Carter’s 3 at Buzzer Gives Dallas Series Edge

Abstract: Vince Carter hit a 3-pointer as time expired to give the host Dallas Mavericks a 109-108 victory in Game 3 and a first-round series lead over the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. Carter took an inbound pass from Jose Calderon in the left corner with 1.7 seconds left. After a quick pump fake in front of Manu Ginobili, Carter released the ball just before the buzzer. “I don’t mind taking the game-winning shot,” Carter, a 16-year veteran, said. “I don’t mind missing them, and dealing with it. So I think having that mentality helps me.” Ginobili had given the Spurs a 108-106 lead on a layup before Dallas called timeout to set up the play for Carter, who finished with 11 points. Monta Ellis had 29 points and kept the eighth-seeded Mavericks close in the fourth quarter. Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 22 points. The Mavericks lead the series, two games to one. Game 4 is Monday night in Dallas. Dallas still had a chance in the closing seconds because of Ellis, who scored 12 points in the fourth-quarter en route to recording a playoff career high. He tied the score twice in the final 1 minute 10 seconds, first with a 3-point play on a floater after he was fouled by Boris Diaw. PACERS 91, HAWKS 88 Paul George and David West hit key 3-pointers down the stretch as top-seeded Indiana held off Atlanta to even their opening-round series at 2-2. The visiting Pacers finally showed some grit and regained the home-court edge. George put the Pacers ahead, 86-85, with a jumper beyond the arc, and West hit another 3-pointer with 1:33 remaining. Atlanta had a chance after Kyle Korver was fouled in the corner and knocked down three free throws. But George pulled down an offensive rebound to set up George Hill’s driving shot with 56 seconds left. Pero Antic missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have forced overtime. Game 5 is Monday in Indianapolis. HEAT 98, BOBCATS 85 LeBron James had 30 points and 10 rebounds, and visiting Miami defeated Charlotte to take a 3-0 lead in an Eastern Conference first-round series. Dwyane Wade added 17 points for the Heat, who can close out the best-of-seven series Monday night. Miami has won 19 straight overall against Charlotte. Al Jefferson had 20 points for the Bobcats, who are still searching for the first postseason win in franchise history. After trailing most of the first half, the Heat took a 42-40 lead on a 3-pointer by Mario Chalmers. Miami closed the half on a 16-4 run. James hit a 3-pointer and had a breakaway dunk in the third quarter to help push the lead to 26 midway through the third quarter, and the Bobcats did not mount a serious challenge after that point. WIZARDS’ NENE SUSPENDED Washington forward Nene was suspended by the N.B.A. for Game 4 of a first-round series against the Chicago Bulls for head-butting and grabbing Jimmy Butler around the neck with his hands and attempting to throw him down. Nene received two technical fouls and was ejected for the incident, which occurred in the fourth quarter of the Wizards’ 100-97 loss Friday night.

Basketball
NBA
Mavericks
Spurs
Vince Carter
Pacers
Atlanta Hawks
Playoffs


Sense of Progress on Disaster Preparedness

Abstract: Many Americans say that the nation is better prepared than it was a year ago for disasters like terrorist attacks or pandemic flu, and that the change to a Democratic Congress will make things better still, according to a survey commissioned by Columbia University. Such assessments have an air of unrealistically high expectation, compared with those of many experts at universities and policy study groups, who take a dim view of the country’s readiness. They say that while the ability to prevent some kinds of disasters has improved in recent years, the ability to respond to emergencies already under way has changed little. “I was completely stunned by this,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, a part of Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. “There is no basis in reality for saying we’re better off than we were a year ago,” he continued, “and nothing about our political, functional environment should give anybody any confidence that it’s improved.” When it comes to a terrorist attack, 46 percent of those surveyed said that in the last year, the country had become more prepared to respond, while 18 percent said it had become less ready and 36 percent said that not much had changed. The survey was commissioned by the disaster preparedness center and conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. In the Northeast, the region hit hardest by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, responses to the poll were essentially the same as in other parts of the country. Indeed, people’s views of preparedness for all kinds of disasters, natural or not, appeared to be consistent across regions, ages, races and incomes, and in cities, suburbs, small towns and rural areas. When respondents were asked about natural disasters like a major influenza outbreak or severe storms, 34 percent said the nation was better prepared than a year ago, compared with 18 percent who said things were worse. Though the news media’s interest in avian flu has generally waned, people who took part in the poll said they were just as concerned about it as they were a year ago. The election of Democratic majorities in Congress last November will improve the government’s ability to respond to large-scale disasters, according to 37 percent of those surveyed, while 13 percent of respondents said that they thought it would make matters worse. “There’s a level of wishful thinking here,” Dr. Redlener said. “People are very cynical about where this country is going with the Bush administration, especially after Hurricane Katrina, and they’re looking for a reason to hope that it will improve. Whether the Democrats will deliver on that hope, we don’t know.” The poll found that Katrina was one area in striking contrast to the general tone of cautious optimism. Two-thirds of the people surveyed said that Gulf Coast rebuilding was going too slowly, and about the same proportion said that having a Democratic Congress would make no difference in the pace of recovery. Almost four-fifths said that the work would not be completed in the next three years. The respondents said the main burden of hurricane recovery should belong to Washington. Only 22 percent said the combined state and local governments bear more of the responsibility than the federal government. The institute surveyed 1,125 adults, chosen through a random selection of telephone numbers, from Monday through Thursday of last week. The sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for the entire sample, larger for subgroups.

Public Opinion
Disasters
Terrorism
Avian Influenza


Beethoven on a Budget

Abstract: The music started in an adult education class not long after World War II, with veterans and survivors seeking to lose themselves in Mozart and Beethoven. Sixty years later, the Bronx Symphony Orchestra is still performing, its chairs filled by professional musicians who supplement a core of amateurs. Together, they play classical music for a dwindling audience in a borough more noted for its rap and reggaetón than its Rossini and Rimsky-Korsakov. Yet, while the orchestra has survived television and crime waves, changing tastes and internal squabbles, it may not live through a policy change by the city that has put dozens of small arts organizations in competition for public money, ending decades of automatic annual financing. The intent, the city said, was to help out new groups. For the musicians of the Bronx Symphony, the question is how long an itinerant orchestra that performs for nothing and rehearses in a cramped high school music room with lousy acoustics can get by in an age of competition — one in which even small arts groups have hired professionals to raise money and court corporate sponsorships. And so the city’s effort to strengthen its cultural offerings might end up as an elegy for a Bronx tradition. “Not long ago, we used to do eight concerts a year; now we’re down to four,” said the Bronx Symphony’s vice president, Andre Quiñones, 42, a violinist who works full time as a train service supervisor for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority “We’re a mix, and it’s lovely to look at the orchestra — black, white, Asian, you are welcome as long as you can play,” he said. “But I don’t know how long we’re going to survive.” The Bloomberg administration and many arts groups say the new policy has brought fairness to a system that had been confusing and tended to favor well-established and politically connected groups. The change means cultural organizations that had received automatic financing as part of the city budget each year, like the Bronx Symphony, now get grants based on the judgment of peer review panels. The panels, made up of arts administrators, artists and political appointees, evaluate each group based on various factors, including quality, audience size, services provided, the amount of money raised and the population served, to determine how much — if any — city financing it will receive. Kate D. Levin, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, said the new system allows groups to get their money faster and places a premium on community involvement. Additionally, as part of a budget agreement between the Bloomberg administration and the City Council this year, more money was set aside for cultural groups — about $35.4 million, compared to $24 million the previous year. “We decided to do this after years and years of hearing complaints from the field about the process being unclear, unpredictable and unfair,” Ms. Levin said. “We have a better, far more defensible product.” One evening last month, during one of only two full orchestra rehearsals for a performance of “The Nutcracker” this Sunday with the Contemporary Ballet Theater, the Bronx Symphony’s conductor, Alex Guzman, told the players that they would be placed behind the dancers on a small stage at Hostos Community College. “It’s going to be tight, it’s going to be tough,” said Mr. Guzman, 61, a retired court officer. “Try not to poke each other’s eyes out.” As he conducted, he paid special attention to the less experienced musicians, eyeing them a beat longer than usual before the start of their parts. “A little bit lighter on the ‘da da da da da,’” he said, encouragingly. “Remember, guys — gentle, gentle.” The professionals whispered suggestions to the amateurs, including offers of help in finding their places on the sheet music. The “Nutcracker” performance is an experiment born out of desperation. The orchestra chose the popular holiday piece to introduce its first admission fee — $12, or $7 for seniors and students — since the budget crisis of the 1970s, when it briefly charged $1, alienating much of its audience. The concert, according to the symphony, will also mark the first time that “The Nutcracker” would be performed in the Bronx with a full live orchestra. It will be followed by a $100 per person fund-raising reception featuring a buffet dinner. The group’s amateur players run the gamut. Craig Morris, a violinist, is a child psychiatrist. A cellist, Anna Vasquez-Howard, is a teacher, and Alexandra Honigsberg, who plays viola, is a part-time philosophy professor at St. John’s University and an ordained priest with the Old Catholic Church. Another violinist, Joseph Sherman, is a retired school principal. A bassist, Whitney Moulton, is a receptionist at a law firm, and Beth Sharkey, who plays the violin, works for “Sesame Street.” The musicians acknowledge that they do not practice as much as they might and lack the skills of say, members of the New York Philharmonic. In addition to performing for love and little money (for each rehearsal and performance, the amateurs get $15 and the professionals $50), the musicians see their mission as overcoming fixed notions about classical music in the Bronx and about negative perceptions about the borough as a whole. “A large part of the audience is coming for the first time and has never heard even something like Beethoven’s Fifth or the ‘Jupiter’ Symphony,” Mr. Sherman said. Other small cultural organizations that rely heavily on city financing also have expressed fears about their vulnerability under the new system. Some, including the 32-year-old Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center in Brooklyn, have hired professional fund-raisers to offset potential city cuts. For the past 20 years, the center had been getting about $20,000 annually as part of the city budget. “I am very concerned, but not to the point that I think we’re going to close,” said Alex Smith Jr., the center’s executive chairman. “I just don’t know how it is all going to work out.” The Department of Cultural Affairs, which mailed out applications to arts groups last week for next year’s grants, said 70 percent of organizations had received more money this year, the first under the new system. That left about 90 groups that would have had to cut their budgets, in some cases dramatically, had the city not declared that no organization would receive less money than the year before. The reprieve most likely saved the 60th season for the Bronx Symphony Orchestra, whose city financing would have been reduced to $12,500 from $41,000. The group’s annual budget, including the city grant, is $59,217. The money pays for the cost of rehearsals and performances and for the musicians’ stipends. The new financing system prohibits organizations from receiving more than 50 percent of their annual operating budgets from the city. While few groups approach that threshold — the average is about 6 percent — the Bronx Symphony received about two-thirds of its financing from the city last year. (It has also received grants from The New York Times Foundation). For now, though, the players are in good spirits. The orchestra will not get a chance to do a full “Nutcracker” rehearsal with the dancers and technical crew until a few hours before the concert on Sunday, but they have assured themselves that they will be ready for an audience that has come to depend on them. “I’m so happy to have it in the Bronx and not have to go downtown,” said Cybeale Ross, 85, who has been attending the group’s concerts since she moved to the borough in the 1940s. “I love the music. I don’t miss one of their performances.”

Music
Classical Music
Bronx Symphony Orchestra


With Pitchfork Review, a Music Site Plants a Flag in Print

Abstract: After 17 years as the definitive online publication about alternative music, Pitchfork is joining the tweedy world of print with a new quarterly journal. Known for its record reviews that can launch or sink a new band, Pitchfork said on Thursday that the first issue of The Pitchfork Review would appear on Dec. 14, available by subscription and at select newsstands. The new quarterly will include long-form music features, columns and illustrations “as a way to give readers a more timeless experience rooted in the collector mentality,” the announcement said. Like the vogue for vinyl records in an age of iTunes and Pandora, a well-designed physical publication has a certain attraction, and also represents success. Chris Kaskie, the president of Pitchfork Media, the company behind the website, said in an interview that the idea for the quarterly had been in the works for years, partly as a response to offering only a digital existence. “There’s a fatigue factor in terms of running a website where hundreds of thousands of words are being published,” Mr. Kaskie said. “There’s a worry that while it’s all permanent, pages get refreshed and you have to go through the whole thing to find a story. We’re music magazine fans, and this was conceptualized from magazines and fanzines and beyond.” The Pitchfork Review, which Pitchfork expects to limit to around 10,000 copies each issue, will be 8-by-10¼ inches and perfect bound, with glossy, high-quality paper, not unlike ESPN’s Grantland anthologies. Individual issues of The Review will cost $19.96, after the year the original site went online; subscriptions are $45 a year until Dec. 15, and $50 thereafter. About two-thirds of the content in the quarterly will be original, with the rest repurposed from Pitchfork’s site, Mr. Kaskie said. J.C. Gabel, an editor behind the magazine Stop Smiling and the recent revival of The Chicagoan, will join The Review as its managing editor and associate publisher. The masthead will also include Ryan Schreiber, Pitchfork’s founder and chief executive; Mr. Kaskie as president and publisher; Michael Renaud, creative director; and Mark Richardson, the editor in chief of Pitchfork’s website, as a contributing editor. The sole sponsor for the first year will be Converse, with ads on the front and back inside covers and a couple of pages inside. (There will be no advertising on either the front or back covers.) Pitchfork, which says its website gets five million unique visitors each month, has been experimenting with publication formats recently. Last year, it began running long features as “cover stories,” with full-screen design that shifts as a reader clicks through the article, and in July it introduced The Dissolve , a site covering film; last week, Pitchfork introduced a phone and tablet app, Pitchfork Weekly. Online, Pitchfork’s competitors include Spin, which in 2012 ceased print publication after 27 years, but has continued online with a revitalized website. Executives behind Spin have said that they have considered reinstating Spin as a print magazine in some form, but have not announced any plan for it.


Mets Shift Daniel Murphy to Third, Giving Rookie a Shot at Second

Abstract: Daniel Murphy, the Mets’ only All-Star this season, was out on the field alone Wednesday afternoon, taking ground balls at a position he had not regularly played in three years. After one throw, he held his follow-through, his wrist bent, not unlike a jump shooter. Manager Terry Collins looked on, his arms folded. The night before, the Mets had announced that David Wright would miss the rest of the season because of his sore left shoulder. But they were also, surprisingly, only five and a half games out of a wild-card spot, with 17 games to play, which had given Collins a sense of hope. He had decided that the Mets’ best chance to win was moving Murphy, one of their most consistent veterans, to third and starting Dilson Herrera — at 20, the youngest player in the majors — at Murphy’s usual position, second base. The configuration worked on Wednesday, at least. Herrera scored both of the Mets’ runs as they beat the Colorado Rockies , 2-0, for their seventh win in eight games. When Murphy met with reporters before the game, most of the questions were variations of one theme: How did he feel ceding his spot at second base to a rookie? Asked if it felt unusual, given that he was an All-Star, Murphy said: “I don’t really consider myself an All-Star; I got one. I’ll play third base. That’s what the skipper wants. I’m here to follow orders and try to help this team win any way I can.” At the Mets’ order, he had switched positions a few times before. He started as a left fielder and moved to first base and then, after Ike Davis arrived, to second. Wherever the Mets wanted him, Murphy moved without complaint. Collins always praised him for that. In 2011, when Wright injured his back, Murphy started 25 games at third base. Because of that experience, Murphy hoped this transition would go smoothly. He said he still took grounders at third every so often, and he has borrowed Eric Campbell’s glove for the time being. During Wednesday’s game, though, he did not have to field a single ball. Still, seeing Murphy at third was a bit odd, given how, in recent years, he had fashioned himself into a quality second baseman. Murphy, who at one point this season led the National League in hits, went 1 for 4 Wednesday to put his batting average at .301. After making $5.7 million this season, he will surely receive a raise through arbitration. Then, after next season, he will be a free agent, and a sought-after one because of his bat. Herrera may give the Mets another option. He manned second base for 10 games recently as Murphy sat out with a calf injury, and he produced three extra-base hits and drove in seven runs. He made three errors, too, but the Mets indicated that these were because of his inexperience. General Manager Sandy Alderson said he considered Herrera a viable starting second baseman even now. On Wednesday, Herrera went 0 for 1 and walked twice, scoring on a triple by Eric Young Jr. and on a sacrifice fly from Juan Lagares. Asked if he was worried about someone else playing at second, Murphy said: “Not really, no. Winning games, that’s what this is about.” Collins maintained that that was his aim, too. He said he had given Murphy a choice. “I’m not going to put somebody in a position they don’t want to play,” he added. As Murphy came off the field before Wednesday’s game, he was asked how he felt at third. “I caught ’em all,” he said, and shrugged.

Baseball
Dilson Herrera
Daniel Murphy
Mets


An Inexpensive Way to Print Out Metal Parts

Abstract: Low-cost 3-D plastic printers can produce almost anything, from clothes and toys to household items and furniture. Now, researchers from Michigan Technological University say they have developed an affordable 3-D metal printer . For years, large companies have used metal printers to make items like automobile parts and titanium body implants, said Joshua Pearce , a materials scientist at Michigan Tech who led the research and wrote about it in the journal IEEE Access. “Those printers are awesome, but they start at a half a million dollars and go up,” he said. The researchers’ 3-D metal printer cost less than $1,500. They used open-source software and off-the-shelf components , including a microcontroller and a small welding machine, and made a sprocket with it. Dr. Pearce cautioned that the printer was more dangerous to use than a 3-D plastic printer, requiring more safety gear. “This is not something for everybody’s house,” he said. Still, he said, the technology would give small companies an inexpensive, rapid way to build prototypes. Scientists could use the printer to build tools for research. And developing countries could use it to print repair parts for machines like windmills. “If there were one per village or region,” he said, “the parts could be made right within the community.”

3-D Printers
Metals and Minerals
Michigan Tech
Third World


Live and Kicking: Soccer Games to Watch

Abstract: Most of the world’s top leagues have the week off for the international break, but the world’s top players, as usual, will get no rest. The Times’s soccer editor, Andrew Das, an unapologetic Ajax fan, suggests what to watch on television. Euro 2016 Qualifying There are four match days left, but more than a half-dozen teams can lock up qualification for next summer’s European Championship in France with wins over the next week. The group of almost-theres includes big names like England, Sweden, Italy and Croatia and sleepers like Slovakia and Austria. Another team on the brink is Iceland, which narrowly missed out on a berth in the 2014 World Cup but has continued to post strong results. Iceland can qualify with a win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam, but that will be a difficult task because the Dutch will be strengthened by a host of current and former starters from Ajax, the greatest club in the world and one you should consider supporting. Sadly, Iceland-Netherlands on Thursday has been relegated to cable’s fringes (2:45 p.m., Eastern time, ESPN Deportes) in favor of Italy-Malta (2:45 p.m., Fox Sports 1) and Bosnia-Belgium (2:45 p.m., FS2). Andrea Pirlo and Sebastian Giovinco were included on Italy’s preliminary roster this week, a nice coup for Major League Soccer, but a leg injury is likely to keep Giovinco from playing. Among the other big games this weekend: Robert Lewandowski and Poland travel to Frankfurt to face Germany (2:45 p.m. Friday, FS1); surprising Slovakia will try to repeat its recent win over Spain in a rematch in Oviedo (2:45 p.m. Saturday, ESPN Deportes); and Wales hosts Israel on Sunday (noon, FS2) in what could be a rare chance to actually qualify for something. Concacaf Friendlies The United States plays Peru in Washington on Friday night (7 p.m., FS1). Coach Jurgen Klinsmann excused Toronto’s Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey from the game so they could play this weekend in M.L.S., which does not pause for the international break. A bigger concern is an injury to right back Timothy Chandler that could take months to heal; the fact that Klinsmann does not have an obvious replacement means the team will be experimenting with solutions a month before its all-important Concacaf playoff against Mexico. The good news for the Americans is that Mexico might be in even more disarray. It’s probably in better shape playerwise, but the country’s search for a full-time national coach goes on. Ricardo Ferretti is the temporary replacement for the fired Miguel Herrera; his goal on Friday against Trinidad and Tobago (10 p.m., Univision Deportes) is simple: Don’t break anything, or anyone.


Lawyer Says Government Tried to ‘Manufacture’ Case Against Liu

Abstract: A lawyer for Xing Wu Pan, a former fund-raiser for John C. Liu , the New York City comptroller, alleged on Tuesday that the government had tried to “pressure Mr. Pan to help the government manufacture a case against Mr. Liu” in the investigation of the comptroller’s fund-raising practices. The lawyer, Irwin Rochman, made the comment in Federal District Court in Manhattan as he described a motion that he said he planned to file seeking dismissal of charges against Mr. Pan on grounds of government misconduct. In May, Mr. Rochman told the judge, Richard J. Sullivan , that the motion would cite a series of government acts that, taken together, constituted “conscience-shocking and outrageous behavior.” He did not elaborate at the time. After the hearing Tuesday, Mr. Rochman, speaking with reporters, repeated what he had said in court, and while still offering no specifics, said the alleged misconduct involved “the way they conducted the entire case.” That, he said, included the investigation of the Liu campaign’s fund-raising activities, “the initiation and the execution of the undercover operation” that ensnared Mr. Pan, and “the highly improper conduct the government engaged in prior to Mr. Pan’s arrest, in which they attempted to pressure him — to force him — to help the government manufacture a criminal case against Comptroller Liu and some of his close associates.” The United States attorney’s office in Manhattan had no comment. Paul L. Shechtman, Mr. Liu’s criminal defense lawyer, said on Tuesday, “Like many others, I’m looking forward to reading Mr. Rochman’s motion papers.” Both Mr. Pan, who is also known as Oliver, and a co-defendant, Jia Hou , the former campaign treasurer for Mr. Liu, have pleaded not guilty to charges they participated in a scheme to funnel illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Liu through fictitious donors. Mr. Liu, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, has told supporters that he is likely to run for mayor next year. Judge Sullivan set a trial date of Feb. 4 for Mr. Pan and Ms. Hou, who is known as Jenny. Her lawyer, Gerald B. Lefcourt, had no comment after the hearing. The case has cast an unflattering light on Mr. Liu’s fund-raising practices, dating from his successful 2009 run for comptroller. It has also fueled speculation as to whether prosecutors are looking closely at two of Mr. Liu’s top longtime aides: Mei-Hua Ru , who was Mr. Liu’s treasurer for the 2009 race and helped to recruit Ms. Hou to be the 2013 treasurer; and Chung Seto , a veteran political consultant. Ms. Seto attended Tuesday’s hearing, just as she had earlier when Ms. Hou appeared in court, said George Arzt, a spokesman for the Liu campaign. “She’s a good friend of Jenny’s and wanted to show support,” he added.

Pan Xing Wu
Liu John C
New York City
Campaign Finance
Frauds and Swindling
Office of the Comptroller (NYC)
Rochman Irwin
Elections Comptrollers


India’s Plans for Anticorruption Agency Advance

Abstract: NEW DELHI — India ’s government introduced long-awaited legislation on Thursday to create an independent, anticorruption agency, provoking a loud outcry from opposition parties and some civil society activists who attacked the measure from all directions. India’s national government, led by the Congress Party, has spent the past year mired in ugly corruption scandals or stumbling from self-inflicted political miscues. The pressure for creating the anticorruption agency, known as a Lokpal, was driven by nationwide protests this summer led by the campaigner Anna Hazare . A political showdown now looms over the Lokpal issue, possibly determining whether the Congress Party can reverse its sagging political fortunes midway through the government’s five-year term. Critical elections scheduled for early next year in five states will be closely watched as a barometer of the public mood. “Legislation cannot be made on the street or through agitation,” said Pranab Mukherjee, the government’s powerful finance minister, as he introduced the bill in the lower house of Parliament. He argued that the government bill reflected the “sense of the House.” But the shape of the Lokpal legislation has been contested and negotiated for months. Even before Thursday, Mr. Hazare had made it clear that he considered the government’s bill to have been watered down too much. In particular, Mr. Hazare was upset that the Central Bureau of Investigation, which investigates corruption cases, was not placed under the direction of the Lokpal but remained under the control of Parliament. “This bill will not end corruption,” Mr. Hazare said during a televised appearance. “This bill is very weak.” This summer, after staging a 12-day hunger strike that drew huge crowds, Mr. Hazare forced the government to agree to place bureaucrats under an anticorruption agency, to create a citizen’s charter to expedite public corruption grievances and to establish state-level anticorruption agencies. The public campaign effectively forced the government to put the Lokpal issue at the top of its legislative agenda. But Mr. Hazare’s dissatisfaction with the final result of the legislation is expected to lead to more demonstrations in coming days. He has vowed to organize protests, beginning on Dec. 27, and has threatened a civil disobedience campaign in which his supporters would voluntarily go to jail. Often, government leaders have bent to many of Mr. Hazare’s demands, but the Congress Party’s president, Sonia Gandhi, appeared to draw a line in the sand on Wednesday. Trying to rally the party’s members of Parliament, Mrs. Gandhi said the Congress Party would fight for passage of the government’s Lokpal and not be dissuaded by critics or opposition leaders. Government leaders have extended the winter session until Dec. 29, so that lawmakers can debate the Lokpal bill next week. On Thursday, opposition leaders were quick to attack the bill. “This bill is very disappointing,” said Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the lower house. Actually, under the government bill, several demands made by Mr. Hazare are included. For example, government leaders initially sought to exclude the office of the prime minister from the purview of the Lokpal; under the bill, the prime minister is included, with some caveats. The bill also states that members of the lower bureaucracy fall under the Lokpal’s jurisdiction. Besides the contested status of the Central Bureau of Investigation, another point of dispute is the selection process for choosing the members of the Lokpal itself. The government bill says the selection committee will be appointed by the prime minister; the speaker of the lower house, the Lok Sabha; the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha; a member of the Indian Supreme Court and another “eminent jurist.” Mr. Hazare has objected, saying politicians would have too much sway over the selections. But some lawmakers were concerned that the Lokpal could be so powerful as to threaten the checks and balances of the country’s democratic institutions — and the primacy of Parliament.

India
Corruption (Institutional)
Hazare Anna
Politics and Government
Indian National Congress


Clinton Wedding Is Leaving Some Feeling Left Out

Abstract: So, just what does it take to score an invitation to the hottest — not to mention most secretive — political wedding of the summer? More than a cross-country ride on a private jet, apparently. “I’m good enough to borrow a plane from, but not good enough to be invited to the wedding?” complained one Clinton friend, who remembered the times he handed over his jet and his pilot to take Bill Clinton around the country but had not landed a coveted invitation to Chelsea Clinton ’s nuptials. Next Saturday, Ms. Clinton, 30, and her fiancé, Marc Mezvinsky, 32, are expected to marry in Rhinebeck, N.Y. But not everyone these days is feeling the love. While most friends and acquaintances of the former president and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton say they understand that the wedding is a private affair of 400 or so guests, each with a direct connection to the bride or bridegroom, some are privately grumbling about who made the cut. And the whole affair has left donors, supporters, aides and even true A-listers wondering just how inside the inner circle they really are. “Would people who said they were close to the Clintons and not invited feel bad? Sure,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant who worked on Mr. Clinton’s presidential re-election in 1996 (and who, for the record, was not invited). But with the hindsight of 30 years in politics, he added: “It is dangerous to presume closeness to people in power, and it is very rare when there are real, unbreakable friendships.” Mr. Sheinkopf stressed that the Clintons have always done a good job of guarding their daughter’s privacy. “This is not another meeting of power for those who want to get close to the former president to figure out what they can get out of him, or the secretary of state,” he said. “Either you are a friend or you’re not, and friends are defined at different levels,” he added. “Anyone who knows the Clintons knows that lobbying will do no good.” But that has not stopped some people from trying, especially political supporters and fund-raisers with a sense of entitlement born from years bundling checks. “I’m sure there are some people who are lobbying discreetly,” said someone who has known the Clintons for decades. “If they’re on the list, they will ballyhoo it quietly, and if they’re not on the list, their noses will be out of joint. I know some people whose noses are out of joint.” (Like most F.O.B.’s — Friends of Bill — the person did not want to be quoted by name, swearing by the wedding’s code of silence.) After all, Washington is a town that revolves around power and access to power, and Ms. Clinton’s wedding has inadvertently provided the chattering class with an imprecise — and, many say, inaccurate — measure of where they stand in Clintonworld. “You know, when I heard about it, I was hoping to be invited,” said John Catsimatidis, who owns the Red Apple and Gristedes supermarkets and has raised several million dollars for the Clintons. “But when it’s only two weeks from the wedding and you don’t get an invitation, you know you’re not invited.” After trying to play the Washington parlor game of the moment — “Was Alan Patricof invited?” he asked, referring to a fellow ardent Clinton supporter — Mr. Catsimatidis played the game’s second stage: rationalization. He said he did not feel too bad because “it’s a small affair, and it’s Chelsea’s friends.” And that has become the mantra for the uninvited: It’s no biggie. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘hard feelings,’ ” Mr. Catsimatidis said. “I’d use the word ‘maybe a little disappointed,’ but not ‘hard feelings.’ ” Partly out of necessity, partly out of sincerity, they are trying to take it in stride. “It’s not a political rally, it’s not a state affair,” said one longtime Clinton supporter who was not invited but was still nervous about upsetting the former president. “There are people who are elbowing and hinting and looking, but you don’t go to a wedding to collect autographs.” And then, finally, there are those who cheerfully accept their lot, only wishing the bride well. They include Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who has known Mr. Clinton since his White House days, and his daughter Nan Ellen Nelson, who got to know Ms. Clinton when they were teenagers. Ms. Nelson is getting married this weekend, and the two are exchanging wedding gifts. “We’re outer circle, not inner circle,” said Victor Kovner, a prominent New York lawyer who supported Mrs. Clinton’s presidential bid. “We’re very happy for them, we’re very happy for their parents, and mazel tov, as we say in New York.”

Clinton Chelsea
Weddings and Engagements
Mezvinsky Marc
Clinton Bill
Clinton Hillary Rodham


Money Raised for Youths’ Trip

Abstract: Organizers hoping to send a Canadian team to play the Ugandan team that was kept from the Little League World Series because the players’ visas were denied say they have raised enough money to make the trip to Uganda happen in January. Ruth Hoffman, who has spearheaded the effort to bring together the team from Langley, British Columbia, and the Rev. John Foundation team from Kampala, said $78,000 had been raised in an online campaign and $43,000 more had been pledged for the trip.

Little League World Series
Uganda
British Columbia (Canada)
Baseball


Exercise Versus Calories on Menu Lists

Abstract: If calorie counts won’t deter people from overeating, maybe the threat of exercise will. In a recent study, diners who ordered from restaurant menus that listed the amount of brisk walking required to work off each dish were less likely to overeat than those with menus that listed calories or no health information. “We found that the menu with the exercise labels lead to significant reductions in calories ordered and consumed,” said Meena Shah, an associate professor of clinical nutrition at Texas Christian University and an author of the study , which was presented last week at the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting in Boston. Furthermore, diners ordered and consumed roughly the same number of calories whether or not their menus included calorie counts. Menus that list calories are becoming common in the United States thanks to a handful of state laws and the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which requires restaurant chains with more than 20 locations to provide them (the Food and Drug Administration is still working out the details). But the research on whether such menus actually prevent overeating is mixed. Displaying the amount of moderate exercise needed to work off food might make the consequences of poor dietary choices easier to grasp, Dr. Shah said. “Everyone can relate to brisk walking.” The study consisted of 300 men and women ages 18 to 30 who were randomly given one of the three menus, all of which contained the same items. Dr. Shah says she hopes to expand the study to a wider age range.

Calories Exercise,Fitness Restaurant Label


Hunter-Reay Takes Rainy IndyCar Victory

Abstract: Ryan Hunter-Reay raced to his first IndyCar win of the year after a slippery, crash-marred finish that left drivers upset the race was restarted in rain with about 10 laps left in Loudon, N.H. Moments after the race resumed, Danica Patrick’s car slid sideways, starting a chain reaction that knocked Will Power and Takuma Sato out of the race. Officials reverted to the race order before the final restart, leaving Oriol Servia in second place and Scott Dixon in third. Power, second in the series point standings, was irate as he left his car and flashed an obscene gesture. ¶ The Nascar Sprint Cup race in Watkins Glen, N.Y., was postponed until Monday because of rain. Steady rain that began just as the race was scheduled to start Sunday afternoon did not abate in time for track crews to dry the 2.45-mile racing surface. The race is set to begin at 10 a.m., but rain is in the forecast.

Automobile Racing
Power Will
Dixon Scott
Hunter-Reay Ryan


The 2007 Playoffs Were the Last the Nets Reached

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — The last time the Nets made the playoffs, the idea of moving to Brooklyn had been hatched, but the team was nowhere near ready to leave New Jersey. Led by Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, the Nets won 10 of their final 13 games in the regular season and entered the 2007 postseason as a .500 team, one of three Eastern Conference playoff teams that season to win either 41 or 40 games. The Nets beat the Toronto Raptors, then the Atlantic Division champions, in the first round. It was a measure of revenge for Carter, the star shooting guard who had been traded to the Nets by the Raptors two years before. Jefferson clinched the decisive Game 6 victory at home by converting a driving layup in traffic. The Nets then fell to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in a hard-fought second-round series. The Cavaliers blitzed the Nets in the first quarter of Game 6, and the final N.B.A. playoff game in New Jersey was not close. The Cavaliers were swept by the Spurs in the Finals. Depth was an issue with that Nets team, especially after the big man Nenad Krstic tore an anterior cruciate ligament early in the season. Of the 15 players on the Nets’ 2007 playoff roster , only four (Kidd, Carter, Jefferson and Jason Collins) are still in the N.B.A. It was Kidd’s last postseason tour with the franchise he helped redefine, and he excelled in 12 memorable games, averaging a triple-double, numbers rounding up to 15 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds per game. Some current Nets were involved in those playoffs. Kris Humphries played in all six games for the Raptors against the Nets. The interim Coach P. J. Carlesimo won his last of three championships as an assistant with the Spurs. Keith Bogans, then with the Magic, and Andray Blatche, then with the Wizards, came off the bench for the other two Eastern Conference teams that made the 2007 playoffs despite average regular-season records. Image Jason Kidd, left, and Vince Carter starred for the Nets of 2006-7, the franchise’s last team to reach the playoffs. Credit Mike Segar/Reuters In the Western Conference, Reggie Evans, a backup with the Nuggets, did not see action against the Spurs. Jerry Stackhouse and the Dallas Mavericks (coached by Avery Johnson) were stunned by the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors then lost to the Utah Jazz and Deron Williams. That is the only time Williams has reached the conference finals, a stated goal of the Nets owner Mikhail D. Prokhorov this season. On Friday, the day after a 76ers loss meant that the Nets had clinched the playoffs, Williams said: “It’s great for the fans. But as far as we’re concerned, we expected to be here.” Carlesimo had a more elaborate take, saying that the Nets’ earning one of the first six playoff berths this season was an accomplishment. Carlesimo has been a part of lottery-bound teams and noted that every season that does not end with a regular-season game is to be relished. “The worst feeling in this league is the last game,” he said of teams that do not make the playoffs. Even though no players remain from the team’s last postseason run, some members of the organization, like the assistant general manager Bobby Marks and the trainer Tim Walsh, have experienced the down years. “It makes a difference,” Carlesimo said of making the playoffs. “People are going to walk around feeling better.”


Kim Kardashian Is Tied and Robbed of Millions in Jewels, French Police Say

Abstract: PARIS — Just after midnight on Monday, Kim Kardashian West left an intimate Fashion Week reception and dinner in the Marais section of Paris, at which truffled scrambled eggs, white fish and copious amounts of Champagne were served. With her sister Kourtney Kardashian, she posed for some paparazzi waiting outside. Along with a bodyguard, they entered a dark van with tinted windows and drove off. About two and a half hours later, French officials said, Ms. Kardashian West, a reality television star, was robbed at gunpoint of jewelry worth at least 8 million euros, or nearly $9 million. She was alone in a luxurious apartment in the Eighth Arrondissement, nearly two miles from the dinner, when two men burst in, tied her up and gagged her, then escaped with at least three accomplices, officials said. The crime stunned fans of Ms. Kardashian West, who has millions of followers on Twitter and Instagram. Her husband, the musician Kanye West, abruptly walked off the stage of a concert in Queens when he learned of the crime. It also focused unwanted attention on France , where tourism has plummeted following a series of major terrorist attacks. Image Kim Kardashian West at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York in August. Credit Evan Agostini/Invision, via Associated Press Crucial details remained unclear on Monday, including why Ms. Kardashian West was alone and why she was carrying such valuable jewelry. But police officials and the mayor of Paris vowed to get to the bottom of the crime and to reassure their citizens, and foreigners, that the French capital was safe to visit. “I condemn the attack Kim Kardashian suffered last night in her hotel,” the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said in a statement. “She has my support and will always be welcome here in Paris. I have full confidence that the police force, as part of their investigation, will quickly identify and apprehend the perpetrators of these acts.” A spokesman for the investigative unit of the Paris police said the men were part of a group of about five people who stormed the V.I.P. residence , the Hôtel de Pourtalès, near the Madeleine church. At least one had a handgun. Luc Poignant, a spokesman for a police officers’ union, said the men locked Ms. Kardashian West in a bathroom after tying her up with tape. Along with the jewelry, which included a ring, they made off with cellphones and a wallet that contained credit cards. Three of the men left on foot, and two on bikes, he said. The men had targeted their victim — they forced the concierge to tell them where Ms. Kardashian West was staying, and tied his hands. The men appeared to have worn shirts identifying themselves as police officers — but also balaclavas and gloves, which are not part of the police uniform. Video Cellphone footage shows Kanye West ending his performance at the Meadows Music and Arts Festival in Queens, N.Y., on Sunday, the day his wife, Kim Kardashian West, was held up at gunpoint. Ms. Kardashian West was “badly shaken but physically unharmed,” her spokeswoman told The Associated Press , offering no further details. It appeared that Ms. Kardashian West gave a statement to the police before she departed, but her representatives did not respond to multiple messages requesting details. Foreign tourism to France has dropped substantially after major terrorism attacks in Paris in November 2015 and in the Mediterranean city of Nice in July . France remains under a state of emergency. “This is a very rare occurrence that took place in a private space, and in no way does it call into question the work of our police or the security of our public spaces,” Ms. Hidalgo, the mayor, said on Monday. “It is possible to visit the French capital and enjoy all it has to offer in secure conditions.” Nonetheless, the attack on Ms. Kardashian West quickly became political fodder on Monday. Presidential elections are scheduled for next year, and the incumbent, François Hollande of the Socialist Party, is expected to face a stiff challenge from right-wing candidates who are competing with Mr. Hollande to appear tough on crime. “What happened to her is running nonstop on every channel,” Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, a member of the National Assembly with the center-right opposition party, the Republicans, told the radio station Europe1. “Do you realize the kind of anti-commercial this is for Paris? Today, you can make any kind of commercial you want for Paris, and they are very expensive. All these commercials were canceled out by what happened to Kim Kardashian.” On Twitter, Florian Philippot, the vice president of the right-wing National Front party, denounced the “violent aggression” against Ms. Kardashian West and warned, “Once again, tourism is going to pay for this chronic insecurity in France.” He also accused Ms. Hidalgo of “blindness” and said she was in an “ivory tower.” Ms. Hidalgo, for her part, warned politicians not to exploit the issue for political gain. High-profile crimes are not uncommon in France, which by many estimates remains the world’s most-visited country. In 2013, a thief robbed a luxury hotel in Cannes, on the Riviera, and made off with tens of millions of dollars in jewelry. In 2014, the Place Vendôme, one of the most fashionable squares in Paris, was hit by a series of smash-and-grab robberies . Last year, thieves assaulted two armored vans and made off with jewelry worth an estimated $10 million. Only a few days ago, Ms. Kardashian West was tackled in a Paris street by a man who was pinned to the ground by her bodyguards. The man, identified as Vitalii Sediuk , had a record for following celebrities around and did not appear to be a robber. On Sunday evening, Ms. Kardashian West attended the Givenchy fashion show with her sister Kourtney and their mother, Kris Jenner, and the rock singer Courtney Love, before making her way to the dinner, which was hosted by the American design magazine Surface in honor of the designer Azzedine Alaïa . “I just can’t believe it,” said Pierre Hardy, who designs footwear and accessories for Hermès and attended the dinner. “There she was with all of us, and then hours later that happens. It’s unbelievable.” Another guest at the dinner, Deena Aljuhani Abdulaziz, the new editor in chief of Vogue Arabia and a member of the Saudi royal family, said on Monday: “There’s no question in my mind that this will play heavily on the mind of shoppers and travelers from the Gulf when it comes to visiting in Paris. Lots wear their jewelry very openly here. They shop. And have always felt very safe doing so. But when something like this can happen, and to someone with such a good security detail, well — it’s a big surprise. And it’s very frightening.”

Kim Kardashian
Robbery
Paris France
Fashion week
Jewelry
Travel,Tourism
France


President Hugo Chávez Returns to Venezuela, His Health Still Unclear

Abstract: CARACAS, Venezuela — In a surprise predawn homecoming, President Hugo Chávez returned to Venezuela on Monday more than two months after having cancer surgery in Cuba, potentially clearing up some of the legal questions that have roiled the nation during his long absence but doing little to dispel the deep uncertainty over who is running the country. Mr. Chávez’s plane touched down around 2:30 a.m., according to Vice President Nicolás Maduro, and Mr. Chávez was immediately taken to a military hospital in Caracas. Employees there said he was installed as the only patient on the top floor of one wing. Members of the presidential honor guard, with their red berets, guarded the hospital’s lobby, elevators and floors. Unlike Mr. Chávez’s other returns from treatments in Cuba, this was hardly a triumphant arrival. There were no television images or photographs of him descending from the presidential plane in a track suit and greeting officials on the tarmac, as there were in the past, raising questions about whether the government was seeking to keep a severely weakened president out of public view. “The only thing that has changed is the location of his seclusion,” said Vladimir Villegas, a former ambassador for Mr. Chávez’s government. “The uncertainty is the same. Nothing is certain.” For the last two months, Venezuela has been in a state of suspense, with Mr. Chávez out of sight and the government insisting that he continued to run the country from a hospital bed in Cuba while the political opposition demanded proof that he was capable of doing so. As news of his return spread, small groups of supporters took to the streets, setting off fireworks, chanting and painting his name on passing cars and buses. But the moment everyone had been waiting for was anticlimactic: Mr. Chávez remained sequestered, just as he had been for weeks. Beyond his ability to travel, there was little indication that his health had taken a significant turn for the better or that he could soon resume his place at the head of the nation. What might have been a sign of recovery instead provided further evidence of continued fragility. Until now, the government has studiously avoided talking about the possibility of holding an election to replace Mr. Chávez. But on Monday, a government-run newspaper, Correo del Orinoco, ran a banner front-page headline saying that Mr. Maduro, who is Mr. Chávez’s designated successor, would win an “eventual presidential election” — a shift in tone that analysts viewed as particularly significant. Image Supporters of President Hugo Chávez gathered in Caracas on Monday after the Venezuelan leader returned from Cuba. Credit Fernando Llano/Associated Press Last Friday, government officials announced for the first time that Mr. Chávez, known the world over for his volubility, now had difficulty speaking because of a tube inserted in his trachea to help him breathe. His son-in-law, Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza, said Mr. Chávez had lost his “characteristic voice” but still participated in meetings with top officials and had made every important decision in his government since leaving for surgery. He said Mr. Chávez sometimes writes notes and manages to make himself understood. Such assertions have been met with disbelief by opposition leaders, who say that a man who is too sick to appear or speak to the nation cannot be capable of leading. Even some Chávez supporters have voiced skepticism. When officials said a major currency devaluation announced this month had been approved by Mr. Chávez directly, they showed a signed document to prove it. “If he was sick, how did he sign it? That’s what doesn’t convince me,” said José Alberto Fernández, an ardent Chávez supporter who sold plantains on a street corner a few blocks from the military hospital. He said he did not have faith in Mr. Maduro or the other officials running the government and was elated to have the president back on home soil. “We need a leader,” he said. Beyond orating, singing, reciting poetry and lecturing on television for hours at a time, Mr. Chávez would communicate to the nation through Twitter. But even that fell silent soon after he was re-elected to another six-year term on Oct. 7. On Monday, however, his account was suddenly active again. “We have arrived again in Venezuela,” said the first of three posts , which appeared at 3:42 a.m. “Thank you, my God!! Thank you, beloved people!! We will continue treatment here.” Later, Mr. Maduro announced that Mr. Chávez had surpassed four million followers on Twitter after his posts went up on Monday. Then on television, he presented a 20-year-old woman, Rosnaty Jiménez, and identified her as the president’s four millionth Twitter follower, saying her prize would be a new home and a new job for her mother. Mr. Chávez’s health remains the biggest question mark. His return raised the question of whether he will now be sworn in for the new term that started on Jan. 10, while he was incommunicado in Cuba. His absence for the start of his term set off a constitutional controversy, but the Supreme Court said he could be sworn in later. Once he is sworn in, he could reappoint Mr. Maduro and other cabinet members, clearing up lingering questions about the legitimacy of the top government officials who have been running the country in his absence. Some constitutional experts had warned that their mandates had ended with the president’s last term. Image Chávez supporters outside a military hospital where he was taken following his return. Credit Jorge Silva/Reuters But what comes after that remains uncertain. If Mr. Chávez dies, resigns or is incapacitated, the Constitution says that a special election should be called to replace him. Before leaving for his surgery in December, he named Mr. Maduro as his political heir and said that if anything happened to him, Mr. Maduro should be elected in his place. “The return of the president in delicate health, running certain risks, evidently has political motives,” said Elsa Cardozo, a political science professor at the Central University of Venezuela. “It would appear that the president is not in any condition to begin a new term and that his presence here is meant to reinforce a political campaign for Maduro.” But officials on Monday refrained from saying what would happen next and did not immediately provide new details about Mr. Chávez’s condition. “He remains in a very delicate and complex situation,” Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said in a radio interview conducted by his brother, the former ambassador, who has a daily program. He avoided answering directly when he was asked if there were plans for Mr. Chávez to take the oath of office. “We have him here,” he said, “and we celebrate this small victory.” Mr. Chávez has had four operations for cancer since June 2011. Mr. Arreaza, his son-in-law, said Friday that he was undergoing palliative treatment. On the front of the red-and-cream-colored hospital, in a run-down section of Caracas, was a huge banner with the words “Revolution, Independence, Health or Nothing” and a two-story-tall picture of Mr. Chávez’s face. From an internal parking lot, it was possible to see the part of the building that employees said had been set aside for the president, with the blinds drawn on most windows. Inside, the upper floors of the hospital were clean and hushed, with pale green walls. But a hospital employee, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said the quiet routine would soon be altered by the comings and goings of the powerful. “This is going to become the new center of government,” he said.


Do They Really Tawk Like That? Not Now

Abstract: Years ago, a friend who had moved to New York from Minneapolis to go to college marveled that the people she met who had been raised on the Upper East Side spoke with “no accent.” Although she hadn’t expected them to sound like Buddy Hackett, she was intrigued by the notion that members of the city’s upper classes didn’t particularly sound as if they were from anywhere. As someone who had grown up in a well-to-do Midwestern family, she hardly sounded like Marge Gunderson in “Fargo,” but there were certain subtle pronunciations and inflections, she argued, that still marked a wealthy Midwesterner as a Midwesterner, signifiers absent in an analogous population here. By the 1980s, if not earlier, whatever vestiges of the patrician New York accent that were in evidence seemed to reside more or less exclusively in the speech patterns of George Plimpton. That pseudo-British way of talking — exemplified perhaps most famously by Franklin Delano Roosevelt — had fallen away, the consequence of a diluted aristocracy, a 1960s resistance to elitism, an aversion to sounding ridiculous. And yet that accent was a New York accent. A strain of it at any rate, even though it is never what we think of when we think of the New York accent. Image A sign that was placed at the behest of the Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz. Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times This is one of the inferences to be drawn from “If These Knishes Could Talk: The Story of the New York Accent,” a film in some sense betrayed by its title, because its purpose is to show how multifarious (and mutable) the New York accent actually is. A documentary by a native New Yorker named Heather Quinlan, the film, having its premiere at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival on Thursday, examines the way that different immigrant groups adapted to speaking in the city, and illuminates the distinctions that were the result. The Jewish accent (Woody Allen) is syntactically different from the Italian accent (“The Godfather”). And, in turn, both are different from the Irish accent, which Ms. Quinlan believes was best illustrated — in popular entertainment — in “All in the Family” (“goil,” for girl, “terlet” for toilet), and has largely vanished. In the documentary, Amy Heckerling, a filmmaker who grew up in a building of Holocaust survivors in the Bronx and retains the attendant accent, describes taking a test in elementary school and spelling “idea” as “idea-r.” This habit is known in linguistic circles as the intrusive “r” and arises when people ignore the letter where it belongs (“waduh” for “water,”) and seek to compensate. The film, though, is not intended as a sophisticated lesson in linguistics but instead as a tribute to what New York sounded like when the working class stood as a more central cultural presence. Or rather, when they stood as a presence at all, before the vibe of the city came to be dominated by the world of $15 million apartments on the one hand, and housing projects with yearlong waits for repairs on the other. Video Clips from a documentary about the history of the New York accent, by Heather Quinlan. At another moment in the film, the writer Pete Hamill describes nostalgia as the dominant emotion in New York and it is clear that Ms. Quinlan, who grew up on Staten Island and has lived in all five boroughs, agrees. Her grandfather on one side was the son of Irish immigrants and a truck driver, she told me. And on the other, an actor who lived in Borough Park in Brooklyn and had appeared on Broadway in “Three Is a Family,” a play by Nora Ephron’s parents, Henry and Phoebe Ephron. That grandfather eventually became a speech teacher, but it wasn’t until Ms. Quinlan was an adult, living in Waterside Plaza, the huge apartment complex in the 20s just east of F.D.R. Drive, that she began to miss and think about the cadences she had grown up with. “You couldn’t be more removed from New York in a place like that,” she said. One vocal complaint in recent years is that the Bloomberg administration’s global city ambitions have left New York feeling very little like New York. Although Ms. Quinlan’s film is wistful for what was, it simultaneously conveys how enduring a certain version of authenticity is. Early in the film we meet a young sanitation worker named Ben Lee of Staten Island. He tells a story about riding in the back of a car and the driver is shocked to discover, when she turns around to face him, that he is Korean-American. Having grown up around Italian-Americans, Mr. Lee learned to talk the way they did. He once had a girl obsessed with him because he was, as she put it to him, “an Asian Guido.” In social media, and even in sign language, New York has retained its own distinctive voice despite Mayor Bloomberg’s agenda. For instance, Jacob Eisenstein, who heads the computational linguistics lab at Georgia Tech and appears in the film, has studied regionalisms on Twitter, and found that the word, “suttin”— meaning “something” — appears 10 times as often in Twitter posts from New York as it does in the rest of the United States. The phrase “odee,” which means overdone or overdose, is used 20 times more often. New York has a much longer way to go before it is just another Shanghai.

Voice and Speech
NYC
Heather Quinlan
Movies
Documentaries
Immigration


On Washington State’s Ballot: Doctor-Assisted Suicide

Abstract: SEATTLE — In the 11 years since Oregon became the first state to allow physician-assisted suicide, the worst fears have never been realized, even some of the law’s staunchest opponents say. Large numbers of people have not moved to Oregon to take advantage of the measure; through last year, 341 people had used it to hasten their death. And yet no other state has followed Oregon’s lead. On Tuesday, however, its neighbor to the north, and in many ways its cultural reflection, will decide whether to adopt its own assisted-suicide law, the Washington Death With Dignity Act. The ballot initiative, modeled on Oregon’s, would let mentally competent, terminally ill adults obtain a doctor’s prescription for a lethal dose of medication. Polls have shown that more Washington voters support the initiative than oppose it, but, like the Oregon measure, it is controversial and closely contested. Religious groups, along with some advocates for the disabled and some doctors, aggressively oppose it, raising questions about ethics and the way the Oregon law has been carried out. Oregon’s measure has withstood legal challenge; in 2006, the United States Supreme Court rejected an effort by the Justice Department to stop doctors from writing lethal prescriptions. Yet Oregon’s experience has not created clear political momentum for assisted-suicide measures in other states, a circumstance that both sides say reflects the issue’s political tenderness. “It’s a murky issue for politicians on either side, to be for it or against it,” said Peg Sandeen, executive director of the Death With Dignity National Center, based in Portland, Ore. An earlier incarnation of the group led the push for the Oregon law, and it is now helping, along with a second organization, Compassion and Choices, to promote the Washington measure. Since Oregon narrowly approved its ballot initiative in 1994 — a court injunction prevented the measure from taking effect until voters rejected a repeal effort in 1997 — similar initiatives have failed in at least two states. In 1998, Michigan voters overwhelmingly rejected an assisted-suicide proposal, though supporters say that drive was poorly organized. In 2000, voters in Maine narrowly defeated a better organized campaign for a measure modeled on the Oregon law. Voters in California had rejected a similar initiative before Oregon passed its measure, and Washington itself rejected such an initiative in 1991. (In addition to referendums, all but a few legislative efforts in several states have run out of steam before a full floor vote.) Supporters of the Washington measure say a variety of factors make this year different. Unlike the failed 1991 proposal, the current one would not allow doctors to administer the lethal drugs. Like the Oregon law, it would permit them only to prescribe the drugs, which patients would give themselves, orally. Further, supporters note that the Washington initiative is the first such effort since the 2006 Supreme Court ruling, a factor that may make voters more comfortable about backing it. It also has a prominent, and popular, supporter in a former Democratic governor, Booth Gardner, 72, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Gardner’s condition would not qualify him to invoke the proposed law, but he has said he hopes it will one day be extended to people with certain debilitating conditions not considered terminal. Both Washington and Oregon have become increasingly Democratic, a factor leading the initiative’s opponents to make a point of saying that support for it should not be the presumed Democratic position. They say the measure could threaten vulnerable groups, including women (who, they say, are more likely than men to feel like a burden to others if incapacitated) as well as minorities, the elderly and the poor, who may be tempted to end their lives because they cannot afford health care. Under the Washington proposal, two doctors, each making an assessment independent of the other’s, would have to determine that a patient had less than six months to live before that patient could receive a lethal prescription. But Chris Carlson, chairman of the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide, the main opposition group, said he was found to have terminal carcinoid cancer in 2005 and was told then that he most likely had less than six months. Now Mr. Carlson, 61, describes his cancer as “dormant.” “You’re encouraging people to prematurely give up hope, and I think that’s wrong,” he said. “I don’t think the state should be encouraging people to give up hope.”

Washington (State)
Death and Dying
Euthanasia
Medicine and Health
Suicides and Suicide Attempts
Politics and Government


Party’s Agenda in China Seems to Fall Flat

Abstract: BEIJING — China ’s Communist Party elite had billed its four-day strategy session as an attack on “acute problems” that threatened the party’s political standing, like official corruption, China’s yawning gap between the rich and poor, and the lack of democracy within the party’s own ranks. But besides an anticorruption directive that would force officials and their families to disclose their property holdings and investments, initial reports from the meeting last week suggested that the Central Committee’s members either were reluctant to make major changes, or disagreed over how those changes might be made. State news media reports of communiqués issued Friday and Saturday, after the Central Committee and subcommittee meetings ended, said little that differed from past policy sessions on the need for party democracy, which had been cast as the major theme of the session. Nor did the Central Committee act, as many had expected , to appoint Vice President Xi Jinping to a key military post, an act that would have all but ensured Mr. Xi’s ascension to general secretary of the Communist Party in 2012, when President Hu Jintao is supposed to step down. One major theme of the plenary session communiqué emphasized a well-known party position, the need to crack down on ethnic separatists to keep China unified and relations between its ethnic groups harmonious. Mr. Xi could still win the appointment, as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, at a later date. And the Central Committee meeting could prove to be more productive than it now appears when a full report on the group’s closed-door deliberations is made public, presumably soon. “It’s difficult to know what happened — whether something funny happened on the way to the plenum, as it were, or whether there were high hopes that got dashed, or whether it was all smoke,” Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based analyst of Communist Party policies, said in an interview on Sunday. “But it seems that maintaining stability within the party trumps a lot of concerted efforts to solve these very difficult problems.” One likely explanation, Mr. Moses said, is that party rulers agreed on the need for changes but, as in many entrenched political systems, disagreed over how to execute them. The plenary session communiqué minced few words about the nature of the challenges to the Communist Party’s continued control of China, saying it faces “long-term, complicated and draconian tests” in a time of tumultuous change. The party’s own internal problems “are severely weakening the party’s creativity, unity and effectiveness in dealing with these problems,” the statement said. Corruption, the communiqué stated, has “seriously damaged the party’s flesh-and-blood bond with the people and seriously affected the solidity of the party’s ruling status.” Graft is rife, particularly at local government levels, and is at the root of many of the thousands of street protests that occur in Chinese cities each year. Should the party genuinely force disclosure of officials’ assets, “It’s a big step,” David Shambaugh , a longtime analyst of China’s Communist elite at George Washington University, said in a telephone interview. But the effectiveness of such a reform would depend on the extent of the disclosure and the level of government at which it was required. Local corruption is a major issue with ordinary citizens, but kickbacks and favoritism are widely acknowledged to be widespread at the highest levels of government, where the rewards can be much greater and prosecution much harder. But the party’s internal bureaucratic workings are equally in need of reform, the communiqué stated, implicitly acknowledging the problems lower-level officials face in selling their superiors on innovative ideas and the opaque way in which leaders are chosen. The meeting statement called for more merit-based selection of leaders and new ways to make lower-level voices heard in higher party councils. But it offered few details on how that might be done. China has long held competitive elections for some posts in a number of villages, the lowest level of government, with what some scholars call mixed results. Students Protest a Detention BEIJING (AP) — Nearly a hundred university students gathered outside a Beijing district police bureau on Sunday to demand the release of a lecturer — a former leader of 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy demonstrations — who they believe is being held unfairly by the authorities. It was the second day that students turned up at the public security bureau in the capital’s Haidian district to call on the police to release the lecturer, Ding Xiaoping, said Yu Zhiwei, who protested Sunday. It was not immediately possible to confirm Mr. Ding’s detention.

Politics and Government
China
Beijing (China)
Xi Jinping
Hu Jintao
Moses Russell Leigh
Shambaugh David
Appointments and Executive Changes
Local Government


Mamphela Ramphele, Veteran of Anti-Apartheid Struggle, Quits Politics

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG — Mamphela Ramphele, a prominent veteran of the struggle against apartheid, raised great expectations in early 2013 by entering politics and starting a new party. A black woman who had two children with Steve Biko, the anti-apartheid martyr, and went on to forge a formidable career as a medical doctor, business executive and managing director at the World Bank, she seemed such a compelling candidate that South Africa’s main opposition group even proposed a merger with her fledgling party. But Ms. Ramphele, 66, failed spectacularly in the general elections in May, with her party picking up a mere two seats. After months of recriminations and increasingly fierce internal fighting, Ms. Ramphele made official on Tuesday what was already clear to most South Africans: that she was done and quitting politics altogether. Ms. Ramphele’s short-lived political career was the latest failure by former allies of the governing African National Congress to mount a challenge to its overwhelming dominance. She said she would return to her previous work in civil society. Ebrahim Fakir, an analyst with the Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa, said that poor management had doomed Ms. Ramphele’s party, Agang. Her potential, Mr. Fakir said, was exaggerated by “the news media’s desire for an alternative to the A.N.C.” In January, the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, proposed merging the two parties and making Ms. Ramphele their presidential candidate. The move was in keeping with the Democratic Alliance’s push to broaden its support base beyond its traditional backers of white South Africans and those of mixed race. Ms. Ramphele accepted the offer, but changed her mind just five days later following criticism from black voters. “There was a public outcry that the D.A. was renting a black, and that a black person was allowing herself to be rented,” Mr. Fakir said.


Nebraska: Ebola Patient to Be Treated in Omaha

Abstract: A North Carolina-based charity said Thursday that a missionary who was infected with Ebola in Liberia was being flown to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Bruce Johnson, president of the missionary group SIM, said Dr. Rick Sacra was receiving excellent care in Liberia, but said the Omaha facility had advanced monitoring equipment and a wider range of treatment. He is expected to arrive on Friday.

Ebola
Rick Sacra
Nebraska Medical Center
Liberia
Epidemic
Omaha


Obama Extends Moratorium; Agency Chief Resigns

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama said on Thursday that he is extending the moratorium on permits to drill new deepwater wells for six more months, as the head of the agency that oversees offshore drilling resigned under pressure. S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, who took over as director of the Minerals Management Service last July, disclosed her resignation to colleagues on Thursday morning, just hours before the president was scheduled to hold a news conference to disclose his latest moves to respond to the enormous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This comes amid deepening frustration and criticism of the administration’s handling of the crisis. Mr. Obama’s order is intended to halt further permits for new wells for six months, delay planned exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the coast of Alaska, cancel an August lease sale in the western Gulf and cancel a lease sale off the coast of Virginia, said a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity before the formal announcement. The Virginia lease sale had drawn environmental concerns and objections from the Defense Department. The Alaska project will be delayed for six months while a new presidential commission studies how to regulate offshore drilling. Ms. Birnbaum’s resignation came after weeks of questions about whether she was up to the task of remaking the Minerals Management Service, an agency widely recognized as one of the most dysfunctional in government. A Harvard-trained lawyer, Ms. Birnbaum worked as counsel for the National Wildlife Federation before going to work for the House Natural Resources Committee, where she handled legislative and oversight activities for the Interior Department, Forest Service and electric power marketing administrations, according to her official biography. She went to work for the Interior Department in 1999, where she provided legal advice, developed regulations and conducted litigation, then left government in 2001 to work as vice president for government affairs and general counsel for American Rivers, an advocacy organization. After a brief stint back on Capitol Hill as staff director for the House Administration Committee, she was named to head the Minerals Management Service by the Obama administration last year. Friends described her as smart, tenacious, persistent and tough, but she has also been criticized as doing almost nothing to fix problems that have plagued the agency for more than a decade. She rarely visited the agency’s far-flung offices, and critics said the same agency managers who ignored or suppressed scientists’ concerns about safety and environmental risks of some off-shore drilling plans in the past were still doing the same things under her. In a statement, Ms. Birnbaum said, “I’m hopeful that the reforms that the secretary and the administration are undertaking will resolve the flaws in the current system that I inherited.” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told a House subcommittee on Thursday that Ms. Birnbaum chose to step down. “She did it on her own terms, in her own volition,” Mr. Salazar said. “But I will say this about Liz Birnbaum: She is a strong and very effective person” who “helped us in moving forward in addressing what was a very broken system that we found when I came into the Department of Interior.” According to a government official briefed on the matter, Mr. Salazar asked Ms. Birnbaum to leave her position as director of the agency, although it was not clear whether she would have another position as he reorganizes the regulatory structure. At that point, she decided to resign altogether, the official said. At his news conference, Mr. Obama announced steps to strengthen oversight of the drilling industry and enhance safety as the commission opens its inquiry. The commission will be led by former Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, and William K. Reilly, who was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the first President Bush. The effort to stem further drilling represents a marked turnaround for Mr. Obama, who just weeks before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion had proposed to expand offshore oil exploration as a response to the nation’s continuing need for new energy sources. But it reflects the volatile and rapidly shifting political environment as Mr. Obama struggles to find a way to demonstrate leadership even as efforts to stop and clean up the spill falter. After the news conference on Thursday, Mr. Obama plans to fly to Louisiana on Friday to look more closely into the efforts being made to counter the leak, his second trip to the region since the explosion. Critics who call the disaster Mr. Obama’s Hurricane Katrina point out that President George W. Bush traveled to the region more frequently in the early weeks after the hurricane that devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. Karl Rove, who was Mr. Bush’s senior adviser and deputy chief of staff during Hurricane Katrina, argued the case in his Wall Street Journal column on Thursday morning. “Could this be Mr. Obama’s Katrina? It could be even worse,” he wrote. Mr. Rove recalled Mr. Obama’s criticism of Mr. Bush’s handling of the hurricane and tried to throw it back at him. “Mr. Obama’s failure to lead in cleaning up the spill could lead voters to echo his complaint in Katrina’s aftermath: ‘I wish that the federal government had been up to the task.’ ” The White House has rejected any comparisons with Hurricane Katrina and has bombarded reporters with daily briefings and updates on all the activity taken by the administration in response to the spill. “I would say that his level of frustration is very high and that every moment that that hole is not plugged the president has a deep level of concern,” Bill Burton, the deputy White House press secretary, told reporters Wednesday. “And obviously this has been an all-hands-on-deck approach to what has been a pretty big catastrophe, and he’s going to continue to do everything that we can and bring in the best and brightest minds to figure out different ways that we can address this until the hole is plugged and until we’ve mitigated the environmental disaster in and on the water.” How sweeping the president’s new orders will be remains to be seen. After he ordered his initial moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore oil wells and a halt to a type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon rig, at least seven new permits for various types of drilling and five environmental waivers were granted, according to records. Since the April 20 explosion, the records show, federal regulators granted at least 19 environmental waivers for Gulf drilling projects and at least 17 drilling permits. The administration has said that the moratorium was meant only to halt permits for the drilling of new wells, not to stop permits for new work on existing drilling projects like the Deepwater Horizon. A poll released by CBS News this week underscored the growing public impatience with the administration’s handling of the crisis. Forty-five percent of those surveyed disapproved of the way the administration has responded to the oil spill, compared with 35 percent who approved. Fully 70 percent disapproved of BP’s handling of the situation. At the same time, support for offshore drilling has cratered. While 64 percent favored increased drilling in 2008, just 45 percent do now, according to CBS, while those who say the risks are too great increased from 28 percent two years ago to 46 percent. One major oil company, Shell Oil, had been hoping to begin a controversial exploratory drilling project this summer in the Arctic Ocean, which the new restrictions would put on hold. Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska and a staunch supporter of drilling in the Arctic, said he was informed of the new restrictions by the Interior Department. Mr. Begich said he was frustrated because the decision “will cause more delays and higher costs for domestic oil and gas production to meet the nation’s energy needs.” “The Gulf of Mexico tragedy has highlighted the need for much stronger oversight and accountability of oil companies working offshore, but Shell has updated its plans at the administration’s request and made significant investments to address the concerns raised by the Gulf spill,” Mr. Begich said in a statement. “They make an effective case that we can safely explore for oil and gas this summer in the Arctic.” In his statement, Mr. Begich argued that the administration’s decision would cost Alaska jobs and money, and force the country “to export more dollars and import more oil from some unfriendly places, jeopardizing our economic and national security.” Mr. Begich has been pushing for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a protected 19-million-acre area along the northeastern coast of Alaska, for some time. Earlier this month, he wrote a joint letter with two other Alaska congressmen urging the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to consider oil and gas exploration in a special, 1.5 million-acre section of the refuge called the “10-02” area, named after the section of a bill that expanded the refuge three decades ago. “New technology can now facilitate both a better understanding of the oil and gas reserves within the 10-02 area as well as enable more environmentally responsible development,” he stated in the joint letter earlier this month. “Directional drilling techniques would allow extraction of oil and gas from some of the 10-02 area with no surface disturbance.”

Offshore Drilling and Exploration
Arctic Regions
Alaska
Obama Barack


Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding

Abstract: MILL VALLEY, Calif. — Seven-year-old Jordan Lisle, a second grader, joined his family at a packed after-hours school event last month aimed at inspiring a new interest: computer programming. “I’m a little afraid he’s falling behind,” his mother, Wendy Lisle, said, explaining why they had signed up for the class at Strawberry Point Elementary School. The event was part of a national educational movement in computer coding instruction that is growing at Internet speeds. Since December, 20,000 teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade have introduced coding lessons, according to Code.org , a group backed by the tech industry that offers free curriculums. In addition, some 30 school districts, including New York City and Chicago, have agreed to add coding classes in the fall, mainly in high schools but in lower grades, too. And policy makers in nine states have begun awarding the same credits for computer science classes that they do for basic math and science courses, rather than treating them as electives. There are after-school events, too, like the one in Mill Valley, where 70 parents and 90 children, from kindergartners to fifth graders, huddled over computers solving animated puzzles to learn the basics of computer logic. It is a stark change for computer science, which for decades was treated like a stepchild, equated with trade classes like wood shop. But smartphones and apps are ubiquitous now, and engineering careers are hot. To many parents — particularly ones here in the heart of the technology corridor — coding looks less like an extracurricular activity and more like a basic life skill, one that might someday lead to a great job or even instant riches. The spread of coding instruction, while still nascent, is “unprecedented — there’s never been a move this fast in education,” said Elliot Soloway, a professor of education and computer science at the University of Michigan. He sees it as very positive, potentially inspiring students to develop a new passion, perhaps the way that teaching frog dissection may inspire future surgeons and biologists. But the momentum for early coding comes with caveats, too. It is not clear that teaching basic computer science in grade school will beget future jobs or foster broader creativity and logical thinking, as some champions of the movement are projecting. And particularly for younger children, Dr. Soloway said, the activity is more like a video game — better than simulated gunplay, but not likely to impart actual programming skills. Some educators worry about the industry’s heavy role: Major tech companies and their founders, including Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, have put up about $10 million for Code.org. The organization pays to train high school teachers to offer more advanced curriculums, and, for younger students, it has developed a coding curriculum that marries basic instruction with video games involving Angry Birds and hungry zombies. The lessons do not involve traditional computer language. Rather, they use simple word commands — like “move forward” or “turn right” — that children can click on and move around to, say, direct an Angry Bird to capture a pig. Across the country, districts are signing up piecemeal. Chicago’s public school system hopes to have computer science as a graduation requirement at all of its 187 high schools in five years, and to have the instruction in 25 percent of other schools. New York City public schools are training 60 teachers for classes this fall in 40 high schools, in part to prepare students for college. Image Audrey Hagan, left, and Amelia Flint, both 8, learning to code last month at an event in Mill Valley, Calif. Founded last year, Code.org offers free curriculums. Credit Jason Henry for The New York Times “There’s a big demand for these skills in both the tech sector and across all sectors,” said Britt Neuhaus, the director of special projects at the office of innovation for New York City schools. The city plans to expand the training for 2015 and is considering moving it into middle schools. The movement comes with no shortage of “we’re changing the world” marketing fervor from Silicon Valley. “This is strategically significant for the economy of the United States,” said John Pearce, a technology entrepreneur. He and another entrepreneur, Jeff Leane, have started a nonprofit, MV Gate , to bring youth and family coding courses developed by Code.org to Mill Valley, an affluent suburb across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Parents love the idea of giving children something to do with computers that they see as productive, Mr. Pearce said. “We have any number of parents who say, ‘I can’t take my kid playing one more hour of video games,’ ” he said. But if the children are exploring coding, the parents tell him, " ‘I can live with that all night long.’ ” The concept has caught on with James Meezan, a second grader. He attended one of the first “Hour of Code” events sponsored by MV Gate in December with his mother, Karen Meezan, the local PTA president and a former tech-industry executive who now runs a real estate company. She is among the enthusiastic supporters of the coding courses, along with several local principals. Her son, she said, does well in school but had not quite found his special interest and was “not the fastest runner on the playground.” But he loves programming and spends at least an hour a week at CodeKids, after-school programs organized by MV Gate and held at three of Mill Valley’s five elementary schools. James, 8, explained that programming is “getting the computer to do something by itself.” It is fun, he said, and, besides, if he gets good, he might be able to do stuff like get a computer to turn on when it has suddenly died. His mother said he had found his niche; when it comes to programming, “he is the fastest runner.” Other youngsters seemed more bewildered, at least at first. “The Google guys might’ve been coders, and the Facebook guys — I don’t know,” said Sammy Smith, a vibrant 10-year-old girl, when she arrived at the coding event at Strawberry Point. But well into the session, she and her fifth-grade friends were digging in, moving basic command blocks to get the Angry Bird to its prey, and then playing with slightly more complex commands like “repeat” and learning about “if-then” statements, an elemental coding concept. The crowd had plenty of high-tech parents, including Scott Wong, director of engineering at Twitter. His 7-year-old son, Taeden, seemed alternately transfixed and confused by the puzzles on the laptop, while his 5-year-old brother, Sai, sat next to him, fidgeting. The use of these word-command blocks to simplify coding logic stems largely from the work of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, which introduced a visual programming language called Scratch in 2007. It claims a following of millions of users, but mostly outside the schools. Then, in 2013, came Code.org, which borrowed basic Scratch ideas and aimed to spread the concept among schools and policy makers. Computer programming should be taught in every school, said Hadi Partovi, the founder of Code.org and a former executive at Microsoft. He called it as essential as “learning about gravity or molecules, electricity or photosynthesis.” Among the 20,000 teachers who Code.org says have signed on is Alana Aaron, a fifth-grade math and science teacher in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. She heard about the idea late last year at a professional development meeting and, with her principal’s permission, swapped a two-month earth sciences lesson she was going to teach on land masses for the Code.org curriculum. “Computer science is big right now — in our country, the world,” she said. “If my kids aren’t exposed to things like that, they could miss out on potential opportunities and careers.”

K-12 Education
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry
Mill Valley Calif
Code.org