Microsoft Lieutenants Look Ahead, Hoping to Avoid Other Companies' Mistakes

Abstract: REDMOND, Wash., June 16 — Microsoft stands astride the computing world much as another corporate giant, I.B.M., once did. Now its task is to avoid repeating I.B.M.'s mistakes. As the PC era wanes and the Internet era gathers force, Microsoft's revenues have never been higher and its quarterly profits remain in the billions. But it has yet to find profitability in an array of businesses that it has entered beyond those it has dominated, operating systems and office applications. Finding the company's way in the new era will largely fall to the successors to Bill Gates, who announced on Thursday that he would leave his day-to-day role at Microsoft in two years. But in an interview on Friday in his office on the Microsoft campus, Mr. Gates said he was confident that the company was positioning itself for success in its fourth decade and beyond. "I don't think there's any period that's not a transitional period in computing," he said. "Somebody's always driving change." Referring to the relentless increase in computing power, he added, "When you have Moore's Law creating these exponentially new capabilities, we're always in a time of utter change, maybe even accelerating change." And he insisted that Microsoft was closely focused on adapting to that change — and learning from the legacy of companies that failed to do so. "We're all students of why didn't Wang make the change," Mr. Gates said. "Why didn't Digital Equipment, which was my favorite company, make the change?" A more fitting lesson may come from I.B.M., which dominated the mainframe computing era just as Microsoft has ruled the PC age. I.B.M. remained highly profitable in the 1980's even after the advent of the PC produced a growing array of challengers. But by the early 1990's, the eclipse of the mainframe and I.B.M.'s inability to find its way in the PC era forced the company to go through a sweeping makeover in management and culture; it has never regained its previous influence. Now it is the age of high-speed Internet connections and new digital devices that threaten the formula that established Microsoft's primacy. But Mr. Gates argued that the rapidly increasing availability of computing power, which undid his competitors, will ultimately save Microsoft. As the cost of computing falls, giving rise to new uses and appliances, Microsoft will find new markets and grow, he said. In that sense, technical advances have a different impact on computing than on other businesses, increasing rather than decreasing demand. "When they invented radial tires, they should have shot the guy," he said. "The whole industry went through a crisis, because it took nine years to squeeze out the extra factory capacity, because the tires lasted longer." Microsoft's future, he said, lies in applications that will offer new capabilities. He cited an announcement planned for later this month that is intended to extend the Microsoft Office business into the telecommunications world by more tightly linking the power of PC's and telephones. Even as he pulls back from day-to-day activities, Mr. Gates will play a prominent role as chairman as well as the company's largest shareholder. But on Thursday he said the company's technical leadership would continue to report to him for only another year before shifting to work for Steven A. Ballmer, the chief executive. It is at that point that the unusual chemistry that the two men have refined over a quarter-century — with Mr. Gates as the technical visionary and Mr. Ballmer as the sales leader — will be most thoroughly tested. Whether Mr. Ballmer can change his role to take responsibility for both sides of the equation remains to be seen, but there is little doubt that he has the commitment to carry on as Microsoft's chief executive far into the future. Even six years ago, when Mr. Gates first said that he agreed with Mr. Ballmer to remain committed to Microsoft until he was 50 — the age they have now reached — Mr. Ballmer said he often felt that he would leave only by being carried out of the company. His immediate challenge is to convince Wall Street that he is still the right man for the job, something that is certain to take several successful products. At a news conference on Thursday at a Microsoft corporate television studio, he and Mr. Gates took pains to stress continuity in the company's leadership — what Mr. Ballmer referred to as the "relentless patience" underlying the company's strategy and long-term planning approach. In the front row facing the two executives were Ray Ozzie, the veteran computer industry executive to whom Mr. Gates is handing the role of chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, a second veteran who has been the designer of the company's government and international strategy, and who will now formally head research and strategy. At the back of the room sat the company's three divisional presidents, Jeff Raikes, Robert J. Bach and Kevin Johnson, as well as a handful of key lieutenants, including Rick Rashid, the head of research; Steven Sinofsky, now leading the technical effort in the operating systems business; and J Allard, the original designer of the Xbox video game system, who is now leading an effort to extend the software technology underlying the company's entertainment business. The collection of executive talent represents the breadth of Microsoft's ambition. Mr. Ozzie, whose résumé includes the conception of Lotus Notes in the 1980's, has risen rapidly to his position of technical leader since he came to Microsoft last year when it acquired his company, Groove Networks. Mr. Ozzie's ascent is interpreted by some industry executives as an acknowledgment by Mr. Gates that it is time for Microsoft to build a new foundation on the Internet. Brad Silverberg, a previous technical leader at Microsoft, left the company in the 1990's when he became convinced that Mr. Gates was not willing to move quickly enough in breaking with the past. "Ray is the real DNA in terms of the future of Microsoft's software path," said Mark R. Anderson, an analyst at Strategic News Service, a technology consulting firm. Mr. Gates, he said, has been a "fast follower" who has been able to repeatedly change Microsoft's strategy to rapidly pursue and then overtake competitors with new technologies. Mr. Ozzie, in contrast, has a record of innovation, first with Notes and then with Groove, a PC-based software system that allows groups of workers to collaborate — a product that is now being integrated into the next version of Office. "It's easy when you're following the taillights," Mr. Anderson said. "It's a lot harder when you have to invent the car." One crucial aspect of Mr. Gates's legacy at Microsoft will be its ability to salvage its Windows Vista operating system. The program has entered its second test version and is scheduled to be commercially available early next year. In interviews during the last two days, Microsoft executives almost universally expressed caution about whether the program, the most complex software undertaking in the company's history, is certain to be on schedule for January shipment — more than five years after the current version, Windows XP. "We're looking at these incoming bug arrival rates and feeling pretty good," Mr. Gates said. "They're working really hard, they believe they're going to make those dates, but the dates are not a sacrosanct thing." A number of researchers who follow the company say Vista, a project born under the code name Longhorn, has left psychic wounds from which the company is still trying to recover. "It is clear to me that Gates lost touch with the core of the company several years ago, as evidenced by the collapse of the Longhorn project and the abyss the Windows group fell into," said Michael A. Cusumano, a management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "so this announcement is really just recognizing what already exists — his mind is elsewhere." On Friday, Mr. Gates acknowledged that he was not following Vista on a daily basis. That job belongs to another executive, Jim Allchin, who has announced that he will leave once the troubled program is shipped successfully.

Microsoft Corporation
Gates Bill
Computers and the Internet
Computer Software


A Personal Loss for a Hofstra Alumnus

Abstract: They had no idea what was about to fall on their heads. On Oct. 10, my old classmates came back for the 50th reunion of the undefeated 1959 football team from Hofstra University. Homecoming Day, it was called. “Hofstra’s been a second home to me,” Steve Miller, a tackle on that team, said Thursday. “Now I feel like it’s been burned down.” Miller was absorbing a worse shot than anything he ever took on the field. Our alma mater has abolished football, with no warning, in the name of fiscal prudence. I take it personally because they are my friends. As a student aide to the athletic department, I announced home games, called in the results to the papers, and I also took classes with the players. They were student-athletes in the best sense of the word. Now our alma mater has terminated the program that eventually sent John Schmitt and Wayne Chrebet and Marques Colston to the National Football League. “Football is such an important part of college,” said Robert Gutkowski , once the president of Madison Square Garden, now a partner in Innovative Strategies Management. He went to games as a child and recalls watching Fran Lynch , a running back who played nine years for the Denver Broncos. As a student in the late ’60s, Gutkowski was one of those rare Hofstronians who actually went to games. “Such an indictment of the times,” Gutkowski said with a sigh, referring to the harsh economy. Hofstra has guaranteed scholarships to the current players, promised easy passage to other football schools, but has effectively banished what Howdy Myers, the withdrawn coach with the flamboyant offensive soul, helped build. “I feel like a good friend of mine has passed away,” said Lou DiBlasi, who was tossed out of school, grew up in the Marines, came back to play on that 1959 team, and later coached in high school. Hofstra will not produce any more football players like DiBlasi or Miller or George Dempster, the co-captain, who later became the chairman of the board of trustees and helped save the school when it was going under in the ’70s. George’s name is now engraved on the communications building: Dempster Hall. “The best athlete on the team,” recalled Mike Manzer, an end on the defensive platoon in that year of limited substitution. George even moved from guard to quarterback during a plague of injuries in 1958. A few days before the final game in 1959, Dempster had an emergency appendectomy. After his teammates won, the seniors nailed their jocks to a board, in the old tradition of “hanging ’em up,” and then carried the board into George’s hospital room. They tell that story and they talk about departed teammates, including Ted Poliskin, Frank Mauro and Bernie Larkin, all of whom died recently. They remembered how only a few thousand fans would come out on Saturdays. It was a commuter school back then, but the jocks and journalists and drama majors like Francis Coppola and Lainie Kazan all rented rooms around campus — the inner core, we felt. In that undefeated season, Bob Spiotta was a tackle in the afternoon and Stanley Kowalski in the evening, and later he caught up with Coppola out west and helped found Zoetrope. Hofstra people did all right. (There was also a guy named Madoff in our class but he doesn’t show up in the yearbook my wife and I co-edited. Nobody heard of the schnook back then.) The football team is all over our yearbook. Howdy’s genius. Linemen like Chet O’Neill and Tim Gannon. Tommy MacDonald, the unsung quarterback. And Doug Lewis, the only black guy on the team, who arrived as a quarterback, but, it being the late ’50s, Howdy converted him to a wide receiver, a terrific one. They won all nine games. They made Hofstra proud. Over the decades Hofstra downsized football, then upgraded it , under Dempster and Dr. James M. Shuart , two football linemen who became board chairman and president of the university, respectively. When Stuart Rabinowitz took over in 2000, he did not seem to like football all that much, particularly its deficits. Hofstra made mistakes. With the wonderful Dutch heritage, who told the school to change its nickname from Flying Dutchmen to the Pride? I detect a Babe Ruth hex in there somewhere. It blundered into the Colonial Athletic Association, which mandated expensive trips up and down the East Coast. It built dormitories but could never induce students to attend football games. I’m no apologist for football. The other day I advised Notre Dame to downsize. Hofstra could have done that. Instead, it dumped football, leaving my classmates wondering if they will ever be in touch with the university again. “I’ve given them some money in the past,” Lou DiBlasi said. “Right now, my inclination is, hell, no.”

Hofstra University
Football
College Athletics


Last 2 Cuban Workers at Guantánamo Bay Retire

Abstract: The last two Cuban workers at the United States Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay retired on Monday from jobs they began more than five decades ago. The two workers, Harry Henry, 82, an office supply technician, and Luis La Rosa, 79, a welder, were among thousands of Cuban laborers who once commuted to the base each day. The United States has controlled the property since 1903, maintaining it under a perpetual lease that can be broken only by mutual agreement between the United States and Cuba, which now have no diplomatic relations. As the relationship soured in the 1960s, Cubans who worked on the base were allowed to keep their jobs, but no more were hired. Over the decades, the ranks of the Cuban employees thinned until only Mr. Henry and Mr. La Rosa were left. Support work on the base is now done by contractors, mainly from the Philippines and Jamaica. In the past decade, the base has been best known for the detention center that now holds 166 foreign captives suspected of links to the Taliban or Al Qaeda.


DNA Exposed

Abstract: Q. What does a test tube of DNA look like? A. Deoxyribonucleic acid extracted from cells has been variously described as looking like strands of mucus; limp, thin, white noodles; or a network of delicate, limp fibers. Under a microscope, the familiar double-helix molecule of DNA can be seen. Because it is so thin, DNA cannot be seen by the naked eye unless its strands are released from the nuclei of the cells and allowed to clump together. It is relatively easy to extract DNA from cells, and the process is a widespread classroom activity, sometimes using household substances like dishwashing detergent, meat tenderizer and cold alcohol. The source of the cells can be something like strawberries , green split peas or a swab from the inside of your own cheek. The first step is to begin to break open the cells and the partitions around the nuclei of the cells, inside which the DNA is tightly coiled. This can be done with water in a blender or, in the case of strawberries, by simply crushing them in a plastic bag. Next, the proteins and fats that make up the cellular and nuclear partitions are broken down and removed with a solution of detergent. Meat tenderizer is added to cut away other proteins, which hold the DNA coils in place inside the nucleus. Finally, the strands are precipitated out of solution with cold alcohol; the fragile “noodles” collect and clump together where the alcohol meets the water solution. C. CLAIBORNE RAY

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)
Science and Technology


Yet Again, Rangers Seem Averse to Prosperity

Abstract: PHILADELPHIA — Some streaks defy logic, but the Rangers’ current run of futility may be the strangest of all: an N.H.L.-record 12 straight defeats while holding a lead in a playoff series. The latest came Tuesday night, with a dispiriting 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of their opening-round series. That set up Game 7 Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, with the winner to meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. Before they set foot on the Garden ice, the Rangers will try to erase the memory of what happened Tuesday. “This team is not going to be thinking about what went on last night,” Brad Richards said. “We’re going to wake up tomorrow. We’ve got one game to win. This is going to be over tonight when we get on the train.” The Rangers will try to forget the blizzard of orange Flyers hats that fluttered down from the stands in the second period after Wayne Simmonds scored his third goal of the game to make the score 4-0. The rest of the night was a raucous Flyers celebration. The only bright spots for the Rangers were too-little-too-late goals from Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello. Grim spots were many. The power play unit went 0 for 5, and now the Rangers have failed to score on their last 20 manpower advantages. Henrik Lundqvist was pulled after two periods, having stopped only 19 of 23 shots. Rick Nash had no points and only two shots on goal; he has one goal in 18 playoff games as a Ranger. “I’m seeing a big guy every night,” Nash said of the Flyers defensemen. “It’s a tough job, but I’ve got to try to overcome them and take chances.” Still, the Rangers can take solace in having a better record in recent Game 7s. They have won their last three series-deciding games. In the opening minutes the Rangers skated circles around the Flyers, as they had for much of the series. Steve Mason seemed shaky in goal, giving up rebound after rebound, but he did not allow a puck to elude him. The Flyers, meanwhile, were butterfingered with their sticks. They gave away the puck or had it taken away 17 times in the game’s first 22 minutes. The Rangers made only seven such turnovers in that span. But the only two turnovers that really mattered were committed by Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi. Both led to goals. Early in the first period, Benoit Pouliot was sent to the penalty box for an unnecessary holding penalty when he collared Claude Giroux in the neutral zone. On the power play, Girardi made a bad pass that gave the puck to the Flyers. Lundqvist robbed Simmonds once, but Simmonds got the puck back again and whacked it in at 7 minutes 8 seconds to make the score 1-0. The game quickly spiraled out of control for the Rangers early in the second period. Another Girardi miscue — at even strength — led to a two-on-one break for the Flyers and another goal for Simmonds. The Flyers had just killed off the Rangers’ third power play when the puck fell in a no-man’s land in the Rangers zone. Lundqvist hesitated to come out for it, and defenseman Erik Gustafsson, just out of the penalty box, pounced and beat Lundqvist to make the score 3-0 at 14:17. Gustafsson was playing his first game of the series, taking the place of Hal Gill, who was victimized on a goal in the Rangers’ 4-2 victory in Game 5. “It’s very disappointing to me to be a part of those two goals,” Girardi said. “But like I said, I’m happy to have the opportunity to get back at it tomorrow.” Just 1:02 later, with Derek Dorsett off for tripping, Simmonds tipped in Jakub Voracek’s shot. That led to the avalanche of hats, for Simmonds’s hat trick. Coach Alain Vigneault pulled Lundqvist after two periods, replacing him with Cam Talbot. Lundqvist’s career record fell to 5-5 in games when the Rangers could clinch a playoff series. Mason, though, got better and better as the game progressed, and wound up with 34 saves. With the score still 2-0 and the Rangers on the power play, he robbed Pouliot with a picturesque glove save. Vigneault rued the ineffectiveness of his team’s power play. “We’ve got to execute,” he said. “I’ve been saying that for a couple of games now. We’ve got one more game to execute a power play.” The third period was almost an afterthought — a matter of putting the final touches on an ignominious Rangers streak that stretches back to 2009. The Rangers will hope to spend the hours leading up to Game 7 in a fog of forgetfulness. “It’s disappointing, but it’s over,” Lundqvist said as he finished packing up his gear. “We have to move on quickly. We’ll go back to New York, get some rest and get ready for tomorrow.” He paused for a moment. “We can’t analyze this too much,” he said.

Ice hockey
Playoffs
Flyers
Rangers
Wayne Simmonds


Bartolo Colon Gives Mets a Much-Needed Lift and a Win Over the Pirates

Abstract: It was understandable if the Mets entered Thursday’s game with the Pittsburgh Pirates with as much self-esteem as a Charlie Brown-led team, after David Wright , their anchor for the last 13 years at third base, had neck surgery , with no timetable for a return. As fate would have it, Bartolo Colon , the source of so much baseball joy, was scheduled to start. Colon delivered on the mound and at the plate, boosting the Mets to a 6-4 win. Aside from throwing seven scoreless innings before allowing two runs in the eighth, Colon led off the third by ripping a stand-up double into the right-center field gap. After beating a throw to third base on a Curtis Granderson single to center field, Colon scampered home on a sacrifice fly by Yoenis Cespedes. “Anytime you’re entertained, it helps, and he’s entertaining,” Manager Terry Collins said, adding, “He scored and came in and went out and pitched great.” Colon said through an interpreter after the game that he does not enjoy running a lot, but was happy to provide a boost. “I didn’t see it personally, but I was watching just now on TV,” Colon said. “It looks like they enjoyed themselves.” The run delighted and awakened the Mets’ offense. Neil Walker followed with a two-run homer and Michael Conforto contributed a solo home run, prolonging the inning and enabling the heavy-footed Colon to regroup in the dugout. “Thank God for Walker and Conforto’s home runs,” Colon said. “That gave me a little bit of chance to catch my breath, and I was able to come back even stronger after that.” After missing the last three games with back pain, Walker drove in three runs. But it was Colon who provided the key spark on Thursday. “I don’t think he ever ceases to amaze us,” Walker said. Granderson led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run, the 17th time he has done so with the Mets, setting a club record. Despite Colon’s efforts to enliven the Mets, there were times of concern. Addison Reed gave up two runs in the ninth before Jeurys Familia stopped the Pirates’ attempted comeback with his 22nd save. Wilmer Flores started at third base, but left in the third inning after getting hit by a pitch on the outside of his left hand. In a rare piece of good news concerning the health of the Mets’ players, X-rays were negative. Flores said he hoped to be able to play Friday, but he was unsure of his status after the game. There were more encouraging signs that Conforto may be fully healthy after injuring his wrist. He returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Saturday and prevented an extra-base hit by Jung Ho Kang in the first inning with a diving catch in left field. He added a single in the fifth inning for his first multihit game since May 20. “I saw much better bat speed today than I’ve seen,” Collins said. “Hopefully, it’s a sign of good things to come.”

Baseball
Mets
Pittsburgh Pirates
Bartolo Colon
David Wright
Sports injury


Our Man in Iowa: Early Signs of a Big Turnout for Republicans

Abstract: Good morning from Iowa, where premium gasoline is $1.67 a gallon at Git-n-Go, and where a warming trend has arrived, which could last through the caucuses six days from now, favoring a strong turnout. There are mounting signs these caucuses may go into the record books for turnout, at least on the Republican side. Tami Jorgensen, who works for the auditor of the predominantly conservative Warren County, told me she was astonished at how many people had called asking for the location of their precinct’s caucuses. The furious campaigning continues, with eight candidates scheduled to hold a whopping 31 events across the state on Tuesday. Donald J. Trump will rock the University of Iowa Field House; Ted Cruz is campaigning with a newly announced supporter , former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas; and Hillary Clinton, who is relying heavily on her get-out-the-vote machine, plans three events in Northern Iowa. Where’s Jeb Bush? You know who is not here? Jeb Bush, who has all but abandoned Iowa for a New Hampshire-or-bust strategy. Mr. Bush has spent just two days in Iowa this month. But the “super PAC” supporting him, Right to Rise, continues to drop heavy ordnance on Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in TV ads and on Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio in mailings. The circular firing squad among establishment-leaning Republicans baffles some strategists. “If Right to Rise spent $50 million contrasting Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, this race would be very different,” said Stuart Stevens, who was Mitt Romney’s top strategist in 2012 and whose consulting firm is advising Mr. Christie, although he is not directly involved in the campaign. “Instead,” Mr. Stevens added, “that money has been used to attack those who most agree with Jeb Bush.” And Don’t Forget Ben Carson Just because a candidate is out of the news media spotlight doesn’t mean he isn’t out there. On Monday night, Ben Carson addressed a crowd of about 200 at Simpson College in Indianola. Mr. Carson’s support in Iowa has dropped in the Real Clear Politics polling average to 7 percent from 29 percent in early November. His state director asked for a show of hands of attendees planning to caucus for Mr. Carson. Only about one in seven went up. I ran into Kedron Bardwell, a political scientist at the college who is my go-to expert on Iowa’s Christian conservatives, who once flocked to Mr. Carson. Mr. Bardwell said the former surgeon, known for his eyebrow-raising statements, had attracted both Christians and those who hated political correctness (sometimes the same group). Many of Mr. Carson’s former supporters had turned to Mr. Cruz or to Mr. Trump, Mr. Bardwell said. “If you’re a Christian conservative and believe what Carson does, Cruz is the natural alternative,” he said. “And if you want to blow up the system, you’ll be with Trump.” Another candidate still plugging away is Carly Fiorina. Her low-profile campaign has a culinary theme on Tuesday, with events at a coffee and wine bistro, a restaurant named Beef, Bread and Brew, and a Kum & Go convenience store. She can ask supporters at the store to chip in for gas. It’s cheap. Image Trip Gabriel in Indianola, Iowa, on Monday. Credit Eric Thayer for The New York Times

2016 Presidential Election
Primaries
Jeb Bush
Ben Carson,Benjamin S. Carson
Carleton Fiorina,Carly Fiorina


Heat Win Without LeBron James

Abstract: LeBron James watched from the bench in street clothes as Norris Cole stripped Kyrie Irving of the ball with 2.2 seconds left to give the Miami Heat, resting most of their top players for the playoffs, a 96-95 win over the host Cleveland Cavaliers. Cole finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists. Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers joined James on the bench while Dwyane Wade, Shane Battier and Udonis Haslem stayed back in Miami with minor injuries. ¶ Al Jefferson had 22 points to help the Utah Jazz keep their playoff hopes alive with a 96-80 victory over the host Minnesota Timberwolves. To make the playoffs, the Jazz need a win at Memphis on Wednesday and a loss by the Los Angeles Lakers at home against Houston that night.

Basketball
Miami Heat
Cavaliers
LeBron James
Kyrie Irving


Dallas Keuchel’s Key to Success Is as Hidden as His Neck

Abstract: The first time Mike Fiers met Dallas Keuchel, they were opposing each other as starters in Class AAA. Fiers, then a minor leaguer in the Milwaukee Brewers’ system, saw things in Keuchel that reminded him of himself: pedestrian velocity, good command, multiple pitches. The difference was in the results. “Everyone was coming back to the dugout wondering why they didn’t get a hit,” Fiers said. “You’re thinking, like, ‘There’s got to be some kind of strategy to it.’ ” Fiers and Keuchel are now teammates in the rotation of the Houston Astros , and the same strategy, more or less, has propelled Keuchel to a season worthy of Cy Young Award consideration, even as many baseball fans are just beginning to learn the pronunciation of his surname (KY-kull). More memorable is his look, which features a bushy auburn beard obscuring his entire neck. It is the second most famous beard in Houston sports, trailing only the facial hair of the Rockets’ James Harden. Keuchel and Harden refer to each other as the “bearded brother.” It has been hard to fit Keuchel into any other labels. The Yankees know this well. When he takes the mound for the Astros against the Yankees on Tuesday night in the A.L. wild-card game, he will be aiming for his third win against them this season, having posted a 0.00 E.R.A. in 16 innings. “Finesse pitcher” does not quite fit him, catcher Jason Castro said. After all, Keuchel has been known to hit 94 miles per hour when he wants to. He is not just a heavy-ball thrower, either, as Yankees Manager Joe Girardi implied Monday when describing his team’s game plan. “You have to make him get the ball up is what you have to do on him,” Girardi said. Castro has a more apt description: command pitcher. Keuchel has had top-notch stuff since his arrival in the major leagues in 2012, Castro said. But Keuchel did not recognize how effectively he could command it. “He’s a lot more aggressive in the zone,” Castro said. “He’s going to trust the movement to get guys out. That’s what’s made him successful is his aggressive mind-set and relying on his stuff.” Keuchel, 27, said his first two seasons with Houston — when he compiled a 9-18 record with a 5.20 E.R.A. for two teams that lost more than 100 games — helped him discover that he did not need to be perfect with his pitches. “Just trying to be too fine, make it a perfect pitch every single pitch I throw, and you can’t do that,” Keuchel said. “I think I’ve made good adjustments.” Fiers, who was acquired by Houston from Milwaukee at the trade deadline, finally got to see Keuchel up close and understand what enabled him to set himself apart. Fiers recognized the strategy that had worked so well in the minors. “He pitches in the zone, and then once those guys start swinging, he expands it,” Fiers said. “It just shows you that you can pitch with any speed.” Keuchel began to impress last season, when he finished seventh in the American League with a 2.93 E.R.A. and fifth among pitchers in wins above replacement (5.1) for the 70-92 Astros. This year, Castro said, he immediately noticed a difference in the development of Keuchel’s slider, which he used to collect 42 percent of his career-high 216 strikeouts. Keuchel also led the majors in ground-ball rate (62.3 percent) and led the A.L. in wins (20), WAR (7.2), and walks plus hits per inning (1.01). The decision for the A.L.’s Cy Young Award is expected to come down to Keuchel and Toronto’s David Price. “We’ve got a number of good starting pitchers, but none have been as exceptional as Dallas,” Astros Manager A. J. Hinch said. “He’s our ace; he’s our guy. To hand him the ball with the season on the line is pretty awesome.” There is one caveat for Tuesday’s game: It will be the first time in Keuchel’s professional career that he has pitched on only three days’ rest. With Houston needing a win on Friday to remain in contention for a wild-card spot, Hinch called on Keuchel, who delivered, allowing two runs in six innings as Houston pounded Arizona. The next day, he arrived at the ballpark at his normal time, 2 p.m., to maintain the routine that had gotten him there, not knowing whether he would have an opportunity to pitch again but not letting any concerns about rest deter him. His adrenaline, he said, might help. “Maybe it’s going to help me throw 91,” Keuchel said, “instead of 90.”

Baseball
Dallas Keuchel
Beards and Mustaches
Astros


Restaurant Review: Lost & Found in Long Beach Has a Chef Who Goes for the Flavor Bomb

Abstract: Lost & Found, a culinary hideaway tucked among the rowdy bars of Long Beach’s West End, can be hard to find. During the day, the blinds are drawn, the phone goes unanswered and the only sign of life is a discreet stenciled logo on the front window. But when the doors open at 5:30, the tiny restaurant exerts its own quiet pull on the neighborhood, drawing in local foodies who vie for hard-to-get reservations and take their chances as last minute walk-ins. To hear some of the regulars tell it, the harder it is to find, the better they like it. “We’re local and we’re proud of this place,” Margi Bellusci said on a recent night out with her husband, Bob. She applauded the creative New American cuisine, a departure from the burgers, wings and fries that characterize pub food in Long Beach. “We’re really excited but we’re trying not to tell anybody.” Despite Ms. Bellusci’s best efforts, word of mouth has already made Lost & Found a favorite comeback story in this seaside town, where efforts to rebuild and recover from Hurricane Sandy continue. Before the October 2012 hurricane, Alexis Trolf, 36, was the chef and a co-owner of Caffe Laguna, an Italian restaurant that was destroyed by the storm. Image Left, the dry-aged rib-eye steak; right, the vanilla pot de crème with raspberry sauce and sesame brittle. Credit Dave Sanders for The New York Times A couple of years later, “as chance or luck would have it,” he said, he finally found a little place just across the street. In January, Mr. Trolf opened Lost & Found, what he called “a mom-and-pop shop,” offering something new for the neighborhood: A globally inspired small-plates menu that changes with the seasons. Presiding over a modest open kitchen, Mr. Trolf, often in casual shirts and a chef’s apron, performs nightly (except Tuesdays), sharing recipes and stories with patrons as he drizzles a briny gribiche sauce on fennel-powdered sea scallops, or meticulously slices a dry-aged rib-eye steak. “It’s almost as if I’m having people over at my house and I’m cooking in my kitchen,” he said, offering a nibble of braised pork belly, silky and succulent, to the four patrons seated at the “chef’s counter” on a recent evening. A sliver of pastrami-spiced pumpkin swordfish followed. “Sometimes I like to play a guessing game: Taste this and tell me what you think it might be. People have come to expect a little bit of shock and awe when they come in,” he said. “I think everything should be this flavor bomb and it should amaze from the first bite to the last.” Highly spiced and flavor-packed, these dishes are well-suited to a small-plates format where less is often more. Two dishes per person are recommended and sharing is encouraged. Adventurous diners should be amply rewarded. Highlights on a recent visit included charred octopus paired with ceci beans and a refreshing romesco sauce; and a perfect duck breast topped with blueberry agrodolce with a side of spice-dusted fingerling potato chips. The fig and arugula salad was bright and vivid (and big enough for two), laced with gossamer slices of jamón Serrano, shaved kohlrabi, melon and Marcona almonds. Image A dinner party in Lost & Found's rustic space. Credit Dave Sanders for The New York Times A few tastes of the rich tuna poke, a traditional Hawaiian sashimi-style dish, marinated in soy dressing and roasted pumpkin seed oil; or skate wing schnitzel, a riff on Mr. Trolf’s Austrian heritage, salty with capers and white anchovy, make fine conversation starters. Take a bite and pass it around, to your table or your neighbor’s. Discuss. Each night, an expectant crowd arrives at the informal, rustic space; some in sandals, shorts and sundresses from the beach, others in seersucker suits. Most carry a favorite bottle of wine (the bring-your-own policy, with no corkage fee, will continue until a beer and wine license is approved). Greeted by a friendly, informative wait staff, customers settle in at tiny tables for two, a communal table for eight, or one of a handful of counter seats. Dining room décor features a wild boar head mounted on a wall the color of driftwood; daisies and votive candles brighten the room. An eclectic musical playlist buoys the festivities. Often the menu is entirely new, so expect changes when autumn comes. The only permanent items are truffle rustic potatoes (a Lost & Found staple by popular demand) and the two large plates: a hefty dry-aged rib-eye, and a whole chili-lime roasted chicken that makes your mouth buzz and hum with spice. Daily dessert specials are well worth exploring, too. Jamie O’Rourke, the pastry chef, has a masterful way with chocolate panna cotta (one bite will not do) and a light-as-air key lime pie that should not be missed. It may be off the beaten path, but Lost & Found is a real find.

Restaurant
Long Beach NY
Hurricane Sandy
Alexis Trolf
Lost & Found


CeeLo Green, Star of NBC’s ‘The Voice,’ Faces Drug Charge

Abstract: CeeLo Green, the singer and judge on NBC’s hit talent show “The Voice,” was charged on Monday in Los Angeles with giving the drug ecstasy to a woman, the district attorney of Los Angeles County announced. CeeLo Green, 39, whose real name is Thomas DeCarlo Callaway, was charged with one felony count of furnishing a controlled substance. He is accused of giving ecstasy to a 33-year-old woman while they were eating at a restaurant in July 2012. According the district attorney’s announcement, the two later went to the hotel room of the woman, who was not named, but prosecutors declined to charge him with sexual assault of an intoxicated person, citing insufficient evidence. The announcement said that CeeLo Green was expected to be arraigned on Monday, with prosecutors requesting $30,000 for bail. In convicted, the singer faces up to four years in state prison. “The Voice” is NBC’s highest-rated entertainment program. An NBC spokeswoman declined to comment on the allegations. A spokeswoman for CeeLo Green did not respond to e-mailed requests for comment Monday afternoon.


Democrats in Congress Are Ready to Pare Budget

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Alarmed by rising deficit predictions, Congressional Democrats prepared Tuesday to pare spending in President Obama ’s budget and limit some middle-class tax cuts even as Republicans stepped up their criticism of the plan as irresponsible. The draft unveiled Tuesday by Senate Democrats reflected significant changes to Mr. Obama’s proposal. It drops his appeal to set aside money for future bank bailouts, provides only a temporary fix for a mandatory income tax increasingly hitting the middle class and leaves open-ended the handling of major health care and energy initiatives. Administration officials sought to play down any differences, saying they were satisfied with the emerging plans. Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Budget Committee, said the base proposal he would present saved $608 billion over five years compared with the president’s plan. The difference comes mainly from scaling back efforts to rein in a mandatory minimum income tax that is creeping up on the middle class, dropping $250 billion for a new round of bank bailouts, and increasing spending on nonmilitary federal programs by 7 percent rather than the 10 percent proposed by the president for a savings of $160 billion. The Democrats’ budget does not provide for Mr. Obama’s signature middle-class tax cut, called Making Work Pay, of $400 for individuals earning $75,000 and $800 for couples with incomes up to $150,000 after 2010. “We show what our numbers would accommodate, and they would not accommodate Making Work Pay,” said Mr. Conrad. But he said the budget would retain other middle-class tax breaks, including relief from the so-called marriage penalty, the child tax credit and new education benefits. The Senate Democratic plan also does not set a dollar amount for a health care overhaul fund; Mr. Obama called for $634 billion to be set aside for health care changes over the next decade. But Mr. Conrad said the budget created special reserve funds that would allow legislation on both health care and energy as long as those plans did not add to the deficit. “We think we have provided for the key priorities of the president,” said Mr. Conrad, who said it would be left to the relevant committees of Congress to fill in the details. “It gives maximum flexibility to the committees to write the legislation.” He said the budget called for a deficit of $508 billion by the fifth year, which he said would meet his target of holding it under 3 percent of gross domestic product. Though Republicans have shown no inclination to back the president’s budget, they accused Democrats of abandoning some elements of his plan that were initially praised as a step toward more honest budgeting, including a 10-year forecast and acknowledging the need to account for the alternative minimum tax . “You can get these presidential numbers down through using a lot of gimmicks that the president didn’t use, reinstating gimmicks,” said Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, senior Republican on the Budget Committee. “That would be a mistake. Let’s be honest with the American people.” In the House, Congressional officials said lawmakers were inclined to include a provision that would prevent Republican filibusters of health care legislation arising out of the budget. Republicans are feverishly trying to head off such a provision. But even House officials say they may not use the procedure to skirt filibusters to advance Mr. Obama’s proposal to impose new federal fees on businesses responsible for carbon emissions, suggesting that the plan is a lower priority than health care for Congressional Democrats. Despite the differences in the Senate blueprint, Peter R. Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the major elements of the president’s agenda were protected in the budget. “On the four key areas the president has spoken about — health care, clean energy, education and cutting the deficit in half — the House and Senate budget resolutions will reflect those,” Mr. Orszag said. He acknowledged the absence of Mr. Obama’s middle-class tax cut beyond 2010, but said Congress and the administration would have two years to resolve the issue. There are some smaller differences that Congress and the White House will have to work out, including the financing of some transportation programs and a disagreement over the way the budget treats Pell Grant college scholarships. Republicans are preparing amendments to try to change the budget in the committee, including one that would freeze spending at current levels. “The outrage the budget has created is legitimate because, if passed, it would change the nature of our economy and our historic belief in limited government,” said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama. In recent years, Congressional budgets have drawn little interest, and Congress has even failed on some occasions to pass one. But Mr. Obama’s plan, and the Congressional handling of it, is drawing heightened scrutiny because the administration used its spending blueprint to lay out an ambitious plan of health, energy, education and transportation proposals. A failure by the new White House to get most of its agenda reflected in the new budget would be viewed as a significant setback.

Federal Budget (US)
Obama Barack
Democratic Party
Republican Party
United States Politics and Government
Taxation
United States Economy


When Science Is Lost in a Legal Maze

Abstract: In a saner world, where science and the law meshed more precisely, a case like Firstenberg v. Monribot would have been dead on arrival in court. But that is not what happened. Earlier this month, five years after the lawsuit was filed, the New Mexico Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that Arthur Firstenberg, an outspoken opponent of wireless technology, could not seek $1.43 million in damages from his neighbor, Raphaela Monribot, for damaging his health by using her iPhone and a Wi-Fi connection. The electromagnetic signals that go from cellphone to cellphone and computer to computer lie quietly on the spectrum between radio broadcast waves and the colors of light. From the perspective of science, the likelihood of the rays somehow causing harm is about as strong as the evidence for ESP. But the law proceeds by its own logic, in which concepts like evidence and proof take on meanings of their own. This case in New Mexico shows how two of civilization’s great bodies of thought — the scientific and the legal — can make for an uneasy mix. Mr. Firstenberg and Ms. Monribot, the record shows, were once on good terms. He had hired her in 2008 to cook for him, and after she left for Europe, he rented and then purchased her small house in a densely populated old neighborhood in Santa Fe, N.M. When she returned to town, she moved into a house adjacent to the one he owned. It was there, Mr. Firstenberg would claim, that she became the cause of his suffering. Dizziness, nausea, amnesia, insomnia, tremors, heart arrhythmia, acute and chronic pain — all because she insisted on using her cellphone, computers and other ordinary electronic equipment. Her dimmer switches and compact fluorescent bulbs emitted their own painful rays. The fact that the two houses shared the same electric utility connection, Mr. Firstenberg argued, intensified the effect. A self-described sufferer of a medically unrecognized condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity , he was already known in Santa Fe for his unsuccessful effort to block the installation of Wi-Fi in the city library and other public places. When I heard that Mr. Firstenberg, who lives a couple of miles from me, was filing a tort claim seeking damages for what amounted to electromagnetic trespassing, I assumed the case would be quickly dismissed. Instead, in 2010, it entered the maze of hamster tubes that make up the judicial system. In an exchange of emails, he declined to be interviewed about the case, saying that reporters should focus instead on what he believes are grave dangers posed by electromagnetic radiation. But except for a few obscure experts who quote one another’s discredited research, the consensus of science is that the health risks are most likely nonexistent. Unlike X-rays and gamma rays, the radiation emitted and received by wireless devices is far too low in frequency to shake apart the molecules in living cells. Only at extremely intense exposures, like those inside a microwave oven, can the waves cause harm by generating heat. It is not impossible that low, “subthermal” levels of the waves might disturb cellular chemistry in less obvious ways, but the evidence isn’t there. Double-blind studies of people who consider themselves electrosensitive have found no relationship between the onset of their symptoms and the presence of electromagnetic fields. Showing skepticism from the start, District Judge Sarah Singleton denied Mr. Firstenberg’s request for a preliminary injunction, ruling that he was “unlikely to prevail on the issue of causation.” If only the locomotive had stopped there. The judge also denied Ms. Monribot’s motion to dismiss the case entirely, calling instead for an evidentiary hearing to consider “in depth proof and argument on the validity of both sides’ experts.” The result, in retrospect, was like the comedian John Oliver’s “statistically representative climate change debate” in which three critics of human-caused global warming were pitted against 97 scientists who considered the evidence overwhelming. Any debate over the scientific legitimacy of electrosensitivity would be even more lopsided. In 2012, after two more years of claims and counterclaims, depositions and cross-examinations, days of hearings and pages of affidavits, the court was persuaded in its circuitous way of what science already knew: Mr. Firstenberg had no case. His expert witnesses, consisting of a holistic doctor and a consulting psychologist on neurotoxicity, were ruled unqualified and his evidence scientifically unreliable. And so came a summary judgment against him. About a week ago, after the Court of Appeals upheld the decision, I stopped by the office of Ms. Monribot’s lawyer, Christopher Graeser, with a tape measure. The files for the case sat in boxes on a table. Piled together, the pages would reach more than six feet high. Court costs, not counting lawyers’ fees, had come to almost $85,000, or more than $1,000 an inch. Because of what the court described as Mr. Firstenberg’s “inability to pay,” the bill went instead to Ms. Monribot’s landlord’s insurance company — as if someone had slipped on an icy sidewalk, or pretended to. Mr. Graeser and another lawyer, Joseph Romero, represented her pro bono, writing off an estimated $200,000 in legal fees. Lindsay Lovejoy, the lawyer for Mr. Firstenberg, said he wasn’t free to discuss their arrangement. Mr. Firstenberg represented himself for the appeal. The next stop may be the New Mexico Supreme Court. After all, Mr. Graeser said, the plaintiff had “suffered no real disincentive to doing it again.”

Arthur Firstenberg
Wireless
Radiation
Medicine and Health
Lawsuits
Cellular Phone Task Force
Mobile phone
Sante Fe New Mexico


Apple Fights $625 Million Verdict in Patent Suit

Abstract: Apple is challenging a jury verdict that could force it to pay as much as $625.5 million to a company founded by David Gelernter, a Yale computer science professor, for infringing three patents related to how files are displayed on the iPod , the iPhone and Macintosh computers. A federal jury in Tyler, Tex., on Friday awarded the company, Mirror Worlds, $208.5 million in damages for each of the patents infringed. They include a patent related to Cover Flow, a central feature of Apple’s computers and mobile devices that allows users to scroll through album covers, photos and other files. The federal judge overseeing the case has yet to formally enter the verdict. In an emergency motion filed on Sunday, Apple asked the judge to stay the verdict because of a series of “outstanding issues” with two of the three patents it was found to have willfully infringed. Apple also said that it would be wrong for the court to award the plaintiff the full judgment for each of the patents, as it would amount to “triple dipping.” If Mirror Worlds is granted the full amount by the court, it would be one of the largest patent awards in United States history. The case was heard before Federal District Judge Leonard E. Davis in the Eastern District of Texas, a locale favored by plaintiffs in patent cases because of the generosity of the jury awards. Apple said that the court should consider its challenge “in light of counsel for Mirror Worlds’ erroneous and objectionable suggestion that, among other things, damages should be cumulative while at the same time suggesting that Mirror Worlds was not ‘triple dipping.’ ” Professor Gelernter, a renowned technology pioneer, sustained serious injuries to his right hand and eye from an explosive package sent to him in 1993 by Theodore Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber. Mirror Worlds sued Apple in 2008 over the patents. In addition to Cover Flow, the case focused on features of the Mac called Spotlight, which allows users to search their hard drive, and Time Machine, which performs automatic backups. “The verdict is a clear victory for David and his visionary ideas,” said Joseph Diamante, a lawyer for Mirror Worlds. Apple declined to comment. John F. Duffy , a professor at George Washington University Law School and an expert on patent law, said he was surprised by the size of the verdict, but even more by the finding of willful infringement. “That’s a little jarring,” he said. Most juries find that infringement is unintentional. A finding that a defendant knew of a patent and decided to create a similar product anyway is rarer, and patent law provides greater penalties for that, Professor Duffy said, including treble damages in some cases. Jeanne C. Fromer , an associate professor of law at Fordham Law School in New York, said that while the verdict was “clearly huge,” it concerned an important part of what gave Apple products a unique look and feel. Professor Fromer said that the Eastern District of Texas has a reputation for being generous even to so-called patent trolls, who hold on to patents that they have not commercialized in order to demand money from another company’s success. But she said that Professor Gelernter does not fit that profile. “This is a very respectable computer scientist attacking a very visible and core technology of Apple,” she said.

Computers and the Internet
Decisions and Verdicts
Inventions and Patents
Apple Inc


News Corp.’s Interest in Formula One Raises Alarms

Abstract: PARIS — Rupert Murdoch has not even signed a check yet for British Sky Broadcasting, his most recent blockbuster acquisition project, but already his son James is looking for ways to enhance the pay-TV company’s programming lineup. Final regulatory approval for the purchase of BSkyB by News Corp. , the Murdoch media empire, is expected any day now. Then it ought to be only a matter of time before News Corp. and BSkyB settle on a price for the 61 percent stake in BSkyB that News Corp. does not already own. Meanwhile, James Murdoch, who runs News Corp.’s operations outside the United States, is kicking the tires of Formula One auto racing. News Corp. and the Agnelli family of Italy, which indirectly controls the Ferrari race team, said last week that they were exploring “the possibility of creating a consortium with a view to formulating a long-term plan for the development of Formula One in the interests of the participants and the fans.” Don’t be fooled by the circumlocution. News Corp.’s pursuit of BSkyB got off to a similarly slow start. So did its purchase of Dow Jones, the owner of The Wall Street Journal. The Murdochs, in a reverse of conventional merger-and-acquisition protocol, like to sort out regulatory issues and other potential sticking points, then strike deals. What the statement means is that the Murdochs are prepared to spend a lot of money to put Formula One racing on BSkyB, as well as on other News Corp.-owned or affiliated pay-TV siblings like Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia and Star TV in Asia. Fox, a free network owned by News Corp., already shows some Formula One races in the United States. Formula One is one of a shrinking number of high-profile sports events that has not yet made the leap from free to pay television. Bernie Ecclestone, chief executive of Formula One, has pledged to keep the races on free television wherever and whenever possible. This is intended to protect sponsors by giving them the widest possible audiences. Sponsorship generates more than $700 million a year for the Formula One teams, according to analysts. But sponsorship revenue fell sharply during the recession , when banks, which had replaced tobacco companies on many teams’ sponsorship rosters, pulled out of Formula One. If Formula One shifted to pay TV in key markets, audience numbers would shrink, potentially limiting sponsors’ exposure. “That would clearly be a massive concern if I were to advise a Formula One sponsor,” said Kevin Alavy, who analyzes television audiences at Initiative, a media buying agency. But Mr. Ecclestone’s strategy of seeking the broadest reach may have restricted Formula One’s income from television rights deals, which bring in about $450 million annually, according to Formula Money, a report on the business of Formula One. “There’s a limit to what free broadcasters can pay, because they aren’t able to earn it back through advertising,” said Tim Westcott, an analyst at Screen Digest. “Pay TV typically has much deeper pockets.” Yet if News Corp. owned Formula One, television rights revenue might shrink, because News Corp. could presumably grant the rights free to its pay-TV subsidiaries (assuming regulators allowed this to happen). That could mean a further loss of income for Formula One teams, which currently get a share of the central organization’s revenue. This helps explain why news of the Murdochs’ interest in Formula One has been met with alarm by a number of team owners, who are also wary of the involvement of the Agnelli holding company, Exor, because of its involvement with Ferrari. News Corp. presumably would have to compensate the teams for any revenue loss. Negotiating this will take time, but the Murdochs have shown in recent acquisitions that they are willing to wait. The pursuit of Formula One may turn into another example of the tortoise beating the hare.

Formula One
News Corp
British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC
Television
Murdoch James
Murdoch Rupert
Automobile Racing


‘American Idol’ and Its Owner to Get a Retooling

Abstract: The company that owns the rights to the hit television series “American Idol” is reorganizing and changing its name in an effort to diversify as a broader-based media company, in recognition that its biggest moneymaker, “Idol,” has finally begun to lose momentum. CKx, owned by the capital equity firm Apollo Global Management, will be rechristened Thursday as Core Media Group. Among its initial plans are a full-scale review, in conjunction with executives from the Fox network, of “American Idol,” where ratings dropped by more than 30 percent this season. Within the next few weeks, the company also plans to acquire what the new president of Core, Marc Graboff, described as a “high-profile production company that has produced 25 series for cable networks.” Core also has plans for other parts of its eclectic portfolio, which includes the rights to the creative exploitation of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. One plan for Ali includes a portable “Ali Experience” exhibit. For Presley, plans include an upgrade of the Graceland museum devoted to him, and a potential drama series based on his early life. Core is also talking with Sony Records about a duets album (as has been done with artists like Frank Sinatra in the past) pairing Elvis with contemporary artists. Most ambitiously, the album may be accompanied by a tour with the other artists performing with Elvis — as a hologram. But Mr. Graboff, who joined CKx in January after a long career at NBC, acknowledged that the immediate focus is on “American Idol” and how best to protect what he said was by far the most important asset of the company. Core owns the format rights to “Idol,” and controls the musical careers of most of the singers — and all of the winners — who perform on the show. That means managing them, booking their tours and selling their albums. (Mr. Graboff said that 100 million albums with performers from “Idol” have been sold worldwide.) “We will certainly manage Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez,” Mr. Graboff said of the two recent finalists. He also has plans to exploit the show further as either cable or digital programming, including a potential series based on behind-the-scenes video of the contest and this year’s national tour. Like executives from the Fox network, Mr. Graboff acknowledged the decline in “Idol” this season, pointing to the competition from similar singing shows, “The Voice” on NBC and “The X Factor” on Fox. “ ‘Idol’ is still the gold standard,” Mr. Graboff said. “It’s very viable, but it definitely needs to be refreshed and it will be.” To that end, he said he had recruited the format’s creator, Simon Fuller, who departed in one of several changes in the management structure of CKx, to come back and submit ideas for how to tweak the “Idol” format. Some of these may be based on alterations instituted by international editions of the show. (It is sold in about 100 territories.) One of the areas Mr. Fuller is closely looking at, Mr. Graboff said, is the voting process. As many critics have noted, the show has produced five similar winners in a row. “They’re being called W.G.W.G.’s — white guys with guitars,” Mr. Graboff said. These outcomes have been interpreted as a result of so many young girls voting for the cutest male performer. As for changes in the judging panel, Mr. Graboff said those calls are Fox’s to make. Mr. Graboff would not quantify either in dollar figures or percentage how significant “Idol” is to Core’s bottom line. He said, “We hope it will stay as big a revenue stream as it has been, but no matter how big the stream is, my job is to diversify us away from it as much as possible.”

Television
American Idol (TV Program)
Core Media Group Inc
Apollo Global Management
CKx Inc
Names Organizational


Fever Follow Tamika Catchings’s Lead, Right Into W.N.B.A. Finals

Abstract: In a perfect world, the Liberty would have returned home to a rocking Madison Square Garden after a dismal loss to the Indiana Fever in Game 2 and won. They would have fed off the energy of an electric crowd Tuesday night, defeated the Fever and continued a phenomenal playoff run to the W.N.B.A. finals. In this perfect Liberty world, there would have been no Tamika Catchings. She ripped apart the Liberty’s dreamland script, scoring 14 points, as Indiana shocked the top-seeded Liberty, 66-51, in the Eastern Conference finals. As Liberty stars passed up big shots and faded in big moments, Catchings took control of the game. She provided the Fever with what the Liberty lacked at the moments of truth: leadership. For most of Game 3, Indiana was clicking. Center Erlana Larkins beat the Liberty inside, and guards Briann January and Shenise Johnson sliced through the Liberty or scored from the perimeter. But when Catchings saw her team’s 18-point second-half lead shrink to 4, she took over. After Candice Wiggins scored 5 consecutive points to cut the Indiana lead to 49-45 with little more than eight minutes to play, Catchings stepped in. She did not hit a tough basket under pressure or convert a 3-point play. She simply drove to the basket and drew a foul from Tina Charles. Catchings made both free throws, triggering a 10-0 run that put the game away and lifted Indiana into the finals. The Fever will face the Minnesota Lynx, beginning Sunday afternoon. “It’s not always in the numbers; it’s not always what you see on a stat sheet,” Catchings, 36, said. “It’s all the other stuff that makes more of a difference sometimes than what shows on the stat sheet.” I wondered when Catchings developed this take-charge mentality. Had she had it all along? “Honestly, this year,” she said. That is a surprising answer for such an accomplished player, someone who has won three Olympic gold medals, a W.N.B.A. title and a league Most Valuable Player Award. Image When the Fever's 18-point lead shrunk to 4, Catchings took over. Credit Adam Hunger/Associated Press Catchings described how her father, Harvey, who played several seasons in the N.B.A., exhorted her to be more aggressive and assume greater responsibility for leading her team over troubled waters. “He’s always been the one saying, ‘You’re capable of so much more for your team, they’re waiting for you to step up,’ ” she said. The Liberty stars did not step up. Charles had 13 points and shot 6 of 16 from the field, and Epiphanny Prince had only 6 points. Catchings ruined the script, which would have had the Liberty, with the best regular-season record, playing for the W.N.B.A. championship in New York for the first time since 2002. “The script wasn’t written for the Indiana Fever to get past the first round,” Catchings said. “And the script wasn’t written for the Indiana Fever to get past the second round. And the script definitely is not written for the Indiana Fever to get past the finals.” The Liberty’s fantastic playoff run succeeded in drowning out much of the noise created at the beginning of the season when James L. Dolan hired Isiah Thomas as team president. After the game, Dolan addressed a somber Liberty locker room and praised the team, telling the players they made him proud to be the team’s owner. In the interview room, Catchings was telling members of the news media how she had been propelled and inspired by her team’s underdog status. “I felt like my whole career, being in Indiana, we’ve always been underestimated, always been the team that had Tamika Catchings and little else,” she said. “I might get respect as a player, but it’s never as a team, and what we’re capable of doing.” Catchings, who has played all of her 14 W.N.B.A. seasons with the Fever, has said she will retire next year. Asked to list her greatest accomplishment, she said leaving a footprint. “I feel that I’ve made more of a difference on the lives of my teammates, that when I’m done and when I do retire, they’ll be able to still operate on a championship level because they had somebody they could watch,” she said. The young Liberty need such a force, and eventually will have one, either through maturity or a trade. On Tuesday, Madison Square Garden was rocking, music was blaring and the home crowd was desperate for a Hollywood ending. Professor Tamika Catchings, on a grand stage in a great moment, carried her team to the W.N.B.A. finals. In the process, she taught the young Liberty a heartbreaking, season-ending lesson in leadership.

Basketball
Tamika Catchings
Indiana Fever


Baseball Blinded Him, Then Became His Life

Abstract: When Ed Lucas and his son Christopher were still working on their memoir of Ed’s life as a blind man who reported on Major League Baseball, their agent let them know that “there’s a fellow who’s just getting into publishing, and he wants your book to be one of the first books he publishes,” Mr. Lucas recalled. It turned out to be Derek Jeter. “There’s no better person to publish it,” Christopher Lucas said. “Derek Jeter is a shortstop like Phil Rizzuto, who’s so much a part of the story,” he said. “And his family is from Jersey City, from the same neighborhood as my father.” And Mr. Jeter is not the only person interested in telling Mr. Lucas’s story. There is also a film version of his life in the works. “They did a nice job with the screenplay,” Mr. Lucas, 76, said recently from his home in Union, where he lives with his wife, Allison. He is also happy with the names attached to the film — Elliot Abbott , producer of “A League of Their Own,” is producing, and actors like Stanley Tucci and Bradley Cooper have expressed interest in playing him. Followers of the New York Yankees might be familiar with Mr. Lucas, a longtime insurance salesman and sports journalist. Starting in the 1960s, he was a regular fixture in clubhouses and dugouts, where he could be seen schmoozing with the likes of Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra and George Steinbrenner. And he still rubs elbows with celebrities like Mr. Jeter and Mariano Rivera. His baseball dispatches have been running in The Jersey Journal since 1977. And for years, Mr. Rizzuto, the shortstop who later became a Yankees announcer, often threw out trivia questions and baseball prognostications posed by Mr. Lucas during broadcasts of games. Image Mr. Lucas’s baseball memorabilia collection. Credit Bryan Anselm for The New York Times “Guys like Phil Rizzuto were good at pushing me, saying, ‘You can’t give up’ when anybody started giving me the business” (about being a blind man who hoped to report on the big leagues), said Mr. Lucas, who was blinded at age 12 in 1951 after being hit between the eyes by a baseball during a neighborhood game in Jersey City. But baseball isn’t the only reason Mr. Lucas appeals to storytellers like the “Fever Pitch” writers Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz , who started the screenplay in 2006, just after Mr. Lucas married Allison at home plate in old Yankee Stadium. (Mr. Steinbrenner granted permission for that first and only wedding at home plate; he also paid to have the event catered.) When Mr. Lucas’s two sons, Edward and Christopher, were 6 and 4, he and his first wife split up, and the boys lived with him. Six years later, in 1980, she sued him for full custody. She won. Mr. Lucas fought the decision and prevailed; according to Mr. Lucas, it was the first time in American history that a disabled person was awarded custody over a non-disabled spouse. “My dad has had so many trials and gone through so much, he makes you feel like nothing is impossible,” Christopher Lucas, 46, said during the interview at his father’s house. “That’s why we wanted his story to reach a wider audience.” But it’s also why, instead of waiting for Mr. Abbott’s production company, Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right, to bring the film to theaters, Christopher Lucas spent a fevered three months in 2014 writing a memoir with his father. “Seeing Home: The Ed Lucas Story” will be published April 21 by Jeter Publishing , a new Simon & Schuster imprint in partnership with Mr. Jeter. “I’ve always enjoyed talking to him,” Mr. Jeter said of Mr. Lucas in an email. “He’s one of the most knowledgeable and passionate fans of the game, and he has a knack for going beyond the everyday questions to connect with people.” The custody battle chapter of Mr. Lucas’s story features more heavily in the screenplay than in the book. Image Phil Rizzuto, left, with Joe DiMaggio, a longtime friend, used to tell him to pay no attention to people who said a blind man couldn’t cover the major leagues. His autobiography, “Seeing Home,” is being published this month, and a movie is in the works. Credit Bryan Anselm for The New York Times “It’s sort of like ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ meets ‘Forrest Gump,’ “ Christopher said of the movie project. The “Forrest Gump” sensibility — the intertwining of uplift with an underdog’s tale — also permeates the book. In it are anecdotes about Mr. Lucas’s determined rise through Seton Hall University , where he graduated with a degree in broadcasting in 1972, and his encounters with figures like Willie Mays, Bob Hope, Billy Joel and President George W. Bush . Among Mr. Lucas’s favorite chapters in the book is one in which a favorite nun from his Jersey City middle school, Holy Family, appears. Mr. Lucas recalled that he was leaving school and it was snowing. “My father came and he told me to stand up against the wall so he could help me put my galoshes on,” he said. “Sister Rose Magdalene came off the elevator and saw us. She said, ‘Mr. Lucas, what are you doing?’ “ He said that she elbowed his father in the chest. “She said: ‘Look, he’s only blind; he’s not handicapped. You can leave when he can get his galoshes on by himself.’ “ An hour and a half later they left, he said. That kind of grit in the face of adversity is what defines Mr. Lucas, said Christopher. “I’ve never, ever seen him despair,” he said. Mr. Lucas said he hoped his positive outlook would rub off on others who come across his story. “The people in baseball always went out of their way to make sure they talked to me as someone who knew the game, not as a blind person,” he said. “I’d like to help other people out, to let them know no matter what the obstacle, they should never give up.”

Books
Ed Lucas
Baseball
Jeter Publishing
Derek Jeter
MLB
Seeing Home: The Ed Lucas Story


In China, Government Workers Push Rosy, Diverting Views Online

Abstract: HONG KONG — China heavily censors its Internet, limiting what its people can see or say online to channels that the government can control. But China’s managing of its message does not end there. It also taps untold masses of people to cheer for its side on online message boards and social media. The common belief that they are paid 50 cents per post leads people in China to call them the Fifty Cent Party. A new study says those people are closer to the government than previously thought. The study, from researchers at Harvard, Stanford and the University of California, San Diego, says the legions of online commenters are not all freelancers paid by the post. In fact, it says that most are government employees, preaching the principles of the Chinese Communist Party on social media while carrying out their jobs in the local tax bureau or at a county government office. They are also incredibly prolific. The study, released by Gary King, Jennifer Pan and Margaret E. Roberts, estimates that the Chinese government each year fabricates and posts around 488 million social media posts in China, or about one for every 178 social media posts on Chinese commercial sites. Posts are usually written in bursts around politically sensitive events, like protests or key national political events, and are often intended to distract the public from bad news. The study could shed light on an active but shadowy part of China’s complex system of tools used to guide online public opinion at home. Its best-known tool is the Great Firewall, the sophisticated system of Internet filters and blocks that prevents people in China from accessing Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as foreign media sources such as The New York Times. But it has others that depend on China’s manpower and spending to manage. Prodding people to write comments online represents the Chinese Communist Party’s longstanding effort to channel public opinion, said David Bandurski, editor of the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong. “The whole premise being that the party needs to be more savvy and clever in directing the agenda,” he said. China’s top Internet monitor, the Cyberspace Administration of China, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s push to polish its image at home and abroad has gained new traction under President Xi Jinping. Domestically, China has tightened Internet restrictions and limited criticism . It has also raised Mr. Xi’s profile online and aimed its digital propaganda efforts at foreign as well as domestic audiences. Chinese propaganda outlets, like the Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper, are now fixtures on social media services banned in China like Facebook and Twitter. In some cases, that has left American companies to face uncomfortable contradictions. For example, Twitter is blocked in China and used by a large and vocal Chinese dissident community. But last month, its new China chief said on Twitter to China Central Television, China’s official broadcaster, “Let’s work together to tell great China story to the world!” Domestically, the report found that Beijing primarily sought to guide public opinion by having commenters write posts designed to “regularly distract the public and change the subject” rather than rebut arguments against the government line. “Distraction is a clever strategy in information control in that an argument in almost any human discussion is rarely an effective way to put an end to an opposing argument,” it said. The effects of this strategy are amplified by highly coordinated campaigns in which bursts of messages are posted around news or events as they go viral, according to the report. Based on a trove of leaked emails from a local Internet propaganda office in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi in 2013 and 2014, the report examined 43,000 confirmed government-sponsored posts and cited a number of examples of government-backed comment campaigns. In one example, following a riot in the western region of Xinjiang in 2013, the Internet propaganda office reported posting hundreds of comments about local economic development and the China Dream, one of Mr. Xi’s propaganda initiatives emphasizing China’s rising global power. The study also tracked the sources of almost all of the 43,000 posts back to groups and individuals from 200 different government agencies. While 20 percent came from the district Internet propaganda office, other comments came from local township governments and even further afield, from people in the district sports bureau and the district human resources bureau. The fact that most commenters are employed by the government likely allows for quick and efficient coordination, according to the report. To determine the total number of posts in China, the researchers used their knowledge of the number of government-fabricated posts in a single county in 2013 and extrapolated how many government-sponsored posts there were per Internet user there. The authors also theorized that the government sees its commenters as a friendlier method of opinion guidance than censorship, which frustrates many users . Commenters have “the additional advantage of enabling the government to actively control opinion without having to censor as much as they might otherwise.” Tracking government activity has become trickier, as Chinese users shift away from social-media services that are broadly accessible to anybody. They increasingly use mobile-chat apps, like China’s WeChat, where only friends connected over the app can see one another’s posts.

Propaganda
Social Media
China
Communist Party of China
Censorship


Pennsylvania: Ambush Came From Woods, Police Say

Abstract: A gunman who ambushed two Pennsylvania state troopers, killing one, hid with a rifle in a wooded lair overlooking their law enforcement barracks and opened fire during a late night shift change, the police said Monday. The killer, who used a .308-caliber rifle, was believed to be an avid hunter, a former member of the military or a law enforcement officer and had “an ongoing issue with the state police,” Lt. Col. Gregory Bivens said at a news conference. He said the police had no suspects. Shots were fired for several minutes late on Friday in woods surrounding the Blooming Grove barracks, about 100 miles north of Philadelphia, killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson, 38, and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass, 31, he said.


Bill Gates Takes On Climate Change With Nudges and a Powerful Rolodex

Abstract: LE BOURGET, France — When Bill Gates arrived at the Élysée Palace to meet the French president François Hollande and other officials in June, he brought a message. Mr. Gates told Mr. Hollande that energy innovation needed to be a top agenda item at the climate change conference now taking place in this airport suburb outside Paris. For years, Mr. Gates had prodded governments to increase spending on research and development of clean technologies. He had sunk $1 billion of his own fortune into start-ups working on new kinds of batteries and nuclear reactors. “Honestly, I’ve been a bit surprised that the climate talks historically haven’t had R.&D. on the agenda in any way, shape or form,” Mr. Gates, 60, said in an interview last week on the sidelines of the summit meeting, which ends on Friday. The June tête-à-tête helped accelerate a sequence of events that led to one of the biggest public-private partnerships to tackle climate change, unveiled at the conference. Mr. Gates, who made billions from Microsoft before remaking himself as a philanthropist, was a linchpin of the effort, acting as an envoy between the worlds of business and policy. His role in sealing the deal offers a peek into how the inner circles of governments and industry intersect. It also underscores how a handful of the world’s wealthiest people can stand with heads of state to spotlight a social, economic and policy issue on the global stage. For Mr. Gates, the world’s richest person and co-chairman of the biggest private foundation, it is another sign of how his vast foreign aid operation and status as a technology icon have turned him into a uniquely influential global diplomat. Mr. Gates was drawn into the effort after the June meeting with Mr. Hollande and separate discussions with White House staff members in the summer. Mr. Hollande and President Obama saw the tech mogul as a potential catalyst for achieving broad political and diplomatic goals at the climate conference. In particular, Mr. Gates’s renown in India as a tech founder and philanthropist gave the French and American governments a key emissary to get the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on board with their climate goals. Mr. Hollande and Mr. Obama agreed to work with Mr. Gates to assemble a coalition of governments to double their spending on energy research and development. For added heft, Mr. Gates volunteered to organize a group of billionaires to fund clean-technology start-ups. He reached out to his extensive network, including Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Jack Ma of Alibaba and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, all of whom agreed to participate. Last week, on the opening day of the Paris meeting, Mr. Gates joined Mr. Obama and Mr. Hollande to introduce the coalition. It will commit 20 governments to doubling their renewable energy research budgets to a total of $20 billion over the next five years. In addition, Mr. Gates and a group of other wealthy businesspeople agreed to invest at least $2 billion in clean-energy start-ups — with half the money coming from Mr. Gates himself. The group plans to finance companies that turn promising clean-energy concepts, some of which will originate in government labs, into viable products. Some of the companies will fail, Mr. Gates warned. “Bill Gates is the intellectual architect of this,” said Brian Deese, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama on energy and climate change policy, referring to the group of private investors. The partnership has already drawn criticism. With the new clean-energy fund, detractors say Mr. Gates and other members of the coalition are overly focused on energy moonshots that will take decades to pay off — if they ever do. “I’m perfectly willing to stipulate that countries underinvest in R.&D., but it doesn’t change the fact of the time frames involved,” said Joe Romm, a former United States Energy Department official and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. The new coalition also will not come close to supplying what is needed to make the global energy transition necessary to stop climate change. The World Bank has estimated the cost of such an effort at up to $100 billion annually. Mr. Gates said the coalition was focused on early-stage investments but any breakthrough start-ups could raise more capital to finance deployment of their technologies. “The more than $2 billion we have committed right now is just a start,” he said. “As deals come in and the government pipeline increases, that number will grow.” This account of how the public-private partnership came together is based on more than a dozen interviews with people involved in the effort, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because many of the conversations were private. The seeds for a partnership were planted in January when President Obama visited Mr. Modi in New Delhi. Mr. Obama’s goal was to forge a close relationship with Mr. Modi, in hopes of finding common ground on climate change. During those conversations, Mr. Modi pointed out his challenge: He needed new electricity to help raise India out of poverty, but coal was the cheapest power source. He said India would use clean energy if there were tech breakthroughs that provided that energy inexpensively. Mr. Modi’s message prompted Mr. Obama to consider how to achieve more clean-energy innovation. One idea was a multigovernment coalition to increase spending on clean technology. Mr. Gates, meanwhile, had also been thinking about how to promote more energy innovation. His years building Microsoft had given him a Rolodex full of billionaire friends and a net worth of about $80 billion. He and his wife, Melinda, have since set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , which has brought him into contact with many governments. The foundation, whose endowment is now more than $41 billion, says it has spent $34.5 billion in the 15 years since it was formed, concentrating on initiatives to alleviate world poverty, enhance global health and improve education in the United States. Climate change has also been a concern for Mr. Gates, who has said that energy innovation needs government and industry cooperation. While governments are suited to do the basic research that produced the technical foundations for the Internet and other industries, he has said, companies need to bring those basic research breakthroughs into the marketplace. In June, Mr. Gates met with Mr. Hollande to lay out his ideas. Over the summer, Mr. Gates also discussed the issue with Mr. Obama’s top aides. Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Hollande saw Mr. Gates as potentially helpful in wooing Mr. Modi to sign a climate deal in Paris. Mr. Gates and Mr. Modi met in India last year, engaging in a dialogue about toilets. Mr. Modi had vowed to end open defecation in India, which contributes to disease; Mr. Gates’s foundation has sponsored efforts to improve toilets. In September, Mr. Hollande invited Mr. Gates and Mr. Modi to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Mr. Gates wanted Mr. Modi’s support for increased clean-tech spending, said a person familiar with Mr. Gates’s thinking. At that meeting, the men discussed India, “saying, ‘Come on, world, we need to do R.&D.’” for more clean energy, Mr. Gates said. The two agreed about a public-private partnership to fund clean-energy innovation, with Mr. Modi even coming up with a name: Mission Innovation. At the same time, the Obama administration solidified its idea of creating a coalition of governments to increase public spending on clean energy. Mr. Gates also proposed creating a group of private billionaire supporters. To link it with the government coalition, he stipulated the billionaires would not invest in clean technology in a country unless that country’s government was part of the joint government fund. He said he knew he needed patient investors, because energy technologies typically take decades to refine and deploy. So he reached out to contacts worldwide, including the Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal and the Indian industrialist Ratan Tata. In mid-September, he emailed Mr. Bezos, the Amazon chief, who agreed immediately to join. Mr. Gates also emailed Neil Shen, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist in China. “He knows many parts of the global economy,” Mr. Shen said of Mr. Gates. “I think that kind of leadership fits very well to rally these kinds of investors in a coalition.” Mr. Gates discussed the effort with Reid Hoffman, a co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn. At a meeting in Seattle this fall, Mr. Gates made it clear that he needed people to contribute meaningful amounts of capital, not just lend their names to the push, Mr. Hoffman said. “Bill has committed to investing $1 billion of his own money,” Mr. Hoffman wrote in an email, “so in joining the coalition you have to put in real dollars.” For Mr. Gates, the partnership is only a small step forward. “Given the scale of the challenge, we need to be exploring many different paths,” he wrote last week . “I hope even more governments and investors will join us.”

Bill Gates
Climate Change
Global Warming
UNFCCC
Research
Francois Hollande
Narendra Modi
Barack Obama
India
France


Volumes to Celebrate New York City’s Beginnings 400 Years Ago

Abstract: MIKE WALLACE, the Pulitzer Prize -winning co-author of “Gotham,” calls “New York 400” (Running Press, $40) an “aide-memoire” — the equivalent of a family photo album by 16 historians with their own idiosyncratic focus on what the subtitle calls “A Visual History of America’s Greatest City.” The mostly unfamiliar images in this lavish volume provide a stunning retrospective on the people and events that shaped New York and a virtual tour of the archives of the Museum of the City of New York , which commissioned the book for the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage. The essays cover such varied subjects as vice, slavery and the city in wartime. If some seem a little pedantic, perhaps it is only in contrast to the vivid illustrations (assembled and explained by John Thorn and Melanie Bower, the imaginative editors). The volume not only recalls that some historical trajectories (globalization, immigration ) span four centuries, but also reminds us of the historical footnotes (more Americans gave their lives in battles and in prisons in New York during the Revolution than anywhere else; the Wyckoff House in Brooklyn is the only surviving structure from the Dutch period). This smorgasbord of a book leaves you hungry for more from the museum’s archival trove.  The relationship between New York and Amsterdam “is like that of a child who found its own way, without its mother, and went far in this world,” writes Mayor Job Cohen of Amsterdam in “New York/New Amsterdam: The Dutch Origins of Manhattan” (Nationaal Archief/Nieuw Amsterdam, $45). The author is Martine Gosselink, a Dutch National Archives curator and historian now with the Rijksmuseum. The volume, enriched by vivid historical and modern-day illustrations, explores the 17th-century world that New York was born into. Ms. Gosselink’s elegant book evokes the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, whom Russell Shorto quotes: the fountainhead of historical inquiry is “our perpetual astonishment that the past was once a living reality.”  “Writing history requires an imagination,” Douglas Hunter suggests. “By that I do not mean the skill or nerve to make things up. Rather, it is the ability to sift through available evidence, however thin at times, and see patterns, connections and possibilities.” Mr. Hunter does just that in “Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage That Redrew the Map of the New World” (Bloomsbury Press, $28). From the flimsy historical record, the author synthesizes a plausible, and jaunty, version of the voyage that ultimately disappointed Hudson (he considered North America an impediment to his search for a Northwest Passage to Asia), but presaged the founding of New York.  The 300th anniversary of Hudson’s voyage was probably the biggest party New York has thrown before or since. As Kathleen Eagen Johnson recounts in “The Hudson-Fulton Celebration: New York’s River Festival of 1909 and the Making of a Metropolis” (Fordham University Press and Historic Hudson Valley, $39.95), Wilbur Wright flew from Governors Island to Grant’s Tomb and back, and there was a vast flotilla that included a replica of Hudson’s ship the Half Moon. The extravaganza may have had more to do with salving the city’s pride than with promoting Hudson. Some years before, Chicago had stolen New York’s thunder with the Columbian Exposition, the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage.

Books and Literature
Hudson Henry
New York State
History


Assassination Plot Foiled? In Bolivia, It’s Not So Clear-Cut

Abstract: CARACAS, Venezuela — Wielding assault rifles, the members of Delta Group, an elite Bolivian police unit, quietly crept up the stairs to the fourth floor of the Hotel Las Américas. It was 4 a.m. on April 16 in Santa Cruz, the city in the lowlands of Bolivia that is a bastion of opposition to that nation’s president, Evo Morales . Then they did their work. Within minutes, they shot dead three men: Michael Dwyer, 24, of Ireland; Arpad Magyarosi, 39, a Romanian of Hungarian descent; and Eduardo Rozsa Flores, 49, a Bolivian with Hungarian and Croatian passports and a nebulous past as a leader of foreigners fighting for Croatia during the breakup of Yugoslavia. As the bullet-riddled bodies were shown on national television, the authorities claimed to have foiled a plot to kill Mr. Morales, a former coca grower reviled by Santa Cruz’s light-skinned elite. Soon after the raid, security forces found a cache of explosives and guns that they said were linked to the dead men. “These terrorists were connected to an ideology of the extreme fascist right,” said Álvaro García Linera, a former Marxist guerrilla who is Bolivia’s vice president. But the episode, with its dash of Balkan intrigue, remains far from an open-and-shut case of right versus left. Instead, it falls somewhere in that gray area of Bolivian politics, in which Mr. Morales’s claims of destabilization plots, now a regular feature of his government, and his opponents’ counterclaims that such plots are shams contribute to growing tensions between the central government and the rebellious lowlands. “If this weren’t such a serious matter, it would make a great screenplay, tragedy and farce all wrapped together,” said Jim Shultz, a political analyst in Cochabamba, in central Bolivia. In a move that angered political leaders in Santa Cruz, the central government last week ordered more than a thousand troops to the region. Juan Ramón Quintana, a senior aide to Mr. Morales, said the decision was made partly because of a concern over “the presence of terrorists that are a potential threat to the security of the Bolivian state.” Meanwhile, the killings have raised a raft of nettlesome questions. Who backed such a group? How did officials detect them? Why did Mr. Morales send the police all the way from the capital, La Paz, to deal with them? And exactly what was a man like Mr. Rozsa Flores, at turns a poet and a war correspondent before his foray into the Balkan killing fields, doing back in Santa Cruz? Indeed, the mystery of the case revolves largely around this enigmatic figure, believed to be the group’s leader. He left Bolivia as a teenager, going with his parents into exile in Chile before moving to Hungary, the birthplace of his father, an emigrant of Jewish origin. In Budapest, Mr. Rozsa Flores said he came into contact with Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, the Venezuelan terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal, while studying linguistics and literature, according to published interviews. Finding work as a correspondent for a Spanish newspaper covering the breakup of Yugoslavia, Mr. Rozsa Flores abandoned journalistic objectivity and took sides. He commanded volunteers fighting for Croatia in the early 1990s, but his battlefield experience was marred by claims that he oversaw the murder of a Briton and a Swiss citizen. “He lived an overcrowded life, full of events, locations, people, gossip, good and bad legends,” said Ibolya Fekete, a Hungarian director who made a 2001 film, “Chico,” based on Mr. Rozsa Flores’s life. “He never fit in anywhere.” Returning to Hungary after the war, Mr. Rozsa Flores converted to Islam, a shift from his earlier association with Opus Dei, the conservative Roman Catholic group. And he found a new political obsession, explaining in a television interview last year with a Hungarian journalist that he was moving to Bolivia to organize a militia. “There is a need for weapons,” he said in the interview, which was broadcast for the first time in Hungary last week after his killing, “so it isn’t about the boys marching in the streets with flags and bamboo sticks.” Mr. Rozsa Flores went further in the interview, saying his goal was not toppling Mr. Morales, but achieving autonomy for Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s wealthiest department, or province. Envisioning a clash with La Paz over this issue, he nonchalantly described his goal as “declaring independence and creating a new country.” Over the weekend, a prosecutor presented a video recorded on a cellphone, without clear audio, in which he said Mr. Rozsa Flores had discussed a plan to kill Mr. Morales on a recent trip to Lake Titicaca. Such assertions fit well into the way Mr. Morales’s government portrays Santa Cruz: as a region where powerful industrialists and bankers, some of them descendants of Croatian immigrants, want to secede from Bolivia in a rupture inspired by Yugoslavia’s disintegration. But while Mr. Morales has described the men killed in Santa Cruz as part of a “tentacle of a structure” intent on killing him and other senior officials named in a list obtained by his government, missteps by officials in describing their handling of the group have led to further questions about the men and what they were doing in Santa Cruz. Mr. García Linera, the vice president, at first said the three were killed in a 30-minute gunfight, but an insurance report filed for the hotel and obtained by La Razón, a newspaper, apparently found no signs of an exchange of gunfire. Two men taken captive at the hotel, Elod Toazo, a Hungarian, and Mario Tadik, a Bolivian, seem to have surrendered without a fight. “What happened was the killing of three people who were sleeping, which means murder,” said Óscar Ortiz, president of Bolivia’s Senate and a top opponent of Mr. Morales. Alfredo Rada, a senior minister, made things worse when he went on television with images of men in Santa Cruz clasping weapons, claiming they were linked to those killed. But the men in the photos, lifted from a Facebook page, debunked the claim by explaining that they practiced “airsoft,” a game in which participants fire at one another with pellet guns. The case is fueling conspiracy theories of every stripe, but some secrets were taken to the grave by Mr. Rozsa Flores and his two comrades in arms. In his interview last September in Hungary, he speculated that Mr. Morales’s intelligence service knew about him, and he also touched on the possibility that he might meet his death in Bolivia. “I will now go to my home country, my homeland; if something happens to me there, then what?” he said. “Firstly, it was my fate; secondly, it happens to me in the best place possible.”

Assassinations and Attempted Assassinations