A City Rises in Queens for the U.S. Open

Abstract: Every August since 1978, a city within a city has popped up in Flushing Meadows, Queens. In just a few weeks, the corner of an almost 900-acre public park is transformed into the United States Open , along with its six fully staffed restaurants and 60 concessions stands, 20 stocked and staffed stores, five active loading docks, dozens of artfully landscaped tennis courts and strolling areas, a police force the size of a small Montana town, and three stadiums filled with passionate tennis fans, some of whom will probably soon be dancing the “Whip/Nae Nae” for the “spider cam” at Arthur Ashe Stadium. All of this hustle and bustle will help to bring in an estimated $700 million-plus for the New York area. “It is now a full-blown entertainment extravaganza,” said Justin Gimelstob, a Tennis Channel commentator and the coach for the American player John Isner. “The event captivates the most eclectic city in the world for two weeks.” The logistics involved in putting together the Open, which employs more than 7,000 people and welcomes around 700,000 fans every year, seem daunting enough without starting from a place of rubble and cranes. But that was the case this year. Because of the construction of Ashe Stadium’s new retractable steel roof , the dramatic tension involved was understandably elevated. Come Monday, once the qualifying rounds have concluded and the tournament has officially begun, the village will be bursting with sponsor activities, long food lines and glamorous watering holes, an astonishing transformation from just over three weeks ago. Aug. 7: Reconstruction Zone Destruction and desolation reign outside Ashe, but inside the stadium, a honeycomb of offices is abuzz with activity. When the 7 train approached the Mets-Willets Point stop, winding its way through the treetops before offering a glimpse of Ashe Stadium, it looked as though a giant white U.F.O. had glommed onto the top of the complex. That would be the roof, all 6,500 tons of it, which is scheduled to be operational for the 2016 Open. Image The logistics of putting together the Open, which undergoes a vast transformation in the weeks leading to the tournament, are daunting. Credit Kate Owen for The New York Times Because of the $150 million roof project, the area around the stadium was a construction zone until mid-August, delaying tournament preparations. “Setup has been anything but ordinary,” said Daniel Zausner, chief operating officer of the U.S.T.A. Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. In early August, the grounds looked apocalyptic, as if everyone had just given up and gone home. There were unopened crates from the tournament’s 21 official sponsors, potted flowers yet to be planted, lonely, unmanned forklifts and piles of debris. The few individuals spotted seemed hard at work, though, including Dashaughn Miller, who had been hired to put together a new look for a cafe in the food village at the behest of a new promotional partner, Lavazza, an Italian company that is providing the “official coffee” for the Open. Mr. Miller was working near what would be the main entrance, which was filled with rubble and uprooted trees. The area had been torn up in order to provide a landing pad for the tallest crane in the country — shipped from Germany in December. The fountain in front of Ashe, surrounded by large piles of sand, was dry and cracked. On the far west side of the stadium, the five practice courts for the main-draw players were being rebuilt, having been demolished by a second crane. Now a grounds team had about two weeks to finish reconstructing and resurfacing them, which is a time-consuming process. “We had to give the construction group a drop-dead date of when we needed the area turned back over to us,” said Ryan Ferrera, the senior manager of courts and grounds of the tennis center. The crane left a month ago, to allow Mr. Ferrera’s crew to remove the rubble and put down new asphalt, which needed to cure for 30 days. About 10 coats of DecoTurf, a “rubber and sand” combo, he said, was being applied to the courts. All 33 courts reserved for the tournament receive about three new coats of DecoTurf every year, Mr. Ferrera said. “Most courts don’t go through as much engineering as these,” he said. “There’s a challenge with the footprint here; there’s a lot of movement, we’re surrounded by water.” The tennis center is also surrounded by a security presence, put in place by Michael J. Rodriguez, a former detective sergeant in the New York Police Department and supervisor for the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Mr. Rodriguez, who worked through the 1998 embassy bombings in East Africa and Sept. 11, “retired” in 2003 to work as the director of security for the U.S. Open and security adviser for the United States Tennis Association. Image A new steel roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium is scheduled to be operational for the 2016 Open. Credit Kate Owen for The New York Times A ring of private offices and hallways at the court level of Ashe thrummed with executive purpose, but Mr. Rodriguez’s command center was to be the hub of it all. Inside, there were rows of desks outfitted with large monitors for 18 people integral to the event, including members of the Police and Fire Departments, security operations managers, medical providers and deputy referees. Two women were seated in the back of the command center. They were security coordinators in charge of putting into effect Mr. Rodriguez’s strict and complicated deliveries system. “We had last year 1,842 truck deliveries in a two-week period,” he said. “So we have created internally one of the best truck inspection systems in the country.” Vendors must fill out a form detailing their trucks and drivers, who are then vetted, approved and given a bar code and specific directions to an inspection point outside the tennis center. “There’s only one way,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “Anyone who tries to come off a different highway to make a delivery, the police, who are stationed all around our perimeter, will never let them through.” The retail merchandise portion of these deliveries ends up at a warehouse behind the indoor tennis center. It is run by FMI, the merchandise concessionaire for the Open. On Aug. 7 — a few days after the warehouse opened for the season — it was mostly empty, with only about 100 boxes toward the back and a half-dozen workers, looking exhausted yet content. The work, they knew all too well, was just beginning. U.S. Open, By the Numbers A look at the money, the history and the snacks that make up the United States Open. “See all the booths on the grounds we have to put merchandise in? We have to clean them all, we have to count every piece, everything that’s in these boxes has to be counted,” said Jeff Hilty, a manager for FMI. Mr. Hilty brought in some trusted employees to help get the process started. Millie Cruz of Queens Village specializes in invoicing, and her quiet, confident demeanor was welcome in a chaotic warehouse. Her sons, Thomas, 18, and Daniel, 15, were also brought in to work for the season. Thomas, who is starting at Queens College and was back at the Open for his third year, and Daniel, a rising sophomore at Bayside High School who was here for the first time, were “doing whatever we’re told to do.” Aug. 17: Taking Deliveries, Planting Trees The grounds of the tennis center have been rebuilt. This is the day for florists and landscapers, completing merchandising maps and receiving dry goods. Things were noticeably coming together. Promotional banners with big fuzzy tennis balls were hung on every post along the wooden-planked bridge from the subway stop to the tennis center. Construction workers were putting together a baggage-check area, and inside the grounds, larger banners, featuring tennis champions, past and present, had gone up. (It takes eight people to install the banners, Mr. Zausner said.) Image Clockwise from top left: Ryan Ferrera, senior manager of courts and grounds, at rebuilt practice courts; Daniel Zausner, Tennis Center chief operating officer; Tina Taps, left, manager of the ball people, including Justin Johnson; the command center. Credit Kate Owen for The New York Times Inside Ashe Stadium, Ashley Devolder, 26, from nearby Astoria, painted a fresh coat of blue on a wall near the players’ entrance and media center. Before this task, she said, she had been part of a team of 20 who freshened up the 34,000 armrests on the stadium’s seats. “We had to sand them, clean them, and paint them,” she said. “It took a week.” Outside Ashe, rubble was removed and replaced by either grass or smooth asphalt. Lights were strung at the patio of Mojito, one of the Open’s sit-down restaurants, and a new bar had been built around one of eight hard-to-miss bright blue bases that support the new roof structure (Mr. Zausner’s idea). The main plaza was cleaned up, trees were replanted and colorful flowers were in place at the entrance. “We did the hanging baskets with wave petunia, and crotons and vinca,” said Kieran D’Arcy, a landscape designer with Garden World & Keil Brothers, a Flushing florist. Mr. D’Arcy said that in late winter, floral requests were sent to three or four growers on Long Island. Just after July 4, he said, a half-dozen landscapers started working with the 15,000 or so individual plants that arrived at the tennis center. The warehouse was now so full of boxes and workers that one could hardly navigate the place. Ms. Cruz and her sons were found in another area of the campus, setting up cash registers. When asked how his first job was going, Daniel, the 15-year-old, said: “At first it was a little hard and confusing, but now that I’m used to everything it’s pretty easy.” The retail stores, which would sell all manner of U.S. Open-branded clothing and souvenirs, were beginning to receive merchandise. Mary Ryan, the director of merchandising and licensing for the U.S.T.A., stopped by the Octagon, a popular store and meeting point among fans. At the counter, naked mannequin torsos awaited 2015 Open shirts. Image Ball people taking instruction. The ball people staff is about 275, including around 100 rookies. Credit Kate Owen for The New York Times “Bring it on, let’s do this!” said Jeff Hilty, the FMI manager helping to oversee the warehouse. He was in the back of the store, surrounded by boxes and empty shelves, waiting on Ms. Ryan’s “merchandising map,” in which she details what goes where in each store. And then there’s the food. “This event has become as much about the food and beverage experience as about just being here,” said Craig Appel, the senior regional director of operations for Levy Restaurants. Levy oversees all food and beverage at the Open, including restaurants and concessions, Mr. Appel said. The company, which is based in Chicago, flew in 250 Levy managers and chefs, he said, and hired locally for everything else: some 2,200 waiters, line cooks, cashiers and busboys. Food deliveries were going on virtually round the clock at two loading docks, the main one at Ashe and a second behind the food village, Mr. Appel said. Underneath Ashe is what Mr. Zausner referred to as the stadium’s “city of refrigeration.” He pointed out a room where he said 12 butchers would work, and another where salads would be made in an assembly line. Aug. 21: Reporting for Duty It is the day before players start to arrive for the qualifying matches. The grounds, beginning to pop and sparkle, are full of credentialed workers installing sponsor exhibits, moving merchandise or undergoing job training. Image All 33 courts reserved for the tournament receive about three new coats of DecoTurf every year. Credit Kate Owen for The New York Times In the players’ dining area, a 5,500-square-foot space with sweeping olive-color drapes and hardwood floors, where athletes and their entourages can have made-to-order pasta or quinoa bowls and sushi, a servers’ meeting was being held, and plastic packets of blue staff T-shirts were being distributed. Maribel Tufino, 22, from Park Slope, Brooklyn, who has worked at Starbucks, was training to be a barista at the Lavazza coffee bar in the players’ lounge. She seemed unfazed when she was asked what she would do if Serena Williams asked her for a cappuccino. “I haven’t seen tennis too much,” she said. A Lavazza trainer instructed five others on breaking down and cleaning the espresso machines. The lounge needed to be ready by the next morning, when about 200 players would arrive for qualifying rounds. At the entrance to the players’ quarters, the blue wall painted by Ms. Devolder had dried, and technicians were working on lighting both the media room and the main gantlet walked by the tennis players to enter the court at Ashe Stadium. It was a tech dress rehearsal. Outside, the grounds looked like a scene from a Richard Scarry picture book: Officials in polo shirts were riding around on golf carts; workers, elevated by scissor lifts, were polishing the structure that held the tenting over the food court; those merchandise crates were open, their contents being incorporated into interactive displays by teams of shirtless men; the once-dry fountain was spurting water; and forklifts were delivering goods to various stores and restaurants, in front of which sat stacks of boxes, waiting to be attended to. At Ashe’s loading dock, trucks were lined up to deliver products — tea, sugar, cups, ice machines, soda. North of Ashe, ESPN’s new mobile headquarters had grown from a pile of cables, crates and trailers a few weeks ago to a polished two-story broadcast compound, with nine studios that would be staffed by more than 100 people. To Ashe’s south, in the food village, was a slightly botched wallpaper job on the exterior of the Lavazza cafe, most likely noticeable only to Mr. Miller, who was preparing to redo it. “The lines don’t match up,” he said. Daniel Cruz, the 15-year-old warehouse worker, walked by the cafe looking harried, but focused. “I’m delivering power strips to the Polo store,” he said. Many other teenagers would soon be gathering for work between the Grandstand and Louis Armstrong stadiums. Tina Taps, manager of the U.S. Open ball people, emerged from the area clearly preoccupied with a new electronic scheduling system, not to mention training the 100 or so rookies who would be arriving in two days. But Ms. Taps, who has held this job for over 25 years, seemed confident. For one thing, her seasonal staff of approximately 275 includes a group of 20 or so veterans who mentor the new people, and they do not work these gigs for the money or the glory. “They’re doing it,” she said, “for the pure enjoyment of the event.” Image Credit Kate Owen for The New York Times

Tennis
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Arthur Ashe Stadium
Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
US Open Tennis


Austria Weighs Overseer for Bank in Madoff Case

Abstract: Austria’s financial regulator is considering appointing an outside overseer to the board of Bank Medici, the small Viennese merchant bank that lost billions of dollars it invested with Bernard L. Madoff , the American fund manager who has confessed to running a multibillion-dollar international fraud, a person with knowledge of the government’s discussions said Wednesday. A government-appointed overseer, known as a commissioner, would sit on the bank’s board and effectively have the power to overrule any decision made by the bank’s management. The financial regulator, FMA, usually resorts to such action only if there are concerns about a bank’s liquidity or about possible wrongdoing by its board, said the person, who declined to be identified discussing confidential government deliberations. Sonja Kohn, a Viennese banker, controls 75 percent of Bank Medici. Bank Austria, which is owned by the Italian bank UniCredit, holds the rest. Ms. Kohn, who could not be reached for comment, founded the bank in 1994 after living several years in New York. In 2004, she started to market funds that invested with Mr. Madoff. After it was disclosed that Mr. Madoff told his sons that he ran a Ponzi scheme for decades, Bank Medici announced that clients invested and probably lost $2.1 billion with Mr. Madoff through investing in two of his funds. Bank Medici sold the funds mainly to financial institutions outside Austria, which then sold them to their clients. The bank’s chief executive, Peter Scheithauer, said last month that the bank had no capital or liquidity problems as the Madoff funds were only part of the bank’s business. Calls to Mr. Scheithauer requesting a comment Wednesday were not returned and representatives of the Austrian government or the financial regulator were not reachable on Wednesday, New Year’s Eve. Bank Medici, which has just 16 employees but counts several Austrian banking veterans among its supervisory board members, including a former finance minister, has been hard hit by the Madoff scandal. The bank generated most of its revenue from fees it charged to market investment funds run by client organizations, which included a Citigroup unit in Germany. In 2007, the bank received 9.7 million euros, worth about $13.7 million at current exchange rates, in such fees and had a profit of 472,300 euros, or $665,000, according to its annual report. Hearing in Congress on Monday WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The internal watchdog at the Securities and Exchange Commission will testify Monday at a hearing before members of the House Financial Services committee, who want to know how the agency failed to detect the $50 billion fraud by Bernard Madoff. Critics say the S.E.C. missed several warning signs. The S.E.C.’s inspector general, David Kotz, will testify at the hearing. Also appearing will be Harry Markopolos, the former chief investment officer at Rampart Investment Management, who said he had repeatedly tried to get the S.E.C. to investigate Mr. Madoff; and Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

Bank Medici
Madoff Bernard L
Austria
Ponzi Schemes


Tebow Breaks Walker’s Record and Florida Clinches a Title

Abstract: Tim Tebow accounted for four touchdowns, A. J. Jones had two huge interceptions and No. 1 Florida beat Georgia, 41-17, in Jacksonville, Fla., for its 17th win in the last 20 meetings between the Southeastern Conference rivals. The Gators (8-0, 6-0) played their best game in weeks, extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 18 games and clinched the SEC East title when Tennessee later beat South Carolina. Georgia (4-4, 3-3) tried to gain an edge by wearing black pants and black helmets, a different look for a team that usually wears white jerseys, silver pants and red helmets on the road. The Bulldogs had never worn black helmets. It did not make much difference. Florida took a 24-10 lead into halftime, with Tebow breaking Herschel Walker’s conference record for rushing touchdowns late in the first half. Tebow slipped up the middle and ran mostly untouched for a 23-yard score — the 50th of his career — with 1 minute 32 seconds remaining in the first half. “How am I going to be in the same league as Herschel Walker?” Tebow said. “I still can’t understand it. It’s pretty cool and it’s really special.” ¶Decked out in black jerseys, Tennessee turned three South Carolina fumbles into touchdowns as the host Volunteers beat the No. 21 Gamecocks, 31-13. Jonathan Crompton threw two touchdown passes, Montario Hardesty ran for two scores and Rico McCoy forced two fumbles as Coach Lane Kiffin grabbed his first win over a ranked opponent. After warming up in their traditional orange home jerseys, the Vols (4-4, 2-3 SEC) seemed to take the Gamecocks (6-3, 3-3) by surprise as they took the field in Halloween -inspired uniforms. ¶Brandon LaFell caught two touchdown passes and No. 9 Louisiana State (7-1) beat visiting Tulane, 42-0, its first shutout of the Green Wave since 1969. ¶Chris Todd passed for 212 yards, Ben Tate ran for 144 yards and Walt McFadden returned an interception for a touchdown as host Auburn beat No. 24 Mississippi, 24-20. The Tigers (6-3, 3-3 SEC) scored 23 points in the third quarter and turned away Jevan Snead and the Rebels (5-3, 2-3) seven times on drives to midfield or beyond. Another Iowa Comeback Indiana led by 14 points in the third quarter and was just 2 yards away from Iowa’s end zone. Given the poor play of quarterback Ricky Stanzi, one more touchdown by the visiting Hoosiers could have brought the Hawkeyes’ charmed season crashing down. Instead, Tyler Sash returned an interception 86 yards for a touchdown, and Stanzi bounced back from a career-high five interceptions to rally No. 7 Iowa to a 42-24 victory, yet another improbable finish in a season full of them. Brandon Wegher had a career-high 118 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns for the Hawkeyes (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten), who scored 28 points in the fourth quarter. Iowa, off to its best start, has won four games by 3 or fewer points. And after needing two blocked field goals to beat Northern Iowa in their season opener, the Hawkeyes control their own destiny in the Big Ten — with a chance to play for the Bowl Championship Series title. No. 12 Penn State beat host Northwestern, 34-13, scoring three fourth-quarter touchdowns in less than four minutes. Daryll Clark threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Derek Moye and Evan Royster ran 69 yards for another score during the fourth-quarter surge by the Nittany Lions (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten) that took 3:40. ¶Dane Sanzenbacher caught two touchdown passes and Terrelle Pryor threw for one score and ran for another as No. 17 Ohio State (7-2) beat visiting New Mexico State, 45-0. 3 Keep Pace in B.C.S. Hunt Zach Collaros threw four touchdown passes, three off broken plays, and No. 5 Cincinnati beat host Syracuse, 28-7, on Saturday. Cincinnati (8-0, 4-0 Big East) won its 14th straight regular-season game to remain in the middle of the B.C.S. conversation. Cincinnati is one win from tying the best start in program history — the 1951 team won nine games to begin the season. The Bearcats did not have a turnover and are the only team in the nation not to lose a fumble this season. ¶Kellen Moore threw for 278 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for another score to lead No. 6 Boise State to a 45-17 victory over visiting San Jose State. The Broncos (8-0, 3-0 Western Athletic Conference) held the Spartans (1-6, 0-3) to 221 yards and forced two turnovers that led to touchdowns. ¶Andy Dalton threw three touchdown passes and No. 8 Texas Christian beat Nevada-Las Vegas, 41-0, for its first shutout of the season. The Horned Frogs (8-0, 4-0 Mountain West) won their 10th consecutive game. Late Rally for Miami Jacory Harris threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin with 1:08 left, and No. 18 Miami beat host Wake Forest, 28-27. Harris threw for 330 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Hurricanes (6-2, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who trailed by 27-14 at the start of the fourth quarter. ¶Josh Nesbitt ran for two touchdowns and threw for two scores, Jonathan Dwyer ran for a career-high 186 yards with three touchdowns, and No. 11 Georgia Tech rallied to beat host Vanderbilt, 56-31. The Yellow Jackets (8-1) have won six straight. An Easy Win for Notre Dame Golden Tate scored two touchdowns, including a spectacular grab of a desperation heave at the end of the first half, and No. 25 Notre Dame beat Washington State, 40-14, in San Antonio. It was a rare easy victory for the Fighting Irish (6-2), whose previous six games were decided by 7 points or less. ¶Case Keenum threw for a career-high 559 yards and had 5 touchdowns, his last coming with 21 seconds remaining, in No. 15 Houston’s wild 50-43 victory over Southern Mississippi at home. The game was tied, 43-43, when Keenum threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Edwards to give the Cougars (7-1, 3-1 Conference USA) the lead. The Golden Eagles had a chance to tie, but Martevious Young’s pass from midfield was knocked down in the end zone in the final seconds. ¶The freshman Jordan Wynn threw for 82 yards and a touchdown in his debut, after replacing starter Terrance Cain in the second half, and No. 19 Utah beat Wyoming, 22-10. The host Utes (7-1, 4-0 M.W.C.) trailed by 10-3 at halftime. ¶Landry Jones passed for 294 yards and 4 touchdowns and DeMarco Murray scored three times to help No. 22 Oklahoma hold off visiting Kansas State, 42-30. Oklahoma (5-3, 3-1 Big 12) led, 21-0, but the Wildcats twice got within 5 points in the second half.

College Athletics
Football
University of Cincinnati
Boise State University
Texas Christian University
Bowl Championship Series


Facebook Faces German Antitrust Investigation

Abstract: BRUSSELS — Facebook became the latest American technology company on Wednesday to face antitrust hurdles in Europe after the German competition authority opened an investigation into whether the company has abused its dominant position in social networking. The move puts Facebook, which is used by many of Europe’s 500 million citizens, alongside other United States technology companies, like Google and Microsoft, which have also faced antitrust investigations into their activities across the region. European officials have taken a tough stance on how American tech giants operate across the 28-member bloc, as many politicians here remain concerned that these companies often dominate many aspects of people’s digital lives, including social networking, online search and e-commerce. As part of the new investigation, German authorities said they were looking into whether Facebook misused its position to collect people’s digital information. That included complicated terms and conditions that individuals had to sign to use the social network, and whether such contracts placed unfair constraints on the company’s users. “Dominant companies are subject to special obligations,” Andreas Mundt, president of the German competition authority, said in a statement on Wednesday. “For advertising-financed Internet services such as Facebook, user data are hugely important.” In response, Facebook said it was confident that it had complied with German law. “We look forward to working with the Federal Cartel Office to answer their questions,” the company said in a statement. German authorities have long battled with Facebook and other United States digital companies over their differing interpretations of what constitutes a violation of privacy in the digital age. Five years ago, German authorities challenged Facebook over its introduction of facial-recognition software. Facebook held discussions with European antitrust officials over its acquisition of the WhatsApp messaging service in 2014, but the German investigation is the first competition inquiry the company has faced in the region. While the German investigation will look into Facebook’s digital practices, it remains unclear whether other European policy makers — including at the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union — will also open antitrust inquiries into the social network. How Europe Is Going After Apple, Google and Other U.S. Tech Giants The biggest American tech companies face intensifying scrutiny by European regulators, with — pressure that could potentially curb their sizable profits in the region and affect how they operate around the world. The announcement on Wednesday, however, represents the latest in a growing number of regulatory challenges that Facebook is facing across the European Union, one of the company’s most important areas of operation. This week, a separate German court fined Facebook $110,000 — a small amount for a company that generates billions of dollars each year — for not sufficiently informing its users how the company would use content posted on the social network. Several national privacy regulators are looking into how the social network collects data on both its users and those who are not signed up for its online services. Facebook was also at the center of a successful legal challenge in Europe’s highest court over how data was transferred between the European Union and the United States. That led to senior European judges invalidating the so-called safe harbor data-transfer agreement between the two regions, increasing uncertainty over how companies like Facebook could move data across the Atlantic. In an acknowledgment of the growing regulatory challenges now confronting Facebook in Europe, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s 31-year-old chief executive, traveled to Germany last month to meet with policy makers, local publishers and the company’s users. For Facebook, whose business model is based on selling advertisements targeted at users based on information in their posts, the company’s use of people’s digital data is increasingly putting it at odds with Europe’s tough data protection rules, which view individuals’ privacy rights on a par with rights such as the freedom of expression. European competition authorities are also increasingly looking at how companies like Facebook may hold a dominant position over people’s digital information, which may give them an unfair advantage over rivals. This year, for example, Margrethe Vestager, the European competition commissioner, said the collection of a vast amount of users’ data by a small number of tech companies like Google and Facebook could violate of the region’s tough competition rules. “If a few companies control the data you need to cut costs, then you give them the power to drive others out of the market,” Ms. Vestager said. “It’s a business transaction, not a free giveaway,” she added, referring to companies’ use of people’s digital data. “As consumers, we need to be treated fairly.”

Facebook
Germany
Competition law
Social Media
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry


Fantasy Football: Players to Avoid, Quarterbacks and Running Backs

Abstract: We recently looked at players who could surprise, or “sleep” their way through a draft until you were smart enough to draft them. Now we look at the opposite end of the spectrum, players we see being drafted higher than they should who are waving red flags. Although these players could be useful depending on where you draft them, we will do our best to keep them off our fantasy football rosters this summer. We will start with the quarterback and running back positions. For broader fantasy analysis of these positions, see our complete player rankings. Quarterback Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals (Average Draft Position 10.08, 14th QB over all) — Based on his A.D.P., Dalton is being selected in the 10th round as the 14th quarterback over all in current mock drafts. Apparently, the last six weeks of the 2012 season, when he averaged 10.3 fantasy points a game, did not leave a bad enough taste for fantasy owners. His weak arm, accuracy issues and tendency to crumble against competent defenses have to make you wonder if things will ever click for Dalton. We strongly believe there is better QB2 value to be had in the later rounds. Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles (A.D.P. 11.02, 15th QB over all) — An open competition with Nick Foles does not guarantee Vick the starting job come Week 1, although many would consider him the favorite to win it. If he does, he is still a major injury risk (averaging five missed games a year from 2009-12), and his points per game fantasy average has steadily declined over the last three seasons (29, 20, 17) . The loss of Jeremy Maclin, who would have been a key piece in Chip Kelly’s offense, raises even more question marks. Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens (A.D.P. 12.05, 18th QB over all) — Outstanding Super Bowl run aside, Flacco averaged just 14.6 fantasy points per game last season, and that was with Dennis Pitta and Anquan Boldin to throw to. Pitta (out for the season with a hip injury), who was expected to replace Boldin as Flacco’s go-to option, will now be replaced at tight end with the third-year backup Ed Dickson and the newly signed veteran Visanthe Shiancoe, a major downgrade in the hands department. Josh Freeman, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (A.D.P. 13.04, 21st QB over all) — After actively trying to land a free-agent quarterback this off-season and the selection of Mike Glennon in the third round, the Bucs are clearly not banking on the light bulb suddenly turning on for the erratic Freeman in what will be his fifth N.F.L. season. You shouldn’t either. Image Frank Gore is being drafted in the third round of mock fantasy drafts, but is on the downside of his career, Credit Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press Running Back Frank Gore, San Francisco 49ers (A.D.P. 3.02, 17th RB over all) — At age 30, Gore has plenty of wear and tear, and we expect more of a committee approach to the backfield this season, with LaMichael James and Kendall Hunter hungry to prove themselves. He’s seen a slow but steady decline in carries per game, from 18.5 in 2010 to 16.1 last season. All signs point to Gore taking a step backward in 2013. DeMarco Murray, Dallas Cowboys (A.D.P. 3.03, 18th RB over all) — If Murray is your third-round pick, you’re a brave soul, considering he has missed nine games the last two seasons. The Cowboys seem to be planning ahead by drafting Joseph Randle, a player they believe has the skills to be a featured back. Do not be surprised if a time share between the two becomes a reality, as the owner Jerry Jones has already hinted at the idea this off-season. Darren McFadden, Oakland Raiders (A.D.P. 3.07, 20th RB over all) — There is a possibility McFadden will regain some of that 2010 magic running in the Raiders’ new power back scheme, but if you spend an early pick on one of the most injury-prone backs in the league, you are going to be at a major disadvantage at a position that is very thin to begin with. Montee Ball, Denver Broncos (A.D.P. 4.05, 24th RB over all) — Ronnie Hillman opened camp as the starting tailback in Denver and Coach John Fox raves about his “pro body” and his belief that he can be a full-time back, yet Ball is still being drafted in the fourth round while Hillman is being selected in the 11th. Clearly nobody is sold on Hillman actually winning the featured role, but Fox has always favored a running-back-by-committee approach (Panthers), which makes this situation even more concerning if you are counting on Ball to produce RB2 type numbers. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Cincinnati Bengals (A.D.P. 7.05, 33rd RB over all) — The Law Firm will always possess one of our favorite nicknames in the game. But after averaging less than 4 yards per carry in 2012, he will find himself in a major time share with the more talented and explosive Giovani Bernard. Jonathan Stewart, Carolina Panthers (A.D.P. 8.05, 36th RB over all) — Lingering issues with Stewart’s surgically repaired ankles have landed him on the active physically unable to perform list to open camp, which leaves the door wide open for DeAngelo Williams to firmly establish himself as Carolina’s lead runner this summer. Stewart has not been a reliable fantasy play since 2009, and this setback will all but ensure that trend will not change. Mikel Leshoure, Detroit Lions (A.D.P. 10.11, 47th RB over all) — The addition of Reggie Bush degrades a major chunk of Leshoure’s fantasy value, but the under-the-radar emergence of Joique Bell (5.0 yards per carry in 2012), who has had an impressive off-season thus far, could end up relegating the injury-prone Leshoure into a short-yardage role if he doesn’t start showing some burst and consistency soon. Mark Ingram, New Orleans (A.D.P. 8.10, 39th RB over all) — Some are predicting a big year for Ingram with Chris Ivory (Jets) out of the way, but considering Ivory had only 40 carries with the Saints last season, the numbers do not add up there. A time share of sorts with Pierre Thomas, who ran with the first-team unit during O.T.A.s, is a more likely situation.

Football
Fantasy sport
DeMarco Murray
Andy Dalton
Darren McFadden
Frank Gore
Josh Freeman
Joe Flacco
Mark Ingram


PayPal Unit Helps eBay Beat Estimates

Abstract: EBay beat Wall Street’s quarterly profit estimates, helped by a record performance at its PayPal online payments unit and strong marketplace sales in Europe. At the same time, eBay warned that the negative effect of a stronger dollar would hurt full-year results and trimmed the high end of its 2010 forecast. Profit in eBay’s second quarter rose to $412 million, or 31 cents a share, from $327 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, earnings were 40 cents a share versus 37 cents in the year-ago period. Analysts had been expecting adjusted earnings of 38 cents a share, Thomson Reuters said. Revenue rose 6 percent, to $2.2 billion, ahead of Wall Street estimates of $2.16 billion. EBay said it now expected full-year revenue of $8.8 billion to $9 billion, on adjusted earnings of $1.60 to $1.65 a share. EBay said its PayPal unit was adding one million new accounts a month in the quarter.


Barber Shop Set to Be Black History Museum

Abstract: SOUTHAMPTON Three years after Southampton Town purchased a former barber shop to eventually become the African-American Museum of the East End, the museum’s founders are still trying to raise $1 million for renovations. Brenda Simmons and Bonnie Cannon, who co-founded the museum, are now working with an architect to redesign the building on North Sea Road, which was owned and operated by an African American man and was a gathering place for black residents over the years. In 2006, Southampton Town used $500,000 in community preservation funds to buy the building, a 1950s-era shingled building that is about 1,450 square feet. The village has secured the site from trespassers with a chain-link fence and cleaned up the property after the superintendent of public works for the village recommended recently that it be demolished. The shop was known as Randy’s Barbershop from 1969 until it was sold to the town. “The black community didn’t have too many social outlets,” said Randolph Conquest, 71, the barber shop’s former owner, “so the shop did serve as a meeting place.” About 13 percent of the village’s 4,000 residents are African-American, according to the latest census figures, and it can be a tight-knit community. While Ms. Simmons was being interviewed at her home, a neighbor came over unexpectedly to check on Ms. Simmons’s hurt foot and to bring her some home-cooked food. For the past three years, the museum has organized a black film festival with the Parrish Art Museum and other programs. But having a home for the museum, Ms. Simmons said, will bring pride to the community. “I’ve been here 53 years and I’ve seen a lot that’s been missing,” she said. “I’ve seen a hopelessness in people’s eyes, and that has driven me to bring some spark of hope back, a place of belonging and self-worth.”


A $200,000 Ballot Error and Other Misprints at New York City’s Board of Elections

Abstract: The New York City Board of Elections has a proofreading problem — and even small mistakes are turning out to be costly. The board was forced to spend more than $200,000 in overnight postage last month to send corrected absentee ballots for the coming presidential primary, after it discovered an error in the Spanish version of the ballot. The mistake was discovered around the same time the board realized it had made another error: A recent notice sent to 60,000 newly registered voters included the wrong date for a Sept. 13 primary election for state and local offices. The board then mailed out a correction that may have inadvertently confused voters about the date of the higher-profile presidential primary on April 19. Those incidents follow a major mistake in the Chinese translation that appeared on ballots for the state’s election in November 2013, which led to the firing of one translator and the resignation of another. Last month’s costly translation error occurred on Democratic primary ballots mailed to military personnel and American citizens living abroad. Democratic voters in the New York presidential primary vote for both a candidate and delegates to the party’s nominating convention. But the original ballots that were mailed out failed to indicate in Spanish which delegates had pledged to support Bernie Sanders and which had done so for Hillary Clinton. When officials spotted the mistake, they notified the State Board of Elections, which in turn consulted the Justice Department, said Michael J. Ryan, the executive director of the city’s elections board. Corrected ballots were printed and sent to 4,131 voters overseas, including 230 military personnel. The printing cost was less than $5,000, Mr. Ryan said. But because time was short, it was decided to send the ballots by overnight mail. The bill for postage was $208,579. “Given the disparate addresses overseas, overnight mailing, it can be quite costly,” Mr. Ryan said. Most of the corrected ballots were mailed last weekend, although some may have gone out as late as Monday, he said. The mistake did not affect the thousands of absentee ballots sent to voters with addresses in New York or other states, which were printed after the mistake had been discovered. Mr. Ryan said the error was a byproduct of the city’s transition to an electronic voting system, which involves paper ballots read by digital scanners. Although the system was put in place in 2010, it will be used in a Democratic presidential primary, with balloting for both candidates and delegates, for the first time this year. In the Republican primary, voters cast ballots only for a candidate; the party chooses the delegates in a separate process. In the election board’s other recent fumble, tens of thousands of newly registered voters received a notice from the agency alerting them to the dates of various elections this year, but it included an incorrect date for the Sept. 13 primary for state and local candidates. The board then sent a postcard to the same voters with the words “Date Correction” blazoned across the front. “The date on the notice for the primary election was incorrect,” the postcard said. “The correct date is Sep. 13, 2016.” But the card did not say which primary it was referring to, raising the possibility that some voters would confuse it for the presidential primary. “You’d have to be under a rock not to know that people are thinking about the April 19 primary and to not even mention it,” said Kate Doran, of the New York City League of Women Voters . “All of us in the good-government world are just rolling our eyes.” Councilman Ben Kallos, a Democrat from Manhattan who has been a frequent critic of the elections board, attributed the errors to the agency’s notorious history as a patronage mill. “At the root of this is making sure that the people working at the Board of Elections are actually hired from an open process,” Mr. Kallos said. “We need to root out patronage in government and at the Board of Elections.” The two recent mistakes occurred less than three years after the translation error in 2013, which Mr. Ryan said was far more serious because it was not caught until Election Day that November. In that case, ballots used at polling stations serving a high concentration of Chinese voters omitted the Chinese translation of a ballot proposition. There were six propositions on the ballot. The state’s elections board provided translations for each of them to the city’s board. But when city officials created the ballots, someone mistakenly used the same Chinese translation for two different propositions. Mr. Ryan called it “a cutting and pasting error.” “We strive for perfection at the Board of Elections,” Mr. Ryan said. “However, any system that’s run by human beings is going to encounter human error. The best that we can hope for is that if an error is made, we catch it and we fix it.”

Board of Elections NYC
2016 Presidential Election
Absentee ballot
Primaries
NYC
Election


Costco Accused of Abusing Wage Law

Abstract: Costco Wholesale , the warehouse club, was sued by a California worker alleging false imprisonment because, she says, employees are locked in stores against their will for 15 minutes after they are off duty. Mary Pytelewski, a cash register clerk at a San Marcos, Calif., Costco warehouse, accused the company of violating wage laws by refusing to allow workers to clock back in and be paid for the extra time they were locked in while managers closed stores, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in state court in San Diego. “They’ve been locking people in at the end of the day, clocking people out and making them wait for a manager to let them out,” David Sanford, Ms. Pytelewski’s lawyer, said. “They claim it’s because of loss prevention or security concerns. That doesn’t make any sense. Even if you have loss prevention or security concerns, you still have to pay people.” The complaint, which seeks to represent several hundred Costco workers in California, asks for $50 million in back pay plus damages from 2005 until the present. Ms. Pytelewski also says she was retaliated against when she complained about the practice. Bob Nelson, a spokesman for Costco, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Costco Wholesale Corporation
Shopping and Retail
Sanford David


Obama’s Gamble Pays Off on Arms Control Treaty

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The final approval of a new arms control treaty with Russia may have been a foregone conclusion by the time senators stepped onto the floor on Wednesday. But that was not the way it looked one afternoon last month when White House officials rushed to the Oval Office to tell President Obama that his treaty might be dead. The president and his team had built their entire strategy for obtaining approval of the treaty on winning over a single Republican senator deputized by his caucus to negotiate an accord — and that Republican, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, had just shocked the White House by pulling the plug on a deal for the year . Some aides counseled Mr. Obama to stand down. Losing a treaty vote, as one put it, would be “a huge loss.” But Mr. Obama decided that afternoon to make one of the biggest gambles of his presidency and demand that the Senate approve the treaty by the year’s end. “We’ve just got to go ahead,” he told aides, who recounted the conversation on Wednesday. Along the way, he had to confront his own reluctant party leadership and circumvent the other party’s leadership. He mounted a five-week campaign that married public pressure and private suasion. He enlisted the likes of Henry A. Kissinger, asked Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany to help and sent a team of officials to set up a war room of sorts on Capitol Hill. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had at least 50 meetings or phone calls with senators. When a wavering Republican senator told Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that the president needed to address concerns about missile defense, the senator quickly received a letter from Mr. Obama reaffirming his commitment to develop the system. Other senators who were worried about the condition of the nation’s nuclear stockpile received a letter from the president vowing to stick by a 10-year, $85 billion modernization plan. Even in the final 10 days, the effort appeared in danger of collapsing. The insistence of Democrats on passing unrelated legislation allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military upset the Republican conference and may have cost the White House five or more votes on the arms treaty. Administration officials worried last week that they did not have the required two-thirds majority in the Senate, and as late as Sunday, the president’s aides wondered whether to call off the vote. In the end, the gamble paid off on Wednesday with a 71-to-26 vote in the Senate to approve the treaty, called New Start, with Russia, culminating what turned out to be the biggest battle over arms control in Washington in more than a decade. No Russian-American arms treaty submitted for a Senate vote ever squeaked through by a smaller margin. But for a president seeking his way after a crushing midterm election, it was welcome validation that he could still win a battle. “The president made a gutsy decision that he was willing to lose it, and that was a gutsy decision,” said Senator John Kerry , the Massachusetts Democrat who was Mr. Obama’s chief ally in the Senate. “Everybody said it wasn’t going to happen. Even colleagues on our side said it wasn’t going to happen.” The treaty took on such importance to Mr. Obama because he had invested so much in it. While it will not reduce nuclear weapons as much as previous treaties have, he has made it the centerpiece of his foreign policy — “the Jenga piece,” as one aide puts it, critical to a variety of priorities, including a better relationship with Russia, international solidarity against Iran’s uranium enrichment program and the president’s larger vision of eventually ridding the world of nuclear weapons. The challenge of Senate approval always played into the administration’s thinking, even while the treaty was being negotiated with the Russians. At several pivotal moments, American officials like Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Under Secretary of State Ellen O. Tauscher; Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller; and Michael McFaul, the president’s Russia adviser, used the need to win Senate approval to leverage Russian negotiators into making concessions. Even before Mr. Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia signed the treaty in April, the administration had tried to woo Mr. Kyl, the No. 2 Republican and his party’s leading conservative voice on arms control. The White House strategy was to meet Mr. Kyl’s concerns on modernizing the nuclear complex, knowing that if he embraced the treaty, it would sail to approval. Mr. Obama was coming under pressure from multiple sides as the end of the year neared. During a meeting in Japan in mid-November, Mr. Medvedev pressed Mr. Obama on the treaty. “Are you going to get Start done?” the Russian president asked, according to an administration official, who like others interviewed insisted on anonymity to share private moments. Soon after Mr. Obama returned, his negotiations with Mr. Kyl suddenly disintegrated. On Nov. 16, the senator issued a statement saying he did not think there was enough time to deal with the issues surrounding New Start before the end of the year. That would mean waiting until the new Senate took office with five more Republicans. White House officials learned about Mr. Kyl’s statement shortly after noon when a reporter sent it by e-mail. They instantly realized the peril. Mr. Biden; Thomas E. Donilon, the national security adviser; his deputies Denis McDonough and Ben Rhodes; and the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, informed Mr. Obama. “There were people here who thought that was it, we were going to call it a day,” recalled one White House official. There was no Plan B. But Mr. Obama, who often disappoints supporters by not responding to Republicans more aggressively, decided this was a moment to fight. “He decided that he would settle on nothing short of full Senate ratification,” said another official. Starting in that meeting, they laid out a strategy. Mr. Biden was supposed to meet two days later with several Republican luminaries. Instead, Mr. Obama would host the meeting and make a public pitch for the treaty. The White House ripped up plans for the weekly radio and Internet address to make it about New Start. Then Mr. Obama flew to Lisbon for a NATO meeting, where he encouraged European leaders to speak out for the treaty. Mr. Obama, Mr. Biden and Mr. Kerry decided to show nothing but public respect for Mr. Kyl and to stick by the offer to spend $85 billion modernizing the nuclear weapons complex. But they gave up hope of winning over Mr. Kyl, who said he felt “jammed” by the White House. Instead, they began bypassing him to work with other Republicans. The assiduous efforts by Mr. Kerry and Mr. Biden to accommodate Republican concerns proved critical. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee was one important target. He said in an interview that he had “multiple, multiple, multiple calls” with Mr. Biden and also heard from Mrs. Clinton and Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The military endorsements were particularly important. “For folks who are looking for additional support, that’s powerful,” Mr. Corker said. “For all the secretaries of state to say the things they said, that is powerful.” Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio, another Republican who received attention, said the more he learned about the treaty, the more comfortable he felt. “As people were able to gain more and more information about it and started to pay attention to the people who were supportive of it, its validity and need became more apparent,” he said. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who voted for the treaty, said Republican pressure by Mr. Kyl and others produced a better result. “Even most senators who vote against the treaty would say both the treaty and the nuclear modernization program are better as a result of this,” he said. But Mr. Obama had problems with Democrats more focused on immigration and gays in the military. Mr. Obama had to call Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, to emphasize how important the treaty was to him, and even then, the decision to call a vote on the gay rights bill last weekend provoked a reaction among Republicans who thought they had been misled. “Biden about had a heart attack” when Mr. Reid scheduled the vote, said a senator who talked with him. At that point, the senator said it appeared there were 78 to 80 votes for the treaty. Mr. Alexander said that anger over unrelated legislation cost the treaty 5 to 10 votes. “It was very tricky, and it almost broke it apart,” Mr. Kerry said. “That was part of the overall high-stakes poker. A lot was hanging on different things.” On Sunday, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, joined Mr. Kyl in declaring that they would vote against the treaty. At the White House, there was worry. “People think this means we’re dead,” one White House aide said in an e-mail message to colleagues. Mr. Donilon convened a conference call with Mr. Biden and White House officials to talk about whether to file a motion to end the debate. Once the motion was filed, there was no turning back. “As you know, there are some doubts,” Mr. Donilon told Mr. Biden, according to notes taken by a participant. Mr. Biden cut him off. “We’ve got the votes,” he said. “Period.” Other aides expressed doubts. “Look,” Mr. Biden said, “I’m not saying I think we have the votes. I’m telling you, we have the votes. I have personally spoken to 12 Republican senators yesterday or today. Personally. One on one. We have the votes.” And so they did. With Mr. Biden in the presiding officer’s chair and Mr. Kerry on the floor, the vote was called. Afterward, Mr. Obama gathered his team again in the Oval Office. This time he toasted them with Champagne.

Obama Barack
United States International Relations
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
Missiles and Missile Defense Systems
Russia
United States Politics and Government
Senate
Kyl Jon Llewellyn
Kerry John
Biden Joseph R Jr


Upending Anonymity, These Days the Web Unmasks Everyone

Abstract: Not too long ago, theorists fretted that the Internet was a place where anonymity thrived. Now, it seems, it is the place where anonymity dies. A commuter in the New York area who verbally tangled with a conductor last Tuesday — and defended herself by asking “Do you know what schools I’ve been to and how well-educated I am?” — was publicly identified after a fellow rider posted a cellphone video of the encounter on YouTube . The woman, who had gone to N.Y.U., was ridiculed by a cadre of bloggers, one of whom termed it the latest episode of “Name and Shame on the Web.” Women who were online pen pals of former Representative Anthony D. Weiner similarly learned how quickly Internet users can sniff out all the details of a person’s online life. So did the men who set fire to cars and looted stores in the wake of Vancouver ’s Stanley Cup defeat last week when they were identified, tagged by acquaintances online . The collective intelligence of the Internet’s two billion users , and the digital fingerprints that so many users leave on Web sites, combine to make it more and more likely that every embarrassing video, every intimate photo, and every indelicate e-mail is attributed to its source, whether that source wants it to be or not. This intelligence makes the public sphere more public than ever before and sometimes forces personal lives into public view. To some, this could conjure up comparisons to the agents of repressive governments in the Middle East who monitor online protests and exact retribution offline. But the positive effects can be numerous: criminality can be ferreted out, falsehoods can be disproved and individuals can become Internet icons. When a freelance photographer, Rich Lam , digested his pictures of the riots in Vancouver, he spotted several shots of a man and a woman, surrounded by police officers in riot gear, in the middle of a like-nobody’s-watching kiss. When the photos were published, a worldwide dragnet of sorts ensued to identify the “kissing couple.” Within a day, the couple’s relatives had tipped off news Web sites to their identities, and there they were, Monday, on the “Today” show : Scott Jones and Alex Thomas, the latest proof that thanks to the Internet, every day could be a day that will be remembered around the world. “It’s kind of amazing that there was someone there to take a photo,” Ms. Thomas said on “ Today .” The “kissing couple” will most likely enjoy just a tweet’s worth of fame, but it is noteworthy that they were tracked down at all. This erosion of anonymity is a product of pervasive social media services, cheap cellphone cameras, free photo and video Web hosts, and perhaps most important of all, a change in people’s views about what ought to be public and what ought to be private. Experts say that Web sites like Facebook , which require real identities and encourage the sharing of photographs and videos, have hastened this change. “Humans want nothing more than to connect, and the companies that are connecting us electronically want to know who’s saying what, where,” said Susan Crawford, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. “As a result, we’re more known than ever before.” This growing “publicness,” as it is sometimes called, comes with significant consequences for commerce, for political speech and for ordinary people’s right to privacy. There are efforts by governments and corporations to set up online identity systems . Technology will play an even greater role in the identification of once-anonymous individuals: Facebook, for instance, is already using facial recognition technology in ways that are alarming to European regulators . After the riots in Vancouver, locals needed no such facial recognition technology — they simply combed through social media sites to try to identify some of the people involved, like Nathan Kotylak, 17, a star on Canada ’s junior water polo team. On Facebook, Mr. Kotylak apologized for the damage he had caused. The finger-pointing affected not only him, it affected his family: local news media reported that his father, a doctor, had seen his ranking on a medical practice review site, RateMDs.com , drop after people posted comments about his son’s involvement in the riots. Other people subsequently went to the Web site to defend the doctor and improve his ranking. Predictably, there was a backlash to the Internet-assisted identification of the people involved in the alcohol-fueled riot. Camille Cacnio, a student in Vancouver who was photographed during the riot and who admitted to theft, wrote on her blog that the “21st-century witch hunt” on the Internet was “another form of mobbing.” In the New York area, the commuter who was the subject of online scorn last week shut down both her Twitter and LinkedIn accounts once her name bubbled up on blogs. Though the person who originally posted the cellphone video took it down, other people quickly reposted it, giving the story new life. The original video poster remains anonymous because his or her YouTube account has been shut down. Half a world away, in Middle Eastern countries like Iran and Syria , activists have sometimes succeeded in identifying victims of dictatorial violence through anonymously uploaded YouTube videos. They have also succeeded in identifying fakes: In a widely publicized case this month, a blogger who claimed to be a Syrian-American lesbian and called herself “A Gay Girl in Damascus” was revealed to be an American man, Tom MacMaster. The sleuthing was led by Andy Carvin, a strategist for NPR who has exhaustively covered the Middle Eastern protests on Twitter. When sources of his said they were skeptical of the blogger’s identity, “I just started asking questions on Twitter and Facebook,” Mr. Carvin recalled on CNN . “Have any of you met her in person? Do you know her at all? The more I asked, the less I learned, because no one had met her, not even the reporters who had supposedly interviewed her in person.” Mr. Carvin, his online followers and others used photos and server log data to connect the blog to Mr. MacMaster’s wife. “Publicity” — something normally associated with celebrities — “is no longer scarce,” Dave Morgan, the chief executive of Simulmedia, wrote in an essay this month . He posited that because the Internet “can’t be made to forget” images and moments from the past, like an outburst on a train or a kiss during a riot, “the reality of an inescapable public world is an issue we are all going to hear a lot more about.”


Sexual Abuse Case Dropped Against Intern at Preschool

Abstract: A nearly five-month investigation into claims that a student teacher had inappropriately touched youngsters at a preschool in Manhattan ended on Thursday with the dismissal of all criminal charges. The student teacher, Malthe Thomsen, broke into sobs as an assistant district attorney asked Justice Gregory Carro to dismiss the charges. “We have determined that we cannot prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt,” the prosecutor, Rachel Ferrari, said. Mr. Thomsen, 22, of Copenhagen, was arrested on sexual abuse charges on June 27 after a teacher at the International Preschools on East 45th Street reported him to the police. During a seven-hour interrogation, he made statements to the detectives that prosecutors have characterized as a confession, but that he maintains were false and coerced. Ms. Ferrari told Justice Carro her office “found no evidence that the defendant’s statements were improperly obtained or that they were false.” But she said investigators also had failed to unearth any other evidence against Mr. Thomsen, and his words alone were not enough to convict him. As he left State Supreme Court in Manhattan with his parents, Mr. Thomsen said the police had tricked him into admitting crimes he had never committed and could not recall. “It’s all untrue,” he said. The case had been losing steam for months, according to statements made in court by prosecutors. Social workers interviewed 13 children from the school, but could find only one who had a recollection of being touched by Mr. Thomsen in a way that could be considered inappropriate. Two other teachers in the classroom said they had seen nothing untoward. Prosecutors also had doubts about whether Mariangela Kefalas, the teacher who reported Mr. Thomsen to the police, would be perceived as a reliable witness by a jury, a law enforcement official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The videos that Ms. Kefalas shot of Mr. Thomsen in the classroom did not show criminal conduct. Before his arrest on June 27, Mr. Thomsen had been a well-liked intern at the International Preschools, where he had started working with a class of 4- and 5-year-olds in February. After Mr. Thomsen’s arrest, his parents mortgaged their house in Denmark to pay his bail, and they have accumulated $200,000 in legal fees. Mr. Thomsen has been tethered to New York City, unable to return to his studies until prosecutors decided whether to present the case to a grand jury. “It’s been five months out of my life I will never get back,” he said. Mr. Thomsen’s troubles began in late May, when Ms. Kefalas, 28, an assistant teacher at the school, reported in an email to a supervisor that Mr. Thomsen was having children place their hands on his groin and was touching girls under their dresses. The school conducted an internal investigation but found no evidence to support the allegations, school officials said. On June 5, the school fired Ms. Kefalas. A few days later, she took her accusations to the police and turned over 10 videos she had made of Mr. Thomsen in the classroom, prompting the inquiry. Last week, she filed a lawsuit against the school, saying her termination violated whistle-blower protection laws. Ms. Kefalas declined to comment. Her lawyer, Patrick J. Boyd, said she had done her duty as a teacher, reporting what she considered to be unusual physical contact between Mr. Thomsen and his pupils. “She was just doing her job,” he said. “She was concerned about what might be happening when she wasn’t in the room.” Mr. Thomsen’s lawyer, Jane H. Fisher-Byrialsen, said detectives had duped Mr. Thomsen, telling him the police had a video of him placing the students’ hands on his clothed genitals. After court, Mr. Thomsen said he planned to finish his degree in Copenhagen and teach at a preschool. “That’s my passion,” he said. “I won’t let one person and a crazy justice system ruin that.”

Malthe Thomsen
International Preschools
Child Abuse
Rape
Preschool
NYC
Teachers
Mariangela Kefalas
Manhattan


Microsoft Case Shows the Limits of a Data Privacy Law

Abstract: The battle over the privacy of electronic communications sought in government investigations shifted against the Justice Department last week. The question is whether a judicial decision preventing investigators from obtaining emails stored abroad will finally push Congress to address just how much protection should be afforded to digital information. Similar issues surfaced this year in the battle between Apple and the F.B.I. over access to an encrypted iPhone used by one of the attackers in the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. In the case of Microsoft v. United States , the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan last week dealt a blow to efforts to obtain emails that are held in foreign countries. The government obtained a warrant under a provision of the Stored Communications Act to gain access to emails in a customer’s account maintained by Microsoft on one of its servers in Dublin. The company refused to turn over the data, arguing that the warrant applied only to materials in the United States and not those held outside the country. The government claimed that where the electronic files were actually stored was irrelevant because the communications were within Microsoft’s control, so the company should be required to produce them. The case turned on how broadly a court can apply the Stored Communications Act, a law adopted in 1986 as part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to give a measure of protection to the then-nascent technology of email. Like almost any 30-year-old law dealing with technology, it is hopelessly out of date because it has not been meaningfully updated by Congress to address how digital information is created and stored. The Supreme Court has emphasized in the last few years a presumption that American laws should not be applied outside the country unless Congress makes it clear that they extend to extraterritorial conduct. In June, the court reiterated that position in RJR Nabisco v. European Community to limit private lawsuits under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, to violations that affect domestic businesses or property. The Second Circuit read the scope of the Stored Communications Act along the same lines, limiting the application of any warrant to what is within this country’s borders because there was no indication in the statute that Congress wanted the law to permit searches outside the United States. As a result, the warrants authorized by the statute are much like ordinary search warrants that can be executed only in the United States because American courts do not have the authority to authorize a search abroad. Of course, digital information does not exist in the same sense that a piece of paper can be found in a specific location. With a few keystrokes, electronic files can be whisked across the globe, and it would have been easy for Microsoft simply to move the information in the customer’s email account to the United States. While the files were in Ireland, that was more a product of how the company chose to store them rather than a conscious decision by the account owner to try to keep them outside the United States. A concurring opinion by Judge Gerard E. Lynch of the Second Circuit makes it clear that the decision to limit the scope of the warrant resulted from an outdated law, not a choice by Congress to hamstring investigations of foreign conduct that might violate American laws. He pointed out that “there is no evidence that Congress has ever weighed the costs and benefits of authorizing court orders of the sort at issue in this case,” because in 1986 that was simply not an issue. The whole idea behind cloud storage is that electronic information would be available anywhere, so focusing on a particular server may not reflect how the data is stored and retrieved. The very notion that electronic communications are in one particular country may be unrealistic about what actually takes place with data. Email files can be scattered throughout the world and broken into different parts, and may be shifted almost continuously through a company’s system. This is far from the storage of files in the equivalent of locked cabinets that much of the law seems to envision. Nor is this Microsoft’s first tussle with the government over the Stored Communications Act. In April, the company filed a lawsuit claiming that secrecy orders issued under the law to prevent providers from notifying customers of demands for their information violated its First Amendment rights along with the Fourth Amendment. So it has taken a harder line in its dealings with the government rather than making an easy accommodation to produce the emails sought in an investigation. The incentives created by the Second Circuit’s decision are likely to prove highly problematic for investigators dealing with foreign suspects. It could even affect cases involving domestic conduct if communication providers were to read the opinion as authorizing them to shift data overseas to avoid having to produce customer information in an investigation. Take it a step further by imagining the possibility that a company might offer an email service — perhaps called “Crim Mail” — guaranteeing users that their electronic files would be stored overseas. It could even choose to put servers in a location that is notably hostile to the United States and that would welcome the chance to throw a wrench in law enforcement efforts. The company could charge a premium to have files maintained only in specified locations, making it almost impossible for investigators to ever gain access to them. No doubt such a series of events is far-fetched, but where there is an opportunity to take advantage of the law, someone may try to pursue it. Recall how the Panama Papers showed that lawyers could exploit gaps in how business entities can be created, with virtually no oversight, to help move money across the globe anonymously. Judge Lynch ended his opinion with a call for Congress to revise the Stored Communications Act. “I believe even more strongly that the statute should be revised, with a view to maintaining and strengthening the act’s privacy protections, rationalizing and modernizing the provisions permitting law enforcement access to stored electronic communications and other data where compelling interests warrant it, and clarifying the international reach of those provisions,” he wrote. A bill introduced in Congress in May would extend the use of warrants for electronic communications of foreign citizens located outside the United States if the country where the data was held did not have a cooperation agreement with the United States to turn over that information. On the other side, the Justice Department disclosed on Friday that the government was working on agreements with foreign governments to allow them to serve orders on technology companies in the United States to obtain emails and conduct wiretaps, according to The Wall Street Journal . Putting such a system in place would require congressional approval. There was a push this year to mandate that the government always use a warrant to obtain electronic communications, but opposition from the Securities and Exchange Commission helped scuttle the legislation in the Senate. As a civil regulatory agency, the S.E.C. does not have the authority to obtain a warrant, so it claimed it would be hamstrung in trying to obtain email evidence in its securities fraud investigations. The limits of the Stored Communications Act are now on full display, and it will be up to Congress to solve the puzzle of how much protection should be afforded to personal communications while allowing investigators to gather evidence. But with Congress in recess until early September, and little prospect of significant legislation in the short time before the presidential election, any major changes will most likely have to wait until after November, and perhaps well into 2017. The question is whether law enforcement agencies can wait months before learning what is needed to obtain electronic information that may be crucial to proving a crime.

Search and seizure
Computer data storage
Microsoft
Justice Department


Obama Keeps Up Health Care Push, Citing Uninsured

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama , seeking to buttress his case for the kind of comprehensive health care overhaul that has eluded Washington for decades, said Thursday that the number of uninsured Americans rose by nearly 6 million as the recession intensified during the last 12 months. On the morning after his blunt address on health care to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Obama addressed a group of nurses on the White House campus — and received the endorsement of their professional association, administration officials said. He used his brief appearance to reinforce Wednesday night’s message that his plan will bring “security and stability” to those who have insurance, and coverage to those who do not. “Now is the time to act,” Mr. Obama said, “and I will not permit reform to be postponed or imperiled by the usual ideological diversions.” The president drew applause from the nurses, in sharp contrast to the cool, even hostile, reactions from Republicans to his Wednesday night address. The White House is in what Obama aides regard as the final, crucial phase of the health care debate, in which the president will move aggressively to try to close the deal with lawmakers and the American public. While Democratic leaders acknowledged that the speech probably did not guarantee any new support, Mr. Obama nonetheless invited a group of centrist Democrats — essential to passing the legislation — to meet with him at the White House on Thursday afternoon. And if Mr. Obama picked up any Republican supporters beyond perhaps Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, they were invisible and silent on Thursday. “I must say I’ve never heard a more partisan speech by a president in that House chamber, and I’ve listened to five presidents now as a member of the House and the Senate,” said Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republican whip. Recalling Mr. Obama’s statement that he would not “waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than to improve it,” Mr. Kyl asked, “How about those of us who simply have legitimate differences of opinion with him?” Mr. Kyl’s Arizona colleague, Senator John McCain, said of Mr. Obama speech, “The math doesn’t add up and the record doesn’t add up.” “There is very little if anything in this package that calls for real spending reduction, and $1 trillion is basically what it’s going to cost,” Mr. McCain said on NBC’s “Today” show. House Republican leaders were also cool. Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the minority leader, said several of the president’s statements were debatable, including Mr. Obama’s insistence that his outline for change would not run up the deficit and would not lead to too much government involvement. “We appreciated having the president here last night,” Mr. Boehner said. “Unfortunately, what the American people got wasn’t a new health care plan. It was just another lecture.” And Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House minority whip, said it was less important to enact health care change quickly than it was “we get it done right.” “There are many things we can work together on,” he said. On Saturday, the president will return to his bully pulpit, with a campaign-style rally in Minneapolis. “Most Americans do have insurance and have never had less security and stability than they do right now,” Mr. Obama told the nurses, “because they’re subject to the whims of health insurance companies.” The White House said Mr. Obama’s assertion that there are 6 million more unemployed Americans came from a new Gallup Survey that tracked changes in the number of uninsured between September 2008 and today. The president also took the opportunity on Thursday to again denounce those who he said have been guilty of exaggerations, or outright untruths, through “chatter and the noise on radio and TV.” But it was an outburst by Representative Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, on Wednesday night during the president’s address that was still a hot topic at the Capitol on Thursday. “You lie!” Mr. Wilson shouted as Mr. Obama said illegal immigrants would not be covered by any of the proposals making their way through Congress. Mr. Wilson apologized for his outburst, and the president said on Thursday that he had accepted Mr. Wilson’s expression of contrition. “We all make mistakes,” Mr. Obama said. Mr. Boehner said Mr. Wilson’s behavior had been “inappropriate,” and that he was glad Mr. Wilson apologized. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, agreed. “I think we ought to treat the president with respect,” he said, adding that anything else is inappropriate. Mr. Wilson’s outburst also created trouble for Representative Charlie Wilson, an Ohio Democrat, who said on Thursday that he had received messages mistakenly criticizing him for attacking the president. The Wilsons are not related. Mr. Obama vowed on Wednesday night to aggressively go after those who misrepresent what health care change is all about, and he said he would “not waste time” with those who have made a political calculation to oppose him. But he left the door open to working with Republicans to cut health costs and expand coverage to millions of Americans. The White House offensive comes after a rocky August, in which many lawmakers held public meetings that deteriorated into shouting matches over health care. The president placed a price tag on the plan of about $900 billion over 10 years, which he said was “less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.” And he sought to reassure the elderly and the Americans who already have insurance that they would not be worse off. As expected, Mr. Obama repeated his support for a government insurance plan to compete with the private sector, though he said he would consider alternatives to the “public option.” He sketched out a vision for a plan in which it would be illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and in which every American would be required to carry health coverage, just as drivers must carry auto insurance . Mr. Obama did embrace some fresh proposals. He announced a new initiative to create pilot projects intended to curb medical malpractice lawsuits, a cause important to physicians and Republicans. He endorsed a plan, included in a proposal by Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to help pay for expanding coverage by taxing insurance companies that offer expensive, so-called gold-plated insurance plans. And the president promised to include a provision that “requires us to come forward with more spending cuts” if the savings he envisions do not materialize. As Mr. Boehner and Mr. Cantor made clear on Thursday, Republicans are clearly primed for a fight; many, like Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who has been deeply involved in health negotiations, released statements about the speech even before it began. Mr. Grassley called on Mr. Obama to “start building the kind of legislation that could win the support of 70 to 80 senators,” a goal Mr. Grassley said could not be achieved if the bill contained a new government plan.

Health Insurance and Managed Care
United States Politics and Government
Obama Barack
Reform and Reorganization
Speeches and Statements
Wilson Addison Graves Sr


Gay Couples Find Marriage Is a Mixed Bag

Abstract: BOSTON — Four years after Massachusetts became the first state to allow gay couples to marry, there have been blissful unions, painful divorces and everything in between. Some same-sex couples say being married has made a big difference, and some say it has made no difference at all. There are devoted couples who have decided marriage is not for them, couples whose lawyers or accountants advised them against marrying, and couples in which one partner wants to marry but the other does not. But as same-sex marriage begins in California, Massachusetts’s experience may offer hints of what is to come. For example, after an initial euphoric rush to the altar, the number of gay weddings here fell sharply and has declined each year since. Of the more than 10,500 same-sex couples married here since May 17, 2004, 6,121 wed in the first six months. There were 2,060 weddings in 2005; 1,442 in 2006; and 867 in the first eight months of 2007, the most recent data show. Gay men and lesbians say the early wave of weddings reflected “pent-up demand” from longstanding couples. The subsequent numbers indicate that “marriage isn’t for everybody,” said Mary L. Bonauto, a lawyer who argued the case that led to same-sex marriage being legalized here. And, Ms. Bonauto said, “there’s only so many gay people in Massachusetts.” The Census Bureau recorded 23,655 same-sex households in Massachusetts in 2006. Nearly two-thirds of the weddings have been lesbian marriages, including one between two women named Melissa McCarthy. And while nearly half of straight people marrying are under 30, more same-sex married couples of both sexes are older — nearly a third are in their 40s. Lawyers say same-sex couples are more likely to draw up prenuptial agreements than straight couples are. For some, the marriage learning curve is steep. “It’s been a mixed bag,” said Jacob Venter, a 44-year-old child psychiatrist who married Billy Boney, a 36-year-old hairdresser, a month after it became legal to do so. They have disagreements over money, the in-laws and whether to adopt children or have their own. “Nothing turns out the way you imagine,” Mr. Venter said. “There are no role models for gay marriage.” Unlike California, Massachusetts has a residency requirement for marriage. Some couples have moved here to marry, including Lisa Forest and Ann Marie Willer, who came from Texas. “Without having that legal recognition, we felt very vulnerable,” Ms. Forest said. “We wanted the psychological security of knowing that we’re protected if one of us were to become sick, that we would be able to transfer our assets, at least on the state level, without incurring taxes, that we’ll be able to stay together if we’re old and not able to care for ourselves.” For many, the biggest advantages are less quantifiable. “I feel totally different inside my skin,” said Linda Bailey-Davies, 62, who married her longtime partner, Gloria Bailey-Davies, 67. With marriage, she said, “I felt legitimate in the world.” Heather and Adrienne Walker believe people better understand the seriousness of their relationship, recognition that is especially valuable to them as mothers of four children in suburban Natick. “Before marriage was legal, if I called Adrienne my wife, people would say ‘Your what?’ ” Heather Walker said. “But if you say partner, they’re thinking business partner. The knowledge that we are legally married, that they can’t play a semantics game, is very freeing. There’s none of that, ‘but we really need to talk to the actual parents.’ ” Still, some couples find few significant advantages. Many employers offered health insurance to domestic partners. State taxes can be higher for some couples, and the lack of federal recognition of gay marriage makes lucrative benefits — Social Security, federal tax breaks — off limits. “I can’t say that anything has changed for us personally,” said David Eppley, who married Chad Garner in 2004. What has changed for gay couples is that marriage is part of the dating landscape, adding tension or romance, pressure or excitement. “It makes me completely think differently about the relationship,” said Lance Collins, 38, a colorist at a Boston hair salon. He envisions his perfect wedding (grooms in jeans and T-shirts), but his partner does not want to marry. “I know he cares about me quite a bit,” Mr. Collins said. “I just think he doesn’t want to.” Mr. Collins believes his partner is his ideal match because he “gets as excited about seeing me as I get about seeing him,” because “sometimes he’ll do my laundry and fold it the way I like it,” and because “he makes my coffee really well — one Equal with just a tablespoon of fat-free half-and-half.” But their marriage chasm worries him. “Maybe I should move out and maybe that will make him appreciate me,” Mr. Collins said. “I’ve gone so far as looking for an apartment.” While many couples want conventional marriages, some are drawing on a creative definition of family forged while living “outside mainstream society,” said Joyce Kauffman, a family lawyer and gay activist. “They’ve incorporated whatever’s outside the box into their marriage.” Eric Erbelding and his husband, Michael Peck, both 44, see each other only every other weekend because Mr. Peck works in Pittsburgh. So, Mr. Erbelding said, “Our rule is you can play around because, you know, you have to be practical.” Mr. Erbelding, a decorative painter in Boston, said: “I think men view sex very differently than women. Men are pigs, they know that each other are pigs, so they can operate accordingly. It doesn’t mean anything.” Still, Mr. Erbelding said, most married gay couples he knows are “for the most part monogamous, but for maybe a casual three-way.” Some same-sex spouses have split up, including Julie and Hillary Goodridge, the lead plaintiffs in the case that paved the way for same-sex marriage in the state. “Lesbian and gay couples get divorced for the same reasons that heterosexual couples do,” Ms. Kauffman said. “Honestly the only thing that is different is that some people rushed to get married without thinking it through just because they could. It was an incredibly heady historical moment, and some people probably made the decision hastily.” Rick Bettencourt, 41, married his partner of 12 years in July 2005, but by September they had broken up, and his partner is now married to another man, he said. “I knew there was an issue with us prior to the marriage,” Mr. Bettencourt said, “but we thought maybe this is the thing that will help us stay together. Stupid, obviously. It was almost like I needed the marriage in order to consummate the relationship in order to break it up.” Amy Bullock married in 2004 after her partner of nine years said “we’ve got to quick do it because maybe they’ll reverse” the law, Ms. Bullock recalled. They had a child and were considering having another. But five months after the wedding, “she decides she is straight,” Ms. Bullock said. “Maybe being married triggered those feelings,” she said. “I didn’t see it coming.” Chris Burgess, pregnant when she wed her partner in June 2004, severed the marriage in 2006 when past problems resurfaced, she said. Divorce was more complicated than “in most of our relationships, where you say, ‘O.K., you get these CDs,’ ” Ms. Burgess said. Her partner needed to adopt their son before divorcing to retain parental rights. Now, Ms. Burgess lives with another woman and they wear rings and want children, but she says she will not marry unless federal recognition makes it economically irresistible. “I’m kind of fine with the ‘Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie, all right we’re committed, we don’t need to get married,’ ” she said. Ms. Bullock, who is dating another woman, is buying a duplex with her former wife so both can see their son daily. She is wary of remarrying in general, though she says marriage may have made separation more equitable. Mr. Bettencourt and his current partner, Chris Weaver, just bought a house, but he played down a ring he gave Mr. Weaver for Valentine’s Day, telling him, he says, “I don’t want you to get concerned that I’m pushing marriage or anything.” Some couples, including longtime partners and those with children, have rejected marriage for economic, philosophical or cultural reasons. “I just don’t really see the point in it,” said Michelle Smith, 51, of Truro, who has two children with Terri Humes, 51, her partner of 27 years. “I don’t need that paper for any type of validation. I know what her and I have.” Ms. Kauffman considers marriage a “patriarchal institution” that “politically, kind of makes me queasy.” To Clint Wolbert, 28, marriage is too “assimilative.” Being gay is like belonging to an “exclusive club,” Mr. Wolbert said. “I just worry that the drive to marry will end up kind of chipping away at the culture.” Some couples are advised not to marry for financial reasons or if they want to adopt children from foreign countries, most of which would not place children with a same-sex married couple. Bill Brandon, a doctor who will soon marry Tedd Elison, waited several years because Mr. Elison’s job as a disc jockey seemed too unstable until he also began running a hair salon. “I wasn’t going to go through this unless he was — I don’t want to say having a real job, but more of a profession,” Dr. Brandon said. Same-sex married couples report widespread acceptance in Massachusetts, but not necessarily out of state. At a Disney World hotel, “I got the third degree — who is Heather, is she your sister?” Adrienne Walker said. An Atlanta pharmacy argued when Mr. Boney, filling a prescription, said that as a husband, he was covered by Mr. Venter’s insurance. The Bailey-Davieses are so nervous about being separated if one gets sick that they rejected spending the winter in Florida. “I don’t feel safe,” Linda said. “I’d rather freeze my butt off and be with my honey.” Jodi Sperber, who moved with her wife, Pippa Shulman, to New Hampshire, said a handyman there “could not bring himself to talk about Pippa as anything other than my associate.” But over all, Ms. Sperber said, their religion probably draws “stranger questions: ‘Why don’t you have a Christmas tree? Is it the Jewish thing?’ ” Many couples said marriage had made relatives more comfortable with their relationships. Mr. Boney, who is black, was surprised that his “very conservative, very Bible Belt” family in North Carolina welcomed Mr. Venter, a white South African, so warmly. And when his nieces and nephews say “Uncle Jacob,” he said, it “almost brings a tear to my eye; and honey, it takes a lot to bring a tear to my eye.” Mr. Boney and Mr. Venter remain committed to marriage despite their conflicts. “It’s a hard commitment to make,” Mr. Venter said. But they try to settle their disagreements. “I’m more willing to figure it out,” he said. “In the past I might have just ended the relationship.”


Prosecutors Had Jones Ready to Testify in Balco Trial

Abstract: Marion Jones was moved quietly from a Texas penitentiary to the San Francisco Bay Area in May by federal prosecutors who feared that her former track coach, who was on trial for making false statements in connection with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative investigation, would take the stand in his own defense, according to a person briefed on the matter. Trevor Graham, the former track coach, never took the stand at the trial but if he had, prosecutors were prepared to call Jones in the hope that she would rebut his testimony. Graham was convicted on one count of lying to a federal investigator about telephone calls he made to a confessed steroid dealer. The jury could not reach a verdict on two other charges related to setting up his athletes with performance-enhancing drugs and meeting the confessed dealer, Ángel Guillermo Heredia. An official at the United States attorney’s office in the Northern District of California declined to comment on whether Jones was moved during the trial. A lawyer for Jones did not respond to e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment. Graham’s lead defense lawyer, William P. Keane, said in an e-mail message he was not aware that Jones was in the Bay Area during the trial. He declined to comment further. It is often risky for a defendant to take the stand in a criminal trial. But if Graham had decided to testify that he never set his athletes up with drugs, Jones, based on her plea agreement with federal authorities, would have provided a contradictory story. Jones was one of the biggest stars Graham trained. When she pleaded guilty in October to making false statements about her use of performance-enhancing drugs, she said in court that Graham had provided her with a steroid from September 2000 until July 2001. Jones, who won a record five medals in track and field at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, which were held in September 2000, said she thought it was flaxseed oil. Although Jones said in court that she had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs, her testimony could have proved embarrassing because she would have been open to more questions about her use. Heredia testified in Graham’s trial that from 1997 to 2000, he provided growth hormone, a blood-enhancing agent and insulin for Jones and advised Graham and Jones’s husband at the time, C. J. Hunter, on their use. Heredia testified that he never talked with Jones directly, but he provided prosecutors with a fax from Graham’s home with Jones’s blood tests. Testimony by Heredia and a statement by Hunter, which was described at trial by a federal agent, placed Jones’s drug use at least one year earlier than she has acknowledged. In addition, Dennis Mitchell, a sprinter who advised Jones in 1997, testified that Graham had talked with them about performance-enhancing drugs during that year. Jeff Novitzky, the federal agent leading the steroid investigations, testified under cross-examination that he prepared a 29-page special agent’s summary report on Jones last year. The details and full extent of her involvement with banned drugs have never been made public. Daniel C. Richman, a professor of law at Columbia University and a former assistant United States attorney, said that prosecutors always wanted to be prepared for the rare circumstance in which a defendant decided to testify. “In an effort to rebut a defendant’s testimony, the government will often consider calling someone with the kind of baggage that Marion Jones brings to the stand in a last-ditch effort to attack the credibility of the defendant,” Richman said. “The government may also have brought her to the Bay Area just to try and deter Graham from taking the stand.” Last Tuesday, Jones was transferred from a federal prison in Fort Worth to a community corrections center in San Antonio. She is scheduled to be released on Sept. 5.

Jones Marion
Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative
Suits and Litigation
Track and Field
Doping
Graham Trevor