Mets’ Future Suddenly Feels Far From Barren

Abstract: VIERA, Fla. — One of the enduring traditions of sports is the art of casting blame on former coaches, executives and players for whatever went wrong in the past. Certainly, the Mets are not immune to that tendency, with everyone from Davey Johnson, Bobby Valentine and Joe McIlvaine to Jim Duquette, Willie Randolph and most recently Tony Bernazard being tagged with guilt for various failures after they left. As the director of the Mets’ farm system, Bernazard was responsible for player development, and the consensus was that he left mostly barren minor league teams behind him after he was fired last July for abusive behavior toward the minor leaguers themselves. But here in the early days of spring training, most of the buzz has been about impressive young talent that was supposedly not there when Bernazard was dismissed. Manager Jerry Manuel has been raving about the prospects who he thinks could help the Mets this season — like 20-year-old Jenrry Mejia, who has drawn comparisons of sorts from Manuel and Dan Warthen, the pitching coach, to both Mariano Rivera and Dwight Gooden. Both men think that Mejia, with his electric tailing fastball, has a chance to make the opening day roster. Manuel already yearns for him to be the setup man. The promising first baseman Ike Davis already has 12 total bases in 13 at-bats, including one towering blast that Manuel said was hit as far as any ball he has seen at Port St. Lucie. Manuel said Davis could also prompt him to rethink plans to send him down to Class AAA Buffalo if he continues to hit the way he has. On Saturday, Davis had three hits, including a double, and two runs batted in during the Mets’ 14-6 victory over the Washington Nationals . If Josh Thole, a young hitter with a sweet swing and a burning desire to improve, continues to learn his position, he is likely to be the Mets’ catcher of the future. With Jose Reyes back in New York to have medical tests on his overactive thyroid, Manuel turned to 20-year-old Ruben Tejada and said he would receive the bulk of the time at shortstop in Reyes’s absence. On Saturday, Tejada showed why, going 2 for 4 with a two-run single. He is hitting .357 in four spring games. And finally, Fernando Martinez, who may be the best of the team’s prospects, hit two solo home runs and had four hits in four at-bats. “To see that display of power, especially with off-speed pitches, is impressive,” Manuel said. Only six games have been played, and this is the time for the young players to take the field. As spring training progresses, more at-bats and innings will be taken up by the veterans as they prepare for the regular season. But with Mejia, Davis, Thole and Martinez, the Mets’ future may not be as bleak as it appeared a year ago. “What happened last year is that those guys were, like, a year away,” Manuel said. “And now if anything were to go wrong in terms of questions of depth, we’re seeing some young players come up and play extremely well. We have the talent to keep pace.” Baseball America ranks the Mets’ farm system somewhere in the middle to the bottom of the pack and said the team’s top 10 prospects were solid, although it did not expect any of them to help the club in 2010. It is too early to tell, but Manuel and Warthen could make a friendly wager on that. “The talent is on the doorstep,” Manuel said. “It’s not in the living room, but it’s right there waiting.” Martinez has been in the consciousness of Mets fans for so long that many of them tend to forget he is only 21. As talented as he may be, injuries have hampered his development. He has never played more than 90 games in a season at any professional level, including last season, when he tore the meniscus in his right knee after only 29 games with the Mets. Tejada, who is from Veraguas, Panama, is a long way off and needs seasoning. But according to the veteran second baseman Luis Castillo, he already plays defense “like a 10-year veteran.” At 5 feet 11 inches and 162 pounds, Tejada is not imposing as a hitter but is considered a battler. Last season, he hit .289 as a 19-year-old at Class AA Binghamton. “He’s got good baseball instincts,” Manuel said. “It looks like he knows how to play this game. He really has a chance to be a good hitter, which people don’t talk much about.” INSIDE PITCH Mike Pelfrey, the starting pitcher, was hit in the right knee by a Cristian Guzman line drive Saturday. Pelfrey went three innings and gave up four runs and seven hits, but Jerry Manuel said he was encouraged with how Pelfrey finished. ... There is still no date for Francisco Rodriguez to return from his bout of conjunctivitis. Rodriguez has been told to stay away from the park until it clears up. ... Johan Santana looked sharp in his bullpen session with Rod Barajas. ... Single-game tickets for the 2010 season at Citi Field will go on sale Sunday at Mets.com and LosMets.com , and by phone at (718) 507-8499. In-person sales at Citi Field’s advance ticket window, the Mets Clubhouse Shops and MCU Park in Coney Island will begin at 10 a.m. Monday.

Baseball
New York Mets
Bernazard Tony
Manuel Jerry
Davis Ike
Thole Josh
Washington Nationals
Reyes Jose
Martinez Fernando


Productivity Rose More Slowly in '05; Wages Rose More Quickly

Abstract: WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 - The efficiency of American workers rose in 2005 at the slowest pace since the recession year of 2001 while a major gauge of wage pressures rose at the fastest pace in five years, the government reported Thursday. The Labor Department said productivity rose by 2.7 percent last year while labor costs rose by 2.4 percent, the biggest gain since a 4.2 percent increase in 2000. For the final three months of the year, productivity actually fell by 0.6 percent, the first decline since early 2001, and labor costs rose by 2.4 percent. The combination of slowing productivity, which is the amount of output per hour of work, and rising labor costs was certain to attract attention at the Federal Reserve, which is worried that rising wage demands could set off inflation problems down the road. "The glory days of surging productivity that kept labor costs down look to be behind us," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisers. "The expected slowdown in productivity has arrived and that is putting pressure on costs and the Fed." The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for a 14th time on Tuesday, and many economists expect at least one more rate increase on March 28 as the central bank tries to make sure that tighter labor markets do not set off rising wage pressures that could push inflation higher. The Fed's concerns would probably be increased by the report on the productivity of nonfarm workers. Analysts cautioned, however, that productivity growth for 2005, even with the slowdown, was still slightly above the average for the last 50 years, and was more than double the weak growth rates of the 1970's and the 1980's. In other economic news, the government said the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped to 273,000 last week, a decline of 11,000 from the previous week. Claims have been below 300,000 for four of the last five weeks, an improvement that pushed the four-week moving average for claims down to 283,500 last week, the lowest level in 51/2 years.

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
WAGES AND SALARIES
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND TRENDS


Finance Officials Push for Bold Action to Sustain Economic Growth

Abstract: WASHINGTON — At the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual spring meetings, concerns about crisis have given way to concerns about complacency. The euro zone has re-emerged from recession. Emerging-market jitters have quieted. The fiscal battles in the United States have abated. But the recovery remains fragile and in many cases, growth remains sluggish, leaving a jobs gap of 62 million. “The overriding topic for discussion will be the topic of growth, quest for higher growth, better quality growth, more inclusive growth and sustainable growth,” said Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the fund, speaking with reporters on the eve of the weekend conference. “We need to act now.” Underlying the discussions of inflation, interest rates, fiscal balance and trade policy among the assembled ministers were concerns about Ukraine, as news of pro-Russian activists seizing official buildings in the eastern part of the former Soviet republic sent jitters through the meetings. Officials said they hoped that the situation would not escalate. But if it did, it might pose serious consequences to Europe’s fragile recovery. “We are monitoring the economic situation in Ukraine, mindful of any risks to economic and financial stability, and welcome the I.M.F.’s recent engagement with Ukraine,” said a communiqué from the Group of 20, which consists of the world’s biggest economies. The fund is preparing a financial rescue package for Kiev that would come with stringent conditions, including tax increases and cuts in government spending. The package would be worth $14 billion to $18 billion, Ms. Lagarde said. The World Bank, the fund’s sister organization, is also offering Ukraine billions in aid, with individual countries preparing bilateral packages, as well. Finance ministers and central bankers also discussed the possibility of new penalties for Russia, said Jacob J. Lew, the Treasury secretary. “There is broad and strong unity within the G-7 on increasing the sanctions and costs in response to escalating action from Russia,” he said, referring to the Group of 7, meaning Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. “There was no dissent in the room that it was essential that there be unity in taking action if necessary.” On Monday, Mr. Lew plans to sign a declaration “moving forward” $1 billion in loan guarantees for Ukraine. At the meetings, the United States also took heated criticism for Congress’s failure to agree to a 2010 reform package that would give emerging-market countries more say within the fund. The Obama administration has repeatedly urged leaders on Capitol Hill to ratify the package, which requires no new money from the United States, to no avail. “The end of the year for me is the final limit,” said Guido Mantega, Brazil’s finance minister, according to Reuters . “Four years waiting for me is just too much.” The Group of 20 gave a year-end deadline for Congress to act — saying that at that point, the monetary fund might move on without the United States’ assent. It gave no further details. “If the 2010 reforms are not ratified by year-end, we will call on the I.M.F. to build on its existing work and develop options for next steps,” a communiqué said. Much of the rest of the talks focused on creating jobs and strengthening growth now that the world has made its way out of crisis. “Short-term risks to the global economy have eased,” said Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the president of the World Bank. “Increasingly, our worries are focused on the medium term. Our concern is that the pace of reform could be slowing in this postcrisis period. The focus must return urgently to the structural reform agenda. Even a small setback can result in leaving millions of families in destitution rather than escaping poverty.” With that, the conversation among the world’s finance ministers and central bankers generally atomized into individual prescriptions for individual countries. Growth has picked up in many rich countries, especially in the United States, and Europe has started growing again, too. But the Continent seems to have settled into a period of low inflation and low growth, with widespread concern that the will to make the major economic changes necessary for a stronger recovery might have faded along with the crisis. “We remain concerned by inflation rates consistently below target and weak demand,” Mr. Lew said. “More needs to be done to support growth and guard against further disinflation in the euro area.” The effect of Japan’s major stimulus package — called “Abenomics,” after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — might also be waning. The I.M.F. cut its estimates of the country’s growth shortly before the meetings. It has urged Tokyo to make structural reforms to bolster its labor market, by, for instance, bringing women into the work force. At a meeting in Sydney at the end of February, members of the Group of 20 major economies — which include rich countries like Canada and developing economies like Brazil and China — agreed to commit to policies to increase growth. The specific target is to lift economic output 2 percent beyond its current trajectory over the coming five years. Without policies to enhance growth and create jobs, inequality might intensify and tens of millions of workers might remain jobless. “A massive global jobs gap which opened at the height of the financial crisis continues to widen and will do so in the years ahead unless growth both accelerates and is also job-rich,” said Guy Ryder, the director general of the International Labor Organization. “Creating jobs and narrowing inequalities are essential.”

US Economy
Jobs
Euro Crisis
IMF
World Bank


Bengals’ Chris Henry Seriously Injured in Domestic Dispute

Abstract: CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry is “battling for his life” after falling out of the back of a pickup truck Wednesday during what the police described as a domestic dispute with his fiancée. Henry was found in the road about eight miles north of downtown Charlotte “apparently suffering life-threatening injuries,” according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. “We ask everyone to pray for Chris,” the agent Andy Simms of PlayersRep Sports said in a statement. The police said that a dispute began at a home just before noon and Henry jumped into the bed of the pickup truck as his fiancée, whom they did not identify by name, was driving away from the residence. “The domestic situation continued between the operator and Mr. Henry,” the police said in a statement. “At some point while she was driving, Mr. Henry came out of the back of the vehicle.” Henry is engaged to Loleini Tonga, and the couple has been raising three children. Henry was away from the team after breaking his left forearm during a victory over Baltimore on Nov. 8.

Accidents and Safety
Cincinnati Bengals
Henry Chris (1983-2009)


Texas Remains Stoic as Spill Hits Its Shores

Abstract: GALVESTON, Tex. — The crayons and paper were out, but not too many children made it to family day at the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum . Granted, the exhibits of pipelines and seismic vessels may have been over the heads of many grade-schoolers. And despite a few cheerful displays about marine life around rigs and all the bounty that oil helps provide — including Barbie dolls and cellphones — the message of the museum is that offshore drilling is complicated and potentially risky, a big business overseen by grave-looking men whose mostly unsmiling faces line the Hall of Fame. This island city, a tourist destination surrounded by drill operations and refineries, is being reminded anew about those risks, now that oil and other mysterious substances have been washing up on the shores — the first time the impact of the oil spill has touched Texas. The mayor, Joe Jaworski, began a whirlwind of promotional events and appearances, canvassing beaches and creating a video to remind people that it was still business as usual in town. “O.K., so tar balls have washed up, and I think we’d all agree, it’s not a disaster, it’s a nuisance,” Mr. Jaworski said in an interview, after doing a radio broadcast with a visiting Houston D.J. from the lobby of one of Galveston’s largest resorts. “This thing put everyone on alarm,” he said. “We’re dealing with it in the best way we can.” For weeks, officials in Texas have expressed sympathy for those hit hard by oil contamination in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana without having to confront how it would effect their shores. Now the arrival of the spill — albeit in small amounts — has demanded a reaction that puts a twist on the complicated and lucrative relationship Texans have with big oil companies. Will we “continue this perpetual cycle of disaster — is that what we’re going to do? — frustration, the blame game?” Gov. Rick Perry asked in a speech on July 6 , two days after the tar balls were discovered in Galveston. He announced the formation of the Gulf Project, a research group that monitors the offshore industry, adding: “Frankly, we don’t have time to waste.” But he also called on the industry for support, noting its “professional insight and much-needed funding.” Lucy Nashed, a spokeswoman for Governor Perry, said the state was taking “aggressive steps” to deal with the spill. “Now that the oil has reached our shores, we expect both BP and the federal government to treat Texas the same as other states that have been impacted by this disaster,” she said. Keeping tourism afloat is crucial for Galveston, which is still recovering from the devastating impact of Hurricane Ike in 2008. In the aftermath, 10,000 of the city’s 60,000 residents permanently fled. Many who stayed are still awaiting federal money to rebuild. Tourist shops offer books documenting “The Storm” and businesses have signs pointing to the high-water mark. Some reopened barely a year ago. “This is not what I needed this summer,” said Cheryl Jenkines, the manager of her family’s antiques and accessories shop, Hendley Market, a downtown fixture for 30 years. She began to cry. After Ike, she explained, her store was flooded with 10 feet of water; she was knee-deep in mud during the cleanup. The store reopened in May 2009, but only for three days a week and at a third of its original size. Coupled with the economic slump, Ms. Jenkines, 51, worried that any negative attention from the oil spill would torpedo her business. “There are a lot of sleepless nights,” she said. Some are hoping to get BP to help ease the financial strain. Katie’s Seafood Market is a sliver of a shop that sits dockside in the shadow of the oil rig museum. Three of its boats are still working the gulf, 150 miles out, picking up fillings for the fish tacos in Galveston’s cafes and red snapper to supply the East Coast. But Keith Guindon, the owner of Katie’s Seafood Market and treasurer of a trade group, the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders’ Alliance , said he was preparing to file a claim with BP for lost income. “I’d be foolish not to be nervous,” Mr. Guindon, 54, said. “Just the perception can really hurt things now.” Last week, a representative from BP came to the Galveston City Council meeting. “He seemed like a credible fellow,” Mayor Jaworski said. “He came right up and listened to us and said he would help us pay for public relations.” A spokeswoman for BP said no deal had been reached yet. Others are shrugging off the news about the beaches, which have seen oil many times before. In the 1970s and ’80s, slicks and tar balls were such a common sight on the beach that owners of vacation houses stocked their patios with baby oil and WD-40 for guests to clean off with, and regular visitors kept a separate pair of “tar sandals.” Teresa Sauer came to the beach from nearby Santa Fe, Tex., with her sister, Melisa Packard, and five children between them. “It’s been on the news and we decided to get up and come today, just to have a little fun in the sun,” Ms. Sauer said. “I don’t think it’s harmful to have a few tar balls. I think it’s normal, with all the ships coming through.” She added: “I’m alert, but I’m not alarmed.” Galveston’s tangled relationship with the energy industry — and with BP in particular — is made thornier by the explosion at the company’s refinery in neighboring Texas City in 2005, which killed 15 workers and injured more than 170. Alongside accounts of the oil washing up, The Galveston County Daily News carried articles about a $3.4 million grant BP was about to give a local school system as a penalty payout. “I think people generally are very concerned with BP’s safety record, and that’s no big secret,” Mayor Jaworski said, though he added that there was still a “loyalty” to the energy industry among his constituents. Ted Williams, 58, a construction worker who lives in Texas City, watched a stretch of the Galveston beach cleaned of plants covered in oily goo. He said he believed that BP executives should be jailed. “The message would be, ‘You can’t cut corners,’ ” he said. But others were more forgiving of a company that has poured money into the local economy. S. C. Inman III, 64, an owner of five businesses in Galveston, including a surf camp and restaurants, praised BP’s contributions to the community. A team from the oil giant always participates in his cook-offs. “They’re a good neighbor,” he said.

Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline
Offshore Drilling and Exploration
Accidents and Safety
Beaches
BP Plc
Galveston (Tex)


Mickelson Fades as Tour Rookie Ernst Gets First Win

Abstract: CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Who can take some rainfall, create cover with his smile and give fans the thumbs-up on Quail Hollow’s thorny Green Mile? Phil Mickelson can. But on a damp, dreary Sunday, Mickelson’s sunny demeanor could not light his way to victory at the Wells Fargo Championship. Closing in on his first title here after four top-five finishes, Mickelson played the final three holes in two over par to finish one stroke out of a two-man playoff. Derek Ernst and David Lynn, who came into the week a combined 0 for 22 in official tour events, carded fourth-round 70s to finish at eight under. Ernst, a rookie out of Nevada-Las Vegas, won on the first hole of sudden death with a tap-in par. He and Lynn, 39, were the only golfers among the top five to play the closing three holes under par. Mickelson, who held at least a share of the lead for most of the day, posted a one-over 73, his bid for a 42nd tour title expiring on Nos. 16-18, the stretch of course known as the Green Mile. Mickelson said his round began to come apart on the par-5 15th hole, where he failed to get up and down from a bunker for birdie. On the next hole, a 473-yard par 4, Mickelson’s 316-yard drive found the rough and his second shot landed in rough short of the green. After chipping to six feet, he missed the par putt by inches. He missed a 9-footer for par on the par-3 17th and a 23-foot birdie putt from off the green on the 18th. Image Derek Ernst, right, was congratulated by his caddie, Aaron Terry, after winning the Wells Fargo Championship on Sunday. Credit Bob Leverone/Associated Press “I’m pretty bummed out,” Mickelson said. “I would have liked to have won this one. I felt like I was in control, and I let it slip away.” Ernst said he never felt that the tournament was his to win or lose. “Winning was not on my mind,” he said, adding, “Just kind of stuck to my game, then whatever happened, happened.” The day dawned cold, windy and rainy, and from there the conditions grew worse. Spectators came wearing scarves instead of sunblock. The golfers would have had an easier time making mud pies than putts on the wet, patchy bentgrass greens. So woeful was the weather, the Englishmen in contention could not even love it. Lee Westwood, who carded a 72 to finish tied for fourth with Robert Karlsson, described the conditions as “pretty miserable,” while his countryman Lynn said, “It was tough battling the elements.” Ernst, who made the field as the fourth alternate, made it look pretty easy. He hit 14 of 18 greens Sunday while playing with Westwood and Lynn in the third-to-last group. On his 72nd hole, Ernst hit his approach to five feet and made the putt for a birdie to force the playoff with Lynn, who said he had never heard of Ernst before the tournament. “He’s a nice player,” Lynn said. “He played super.” Mickelson’s last victory was the Phoenix Open in February. Ernst’s last win before Sunday, he said, was 13 months ago, at the 2012 Thunderbird Invitational, a college event at Arizona State. How did the 22-year-old Ernst, who made his first tour start in October, end up atop a leader board that at one point on Sunday featured the multiple tour winners Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Westwood and Nick Watney jockeying for first? Image Phil Mickelson after finishing the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship. Mickelson posted a one-over 73. Credit Chris Keane/Reuters “I stuck to the process,” Ernst said. “I didn’t think about what I had to do or what I didn’t do; I just thought about each shot.” After opening with a 67 on Thursday, Ernst spoke of his struggles to stop his mind from racing. His thoughts were all over the place, he said, during a stretch this spring in which he missed five consecutive cuts while shooting a combined nine over. He recently started working with Susie Meyers, a Tucson-based teaching pro who suggested breathing exercises to calm his mind. The chaotic conditions here worked wonders for Ernst’s focus. “Yeah, for sure,” he said, “because you’re trying to dry your hands off, you’re trying to dry the club off and everything and play becomes a little bit slower, too. So I think for me, it kind of worked in my favor.” Karlsson, an 11-time winner overseas, lives less than 30 minutes from Quail Hollow, which worked to his benefit. He had played the course a half-dozen times leading up to the tournament. His closing 72 included a bogey on 18, but he could not be too disappointed. His fourth-place finish was his first top 10 on the PGA Tour in his last 27 starts, since he tied for fourth at the 2011 P.G.A. Championship. “I haven’t played that great lately, but I’ve been working hard on my game,” he said. Ernst’s days of toiling in anonymity are over. Growing up in Fresno, Calif., he said, he idolized Watney, 32, a five-time tour winner who attended Fresno State. Watney briefly held the lead Sunday before fading to a 76, which left him in a tie for 10th with a group that included McIlroy (73). “It’s a little sunk in,” Ernst said. “But I’m sure in a couple days, it will be even more unbelievable than it is right now.”

Golf
PGA Tour
Phil Mickelson
Derek Ernst
David Lynn


M.L.B. All-Stars Lose in Japan

Abstract: Yuki Yanagita greeted Randy Choate with a two-run single in the eighth inning, and Japan beat the Major League Baseball All-Stars, 6-4, in an exhibition game in Naha, Japan.


Inuit Hockey Prospect Skates the Ice Less Traveled

Abstract: SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Neil Sinclair, the hockey coach at Skidmore College, described the difference in having a player like Dave Dupuis. “How many kids who go to a private liberal arts college can say that they’ve hunted a wolf, a walrus, tracked a polar bear or set up a fishing net on a fall salmon run to help feed his community?” Sinclair said. Dupuis, in his junior year with the Division III Thoroughbreds , is among the first Inuit to play N.C.A.A. hockey, if not the first. He is from Kuujjuaq, an Inuit town in subarctic Quebec, more than a thousand miles north of Saratoga Springs. “For me, life in Kuujjuaq was pretty normal, but when I tell people how it was, they’re usually pretty surprised,” Dupuis said as he sat in a crowded mall restaurant. He talked about playing in the 22-hour daylight of summer and 22-hour night of winter; driving a snowmobile across the tundra at 8, aware that to lose the trail meant risking death (“It really teaches you responsibility, he said”); speaking Inuktitut with his mother and friends and French with his father; and learning English from television shows. Dupuis, a third-line left wing with four goals and eight assists in his 47-game Skidmore career, memorized the old Bob and Doug McKenzie routines. “We do the ‘Great White North,’ ” said his teammate Brad Schuler, “and he claims to be from the North Pole.” Far more remarkable than Dupuis’s hockey ability is the way he got from the remote Nunavik region to Skidmore, and how a timely phone call from a former N.H.L. player changed his path. Dupuis, who turns 22 next month, was born and raised in Kuujjuaq (pronounced kooj-wak) by his mother, Shirley, an Inuk and a nurse, and father, Jean, a French Canadian who moved north from Montreal at 17 to work for an airline. His parents were politically active. Jean Dupuis, a competitive speedskater, wound up leading the regional government and helping to get an indoor rink built. Then N.H.L. stars started visiting. “I killed my first caribou with Larry Robinson,” Dave Dupuis said, referring to the Hall of Fame defenseman. “I think I was 7.” By that age, Dupuis was accompanying his father on seal hunts in a boat to procure food for older relatives for winter. He played hockey for a Kuujjuaq youth team and on the frozen streets. His parents said they regretted not having moved to a city for their older children but decided to do so for David, their youngest. At 12, he and his father left Kuujjuaq, population 2,300, for Montreal, population 1.8 million. They lived in the English-speaking west side of town, where Dupuis went to high school and dreamed the dream of most hockey players in the province: playing in the quasi-professional Quebec major junior league . At 15, Dupuis was drafted by the league’s Chicoutimi Saguenéens. “I was in camp, and I thought it was amazing,” Dupuis said. “The way they did the drills, the skills, I just loved it.” The camp gave Dupuis the sense of professionalism he craved. He was also aware that two players from Kuujjuaq had made it to the Quebec major juniors, and that one Inuk had reached the N.H.L., Jordin Tootoo, with the Nashville Predators. Still, Dupuis said he had his doubts about the league. “There were fights left and right in camp,” he said, “and at that time, there was a documentary that showed how bad it could be: they’d hold your allowance if they didn’t like how you played, and you could get traded, just like in professional hockey. A kid from the Maritimes got traded three times within a few hours.” Then Dupuis got a call from Joe Juneau, a Quebecer who graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with an engineering degree and then played 13 years in the N.H.L. Juneau had recently started a hockey and youth development program in Kuujjuaq and the 13 other villages that make up the area called Nunavik. “I had met him for maybe five minutes,” Dupuis said. “But he called me up and said, ‘If you don’t leave there, I will drive up to Chicoutimi, eight hours, pick you up and personally take you out of there.’ ” Juneau wanted the youngsters in Kuujjuaq to realize the possibilities of higher education. “He was furious,” Dupuis said. “He said there’s a different route you can take.” Were Dupuis to step onto the ice in a Chicoutimi uniform during a game, he would become ineligible for an N.C.A.A. team, Juneau reminded him. “I told him if you have the will in life to learn things in school, you can go to university,” Juneau said. “And if you’re meant one day to be a pro player, you’ll get there.” Juneau’s intervention left its mark on Dupuis. Three times in the 11th grade he was called up by Chicoutimi, but each time, he went off to visit Kent, a prep school in northwest Connecticut that his girlfriend attended. That preserved his N.C.A.A. eligibility. Dupuis eventually enrolled at Kent, where he repeated 11th grade and played two years of prep hockey. From there, he was accepted by Skidmore, one of the most selective colleges in North America. “Hockey is not an incredibly diverse sport, so our diversity comes from international students who speak different languages,” Sinclair said. “David obviously brings a lot of diversity and different kind of experiences than what a traditional recruit might look like. And he’s a terrific young man, so that was an easy sell for us.” Dupuis had trouble at Skidmore at first. “I’ll be honest, I struggled a lot throughout my freshman year,” he said. “I thought at one point I’d have to transfer out of here.” But Dupuis accepted tutoring from other students, including teammates, and learned to devote nights to study. He became a business major. He has thrived and, Sinclair said, his positive attitude has been important in the dressing room. In the season opener on Nov. 2, Dupuis scored Skidmore’s first goal 14 seconds into the Thoroughbreds’ 9-4 victory at the University of New England. But he was hit from behind in the third period and sustained a concussion that has kept him out since. “This is how great a teammate Dave is,” Schuler said. “We lost a tough one last Friday and he didn’t play, but still he came in after the game and gave us a good speech, right from the heart, and fired us up. On Saturday, we came from behind and won. He didn’t play, but he was there for his teammates and still played a huge role on the team.” Dupuis says he recognizes that with the advantages he had because of his parents and others, he has come a long way. “There are people in Kuujjuaq who have university degrees, who have gone to McGill,” he said, referring to a top university in Montreal. “Our generation is really starting to get out and explore the world, and coming back and using it.” Juneau said: “Dave is important for the kids of Nunavik. He’s always going to be recognized as a kid from Kuujjuaq who made it to the States playing some pretty good hockey, and he’s going to earn a degree. It’s a nice model.” Dupuis has worked with a Canadian organization called the National Aboriginal Role Model Program, speaking to First Nations groups at schools and on reserves. He has also gone back to Kuujjuaq the last two summers to work at the youth center. When he goes hunting, he takes children from families that cannot afford the trip; fuel costs about $12 a gallon and a bottle of Gatorade is more than $10. “Besides, it’s light out at midnight, and they don’t want to go to bed,” Dupuis said, recalling life in his hometown. “Then the two hours of darkness you’ve got the Northern Lights. “I’ve been seeing them all my life, but I still want to look at them.”

Dupuis David
Hockey Ice
College Athletics
Skidmore College
Canada


Green Grocers (and Bakeries)

Abstract: Most people probably would not associate having a sweet tooth with saving the planet. But the owners of the Little Cupcake Bake Shop would respectfully like you to know that they are part of the solution. First, there is the signature “global cupcakes” — vanilla with blue and green frosting to resemble the earth — for $2.50 each. All the proceeds are donated to environmental groups. But that is just the beginning. In the two years since the bake shop opened in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, the owners have cut back their energy and water use and reduced their trash by installing glazed windows to cut down on the need for heating and cooling; switching to biodegradable bags and utensils; and adding a recycling unit in the dining area. Luigi LoBuglio, one of the bake shop’s owners, said he was initially nervous about promoting the shop’s environmental efforts because Bay Ridge is generally thought of as a tradition-bound Italian American neighborhood. But he said that customer response had been overwhelmingly positive. “Our customers are loyal, because they know their money is going to support stuff like this,” Mr. LoBuglio said, holding up a corn starch-based biodegradable fork. Business experts say that many small businesses could benefit from conservation efforts in two ways — by saving money on their monthly utility bills and by raising their profile in the community for much less money than they might spend on local advertising. “There is a small, but growing fraction of the public that would appreciate this if they promoted it correctly,” said Geoffrey Heal, a professor of public policy and corporate responsibility at the Columbia Business School. Professor Heal said that small businesses that deal directly with the public like restaurants, dry cleaners and nail salons may benefit more from this good will than, say, accountants and software programmers, who generally sell their services directly to other businesses. But he said that all kinds of small businesses could see real savings by cutting back on energy use. “Almost anybody who hasn’t really worked on this can cut their energy use by 10 to 20 percent,” he said. And those savings would all go directly to the bottom line. Small businesses could begin where many homeowners start — by replacing their conventional light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, Professor Heal said. They might also be able to save money simply by modifying their daily business practices, like switching off computers when they are not in use. Other changes, like installing glazed windows or buying more fuel-efficient delivery trucks, would initially cost money, but could quickly pay for themselves, he said. Yet many small business owners are unaware of how much money these measures could save, at least in part because most conservation efforts have focused on large businesses. But the potential savings at small businesses, at least in the aggregate, could also be huge, according to the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group based in Washington. The alliance estimates that if every small business in the United States cut its energy use by an average of 10 percent, that would be more than the energy consumed in 13 million American households. Programs already exist in many states to help small businesses cut their energy use. But from California to New York to Massachusetts, program directors say that only 1 to 2 percent of the small businesses in their areas have applied. New York State officials say they are in the middle of a two-year pilot plan to send employees directly to small businesses in the middle of the state to try to enroll them in the energy conservation program. (For a list of the state programs, go to www.ase.org/content/article/detail/2356.) Ashok Gupta, the director of the air and energy program for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that many small-business owners do not have time to research their options. And even if they know about the programs, he said, they may not realize that they are paying for them, like all ratepayers in those states, through surcharges on their utility bills. Sue Little, who owns the Jabberwocky Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Newburyport, Mass., is one satisfied rate payer. She applied to the energy efficiency program run through her local utility, National Grid, and paid $536 for more than $3,000 in improvements to the lighting in her bookstore. National Grid estimated that the annual savings on her electricity bills should be about $2,350. Ms. Little said she was initially worried that the fluorescent lights would make the colors on the books appear unnatural and that she would sell fewer books. “But I don’t think we’ve lost anything with the new lights,” she said. “In fact, I think it looks better.” Bill Wygal, who owns five hardware stores that bear his name in Contra Costa County, in Northern California, did not apply for any grants to help pay for much more extensive changes. “We probably should have,” Mr. Wygal said in a telephone interview. “Sometimes we make stupid decisions in small businesses because we don’t have the time. A Fortune 500 company can have a whole staff of people researching these things.” Mr. Wygal said he paid $105,000 to install complicated arrays of mirrors on the rooftops of his two stores that already had skylights. These mirrors adjust through the day so that enough sunlight shines down through the skylights to nearly eliminate the need for artificial lighting. Mr. Wygal estimates that he is saving enough on monthly utility bills that he should break even in five to seven years. But most small business owners are not inclined to invest that kind of time and money into conservation, said William J. Dennis, a senior research fellow at the National Federation of Independent Business. In a recent survey, he said he found that roughly half of small business owners had made some small change to cut their energy bills, like turning down their thermostats. But he said that only 27 percent of those owners could name a second action they had taken. “They tend to do just one thing,” Mr. Dennis said. But in many small businesses, particularly in food service, there are many options. For example, if a typical full-service restaurant started composting, recycling and giving diners reusable mugs rather than paper cups, it could reduce their waste disposal by more than 50 tons a year, according to an analysis by the Green Restaurant Association. The potential savings are a bit more modest, but still substantial, for a bake shop like the Little Cupcake. Mr. LoBuglio had a lot of help from his brother, Massimo, an environmental advocate who volunteered his time to work on the conservation efforts. They have called their project the Little Cupcake Initiative, and they are adding a link to the bake shop’s Web site, www.littlecupcakebakeshop.com , giving details of their energy and waste reduction and how much money they have saved. Massimo LoBuglio estimates that the bake shop is saving more than $9,000 a year by using ceramic cups instead of paper for customers who dine in. And it is saving more than $3,500 a year by asking customers who dine out whether they want a bag, rather than automatically giving them one. He said that changes to the lighting, including installing a motion sensor in the bathroom and switching to fluorescents, cost less than $200 and have reduced electricity bills by more than $1,000 a year. No detail appears to be too small for their attention. For example, the owners estimate that they are saving $120 a year by not purchasing new envelopes. Instead, they file the nightly receipts and give the employees their paychecks in reused junk mail envelopes. “At first it was funny, getting their paychecks in old Verizon or American Express envelopes,” Luigi LoBuglio said. “But now our workers bring in their own junk mail envelopes from home.”

Restaurants
Energy Efficiency
Small Business
Environment
Waste Materials and Disposal
Bakeries and Baked Products


Greg Roman Is the 49ers’ Quarterback Whisperer

Abstract: SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On Friday, the San Francisco 49ers packed their belongings into expensive suitcases, traded insults and answered several dozen of the same questions about the N.F.C championship game, about Colin Kaepernick, the Atlanta Falcons, Michael Crabtree, the pistol offense, Frank Gore, the read option, LaMichael James, Alex Smith and Randy Moss. Amid all this chatter and one win from the Super Bowl, Coach Jim Harbaugh made sure to highlight perhaps the most underrated, overshadowed person in another dominant 49ers season. Unprompted, he heaped praise on his offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, the maestro of all the 49ers’ moving parts. The 49ers will play the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday for the conference championship and a trip to the Super Bowl in New Orleans, and it is Roman who brought together all their disparate elements. It is Roman who revamped the offense when Kaepernick replaced Smith. It is Roman who incorporated the pistol last week against the Green Bay Packers, who worked in James, who kept Gore happy, who helped Crabtree fulfill his promise. It is Roman who made the 49ers’ offense unpredictable, formidable, dangerous — less of a weakness and more of a strength. “The job that Greg has done this year is really in so many ways just one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Harbaugh said. “And we’ll talk about that later. We’ve got a job to do right now. But he’s a shining star in my book.” Harbaugh smiled one of those tight, uncomfortable smiles, and soon afterward he walked back into the locker room. No more questions. Time to play. As San Francisco advanced deep into the playoffs, the N.F.L.’s coaching carousel spun even faster than usual. Coaches were fired. Names were floated. Interviews were conducted. Hires were made. Roman’s name surfaced during all that activity, but not as often as might be expected for a coordinator in the conference title game for the second year in a row. Image Coach Jim Harbaugh called the job done this year by his offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, “one of the best I’ve ever seen.” Credit Paul Sakuma/Associated Press Fans of the 49ers seemed particularly concerned that Roman would end up in Jacksonville, with the Jaguars and their new general manager, David Caldwell, his former college roommate. Except Jacksonville hired Gus Bradley, the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, who lost at Atlanta last week. Roman told reporters that this did not bother him, that he had a more important focus. But message boards celebrated his impending return. In many ways, San Francisco’s varied approach to offensive football mirrors the background of Roman, its offensive coordinator. He started coaching with the Carolina Panthers in 1995, as a strength and conditioning assistant and defensive quality control coach, the lowest rung on the N.F.L. coaching ladder. He would later instruct tight ends, quarterbacks, offensive linemen and running backs, in Houston and Baltimore and at Stanford University. He joined the Cardinal in 2009 and helped oversee an offense that was among the most productive in the college game. He helped develop Andrew Luck and then joined Harbaugh in San Francisco, where he helped Smith revive his career and helped turn Kaepernick into a household name. Roman’s offense, like his background, cannot be quantified by a single position or philosophy. He views the rushing game as the basis for all offense, but sometimes this season he leaned toward the pass and sometimes, like last week against the Packers, he asked the quarterback to run wild. He called plays as if averse to patterns, which drew criticism when the offense stalled. “Every game is different,” Roman said this week. “No matter how you look at it, you have to pay homage to the football gods every week in practice, in meetings, in your preparation. Then you have to go out and perform on game day.” Spoken like a true coach. This week, Roman’s attitude typified that of the 49ers, a loose bunch that spoke of a different locker room vibe compared with that for the N.F.C. championship appearance last season, which San Francisco lost. Moss, the moody veteran receiver whom Harbaugh said Friday that he wanted to bring back next season, sauntered toward his locker, laughing, smiling, joking with his teammates. Offensive lineman Joe Staley, the anchor of a unit considered among the best in the N.F.L., sat surrounded by reporters. “We don’t have to go outside ourselves and do anything crazy in this offense,” he said. “We’re ready to go with whatever we put out there. We know what to expect this season.” The 49ers know what a conference championship game feels like, but the Falcons must prepare for Roman’s whims. When Roman met with the news media this week, he talked about Gore’s adjustment to the read option, about James’s versatility, about Kaepernick’s ability to block out distractions — all those moving parts at his disposal. “I don’t think there’s any hump we feel we have to get over,” Roman said. “It’s a must-win game. It’s win or go home. Everybody has a real true sense of that.”

Jim Harbaugh
49ers
Football
Greg Roman
Playoffs
Atlanta Falcons


Wells Fargo’s Big Dilemma

Abstract: Wells Fargo ’s Big Dilemma John G. Stumpf, the chief executive of Wells Fargo, objected vocally to the federal injection of rescue funds into banks, saying taxpayers were benefiting at Wells Fargo’s expense. A year on, the government still owns $25 billion of Wells preferred stock. The bank’s boss has cooled his rhetoric, but still wants to pay back the Treasury ’s Troubled Asset Relief Program investment “shortly.” He also wants to avoid damage to his shareholders. Reconciling the two objectives is not easy. Much of Wall Street interprets Mr. Stumpf’s emphasis on shareholder-friendliness to mean he has no intention of raising new common equity, which might be dilutive. That would suggest he is resigned to repaying Washington’s investment out of accumulated earnings. On current performance, that could take two years or more. Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, might have considered repaying the government quickly in cash. After all, the bank did raise $21.2 billion issuing common equity as the financial crisis unfolded. But it’s not clear that regulators would be satisfied with that. More importantly, parting with that much cash would deplete the bank’s capital. The bank’s Tier 1 ratio of capital to assets would drop to just above 8 percent, fine in the good old days, but way below its rivals now. JPMorgan’s equivalent ratio stands at 10.2 percent, and US Bancorp’s is at 9.5 percent. The implication is that Mr. Stumpf cannot repay his relief funds in short order unless he raises equity, a move that would not be good for shareholders. But there may still be a middle way. That’s because selling new common stock and being shareholder-friendly are not entirely mutually exclusive. Paying back the relief funds would extinguish $1.25 billion a year in post-tax dividends, freeing up earnings for common shareholders. Wells could issue up to $8.8 billion in stock without reducing the earnings per share available to current holders, according to JPMorgan. Doing that and repaying the rest of the funds in cash would put a 9 percent floor under Wells’ Tier 1 ratio. The slug of new common stock would also raise the narrower Tier 1 common equity ratio to 6 percent from the current 5.2 percent, which is three percentage points below the bank’s two bailout-free peers. Those improved ratios still appear skinny. But Wells set aside an extra cushion against loan losses when it bought Wachovia. That’s worth another 1.5 percentage points on both capital ratios. Squaring the circle this way would call for careful explanation. Should Mr. Stumpf decide to do it, though, he has no problem speaking up. Call It Socialism Here’s a shocker: Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the only self-described socialist in the Senate, has put forth the most capitalistic proposal yet for banking reform. The senator’s Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act proposes that if a firm is so big that its failure would threaten the economy or financial system, it should be broken up, not protected by the promise of a bailout. That sounds simple and logical, yet none of the competing proposals floating around Capitol Hill — those from the White House or the House Financial Services Committee, or others expected this week from Christopher Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman — have been so explicit in calling for an end to government rescues for private companies. Of course, Senator Sanders’s bill is intended to be provocative. In two pages it outlines sweeping powers for the Treasury secretary to identify banks, hedge funds and insurers that are too big to fail. Within a year they would have to be broken up into smaller pieces whose failure would no longer torpedo the national or global economy without a bailout. Vermont is not home to any large financial groups, so it’s not altogether surprising that Mr. Sanders would champion such legislation. If taken seriously, the proposals would face a struggle against the financial services industry and powerful political forces. And their brevity, while welcome in some ways, leaves too many questions unanswered. That said, Mr. Sanders’s philosophy seems sensible. Breaking up the biggest financial firms would remove unfair subsidies in the form of implicit government backing, sharply reduce systemic risk, and perhaps foster greater competition. Given the poor performance of some of the biggest financial conglomerates, it might even benefit shareholders. It’s quite a show of capitalist sympathies from a Green Mountain socialist. ANTONY CURRIE and ROB COX

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (2008)


Thompson Wages a Low-Key Campaign Against Bloomberg

Abstract: He is rarely on television. He has not begun to advertise. He is far behind in the polls, yet seems in no rush to get going. The all-but-invisible mayoral candidacy of William C. Thompson Jr. , the city’s comptroller, is baffling even to those who wish to see him elected. He has raised $5 million but has been so low key, some Democrats wonder if he is actually running. And often, when Mr. Thompson travels, he hears the same question: Where have you been? The incumbent, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg , is everywhere: on television, with a $12 million barrage of ads touting his re-election bid; in mailboxes, with a constant stream of glossy literature; and online, with ads popping up on Web sites from Facebook to local blogs. A woman approached Mr. Thompson in the Bronx not long ago and asked if she would be receiving campaign literature from him. "Not anytime soon,” he said. The comptroller, a mild-mannered, wonkish and careful politician, said he had no choice but to hold back. The only way he can defeat Mr. Bloomberg, he said, is to bite his lip for several months, conserve his campaign money and deliver a last-minute assault in the fall. But concern inside Democratic circles about Mr. Thompson’s retiring style is taking on new urgency, given Mr. Bloomberg’s success in unveiling endorsements almost every day from a wide range of groups, including from several prominent Democratic elected officials and groups traditionally aligned with Democrats, like Naral Pro-Choice New York and the New York League of Conservation Voters . And some worry that Mr. Thompson’s approach is less a function of strategy than a lack of drive and energy. Either way, his approach is the political equivalent of trying a rope-a-dope for 14 rounds and hoping to land a knockout in the 15th. “To try to go toe to toe with the mayor makes no sense,” he said during a recent interview at a downtown restaurant. “There is no way we can compete on TV and radio.” Mr. Thompson is taking a cheaper, grass-roots approach, visiting three to four union halls and neighborhood Democratic clubs a night and testing messages that his aides hope will build a loyal following and erode support for the mayor. In a stump speech he can recite from memory, he attacks the mayor as an out-of-touch, Manhattan-centric billionaire whose policies have protected the wealthy and ignored the middle class. In what passes for a rousing punch line, he claims that Mr. Bloomberg sandbagged voters by tearing up the city’s term-limits law, which allowed him to seek a third term. Mr. Thompson calls it “the day democracy died in New York.” In general, the crowds are small — often fewer than 30 people — and the applause is tepid. Even news conferences sometimes veer off the script. On Tuesday, as he was garnering the endorsement of a Chinatown civic organization, a would-be supporter blurted: “The Puerto Rican people behind you! Don’t worry!” followed by a vulgarity aimed at the mayor. Mr. Thompson cringed, and said: “O.K., we’re on camera. Why does this always happen to me?” Outside political circles, most people do not even know who he is. In a recent poll taken by The New York Times, Cornell University and NY1 News, almost three-quarters of respondents said they did not know enough about Mr. Thompson to form an opinion. To some degree, Mr. Thompson has been overshadowed by the turmoil in the State Senate in Albany. But he has also failed to seize on a signature issue or define himself in a way that has grabbed the public, Democrats complain privately. Mr. Thompson’s aides say that a Bloomberg victory is far from inevitable and that New Yorkers are jittery about the economy, rising taxes and the school system. Indeed, the recent poll suggests that Mr. Bloomberg has vulnerabilities. While most New Yorkers still approve of the job he has done, he is hardly beloved, and is skewered by critics as an imperious tone-deaf billionaire who cares mostly about people with money. A majority of people in the recent survey said that they disapproved of Mr. Bloomberg’s successful effort to change the city’s term limits law last fall and that they would like to give someone else a chance as mayor. By November, Mr. Thompson’s supporters believe, voters may be ready for a new occupant at City Hall. The challenge is to convince them that Mr. Thompson should be that somebody else, even as the mayor outspends him by a rate of nine to one. At times, Mr. Thompson gets frustrated by the lopsided financial fight. A couple of months ago, he stormed into a strategy session at his campaign headquarters in Lower Manhattan. He had seen the latest Bloomberg television commercial, and demanded that his aides produce a matching ad, said a person who was in the room. Stunned aides furiously scribbled down his instructions. But a few minutes into his tirade, Mr. Thompson cut himself off. “We can’t take the bait,” he told the aides, and called off the plans. Even without TV advertising, Mr. Thompson is having a hard time curbing his spending, burning through his campaign money at a faster rate than the last Democrat to lose to Mr. Bloomberg: Fernando Ferrer. Unlike Mr. Ferrer, however, Mr. Thompson may have the luxury of a stress-free — and relatively cheap — primary in September. His strongest potential rival, Representative Anthony D. Weiner, announced in late May that he would not run for mayor. That leaves City Councilman Tony Avella, an outspoken and colorful Queens Democrat, who has raised less than $250,000 so far and remains a long shot for the nomination. That gives Mr. Thompson months to introduce himself to New Yorkers and, crucially, raise money. Mr. Thompson is finding inspiration in the mayoral campaign of Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, who was hailed as the Seabiscuit of Pennsylvania politics for staging an unexpected, last-minute victory in the Democratic primary in 2007. Mr. Nutter’s profile, like Mr. Thompson’s, was that of an uncharismatic, by-the-book politician. And like Mr. Thompson, Mr. Nutter was a decided underdog in a contest that included a billionaire businessman. So Mr. Thompson has hired two people who worked on the Nutter campaign: Geoffrey D. Garin, a pollster with the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group; and Doc Sweitzer, a political consultant from the Campaign Group . If it can happen in Philadelphia, Mr. Thompson’s thinking goes, then why not in New York? “Little by little, Nutter peaked at the right time,” he said.

Thompson William C Jr
Elections
New York City
Politics and Government
Democratic Party
Bloomberg Michael R


With Financing Down, New York Social Services Feel Pinch

Abstract: At a social service agency on Staten Island where budget cuts forced the layoff of a driver, the staff scrambles to arrange transportation to Brooklyn for an elderly homeless woman whose family has agreed to take her in. In Midtown Manhattan, a woman who has lost her job worries that she will not be able to send her granddaughter to an after-school program at the settlement house that helped the girl’s father and two uncles. And in Washington Heights, an agency is hard-pressed to prevent evictions after laying off half of its legal services team. Across the city, nonprofit groups that provide social services to New Yorkers are reeling, trying to fulfill their core missions as demand for those services rises and their ability to provide them shrinks. With government, foundation and individual grants down by as much as 50 percent — not to mention withering endowments or investments lost to Bernard L. Madoff — agencies are trimming and delaying programs and cutting staff, in essence contributing to the very problems they exist to fix. According to a survey conducted by Baruch College and the Human Services Council , which represents some 750 nonprofit social service providers, more than half saw some reduction in government financing in the last fiscal year, with more than a quarter losing an entire contract. The survey, to be released Sept. 9, also found that 80 percent of the respondents lost private financing, and that 73 percent had no reserves like endowments or lines of credit. Money for service agencies has been so tight that in February, the New York Community Trust distributed $7 million to help them cope. And Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is already expanding an effort announced this year to boost loan programs, trim costs and speed payments to the agencies. A grant fund with $20 million available, up from the $8 million originally planned, will offer interest-free bridge loans to nonprofits that have city contracts to help ease difficulties with cash flow or to cover short-term costs. It is help many agencies are likely to need. “Over the years we’ve had situations where government might be cutting but I could make it up elsewhere,” said Verona Middleton-Jeter, executive director of the Henry Street Settlement , one of the most established of the city’s three dozen settlement houses. “This crisis has hit every resource. There’s no place to run to — it’s not like you could run down to the basement, because the basement is leaking and the storm is raging there.” Compared with the staggering losses roiling the economy, the numbers can seem small — a fund-raiser that contributes $600,000 less than expected, five lawyers laid off from a staff of nine — but the combination of lower revenue and higher demand is straining the city’s safety net in ways that can have immediate consequences for those living at the margins. At Henry Street, the declines have been steep, and Ms. Middleton-Jeter said they are likely to get worse in the next year. With a budget of roughly $38 million and a staff of 350, the agency provides a range of services on the Lower East Side — delivering meals to elderly people, providing shelter to the homeless, running an art center — supported by government contracts, foundation grants, individual gifts, events and the group’s $26 million endowment. Last year, that endowment lost about 24 percent of its value, and charitable donations fell 25 percent. One of its main fund-raising events, an art show, lost its sponsor, Lehman Brothers (“That’s $200,000 right off the bat,” Ms. Middleton-Jeter said), and ended up making only $600,000 rather than the expected $1.2 million. The agency was able to make up for some of those losses with an expanded city contract to deliver meals and $79,000 in federal stimulus money to augment a summer youth jobs program. But the current year is still looking grim, with other donations down and the board cutting income from the endowment to $650,000 from $830,000. So far, Ms. Middleton-Jeter said, Henry Street has weathered the cuts mainly through layoffs and reorganization, but she does not know how long it can go without reducing services. It has eliminated almost 30 positions, many of them maintenance and administrative. In some cases, employees were able to find other jobs in the agency, though at a price: Barbara H. King, who had been earning about $60,000 as an executive assistant, became the office manager at a shelter for a homeless women, a step below the position in which she started with the agency in 1984. Her new job pays closer to $40,000. With an aging parent to help support, Ms. King said she was not sure how she would make ends meet. She canceled her home telephone service for a time and is considering dropping cable. She said she looks at the women the shelter serves and thinks, “I’m only one paycheck away from them.” For others, the situation is even more dire. “We’re in crisis mode right now,” said the Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project Hospitality , on Staten Island, which has lost about $2.4 million from a $19.5 million budget and laid off 20 people, with more to come. “I just don’t think you can do this very long.” Workers are doubling and tripling up on their roles, working extra hours and days, trying to keep up with the rising demand for basics like food and shelter. Teisha Diallo, director of food and nutrition at the agency’s community service center near the Stapleton Houses, said she was seeing people at the food pantry who had not been there since 2004, and that supplies were running low, in part because donations were down. “It’s hard to see people who used to donate food standing there waiting in the pantry line,” she said. Many of the clients have jobs, but have seen their hours cut. Elizabeth Ramirez used to work five days a week as a housekeeper for a family who owned a mattress factory in Brooklyn. But after the recession hit, they closed the factory and cut her days to three. She said she now buys less food and clothing for her three boys, ages 10, 13 and 15, and is unsure how she will pay for school supplies. “In the past I could predict that I could pay my bills,” she said. “But if this continues, what will happen to us?” At Hartley House , a multiservice agency in Hell’s Kitchen whose $2.1 million budget relies far more on private donations than on government contracts, Nicole L. Cicogna, the executive director, has been working long hours to cultivate new donors and rustle up grants to cope with a falloff in gifts of about 38 percent. Not only has there been an increase in people seeking services, she said, but also a rise in those seeking financial aid for services like the summer day camp, which costs $150 a week and whose main donor cut support by 75 percent. With a $1,000 grant from the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies , Ms. Cicogna was able to help three families cover the costs. But other families and other clients — from infants to 90-year-olds — have needs, too. “Who do I help?” she said. “That’s the kind of choice I’m being faced with.”

Nonprofit Organizations
New York City
United States Economy
Layoffs and Job Reductions
Food
Homeless Persons


Beyond Twinkies: Residents Eager for Organically Grown Food

Abstract: IN some minds, Staten Island is the runt of the boroughs, a punch line of strip malls and fast-food joints. But even among its residents, who are much more likely to give the island a fair shake, there is discontent when it comes to its food offerings. “There’s a lot of Dunkin’ Donuts here, a lot of fast-food restaurants, and they’re packed,” said Amanda Andruzzi, a holistic health counselor who works in St. George and lives in Emerson Hill. As for a food co-op, she said, “I just never really pictured Staten Island as that type of place.” So Ms. Andruzzi was pleasantly surprised to learn in early October that about a half-dozen residents were planning to start a food co-op on the North Shore. The goal of the group, whose efforts were reported in The Staten Island Advance, is to bring affordable organic, nutritious and locally grown produce to their neighborhood, which lacks a grocery and has only a smattering of bodegas. The planners include a retired advertising copywriter named Dan Icolari, who moved to St. George in 1977. In the early 1980s, he and his wife, Ellen, belonged to a neighborhood food co-op, though it no longer functions. But today, he said, St. George and other neighborhoods near the ferry terminal have “increasingly large numbers of fairly hip residents” hungering for what he described as “something more than white bread and Hostess Twinkies.” On a recent Thursday evening, St. George seemed sufficiently hip to encourage the enterprise. As prospective members of the co-op met at Every Thing Goes Book Cafe, on Bay Street near Victory Boulevard, to plan details of the forthcoming co-op, a marching band played sousaphones and washboards in nearby Tompkinsville Park. Among those who convened in the back room of the bookstore was Leslie Greenwood, a 50-year-old baby sitter who brought along a blue plastic Gap bag filled with avocados. She had bought the avocados in bulk at the informal food-buying club the group has formed as a precursor to the St. George Food Co-op. The goal is to cut costs by buying food in bulk and then sharing. At this point, the group hopes to find a large enough space to fit a refrigerator, where members can store food for sharing. Eventually, they hope to have a storefront, but they are aware of the challenges ahead. “We need to make sure we’re a viable business,” said David Kunin, a hospice nurse, “not just a bunch of people throwing oats around.”

Local Food
Staten Island (NYC)
Cooperatives
Health Foods


Idaho: Special Session Is Called to Reconsider Child Support Bill

Abstract: Gov. C. L. Otter on Wednesday called lawmakers back to work over a child support bill that was rejected over concerns it could require the state to enforce rulings made in other countries under Islamic law. The special session will be the first since 2006. Mr. Otter wants to use the overtime period to bring the state into compliance with federal rules while addressing concerns of opponents who want to push back against what they view as federal government overreach and foreign encroachment. If the bill fails again it could dismantle Idaho’s child support enforcement systems. About $46 million in federal funding and access to enforcement tools allowing parents in one jurisdiction to collect payments in another are tied to the bill. The system is critical for collection and distribution of about $205 million in Idaho child support payments. The matter also has thrown into question American involvement in an international treaty regarding cross-border child-support cases, since all 50 states must pass legislation conforming to the treaty’s mechanisms before the United States can ratify it. The measure failed by one vote after some House members said the federal requirements threatened Idaho’s sovereignty and could force the state to uphold Shariah court rulings. Legal experts and others disputed the contention.

Idaho
Clement Leroy Otter
Child Custody and Child Support
Sharia
Islam
Legislation


Baseball Hall of Fame Voting Unfairly Tainted by Steroids

Abstract: I hope what you read here is wrong, as misguided as my prediction last spring that the Miami Marlins would win the National League pennant. When I look at the Hall of Fame ballot, I see at least a dozen players who ought to have plaques in Cooperstown. But I do not believe the writers will elect any candidates when the voting is revealed Wednesday. This is only partly about steroids. Based on published ballots and polling by The New York Times, it seems highly unlikely that the new candidates most prominently linked to drug use will be inducted. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens received only 47 percent of the 92 ballots we confirmed on Sunday. Sammy Sosa received just 12 percent. Mike Piazza, untainted by formal allegations of steroids, has a better chance. But even Piazza managed just 63 percent, perhaps a reflection of the skepticism surrounding him. Candidates need 75 percent to be elected. Historically, this has not been easy. In 1971, when Yogi Berra made his debut on the ballot, he collected only two-thirds of the vote. That’s right — 118 of 360 writers did not vote for Berra as soon as they had the chance. Fifteen players on that 1971 ballot eventually made it to Cooperstown, but that year, the voters could not reach a three-quarters consensus on any of them. Since then, only one other writers’ ballot has produced no new inductees. That was in 1996, when Phil Niekro, Tony Perez and Don Sutton got more than 60 percent but less than 75. They and three others from that ballot — Ron Santo, Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter — eventually elbowed through the crowd and into the Hall. What makes this new ballot so intriguing, of course, is the presence of Bonds and Clemens, and the sad referendum voters are likely to send on their legacies. The writers have bestowed more single-season honors on Bonds and Clemens than they have on any other player; seven Most Valuable Player awards for Bonds, and seven Cy Young Awards, and an M.V.P. for Clemens. But the ultimate honor will have to wait, if it ever comes. Too many voters have prioritized the character clause in the voting guidelines over recognizing the achievements we all witnessed. That is their right, of course, and a lot of fans and former players agree. We know steroids mutated the records. What we do not know, and never can, is the full roster of players who used performance-enhancing drugs, including when they started and when they stopped. Punishing only those who were caught (with varying degrees of evidence) while rewarding those who got away with it seems like willful ignorance of the depth of the problem. Image Credit Illustration by Sam Manchester/The New York Times I did not send in my ballot, because The New York Times does not permit voting for awards. The rationale is that reporters should cover the news, not make it. If indeed no players are elected this week, the writers, and our unwieldy election process, will be the story. That is a shame, because the focus should always be on the candidates, and their on-field worthiness for enshrinement. If you consider only what we saw on the field, the ballot is dazzling. Yet even the players free of steroid suspicion seem unlikely to reach 75 percent. Craig Biggio combined longevity and excellence with a set of skills matched by few others. How many players reached 3,000 hits — including 1,000 extra-base hits — while stealing 400 bases? Just three: Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker and Biggio. Cobb and Speaker last played in 1928. Biggio, however, is perceived by some to have been less than dominant. He never led his league in hits, batting average, on-base percentage or slugging percentage, and he batted .234 in the postseason. Yet another candidate who was dominant, and sparkled in October, seems even less likely than Biggio to make it on Wednesday. He is Curt Schilling, who had about eight extraordinary seasons and a handful of others just a notch below. His regular-season record (216-146, with a 3.46 earned run average) belies his postseason brilliance (11-2, 2.23), and he is the only pitcher in history to record at least 3,000 strikeouts with fewer than 750 walks. Like all players of their generation, Biggio and Schilling were not tested for steroids until 2003. We cannot say for sure they were clean, but most writers seem to assume they were. Yet they still will not convince many voters. At least two voters have said they submitted ballots with only one name checked — that of Jack Morris, a worthy candidate but one whose credentials fall short of Biggio’s or Schilling’s. Another writer handed in a blank ballot in protest. Another said he generally does not vote for anybody on the first ballot, a completely indefensible position, even if it is rooted in history. After all, 23 lunkheads left Willie Mays off their ballot. Forty-three did not vote for Mickey Mantle. Sixteen did not vote for Mike Schmidt. Even Tom Seaver, whose percentage of 98.8 is the highest in history, was deemed unworthy by five curmudgeons. Maybe Morris will make it, in his 14th appearance on the ballot, after collecting 66.7 percent last year. His election is long overdue, although he will not receive a final push from the bloc of analysts who rightly lobbied for Bert Blyleven two years ago. Morris’s 3.90 E.R.A. would be the highest in the Hall. If Biggio, Schilling and Morris are made to wait — to say nothing of Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and others — there will still be an induction ceremony in Cooperstown this summer. In December, the veterans committee elected Hank O’Day, Jacob Ruppert and Deacon White to the Hall of Fame. All three died in the 1930s.

Baseball Hall of Fame
Steroid
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Curt Schilling
Mike Piazza
Craig Biggio
Baseball


Traveling, and Always Shooting

Abstract: A journey of a thousand miles, the saying goes, begins with a single step. Noel and Angelina Andreoni wanted theirs to begin with a single swish. It was May 25, 2001, and the couple were about to embark on a new adventure. Noel had quit his job as a valet parking attendant in Las Vegas; Angelina had given up her gig as a cocktail waitress. From here on, they had decided, their lives would be governed by three passions: travel, photography and basketball. But first, Noel wanted to inaugurate the trip with a single perfect shot. In the parking lot of their apartment complex, he aimed a basketball at the hoop, shot it — and missed. No good. The Andreonis returned the ball to the sporting goods store and bought another. “I had to start on a positive note,” Noel said. And so it continued. Aim, shoot, miss. New ball. Aim, shoot, miss. New ball. The fifth Spalding ball swished through the net. Their journey had begun. Nearly seven years later, the Andreonis have traveled far beyond that Las Vegas parking lot. And everywhere they go, that ball goes with them. In all, they have visited 28 countries, all 50 states and nearly every Canadian province and territory. They dribbled in the shadow of Mount Fuji in Japan. They shot hoops with schoolchildren in China. An elephant dunked their ball in Thailand. They have discovered basketball in the most unlikely of places, including on Easter Island in the South Pacific and in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, inside the Arctic Circle. Their loosely organized project, which they call Shoot the Ball, receives no financial help, aside from a recent sponsorship deal with Spalding. Between trips around the globe, the Andreonis visit schools and universities, mixing motivational speeches with basketball drills. Their Web site, shoottheball.net , features Angelina’s photographs of where the ball has been and tracks where it is going. Noel, the son of a gym teacher, developed his passion for basketball in Moose Jaw, a city of 30,000 in Saskatchewan. Angelina grew up in Calgary in a family with five children. “Growing up in Canada, I was supposed to play hockey, but I was never good at it,” Noel said. As a teenager, he had a growth spurt and ended up playing basketball, continuing on a team at Medicine Hat College. He wasn’t great, but he loved the game. “I sat on the bench pretty much the entire time,” Noel said. Years later, he and his wife ended up in Las Vegas, wondering if there was more to life than working in dead-end service jobs. Angelina loved photography; Noel loved basketball. But Noel said he realized that they probably wouldn’t make a living at either. “But we can still pursue those passions,” he said. “We said, ‘Let’s get back to what we enjoy and do it.’ And because we can do it, we’ve become very good at passing that message on.” That simple, unassuming mission charmed Lynn Luczkowski, a spokeswoman for Spalding, who said the Andreonis distinguished themselves from a parade of self-promoters who seek help from the company. Spalding recently financed their trip to the N.B.A. All-Star Game in New Orleans, and helped them distribute 800 basketballs to children. “I’m always talking about how they can market themselves,” Luczkowski said, “and they just want to be able to travel around the world and not have to lose money.” The couple divide their time among traveling, visiting family and working to pay for their next trip. Noel, 39, and Angelina, 37, are careful to point out that being carefree does not mean they are careless. “We are very aware that there are people out there who might think we’ve ‘checked out’ of life’s responsibilities; the case is just the opposite,” Angelina wrote in an e-mail message a few days after a telephone interview. “Noel and I have been married 12 years, own a home and are close to our families. We are able to continue this project due to self-discipline and good money management. Every employer we’ve had would welcome us back.” The Andreonis are not big on rules, but there is one that they follow religiously. Like that first day in the parking lot, when Noel missed one ball after another, everyone has to make a shot. “No one leaves on a miss,” Angelina said. “Everyone shoots until they make it.”


Stenson’s Stripped-Down Shot at Doral Is an Instant Classic

Abstract: DORAL, Fla. — On the first tee Friday at the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, Henrik Stenson was greeted by wolf whistles. He smiled bashfully, tipped his cap and, reading the gallery’s mind, announced, “I’m wearing blue today.” It was the day after Stenson, a blond-haired, blue-eyed Swede, became the most-talked-about man to be photographed in his white skivvies since Mark Wahlberg. All afternoon he heard from fans like Ray Farrington, who followed him down the first fairway and fairly shouted: “Henrik wore his clothes today. I didn’t recognize him.” Stenson has played for Europe in the Ryder Cup, but never has he received as much attention as he has gotten since stripping down to his boxers to hit out of the mud on No. 3, the 12th hole of his first round. The image was frozen in a photograph that appeared in newspapers around the world and was replayed endlessly on television. Overnight he acquired the nickname Calvin Klein, after the brand of underwear modeled by Wahlberg. “There have been a few funny comments,” Stenson said Friday after carding a one-over-par 73. His 36-hole total of two-under 142 left him 11 strokes behind the leader, Phil Mickelson , who shot a 66 for a two-day total of 131. Mickelson, who has 42 putts and four chip-ins, is two strokes ahead of Nick Watney (67), who has not made a bogey. Tiger Woods, competing in his first stroke-play event since knee surgery last June, followed his opening 71 with a 70 and is tied for 35th, 10 strokes behind Mickelson. “I think we all as players cannot wait for Tiger to get back on top of his game and hopefully be able to keep pace with him,” Mickelson said. “I hope he comes out tomorrow and plays a great round and makes a move. I would love to get back from ’05.” Four years ago, Mickelson and Woods were paired here in the final group and produced an electrifying duel. Woods won by one stroke when Mickelson’s chip for a birdie on the final hole lipped out. Woods, who returned to competitive golf at the Accenture World Match-Play event in Tucson two weeks ago, appeared at times to be limping during his round. His reconstructed left knee is fine, he said, but his right ankle is aching. “I haven’t walked in a while,” Woods said with a laugh, explaining that he had used a cart during his practices. Stenson said he had never heard whistles while he walked. Playing in the group ahead of Woods, Stenson attracted a following considerably larger than he was used to. He wound up in trouble again, putting his ball in the water on the par-4 18th, but he managed to stay dry, and dressed, which made his wife, Emma, happy. “I told him not to do it again,” she said behind the 18th green as she held the couple’s daughter, Lisa, a wriggling 2-year-old. Emma said she was not surprised when her husband stripped to try to salvage a bogey, which he did. “He’s very spontaneous,” she said. On the third hole, Stenson hit the same club off the tee — a 3-wood — that he did in the first round. The ball landed in the fairway, and Stenson went on to make par. “So I went one better,” he said. Since Stenson’s striptease, his fellow pros have made a sport of trying to one-up one another with quips at his expense. After his round of 66, the Englishman Paul Casey was asked for his thoughts on the day. “I’m just glad Henrik kept his clothes on,” he said. Stenson’s favorite comment, he said, came from a golfer who told him he would not have stripped to hit a shot for a million dollars. “And they can ship that million over, then,” Stenson said, smiling. In fact, money is not a laughing matter for Stenson, who signed a three-year deal with Stanford Financial Group, a wealth-management company, last June. He said he had transferred millions of dollars from his savings into a Stanford account. Last month the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the chairman of the company, Robert Allen Stanford, of running an $8 billion financial fraud scheme. Stenson’s account has been frozen by the government. For how long, nobody seems to know. “Everybody’s waiting for the outcome,” Stenson said. “I don’t know anything more than what’s been in the papers. Obviously it’s not a great situation for anybody involved.” Perhaps, somebody joked, Stenson can dress up his savings by endorsing a high-end brand of underwear. “Yeah,” he said brightly, as if he had not heard that one already.


Why Narendra Modi Should Be Thanking Indian Politics

Abstract: NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi choked, his voice trembled and his speech acquired the tone of a self-made man looking back at his difficult childhood. He was at Facebook’s headquarters this week in Menlo Park, Calif., recounting how his mother had worked as a domestic helper to raise him. His political foes in India later claimed that he was exaggerating, that he had never been as poor as he suggested. An examination of what is known about Mr. Modi’s family, his childhood home and the state of the nation when he was a boy would indeed indicate that he was a bit more fortunate than most Indians of the time. Even so, the indisputable fact is that he had to struggle, like millions of children then. At his Facebook appearance, Mr. Modi said something about his fabled rise that might not seem odd at first glance: “I would like to thank the country.” But he was being too generous to the nation. If he had wished to be accurate, he would have been more specific: He would have thanked Indian politics. That is the only system in India that offers a smart, impoverished young man or woman a shot at success, prestige and great wealth, however illegitimate. There is nothing else. All other spheres of Indian life are rigged against the most talented of the poor. The most respectable and lucrative jobs require parentage, schooling, contacts and mastery of English that are beyond their fortunes. The huge income disparity that nations like the United States are now experiencing because of a transformed job market that disproportionately rewards elite education and social class was always the central quality of Indian society. No doubt there have been genius Indian athletes and artists, accidental actors and shrewd entrepreneurs who have risen from poverty to great acclaim and wealth. They are very few, however, and they are the beneficiaries of pure chance, not of a system. But Indian politics, which can accommodate tens of thousands in its various rungs, is a field that rewards the clever, gifted and ambitious poor. It is not that politics is fair. Rich politicians do better than poorer ones, and politicians certainly promote their own genetic material. But if all Indian politicians are taken into account — including those in municipal corporations and village councils, failed candidates, disciples, sidekicks, assistants and managers, among whom are fixers and businessmen serving as fronts for dirty money — what becomes apparent is that the most intelligent of the poor have a shot at success in this system as in no other walk of Indian life. Many enter politics to abolish their own poverty, not that of others. There is a view, as expressed by the sociologist Ashis Nandy, that in an unequal society like India, corruption is a compensating force that allows the street-smart poor to thrive. “As long as this is the case,” Mr. Nandy said , “the Indian republic will survive.” But in a functional electoral democracy, in which the average voter claims to be disgusted by corruption, how has the corrupt politician survived, and why do the upright often fare very poorly? Among the few hypotheses that try to explain this paradox — while carefully dismissing the notion that the average Indian voter, too, is a crook — is one offered by Raghuram G. Rajan, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India. In a speech last year, Mr. Rajan said that India’s system of political corruption begins with the fact that the poor are entitled to many services and benefits that don’t reach them because the distribution of welfare is inefficient. This gap, he said, is often bridged by a “crooked but savvy politician” who knows how to work the system in ways that a less corrupt one would not. Hence the poor, through their votes, reward the crooked politician, who does many other crooked things that keep his voters poor. In an ideal society, of course, the weak would not need criminals to survive, and fewer of the talented would have to become criminals to thrive. Follow Manu Joseph, author of the novel “The Illicit Happiness of Other People,” on Twitter at @manujosephsan .

Narendra Modi
Facebook
India
Corruption
Menlo Park CA
New Delhi
Raghuram Rajan
Ashis Nandy


Tracking the Spread of Contaminants by Testing Blood Cells

Abstract: It’s a familiar scene following a major oil spill: struggling seabirds, doomed from the thick coat of oil on their plumage. They are a very visible indicator of how catastrophic a spill can be. But Cristóbal Pérez of the University of Vigo in Spain and colleagues suggest that seabirds who survive a spill may be useful in another way: they could help track the spread of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the event. PAHs, as they are known, are toxic contaminants from oil spills, ship discharges and drilling activities that pose health risks to marine creatures (and humans as well). PAHs can be monitored by analyzing the tissues of seabirds or other animals, but the approach is considered unreliable because most animals metabolize PAHs fairly rapidly. And to get tissue for analysis, the animal usually has to be dead. The Spanish researchers report in Environmental Science and Technology that they have successfully measured PAH levels in blood from yellow-legged gulls to monitor the spread of contaminants from an oil spill off Spain in 2002. That spill, from the tanker Prestige, released about 60,000 metric tons of fuel oil , fouling long stretches of the Spanish and French coasts. Blood cells are continuously produced and have a life span of only a couple of weeks. So their PAH levels should be a relatively accurate measure of recent exposure to the hydrocarbons. And taking blood samples from the birds can be relatively quick and easy and causes no harm to the birds.

Hazardous and Toxic Substances
Environment
Oceans


Perspective to Go Around in Tough Matches

Abstract: The outstanding matchups this weekend in soccer Saturday Sevilla vs Barcelona A deeper perspective to the weekend fixtures came Thursday when Barcelona players were informed that their colleague, Éric Abidal, faced a liver transplant. “It was the worst surprise you could hear,” said the Barca captain, Carles Puyol. “We spoke to him after the coach made the announcement, and what was said will remain with us. But he’s very strong. He’s the one trying to encourage us, rather than the other way around.” Abidal, who came back to form for Barcelona and France after surgery to remove a tumor on the liver, has been a part of the Barca team that since 2004 has won 13 of the 16 titles it competed for. He was also expected to play for France at Euro 2012 this June. Hertha Berlin vs Bayern Munich Perspectives of a different kind: The struggle for Berlin to stay in the Bundesliga can be assessed in goal statistics. It has managed just 39 goals in 25 games, compared with the 73 goals Bayern has scored. In fact, Munich’s goal difference is greater than Berlin’s entire total. Recent form is just as disparate: Munich thrashed Hoffenheim, 7-1, and Basel, 7-0, in the past week. Hertha has scored once in seven games. When you need a straw to clutch, Otto Rehhagel is a good man to have in your camp. The 73-year-old trainer specializes in defying the odds. He coached Kaiserslautern to win the Bundesliga in its promotion season in 1998 and coaxed Greece to the European title in 2004. Almost two decades ago, Bayern fired Rehhagel after less than a whole season in charge — and no coach has racked up more career wins against the Bavarians than Rehhagel’s 18. Fenerbahce vs Galatasaray Though a match-fixing scandal from last summer has legal ramifications for the very top of Turkish soccer, nothing dilutes the century-old derby across Istanbul’s East-West divide. Fenerbahce, on the Asian side, is led by a Brazilian, Alex. His 27 goals this season have not bridged a 9-point gap behind the league leader, Gala. But Alex and his scoring accomplice from Senegal, Mamadou Niang, are hottest on home turf, where Fener’s record is 13 wins, one draw, no losses. If anyone knows how to stop Alex, it could be Felipe Melo, his countryman who is on loan to Galatasaray from Juventus. For a night, at least, nothing in Turkish soccer will count as much as Fenerbahce’s attempt to avenge its 3-1 loss at Galatasaray in December. SUNDAY Chelsea vs Leicester City After Chelsea got rid of its Portuguese coach, André Villas-Boas, and found the energy to overhaul Napoli in the Champions League, the question is whether the restored senior players — Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Didier Drogba — have the stamina and desire to do it all again in the F.A. Cup. Leicester is the last team standing from below the Premier League as the Cup reaches its quarterfinals. Leicester’s aim will be to out-run Chelsea in its own stadium four days after the mammoth effort it took Chelsea to defeat Napoli in extra time. Wolves vs Manchester United On form, there is no contest in this Premier League encounter. The Wolves are bottom, United is top. Wolverhampton’s gamble in dismissing the manager Mick MCarthy and expecting his deputy, Terry Connor, to inspire failing players smacks of desperation. One thing that might favor Wolverhampton is that it spent the past week resting while United journeyed to Spain in the Europa League. But United’s indifferent effort, summarily punished by Athletic Bilbao, might best be summed up by the United manager Alex Ferguson saying: “Feeling sorry for ourselves isn’t an option. We have an important games on Sunday.” The Premier League is more important to Manchester than the second-tier Europa League. Real Madrid vs Malaga No visiting side, except Barcelona, has been able to live with Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu this season. But Manuel Pellegrini, Malaga’s coach, hopes to settle a score or two. Real fired him when José Mourinho became available, and Pellegrini found a lucrative alternative in spending Qatari money to rebuild Malaga. Finally, Malaga is taking shape. But Pellegrini knows how good his former team is, particularly now that Kaka, the often-injured Brazilian, is looking strong and ambitious again.

Soccer
Barcelona (Soccer Team)
German Bundesliga


35 Years of Rockefeller Drug Laws, and Hope There Won’t Be 36

Abstract: New York governors come and go (some more swiftly than others). State lawmakers tend to hang around longer, but most of them eventually move on as well. For true endurance, the statutes known as the Rockefeller-era drug laws are hard to beat. The same may be said about attempts to scrap those laws, which came into being in 1973, so long ago that disco was just beginning to be hot. Nelson A. Rockefeller was governor then. Drug criminals had New York by the throat in one of the city’s periodic heart-of-darkness phases. Rockefeller wanted to show he could be tough as nails with dope dealers. The result was statutes that eternally bear his name in common idiom. Their essence was to send drug felons to prison for very long stretches, with sentences made mandatory and leniency rendered unacceptable even for first-time offenders. The laws were amended in 2004 and 2005, to ease some of the most severe sentences. By then, they had been deemed overly harsh by most New Yorkers, save perhaps those with portraits of Torquemada on their walls. Occasional polls, like one for this newspaper in 2002, show that New Yorkers overwhelmingly would grant judges more of a free hand in sentencing. That includes a chance to send drug-addicted small fry into treatment rather than to prison. We are now in a moment when the laws are being scrutinized again, in public hearings organized by a consortium of six New York State Assembly committees. A first round was held in Manhattan last Thursday, on the 35th anniversary of the laws’ signing by Rockefeller, and a second round is planned for Rochester on Thursday. Judging from the remarks of Assembly members at last week’s session, they want major change, in particular to expand “judicial discretion” over the fate of convicted drug offenders. “We’re on the precipice of real Rockefeller law reform,” said Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol, a Brooklyn Democrat. Mr. Lentol is among half a dozen lawmakers who were in the Legislature back in 1973. He voted against the laws then, and doesn’t like them any better now. But it is far from clear what, if anything, lies beneath that precipice. The State Senate, dominated by Republicans, albeit with a weakened grip, has not been eager to join the Democratic-led Assembly in tossing the Rockefeller laws over the edge. Indeed, positions have shifted little over the years. Those who raise cries of “drop the Rock” say that mandatory sentences are mindless and unfair to nonviolent offenders, that they give too much power to prosecutors and not enough to neutral judges, that they steer too many low-level schnooks away from relatively inexpensive rehab that would serve them (and the state treasury) well, and that they are directed disproportionately hard toward African-Americans and Latinos. A leading critic of the laws, the Correctional Association of New York, says that their effect is to give elected officials from 35 years ago, many of them dead, more power over today’s narcotics cases “than the judges who currently sit on the bench and hear all the evidence presented.” In the same camp, you would probably find the present governor, David A. Paterson. He has not spoken up on the subject of late, but he got himself arrested in an anti-Rock protest six years ago, when he was a state senator. On the other side are those, including many of the state’s district attorneys, who say that the threat of tough sentences is enough to induce some addicted drug violators to seek treatment. And don’t kid yourself, prosecutors say; street-corner dealers, even if not necessarily “drug kingpins,” are violence-breeding menaces. Neighborhoods, they say, are well rid of these lowlifes. On the laws’ 35th anniversary, each side went to the hearing armed with anecdotes and statistics. A figure that stood out, though, was one that went unmentioned. Bridget G. Brennan, the special narcotics prosecutor for New York City, noted that in 1970 there were 1,146 homicides in the city. (Police records put the number at 1,117, but that’s not the point.) In 2007, that figure had been sliced to 496. The implication was that we could thank the Rockefeller laws for this marvelous result. Unmentioned was another number: 2,245. That’s how many homicides the city recorded in 1990, our most blood-soaked year. So for 17 years, starting with 1973, the murder rate grew and stayed implacably high, even with the Rockefeller laws. Then, over the next 18 years, the rate dropped sharply. The roller-coaster statistical ride is enough to make one wonder, at least in regard to murder, if the Rock really had anything to do with the numbers going up or down.

Drug Abuse and Traffic
Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich
Law and Legislation