privilege to be on this field. I don’t like to take it for granted. I’m pleased that I have this opportunity to do it on a regular basis.” Hasselbeck said Manning played through elbow pain for much of the 2005 season. He hurt his shoulder in 2007. He had plantar fasciitis in his foot in 2009. He sustained a gash on his forehead after a hit in 2010. Nothing has yet to hold him out of the regular season (138 games so far) or the postseason (11 games) since his streak began. “I don’t know if it’s ever crossed his mind, either,” Giants offensive lineman Kevin Boothe said. Manning is third on the N.F.L. career list in consecutive starts by a quarterback, behind Favre (321) and Peyton Manning, who started 227 games in a row before missing the 2011 season after neck surgery. Only three other active quarterbacks have started more than 70 games in a row: San Diego’s Philip Rivers (122), Baltimore’s Joe Flacco (96) and the Patriots’ Tom Brady (74). The league’s concussion protocols have changed, and attitudes toward injuries have evolved. “Durability is really something of a lost art,” Brooks said. “I didn’t take a year off on I.R. It was a lot of snaps over a lot of consecutive years. I do take a sense of pride of accomplishment in that.” James Lofton, a Hall of Fame wide receiver, played in 233 games over 16 seasons and vividly recalled learning during his rookie year the difference between playing hurt and injured. Limping after a hit at practice, the receivers coach Lew Carpenter walked over to him and whispered, “Superman don’t get hurt,” and walked away. “There is a certain toughness and a resolve that you just have to have,” said Lofton, now an analyst for SiriusXM radio. “Yes, you’re fortunate and blessed not to be injured where you can’t play. But a lot of the smaller things you just get by.” Brooks and Lofton cited the incessant pounding quarterbacks take, endlessly eluding sacks and hurries and hits. As a linebacker, Brooks said, there were plenty of passes thrown in another direction on plays during which he was not touched. Even on handoffs, Brooks added, quarterbacks regularly take hits. “Let’s not kid ourselves; he played in front of some offensive lines that were not the best,” Brooks said of Manning. “Quarterbacks get hit a lot. The fact that he gets up and earns his stripes and keeps on ticking, you really got to appreciate it.” Indeed, Manning’s resolve was certainly tested last week, when he was sacked 7 times and hit 20 times by the Panthers, who ransacked the Giants’ depleted offensive line. Injuries there remain a concern this week; center David Baas and the Pro Bowl guard Chris Snee have been ruled out. But Manning, bruised and battered Monday, sore Tuesday, achy Wednesday, has yet to arrive at a Sunday without the ball in his hands. “He’s somebody that if you protect him, he’s going to do well,” Boothe said. “It’s up to us to keep him upright. Here’s to another 150.”