British Conservative Raids Turfs of Opponents

Abstract: NEWQUAY, England — If Britain is to avoid protracted political uncertainty after Thursday’s general election, much may depend on the impact made by David Cameron , the Conservative leader, with a series of lightning raids in the campaign’s last days into the political backyards of his Labour and Liberal Democrat rivals. One such foray carried him on Sunday into Newquay, a pastel-tinted surfing town on the north coast of Cornwall. A day’s drive west of London, Newquay is far from the heartlands of British politics, and marks that distance with a political free-spiritedness — and decades of support for the Liberal Democrats — that blend with a tropics-like display of palm trees and bamboo stands in its carefully nurtured gardens. In an election that Britain’s political commentators have called the closest in decades, one thing that seems certain, if opinion polls are any guide, is that only one party leader, Mr. Cameron, has any chance — and in his case, only a slim one — of securing a majority of seats in the House of Commons. That is a requirement for any party to make an unchallengeable claim to power. Such was the calculus that brought Mr. Cameron to this bastion of the Liberal Democrats, the third party that has upset all election predictions with the surging popularity of its leader, Nick Clegg . Win here, Mr. Cameron seemed to be saying with a speech to Conservative supporters on a chilly, wind-whipped escarpment, and we can still secure the wafer-thin majority many commentators think may be the only way Britain can avoid another general election in the fall. “To anybody you meet, anybody you talk to down the pub, the message is that if you want a new direction beginning on Friday, a new government that can deal decisively with these challenges, vote Conservative,” Mr. Cameron said in his Newquay remarks. “Anything else will be fudge and uncertainty, anything else will be more of Gordon Brown ,” he said, referring to the unpopular prime minister and Labour leader. The hope for a narrow majority is a far cry from the hopes Conservatives had only a few months ago of sweeping back to power after 13 years of Labour government on a wave of support like that which brought the last period of Conservative rule, Margaret Thatcher’s thumping victory in 1979. The Clegg surge appears to have placed that kind of triumph out of reach, but Mr. Cameron has rebounded with new optimism since an assured performance in the last of three televised prime ministerial debates last week. With his pregnant wife, Samantha, at his side in Newquay, he set out the argument he has been putting to voters since Mr. Clegg’s youthful, telegenic performances caught the public imagination: that a major vote shift to the Liberal Democrats could lead to months or even years of unstable government — and a new lease on 10 Downing Street by Mr. Brown, as the three parties vie to form a new government. The Conservatives have warned that political instability could lead to plunging confidence in international financial markets and a plunge in the value of the pound, if investors conclude Britain is incapable of the strong government needed to enforce the harsh austerity measures that all major parties have called necessary to manage the country’s huge fiscal problems. The Conservatives’ gamble that a majority is possible was reflected in the decision to have Mr. Cameron spend one of his last campaigning days in Cornwall and in Wales, where the Conservatives are aiming mainly at Labour-held seats. All six Cornwall parliamentary seats are currently held by the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives have an outside chance in three of those, but a realistic one perhaps only in Newquay, where a switch of less than 1,000 votes could tip the seat. But so narrow are the margins in the national contest that the Conservatives believe a handful of seats could separate the outcome many pollsters have predicted — less than 300 Conservative seats in the 650-seat House of Commons — from a slim majority that might make it possible for them to govern without engaging in deal-making with the Liberal Democrats. The battle here, though, is only part of a wider struggle between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats across much of southwestern England, a region that includes counties like Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. About 20 of the region’s 55 seats are close battlegrounds for the two parties. Local Conservatives said the Liberal Democrats were more vulnerable than national polls suggested. “There’s been no Clegg bounce down here,” said Sarah Newton, 48, a Conservative candidate in Cornwall. Mrs. Newton said support for the Liberal Democrats had fallen sharply in local elections because of heavy overspending by local councils they control, which she described as typical of the “naïvete” and inexperience Mr. Cameron and Mr. Brown have accused Mr. Clegg of displaying. In any case, Mr. Cameron, in his Newquay visit, exuded quiet confidence that he may yet be in Downing Street before the week ends — something Conservative aides said reflected private party polls showing a plunge in support for Labour after Mr. Brown’s campaign gaffe last week, when he called a 65-year-old widow “bigoted” for questioning him about Britain’s record-high levels of immigration. Mr. Cameron has called for a cap on immigration, one of the Conservatives’ campaign themes that seem to have tapped into the popular mood; others include better state-run schools and more social discipline, particularly among young people; a tightening of welfare rules; a tougher crackdown on crime; and the need for the government, as it cuts spending, to make sure the most “vulnerable” groups are protected. “That’s what I believe; that’s who I am,” Mr. Cameron told supporters here. But as much as anything, he has emphasized the need for voters to elect a strong government that can cut a deficit that rivals Greece’s. “It’s possible, it’s doable, it’s all still to be decided, but I think we’ve got momentum,” he said, when asked about the Conservatives’ prospects of winning at least a slim majority in a brief interview as he prepared to leave Newquay. “I think people understand that there are dangers if we don’t have a decisive government.”

Great Britain
Elections
Politics and Government
Cameron David
Clegg Nick
Brown Gordon


Thor Olsen, in Nordic Marathon, Is Olympics’ Last Finisher

Abstract: WHISTLER, British Columbia — Side by side they skied, their arms pumping in rhythm, their eyes riveted on the finish line. For more than two hours, Francesc Soulie of Andorra and Jonas Thor Olsen of Denmark had waged the loneliest of battles in the 50-kilometer classic cross-country race at Whistler Olympic Park. As they rounded the final curve, they were met by a mighty roar, the crowd’s cheers and clanging cowbells carrying them home. At the finish, it was impossible for the eye to discern which skier was first. Soulie and Thor Olsen flopped in the snow, spent from their 2 hours 25 minutes on the 31.07-mile course, while “photo finish required” flashed on the scoreboard. Nearly 20 minutes earlier, the race for the gold medal was nearly as close, Petter Northug of Norway eclipsing Axel Teichmann of Germany by three-tenths of a second with a time of 2:05:35.5. The battle not to be last was even tighter, Soulie edging Thor Olsen by one-tenth of a second for 47th place. By the length of a boot, Thor Olsen became the final individual finisher of these Winter Olympics. While the music from the flower ceremony blared in the background, Soulie and Thor Olsen spoke separately in the mixed zone about the triumph that was completing the grueling race. Soulie, 31, skied the last hour with his leg muscles cramping. For a majority of the race, he had nobody to pace off, having quickly fallen behind the main pack. At the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, Soulie started the 50-kilometer race but did not complete it. He was determined not to let that happen again. “It was very hard race,” Soulie said. “My focus after 10 kilometers is to finish. So I am happy.” Like Soulie, Thor Olsen, 32, was the only Nordic skier from his country entered here. He badly bruised his ribs in a crash in an earlier event, and he said he felt excruciating pain whenever he dug in both poles to propel himself forward. “It was like someone put a knife in your side every time you do it,” he said. It never entered Thor Olsen’s mind to scratch from this race, as two skiers did. Not after financing his Olympic dreams with his own money and leaving his family in Denmark to train in Austria. “It’s very important for me to race because I’ve tried for seven years to be here,” Thor Olsen said, a half-eaten protein bar in his hands and a weary smile on his lips. “Very important for me to finish the race and fight with everything I have.” Fans along the course cheered the leaders, then scurried to their next vantage point like galleries after a Tiger Woods putt, leaving the racers bringing up the rear to go it mostly alone. At one point, Thor Olsen was 52 seconds behind his nearest competitor, Soulie. He was so far behind he had lost sight of him. “I saw a picture of him in my head,” Thor Olsen said, “and I didn’t think of anything else but catching him. In my head I saw myself getting closer and closer.” Gradually, Soulie came into view, and when Thor Olsen realized he was closing the gap, he told himself to pretend he was in a sprint. “I was thinking to myself, ‘This is the 10K quarterfinals,’ ” he said, adding, “It worked.” As Soulie and Thor Olsen lay sprawled in the snow after their race, they exchanged no words. “Because we are very tired at the finish,” Soulie said. They lay there for a while, letting the crowd’s cheers wash over them. Three minutes before Soulie and Thor Olsen hit the stretch run, New Zealand’s lone entry in the men’s Nordic events, Benjamin Koons, crossed the finish line in 46th place. It was the first classic 50-kilometer race Koons had started, much less finished. Koons attended Dartmouth and had friends from the United States and New Zealand spread out along the course offering encouragement. At the finish, they were joined by the public address announcer, who screamed: “Ben Koons’s final 300 meters! Go, Ben, go! Benjamin, this is your sprint!” And then: “It’s a privilege to call your race, brother! Come on in!” At that moment, Koons felt as if he had made the podium. “You’re fired up by doing your best,” he said, adding, “I think this is kind of indicative of the Olympics.”


Concerned Fed Trims Key Rate by a Half Point

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, its second big rate cut this month, as policy makers tried to fend off what could be the worst economic downturn in decades. The move brought the target rate for federal funds — the interest rate at which banks lend to each other overnight — to 1 percent, down to the near-record lows reached in 2003 and 2004, when the Fed was trying to encourage an economic recovery after the bursting of the Internet bubble. The central bank left open the possibility of going still lower, warning “downside risks to growth remain.” As the crisis that began in the mortgage market spreads through the economy, policy makers are redoubling their efforts to contain the damage. Even as the Fed reduced rates on Wednesday, the Bush administration was weighing a plan to slow the foreclosure epidemic in the nation’s housing market. Details of the initiative were in flux, but the plan could involve the government guaranteeing the mortgages of as many as three million at-risk homeowners, a step that could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, people briefed on the plan said. But neither the Fed’s move nor word of the possible mortgage rescue were enough to allay concern in the financial markets that the economy was in deep trouble. The stock market, which had rallied briefly after the rate cut was announced shortly after 2 p.m., tumbled in the final minutes of trading. In a statement, the Fed acknowledged that the economy had lost steam on almost every front — consumer spending, business investment, financial markets and even exports, which had been the one bright spot recently. For the time being, infla-tion is of little concern. “The pace of economic activity appears to have slowed markedly, owing importantly to a decline in consumer expenditures,” the central bank said. Industrial production and investment in new equipment have also slowed, it said, and slumping growth around the world has reduced demand for American exports. The government has taken a series of extraordinary steps in recent weeks to get credit flowing again, but while the strains in the credit markets have eased somewhat in response, confidence remains fragile. The central bank left room for itself to drive short-term rates even lower, saying that it would “act as needed” to promote both sustainable growth and stable prices. But analysts said lower interest rates were not likely to accomplish much at this point, because the economy’s biggest problem is the fear among banks and financial institutions about lending money. “The difference between 1.5 percent and 1 percent is really pretty insignificant, particularly when the banking system is as weak as it is,” said Ethan Harris, a senior economist at Barclay’s Capital. “You have a big uncertainty shock. It’s not just that the markets have declined. People are uncertain about where the world is going.” Indeed, the stock markets reacted chaotically, even though the rate cut was in line with what investors had been expecting. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged nearly 200 points in the first few minutes after the announcement at 2:15 p.m., then zigzagged before closing down 74.16 points at 8,990.96. The Federal Reserve is within striking range of reducing the overnight lending rate to zero, a point that Japan reached in the 1990s and where it remained for years while struggling to revive its economy. If the federal funds rate were to reach zero, the Fed would not be out of tools for stimulating the economy. But it would have to resort to unconventional approaches that it has never used before. Instead of trying to reduce rates on overnight loans between banks, for example, it might start buying longer-term Treasury securities. If the Fed bought, for example, two-year Treasury notes, that demand would push prices up and yields down, and presumably would also push down the interest rates for consumer credit that tracks those Treasury securities. The Fed’s biggest weakness at the moment is that the economy’s problems have less to do with interest rates than the reluctance of banks and financial institutions to lend money. Even though the Fed has lent almost $600 billion to financial institutions in the last month alone, banks are still reluctant to lend to businesses or consumers. Since the credit crisis began in August 2007, the Fed has slashed the overnight lending rate from 5.25 percent. But interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are about 6.3 percent, roughly where they were when the credit crisis began. Many economists contend that the United States economy has already slipped into a recession that could well last longer and be more severe than any downturn since the early 1970s. Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting firm in St. Louis, said the spate of discouraging economic data over the last four weeks has prompted it to mark down its estimate of third-quarter growth from a slight increase of 0.1 percent to a contraction of 0.7 percent. “It’s unbelievable what has happened to all aspects of financial conditions in the past several weeks,” said Laurence H. Meyer, a former Fed governor and now vice chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers. “Everything has changed in such a dramatic way.” Both consumers and businesses have ratcheted back spending. Major corporations from General Electric to Coca-Cola have announced layoffs, and Detroit’s automakers are struggling to survive. Private forecasters expect that the Commerce Department, which will release its initial estimate of third-quarter growth on Thursday, will report that the economy contracted about one-half of 1 percent. But most forecasters expect the fourth quarter to be down by 2 percent or more. The United States has shed more than 700,000 jobs so far this year, and the unemployment rate has climbed to 6.1 percent, from 5 percent in January. What makes that alarming to many analysts is that the job losses usually have come so early in the downturn. Traditionally, companies have been cautious about laying off workers at the start of a downturn and equally cautious about adding workers after a recovery begins. “The ground is moving from underneath us,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, an investment firm in Chicago. Details of the administration’s plan to stem foreclosures were still under discussion on Wednesday, but people briefed on the effort said the government might guarantee $500 billion to $600 billion of home loans, or about 5 percent of all loans, for up to five years. The ultimate cost to taxpayers is uncertain and would ultimately depend on the course of the housing market and the economy. The government is expected to allocate up to $50 billion to the program, which assumes only a small portion of the homeowners will default on their loans and losses will be limited. Officials from the White House, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are working on the plan and an announcement could come in the next few days or weeks. Sheila C. Bair, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, has been the leading proponent of the plan and first discussed the idea publicly a week ago. A spokeswoman for the Treasury, Jennifer Zuccarelli, said it would be premature to discuss a plan that policy makers are still working on. “As we said last week, the administration is going through the White House policy process too look at ways to reduce foreclosures, and that process is ongoing,” she said. “We have not decided on a particular approach." The plan was authorized by Congress earlier this month as part of the $700 billion financial rescue package. Though the government would only allocate about $50 billion to the program, because the money serves as a reserve for losses, it could be used to back loans totaling between $500 billion to $600 billion. Like with any other insurance company, the government would spend money when something bad happens. In this case, the Treasury or the F.D.I.C. would make a payment to investors or banks if borrowers with loans that have been modified fall behind on their new, lower payments. The government would only cover half of the losses on defaulted loans. The program is intended to entice servicing companies that handle billing and collections to reduce payments for homeowners by lowering interest rates and writing down loan balances. At the end of June, nearly 1 in 10 mortgages was delinquent or in foreclosure.

United States Economy
Interest Rates
Federal Reserve System
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Foreclosures


Olympic Champion Dies

Abstract: Sergei Sharikov, who won gold in the team saber event at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, died in a car crash, the Russian Olympic Committee said. He was 40.


Invoking the Sputnik Era, Obama Vows Record Outlays for Research

Abstract: In a speech on Monday at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, President Obama presented a vision of a new era in research financing comparable to the Sputnik-period space race, in which intensified scientific inquiry, and development of the intellectual capacity to pursue it, are a top national priority. The president laid out an ambitious plan to invigorate the country’s pipeline for innovation, from grade-school classrooms to corporate, government and academic research laboratories. Mr. Obama’s plan includes fulfilling commitments dating from the Bush administration to double the budgets of the National Science Foundation , the science office of the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology . But he is also seeking increases in direct federal investment in medical and energy research, and he would make permanent what has been a sporadic research and experimentation tax credit offered to companies that push beyond the quest for quarterly profits to pursue breakthroughs. Over all, he described his initiative as “the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history,” receiving hearty applause from the scientists and observers who packed the halls at the National Academy headquarters for the group’s annual meeting. Mr. Obama made clear that a new burst of advances in energy technology, medicine and other important arenas would not come from money alone, but required scientists to get out of their laboratories and find ways to inspire young people “to create, build and invent — to be makers of things, not just consumers of things.” Many elements of his plan had already been introduced, including $400 million in initial financing under the economic recovery bill for an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy, akin to a defense research agency created after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. He provided fresh detail on an initiative, already included in the economics stimulus bill, creating a $5 billion “Race to the Top” fund available to states doing the most to increase the ranks of trained science and math teachers. Mr. Obama noted that the country faced a shortfall of more than 280,000 math and science teachers by 2015. He pledged to lift public and private investment in research and development in the United States beyond its high point in 1964, at the peak of the space race and cold war, when such money was 3 percent of the gross domestic product . The full text of the speech is posted on the New York Times blog Dot Earth, at nytimes.com/dotearth , where readers can comment line by line.


Wet Seal Lays Off Employees and Closes Stores in Droves

Abstract: The struggling apparel retailer Wet Seal said on Wednesday it was laying off about 3,700 full- and part-time employees and closing 338 stores. Shares of the company, which warned last month that it might file for bankruptcy protection if it failed to meet immediate liquidity needs, more than doubled on Wednesday to about 13 cents. Teenage apparel retailers like Wet Seal have been struggling as consumers switch to fast-fashion brands like H&M, Forever 21 and Zara, which bring the latest styles from the runway to their stores within weeks. Wet Seal, which has reported slowing year-on-year sales growth for the last five quarters, said the closures followed a failure to renegotiate meaningful concessions from landlords. The company said the stores it was closing accounted for about 48 percent of its net sales in the nine months to Nov. 1. A year ago, Wet Seal had 7,413 full- and part-time employees. The closures will result in pretax charges of $5.4 million to $6.4 million, the company said.


Shaky Alabama Survives With Late Touchdown Against Arkansas

Abstract: Blake Sims threw two touchdown passes, and No. 7 Alabama narrowly avoided its second straight Southeastern Conference loss with a 14-13 victory at Arkansas on Saturday night. The Crimson Tide (5-1, 2-1), a week after a 23-17 loss at Mississippi, struggled for much of the game — fumbling four times and being outgained, 335 yards to 227. However, Sims put Alabama ahead with a 6-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter. The loss was the 15th straight in SEC play for the Razorbacks (3-3, 0-3), who have yet to win a conference game under the second-year coach Bret Bielema. Image Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk, right, after losing a fumble against Georgia. Mauk also threw four interceptions in a 34-0 loss. Credit L.G. Patterson/Associated Press OREGON 42, U.C.L.A. 30 Marcus Mariota ran for two touchdowns and passed for 210 yards and two more scores as No. 12 Oregon (5-1, 2-1 Pacific-12) rebounded from its first loss with a road victory over No. 18 U.C.L.A. (4-2, 1-2). Royce Freeman rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns for the Ducks, who have not lost consecutive games since 2007. Thomas Tyner and Pharaoh Brown caught touchdown passes as Oregon built a 42-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. A week after a 31-24 home loss to Arizona, Oregon had little trouble in its sixth straight win over the Bruins. The 2014 Heisman Watch A look at the top players in contention for college football’s highest honor. Brett Hundley passed for 216 yards and ran for a score for U.C.L.A. GEORGIA 34, MISSOURI 0 Hunter Mason completed 22 of 28 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown and ran for another as No. 13 Georgia (5-1, 3-1 SEC) shut out No. 23 Missouri (4-2, 1-1) in the visiting Bulldogs’ first game without the suspended star running back Todd Gurley. The freshman Nick Chubb rushed 38 times for 143 yards and a touchdown as Georgia wore down the Tigers early. Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk completed 9 of 21 passes for 97 yards and accounted for five turnovers, throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble. NOTRE DAME 50, NORTH CAROLINA 43 Everett Golson threw three touchdown passes to overcome his three turnovers that led to North Carolina scores, and No. 6 Notre Dame (6-0) remained unbeaten with a victory over the visiting Tar Heels (2-4). Image Jameis Winston led Florida State past Syracuse, completing 30 of 36 passes for 317 yards and three touchdown passes. Credit Rich Barnes/Reuters North Carolina’s Marquise Williams threw two touchdown passes, ran for another score and caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from receiver Quinshad Davis late in the third quarter to give North Carolina a 36-35 lead. But a roughing penalty against the Tar Heels kept alive a Notre Dame drive that led to a 9-yard scoring pass from Golson to Tarean Folston. Fighting Irish cornerback Cole Luke then intercepted a pass to set up Folston’s third touchdown. OKLAHOMA 31, TEXAS 26 Alex Ross had a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, Zack Sanchez scored on a 43-yard interception return, and No. 11 Oklahoma (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) held on for another bounceback victory under Coach Bob Stoops, beating Texas (2-4, 1-2) in Dallas. Image Winston threw for 317 yards and three scores in the win over Syracuse. Credit Mike Groll/Associated Press The Sooners used their big returns to go ahead to stay despite only 29 total yards in the first half. Trevor Knight threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Sterling Shepard, and Samaje Perine had a 13-yard touchdown run in the final 20 minutes. FLORIDA STATE 38, SYRACUSE 20 Jameis Winston was nearly flawless, throwing for 317 yards and three touchdowns; Mario Pender scored twice; and top-ranked Florida State (6-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat host Syracuse (2-4, 0-2). MICHIGAN STATE 45, PURDUE 31 Connor Cook threw three touchdown passes, Nick Hill ran for two scores, and a late interception return for a touchdown allowed No. 8 Michigan State (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) to hold off host Purdue (3-4, 1-1). OKLAHOMA STATE 27, KANSAS 20 Tyreek Hill returned a kickoff 99 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown, and No. 16 Oklahoma State (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) held on to beat host Kansas (2-4, 0-3). EAST CAROLINA 28, SOUTH FLORIDA 17 Shane Carden led three long second-half touchdown drives, and No. 19 East Carolina (5-1, 2-0 American Athletic Conference) shrugged off a slow start to beat host South Florida (2-4, 1-1). DUKE 31, GEORGIA TECH 25 Anthony Boone threw for 123 yards and a touchdown, Josh Sneed rushed for 102 yards and a score, and visiting Duke (5-1, 1-1 A.C.C.) snapped a 10-year losing streak against Georgia Tech (5-1, 2-1) by beating the No. 22 Yellow Jackets.

College football
Florida State University
Syracuse University
University of Oklahoma
University of Texas at Austin
University of Arkansas
University of Alabama


Another Steep Plunge Ends Harsh Week for Stocks

Abstract: Stocks came tantalizingly close to a flat close yesterday before plunging in the final minutes, ending a painful week in the markets on a low note. All of the usual recent anxieties flared again yesterday. Another large bank said it would write down the value of some of its assets, reigniting fears of a credit squeeze. Technology stocks — for weeks a calm spot amid the subprime storm — sank as investors grew uneasy on gloomy fourth quarter estimates. Some traders simply chose to pull out profits before the next batch of bad news hit. When the bell rang, the Dow had lost 1.69 percent, or 223.55 points, nearly half of that in the last 30 minutes of trading. The index is down nearly 8 percent from the record high it set a month ago. The Nasdaq composite index, heavy with technology shares, lost 6.5 percent for the week, its worst five-day performance since the tail-end of the tech bubble in 2002. The market remains wracked by uncertainty, analysts said, as traders fear that fallout from the summer’s subprime mortgage crisis will continue to batter banks and businesses in the coming months. “We’re not sure if this is the end of it or not, or how much more of this is going to continue,” said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC Financial. “That is clearly spooking financial markets.” Stocks dropped sharply early in the day but began to climb back in the afternoon before ending near their lows for the session. A pair of quarterly statements, filed by JP Morgan and Bank of America late in the day, may have unnerved investors after both banks mentioned billions of dollars in leveraged loan commitments. The broader equity market has lost 4.38 percent in the last three days, as measured by Standard & Poor’s. The S.& P. 500-stock index dipped 1.43 percent yesterday, or 21.07 points, to close at 1,453.70. For the week, the average was down 3.7 percent. Yesterday’s sell-off began after Qualcomm, the wireless company, said it expected business to drop in the fourth quarter, underscoring fears that technology companies will be hurt by an expected slowdown in the economy over the next few months. The report came on top of a similarly grim outlook from Cisco Systems, the networking giant, that led to a technology sell-off on Thursday. Technology shares had been virtually unscathed by the recent market turmoil, but the reports sent traders scrambling to take profit out of the market. Blue-chip technology shares extended their declines yesterday, with Apple, Google, I.B.M. and Oracle all closing the week deep in the red. The Nasdaq composite index finished down 68.06 points, or 2.5 percent, at 2,627.94. In the financial sector, Wachovia said it would lose $1.1 billion on bad bets on mortgage-backed securities. That added to the $1.3 billion in losses and write-downs the bank announced last quarter, making Wachovia the latest prominent victim of the collapse in the subprime loan market. The bank’s shares dipped nearly 4 percent before regaining their losses and posting a slight gain. Financial stocks briefly rallied but fell back in late trading, though shares of Citigroup increased for the first time in over a week. The bad news out of Wachovia was particularly jarring for investors. Banks have been forced to announce more write-downs as they try to calculate the value of infected assets related to home loans, leaving investors uneasy about the credit market. William Rhodes, chief investment strategist at Rhodes Analytics, said the recent string of bank write-downs had given rise to a “cockroach theory”: one in the kitchen means others in the wall. “People are afraid that they’re not finished,” Mr. Rhodes said. “That’s really what it boils down to. They look at this and go, ‘Holy cow, you wrote off this much this quarter? How much are you going to haul off next quarter?’” Some analysts said profit taking spurred the week’s declines, after many market watchers, including Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, said they expected a noticeable slowdown over the next few months as rising energy prices hurt consumer spending and a weak dollar hurts business. “Will Rogers once said that sometimes the return of your money is more important than the return on your money,” said Marc Chandler, who directs currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. “This is one of these times.” Turmoil in the equity market, while separate from broader financial indicators, can take its toll on the larger economy. “If your stock portfolio is less, you’re not going to go out and buy that new car,” said Mr. Dye of PNC. But he noted that the sell-off may spur banks to address the uncertainty by calculating the precise value of the complex financial instruments that were ravaged by the subprime collapse. “In the long run this is a healthy process,” Mr. Dye said. “In the short run this is very painful.” Crude oil futures rose 86 cents yesterday, to $96.32 a barrel, after a nominal record on Tuesday. Oil prices were up 0.4 percent for the week. The euro was at a record. In credit markets the 10-year Treasury note yielded 4.21 percent, down from 4.28 percent late Thursday and the price, which moves inversely to the yield, rose 18/32 to 100 9/32.

Stocks and Bonds
Dow Jones Stock Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Economic Conditions and Trends


E.C.B. Offer Can't Be Left on the Shelf

Abstract: The European Central Bank ’s bond-buying program has bought Spain and Italy time to stabilize their finances. But if they drag their heels, the market will sniff them out. It will then be almost impossible to come up with another plan to rescue the euro zone’s two large problem children and, with them, the euro . The promise in late July by Mario Draghi , president of the European Central Bank, to “do whatever it takes to preserve the euro zone” has already had a notable effect on borrowing costs for Madrid and Rome. Ten-year bond yields, which peaked at 7.6 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, a few days before Mr. Draghi made those comments, collapsed to 5.7 percent and 5.1 percent Friday . Most of the decline came before Mr. Draghi spelled out Thursday the details of how the bond-buying plan would work . What makes the program powerful is that the E.C.B. has not set a cap on the amount of sovereign bonds it will buy in the market. The central bank’s financial firepower is theoretically unlimited, whereas the euro zone’s own bailout funds do not have enough money to rescue both Spain and Italy. But the new type of intervention has three important limitations. First, the E.C.B. will only buy a country’s bonds if its government agrees to a bailout program with the euro zone and sticks to “strict and effective” conditions detailed in such a deal. Second, the central bank will focus its purchases on bonds with a maturity of one to three years. Finally, Mr. Draghi has not specified how much he wants to drive down the borrowing costs for Madrid and Rome. This fine print makes sense. But it also means that there is no free lunch. While the E.C.B. is unlikely to dream up new economic changes for Spain and Italy, it will probably want those countries’ governments to put more precise time frames around what they are already supposed to be doing. The involvement of the International Monetary Fund, which has a somewhat unfounded reputation as a bogeyman, will also be sought. No wonder neither Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain nor Prime Minister Mario Monti of Italy is rushing to take advantage of the plan. Meanwhile, the E.C.B.’s focus on short-term bonds means Spain and Italy will have to find some other way of issuing long-term debt, which accounts for 66 percent and 62 percent of outstanding debt, respectively. If they lose access to the markets, the zone’s bailout funds would have to ride to the rescue. But the zone still would not have enough money for both countries. What is more, Spanish and Italian borrowing costs are still too high for comfort. The E.C.B.’s main justification for buying bonds is that investors are unfairly punishing them because of fears that the euro zone will break up. But it also recognizes that the spread between their bond yields and the German 10-year borrowing cost of 1.5 percent is only partly due to such “convertibility risk.” It is also attributed to bad economic policies. Although there are no scientific measures of convertibility risk, it seems that the bulk of it has disappeared since Mr. Draghi’s comments in late July. A reasonable guess is that the risk of a breakup of the euro zone might still be inflating Spanish yields by one percentage point and Italian yields by 0.75 percentage point. If the E.C.B. used those numbers to guide its bond-buying program, 10-year borrowing costs would drop to 4.7 percent for Spain and 4.4 percent for Italy. To fall further, the countries would need to take more action themselves. Although investors are relatively optimistic about Spain and Italy, they are notoriously fickle. Mr. Rajoy and Mr. Monti should remember how the good mood, engineered at the start of the year by the E.C.B.’s €1 trillion, or $1.28 trillion at current rates, in inexpensive long-term loans to banks, vanished with the spring. Italy and Spain are also facing tougher political challenges than they were at the start of the year, when their new prime ministers were enjoying their election honeymoons. Their economies have declined this year and will continue to do so next year; they are expected to shrink about 5 percent over the two-year period, according to Citigroup estimates. For all these reasons, Mr. Rajoy and Mr. Monti must not dawdle. Assuming the German constitutional court this week backs the creation of the European Stability Mechanism, the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund, the Spanish prime minister should apply immediately. Italy, a richer country, should still be able to avoid a bailout. But to do so it needs to cut its public debt, ideally with a vigorous privatization program and the creation of a wealth tax. With elections next April and no guarantee that an effective government can be formed thereafter, there is only a tiny window for action. Mr. Monti’s technocratic government needs to jump through it. The E.C.B. has put its credibility on the line with its new bond-buying plan. The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, has attacked the plan on the grounds that it has come close to breaking treaty provisions banning the E.C.B. from bailing out governments. For now, Mr. Draghi can withstand the criticism, as long as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany keeps backing him. But if Mr. Rajoy and Mr. Monti do not move fast, the E.C.B.’s magic will wear off. And if its medicine then fails, it will be hard to conjure up the political will for an even more powerful concoction. Hugo Dixon is the founder and editor of Reuters Breakingviews.

European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )
European Central Bank
Euro (Currency)
Spain
Italy


Alexander Grothendieck, Math Enigma, Dies at 86

Abstract: Alexander Grothendieck, whose gift for deep abstraction excavated new ground in the field known as algebraic geometry and supplied a theoretical foundation for the solving of some of the most vexing conundrums of modern mathematics, died on Thursday in Ariège, in the French Pyrenees. He was 86. A vexing character himself, Mr. Grothendieck (pronounced GROAT-en-deek) turned away from mathematics at the height of his powers in the early 1970s and had lived in seclusion since the early 1990s. His death was widely reported in France, where the newspaper Le Monde described him as “the greatest mathematician of the 20th century.” In a statement on Friday, President François Hollande praised him as “one of our greatest mathematicians” and “an out-of-the-ordinary personality in the philosophy of life.” Algebraic geometry is a field of pure mathematics that studies the relationships between equations and geometric spaces. Mr. Grothendieck was able to answer concrete questions about these relationships by finding universal mathematical principles that could shed unexpected light on them. Applications of his work are evident in fields as diverse as genetics, cryptography and robotics. “He had an extremely powerful, almost otherworldly ability of abstraction that allowed him to see problems in a highly general context, and he used this ability with exquisite precision,” Allyn Jackson wrote in a 2004 biographical essay about Mr. Grothendieck for Notices of the AMS, a journal of the American Mathematical Society. “Indeed, the trend toward increased generality and abstraction, which can be seen across the whole field since the middle of the 20th century, is due in no small part to Grothendieck’s influence.” His background and early life were tangled and harrowing. His father, whose name is usually reported as Alexander Schapiro, was a Jewish anarchist who fought against the Russian czarist government. He was captured by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution and eventually escaped to Western Europe. Along the way he lost an arm. Schapiro made a living as a street photographer and met Johanna Grothendieck, known as Hanka, an aspiring writer who was married to a man named Alf Raddatz, in Berlin, in the mid-1920s. By then Schapiro had changed his name to Alexander Tanaroff, according to Mr. Grothendieck’s biographer, Winfried Scharlau. Introducing himself to Raddatz, Tanaroff said, “I will steal your wife,” and proceeded to do so. Alexander Grothendieck, who for an unknown reason was named Raddatz at birth (not Schapiro, Tanaroff or Grothendieck), was born in Berlin on March 28, 1928. Young Alexander’s parents left Germany as the Nazis took power — they participated in the Spanish Civil War — leaving him in the care of foster parents in Hamburg, where he first went to school. In 1939, he reunited with his mother and father in France, but his father was arrested, sent to an internment camp at Le Vernet and eventually moved to Auschwitz, where he died in 1942. With his mother, Alexander lived in Le Chambon, where he finished primary school, and after the war attended college in Montpellier and later in Nancy, beginning his mathematical education in earnest. By the late 1940s he had entered the society of elite European mathematicians. During the 1950s he taught in São Paulo, Brazil, and at the University of Kansas and lectured at Harvard. In 1958 he joined the faculty of the fledgling Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES), which became a leading institute for the support of advanced research in mathematics and physics. (It is now in Bures-sur-Yvette, south of Paris.) In 1966, Mr. Grothendieck was given the Fields Medal, an international award considered among the highest in mathematics. He is widely credited for advances that made possible long-sought proofs for befuddling problems, including Fermat’s Last Theorem, the 17th-century conjecture by the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat that no three positive integers — a, b and c — exist that will satisfy the equation a n + b n = c n for any integer value of n greater than 2. The first successful proof was published by an Englishman, Andrew Wiles, in the 1990s. Mr. Grothendieck’s work was also a steppingstone to solutions of other enigmas famous among mathematicians, but far more arcane. He was instrumental in proving an especially thorny set of hypotheses known as the Weil conjectures. But characteristically he did not attack the problem directly. Instead, he built a superstructure of theory around the problem. The solution then emerged easily and naturally, in a way that made mathematicians see how the conjectures had to be true. He avoided clever tricks that proved the theorem but did not develop insight. He likened his approach to softening a walnut in water so that, as he wrote, it can be peeled open “like a perfectly ripened avocado.” “If there is one thing in mathematics that fascinates me more than anything else (and doubtless always has), it is neither ‘number’ nor ‘size,’ but always form,” he wrote in a long memoir in the 1980s, “Reapings and Sowings.” “And among the thousand-and-one faces whereby form chooses to reveal itself to us, the one that fascinates me more than any other and continues to fascinate me, is the structure hidden in mathematical things.” Mr. Grothendieck had long held pacifist views, and by the late 1960s he had also become consumed by environmentalism. In 1966, he refused to travel to Moscow to receive the Fields Medal as a protest against the imprisonment of Soviet writers. He traveled to Hanoi at the height of the Vietnam War and lectured in Paris about the trip. He resigned from IHES, at least in part because some of its funding came from the French Defense Ministry, though he was also feuding with the institute’s founder. And he helped found an organization, Survivre, that promoted environmental activism and opposed the proliferation of nuclear weapons. He studied Buddhism and mysticism. Over the next two decades, though he taught mathematics for a time at the University of Montpellier, he gradually withdrew from society and, according to his biographer, began devoting himself obsessively to writing what he called his “meditations.” Mr. Grothendieck was married at least once, to Mireille Dufour. They had three children. He had two other sons with other women. Information about his survivors was not available.

Obituary
Alexander Grothendieck
Mathematics


The Quest

Abstract: Sometimes the object of a quest is lofty and ethereal -- creating true beauty, untangling oneof the great scientific questions of our time, curing a disease, aiding world peace. At other times, it's more ordinary but in its way no less urgent, like finding a bathroom. This is the great leveler, cutting across class and gender divisions. Faced with a line outside the women's bathroom at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue, Elaine Summers headed into the empty men's room. There was one stall in the ladies' roomand -- she discovered -- four in the men's. "What's that about?" she asked. Afterward. LENS

NEW YORK CITY
BARNES & NOBLE INC
WOMEN
BATHROOMS
BATHROOMS AND TOILETS


S.E.C. Charges SpongeTech With Fraud

Abstract: If the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department know what they are talking about, then Steven Y. Moskowitz is a very good liar. On Tuesday, Mr. Moskowitz, the chief financial and chief operating officer of a penny stock known as SpongeTech Delivery Systems, insisted in an interview in his office that suspicions about his company were completely unfounded. The company, which only a year ago was advertising at sports stadiums around the country, was being investigated by the S.E.C. for no good reason, as far as he was concerned. On Wednesday, he and Michael Metter, the company’s chief executive, were arrested by F.B.I. agents. They were charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and with obstruction of justice. The S.E.C. filed civil fraud charges against them and the company. The suits accuse SpongeTech, which makes sponges infused with soap, of falsifying its financial reports by claiming sales to nonexistent companies. They say the two executives led a large “pump and dump” scheme that allowed insiders to distribute 2.5 billion shares of stock while denying that the shares existed. “Investors were deceived into believing that SpongeTech was a successful business, while SpongeTech and its senior executives were illegally dumping shares into the market,” said Christopher Conte, an associate enforcement director for the commission. Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, said the defendants were charged “with executing a bold scheme to portray SpongeTech as a company that was performing at a level far above reality.” She added, “The audacity of their scheme was matched only by their obstructive efforts during the course of the S.E.C.’s investigation.” SpongeTech may never have been a successful business, but it did buy a lot of promotions at sports stadiums and on broadcasts. Last year, the company says, it had deals with at least 30 teams, in baseball, hockey, basketball and football. The S.E.C. says some of those deals were financed through the illegal sales of stock. Some of the teams and stadiums have sued SpongeTech for not living up to its obligations. On Tuesday, sitting in a conference room in SpongeTech’s offices, across the street from the Empire State Building, Mr. Moskowitz offered a series of statements that were directly contradicted by the government’s accusations. That the S.E.C. was interested in the company was old news. The commission temporarily suspended trading in the stock in October, but allowed it to resume after 10 days. In December the company said it had been notified that the enforcement staff planned to recommend to the commission that a suit be filed, but that there had been no public developments since then. In the interview, he said that the S.E.C. was investigating only two things. The first was that the company had given a different profit figure in a news release than it gave in an S.E.C. filing. He said the S.E.C. filing, made later the same day, was correct, and that his lawyers had told him there was no need for a corrective news release, given that the S.E.C. filing had already corrected it. The second issue, he said, concerned sales of stock by persons who had done so using legal opinions — saying the shares were freely tradable — whose accuracy the commission evidently doubted. He said he did not know who the lawyers or the shareholders were. None of the shares, he added, were sold by the company’s officers or directors, or by entities associated with them. He added that the company had 723 million shares outstanding, just as it had reported in the last financial statements it filed with the commission, in April 2009. He said the company’s profit claims would be vindicated later this month, when it filed overdue audited financial statements. The commission’s suit and the federal charges, filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, contradict almost everything Mr. Moskowitz said. The S.E.C. put the number of outstanding shares in SpongeTech at almost three billion. The commission says some of the legal letters in question were supposedly signed by a nonexistent lawyer who used the name David Bomart and also used the same fax number as Mr. Moskowitz. It said the stock was sold by RM Enterprises, a company controlled by Mr. Moskowitz and Mr. Metter, and that Mr. Moskowitz fired SpongeTech’s stock transfer agent when it demanded a meeting with Mr. Bomart. After the S.E.C. began investigating and asked for ways to contact SpongeTech’s major customers, the suit says, RM Enterprises hired George Speranza, whom the S.E.C. describes as a consultant “who operates the Internet stock hype site, ‘ nohypenobull.com .’ ” He was assigned to create false Web sites and false office listings for the fictitious customers, the S.E.C. said. He was also named as a defendant in the S.E.C. case. SpongeTech shares, which traded for more than 28 cents last summer, when the promotion was at its height, fell 3.4 cents to seven-tenths of a penny in over-the-counter trading on Wednesday. More than 177 million shares were traded. If the government accusations are correct, then the company should rank as among the most aggressive penny-stock frauds ever. Two weeks ago, it filed a suit in New York state court seeking $100 million from The New York Post, which has aggressively covered the company’s disputes with sports teams, and from a hedge fund manager and others the company said were involved in a “short and distort stock manipulation scheme” to drive down the price of SpongeTech stock. “SpongeTech has been, and continues to be, greatly injured in name and reputation including, inter alia, public opinion of SpongeTech as a company and an investment vehicle is unfavorable and the company and its executives have suffered contempt, ridicule, aversion, shame and disgrace among others in their community and in the business world, among citizens of the state of New York, the nation and the world,” the suit asserted. A call to SpongeTech’s office seeking comment on Wednesday reached a message saying the phone line was temporarily out of service. Mr. Moskowitz did not respond to an e-mail message. He and Mr. Metter were released by a federal magistrate Wednesday afternoon on $2 million bond each, secured by property.

Frauds and Swindling
Securities and Commodities Violations
Securities and Exchange Commission
United States Economy


Boxer Martin Was Leaving Husband When Attacked

Abstract: Police records show that Christy Martin’s husband attacked the former women’s boxing champion after she told him she was leaving him for a woman. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office records released Wednesday say the couple had been having marital problems. James Martin was charged Tuesday with attempted murder and aggravated battery with a weapon after being on the lam for almost a week. Deputies say the 66-year-old man stabbed and shot the 42-year-old boxer during a fight at their house last week. Christy Martin was able to run out of the house and flag down a motorist, who took her to a hospital. The motorist says she had a handgun and said her husband may have shot himself. James Martin is in custody but is in the hospital. Deputies didn’t know if he had an attorney.


Filling Pantries Without a Middleman

Abstract: A few years back, the online grocery business was just about the perfect symbol of the dot-com bust. A company called Webvan had gone public in 1999, promising to reinvent the $500 billion supermarket industry — retail’s largest sector — by quickly opening high-tech warehouses across the country. With Louis Borders, the bookstore mogul, as its founder and George Shaheen, the former chief executive of Andersen Consulting, as its day-to-day boss, Webvan looked like the real thing. But it didn’t do a very good job of attracting real customers and after blowing through $1.2 billion in only two years, it was forced to close its doors. Five years later, though, the idea behind Webvan is finally starting to look good. Since its demise, smaller players have been slowly and quietly building online groceries into a legitimate business. The most intriguing of the group is a little New York company called FreshDirect that may well be offering us a glimpse of the next wave of Internet commerce. It has already become something of a cult in New York, thanks to produce, fish and meats that put most supermarkets to shame, usually at lower prices. A handful of new apartment buildings have installed refrigerators in their lobbies, built to FreshDirect specifications, to lure residents who want their groceries delivered during the day. Real estate agents selling home buyers on up-and-coming neighborhoods like Inwood have taken to emphasizing that FreshDirect delivers there. When a friend of mine saw a delivery man walking on her Brooklyn street, she chased him down to confirm that, indeed, the company had begun delivering to her part of Park Slope. Today, which is FreshDirect’s busiest day of the year, it will deliver many of the 2,000 fully cooked Thanksgiving dinners and 6,000 uncooked turkeys that it has sold in recent weeks. Operating out of a single warehouse in Queens, the company brings in about $240 million a year, up from nothing in 2001. Its executives talk as if they’re planning someday to expand to other cities, where they would compete with services like Peapod run by existing supermarkets. In all, online groceries are still only a $2 billion business, but they are growing quickly. FreshDirect got its start seven years ago, during the same Internet mania that created Webvan. Jason Ackerman, then 32, was working at a food-focused investment fund that managed some of the money that his uncle, Peter Ackerman, had made as Michael R. Milken’s right-hand man in the 1980s. Looking for new business ideas, the younger Mr. Ackerman traveled up to Harlem to talk to Joe Fedele, who ran a store called Fairway, which was then — and is now — the best supermarket in New York. “This was 1999,” Mr. Ackerman recalled, “and everybody was asking, ‘What can the Internet do for me?’ ” For them, the Internet offered a chance to avoid one of the thorniest problems in the food business: the stores themselves. In a store, vegetables, cheese, meat and seafood have to be cut into portions, dropped into a crowded case and displayed under bright lights long before they will be eaten. None of that makes them taste better. So Mr. Ackerman and Mr. Fedele, who had left Fairway, cut out the store. They spent $80 million, much of it Peter Ackerman’s, and on July 11, 2002 — 7/11 for good luck — FreshDirect made its first delivery. (Mr. Ackerman and Mr. Fedele had a falling-out in 2004, and only the one whose uncle owns a big chunk of the company is still there.) FreshDirect has taken an approach that is nearly the opposite of Webvan’s. It is trying to get one market right before entering any others. Over the last four years, it has been figuring out what New Yorkers want, where delivery vans get caught in traffic and how to put together a shrimp cocktail platter that can survive being dropped. “If we get to Chicago in 3 years or 10 years,” Mr. Ackerman says, “we want to be the best when we get there.” Still, groceries are a tough business. Even without the frustrations of delivery, supermarkets have notoriously thin profit margins. And even though New York, with its affluent, overworked population, may be the country’s best market for online groceries, FreshDirect isn’t yet turning a profit. Its executives insist that it will once the warehouse is operating at closer to full capacity. (I know. We’ve heard that one before.) To get there, the company is doing two main things. First, and in many ways less interestingly, it is nudging its customers toward food that is at least partly prepared and thus brings higher margins. Its sells a really nice Cajun fish rub, for instance, that costs only 50 cents but is largely profit. It also sells microwavable dinners, which aren’t great but are a lot better than most frozen meals. Richard Braddock, the former Citicorp and Priceline executive who is now FreshDirect’s chairman, said he thought the company could eventually have operating margins of about 10 percent, compared with 3 or 4 percent at a typical supermarket chain. Along these lines, FreshDirect stocks less than a complete selection of certain staples, like cereal, giving customers a reason to shop elsewhere for them. When the tennis partner of the company’s chief executive, Dean Furbush, sheepishly confided that he shopped at both FreshDirect and Costco, Mr. Furbush replied that he loved hearing that. The company’s second big strategy is the one that could be a window onto the Internet’s future. FreshDirect’s executives will try hard to convince you that their business isn’t really about convenience. Besides selling good food, the business is about helping people shop in ways they never could in an actual store. It’s about the Web as an information sorter. When you’re looking at, say, crackers, you can sort them by price, by the amount of saturated fat per serving or by any number of other things. In recent months, the company has also loaded hundreds of recipes from some wonderful cookbooks onto its site. You can now click on one of the recipes and quickly order all the ingredients. In the future, FreshDirect executives talk about going further. If your daughter were allergic to nuts, you would be able to tell the Web site not to sell you anything that contains nuts. For anyone with diabetes or heart disease, who keeps kosher or vegetarian, the advantages would be huge. All that time spent reading labels could be reclaimed. Mr. Braddock puts it this way: Phase 1 of the Internet revolved around providing information. Phase 2 revolved around basic transactions. In Phase 3, what Mr. Braddock calls “the golden age of marketing,” smart companies are starting to use the information about customers to sell products in fundamentally new ways. And who’s got more information about your shopping habits than your grocer? So the guys at Webvan were really onto something. They just didn’t run the company well enough to make it to the golden age.

Food
Computers and the Internet
Supermarkets
Peapod
FreshDirect


Wild Muster a Show of Strength in Their Long-Awaited Outdoor Game

Abstract: MINNEAPOLIS — Not that he was anxious or anything, but the Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold said he had started monitoring the weather about a month ago for his team’s Stadium Series outdoor game with the Chicago Blackhawks. A week before the game, he started checking the forecast twice a day. When Leipold arrived at TCF Bank Stadium early Sunday afternoon, he found conditions close to perfect: 36 degrees, overcast skies and a mild breeze out of the west. Still, as Leipold entertained guests in his suite an hour before the game, the magnitude of the day — the Wild’s long-awaited audition for a future N.H.L. Winter Classic — tugged at him. “I’m nervous because it’s a regular game day,” Leipold said outside Suite 17, the same number as his suite at Xcel Energy Center. “That’s always a stressful time. But everything about today is different. This is not just a game day. This is something we’ve been looking forward to and talking about for five, six years.” As auditions go, this one went close to swimmingly. The Wild, so dead in the water that they had fired Coach Mike Yeo eight days earlier, thumped the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, 6-1, for their fourth consecutive victory under the interim coach John Torchetti and their first in Minnesota since Dec. 28. The Wild’s best offensive output of the season energized an announced crowd of 50,426, slightly less than capacity, in the home of the University of Minnesota football team. The day featured hometown touches like a pregame concert by the Minnesota-based band Soul Asylum (one member wore a Minnesota North Stars ski cap), the fans near center ice turning over white placards to spell out, “Let’s Play Hockey!” and the snow showers that fell during the first period. “It was awesome, especially when it started snowing a little bit,” said Wild left wing Thomas Vanek, who played for the Buffalo Sabres in the snowy inaugural Winter Classic in Orchard Park, N.Y., in 2008. “The conditions were great, and the fans were amazing.” On top of that, an announced crowd of 37,922 watched on Saturday as alumni of the North Stars, the Wild’s N.H.L. predecessor in Minnesota, and the Blackhawks played on the same rink. Thousands of fans were dressed in throwback North Stars jerseys, recalling a franchise that moved to Dallas in 1993. One brought a rubber chicken to taunt Al Secord, as much a villain to North Stars fans in the 1980s as Denis Potvin was to Rangers fans around that time. (Secord, now an airline pilot, did not attend.) The one negative: Sunday’s game was only the second nonsellout in 17 N.H.L. outdoor games; TCF Bank Stadium seats 52,525 for football. Wild fans initially balked at the N.H.L.-mandated ticket prices, ranging from $109 to $449 for both games. The Wild eventually sold their allotment of 35,000 tickets, Leipold said, and the Blackhawks sold their 10,000 as well. A few hundred still remained on Wednesday when, according to Leopold, the N.H.L. released an additional 4,000 seats. “If we had 40,000 to sell, we would have sold 40,000,” Leipold said. (An N.H.L. spokesman declined to confirm Leipold’s account. He added that the league was pleased with the crowd and the atmosphere.) Leipold’s relentless lobbying of Commissioner Gary Bettman for a Winter Classic led to this, a junior varsity version of the New Year’s Day staple. Leipold based his case on the sport’s popularity in Minnesota, billed as the State of Hockey. Minnesota has more players — 55,450 — registered with U.S.A. Hockey than any other state. Thousands more play on ponds and homemade backyard rinks all through the winter. But little of that resonates outside Minnesota, and the Wild lack the national cachet of a legacy franchise. Formed through expansion in 2000-1, the Wild have won one division title, in 2008, and have advanced to the Western Conference finals only once, in 2003. (The North Stars reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1981 and 1991.) And the Wild’s biggest homegrown star, right wing Marian Gaborik, left in 2009 to sign with the Rangers as a free agent. Wild officials have said that Bettman told Leipold years ago that the Wild needed to win more games and develop star players to be considered for a Winter Classic. “Speaking honestly, the league has never disputed whether the market or our fans deserve a Winter Classic,” said Matt Majka, the Wild’s chief operating officer. “What they wanted for us to be is a better hockey team. And that was fair.” In 2012, Leipold lavished identical 13-year, $98 million free-agent deals on left wing Zach Parise, the son of the former North Stars captain J. P. Parise, and defenseman Ryan Suter, whose father, Bob, played on the 1980 United States Olympic team. The Wild have made the playoffs in the last three seasons, the longest stretch in franchise history, losing each time to the Blackhawks. “We think we are a much better hockey team today than we were several years ago,” Majka said. “We made the playoffs three straight years, and we intend to be in the playoffs again this year. We have some marquee players, which is another thing the league wanted from us, some higher-profile players. We have those now. We think we’ve positioned ourselves really well.” When the Wild and the N.H.L. announced the Stadium Series game in August, Bettman declined to specify what the Wild needed to land the Winter Classic. “There are a whole host of factors that go into making that decision, some of which have nothing to do with the team or the market,” he said. The Wild may have to wait a bit longer. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that the N.H.L. was strongly considering Busch Stadium in St. Louis for the 2017 game. If the Blues get it, St. Louis will be just the third franchise to be awarded the Winter Classic without having won a Stanley Cup. (The others are the Sabres, who hosted the first Classic, and the Washington Capitals, with the six-time 50-goal scorer Alex Ovechkin.) “I don’t know what else we can do,” Leipold said. “We have marquee players. We’re a perennial playoff team. We have had five playoff series the last three years. This market couldn’t be better. Our TV ratings are unbelievable, the highest they’ve ever been. We think we’re the total package. We’re building the case, and we think we’ve got it.”

Ice hockey
Minnesota Wild
Chicago Blackhawks


Two Hopi Traditions: Running and Winning

Abstract: ORAIBI, Ariz. — Above the creased high-desert landscape of northeastern Arizona, the Hopi village Oraibi, continuously inhabited for nearly 1,000 years, sits atop a blond mesa crumbling at the edges. Each fall, during one of the Hopi calendar’s dozen or so ceremonial races, a hundred or more Hopi men gather in a pack on the scrubby plain below, all muted tones of mustard yellows and sage greens. A woman in Hopi dress holds a woven basket in the distance. Onlookers shout, “Nahongvita” — loosely, “stay strong” or “dig deep” in Hopi. A signal is given. To the Hopi, to run is to pray. And the men run, several miles, past the bean field, beyond the barely marked graves of ancestors, around the decayed facade of a Spanish church and up the precariously steep passages to the top of the mesa, where they are received by a chorus of thanks — “asqwali” from the women, “kwakwai” from the men. Image Juwan Nuvayokva with baskets he has won in ceremonial races. The races are meant to bring rain and prosperity to the Hopi and the rest of the world. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times Juwan Nuvayokva, a former all-American cross-country runner at Northern Arizona, has been the first to the top in dozens of Hopi races. And he would probably win the one scheduled for Saturday in Oraibi, where he was raised, if it did not fall on the day of Arizona’s high school cross-country championships, in suburban Phoenix. Nuvayokva is an assistant coach for the boys’ team at Hopi High, vying for its 26th Arizona state championship in a row. Its streak is the longest in the country for cross-country and the fourth-longest active run for any high school sport, boys’ or girls’, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. “Hopi have that running blood in them,” Nuvayokva said. “It’s up to us to find it and use it.” Image The Hopi High assistant coach Juwan Nuvayokva near his childhood home in the Hopi village Oraibi. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times Starting a Tradition Hopi High, as modern as any suburban school, has about 400 students in Grades 9 to 12. Before it opened in 1986, many Hopi teenagers, like those from other tribes, went to Indian boarding schools in faraway places. Among them, more than a century ago, was Lewis Tewanima. Sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania — where he was a classmate and track teammate of Jim Thorpe of the Sac and Fox Nation — Tewanima became a two-time Olympian. He finished ninth in the marathon at the 1908 London Games and won the silver medal in the 10,000 meters in Stockholm in 1912. He remains a Hopi hero, and an annual race is held on the reservation each year in Tewanima’s honor. Rick Baker, 56, grew up in the Hopi village Tewa and ran cross-country 80 miles away at Winslow High and then in college in Oklahoma. He was hired in 1987 as a Hopi High physical education teacher and coach and was asked to start a cross-country program. “A lot of schools with Hopi kids had won state championships,” Baker said. “And I thought if we could get all the Hopis here, we should have a pretty good team.” Image Coach Rick Baker, overseeing stretching exercises, started the Hopi High boys' cross-country program and has led it to 25 consecutive Arizona state titles. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times His first three boys’ teams finished in the top 10 in one of Arizona’s small-school divisions. His fourth, in 1990, won the state title. The team has won every one since. The championships are a point of pride, but Hopi modesty inhibits boasting. The 25 state championship trophies are scattered in a small storage room, five of them on the floor, two on a plastic bin next to a bike tire, one of them broken. But the pressure to keep the streak intact is palpable. Boys on this year’s team admitted to nerves, and Baker uses the streak as motivation — do not be the team that breaks the streak. “I don’t want to be part of the team that doesn’t win the 26th in a row,” the freshman Jihad Nodman said. Darion Fredericks, a senior, said he knew that the team was watched, both by opponents around the state and by Hopi on the reservation. “They know what we’re capable of,” he said. “I definitely feel the eyes on me, even in the community. They say, ‘Hey, you’re the one that runs.’” A Test of Depth Success is built on endurance, not speed. While Hopi High has had its share of individual state champions (Nuvayokva did it twice), winning a team title requires depth. Courses are generally 5,000 meters, or 3.1 miles. Time is less important than order. The finishing place of each team’s top five finishers (out of seven starters) are added together for a team score — 1 point for the overall first-place runner, 2 points for the second, 10 points for the 10th, 100 for the 100th, and so on. The team with the lowest score wins. A perfect score is 15, if a team sweeps the first five places. The Hopi did that at state one year. Image The team eating a meal the night before a race last month. On Saturday, Hopi High will be going for its 26th straight state title. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times “A lot of our kids don’t have a lot of speed,” Baker said. “If you timed them in the 400 meters, they probably wouldn’t break 70 seconds. But they have endurance. They can run and run and run.” In early October, a Hopi High bus, painted in the school colors, blue and white, drove five hours to a night meet in Casa Grande, between Phoenix and Tucson. Members of the boys’ cross-country team sat in the back half of the bus. The girls’ team, the winner of 22 state championships in 28 seasons — a seven-year string was broken last year — sat in the front. The teams sometimes travel together, but they have different coaches and do not practice together. At the Casa Grande meet, they got off the bus and headed different directions into the cool night. They were quickly absorbed into an athletic carnival, acres of uniformed teams wandering to and from the course and huddled around team tents. The course crossed soccer fields, a stretch of dirt and a golf course and then snaked back along several fairways to the finish. The air was filled with dust and the sound of generators powering temporary lights. Baker was nervous. A quiet and poised man, with glasses and spiky black hair lightly freckled with gray, he felt that this year’s team was vulnerable. The team was young. It had melted in the heat of a meet in Phoenix the week before. More broadly, Baker had found it increasingly difficult to find Hopi boys dedicated to running. Fewer committed to the summer running program. There were too many distractions these days. This could be the year that the streak ended. “People stop me and say, ‘How’s the team doing?’” Baker said. “They know we didn’t start too well. But they say, ‘You’ll be ready at state.’” Hopi High ran in the meet’s final race, with many of the state’s biggest schools. At the start, Baker crowded in with his seven boys, including his son Steven, a sophomore. “Come on, guys,” he shouted. “Be strong! Be a fighter!” “Nahongvita!” they shouted together. Image Members of the Hopi High boys’ junior varsity team before a race last month. “Hopi have that running blood in them,” an assistant coach said. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times Following Competitors The starting gun sounded. Baker and Nuvayokva watched a colorful blur of 100 runners fade into the dark of the golf course. Because of the serpentine route, they could jog to a spot on the course to watch and then move to the next switchback to watch the runners pass again, repeating the pattern several times toward the finish. “Where are they, where are they, where are they?” Baker said to himself, scanning a string of passing runners. “They should be here somewhere.” He and Nuvayokva share an ability both to count runners (“You’re in 70th! Move up!” Baker shouted to one of his athletes) and to tally rivals (“That’s their fourth! Their fifth!” Nuvayokva shouted as boys from Sedona Red Rock High blurred past). With each Hopi runner, Baker’s calm deportment gave way to full-throated screams and hand gestures. He sometimes ran alongside the runners for a few strides and shouted instructions into their serious faces. “Two minutes hard! Two minutes hard!” he shouted to one. “Get that guy in the white! Beat him!” Image Baker yelling as his son Steven ran by. “A lot of our kids don’t have a lot of speed,” Baker said, adding: "But they have endurance. They can run and run and run.” Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times Another Hopi was told in the final mile that his score was going to count. “You’re No. 5,” Baker called, imploring him to sprint and pass as many opposing runners as he could. “Ten guys! You can catch 10 guys!” Individual Hopi runners finished nowhere near the top, and because of a registration glitch, their efforts were not recorded. Still, Baker boarded the bus relaxed and relieved. He saw progress. The bus stopped at Little Caesars to pick up 16 pizzas and then unloaded the boys and girls at a nearby Holiday Inn Express at about 11 p.m. “Be glad; be happy you finished,” Baker told the boys in the lobby. “But don’t be satisfied. Because there’s more in you somewhere.” He scheduled a five-mile run for 7 a.m. When the Hopi stayed at the same hotel last year, their morning run took them past a cotton field, and Baker grabbed some to use for a couple of Hopi ceremonies. The field was gone this year, plowed over for a strip mall. Image The Hopi High freshman Dylan Morningstar recovering after a race. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times The boys huddled before heading off to bed. “1-2-3 Hopi!” they shouted. A Morning Run On the reservation, the low and distant edges of the sky are pierced by spires and plateaus. The 12 villages of the Hopi reservation, surrounded by Navajo land, are connected by the two-lane thread of Highway 264, which winds over and among three large mesas — helpfully named First Mesa, Second Mesa and Third Mesa — about 6,000 feet above sea level. To the southwest is the snow-tipped summit of Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona, part of a mountain range sacred to the Hopi, who believe it is home to spirits known as kachinas. Three Fridays after the Casa Grande meet, as the morning sun lit Oraibi, the smell of burning wood and coal came from some of the houses. Like the perch itself, they are built of stone and sit in various states of surrender to time and gravity. Some are patched together with cinder blocks and clay. The 150 or so residents of Oraibi choose to live with no electricity or running water, and there are 13 underground kivas used for village ceremonies. Each has a wood ladder poking through a hole in the top. Nuvayokva, a 36-year-old who smiles his way through nearly everything, wore running shoes and jogged down through the broken edges of the mesa. Parts of the trail were sprinkled with pottery fragments. “When we were kids, we were told to never pick them up,” Nuvayokva said. “Otherwise the people who owned them before will come back and get you.” Image Darion Fredericks, left, and Mikal Poleahla sleeping on the bus ride home after a race last month. Fredericks, a senior, said he knew that the team was watched, both by opponents around the state and by Hopi on the reservation. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times He ran onto the plain and shrunk into a speck, then looped up a trail and returned full-size a few minutes later. As a boy, he often ran to work in his clan’s cornfields, one of them 16 miles away. Last year, training for a marathon, he often ran from the high school, 29 miles away. Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, said that the tribe’s tradition of running flowed from its scouts, men who directed tribal migrations and searches for water. (One of roughly three dozen remaining Hopi clans, the Lizard clan, supposedly got its name from such scouts, who were able to survive in the desert with little water, he said.) Running was the method of sending messages between Hopi villages. It became part of ceremonies, too, which can last days. Photographs from the early 1900s show Hopi men lined up to run in ceremonial races like the women’s basket dance race, most wearing loincloths and no shoes. “They are for the blessings of the cloud people, for the rain, for the harvest, so we have a good life, a long life,” Kuwanwisiwma said. “That’s what these ceremonial runners do. They bring this positiveness to the people.” In some variations, the first to the top receives a gourd of water, which he then carries to his cornfield to bless the crops in all four directions. In other races, winners bury sacred tokens in the ground as offerings. “It might sound a little funny, but running in cultural races is a lot different than running in high school or college,” said Devan Lomayaoma, 33, who won two individual state cross-country titles at Hopi High, ran at Northern Arizona, teaches at a Hopi elementary school and has won many Hopi races. “In cultural races, you never got recognition for it. They have a deeper meaning.” Nuvayokva said the same thing. Image Nuvayokva — an assistant coach, a two-time individual state champion for Hopi High and an all-American at Northern Arizona — went on a morning run near his childhood home in Oraibi. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times “It’s different than the Anglo culture, where you run and it’s every man for himself,” Nuvayokva said. “When I competed in the N.C.A.A., you’re trying to beat others. Here, you do it for others.” He had to cut his morning run short because the team had a meet in Holbrook, about 90 minutes south. On a room-temperature day under blue skies and cotton ball clouds, the Hopi boys finished second among 18 teams. Among more than 100 varsity competitors, the top five Hopi boys finished 6th, 12th, 15th, 21st and 23rd. ‘Pretty Much on Pace’ The meet was won by Tuba City, a rival school on Navajo land that some Hopi on the western side of the reservation attend. Baker mentioned how much Hopi High had gained on its rivals in the past couple of meets. But Tuba City is a substantially bigger school, in a different classification, so Hopi High will not compete against it head-to-head at the state meet. “I feel pretty good,” Baker said. “Pretty good. We’re pretty much on pace for the state meet.” But he also knew that plenty of other schools, including a handful with reasonable hopes of an upset, dreamed of ending the streak. “We’re banquet talk,” Baker said. “That’s what I tell the boys. At the other teams’ banquet, they’ll say, ‘We beat the Hopi,’ or ‘You outraced the Hopi kid.’” Image Trey Lomayestewa cheering on his Hopi High teammates on Oct. 23 in Holbrook, Ariz. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times As the boys cooled down and put on their white warm-up suits for the awards presentation, a 70-year-old Hopi man named Lee Grover stood to the side. He still jogs a few miles in the mornings, to greet and pray to the sun, and hopes that his running motivates the younger generations. The team has helped “put the Hopi back on the map,” Grover said, but he worries that even the strongest of traditions can fade. “We’re gifted with this talent of running,” Grover said. “It’s something we should never let die.”

Track and field
Hopi Indians
Arizona
School Sports
Running


Spurs Clinch 19th Straight Playoff Berth

Abstract: Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons, 97-81, on Wednesday to clinch their 19th straight playoff berth. San Antonio (51-9) won its 29th straight home game, and its first game at home after a monthlong road trip brought on by the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. San Antonio and Golden State are the only teams to clinch spots in the postseason. ■ Kyle Lowry scored 32 points, DeMar DeRozan added 31 and the host Toronto Raptors beat the Utah Jazz, 104-94, for their club-record 11th straight home win. Toronto (40-19) led the entire second half on the way to its fifth win in six games. ■ Isaiah Thomas had 30 points to lead the Boston Celtics to their fourth straight win, 116-93, over the Portland Trail Blazers. Boston has won 12 straight at home. ■ Kemba Walker scored 30 points to lead the visiting Charlotte Hornets to a 119-99 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Cody Zeller added 15 points for the Hornets as they continued to climb the Eastern Conference standings. Charlotte won for the 10th time in 13 games.


Game 1 Is a Layup as Bryant Drives the Lakers

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant ’s résumé is already sterling and startlingly long. It includes three championships, an 81-point game and a trail of clutch shots. On Thursday, he tacked on another item, leveling the Orlando Magic with 40 points in Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals , the first time he has reached that total in a finals game and the 46th 40-point game in finals history. Behind Bryant, the Lakers landed an assertive first blow, 100-75, and lead the series, 1-0. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday. Bryant spent Thursday toying with the Magic defenders Courtney Lee and Mickael Pietrus, twisting them like corkscrews before popping free for shot after shot. As the game wore on, Bryant grew stronger, increasing his scoring from 6 points in the first quarter to 12 in the second to 18 in a dazzling third-quarter display, when the Lakers turned a 10-point halftime edge into a blowout. Bryant’s services were largely unneeded in the fourth quarter. By then, he had presented the Magic with the conundrum of dealing with him after it had just shed itself of LeBron James in the Eastern Conference finals . “When he gets it going, he’s one of the best players of all time,” said Lamar Odom , who had 11 points and 14 rebounds. The gold and purple confetti had just found its way to the court and the song “I Love L.A.” had just blared its last when a subdued Coach Phil Jackson arrived at the postgame podium. “For whatever it’s worth, I told these guys it doesn’t matter if we win by 60 or 6 in this game,” Jackson said, adding, “It’s just one win.” It was part Zen speech, part plain talk and based on the Lakers’ immediate history. They entered well versed and rehearsed in mismatches, the ones that favor them in fantasy and betray them in reality. The Lakers have been favored the win the N.B.A. title the last two seasons, but they were sidetracked last season by the Boston Celtics, and they have taken an unsteady route this postseason. Again, they are the favorites. The Lakers paired 14 N.B.A. titles against Orlando, which is still seeking its first finals victory. Los Angeles had more star power in the stands than there is on an Orlando roster that is a hodgepodge of perimeter shooters held together by one legitimate game changer in Dwight Howard , who was bottled up by Pau Gasol (16 points, 8 rebounds) and Andrew Bynum (9 points, 9 rebounds) in Game 1. For an evening, predictions were cast aside and a performance will be remembered. Bryant took his share of shots in the first half, attempting 18 and recording just as many points. Jackson said he became concerned the Lakers were relying too much on Bryant, but kept going to him, and Bryant kept delivering. Bryant began the third quarter with 9 of the Lakers’ first 11 points. Gasol’s layup gave the Lakers a 68-50 lead with 5 minutes 42 seconds left in the third quarter, prompting Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy to call a timeout. That did not cure the ailing Magic, nor did the return of the All-Star point guard Jameer Nelson, who played for the first time since sustaining a torn labrum in his right shoulder in February. Bryant’s performance coincided with one of the Magic’s worst. After securing 40 points in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, a single-teamed Howard mustered only one field goal, 12 points and 15 rebounds. “Our effort tonight just wasn’t there,” Howard said. “Nobody’s effort was there.” Nelson made his debut at the start of the second quarter and connected on his first shot. He added only two more. The rest of the Magic shared in his rust. Orlando shot a dismal 29.9 percent and none of its starters made at least half of their shots. The Lakers dominated in every category, scoring 56 points in the paint to the Magic’s 22 and outrebounding the Magic, 55-41. “There was nothing I liked, O.K.?” Van Gundy said. “I mean, other than ball movement in the first 18 minutes of the game, really what was there to like?” There was much to like, from the Lakers’ perspective, where everything came up purple and gold. It is now the Magic’s turn to take comfort in past numbers. Orlando has shown resolve in the playoffs and rallied to win series against the Philadelphia 76ers when it trailed, 1-0, and against the Celtics, when it was down, 3-2. Then again, Jackson’s teams are 43-0 after winning Game 1 of a playoff series. Bryant pumped his fist after several of his scores, showing more emotion than he had a day earlier when he bristled at reporters in search of a plot line and refused to supply any ink. Afterward, he joked that his daughters had started to nickname him Grumpy, from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” “I just want it so bad, that’s all,” Bryant said. “I just want it really bad. You just put everything you have into the game and your emotions kind of flow out of you.” And, apparently, so do the jumpers. When asked what the Magic could do in the future against Bryant, Howard, perhaps only half jokingly responded, “Pray that he does miss.”

Basketball
Los Angeles Lakers
Orlando Magic
Bryant Kobe
Howard Dwight
Jackson Phil
Odom Lamar
Nelson Jameer
Bynum Andrew
Gasol Pau


Republican Council Members Endorse Lhota

Abstract: All four Republican members of the City Council made an endorsement in the New York mayoral race on Wednesday, pledging their support to Joseph J. Lhota, a former deputy in the Giuliani administration and Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman. Their unified backing is a boost to Mr. Lhota, who faces a better-financed rival, John A. Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of the Gristedes grocery store chain. But the endorsement is unlikely to end the schism in the city’s Republican Party this year. The five Republican county chairmen, who all endorsed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2009, have clashed this time around, with each other and the Republican lawmakers in their boroughs. In Queens, for instance, Phil Ragusa, the county chairman, is supporting Mr. Catsimatidis, while a prominent Republican council member, Eric Ulrich, is behind Mr. Lhota. Image Joseph J. Lhota Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times Mr. Ulrich has suggested that Mr. Catsimatidis, who has donated heavily to Democrats in the past, is seeking to buy the support of Republicans in New York. “The rank and file of the Republican Party is not for sale,” Mr. Ulrich said in an interview recently. On Wednesday, the Bronx Republican Party voted to back Mr. Lhota, according to a person who was told of the decision. But the Manhattan Republican Party is still learning toward Mr. Catsimatidis. Republican notables are split too: former Gov. George E. Pataki has endorsed Mr. Catsimatidis, but former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is supporting Mr. Lhota. The divisions in the party could complicate attempts by Mr. Lhota and Mr. Catsimatidis to rally Republican voters. In a news conference outside of City Hall, Mr. Lhota said he was eager to work with the four council members: James Oddo and Vincent M. Ignizio of Staten Island, and Eric Ulrich and Daniel J. Halloran III of Queens. Mr. Lhota zeroed in on classic Republican issues in New York, referring to his “laserlike focus on crime reduction and getting our budget under control.”

Mayoral races
Republicans
Joseph J Lhota
New York City Council


Oversight of Parade Faulted in Fatal Texas Train Collision

Abstract: HOUSTON — Lax oversight by city officials and parade organizers that allowed a parade route to pass over a railroad crossing without proper safety precautions was the probable cause of a train collision that killed four veterans on a parade float last year in Midland, Tex., federal investigators announced Tuesday. The findings, revealed Tuesday in Washington at a meeting of the National Transportation Safety Board, came 10 days before the first anniversary of the crash . Agency officials and investigators, during the meeting and in a report summary released Tuesday, faulted Midland city officials, its Police Department and the parade organizers for allowing the procession to take place without a permit or a written safety plan and without notifying the railroad. It was the first time the agency, after a nearly yearlong investigation, had publicly discussed a probable cause or criticized the actions of the city or organizers. The main attraction of the annual parade in downtown Midland last Nov. 15, was two trucks that carried wounded veterans and their wives on seats attached to open flatbed trailers. About 30 minutes after the start of the parade, the first truck crossed over the tracks, but the second one — an orange cab reading “Heroes on Board” with 12 veterans and 12 spouses — was struck by a Union Pacific freight train traveling 62 miles per hour. Four Army and Marine veterans who were wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan were killed, and a dozen others were injured. The parade was organized by a nonprofit group, Show of Support Military Hunt Inc., that sponsors the annual event and hunting trip. The group did not obtain a permit for the parade, though it should have according to city ordinances and had done so in previous years. The city allowed the group to hold parades without a permit from 2009 to 2012, the safety board determined. No police personnel were posted at the crossing to watch for trains, although officers were stationed there from 2008 to 2011. Image A candlelight vigil last year in memory of the four veterans who were killed in a collision at a railroad crossing last Nov. 15. Credit Mark Sterkel/Odessa American, via Associated Press “This terrible collision between a fast-moving freight train and a slow-rolling parade float of veterans and their loved ones should never have occurred,” the safety board chairwoman, Deborah A. P. Hersman, said in a statement. “Parade and event organizers must identify and manage hazards in advance to ensure a safe outcome for participants and spectators.” The safety board made several recommendations to the city and other agencies, including that Midland officials require every organization planning a parade to submit a safety plan that includes notification of railroads and a safety briefing for vehicle operators. It expressed concern that numerous communities around the country failed to adopt laws or safety plans to reduce the hazards associated with parades, and pointed out other recent fatalities at parades, including a collision at a Fourth of July event in Bangor, Me. Outside of avoiding the railroad crossing entirely, which the Midland parade had done in previous years, the safety board said the most effective way for the city and organizers to have prevented the crash was to have notified the railroad before the parade, because the railroad might have halted train traffic, restricted train speeds or provided a flagman at the crossing. In a statement, Sara Higgins, a Midland spokeswoman, said the city could not comment on specifics about the accident, citing a lawsuit that has been joined by all the wounded veterans and the families of those killed. “Though we have already implemented sweeping changes to our special events ordinance, the N.T.S.B.’s expert opinion leads us to believe that there is more work to be done,” Ms. Higgins said. The review and anniversary, she added, “bring back many painful emotions and memories, and our hearts continue to go out to the families who relive the accident every single day.” Investigators did not fault the driver of the float, but said a contributing factor in the crash was his “expectancy of safety” as he went through the crossing, because law enforcement officers had blocked traffic, escorted the parade and allowed him to drive through red lights. Once in the crossing, the driver focused not on the train but on his side-view mirrors because he worried about jostling his passengers, the agency found. The driver, Dale Andrew Hayden, 50, told investigators when they interviewed him in February that he had confused the train horn and the flashing lights at the crossing with the sounds and sights of the parade, and that the train appeared to be stationary as he crossed the tracks. The safety board found that neither railway infrastructure nor alcohol or drug use played a role in the accident, and they said the driver’s expectation of safety and the parade noise most “likely reduced” his ability to hear or interpret the crossing’s warning system and the train horn.

Parade
Train wreck
Fatalities,casualties
Midland TX