With New Heart Pump, Cheney Slowly Resumes Old Life

Abstract: This article is by Helene Cooper , Lawrence K. Altman and Michael D. Shear. WASHINGTON — A few days before Christmas, former Vice President Dick Cheney ended a self-imposed sabbatical from partisan politics to headline a fund-raiser for Maria Cino, a party operative and Bush administration official who is running to replace Michael Steele as head of the Republican National Committee. The fund-raiser for Ms. Cino, held at the Alexandria, Va., home of Mr. Cheney’s former aide Mary Matalin, was his first major foray into partisan Washington political theater since receiving a mechanical heart pump in July that has, most doctors say, saved Mr. Cheney’s life by taking on the task of helping to push blood through his arteries. Mr. Cheney, as he did at several holiday receptions in Washington, chatted about his new pump. At one cocktail party, he even opened his coat jacket to show it off. While Mr. Cheney is noticeably thinner — his trademark stiff, one-sided grin now shows up on a markedly leaner face — he is returning, associates say, to his old life, including hunting and socializing. But for the most part, Mr. Cheney, 69, has put aside his public role as the fiery, combative political figure of the last two years, who seemed to relish every opportunity to engage in verbal jousting with President Obama. With George W. Bush having decided to stay largely silent during Mr. Obama’s tenure, Mr. Cheney embraced the role of public critic, accusing the new, young president of rolling back Bush-era policies and undermining the nation’s security. In 2009, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Obama gave dueling speeches on the same day. Now, however, family members and friends paint a portrait of a man less focused on the day-to-day back-and-forth in Washington and one more interested in documenting his years of service in a memoir and navigating life with his new pump. Mr. Cheney’s heart will never beat at full strength again, doctors say. His new mechanical pump, a partial artificial heart known as a ventricular assist device, leaves patients without a pulse because it pushes blood continuously instead of mimicking the heart’s own beat. Most pulse-less patients feel nothing unusual, but the devices do pose significant risks of infection. They are implanted as a last resort either for permanent use or as a bridge to transplant until a donor heart can be found. Mr. Cheney, who has participated in some of the nation’s toughest decisions for decades, now faces a crucial one of his own: whether to seek a full heart transplant. It is a decision he will most likely be forced to make within months. He is old enough that soon he will no longer qualify for a transplant, doctors say. And while it is possible for some patients with Mr. Cheney’s device to live for years, the long-term prospects remain unknown. His family and friends will not talk publicly with any specificity about the former vice president’s heart condition or the steps he might be taking to confront it. But in the meantime, Mr. Cheney has begun resuming his old activities. Besides the Cino fund-raiser, he attended a round of holiday parties in Washington — leaving whispers in his trail about his weight loss. “For all of the caricatures of him, he never lets it get under his skin,” said Ms. Matalin, a close friend. Mr. Cheney, who spent the holidays at his ranch in Wyoming, recently had a class of West Point cadets over to his house in McLean, Va., to talk about his experiences working for four of the last five Republican presidents and what it was like to work at the White House. In Wyoming, he has been spotted in local grocery stores, stocking up to make chili and spaghetti sauce, “as well as walking me through how to cook Christmas dinner,” his daughter Liz Cheney said in an e-mail. But most of all, Ms. Cheney said, her father has been working on his book, which is scheduled to come out this fall. “He still prefers to write in longhand on yellow legal pads despite my efforts to introduce a laptop into his process,” Ms. Cheney said. By supplementing the amount of blood pumped through the body, Mr. Cheney’s pump allows him to do many things he would do with a working heart. Such patients can bicycle, golf, play tennis, drive, shop and generally do what they did before they developed severe heart failure. They need to take an anticoagulant, like warfarin (sold under the brand name Coumadin), and have blood tests to monitor the amount. Mr. Cheney’s pump was placed near his heart. With most patients, a power line emerges about waist level and connects to a controller, a minicomputer that plugs into a pair of one-and-a-half-pound, 12-volt batteries. Patients wear a black mesh vest over their clothing that holds the controller and batteries. Mr. Cheney’s friends and family say he is making plans to get out in 2011 and give more speeches. On Jan. 20, he is to fly to Texas for the 20th anniversary of the Persian Gulf war with the first President Bush, the emir of Kuwait and a host of alumni of that administration, including Brent Scowcroft, the former national security adviser, and Colin L. Powell, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time, when Mr. Cheney was defense secretary. On Dec. 28, Mr. Cheney was the host of a fund-raiser at the home of some friends in Jackson, Wyo., for a scholarship program that he and his wife, Lynne, have begun at the University of Wyoming. They donated $4.5 million to help create scholarships for students to study overseas. In his remarks, Mr. Cheney said that after getting kicked out of Yale twice, he owed getting his life back on track to the University of Wyoming. Mr. Cheney’s heart pump is also allowing him to go to the movies. “He and my mom went to see ‘True Grit’ at the Teton Theater here in Jackson a few days ago,” Ms. Cheney said. Her parents, she said, gave it “two thumbs up.”

Cheney Dick
Heart
United States Politics and Government
Implants


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

Abstract: NAHA, Japan — Yuki Yanagita greeted Randy Choate with a two-run single in the eighth inning, and Japan beat the Major League Baseball All-Stars 6-4 Thursday in an exhibition game following their five-game postseason tour. Japan won the series 3-2 and the teams split a pair exhibition games that preceded and followed. With Japan ahead 3-2 Thursday, Nobuhiro Matsuda doubled off Jose Veras leading off the eighth, and Ginji Akaminai walked. After a pair of bunts, Choate relieved, Yanagita singled and Ryosuke Kikuchi tripled for a 6-2 lead. Justin Morneau had an RBI single in the bottom half, and Alcides Escobar hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Shota Takada won by allowing one run — unearned — four hits and four walks in three innings, and Yuji Nishino pitched the ninth for the save. Loser Hector Santiago gave up two runs — one earned — and four hits in four innings. Morneau’s sacrifice fly put the MLB All-Stars ahead in the first, but Kenta Imamiya hit a tying single in the second, Tetsuto Yamada had a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fourth and Yoshihiro Maru tripled in a run off Tsuyoshi Wada in the fifth for a 3-1 lead. Evan Longoria homered in the bottom half off Takahiro Matsuba.


The Renegades

Abstract: HE called her a racist just a year and a half ago. She fired back by accusing him of "playing the race card." Now they're a team. Roger Corbin and Lisanne Altmann, the two Democrats at the heart of the political melee over the leadership of the Nassau County Legislature, admit that the angry recriminations between them in a 2004 legislative floor fight were hurtful. But they say they have long since moved beyond that. If anything, they insist, they are more united for it. And no wonder, since Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann have cut themselves off from the rest of the Democratic majority in the Legislature and joined forces with the Republican minority, in an attempt to unseat the presiding officer, Judith A. Jacobs, and replace her with Mr. Corbin; Ms. Altmann would then be his deputy. Ms. Jacobs countered with a complicated tactic that landed the dispute in court. The Legislature's seven other Democrats have stood by Ms. Jacobs, and many of them share her anger at Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann for turning to the Republicans without first trying to resolve their complaints against Ms. Jacobs within the admittedly contentious Democratic caucus. Ms. Jacobs's supporters see Mr. Corbin, who is the deputy presiding officer, and Ms. Altmann as power-hungry turncoats who have abandoned their own party simply to further their ambitions. But Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann say they forged a coalition with Republicans only because Ms. Jacobs was too weak a leader to stand up to Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive. They say they would make the Legislature a stronger counterbalance to his administration. "People are afraid we won't do what the county executive wants, and we'll therefore threaten the Democratic power structure," Ms. Altmann said in an interview. "But I believe the opposite: The only way we get damaged is if we stop being good government officials." Mr. Corbin, of Westbury, and Ms. Altmann, of Great Neck, are veteran legislators who have now put their political careers on the line. Each clearly saw the leadership election for the new term as the best chance to break out from a Legislature filled with ambitious Democrats. Mr. Corbin explains his decision to reach across the aisle very simply: "The timing was right." And recent history on the Island suggests that such a move doesn't have to spell political suicide. In Suffolk County, Republican legislators who defied party discipline to form coalitions with Democrats have since won higher office, according to Desmond Ryan, a Republican lobbyist. "It can put them in position to be whatever they want to be," Mr. Ryan said. "It can become a negotiating chip for electoral advancement." He noted that Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann have each expressed interest in running for county executive someday. Brad O'Hearn, a Democratic political consultant, agreed about the possible positive side. "But if they lose, they lose whatever career goals and ambitions they have for the long term," he said. "Because if you strike at the king, you must kill the king. Otherwise, you learn just how quickly you can become a has-been in politics." Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann thought they would know by now whether their gamble had paid off. The Legislature was scheduled to meet and elect officers on Jan. 3. But the meeting and vote were postponed when Ms. Jacobs took the unexpected step of dropping out of the Democratic Party, at least on paper. Ms. Jacobs and her supporters said she switched her party registration to unaffiliated so that, under the county's rules, she would become the minority leader representing the seven other Democrats, forcing the Republicans into a majority led by Mr. Corbin and not their own leader, Peter Schmitt. Rather than let that happen, the Jacobs camp hoped, the Republicans would drop the coalition. "But the endgame here is not to see Roger and Lisanne disenfranchised from us," Ms. Jacobs said. "It's to somehow pull us back together." Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann called Ms. Jacobs's efforts nothing more than a desperate ploy to retain power, and said they were confident that their coalition would prevail in court to have her tactic ruled invalid. They accused Ms. Jacobs and other party leaders of trying to scare fellow Democrats with the idea that they and their party principles would somehow suffer in a Corbin-led Legislature. "We had no intention of leaving the party, and nobody ever said we wouldn't take care of our own people," Ms. Altmann said. Mr. Corbin added: "I would never become a Republican. And why is it so anti-Democratic for me to join with Republicans, but it's O.K. for Judy Jacobs to drop out of the party just to stay in power?" He and Ms. Altmann as much as conceded that their coalition has no shared platform other than dethroning Ms. Jacobs. In exchange for their support, Mr. Corbin has promised to give the Republicans a seat on the board of Nassau Off-Track Betting and to let their legislative proposals come to a vote, something Mr. Schmitt said Ms. Jacobs rarely allowed. Mr. Schmitt said he did find it odd to be allied with two of the most liberal Democrats in the Legislature. "But I have no illusions here," he said. "I do not expect Lisanne or Roger to compromise their philosophy one inch, and we won't compromise ours, either." In their vision of control, Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann would manage the Democratic majority's legislative budget and the Republicans would retain control of theirs. "The 10 Democrats would still get their 10-nineteenths of the legislative pie," Ms. Altmann said. Mr. Corbin said he was confident that, "by the time we get the votes to become presiding officer, everybody will be compliant, and we'll be a Democratic caucus again." He added, "Are the other eight Democrats going to vote against Tom Suozzi just because they don't like Roger and Lisanne?" But other Democrats called that vision of peace and tranquillity naïve. "Things are not going to go back to normal, because there's going to be a lot of bitterness and anger," said Craig Johnson, a Democratic legislator from Port Washington. "How can they expect us to trust them, when they've already blown that by going over to the Republicans and refusing to sit down with us?" Both Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann began their political careers as civic leaders who were elected to the newly created Legislature in 1995. Mr. Corbin served on the Charter Revision Commission, the body charged with designing a more representative county government after the Board of Supervisors system was declared unconstitutional. As a legislator, Mr. Corbin, 59, who is black, has been an outspoken advocate for the largely nonwhite communities in his district, and is known for loudly denouncing racism wherever he believes he sees it. His current battle for the leadership is no exception. "The Democratic Party seems to have a problem empowering an African-American in a leadership position," he said. "They will deny it, but that's what this is about. If Craig Johnson did what I did, I don't think the same vileness would have been there." Mr. Johnson is white. Jay Jacobs, chairman of the Nassau Democratic Party and no relation to Judy Jacobs, took fierce exception to Mr. Corbin's accusation. "It is so repugnant to me that anyone would say that, just because we don't feel we should throw out Judy Jacobs -- who is holding the job and has done it well -- that means we're racist," he said. "Roger cannot tolerate the concept that people may not want to vote for him simply on the merits as to whether they think he would be a better leader than Judy." Mr. Jacobs added that since he became party leader four years ago, he has assured Mr. Corbin that he would support him for presiding officer whenever Ms. Jacobs chose to step down. But Mr. Corbin had become impatient, and many black leaders in Nassau County support his decision to go outside the Democratic Party to seek the leadership. Perry Pettus, a Hempstead village trustee who has considered running against Mr. Corbin, said he too was frustrated over broken promises from Democratic leaders to back him in a run for mayor, so he did not blame Mr. Corbin for being impatient. "If I thought it would be the right thing for him to wait for the next go-round, I would say so," he said. "But I don't feel strongly that it would happen." Fred Brewington, a civil rights lawyer who is representing Mr. Corbin and Ms. Altmann, called Mr. Corbin's move politically astute, even though he had to cross party lines. "If Roger can bring the Republicans closer to repentance, who is to fault him?" he said. Mr. Brewington said Mr. Corbin had consistently looked out for his minority constituents' interests, both in the Legislature and in the drawing of election maps, when some party leaders wanted to split up concentrations of minority voters in his district and that of Kevan Abrahams, the only other black legislator. "This was when Democrats were trying to raid the Democratic-rich minority communities, and it was only that Roger brought people to the table that they were able to stop it," Mr. Brewington said. In the Legislature, Ms. Altmann has a reputation as a maverick, and as an ardent supporter of public safety unions. Those characteristics annoy some of her colleagues. "Lisanne is just about taking care of herself, and she is completely in the pocket of the police union bosses," said David Mejias, a Democrat from North Massapequa who fought off an effort by the police union to unseat him in the last election. Still, Ms. Altmann has helped focus attention on problems at the Nassau University Medical Center and, most famously, on a health insurance plan that was supposed to save the county millions of dollars in the late 1990's, but instead raised costs by $70 million. "She has been an independent individual who asks the right questions at the right times," said Mr. Ryan, the Republican lobbyist. "She's also not one to acquiesce to threats and innuendo. She'll carve out a position and she'll stand her ground." A Democratic party mailing last month that characterized her actions as traitorous, and similar phone calls made to Democratic voters in her district, only strengthened her resolve, Ms. Altmann said. "My own mother called me after she got one of these calls, and thought I had become a Republican," she said. "People are ready to burn me at the stake. But I believe we can undo the mess." Ms. Jacobs said that neither Mr. Corbin nor Ms. Altmann nor Mr. Schmitt was acting in the public interest. "Roger is doing it for power, Lisanne is doing it for money and Peter is doing it just to create chaos," she said. "And so far, the only one who's succeeding is Peter." Ms. Jacobs alluded to the $23,000 a year Ms. Altmann would earn as deputy presiding officer, on top of the regular legislator's salary of $39,500. Ms. Altmann said that while she and Mr. Corbin now stand apart from the rest of the Democratic caucus, she believed that many of her Democratic colleagues would agree privately that it was time for a change in leadership. "The only person who would be shorted in all of this is Judy, and she's had six good years," she said. "All politicians have an expiration date, and I hope I have the good sense to leave when it's my time." And if the coalition's strategy fails? "If that happens," Ms. Altmann said, "and I have to go off on a Greenpeace boat, well, you know, that's all right."

LONG ISLAND (NY)
DEMOCRATIC PARTY
REPUBLICAN PARTY
ALTMANN LISANNE
CORBIN ROGER


Economic Reports for the Week of Oct. 28

Abstract: APPLE EARNINGS Apple has become one of the most valuable companies in the world largely because of the success of iPhones and iPads. But over the last year, the growth of its profit has slowed as fewer people have been upgrading their smartphones each year, and as more competitors have produced low-cost tablets. In response, Apple in September introduced not one, but two new iPhones. When the company announces its third-quarter earnings on Monday, investors and analysts will watch closely to determine whether the new iPhones have given Apple’s profit a much-needed lift. OIL Big Oil has been struggling of late with mediocre domestic natural gas prices and increasing difficulty in finding new reserves in politically stable countries around the world. How they are managing will come into sharper focus when BP, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell report their third-quarter earnings through the week. BP continues its comeback from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, while Exxon Mobil is trying to satisfy shareholders who are growing more impatient with its lackluster stock performance. FEDERAL RESERVE The Federal Reserve’s summer flirtation with a retreat from its stimulus campaign seems an increasingly distant memory. The Fed’s policy-making committee is expected to announce on Wednesday that it will continue at full speed. With crucial economic data scrambled by the shutdown, leaving the Fed with little guidance, no change is likely until next year. FACEBOOK Facebook, the world’s largest social network, will report its third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and Wall Street will be watching to see if the company can keep up its recent rapid growth. The company’s stock has doubled since its last earnings report in July, when it noted that 41 percent of its revenue was coming from mobile devices, up from nothing a year ago. AUTO EARNINGS General Motors and Chrysler are scheduled to report healthy third-quarter earnings on Wednesday as the two American automakers continue their revival since their bankruptcies and government bailouts four years ago. Both companies are making the bulk of their profits from the resurgent market for new vehicles in the United States.

Earnings Reports
US Economy
Federal Reserve
Apple
Facebook


Nets, Built to Win Now, May Need to Cut Losses

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It may be futile when one is chased by a shark in deep water to question the decision to have gone swimming in the first place. But regret is a common human experience, and so it is fair to wonder if Billy King is feeling any as his master plan for winning an N.B.A. championship appears to have fractured like the fifth metatarsal in Brook Lopez’s right foot. Will there be a time — like right now — when he might have to admit that the Nets’ daring mission to win at all costs has become an unmitigated failure and that the best option is to at least explore reversing course? “Not at this point,” King, the Nets’ general manager, said Sunday at the team’s practice facility. “We’re not there.” Where King and the Nets are after losing Lopez, their center and leading scorer, for the season is even more apparent than when they were beaten at the buzzer in overtime in Philadelphia on Friday night and slunk off the floor with a 9-17 record. X-rays taken afterward revealed Lopez’s third fracture of the same foot, adding gloom to distress around a franchise that had such a celebratory summer — which, unfortunately, is when projected success is worth the paper it is printed on. This is not meant to second-guess the deal that brought Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn, because many folks in the news media gallery — myself included — thought it was a splendid idea, the cost of draft picks notwithstanding. The problem has turned out to be less with the former Celtics than with Lopez and Deron Williams, whom they were brought in to support. Lopez, 25, may be following the career path of Yao Ming, who, like Lopez, was a picture of health for his first three N.B.A. seasons before foot problems derailed him. Williams, 29, seemed like the ideal point guard to build a team around when the Nets acquired him in early 2011, but he has proved fragile in multiple ways, less than the sum of his talented parts. Even fully healthy, the Nets’ foundational pieces are good, not great, and that has had a diminishing effect on everyone else in their splurge of roughly $183 million (including payroll taxes). “Oh, we got plenty of guys that can play the 5 and the 4,” Jason Kidd, the rookie coach, said of the center and power forward positions that must now be restructured. Noting that he finally had the back-pained Andrei Kirilenko on the practice court as the Nets prepared for the Indiana Pacers on Monday night in Brooklyn, Kidd added, “This team was built for depth.” Not surprisingly, depth became the post-Lopez mantra, and in a conference as forgiving as the N.B.A.’s Eastern, the Nets — again, on paper, worth the change in the pocket of their owner, Mikhail D. Prokhorov — should still have enough talent to contend for the playoffs. Having spent so much of Prokhorov’s money, they could add another frontcourt player, like the disgruntled Houston center Omer Asik, a better defender than Lopez but offensively inept. “When you get an injury like this, everybody calls you,” King said. “There’s no imminent deal. We’re not going to panic.” That would obviously be the owner’s prerogative, even if everything the Nets have done, all the No. 1 picks they have traded for a 9-17 team, can be traced to Prokhorov’s introductory promise to produce a championship in relatively short order, or at least to arrive in Brooklyn with a team to be reckoned with. The alternative path would have been to recognize that the novelty of Barclays Center would have given the Nets a two- to three-year window to build from the ground up. They might have let the Knicks continue to overspend, mortgage their future and deflate their fan base. But Prokhorov gave King the green light and the cash to out-Knick the Knicks. The acquisition of Williams was presumably a response to the Knicks’ trade for Carmelo Anthony. The sacrifice of their 2012 draft position to Portland (hello, Damian Lillard) for Gerald Wallace was done to persuade Williams to re-sign, as was the deal for Joe Johnson. If you are scoring and second-guessing at home, forget Pierce and Garnett — go back to the beginning. Whatever King does from here, the odds are that there will come a time when he or his successor will have to turn the Nets from buyers into sellers and start all over again. If there is no turnaround, the Nets will at least have to try to shop some of their expensive pieces come the February trade deadline or during the usual flurry of activity around the college draft in June. They were on the upswing for about a week, winning four of five games, getting healthy. Then they lost to Washington at home and surrendered 121 points to the lowly 76ers, and it no longer seemed like a good idea to brag on how Kidd had changed the defenses of his departed assistant, Lawrence Frank. Having missed the Philadelphia game for personal reasons, Johnson, watching on television, saw Lopez take a fall and grab his foot. He called the trainer, Tim Walsh, after the game and was told the bad news. “I was devastated, man,” Johnson said. “It seems like we can’t catch a break.” The word use was unintentional but fateful. Another broken foot for Lopez begets the question, How long before it’s time to break up the Nets?

Brooklyn Nets
Brook Lopez
Billy King
Mikhail D Prokhorov
Jason Kidd
Basketball


Surge in Overdoses Prompts New Haven to Declare a Health Emergency

Abstract: NEW HAVEN — Officials in this city declared a public health emergency on Friday after nearly 20 people overdosed this week on either tainted heroin or cocaine, at least three of them fatally, here and in surrounding towns. Officials said there had been up to 16 heroin or cocaine overdoses in New Haven since Thursday and several more nearby. Two people died in New Haven and at least one more died in a surrounding town, officials said. The numbers were expected to rise, according to officials, who urged drug users to be careful. The police were trying to determine whether the powerful painkiller fentanyl or another substance had played a role in the overdoses. Patients who were able to speak with city police said they thought they had bought cocaine and not heroin, Officer David Hartman, a spokesman for the New Haven Police Department, said. Officials said they were working to arrange for quick testing of drugs that had been seized. Most of the overdoses in New Haven were in the city’s neighborhoods of Newhallville and Dixwell. Cases had also been reported in the towns of West Haven and Shelton, Officer Hartman said. Image Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut, delivering a budget address in February 2015. This week, he called a recent spate of drug overdoses an epidemic. “This affects all of us,” he said. Credit Jessica Hill/Associated Press State health officials said that 700 doses of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan were being sent to New Haven, where officials said there was a shortage of the drug. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called the situation dangerous. “Everyone must recognize that no region of the country, state, city or town is immune — this affects all of us and so many families across our state and nation,” Mr. Malloy, a Democrat, said in a statement. “That’s why we have been doing everything in our power to stop this epidemic and prevent tragedy.” Connecticut’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported that 208 people had died from accidental drug overdoses in Connecticut from January to March and that the total by year’s end would be around 832 — up from 729 last year and more than double the total in 2012. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both of whom are Democrats, called on Congress to do more to fight overdoses nationwide. “Congress must reverse its laggard response to this national public health crisis by providing real resources,” said Mr. Blumenthal, adding that an increase in “treatment services, law enforcement support, opioid over-prescription prevention and other steps” was “urgent and critical.”

Drug Abuse
Cocaine and Crack
Heroin
New Haven CT
Police


Harvard Keeps Top Spot in Global University Ranking

Abstract: Harvard University has retained the top spot in the annual Academic Ranking of World Universities, a position it has held for the past 12 years. The rankings, compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, based on indicators such as academic quality and research performance, were released Aug. 15. Stanford University was second, followed by, in order, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Cambridge. The United States had 146 universities in the top 500, followed by Germany with 39, Britain with 38 and China, excluding Hong Kong, with 32. — CALVIN YANG British Student Enrollment Dropped After Tuition Rose Figures released last week confirmed a drop in student enrollments in higher education in Britain after the sharp rise in tuition at English universities in 2012. The UK Higher Education Statistics Agency reported that 2.3 million students were studying at 161 British higher education institutions in the 2012-13 academic year, 6.3 percent down from 2011-12. The drop “reflects a general decline across the sector in all modes and levels of study which coincides with changes to the tuition fee arrangements,” it said. The report also confirmed a long-term shift in the funding of Britain’s higher education institutions, with grants from funding bodies falling to 24.1 percent of their total income in 2012-13 from 34.8 percent five years earlier while tuition fees and education contracts rose to 40 percent from 28.7 percent. — BRIAN CHILDS Canadian Program Aims to Help Tanzanian Industries Canadian educators met Tanzanian officials in Dar es Salaam this month for talks on implementing a five-year, 13-million-Canadian-dollar, or about $11.9 million, government-funded program to strengthen skills in Tanzania’s tourism and mining industries. The program will “build capacity of Tanzanian technical and vocational training institutions to deliver effective skills training programs and support economic opportunities across the mining, oil, gas and tourism sectors,” said Colleges and Institutes Canada, which represents Canadian publicly supported colleges. — ELAINE R. SMITH

Harvard
College
Shanghai Jiao Tong University


Citing Russian Moves, NATO Plans New Deployments

Abstract: BRUSSELS — The head of NATO pledged on Wednesday to immediately step up military patrols along the alliance’s vast eastern border in response to mounting evidence of Russian interference in Ukraine. The announcement by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, appeared to be another sign that the confrontation with Russia over Ukraine was becoming more acute. But Mr. Rasmussen emphasized that the move was designed to be a deterrent rather than preparation for conflict. “Our decisions today are about defense, deterrence and de-escalation,” Mr. Rasmussen said in a statement posted on the NATO website. “NATO will protect every ally and defend against any threat against our fundamental security,” he said. Even so, the moves represent a significant strengthening of NATO’s posture in a region where it is already operating an air-policing mission in the Baltic states and surveillance flights over Poland and Romania. Mr. Rasmussen said the decision on Wednesday meant that aircraft will fly more sorties over the Baltic region and that allied ships will deploy to the Baltic Sea, the eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere, as required. In addition, military personnel will deploy “to enhance our preparedness, training and exercises,” he said. “We will have more planes in the air, more ships on the water, and more readiness on the land,” he said. The measures will be implemented “straight away,” he said, and “more will follow, if needed, in the weeks and months to come.” Mr. Rasmussen also renewed calls on Russia to stop destabilizing Ukraine, to pull back its troops from the Ukrainian border and to “make clear it doesn’t support the violent actions of well-armed militias of pro-Russian separatists.” At a separate news conference in Brussels on Wednesday, Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said preparations were underway among the bloc’s leadership to strengthen sanctions against Russia if necessary. Image Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said on Wednesday that NATO would increase patrols along its eastern border in response to Russian interference in Ukraine. Credit Laurent Dubrule/Reuters “When it comes to Stage 3, the preparatory work is in an advanced stage,” said Ms. Kocijancic, referring to a possible toughening of measures that are already in place. Ms. Kocijancic declined to comment on whether European Union divisiveness over how to react to evidence of growing Russian interference in Ukraine was affecting plans for a possible summit meeting next week. She said it would be up to Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, to decide whether to hold such a meeting. The announcement that NATO was strengthening its presence in Eastern Europe heightened nerves about Ukraine across all of Europe. While officials did not want to speak on the record, the announcement fed palpable doubts about whether four-way talks scheduled for Thursday in Geneva — bringing Russia and Ukraine to the same table for the first time since February, with the United States and European Union joining in — would proceed as planned. Germany, which has Europe’s strongest economy and is the most important European trading partner for Russia, was at pains ahead of the scheduled meeting to stress that the Continent spoke with one voice on sanctions against Russia. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and other leaders here have for weeks made it clear that they will go along with tougher sanctions, while cautioning behind closed doors that a serious rupture in business and other ties could take years to heal. Germany depends on Russia for up to 40 percent of its natural gas. Ms. Merkel and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia talked by telephone on Tuesday evening, according to statements from both governments. In Berlin, a government spokesman, Georg Streiter, underlined that the two leaders did not necessarily come to any meeting of the minds, let alone a shared assessment that Ukraine, as Mr. Putin was quoted as saying, verged on the brink of civil war. Instead, Mr. Streiter said, it will be “very important” for Russia to withdraw its forces from the border with eastern Ukraine and to tone down its rhetoric on the crisis there. German officials also sought to emphasize that to date, the 28-nation European Union had avoided open splits and intended to do so in and after the meeting in Geneva. “Europe speaks with one voice and is coordinating closely with the United States,” a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Sawsan Chebli, told reporters.

Ukraine
Russia
Military
NATO
EU
Herman Van Rompuy
Anders Fogh Rasmussen


Ando Wins Title; Meissner Is 4th

Abstract: TOKYO, March 24 (AP) — Miki Ando did not do the quadruple jump she had been practicing, but her seven triples earned her the women’s title Saturday at the world figure skating championships. Japan took the top two places. Ando finished with 195.09 points, 0.64 ahead of Mao Asada, who won the free skate to jump to second from fifth. Kim Yu-na of South Korea, the leader after a record score in the short program, fell twice and ended up with the bronze. Kimmie Meissner, the defending champion, was the top American, taking fourth. Emily Hughes and Alissa Czisny finished 9th and 15th.


Glencore Agrees to Sell Minority Stake in Agriculture Business

Abstract: LONDON — The Swiss commodities and mining company Glencore said on Wednesday that it had agreed to sell a 40 percent stake in its agriculture business to Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $2.5 billion in cash. The deal is the latest move by Glencore to reduce its debt by selling assets. The company’s stock has been under pressure in recent months as analysts and investors have expressed concern about the company’s debt load and about weakness in commodities pricing. Glencore said in December that it was considering the sale of a minority stake in the agriculture business, known as Glencore Agri, as well as possibly seeking an initial public offering. Representatives of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board “have a proven track record in the sector and share our vision for the future growth of the business through value-creating organic and inorganic growth opportunities for the benefit of all stakeholders,” Ivan Glasenberg, the Glencore chief executive, said in a news release . “We welcome them aboard and look forward to continuing our good relationship as we work together.” The agreement values the agriculture business at $6.25 billion. It is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the second half of this year. Glencore, based in Baar, Switzerland, buys and sells commodities, like coal and copper, as part of its trading arm. It also mines those commodities. In March 2012, a consortium of investors led by Glencore acquired Viterra , then the largest Canadian grain handler, for $6.2 billion, in a deal that greatly expanded the Swiss company’s presence in agriculture. Glencore Agri’s operations include more than 200 storage facilities, 31 processing plants and 23 ports worldwide. In 2015, the agriculture business reported earnings before interest and tax of $524 million, down 47 percent from a year earlier. If the sale is completed, Glencore Agri will have its own board of directors, with two directors appointed by the Canadian pension fund. The sale would be subject to a four-year lockup period, with an exception that would allow Glencore to sell up to an additional 20 percent stake in the business. Glencore was hit particularly hard in 2015 as a sell-off in commodities and concerns about a slowdown in China’s economy weighed on its results. The company reported a $5 billion loss for the year, compared with a profit of $2.3 billion in 2014. It had already undertaken $1.6 billion in asset sales since it announced in September that it planned to sell assets to reduce its debt. Last month, the company said it was aiming for asset sales of as much as $4 billion to $5 billion this year. Glencore, which is also trying to cut costs, is seeking to reduce its debt to about $15 billion to $19 billion by the end of next year. The company, which went public in 2011, had $25.9 billion in debt as of Dec. 31. Shares of Glencore rose slightly in London on Wednesday morning after the announcement. As part of its efforts to reduce debt, Glencore eliminated its dividend and sold $2.5 billion in shares in September. Glencore was advised by Barclays, Citigroup and Credit Suisse and the law firm Linklaters. Deutsche Bank advised the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

Glencore International
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
Commodity
Mergers and Acquisitions
Viterra
Switzerland


N.C.A.A. Tournament — Lady Vols Rally to Win

Abstract: DES MOINES — A season hung in the balance. So, perhaps, did Pat Summitt’s peerless career . Tennessee appeared listless in the women’s N.C.A.A. tournament on Saturday. Kansas was quicker, more determined. Not once all season had the Lady Vols won a game after trailing at halftime. This time, Tennessee showed remarkable calm and resilience in the semifinals of the Des Moines Region. A game in doubt became a belatedly comfortable victory as the Lady Vols recovered to beat the Jayhawks, 84-73. Tennessee (27-8) overcame a 26-12 deficit to deliver its biggest comeback of the season. And for the first time in seven games, it rallied from a halftime deficit, of 35-30, prevailing with the energy and shooting of its two young guards: the sophomore Meighan Simmons (22 points, 4 rebounds) and the freshman Ariel Massengale (12 points, 5 assists and two critical 3-point shots in the second half). The victory advanced second-seeded Tennessee to a much-anticipated matchup against top-seeded Baylor in the regional final Monday. The Bears defeated the Lady Vols, 76-67, in November. Tennessee is now playing with a particular urgency. Its senior class has not been to a Final Four, and Summitt’s future is uncertain as she battles the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Saturday’s victory was her 1,097th — most among college coaches, male or female — and preserved her chances of winning a ninth national championship. Lately, Tennessee has started five seniors each half. This seemed to bring reliable rhythm and cohesion to a team that struggled at times from underachievement and inevitable awkwardness as the assistant coaches began to assume more responsibility. On Saturday, though, Simmons had hit a couple of 3-pointers to give the sinking Lady Vols some ballast late in the first half. She does not always play under control, but she unfailingly plays with enthusiasm. So she and Massengale started the second half in the backcourt as Tennessee tried to sustain its revival. “Meighan always has energy,” Holly Warlick, the Tennessee assistant coach, said. “She has a scoring mentality. We say she’s never a seen a shot she doesn’t like, but the majority of those shots she can make. She’s no longer a liability on the defensive end.” As the second half opened, the lead for the Jayhawks (21-13) quickly disappeared. The young Tennessee guards provided an effective counterpoint to the 5-foot-4 Kansas point guard, Angel Goodrich, who delivered 23 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Successive 3-pointers by Massengale drew the Lady Vols even at 42-42. The senior forward Glory Johnson (18 points, 7 rebounds) put Tennessee ahead, 47-44, with a jumper and a pair of free throws. Now ahead for the first time since the opening minutes, the Lady Vols would not trail again. Another jumper by Massengale, who had not scored in double figures since early February, put Tennessee ahead by 49-44. Then Simmons dribbled behind her back on the fast break, missed her shot but grabbed a rebound. Her follow shot gave the Lady Vols a 55-48 cushion. A fast-break layup by Simmons and a steal and another layup by her stretched the margin to 14, at 69-55. A game that once threatened to get away was now in hand. Because the N.C.A.A. tournament format is “one and done,” Simmons said, “it brings that energy from inside of me.” “It’s like I have an alter ego,” she said. She may have earned herself a promotion into the starting lineup Monday against powerful and unbeaten Baylor.

NCAA Basketball Championships (Women)
Basketball (College)
University of Kansas
University of Tennessee
Summitt Pat


Ruling Says Netherlands Must Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract: A court in the Netherlands has ordered the Dutch government to toughen its climate policies, a major ruling that could motivate environmental activists to pursue a similar legal strategy in other countries. The Hague District Court ordered the government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent from 1990 levels in the next five years. The government had previously committed to reducing emissions by 17 percent, but an environmental group, Urgenda, sued and demanded that the reductions be between 25 percent and 40 percent. In deciding the case, the court extensively cited the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other scientific bodies. The court stressed the threat of changes caused by greenhouse gases and the importance of preventing the large-scale disruptions that climate experts predict will occur if long-term temperatures rise by more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over the level of pre-industrial times. The decision, translated into English by the government, concluded that “the possibility of damages for those whose interests Urgenda represents, including current and future generations of Dutch nationals, is so great and concrete that given its duty of care, the state must make an adequate contribution, greater than its current contribution, to prevent hazardous climate change .” The decision was also based in part on the law of human rights; the court stated that “human rights law and environmental law are mutually reinforcing.” The state, the court said, has a “duty of care” that applies to the “livability of the country and the protection and improvement of the living environment.” The effects of Wednesday’s decision could ripple far beyond the Netherlands, said Michael B. Gerrard, the director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. “I think this will encourage lawyers in several other countries to see if they have opportunities in their domestic courts to pursue similar litigation,” he said. In the United States, climate policy has already been shaped, in part, by the courts, he said. In the 2007 case, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency , the Supreme Court supported Massachusetts’ argument that the Clean Air Act empowered the government to regulate greenhouse gases. The new case is distinctive because it finds an independent basis for government obligation to deal with environmental issues, Mr. Gerrard said. “The U.S. case was based on a statute,” he added. “This wasn’t.” The group Urgenda’s name is a combination of “urgent agenda.” Marjan Minnesma, the director of the group, said climate change threatened to bring about “an unlivable world” with drought, food shortages, refugee crises and war. When she and two lawyers teamed up to file the lawsuit with 900 co-plaintiffs, “Everybody in the legal scene said, ‘This will never happen — this is just a P.R. stunt,’ ” she said. “This is not a P.R. stunt.” The government can appeal the decision of the court. In a statement, the Dutch minister for the environment, Wilma Mansveld, did not say whether the government would appeal. “We will now examine what this ruling means for the Dutch state,” she said, and added, “We and Urgenda share the same goal. We just hold different opinions regarding the manner in which to attain this goal.” Preventing climate change, she added, is the work of many nations, not just the Netherlands. The court ordered the government to pay Urgenda’s costs. Ms. Minnesma said the group had spent about 300,000 euros, or about $336,000, on the case. Ms. Minnesma of Urgenda said the structure of the Dutch courts was such that “now that we have a ‘yes,’ it’s very difficult in the next phase to say ‘no.’ ” She also questioned whether the government would be wise to appeal. “That’s morally not a very strong standpoint.”


Events in Connecticut for March 2-8

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in Connecticut. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to ctcal@nytimes.com. Comedy COLLINSVILLE Bridge Street Live Rachel Feinstein. March 15 at 8 p.m. $20 and $30. Bridge Street Live, 41 Bridge Street. (860) 693-9762; 41bridgestreet.com. HARTFORD Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts “Ha! Ha! Hartford!” featuring Jim Dailakis, Robert Kelly and Rob Falcone. March 7 at 8:30 p.m. $25 and $30. Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue. (860) 987-5900; bushnell.org. MASHANTUCKET Comix at Foxwoods “Spinnato’s Hypnotic Hysteria,” with Jim Spinnato. March 2 at 8 p.m. $15 to $25. Iliza Shlesinger. March 6 through 8 at 8 p.m. $25 to $50. Mike Gaffney. March 9 at 8 p.m. $15 to $25. Comix at Foxwoods, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. comixatfoxwoods.com; (866) 646-0609. MASHANTUCKET Fox Theater, Foxwoods Casino Jeff Ross. March 8 at 8 p.m. $30 to $50. Paul Reiser. March 15 at 8 p.m. $25 and $50. Fox Theater, Foxwoods Casino, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. (800) 200-2882; foxwoods.com. UNCASVILLE Mohegan Sun Rich Vos, Gary Gulman and Bonnie McFarlane. March 8 at 9 p.m. $25. Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard. mohegansun.com; (888) 226-7711. Film FAIRFIELD StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company “Muscle Shoals,” documentary by Greg Camalier. March 3 at 7:30 p.m. $10. StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company, 70 Sanford Street. (203) 259-1036; fairfieldtheatre.org. HARTFORD Real Art Ways “The Great Beauty,” directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Through March 6. $4.50 to $10. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. realartways.org; (860) 232-1006. RIDGEFIELD Ridgefield Playhouse “The Met in High Definition: ‘Werther,’ ” screening of the opera by Jules Massenet. March 15 at 12:55 p.m. $15 to $25. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. ridgefieldplayhouse.com; (203) 438-5795. STAMFORD Avon Theater “A Face in the Crowd,” directed by Elia Kazan; there will be a discussion after the screening with Damon Maulucci, professor. March 5 at 1 p.m. Free. “Schooled: The Price of College Sports,” documentary by Ross Finkel, Trevor Martin and Jonathan Paley. March 5 at 7:30 p.m. $6 to $11; Carte Blanche members, free. Avon Theater, 272 Bedford Street. avontheatre.org; (203) 967-3660. For Children NORWALK Stepping Stones Museum for Children “Healthyville,” exhibition on nutrition, fitness, hygiene and safety. Through Sept. 1. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stepping Stones Museum for Children, 303 West Avenue. steppingstonesmuseum.org; (203) 899-0606. RIDGEFIELD Ridgefield Playhouse “The Berenstain Bears Live,” musical. March 8 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. $15 and $20. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. (203) 438-5795; ridgefieldplayhouse.com. SHELTON Shelton Intermediate School “Simply Strings,” the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. March 2 at 2 p.m. $15 for one adult and child. Each additional child is $5. Shelton Intermediate School, 675 Constitution Boulevard North. (203) 865-0831; newhavensymphony.org. STAMFORD Stamford Museum and Nature Center “A Billion Bricks: LEGO® T-Rex, Turtles & Trains,” exhibition. Through March 2. $5 to $10; members and under 3, free. Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stamford Museum and Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Road. stamfordmuseum.org; (203) 322-1646. WESTPORT Westport Country Playhouse “Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly,” Omaha Theater Company. Ages 4 and up. March 9 at 1 and 4 p.m. $20. Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court. (203) 227-4177; westportplayhouse.org. Music and Dance BRIDGEPORT Downtown Cabaret Theater “Barry Manilow Tribute: Barry’s Song Book,” with Chris Chan. March 7 and 8. $47. “Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper: Winter Dance Party.” March 14 through 16. $47. Downtown Cabaret Theater, 263 Golden Hill Street. (203) 576-1636; dtcab.com. BRIDGEPORT The Bijou Theater “Bijou Mardi Gras,” Rubber City Blues Band and Pocket Full of Soul, blues and funk. March 4 at 7 p.m. $10 and $15. Round 3, a cover band, pop. March 8 at 8 p.m. $20 and $25. The Bijou Theater, 275 Fairfield Avenue. thebijoutheatre.com; (203) 332-3228. COLLINSVILLE Bridge Street Live Royal Southern Brotherhood, rock. March 12 at 8 p.m. $37 and $50. The Steel Wheels with Last Fair Deal, pop and country. March 13 at 8 p.m. $17 and $27. The Kortchmar McDonald Band and the Shinolas, folk and pop. March 14 at 8 p.m. $20 and $30. Karla Bonoff, folk. March 16 at 6:30 p.m. $35 and $45. Bridge Street Live, 41 Bridge Street. (860) 693-9762; 41bridgestreet.com. DEEP RIVER John Winthrop Middle School “Celebrating Fats Waller,” Jeff Barnhart and His Hot Rhythm. March 2 at 3 p.m. $30. John Winthrop Middle School, 1 Winthrop Road. essexwinterseries.com; (860) 272-4572. FAIRFIELD Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts Jack Jones, jazz and pop. March 16 at 3 p.m. $10 to $25. Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts, 5151 Park Avenue. (203) 371-7908; edgertoncenter.org. FAIRFIELD Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University Pilobolus Dance Theater, modern. March 1 at 8 p.m. and March 2 at 3 p.m. $35 to $50. Simone Dinnerstein, piano. March 16 at 3 p.m. $30 and $35. Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road. (203) 254-4010; fairfield.edu/arts. FAIRFIELD StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company Stephen Kellogg Band, folk and rock. March 8 at 7:45 p.m. $28. Anna Nalick, pop and rock. March 13 at 7:45 p.m. $28. “Band Together: Funky Town,” a benefit for Alzheimer’s. March 14 at 7:30 p.m. $40. Roomful of Blues, blues and soul. March 15 at 7:45 p.m. $42. Mockingbird Sun, country and rock. March 16 at 7:45 p.m. $20. StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company, 70 Sanford Street. (203) 259-1036; fairfieldtheatre.org. HARTFORD Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts “The Music of Billy Joel and More,” with Michael Cavanaugh. March 8 at 7:30 p.m. $10 to $67.50. Paul Byrom, opera, pop and showtunes. March 9 at 7 p.m. $35 to $45. Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue. (860) 987-5900; bushnell.org. MASHANTUCKET MGM Grand Theater, Foxwoods Casino Jamie Foxx, pop. March 8 at 8 p.m. $50 to $90. Trisha Yearwood, country. March 15 at 8 p.m. $40 to $60. MGM Grand Theater, Foxwoods Casino, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. foxwoods.com; (800) 200-2882. MIDDLETOWN Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University “Dancemasters Showcase Performance.” March 8 at 8 p.m. $8 to $28. Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terrace. (860) 685-3355; wesleyan.edu/cfa. NEW HAVEN Shubert Theater Old Crow Medicine Show, folk and bluegrass. March 6 at 8 p.m. $39.50 and $45. Shubert Theater, 247 College Street. (203) 562-5666; shubert.com. Image HARTFORD The film “The Great Beauty,” starring Sabrina Ferilli, will screen through March 6 at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. Tickets are $4.50 to $10. For further information: realartways.org or (860) 232-1006. Credit Gianni Fiorito/Punto e Virgola, via Associated Press NEW HAVEN Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments Smithsonian Chamber Players Piano Trio, classical. March 2 at 3 p.m. $10 and $20. Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, 15 Hillhouse Avenue. (203) 432-0822; yale.edu/musicalinstruments. NEW LONDON Garde Arts Center Carlos Núñez Band, Celtic. March 5 at 7:30 p.m. $35. The Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, with Stephanie Chase, violin. March 15 at 8 p.m. $35 to $55. Garde Arts Center, 325 State Street. (860) 444-7373; gardearts.org. NORFOLK Infinity Hall The Sounds of Frank Sinatra, tribute concert. March 2 at 2 p.m. $35 and $50. Tab Benoit and Tommy Malone, blues. March 2 at 7:30 p.m. $35 and $50. Deer Trick, country and rock. March 5 at 8 p.m. $29 and $44. Asleep at the Wheel, swing. March 6 at 8 p.m. $44 and $59. Soul Sound Revue, soul and pop. March 7 at 8 p.m. $29 and $39. Roomful of Blues, blues and soul. March 8 at 8 p.m. $35 and $50. Sarah Jarosz, folk. March 9 at 7:30 p.m. “The Security Project,” a tribute to Peter Gabriel. March 12 at 8 p.m. Jefferson Starship, rock. March 13 at 8 p.m. $59 and $72. Leo Kottke, guitar. March 14 at 8 p.m. $45 and $60. Barefoot Truth, rock. March 15 at 8 p.m. $29 and $39. Celtic Crossroads, Celtic and pop. March 16 at 7:30 p.m. $45 and $60. Infinity Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road. infinityhall.com; (866) 666-6306. OLD LYME The Side Door Dezron Douglas Quartet, jazz. March 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m. $30. The Side Door, 85 Lyme Street. (860) 434-0886; thesidedoorjazz.com. OLD SAYBROOK The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Richard Shindell, folk. March 7 at 8 p.m. $32 and $35. Livingston Taylor, folk and pop. March 8 at 8 p.m. $40. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main Street. (877) 503-1286; katharinehepburntheater.org. RIDGEFIELD Ridgefield Playhouse The Golden Dragon Chinese Acrobats, circus. March 2 at 4 p.m. $35 and $40. Cowboy Junkies, pop and rock. March 6 at 8 p.m. $60. Tartan Terrors, Celtic and rock. March 7 at 8 p.m. $30. Dickey Betts and Great Southern, rock. March 8 at 8 p.m. $75. Matt Schofield, blues. March 13 at 7:30 p.m. $28. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. ridgefieldplayhouse.com; (203) 438-5795. STAMFORD Stamford Center for the Arts The Stamford Symphony, classical. March 1 at 8 p.m. and March 2 at 3 p.m. $22 to $73. Women of Ireland, Celtic. March 6 at 8 p.m. $25 to $60. Stamford Center for the Arts, 61 Atlantic Street. (203) 325-4466; stamfordcenterforthearts.org. STORRS Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts The Irish Baroque Orchestra, featuring Siobhan Armstrong, Irish harp. March 9 at 3 p.m. $26 and $30. The Scharoun Ensemble perform works by Mozart and Beethoven. March 13 at 7:30 p.m. $26 and $30. Danú, Irish and folk. March 14 at 8 p.m. $26 and $30. Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, 2132 Hillside Road. jorgensen.uconn.edu; (860) 486-4226. WILTON Wilton Congregational Church The Amphion String Quartet, with David Shifrin, clarinet. March 9 at 4 p.m. $25. Wilton Congregational Church, 70 Ridgefield Road. wiltoncandlelightconcerts.org; (203) 762-3401. Outdoors STAMFORD Stamford Museum and Nature Center Maple sugar festival weekend, demonstrations, children’s activities, pancake breakfast and more. March 1 and 2, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. $5 to $10; members and children under 3, free. Stamford Museum and Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Road. stamfordmuseum.org; (203) 322-1646. Spoken Word HARTFORD Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts “An Honest Look at Mental Illness: Perceptions and Realities,” with Andrew Solomon. March 7 at 8 p.m. $30 to $90. Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue. (860) 987-5900; bushnell.org. STORRS Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts “What the %@&*! Happened to Comics?” A discussion with Art Spiegelman. March 3 at 7 p.m. Free. Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, 2132 Hillside Road. (860) 486-4226; jorgensen.uconn.edu. Theater BRIDGEPORT The Bijou Theater “Vaudeville: March Frolic,” variety. March 7 at 7:30 p.m. $25 and $30. The Bijou Theater, 275 Fairfield Avenue. (203) 332-3228; thebijoutheatre.com. FAIRFIELD StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company “Play With Your Food,” staged readings of plays, with lunch. March 11 at 12:30 p.m. $43. StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company, 70 Sanford Street. fairfieldtheatre.org; (203) 259-1036. HARTFORD Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts “The Ten Tenors On Broadway,” showtunes. March 6 at 7:30 p.m. $19. Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue. (860) 987-5900; bushnell.org. HARTFORD Hartford Stage “A Song at Twilight,” comedy by Noël Coward. Through March 16. $25 to $85. Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street. hartfordstage.org; (860) 527-5151. NEW BRITAIN Hole in the Wall Theater “The Tempest,” by William Shakespeare. Through March 8. $15 and $20. Hole in the Wall Theater, 116 Main Street. hitw.org; (860) 229-3049. NEW CANAAN Powerhouse Theater “The Governor’s Son,” drama by Jim Gordon. Through March 8. $15 and $20. Powerhouse Theater, Waveny Park. tpnc.org; (203) 966-7371. NEW HAVEN Long Wharf Theater “4000 Miles,” drama by Amy Herzog. Through March 16. $40 to $75. Long Wharf Theater, 222 Sargent Drive. longwharf.org; (203) 787-4282. NEW HAVEN Shubert Theater “Once,” musical by Enda Walsh, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. Through March 2. $15 to $125. Shubert Theater, 247 College Street. (203) 562-5666; shubert.com. NEW LONDON Garde Arts Center “Rock of Ages,” musical by Chris D’Arienzo. March 9 at 3 p.m. $38 to $65. Garde Arts Center, 325 State Street. gardearts.org; (860) 444-7373. NEW LONDON Shaw Mansion “In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play),” drama by Sarah Ruhl. Through March 2. $20 to $35. Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street. (860) 443-3119. NEW MILFORD TheaterWorks “Barefoot in the Park,” comedy by Neil Simon. Through March 15. $23. TheaterWorks, 5 Brookside Avenue. (860) 350-6863; theatreworks.us. RIDGEFIELD Ridgefield Theater Barn “The Clean House,” drama by Sara Ruhl. March 14 through April 5. $20 and $24. Ridgefield Theater Barn, 37 Halpin Lane. (203) 431-9850; ridgefieldtheaterbarn.org. STORRS Connecticut Repertory Theater “Much Ado About Nothing,” by Shakespeare. Through March 9. $7 to $35. Connecticut Repertory Theater, 802 Bolton Road. (860) 486-2113; crt.uconn.edu. STRATFORD Square One Theater “Time Stands Still,” drama by Donald Margulies. Through March 15. $20. Square One Theater, 2422 Main Street. (203) 375-8778; squareonetheatre.com. Image NORFOLK The guitarist Leo Kottke will perform on March 14 at 8 p.m. at Infinity Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road West. Tickets are $45 and $60. For further information: (866) 666-6306 or infinityhall.com . Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times TORRINGTON Warner Theater “Love, Sex and the IRS,” comedy by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore. Through March 9. $26. Warner Theater, 68 Main Street. (860) 489-7180; warnertheatre.org. WATERBURY Seven Angels Theater “The Crimson Thread,” drama by Mary Hanes. Through March 16. $31 to $45.50. Seven Angels Theater, Plank Road, Hamilton Park. sevenangelstheatre.org; (203) 757-4676. WEST HARTFORD Playhouse on Park “Higgins In Harlem,” drama by Lawrence Thelen. March 3 through 23. $15 to $32.50. Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road. playhouseonpark.org; (860) 523-5900. WOODBRIDGE J. C. C. of Greater New Haven “The Last Seder,” comedy by Jennifer Maisel. March 6 through 10. $12 and $18. Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Road. (203) 387-2522; jccnh.org. Museums and Galleries ESSEX Gallery19 “Fresh Work,” group show. Through April 30. Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gallery19, 19A Main Street. gallery19essex.com; (860) 581-8735. FAIRFIELD Art/Place Gallery “Mostly Black and White,” group show. Through March 2. Thursdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 2 to 5 p.m. Art/Place Gallery, 70 Sanford Street. artplace.org; (203) 292-8328. FAIRFIELD Bellarmine Museum of Art, Fairfield University “In the Wake of the Butterfly: James McNeill Whistler and His Circle in Venice.” Through April 4. Mondays through Fridays, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and select Saturdays. Bellarmine Museum of Art, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road. fairfield.edu/museum; (203) 254-4046. FAIRFIELD Karl Soderlund Gallery “Splatter Art,” paintings. Through April 30. Mondays through Fridays, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Karl Soderlund Gallery, 61 Unquowa Road. karlsoderlund.com; (203) 319-1929. FAIRFIELD Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, Fairfield University “Reflections and Undercurrents: Ernest Roth and Printmaking in Venice, 1900-1940.” Through April 4. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, Fairfield University, 1073 North Benson Road. fairfield.edu/walsh; (203) 254-4062. GREENWICH Bendheim Gallery The 97th Annual Juried Exhibition of the Greenwich Art Society. Through March 28. Weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; weekends, noon to 4 p.m. Bendheim Gallery, 299 Greenwich Avenue. (203) 629-1533; greenwichartsociety.org. GREENWICH Bruce Museum “Inside the Artists’ Studios: Small-Scale Views,” Joe Fig, Richard Haas, Lori Nix and Jimmy Sanders. Through March 16. “Oysters, Pearls of Long Island Sound,” videos, interactive displays and historical objects. Through March 23. “In the Dark: Animal Survival Strategies.” Through April 13. “Ed Clark: American Photojournalist.” Through June 1. $6 and $7; members and children under 5, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. brucemuseum.org; (203) 869-0376. GREENWICH Flinn Gallery Works by Sydney Albertini and Heinrich Spillmann. Through March 12. Daily, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Flinn Gallery, 101 West Putnam Avenue. flinngallery.com; (203) 622-7947. HARTFORD Real Art Ways “Bangarang,” works by Rob Campbell. “Building Materials,” group show. Through March 2. “Julia Randall: Sticky.” Through March 9. “Jeff Kurosaki and Tara Pelletier: Urban Heat Island.” Through April 6. Suggested donation: $3; members and cinema patrons, free. Daily, 2 to 9 p.m.; and by appointment. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. (860) 232-1006; realartways.org. HARTFORD Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art “Allison Schulnik/MATRIX 168.” Through May 4. $5 to $10; members and under 12, free. Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; first Thursday of every month, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main Street. thewadsworth.org; (860) 278-2670. LAKEVILLE Tremaine Gallery, the Hotchkiss School “On Time and Place: Celebrating Scenic Hudson’s First 50 Years.” Through March 6. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Tremaine Gallery, the Hotchkiss School, 11 Interlaken Road. hotchkiss.org/arts; (860) 435-3663. LITCHFIELD Wisdom House “Realms: Lives in Parallel,” works by Mary Terrizzi, Naya Bricher and Scott Bricher. Through March 29. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wisdom House, 229 East Litchfield Road. wisdomhouse.org; (860) 567-3163. MYSTIC Mystic Arts Center “Young at Art,” featuring works student works. March 8 through April 5. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mystic Arts Center, 9 Water Street. mysticarts.org; (860) 536-7601. MYSTIC Mystic Seaport “Marine Artists in Winter,” group show. Through April 14. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Avenue. (860) 572-5388; mysticseaport.org. NEW BRITAIN New Britain Museum of American Art “Aloha: Hawaiian Art and Artifacts from the Sullivan Collection.” Through April 27. “NEW/NOW: Stephanie Lempert.” Through April 13. “Click! Clack! Ding! The American Typewriter.” March 8 through June 1. “James Prosek: Wondrous Strange.” Through June 8. $8 to $12; members and under 12, free. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington Street. nbmaa.org; (860) 229-0257. NEW CANAAN Heather Gaudio Fine Art “The Process of Discovery,” works by Bryan Nash Gill. Through March 22. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Heather Gaudio Fine Art, 21 South Avenue. (203) 801-9590; heathergaudiofineart.com. NEW CANAAN Silvermine Arts Center Galleries “The Art of Mark Making,” works by Ashley Andrews and Natasha Karpinskaia. “Dreams Waking,” works by Justin Wiest. “Selections from the Gabor Peterdi International Print Collection (Part II).” Through April 6. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Silvermine Arts Center Galleries, 1037 Silvermine Road. (203) 966-9700; silvermineart.org. NEW HAVEN Artspace “Neil Matthiessen: Perceptual Data” and “Smart Painting,” group shows. Through March 22. Wednesdays and Thursdays, noon to 6 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 8 p.m. Artspace, 50 Orange Street. artspacenh.org; (203) 772-2709. NEW HAVEN Azoth Gallery, at the New Haven Public Library “The Domestic Workers of New England,” photographs. Through March 31. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Azoth Gallery, at the New Haven Public Library, 133 Elm Street. azothgallery.com; (203) 387-4933. NEW HAVEN City Gallery Encaustic paintings by Amy Arledge. Through March 30. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. City Gallery, 994 State Street. (203) 782-2489; city-gallery.org. NEW HAVEN Da Silva Gallery New work by Lawrence Morelli. Through March 29. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 10 to 5:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Da Silva Gallery, 899 Whalley Avenue. (203) 387-2539; dasilva-gallery.com. NEW HAVEN Kehler Liddell Gallery “Threads of Serendipity,” works by Penrhyn Cook and Susan Clinard. Through March 16. Thursdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Avenue. kehlerliddell.com; (203) 389-9555. Image NEW HAVEN The bluegrass band Old Crow Medicine Show will perform on March 6 at 8 p.m. at the Shubert Theater, 247 College Street. Tickets are $39.50 and $45. For further information: (203) 562-5666 or shubert.com . Credit Terry Wyatt/Getty Images NEW HAVEN Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University “Tiny Titans: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies.” Through Aug. 30. $4 to $9; members and Yale ID holders, free. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, 170 Whitney Avenue. peabody.yale.edu; (203) 432-5050. NEW HAVEN Reynolds Fine Art “Allegories of the Heart and Mind,” works by William Butcher. Through March 14. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Reynolds Fine Art, 96 Orange Street. reynoldsfineart.com; (203) 498-2200. NEW HAVEN Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery “Once in a Lifetime,” group show. Through March 21. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery, 70 Audubon Street. newhavenarts.org; (203) 772-2788. NEW HAVEN Yale Center for British Art Sculpture by Nicola Hicks. Through March 9. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street. britishart.yale.edu; (203) 432-2800. NEW HAVEN Yale University Art Gallery “Still Life: 1970s Photorealism.” Through March 9. “Red Grooms: Larger than Life.” “A Great Crowd Had Gathered: JFK in the 1960s.” Through March 30. “Byobu: The Grandeur of Japanese Screens.” Through July 6. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street. artgallery.yale.edu; (203) 432-0600. NEW HAVEN Yale-China Association “Paintings of Hong Kong Street Markets,” by Michael Sloan. Through June 30. Mondays through Fridays, 2 to 5 p.m., with appointment. Yale-China Association, 442 Temple Street. yalechina.org; (203) 432-0884. NEW LONDON Lyman Allyn Art Museum “Sub Urbanisms: Casino Company-town, China-town.” Through May 12. “Greasy Luck: The Whaling World of the Charles W. Morgan.” Through June 10. $5 to $10; members and children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street. lymanallyn.org; (860) 443-2545. NEW LONDON Provenance Center “Attention Closely Paid,” group show. Through April 6. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 1 to 5:30 p.m.; and by appointment. Provenance Center, 165 State Street. provenancecenter.com; (860) 405-5887. NORWALK The Maritime Garage Gallery “Thingamabob,” group show. Through April 25. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Maritime Garage Gallery, 11 North Water Street. norwalkpark.org; (203) 831-9063. OLD GREENWICH Greenwich Civic Center Greenwich Train and Toy Meet, with over 150 dealers. March 9, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. $5 and $7; children under 12, free. Greenwich Civic Center, 90 Harding Road. (914) 967-7541. OLD LYME Diane Birdsall Gallery “Mixed Lot,” works by Peter Kirkiles. Through March 29. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m. Diane Birdsall Gallery, 16 Lyme Street. (860) 434-3209; dianebirdsallgallery.com. OLD LYME Florence Griswold Museum “The Artist’s Easel,” group show. Through March 16. $8 to $10; children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme Street. (860) 434-5542; flogris.org. OLD LYME Lyme Art Association Gallery “Nocturne: Images of the Night,” “Holding Still,” “Pulled and Pressed” and “A Contemporary Look,” group shows. Through April 12. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Lyme Art Association Gallery, 90 Lyme Street. lymeartassociation.org; (860) 434-7802. RIDGEFIELD Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum “Music,” exhibition and related events. “Simon Blackmore: Three Sound Works.” “Martin Creed: Scales.” “Sol LeWitt: The Music Collection.” Through March 9. $5 and $10. Members, K-12 teachers, active-service military families and children under 18, free. Tuesdays, free. Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main Street. aldrichart.org; (203) 438-4519. RIDGEFIELD Seven Arts Gallery “Looking West,” works by Sarah Williams Hearn and Nicole Finger. Through March 23. Thursdays and Fridays, 4:30 to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 7 p.m.; Sundays noon to 4 p.m. Seven Arts Gallery, 54 Ethan Allen Highway. sevenartsgallery.com; (203) 278-3204. RIDGEFIELD Watershed Gallery “Graphique,” works by Michael Cerullo, Jean Alexander Frater, Laura Sue Phillips and Karen Vogel. Through April 20. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, noon to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Watershed Gallery, 23 Governor Street. (203) 438-4387; watershedgallery.com. ROXBURY Minor Memorial Library “Elemental,” works by Russell Carson and Nick Thigpen. March 8 through April 19. Mondays, noon to 7 p.m.; Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Minor Memorial Library, 23 South Street. (860) 350-2181; minormemoriallibrary.org. STAMFORD Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery Paintings by Jena Thomas. Through March 31. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 to 7 p.m.; and by appointment. Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, 96 Bedford Street. (888) 861-6791; flalvarezgallery.com. STAMFORD Loft Artists Association “Under the Big Top,” group show. Through March 9. Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Loft Artists Association, 575 Pacific Street. loftartists.com; (203) 247-2027. STAMFORD Stamford Art Association “41st Student Art Show,” works selected by art teachers from 10 Fairfield high schools. Through March 20. Thursdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 3 p.m. Stamford Art Association, 39 Franklin Street. stamfordartassociation.org; (203) 325-1139. STORRS William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut “Persepolis: Word and Image.” Through March 16. “Making the Movement Move: Photography, Student Activism and Civil Rights.” Through March 30. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 4:30 p.m. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, 245 Glenbrook Road. thebenton.org; (860) 486-4520. TORRINGTON Warner Theater “The Way We Worked,” traveling exhibition featuring the National Archives’ photographic collections. Through March 9. Thursdays and Fridays, 1 to 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Warner Theater, 68 Main Street. warnertheatre.org; (860) 489-7180. WALLINGFORD Paul Mellon Arts Center “Patterns in a Lonely Crowd,” portraiture by Lucy Davis Phillips. Through March 14. Daily, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Paul Mellon Arts Center, 333 Christian Street. choate.edu/artscenter; (203) 697-2423. WATERBURY Mattatuck Museum “Dancing in the Moonlight: Nocturnes by Charles Yoder.” “Albert Bierstadt in New York and New England,” paintings. “Toys Made in Connecticut,” group show. Through March 2. “Alex Katz: Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art.” Through March 16. “Visual Poetry: Stephanie Brody-Lederman.” “Feeling of Humanity: Contemporary Western Art from the Collection of Ken Ratner.” March 13 through April 27. “Learn This! Why American Kids Went to School,” interactive exhibition. Through May 25. “Undefeated! The 1959 Croft High School Football Champions,” photographs and artifacts. Through July 12. $6 and $7; members and children under 16, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street. (203) 753-0381; mattatuckmuseum.org. WESTPORT Amy Simon Fine Art “Out of Line: Janet Lage and Nancy Lasar.” March 8 through April 18. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and by appointment. Amy Simon Fine Art, 1869 Post Road East. (203) 259-1500; amysimonfineart.com. WESTPORT Westport Historical Society “Cover Story: The New Yorker in Westport.” “Can’t Tell a Book by its Cover.” Through April 26. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place. westporthistory.org; (203) 222-1424. WINDSOR Windsor Art Center “Colorful Terrain: Two Artists Interpret the Landscape,” works by Blanche Serban and Brian Adgate. March 8 through April 19. Thursdays, 6 to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Windsor Art Center, 40 Mechanic Street. windsorartcenter.org; (860) 688-2528.


Warburg Pincus to Invest $500 Million in Oil and Gas Firm I.R.M.

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — Warburg Pincus, armed with its first-ever energy investment fund, has not let low oil prices deter it from seeking out deals in the petroleum sector. The private equity firm said on Tuesday that it had agreed to invest $500 million in Independence Resources Management, a start-up focused on extracting oil and gas from the middle of the United States. By deploying money from its new energy fund, along with its Warburg Pincus XI private equity fund, Warburg Pincus has become one of the few private equity firms to strike into an oil and gas investment at a time when the industry has been gripped with uncertainty over fuel prices. Though many investment firms have raised tremendous amounts of cash to invest in energy companies — both the Blackstone Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts have garnered billions in fresh capital for their respective funds — the private equity industry has struck relatively few deals at a time when West Texas crude is hovering at about $48 a barrel. Yet bankers and lawyers have predicted that private equity firms, consummate deal makers that they are, would eventually start striking transactions. Warburg Pincus’s latest investment takes a slightly different tack, however, by backing a new oil company rather than taking over an existing one. In I.R.M., the firm is betting on a management team that claims a collective 120 years of experience in the industry, with experience at companies like Enron Oil & Gas, Shell and Sheridan Production Partners. I.R.M., which is based in Houston, will focus on oil production areas in both the Mid-Continent and the Rockies regions, with its first operations in the Anadarko drilling basin that covers parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Colorado. Its operations will focus on using advanced drilling technology to extract oil from the ground. “The opportunity to grow a start-up E.&P. company behind a great management team fits squarely within our investment thesis and our track record of success,” James R. Levy, a managing director at Warburg Pincus, said in a statement, referring to oil exploration and production. “We look forward to working alongside the I.R.M. team to create value.”

Warburg Pincus
Independence Resources Management
Oil and Gasoline
Private equity


Paddock Already Looking Ahead to New Engines

Abstract: The Malaysian Grand Prix outside Kuala Lumpur on Sunday may only be the second race of the 2013 season, but much of the technical talk in the paddock during the winter and at the first race in Australia last week concerned the 2014 season. That’s because a major overhaul of the technical regulations next year will radically change the Formula One cars. At the center of the change is a new generation of engine more in tune with the times and the cars we drive on the road now — and those we’re likely to drive in the future — than the current V8, 2.4 liter, normally aspirated engine that produces 750 horsepower revving at 18,000 revolutions per minute and uses considerable amounts of fuel at each race. The new engine for 2014 will be a V6, 1.6-liter engine, with roughly 550 horsepower and 15,000 rpm, and it will use 30 percent less fuel, or a maximum of 100 kilograms, or 220 pounds, of fuel for each of the roughly 300-kilometer-long, or 185-mile-long, races. The new engine will be turbo-driven, which the current generation is not. Above all, it will have two forms of energy recovery systems: One reuses energy recovered during braking and the other reuses energy created from the heat of the exhaust. Behind the changes is a concern central to the very survival of Formula One: Its relevance beyond racing and its economic model. After the financial crisis began in 2008, several car manufacturers withdrew from Formula One — Toyota, Honda and BMW — and a couple of those that remained, Renault and Mercedes, decided that they needed a good reason to do so. The traditional use of the series as a marketing platform had to have more relevance than simply the appearance of the company name on the engine or the car. How many people pay attention that a Renault engine provides the power for both the Lotus team, which won the season-opening race last weekend, and the Red Bull team, which has won a majority of the races in the last three years? With the movement toward smaller road car engines that consume less fuel, and to hybrids and other fuel-saving systems, it was time for Formula One cars to be propelled by something with less of a gas-guzzling, pure power image. In fact, the current Formula One engines are probably the most fuel efficient in the world, but the image doesn’t go along with it. At first, the International Automobile Federation, which works with the teams to develop Formula One’s technical and sporting regulations, decided that the next generation of engine would drop from its current eight cylinders to four, to resemble the road car engine. But the suggestion sparked many protests, and it became clear that the pinnacle of world motor racing could hardly have the sport’s smallest engine. Jean-Michel Jalinier, president of Renault Sport, the Paris-based company that makes Renault’s Formula One engines, said that the change to a V6 from a V4 was not a big problem, as the key aspect was the engine’s 1.6-liter capacity, which is the same as that of many road car engines. But the engine shift was primarily driven by economics. Taking part in the elite racing series is costly to Renault Sport’s parent company, the Renault car manufacturer. So the company aims to reap marketing benefits from Formula One participation by having a direct association between the racing car and road car technology. “For us, it is very important because you can see in the passenger cars an important trend in downsizing of the engine, reduction of the fuel consumption and less CO2 emissions,” Jalinier said. “And if you look at Formula One, it was kind of left behind. And you cannot have Formula One being your flagship and not take account of the current issues of the car in the street. So we want to put Formula One back in the current issues of the car in the street: So reduction of fuel consumption, downsizing of the engine, better use of the energy through energy recovery. And it will be a better, a much better tool to communicate than the current V8 engine.” A major communication “tool” is the engine’s sophisticated new system of energy recuperation. Although Formula One cars now have Kinetic Energy Recover Systems, or KERS, which use energy collected during braking for use as power later, the new system will be twice as powerful, providing bursts of 160 horsepower of energy, in addition to the other new system, that uses energy stored from the heat in the exhaust. Image A rendering of Renault Sport’s prototype 1.6-liter V6 engine, a hybrid that is being developed for Formula One cars. Credit Hubert Vincent/Renault, via Reuters The energy is storied in a battery and then used to provide energy and save fuel. “The new engine gives a big part to energy recovery, and energy recovery is also a future of the car industry,” Jalinier said. “Today, the fuel consumption of a car is really made when you accelerate from a stop, and so if when you brake you can recover the energy, and when you accelerate if you can give back that electrical energy without consuming fuel, then you can highly reduce the consumption of your car.” For the purist racers at heart, however, it may seem like reduced rpm, smaller capacity, fewer cylinders, and with the aggressive, ear-popping sound turned down, the new engine could make the series at the pinnacle of motor sport look like a lowlier category. Not so, said Rob White, the technical director of the Renault Sport engine program. “The first thing to say is the current generation of engines, ultra high-speed internal combustion engines, are absolutely at the limit of what we know how to do,” he said. “It’s true that we will be running less rpm, but we are already running less rpm than we know how to do. And on its own, running a few more rpm isn’t very smart.” “The new engines will represent the absolute cutting edge of internal combustion engine technology,” White added. “They will achieve fuel consumption and performance levels that are much, much better than anything that exists anywhere in motorsport and probably better than anything that exists on the road. The engines that we are going to develop are absolutely as cutting edge and as close to the limit as mankind knows how to do as the present generation of engines. But the target is not the same.” Not only are the current manufacturers in the series — Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari — working hard to produce this more relevant engine, but there is talk that Honda is considering returning to the series — after a four-year absence — in order to take advantage of the marketing benefits of the new rules and objectives. From a fan’s point of view, all of this may risk changing the style of racing, because a different type of driver may be needed to achieve the best results. “What is certain is that the work of the driver facing these new engines will be different,” said Alain Prost, a four-time world champion and now an ambassador for the Renault car company. “Each generation of driver is asked for something different, and this one will be about managing energy. All that will be generated electrically, and according to the tracks, according to the races, if you are in tow, and all sorts of parameters that we cannot know about at the moment. I think the driver will have to work a lot more to understand how the system works, along with his team, to be able to optimize what he has. I think the driver who is intelligent, curious and interested will make a difference.” A paradox is that the new engine, which arose in part out of the financial crisis, will cost a lot more to buy. The current engine costs about €15 million per season for a team, and each driver in the team has the right to use eight of the engines. Next year the price will go up to roughly €20 million, and as part of the cost reduction and efficiency, each driver will have the right to use only five per season in 2014 and four in 2015. But as Jalinier noted, what Renault Sport charges the teams for use of the engines doesn’t cover the cost of making them. The Renault car company covers the losses, considering it an investment in the marketing tool that the engines represent. Renault supplies four teams with engines this year: Red Bull, Lotus, Williams and Caterham. The new project is important and exciting for teams and engineers. But one of the keys to winning in both 2013 and 2014 will be how teams and engine manufacturers are be able to balance the two very different programs from the two years. “The first thing to say is that 2013 is absolutely business as usual,” White said. “The next thing is that of course the 2014 project is cohabiting with the 2013 project and will occupy in total a greater proportion of the factory-based resource than the 2013 engine. “We have been in F1 for a long time and one of the lessons that we have always learned is that you cannot mortgage the present to pay for the future,” he added. “And so we are very committed to succeeding in 2013. In real life, then, the urgencies of 2013 will take over from the important 2014 stuff. And therefore we will hopefully have built the foundations of 2014 without too many surprises.”

Formula One
Car Racing
Engine
Renault
Red Bull
Energy Efficiency
Fuel efficiency


Central Bank in China Acts to Ease Rate Jumps

Abstract: SHANGHAI — China’s money market rates rose sharply on Thursday, increasing short-term borrowing costs and threatening to recreate the liquidity squeeze that rattled markets in June. To ease concerns, China’s central bank extended trading on the interbank market on Thursday by 30 minutes. After the market’s close, the bank released a statement on its microblog site saying it had recently injected liquidity into the market. The sharp rise in interest rates comes at a time when the central government is trying to push through reforms that would force financial institutions to be more efficient and market-oriented. For years, the government has kept rates unusually low, helping feed an investment binge that some economists warn has caused inflation and led to overinvestment in property, infrastructure and other industries. The government is trying to wean speculators off cheap money by driving up interest rates. In a sign that this is beginning to take place, short-term borrowing costs have jumped this year in the interbank market. The central bank sometimes steps in to keep the market operating smoothly, but it has signaled this year that the market will play a greater role. Louis Kuijs, an economist with the Royal Bank of Scotland who is based in Hong Kong, said the Chinese government wanted tighter monetary policy and higher rates to rein in credit growth and bank leverage. But he said the central bank’s effort to inject liquidity into a jittery market was necessary. “This should help reduce tightness and calm the market,” he said.

Interest rate
Banking and Finance
People's Bank of China
China


Zuma Rallies S. Africa to Fight AIDS

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG — In a culmination of his party’s major shift on AIDS , a disease that has led to plunging life expectancies here, President Jacob Zuma last week definitively rejected his predecessor’s denial of the viral cause of AIDS and of the critical role of antiretroviral drugs in treating it. Almost 10 years to the day after President Thabo Mbeki first suggested that AIDS drugs could pose “a danger to health” in an Oct. 28, 1999, speech in Parliament, Mr. Zuma declared Thursday in the same chamber, “Knowledge will help us to confront denialism and the stigma attached to the disease.” In a country that now has more H.I.V.-infected people and annual AIDS deaths than any other , Mr. Zuma’s clarion call for a battle against the disease, six months into his term as president, led to rejoicing among advocates who had long sought such national leadership. Mr. Zuma said in his address: “All South Africans must know that they are at risk and must take informed decisions to reduce their vulnerability to infection or, if infected, to slow the advance of the disease. Most importantly, all South Africans need to know their H.I.V. status, and be informed of the treatment options available to them.” After Mr. Mbeki’s ouster from the presidency a year ago by his own party, the African National Congress, which has governed the country since 1994, a caretaker president appointed a new health minister, Barbara Hogan, who said in an interview that what she called “the era of denialism” was over. Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, her successor as health minister under Mr. Zuma, has accepted the government’s responsibility for past failings and begun charting a more comprehensive approach to the AIDS crisis here. Plain-spoken national leadership has proved critical to combating the disease in Uganda, Kenya and Botswana — and disastrous where it was lacking , as here. Harvard researchers estimated that South Africa could have prevented 365,000 premature deaths had it acted sooner to provide antiretroviral drugs to treat people with AIDS and to prevent H.I.V.-positive women from infecting their newborns. In his speech, Mr. Zuma laid out the horrifying toll of AIDS. Among the statistics he cited was that overall deaths registered in South Africa in 2008 jumped to 756,000 from 573,000 the year before, which he said posed the possibility that deaths annually could eventually outnumber births. He also said life expectancy for South African men is 51, compared with 70 in Algeria and 60 in Senegal. “These are some of the chilling statistics that demonstrate the devastating impact that H.I.V. and AIDS is having on our nation,” Mr. Zuma said. “Not even the youngest are spared.” And though the country now has a strategy to fight the disease and the largest antiretroviral treatment program on earth, he said: “We are not yet winning this battle. We must come to terms with this reality as South Africans.” He also called for “a massive mobilization campaign” to spur South Africans to safeguard their health, educate them about the risks and convert “knowledge into a change of behavior.” Mr. Zuma did not go into detail about the behavior changes that were needed. Many anti-AIDS advocates hope the president will speak out about the dangers of multiple sexual partners and urge people to take the difficult, and in some cases culturally charged, steps that could help prevent the spread of H.I.V.: condom use and male circumcision , which more than halves the risk of infection for men, among other things. Mr. Zuma is Zulu, the country’s largest ethnic group, and Zulus do not generally practice circumcision. Mr. Zuma vowed that on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, the country would begin what he called a “renewed onslaught against this epidemic.”

South Africa
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Zuma Jacob G
Medicine and Health
Mbeki Thabo


A Review of ‘Sizwe Banzi Is Dead’ in Princeton

Abstract: The Kafkaesque existence that millions of people suffered through under South Africa’s apartheid laws is rendered with powerful simplicity in “Sizwe Banzi Is Dead.” Currently presented by the McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, this production arrives from the Market Theater of Johannesburg and has been directed by John Kani, who wrote the play with Winston Ntshona and Athol Fugard in 1972. When the two-actor drama was staged on Broadway in 1974 (in repertory with “The Island,” another work created by the trio) with Mr. Kani and Mr. Ntshona as its interpreters, they shared an unusual joint Tony Award for best performance by a leading actor. It is obvious that Mr. Kani understands well the nuances of staging and performing this remarkably subtle work. What makes “Sizwe Banzi Is Dead” such persuasive theater is the way it evokes a nightmarish world using understated means. There is no screaming, gunfire or impassioned invective. Instead, the 90-minute drama translates the repressive horror of apartheid into human terms through the use of easygoing humor in its early passages, then shifts into graver tones as the play progresses. Image Mr. Kani Credit Ruphin Coudyzer Starkly set against a black background are two tables, a chair, a camera on a tripod and a display board of photographs that suggest a modest photography studio. It is owned by Styles, a cheerful young man, and situated in a black township located outside Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Wearing a bow tie and a white dustcoat, Styles is first discovered chuckling over a newspaper. Speaking directly to the audience, Styles tells an amusing anecdote about his previous job as a worker at a disorderly Ford Motor Company factory, which convinced him to become his own boss and turn his hobby into a profession. Styles disarmingly chats about the ways his photos help record the dreams and achievements of “simple people.” A prospective customer enters. A stocky, shy fellow resplendent in a new suit, he eventually poses for several portraits. As a final camera flash goes off, he briefly freezes, smiling, as the studio disappears into darkness. The photograph then comes to life, and the man is heard dictating the letter to his wife that will accompany the portrait. “I’ve got wonderful news for you,” he says. “Sizwe Banzi, in a manner of speaking, is dead!” This man — the customer from the photo studio — is none other than Banzi himself, and the remainder of the play, which is set in the early 1970s, relates in an extended flashback the way he reluctantly came to assume the identity of another individual in order to get on with his life. Crucial to the story is Banzi’s passbook, an official document that, under apartheid, all black South Africans were required to carry at all times. In addition to a photograph and other descriptive information, the passbook stipulated where the holder could live and work. Image Mr. Shabangu Credit Ruphin Coudyzer Banzi has strayed far from his home to seek employment near Port Elizabeth, and now finds himself trapped there beyond his permitted time limit. He could face fines and imprisonment. He cannot get a job or start a business, or venture into the streets for that matter, without showing that his passbook is in order. And Banzi’s document is certainly not in order. Fortunately, a friend of a friend named Buntu and a chance occurrence combine to deliver Banzi from his predicament. The play illustrates South Africa’s dystopian apartheid system by degrees, beginning with Styles’s personal history and bureaucratic struggle to open his own business. As Banzi’s passbook issues arise, a terrible picture of apartheid slowly comes into focus. Staged with minimal scenery, Mr. Kani’s production is cunningly austere. His son, Atandwa Kani, neatly portrays both the upbeat Styles and the forthright Buntu. Mncedisi Shabangu appealingly depicts Banzi with a musical voice and a sweet smile. Their interaction is natural and confident. The performances make this penetrating play all the more compelling.

Theater
John Kani
Athol Fugard
Winston Ntshona
McCarter Theatre
Princeton NJ
Atandwa Kani
Mncedisi Shabangu
Sizwe Banzi Is Dead