Falling Bricks Cause Concern and Delays on the Upper East Side

Abstract: Nick Alexopoulos jumped from his couch and dropped his Xbox controller when he heard the sound outside his Upper East Side apartment on Monday night. Across the street, on the northwest corner of 63rd Street and First Avenue, the rooftop facade of a sprawling apartment building had collapsed, sending hundreds of bricks some 30 stories to the street below. As Mr. Alexopoulos peered out from his 11th-floor apartment, he could see, in the windows, the terrified faces of those who lived inside the building. “My immediate thought was, ‘This building is coming down, and I’m going to die,’ ” Mr. Alexopoulos, 23, said. The site of the accident, the St. Tropez condominium at 340 East 64th Street, had been undergoing some exterior renovations. No workers were believed to be there when the incident unfolded at around 10 p.m., and miraculously, city officials and residents said, no pedestrians or residents were injured. But the impact of the accident was still being felt on Friday, as much of the area was still closed to traffic, and basic services were upended. Image Rick D. Chandler, the city’s buildings commissioner, spoke at a news conference on Friday about efforts to repair the crumbling facade where the bricks came loose. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times Residents who had been evacuated from the St. Tropez, where the windows on some apartments are still taped over, were expected to return in several days. The timetable is roughly the same for residents in a smaller neighboring building, at 346 East 63rd Street, who were evacuated on Thursday night. By early Friday, all of East 63rd Street between Second and York Avenues remained closed. First Avenue was closed to vehicles from East 60th to East 64th Streets. Garbage collection was delayed, and some areas remained closed to pedestrians. City officials reported progress in their efforts to secure the damaged facade by injecting epoxy into the remaining bricks. Workers were then set to demolish the facade, doing “complicated, delicate work that will be performed by hand,” said Rick D. Chandler, the city’s buildings commissioner. At a news conference Friday afternoon, Frank McCarton, the deputy commissioner of operations for the city’s Office of Emergency Management, said city officials were hopeful that the area would “return to normalcy” by Monday morning’s rush. Mr. Chandler said that it was still too early to determine what precisely happened and who might have been responsible. But preliminary information suggested deterioration in the ties designed to keep bricks from falling off the 34-story building , which was built in 1966 as the city’s first condominium, and where units typically sell for $2 million. “It’s not the first time that a brick tie has rusted out and failed,” Mr. Chandler said. “But usually, we don’t see this kind of catastrophic failure.” So far, at least, it appears that the contractor doing the work, Quality Building Construction, had complied with a city law requiring that facades of buildings taller than six stories be inspected every five years. The company also does not stand out from its peers in terms of violations and penalties on file with the city’s Buildings Department and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Image Workers have injected epoxy into the remaining bricks near where the facade crumbled on Monday. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times A lawyer for Quality Building Construction did not respond to messages on Friday. City officials said that the company had been cooperating. Though the number of construction workers killed or injured on the job has been surging in recent years, as documented by a recent New York Times investigation , the number of complaints about falling debris has been decreasing. There were 1,225 complaints logged with the Department of Buildings over falling debris in 2014, down from 2,215 in 2010. Still, the consequences of falling debris can be disastrous. Earlier this year, a shoddy facade crumbled and killed a 2-year-old girl on the Upper West Side; last month, the engineer who was supposed to inspect the facade was accused of failing to follow safety protocols. On the Upper East Side on Friday, though, much of the attention was focused on the more prosaic disruptions, such as traffic. Given its proximity to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive and the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge overpass, the section of First Avenue affected by the closure plays a crucial role in traffic flow, as cars both leaving and entering the bridge make their way up these blocks. Meanwhile, garbage was piled high outside businesses, as sanitation trucks were unable to pick up the trash. On East 62nd Street, a group of men who work at the Ravagh Persian Grill — delivery men, line cooks and waiters — had arrived for work, only to find out that there was no work to be had. “We’ve lost nearly $30,000,” said James Soto, the restaurant’s assistant manager. He nodded toward the men, who were visibly upset. “We’ve lost salaries for these guys.”

Construction
Accidents and Safety
Upper East Side Manhattan
Buildings
Buildings Department NYC


California: Polanski Request Is Denied

Abstract: Roman Polanski ’s legal options narrowed Monday as a Los Angeles judge denied his request to unseal testimony about a sentencing plan in his 33-year-old sex-crimes case. Lawyers for Mr. Polanski, the Oscar-winning director, had hoped to use the testimony of a retired prosecutor to fight his extradition to the United States from Switzerland, where he is under house arrest. The conditional testimony of the retired prosecutor, Roger Gunson, was taken this year so it could be used if Mr. Gunson, who has cancer, is not available to testify in any future sentencing hearing. In denying the request, Judge Peter Espinoza of Los Angeles Superior Court said of the Swiss authorities, “I’m satisfied that they have information that they need.”


Malaysian Court Frees Australians Who Stripped to Briefs at Grand Prix

Abstract: SYDNEY, Australia — Nine Australians who were arrested in Malaysia last weekend after stripping down to briefs emblazoned with the Malaysian flag at a Formula One race were freed by a judge on Thursday after they apologized. The men, all in their 20s, had been in custody since their arrest on Sunday. They had celebrated an Australian driver’s victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, outside the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, by shedding their shirts and pants to reveal the “budgie smugglers,” as Australians call tight swimwear. As they chanted and drank beer from shoes, onlookers captured their antics on video, which soon found their way to social media. On Thursday, the men — one of whom, Jack Walker, is an aide to a senior Australian cabinet minister — each pleaded guilty to creating a public nuisance and apologized, said one of their lawyers, Wan Aizuddin. A judge then dismissed the charges and released them with a warning. “We had no idea that our conduct would be deemed to be inappropriate, crass or even downright offensive to the citizens of this country,” the defendants said in a statement read outside the courtroom by another defense lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, after the hearing. A Malaysian police official had said earlier that the men would be investigated on suspicion of intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of two years. The public nuisance charge to which the men pleaded guilty is punishable by a fine of $96, but no jail time, Mr. Aizuddin said. “They all have good jobs in Australia and come from good families,” Mr. Aizuddin said by telephone after the hearing. “These were mitigating factors. They are young fellows. They never meant to cause offense.” The judge, Harith Sham Mohamed Yasin, warned the men in a lengthy statement that they should be more aware of other people’s sensibilities, adding that what might not cause offense in Australia could be an affront to Malaysians, Mr. Aizuddin said. Mr. Walker is an aide to Christopher Pyne, Australia’s minister for defense industry, which oversees military contracts.

Malaysia
Australia
Formula One
Decisions and Verdicts


If This Happens in Vegas, It Can Sure Stay in Vegas

Abstract: LAS VEGAS — Parking was plentiful right by the door, there was no one to wrestle with for use of the slot machines, and Paris Hilton would not have been caught dead anywhere near this joint. As casino openings go, this one was underwhelming, and intentionally so. For eight hours on Tuesday, Station Casinos opened a nondescript 40-by-10-foot trailer on a vacant 26-acre plot about six miles east of the Strip with just 16 slot machines. The sole purpose was to comply with a state law that requires public gambling to occur on a property for at least one shift every two years in order for the landowner to retain the valuable zoning designation needed to conduct wagering. “It just has to be open to the public,” said Lori Nelson, a spokeswoman for Station Casinos, which owns 16 casinos in Nevada and one in California. “You don’t need to promote it. You don’t need to really have people gamble here. But you do need to have that option.” As of midday, nobody but reporters had turned out for the event, which had been publicized by only a few bloggers on the Internet. The biggest payout on the bank of video poker and blackjack machines was $2.50. Station bought the property in 2005 and the next year demolished the shuttered casino-hotel that had been the Showboat and, later, the Castaways. The company has yet to come up with plans for the land, in a deteriorating section of eastern Las Vegas where property values are falling and crime is rampant. The opening of the nameless temporary casino, which the local newspaper dubbed Trailer Station, was rich in red tape, including seven permits, approvals from the City Council and the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and a certificate of occupancy. As required by the city code, the trailer, brought onto the land just for the day, came complete with a portable toilet outside and, to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act, a wheelchair-accessible entrance. A casino floor manager sat at one end of the narrow room ready to pay out winnings should there be any, a security guard patrolled outside, and two city zoning officers visited for 20 minutes to inspect and fill out paperwork. The state archivist, Guy Rocha, said he had never heard of such an event. “I have to admit, I’ve never witnessed it,” Mr. Rocha said. “Nor am I aware of it.” But Rob Woodson of the United Coin Machine Company, the slot operator that provided the machines for the day, said: “There are probably four or five places that have to do this in order to preserve their grandfathered zoning rights to have nonrestricted gaming there. That makes the property millions and millions of dollars more valuable.” Toward sunset, the casino closed quietly. Ms. Nelson, the Station Casinos spokeswoman, said the company might not have a permanent casino up on the property two years from now, either. If not, then to comply with the once-every-24-month rule, Trailer Station may return in early 2010. “If we don’t break ground and start building a facility,” she said, “yeah, we’ll be here two years from today.”


Rapid Increase of Diabetes Strains Middle East’s Health Agencies

Abstract: DUBAI — Rapidly increasing diabetes rates in the Middle East and North Africa are giving rise to concerns about containing the epidemic and the financial burden of health care costs to the region’s governments. “There is absolutely no doubt that diabetes is one of the major problems our region is dealing with; we have extremely high rates and continuously rising trends,” said Dr. Ala Alwan, the assistant director general for noncommunicable diseases and mental health at the World Health Organization. “This all leads to low productivity, loss of household income and a rise in health care costs. Now we have clear evidence that such catastrophic expenses can drive families below the poverty line.” Six countries in the region are among the top 10 globally with the highest prevalence of diabetes. They include the United Arab Emirates , showing the second-highest rate in the world — behind only the tiny Pacific island state of Nauru — followed by Bahrain , Egypt , Kuwait , Oman and Saudi Arabia . The International Diabetes Foundation estimates that 26.6 million adults in the Middle East and North Africa currently have diabetes, accounting for 9.3 percent of the world’s adults with the disease. The region spends $5.5 billion annually on diabetes, accounting for 14 percent of its total health care expenditure. In Qatar, expenditure is as high as $2,960 per person. The figures are already worrying, but the foundation predicts worse to come. It says that over the next 20 years the number of people with diabetes in the region will almost double, reaching 51.7 million by 2030. The disease greatly increases the risk of serious, costly illnesses and conditions, according to a briefing book prepared by the foundation for the region. In Egypt, for example, 42 percent of people with diabetes experience early-stage eye disease and 5 percent are legally blind, the book shows. The disease also raises the risk of heart attack ; in the United Arab Emirates, more than 10 percent of people diagnosed with diabetes have coronary heart disease . Diabetes is the leading cause of non-traumatic lower-limb amputations, which has afflicted 5 percent of Jordanians with the disease. In Saudi Arabia, 54 percent of people with diabetes show signs of early-stage kidney disease. The reason for disproportionately high prevalence of diabetes in the Middle East lies mainly in lifestyle choices, according to doctors. Dr. Alwan points to the lack of physical activity , saying that up to half the region’s adults are physically inactive — and as many as 70 percent of women in, for example, Saudi Arabia. Tobacco also adds to the risk of cardiovascular disease linked to diabetes, he said, with up to 55 percent of men in the region saying they smoke regularly. Obesity rates in the Middle East and North Africa are among the highest in the world, particularly in the Gulf and, again, lifestyle choices are mainly to blame. “Diabetes and obesity are global problems, but the concern is the rapidity of increase in this region, and while we can’t change genetics , we can change lifestyle choices,” said Dr. Ghassan Darwiche, head of the Rashid Center for Diabetes and Research at Sheik Khalifa Hospital in Ajman, United Arab Emirates. “It is actually cheaper to eat fast food than cook healthy food at home here,” Dr. Darwiche added. “ There is an overrepresentation of cheap fast food in the region, and we need to involve fast food companies in this.” Exercise, healthy eating and proper stress management can all contribute to reducing diabetes risk — something that seems simple enough. The problem lies in the fact that diabetes is not viewed as a serious disease, according to a diabetes awareness survey completed in 10 countries in the Middle East and North Africa in November by Novo Nordisk, a global health care company. Seventy-four percent of people at risk of developing diabetes have never been told that they are at risk, according to the survey, which was based on interviews with 3,000 respondents in Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. While 83 percent of respondents agreed that prevalence of diabetes was rapidly increasing, 40 percent of those at risk considered diabetes to be a benign condition that was not always severe and 37 percent had never been screened or had a blood sugar measurement. Health ministries in the region are working to improve these statistics by providing accessible screening opportunities for people and by training more doctors and nurses. In the Emirates, 75 nurses are currently enrolled in diabetes education programs financed by the government. Screening centers are placed in shopping malls, like the Mega Mall in Sharjah and Lulu Mall in Fujeirah, to encourage more people to check their blood sugar levels . “We need to engage every corner in this country, from the companies in the private sector to government institutions to shopping malls,” said Dr. Mahmoud Fikri, chairman of the National Diabetes Committee and chief executive for health policies affairs in the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health. “We need to strengthen community participation and build a partnership for diabetes control.” The ministry has also established an online registry for diabetes patients and health care providers, in a concerted effort to provide more data to help tackle the problem. With more accurate statistics and better-trained health care providers, the aim is to focus more effort on awareness and education about the risks of diabetes. “If we continue, there is a bleak inheritance for future generations,” said Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, the minister of health in the Emirates. “We want the MENA region to have high-performing economies that offer people healthy and productive lives,” he said, using the acronym for the Middle East-North Africa region. He added that heavy financial burdens were being placed on regional governments and that diabetes-related illnesses currently consumed 13 percent of the Emirate’s health care budget. Former President Bill Clinton, whose foundation aims to raise diabetes awareness worldwide, was a keynote speaker at a MENA Diabetes Leadership Forum last month in Dubai. “This whole region is in the midst of a burst of modernization, with so many exciting things going on,” Mr. Clinton said. “But it can all be interrupted if we don’t block this diabetes epidemic.”

United Arab Emirates
Diabetes
Bahrain
Egypt
Cairo (Egypt)
Kuwait
Oman
Saudi Arabia


Another Growing Pain in Yanks’ Young Arms

Abstract: BALTIMORE — Brian Cashman did not count on the injuries, the suspensions or the offensive struggles of the Yankees ’ powerful lineup. But Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, said he expected all along that the team’s young starters would wobble early on. “When you’re getting out of the gates, you expect to have growing pains,” Cashman said. “Anybody who doesn’t expect that would be naïve.” Even so, the Yankees never predicted that Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy would start this poorly. A night after Hughes allowed five runs, Kennedy allowed four and failed to last three innings Saturday in a 6-0 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Manager Joe Girardi seemed testy after the game, and it was hard to tell what bothered him more: reporters’ questions or Kennedy’s passive approach to pitching. Asked if Kennedy would make his next start, Girardi initially said yes, and then hedged. “He’ll make his next start,” Girardi said. “That’s the plan right now.” Kennedy has made three starts, and in two of them, including Saturday’s, he has thrown more balls than strikes. A control specialist, he has nibbled too much around the edges of the strike zone, and Girardi seems exasperated. At one point, Girardi said Kennedy needed only a minor adjustment. But his words described a fundamental shift in approach that Kennedy must make. “I’m talking about throwing strikes,” Girardi said. “You can’t have 10 out of 17 three-ball counts and five walks and expect to win a game. You’ve got to make the adjustment.” Girardi continued: “You can ask me 72 times, ‘Is it mental or physical?’ You’ve got to make the adjustment; that’s baseball. Everywhere you go — A-ball, Double-A, high school, college — if you don’t throw strikes, it’s tough to win.” Kennedy (0-2) walked five in two and two-thirds innings, throwing 43 balls and 42 strikes. He said that the basics of baseball should compel him to be more aggressive. “You fall behind guys and you feel you have to nitpick and not let them hit it, whereas, it’s the opposite,” Kennedy said. “You just have to go after them and make them hit it. Seven out of 10 times, they get out. That’s the only thing I have to work on.” The Yankees got their usual overpowering inning from Joba Chamberlain in his return to the team after five days away. But Chamberlain is a reliever for now, and the erratic rotation has hurt the Yankees most. The starters’ earned run average is 5.72, and Hughes and Kennedy are winless. “The one thing I wasn’t surprised with is that the guys have gotten off to slow starts, because they’re young,” Cashman said. “I think they’ll be fine in the long run. You’ve just got to wait it out. They’re going to be learning on the run, and we’ll be better for it.” The Yankees placed considerable faith in Hughes and Kennedy, rejecting all trade offers — most notably for Johan Santana — and insisting that they could develop in the majors and still help the team make the playoffs. So far, though, the two have combined to go 0-5 with a 9.20 E.R.A. Opponents are hitting .344 against them. They have thrown only 27 1/3 innings in their seven starts — an average of fewer than four innings in each. The Yankees have used their bullpen so much that the long reliever Ross Ohlendorf has thrown 14 1/3 innings, a third of an inning more than Kennedy and two fewer than Hughes. Ohlendorf is part of a three-way tie for the most strikeouts on the team, with 13. The Yankees’ heralded young starters at Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre have not fared much better. Alan Horne is out with a strained biceps muscle and Jeff Marquez is 1-2 with a 9.82 E.R.A. The best starters at Scranton have been Kei Igawa and Darrell Rasner. Not since 1992 have the Yankees used a rotation before September with two starters under age 24. Hughes is the youngest pitcher in the majors, at 21, and Kennedy is 23. “We’re going through it together, that’s a good thing,” Kennedy said. “They’re patient with us. They know we’re better than the way we’re pitching right now. We’ve proven that we can pitch up here, and we’ve proven to ourselves that, mentally and physically, we belong here.” Of course, it would have been hard for any Yankees pitcher to win Saturday, because the team scored no runs. Girardi has used an American League-high 18 lineups in 19 games, without finding the right combination. The left-hander Brian Burres, whose career E.R.A. entering the game was 5.69, worked the first five and two-thirds innings on Saturday. The Yankees never brought a runner to third base after the first, and after Burres left, they had only one base runner against the rookie Jim Johnson. “We’re too good of a team to not be able to do that,” Johnny Damon said. “We need to figure things out.”

Baseball
Hughes Phil
Kennedy Ian
New York Yankees


Not Notebook Nor Netbook: Just Call It a Slim Book

Abstract: There’s no formal criteria for what puts a PC notebook into the “superslim” category, but it probably should weigh no more than three pounds and be no more than an inch thick. Asus and Dell , both champions in the lighter and slimmer quest, have announced new machines that more than fit this category, which now seems to nestle between the netbook and the conventional notebook. They generally cost as much or more than either of those varieties. The Asus UX30, available now in Japan, has a three-pound aluminum body, selling for about $1,100. The profile of the machine is 0.77 inches, which is thin by anyone’s definition. The $450 Dell Vostro V13 borrows from Dell’s high-end Adamo XPS, aims at the business traveler. It measures 0.65 inches thick, but weighs a little on the heavy side at 3.5 pounds. Vostro V13, which is also encased in aluminum, is on sale worldwide, Dell says. STEPHEN WILLIAMS

Laptop Computers
Dell Inc
Computers and the Internet


FIFA Reduces Suspensions of Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini

Abstract: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini had their suspensions from soccer reduced to six years, from eight, by FIFA’s appeals body on Wednesday, two days before the sport’s ruling body was set to try to turn the page on years of scandals by electing a new president. Blatter and Platini were initially found guilty of wrongdoing by FIFA’s independent ethics committee, which is led by a German judge, over a previously secret financial transaction in 2011. But after hearings last week, an in-house appeals committee made up of members of federations voting in Friday’s presidential election decided to relax the suspensions. TWO NATIONS DENIED The FIFA presidential election is expected to have two fewer voters, because Kuwait and Indonesia are banned. FIFA’s executive committee decided to refer suspensions imposed last year on the two countries to the election meeting with a recommendation “that both these cases be dealt with at the next ordinary Congress,” which is May 13 in Mexico City. The suspensions, for allowing government interference in how federations are run, block the countries from voting. TRANSPARENT BOOTHS REJECTED The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected a protest from the FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who was seeking to force FIFA to use transparent voting booths in its election. Prince Ali said he had gone to the court in Switzerland to guarantee FIFA members the freedom to vote for their preferred candidate. The prince has said that transparent voting booths would ensure that delegates did not take pictures of their ballots, a move required by certain regional confederations as proof of loyalty to a specific candidate. (AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE) CITY WINS IN KIEV Sergio Agüero scored one goal and helped create another as Manchester City powered to a 3-1 first-leg win at Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. P.S.V. Eindhoven battled to a 0-0 draw with visiting Atlético Madrid, comfortably surviving more than 20 minutes after a red card for striker Gastón Pereiro. (AP)

Soccer
FIFA
Sepp Blatter
Michel Platini
UEFA Champions League


Russia’s Neighbors in Europe Warily Watch Ruble Crisis

Abstract: WARSAW — The former Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe are warily watching neighboring Russia’s economic struggles, girding for drops in exports and tourism but confident, in the short term at least, that the ruble’s fall will not carry their currencies with it. “We are in a totally different basket than the ruble,” said Witold Orlowski, dean of the Warsaw University of Technology Business School. “We are now part of the European Union, so our currencies don’t react directly to the ruble anymore.” A similar ruble crisis in 1998, before the countries were admitted to the union, had a significant impact on regional currencies. But this time, Mr. Orlowski said, the drops seen in recent days in the Polish zloty, the Hungarian forint and other currencies seem within the range of normal fluctuations. The effect on regional trade, though, could be serious, economists say, depending on how long the crisis lasts and how deep the coming Russian recession proves to be. “Russian imports are going to be smaller and Russian investment abroad is going to be more hesitant,” said Miroslav Prokopijevic, an economic analyst in Belgrade, Serbia. The impact, though, will differ depending on how much each nation relies on Russian trade and on Russian visitors, who are more likely to stay home now that the cost of foreign travel has shot up. The Baltics, which rely heavily on both, will suffer a larger hit than nations like Romania, which has little trade with Russia. In tiny Moldova, one of the poorest nations in Europe and a former Soviet Republic, a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product comes from money sent back by residents living abroad, many of them in Russia. “Vaclav Havel once said: ‘Are you asking what to do to help the Czech Republic? I respond, help Russia,'” said Tomas Sedlacek, chief macroeconomic specialist at CSOB, a Czech bank, referring to the former Czech president. “It is fairly paradoxical to remind ourselves of this today, when the world observes Russia’s troubles with a certain satisfaction. I endorse the current sanctions, but an unstable and angry Russia is not what we should wish for.” In one way, the initial impact has been blunted by the countersanctions Russia imposed this year on agricultural and other imports from those countries that supported sanctions against Moscow for its role in the Ukraine conflict. “Such rapid weakening of the ruble, if continued, will have a more significant impact on the Lithuanian economy than the previous embargo on food products,” said Vaiva Seckute, a Lithuanian specialist at Swedbank. In Poland, with the largest economy in the region, embargoes had already reduced exports to Russia by 10 percent. But there is the potential, if the crisis persists, for exports to Russia from Central Europe to drop as much as 20 or 30 percent, Mr. Orlowski said. “That would have an impact on G.D.P. of noticeable size,” he said. “In the case of Poland, the Czech Republic, in the region of a half percent to 1 percent.” Some of the impact on everyday life may be mitigated by the fall in oil prices that helped precipitate the Russian crisis and should result in lower energy costs. What many outside the region fail to appreciate, Mr. Orlowski said, is how much national economies have reoriented economically, as well as politically, since joining the European Union. Trade with Russia accounts for 5 percent of Polish exports, for instance, a significant chunk, but trade with Germany and the rest of Western Europe is 15 times larger. “The greater danger is that this will affect the public mood in Germany,” he said. “We in Poland are very much afraid of this, because a 3 percent drop in exports to Western Europe is much more important for us than a 30 percent drop in our exports to Russia.”


Charles Powell

Abstract: What went through your mind when you first heard that the wall had fallen? How did it affect your life and/or your thinking? Looking back now, what one thing would you have done differently? Watching events on television at 10 Downing Street, it was hard to believe that it was actually happening — that the wall was breached and people were pouring through. I hurried upstairs to tell Margaret Thatcher, whose reaction was pure joy that the most hated and oppressive symbol of the Cold War was coming down. Despite the momentous events in Eastern Europe and East Germany in the preceding days and weeks, we had not been expecting it. But her thoughts turned immediately to the consequences. Could there be a backlash? An incident involving Soviet forces in East Germany? What would be the consequences for Mikhail Gorbachev? And the longer term consequences for Europe? The fall of the wall had a profound effect on me both professionally and personally. I am a child of World War II and the Cold War. The division of Germany and, later, the wall were part of the landscape with which we lived and didn’t really expect to see change. All of a sudden this frozen landscape was transformed, not by diplomacy or force of arms but by brave individuals who would no longer tolerate oppression. It opened up extraordinary opportunities for us and for future generations. It also taught me that the unquenchable desire of the human spirit to be free can accomplish far more than governments. That is something which makes you feel humble and banishes cynicism and complacency. I should have woken up earlier to the irresistible force propelling German unification. Margaret Thatcher supported German unification — how could she not, after subscribing to so many solemn declarations? — but was deeply worried by the pace and process. She feared that moving forward too rapidly would destabilize Mr. Gorbachev and put at risk the unfinished process of democratization in Eastern Europe. She was worried, too, that in grasping for early unification, the Federal Republic would be tempted to abandon its NATO links and be tempted by some form of neutrality, which would put at risk the defense of Europe. She would have preferred to see democracy firmly established in East Germany first. These were legitimate concerns, and I shared them. But they underestimated the unstoppable desire of the German people to be one nation again. I should have been more perceptive and advised her better. Charles Powell, then 48, was foreign policyadviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcherwhen the wall fell. Today he is a businessmanand, as Lord Powell of Bayswater, a life peer inthe House of Lords.


For November, Magazines Put Their Own Slant on the Turkey

Abstract: The turkey has done what a supermodel never could: land the cover of dozens of magazines in a single month. The November covers of American food magazines are a turkey delight, with the burnished bird stuffed, garnished and splayed every which way. “We all have to come at this with our own point of view, our own little way to make this universal icon specifically our own,” said Dana Cowin, the editor in chief of Food & Wine. “If I look at Rachael and she’s pulling her turkey out of the oven, she’s saying, ‘I can do it, you can do it, too,’ ” she said of how the Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine approached the subject. “Bon App, it’s sort of communicating how-to, but it’s very pristine.” Some editors avoid the turkey trot, like Scott Mowbray, the editor of Cooking Light, who put pecan pie on his November cover. “If you had a chance to know that all of your competitors essentially were doing the exact same thing, wouldn’t you do something different?” he asked. Apparently not. But as straightforward as it sounds, turkey photography can be complicated, Ms. Cowin said. “I know it seems like, hey, what could be simpler than roasting a bird? But the perfect roast bird is a challenge,” Ms. Cowin said. “Turkey, as a model, is very much like a fashion magazine with fashion models. There are plump turkeys, and, I’m not kidding you, there’s skinny turkeys, there are chesty turkeys, breasty turkeys, there are flat-chested turkeys.” With one previous year’s model, “I was like, ‘I just need the breast to get a little bit higher,’ ” she said, then paused. “We have enhanced the breasts of turkeys,” she admitted. STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

Thanksgiving Day
Magazines
Advertising and Marketing
Turkeys
Cooking Light
Food & Wine


Reversal in Palin Case

Abstract: ANCHORAGE (AP) — Seven Alaska state employees have reversed course and agreed to testify in an abuse-of-power investigation against Gov. Sarah Palin . Ms. Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, is the focus of a legislative inquiry into whether she abused her office by firing the public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan. Mr. Monegan says he was dismissed because he would not fire the governor’s former brother-in-law. Lawmakers subpoenaed seven state employees to testify in the inquiry, but they challenged those subpoenas. A judge rejected that challenge last week. Because of that ruling, the Alaska attorney general, Talis Colberg, says, the employees have decided to testify.

Palin Sarah
Monegan Walt
Alaska
Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations


Infomercials Find Their Way to Television’s Prime Time

Abstract: THE last two Saturday nights, CBS’s prime-time lineup included “Game Show in My Head,” “48 Hours Mystery” — and lots of infomercials. The two-minute commercials, for a DVD set of “The World at War” and a CD of relaxing classical music, both from Time Life, ran during almost every show on the network’s recent Saturday nights. It is a sign of just how bad the advertising market is: infomercials are running during network prime time, filling slots that automobiles and banks once owned. “The economy is the No. 1 focus for everyone, and it affects the advertisers and the rates,” said Pat Boos, the senior vice president for broadcast, acquisition and marketing at Direct Holdings Americas, which licenses the Time Life brand. “When someone pulls off the air, like a pharmaceutical or medical company or a sports company, the networks sometimes find themselves with last-minute dead space,” she said. “We can come in and say, we’ve got a tape ready, we’ve got the product ready.” Ms. Boos said that Time Life was running double the number of prime-time spots that it did a year ago. Networks try to avoid infomercial advertisers, because they pay “a fraction of what general advertising costs,” said Nancy Duitch, the chief executive of Vertical Branding, which runs infomercials for its products like the Steam Buddy and the Nicer Dicer. Although her rates vary, she said she often paid as little as 5 percent of what a general advertiser would. Infomercials, or direct-response ads, promote a product that can be bought through a Web site or a phone number, often accompanied with blandishments like “but wait, there’s more!” For networks, the challenge with infomercials is not their quality, but their price: infomercials qualify for much cheaper rates than regular commercials do. In exchange for the lower prices, infomercial producers are given no guarantees about when their ads will run. The networks give priority of time to the full-price ads, which usually take up the slots during prime time and other popular times. When the networks cannot find advertisers to pay the premium time slots, they will use direct-response ads instead. Like most direct-response advertisers, Barbara Carey, the president and founder of the Akasha Group, which sells the SpinLash and Hairagami products, says she often spends as little as $1,000 on a commercial slot. “Usually, network television isn’t a place to go because the efficiencies are cost prohibitive for direct-response advertisers to go there,” said Richard Gagnon, the chief media officer of the advertising agency Draftfcb. When a network shows lots of direct-response ads during popular programs, it suggests that not only are they asking lower rates, but also that regular advertisers are deciding not to advertise.  “There are some significant economic issues going on in our world that are affecting television inventory,” Mr. Gagnon said. The money advertisers spent declined 7.5 percent on network TV, and 5.5 percent on cable, from 2007 to 2008, according to TNS Media Intelligence, a firm that tracks ad spending. Cable is also increasingly turning to direct-response ads. The top cable news networks, despite strong ratings from the election and inauguration, have been filling prime-time ad slots with infomercials. During the presidential election campaign four years ago, Ms. Duitch said she ran CNN spots that cost $100,000. This fall and winter, as the 2008 election unfolded, some CNN prime-time spots have cost only $9,000, she said. (CNN declined to comment, saying it did not discuss its rates.) “The drop has just been amazing,” said Ms. Duitch, whose ads have run during peak hours on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, and in local markets on ABC, CBS and NBC. Ms. Duitch said she had increased her prime-time spots by about 50 percent over last year. A. J. Khubani, the chief executive of TeleBrands, which sells products like the PedEgg, a callus remover, and EZ Combs, a hair accessory, said that his spots used to run in the afternoon or in late-night slots. In the last few months, though, they are regularly running on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and Fox News during prime time. Over all, Mr. Khubani said, his prime-time advertising had increased by about 20 percent over last January. “I like to say that we’re getting beachfront property at trailer park prices,” Mr. Khubani said. “We’re clearing stuff at prime time, which we almost never do.” Print, radio and Internet companies also filled space with these ads. For example, a full-page ad for an Amish room heater has been running in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. The increase in direct response has been more pronounced on television, because networks cannot easily add or lengthen programs to fill empty time slots. January tends to be a big infomercial month because advertisers concentrate on the holidays, leaving inventory available afterward. At NBC, which has run a handful of infomercials in the last two months, “the number of direct-response spots is common for this time of year, and consistent with years past,” said Liz Fischer, an NBC spokeswoman said. At MSNBC, she said, there had been a decrease in direct-response ads, she said. CBS, which has been running some direct-response ads on Saturday nights, suggested it was because its ratings had been good.  “Our strong ratings have afforded us the opportunity to sell a variety of new inventory, rather than run make-goods,” said Shannon Jacobs, a CBS spokeswoman. “Make goods” are ads from existing advertisers that networks run when they fail to reach the ratings promised for earlier ads. A Fox News spokeswoman, Dana Klinghoffer, said the network had set aside inventory for “make-goods,” which it did not need to fulfill, and was turning to some direct-response advertisers. Also, she said, financial, automotive and pharmaceutical advertisers had reduced their spending. Greg D’Alba, the executive vice president of CNN ad sales, said that direct-response ads did not necessarily mean cheap ads. “It’s true in general when it comes to other mediums, other networks, but it’s not necessarily true with CNN,” he said when asked if infomercial producers paid reduced rates. ABC and Fox had not run any direct-response ads during their national prime time in December and January, according to representatives for the networks. Local stations, however, are allowed to sell their portions of the ad time as they like. Ms. Carey said she was now worried that advertising time would become harder to get, as so many infomercial companies were vying for it. “It’s tightening up a bit,” she said. Still, she said, “the as-seen-on-TV business right now is booming. It’s a very good place to be.”

Television
Advertising and Marketing
News and News Media
infomercials


Above the Hudson, Pilots Are Also Air Traffic Controllers

Abstract: It is an open slice of sky above the Hudson River that is heavily traveled by helicopters, seaplanes and private planes, all communicating on a single, voluntary radio channel. Pilots negotiate the space themselves, working out safe distances from one another by using a tactic as simple as it sounds: “see and avoid.” Stretching from Governors Island in the south to the George Washington Bridge in the north, the airspace buzzes with helicopters on sightseeing tours or ferrying Wall Street executives. Airplane pilots use it as a shortcut — the only efficient way to fly through the city without getting tangled in commercial airspace or being forced to interact with the air traffic controllers who manage its three major airports. The Hudson River corridor is a through highway of sorts for aircraft flying below 1,100 feet. Southbound planes and choppers hug the New Jersey coastline; northbound ones hew close to the West Side of Manhattan. “It is a two-lane street that has no air traffic controllers directing these aircraft,” said Jim Peters, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The chatter inside the corridor is rapid-fire, said Paul Dudley, a pilot who has flown helicopters for 20 years. Once inside it, he said, there are a few basic protocols for pilots to remember: Tune your radio to a frequency of 123.05 — the “common traffic advisory frequency” — and identify your aircraft and announce your location and planned route. “Every pilot’s job is to see and avoid,” said Mr. Dudley , who is the director of the municipal airport in Linden, N.J., which serves as home base for several helicopter pilots. When he heard news of Saturday’s collision between a helicopter and a private plane, Mr. Dudley immediately thought of the congested skies above the city. He said he suspected that the airplane ran into the back of the slower-moving helicopter, which he said should have had the right of way if it was rising from a lower altitude. “You cannot see behind you in a helicopter,” Mr. Dudley said. Just such possibilities are what have fueled an ongoing debate about regulating the Hudson River corridor — as well as its sister space on the opposite side of Manhattan, the East River corridor. That corridor runs from Governors Island to the northern tip of Roosevelt Island, but narrows and dead-ends at La Guardia Airport, forcing most planes to execute a difficult U-turn. The freewheeling nature of the corridors has spurred debate about whether to place tighter controls on the airspace or to restrict who can fly in them. After the New York Yankees pitcher Corey Lidle and his flight instructor were killed when their plane crashed into a building on the East Side in October 2006, federal officials banned all aircraft except seaplanes and helicopters from the East River corridor without specific permission from air traffic controllers. Mr. Peters said that restriction “remains in effect today.” On Saturday, a new round of scrutiny was called for, this time as Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey and others said they hoped there would be an examination of the rules regarding air traffic above the Hudson. “I would hope that in due course that maybe we will have to take a step back and look at the traffic flow so we can protect folks and their families,” Mr. Corzine said, speaking in Hoboken. Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, zeroed in on two issues — communications and coordination. He noted that planes usually fly north or south along the river while helicopters can fly east to west, causing a potential for conflicting trajectories. And he questioned how small planes and helicopters interact. Officials, pilots and others said the Hudson River corridor is different from the East River space, so the relevant issues vary, as do the political and governmental interests at play. The Hudson corridor is wider than its counterpart, with more room to navigate. Perhaps most significantly, it does not dead-end, and is seen, in part, as an aid to commerce because it lets small planes stay out of the way of big planes and not burden the air traffic system. Controlling the space by shutting it off to aircraft is not realistic or wanted, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. “It may be one of those things where no amount of restrictions, other than preventing aircraft from coming into the area, could have prevented,” he said. “And that’s not something that anybody wants either.” Mr. Peters said such uncontrolled spaces are common in some areas in the nation, particularly in urban areas like Los Angeles and Phoenix. Though he said no official tally of the traffic in such areas is kept, many planes rely on such space to get around, and most of them navigate it successfully. It often comes down to the skill of the pilots and their familiarity with the nuances of the airspace. “A good pilot knows before he goes,” Mr. Peters said. It was not known how often the pilot of the plane that crashed Saturday had been in the Hudson River corridor.

Airlines and Airplanes
Hudson River
Accidents and Safety
Helicopters
Air Traffic Control
New York City
New Jersey


Lazio Set to Name a County Executive as Running Mate

Abstract: Rick A. Lazio , the former Long Island congressman who is in a close and contentious three-way race for the Republican nomination for governor, has selected a county executive from a rural corner of the state as his running mate. Mr. Lazio settled on Gregory J. Edwards, the two-term executive of Chautauqua County, south of Buffalo, someone with knowledge of his decision said on Wednesday. A formal announcement was expected on Thursday at an event at Mr. Lazio’s campaign headquarters in Manhattan, this person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The selection of Mr. Edwards would bring two politically significant assets to the Lazio ticket: geographical diversity and the résumé of someone who has served as an executive. By running with someone like Mr. Edwards, Mr. Lazio is better positioned against Steve Levy , the Suffolk County executive, who has cited his experience running a large government bureaucracy as one of his main advantages against Mr. Lazio. Republicans will select candidates for statewide office at their convention in Manhattan next month. All three Republican candidates for governor — Mr. Lazio, Mr. Levy and Carl Paladino, a Buffalo-area business executive who is running a largely self-financed, antiestablishment campaign — will be vying for the party’s endorsement. Though only one candidate can win the endorsement, more than one can end up on the ballot and force a primary. Mr. Lazio is expected to easily win the 25 percent of the vote that a registered Republican must garner to secure a place on the ballot. The situation is more complicated for Mr. Levy, who must receive just over 50 percent of the vote at the convention because he switched from a Democrat to a Republican in March and will not be a registered Republican when the convention votes. Though Mr. Levy enjoys the backing of Edward Cox, the party chairman, and a number of influential county chairmen, he has had difficulty attaining the majority of delegates he will need. His campaign is continuing its aggressive push for votes and insists that it will have a majority by the time of the vote on June 3. Mr. Lazio’s campaign has been deeply unsettled by the entrance of Mr. Levy into the race, and it has tried repeatedly to thwart his efforts to woo away key Republican support. Indeed, the selection of Mr. Edwards appears squarely aimed at Mr. Levy’s credentials. Like Mr. Levy, Mr. Edwards can portray himself as a fiscal conservative. He has cited his record in cutting property taxes and consolidating and eliminating county agencies, as Mr. Levy has done. But unlike Mr. Levy’s, the government Mr. Edwards runs is small. Suffolk County has 1.5 million people and a $2.6 billion budget; Chautauqua County has 135,000 residents and a $235 million budget.

Edwards Gregory J.
Lazio Rick A
Levy Steven A
Governors (US)
Republican Party
New York State
United States Politics and Government


Santorum’s Victories May Not Guarantee an Edge

Abstract: Rick Santorum ’s victories on Tuesday represent his first breakout moments in the Republican presidential contest since he belatedly scraped to the top in Iowa more than a month ago. They certainly give him bragging rights. They will probably earn him a second look from voters who had once dismissed him. They may help him raise money. Down the road, they will add to his delegate count. But how much they will matter to Mr. Santorum in the long run remains unclear. He now faces two major questions: Can he eclipse his immediate rival, Newt Gingrich , and become the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney ? And will he be able to pose a realistic threat to Mr. Romney, who remains better financed and better organized in other states? Mr. Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, has sought to put both questions to rest. After Mr. Gingrich finished a distant second to Mr. Romney in Nevada on Saturday, Mr. Santorum, who came in fourth, said Mr. Gingrich had “had his chance” to challenge Mr. Romney and had come up short. In his victory speech on Tuesday night, Mr. Santorum looked past his Republican rivals and focused on President Obama . His theme was that Mr. Obama might have been listening to his speech but did not normally listen to the American people. “He thinks he knows better,” Mr. Santorum said of the president. “He thinks he’s smarter than you. He thinks he’s someone who is a privileged person who should be able to rule over all of you.” The Republican presidential contest dips into a lull now. The candidates will not have a chance to rekindle their supporters’ enthusiasm until a debate in Arizona on Feb. 22, and the next voting will not be until Feb. 28, when Arizona and Michigan hold primaries. As of now, those two states do not appear to be particularly strong for Mr. Santorum, so he is looking ahead to Super Tuesday, March 6, for another breakout moment. His scheduling reveals as much. While Mr. Santorum delivered his victory speech from Missouri on Tuesday night, he was heading to Texas on Wednesday and to Oklahoma on Thursday. Oklahoma does not vote until Super Tuesday, and Texas not until April 3. Like the other candidates, Mr. Santorum will use this lull to raise money and build organizations in those states. Mr. Gingrich, who was not on the ballot in Missouri and did not contest Colorado or Minnesota, shows no signs of bowing out. He, too, is looking toward Super Tuesday and spent time in Ohio this week. Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Santorum are equally disadvantaged on Super Tuesday by having failed to qualify for the ballot in Virginia. But Mr. Gingrich may have a leg up that day because he can probably count on strong support from Georgia. If both remain in the race, the likely beneficiary will be Mr. Romney. One thing Mr. Santorum has going for him right now is his relatively high favorability rating. “Santorum’s personal popularity is the main reason for his sudden re-emergence as a relevant player in the G.O.P. race,” Tom Jensen, a Democratic pollster and director of Public Policy Polling, wrote in an analysis of Tuesday’s votes. Until recently, he added, Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich had ignored Mr. Santorum, leaving his reputation largely intact. But that is changing quickly. Tim Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor who is backing Mr. Romney, dismissed Mr. Santorum this week as “a nice guy” but not one who is ready to be president. Mr. Santorum continues to insist that Mr. Romney would be a weak nominee in the general election, saying he would not present a strong contrast to Mr. Obama. On Tuesday night, he declared himself the “conservative alternative” not only to Mr. Romney, but also to Mr. Obama.

Santorum Rick
Presidential Election of 2012
Primaries and Caucuses
Republican Party
Romney Mitt
Gingrich Newt
Obama Barack
Minnesota
Missouri
Colorado


Shell to Reopen Platform in Gulf

Abstract: Eight months after Hurricane Katrina shattered American oil output in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest producer in the region, Royal Dutch Shell, said yesterday that it had completed repairs on its Mars platform and would resume production ahead of schedule. Mars, the biggest offshore structure in the gulf, was among the hardest hit by the storm that struck on Aug. 29. Production should start up again next month, Shell said, and the Mars platform is expected to return to producing 140,000 barrels of oil and natural gas a day, its level before the storm, by the end of June. Initially, the company estimated that repairs might last well into the second half of the year. Shell's announcement came as oil futures rose in New York above $70 a barrel this week, and might provide the market with a small measure of comfort that large quantities of oil would soon be returning. Mars accounts for about 5 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's output. Crude oil for May delivery settled at $71.95 yesterday, down 22 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It touched a high of $72.40 a barrel earlier in the day, exceeding an intraday mark of $70.85 reached after Hurricane Katrina. The Mars platform was directly in the path of the storm and suffered extensive damage from 80-foot waves driven by winds with speeds up to 175 mile an hour. A 1,000-ton drilling rig on top of the platform was toppled, shattering the upper decks and living quarters and forcing Shell to close the platform. The repairs included fixing two underwater pipelines linking it to shore that had been crushed by a drifting anchor. Replacing those involved an industry first -- a repair job performed by a pair of robotic submarines at a sea depth of 2,700 feet. More than 500 people took part in the repairs, logging 600,000 hours of work. To house everyone close to the platform, Shell chartered a six-story floating hotel and linked it to Mars with a pontoon. The company estimated the costs associated with the hurricane, including the evacuation and displacement of its employees and the repairs to its property, at $250 million to $300 million. Shell owns 71.5 percent of Mars. BP owns the rest. With the next hurricane season officially beginning June 1, more than 22 percent of the gulf's oil production, or some 334,000 barrels a day, remains unavailable because of storm-related damage, according to the latest statistics from the federal Minerals Management Service. Daily natural gas production is down 27 percent, or 1.3 billion cubic feet. Since August, nearly 150 million barrels of oil and 730 billion cubic feet of natural gas have been lost as the result of Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita.

GULF OF MEXICO
ROYAL DUTCH/SHELL GROUP
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC
KATRINA (STORM)
OIL (PETROLEUM) AND GASOLINE
HURRICANE KATRINA
PRICES (FARES FEES AND RATES)
FUTURES AND OPTIONS TRADING
PRODUCTION
HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS


Britain Revives Regulation in a Push for Renewable Energy

Abstract: LONDON — The British government announced on Friday far-reaching changes in energy regulation intended to encourage development of renewable energy and nuclear power while ensuring that the country can still meet its electricity needs. The changes will gradually quadruple the charges levied on consumers and businesses to help support electricity generation from low-carbon sources, to a total of about £9.8 billion, or $15.7 billion, in the 2020-21 fiscal year, from £2.35 billion now. The government forecasts that the new price supports will add 7 percent, or about £95 a year, to the average household electricity bill. Such charges add 2 percent to energy bills, or £20 a year. The effort shows that Britain, despite an ailing economy, is sticking to the ambitious goals for renewable energy and emissions reductions set in 2008 under the Labour government of Gordon Brown. Britain is also shifting its approach toward energy. In the 1990s, Britain led Europe in deregulation of its energy markets. Now it is returning to a system of greater market intervention to fulfill what the government considers to be an imperative to reduce greenhouse gases. Electricity generated from cleaner sources like nuclear and offshore wind is much more expensive than power generated by coal- or gas-fired plants. Companies will invest in clean energy only if given substantial incentives. The government hopes to attract £110 billion in energy investment through 2020. The proposed regulatory changes will be incorporated in an energy bill that is to be approved next year, with the new rules phased in starting in 2014. “In the 1990s there was a real move to make the U.K. power market a kind of liberalized, supply-demand, price-driven market,” said Howard V. Rogers, director of the gas program at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, a research group. “As soon as you introduce subsidies for wind, you undermine that principle.” The proposed changes come after months of debate within the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. The Liberal Democrats favor tough goals to reduce emissions. The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, lean more toward promoting the use of natural gas. They also worry that wind farms will spoil the countryside, where many Conservative voters reside. The government proposal “will allow us to meet our legally binding carbon reduction and renewable energy obligations and bring on the investment required to keep the lights on and bills affordable for consumers,” Edward Davey, the energy and climate change secretary, said in a statement. Mr. Davey added that the proportion of electricity coming from renewable sources would increase to 30 percent by 2020, from 11 percent today. Businesses are likely to welcome the bill because, if nothing else, it reduces the uncertainty that has made big investment decisions difficult. “This package will send a strong signal to investors that the government is serious about providing firms with the certainty they need to invest in affordable, secure, low-carbon energy,” John Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, the country’s main business group, said in a statement. The renewable energy industry said it would welcome increased government support. “This is a crucial announcement for the renewable energy sector,” said Maria McCaffery, chief executive of RenewableUK, a trade association. “This blows the last few months of political infighting completely out of the water.” Some environmental groups, however, said that the government should set stricter emission targets for power companies. “By failing to agree to any carbon target for the power sector until after the next election, David Cameron has allowed a militant tendency within his own ranks to derail the energy bill,” John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace, said in a statement. “It’s a blatant assault on the greening of the U.K. economy that leaves consumers vulnerable to rising gas prices, and sends billions of pounds of clean-tech investment to our economic rivals.” Others said they were appalled by support for new nuclear installations. While nuclear plants are low carbon emitters, they bring risks of accidents as well as the unresolved problem of what to do with spent fuel. Stephan Singer, head of energy policy in Brussels for the World Wildlife Fund, said his organization was “fundamentally opposed” to price supports for nuclear power. With energy costs already a major source of complaint, consumers are unlikely to be happy with the government plan. “These higher energy costs are likely to hit low-income consumers hard,” said Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch.com , which sells consumers electricity online at favorable rates. Britain intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 compared with 1990 levels. Until now, wind power has been the main beneficiary of government intervention. Now the government has come to believe that while building more nuclear plants would be costly and contentious, they will be necessary to reach emission targets. At present there is likely to be only one new plant in operation by 2020, said Kirsty Alexander, a spokeswoman for the Nuclear Industry Association, a trade group. Additional government support is likely to benefit EDF, the utility that owns most of the nuclear plants in Britain. EDF, with the British utility Centrica as a partner, wants to build a series of new reactors, starting with two at Hinkley Point in Somerset in southwest England. “We recognize the government’s continued commitment to deliver the timetable for electricity market reform, including legally robust arrangements for much-needed projects during the transition,” Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, said in a statement. “This is good news and a significant step toward providing secure, low-carbon energy for the U.K. for many years to come.” About 18 percent of Britain’s power comes from nuclear sources, but that figure may decline. The last nuclear plant to open in Britain was Sizewell B in 1995, and several nuclear plants are scheduled to shut down in the next few years. The government has identified eight sites suitable for new reactors, all at the sites of existing power plants. The government said it would promote development of nuclear and wind power through a new mechanism called a contract for difference. Under the program, a new government-owned entity would guarantee companies that produce power from nuclear or wind a certain price for the electricity they produce. The companies will be compensated if actual prices fall below that “strike price.” “It will manage the payments under the contract,” said Fiona Reilly, head of the nuclear services practice at Norton Rose, a London law firm. “That might mean paying money to generators and it might mean taking money from generators if power prices are higher than the strike price.” EDF’s decision to go ahead at Hinkley Point still depends on where the government sets that strike price. The opinion among utility companies is that it will need to be at least £100 per megawatt hour, roughly double the current price of electricity. Another open question is whether Britain would violate European Union rules on state aid by supporting nuclear power, a mature technology. Britain “is heading for trouble with the E.U.,” said Mr. Singer of the World Wildlife Fund. “State aid regulations rule out any support for mature technologies.” Nick Turton, a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said the government was working with Brussels to ensure that Britain conformed to European rules.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Great Britain
Alternative and Renewable Energy
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry


The $50 Ticket: A Lottery Boon Raises Concern

Abstract: With the popularity of traditional lotteries waning across the country, many states are turning to instant games priced at $20, $30 and as high as $50 to lure new players and raise revenue. Scratch-off tickets, for example, now account for more than 75 percent of lottery sales in Texas, which this year became the first state to introduce a $50 scratch-off game. But critics in Texas and elsewhere say games promising this kind of instant gratification are more likely to contribute to the kind of problem gambling that is usually associated with fast-paced casino betting, and they are now trying to limit them. They say the games take particular advantage of the most vulnerable members of society, including the poor and members of minority groups. “Scratch-off tickets are to the lottery what crack is to cocaine,” said State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, a Democrat who represents El Paso. In Massachusetts, a third of the calls to the state’s 24-hour gambling addiction hot line come from lottery players, the majority of whom play instant games, according to Margot Cahoon, a spokeswoman for the state’s Council on Compulsive Gambling. Industry leaders agree that the future of the lottery business now depends on instant games with bigger prizes. The $50 Texas game, for example, offers thousands of instant prizes ranging from $50 to $50,000, with a few exceptional prizes as high as $5 million. But they say the games are not aimed at compulsive gamblers and are not intended to be addictive. “It used to be lotteries would offer $1, $2 and $5 tickets but the growth is in $10 and $20,” said Ernest L. Passailaigue, director of the South Carolina lottery and president of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. The higher value games certainly appeal to people like Larry Hardy, who nearly every day walks from his central Houston rooming house to a nearby Chevron station to work odd jobs and buy scratch-off lottery tickets. He has won $200 several times with a game called “Break the Bank,” but Mr. Hardy, who relies on $600 a month in federal disability payments to support himself, still spends $30 to $40 a week on the elusive dream of hitting it big. “I feel at times I shouldn’t play again,” Mr. Hardy said, “but the reason I play is I really need $20, $30, $40 or maybe $50.” States are now considering even more potentially addictive offerings. A Florida government report this year on how to enhance lottery revenue suggested that the introduction of video lottery terminals there could raise more than $1 billion a year. But the report acknowledged these games “are considered to be more addictive than traditional lottery games and could contribute to a problem of pathological gambling.” Just who plays the lottery — and how much — has always been a contentious issue. As lotteries have expanded their offerings, most states have emphasized statistics showing overall participation in any type of game, which typically matches the demographics of the population. Academic experts on the lottery, however, say this kind of analysis is misleading because it does not make a distinction between those who play once or twice a year players and daily or weekly bettors. “Surveys usually stop with the question: ‘Have you played in the last month?’” said Philip J. Cook, a professor of public policy at Duke University. “They don’t plumb the questions about depth of play, which the lotteries have chosen to obfuscate because they see themselves as vulnerable on this issue politically.” The introduction of the $50 ticket in Texas — and evidence that blacks and Hispanics individually spend much more than whites on the lottery — has spurred criticism from legislators in heavily minority neighborhoods, like the one in Houston where Mr. Hardy lives. “I didn’t think I’d be this concerned but it’s harming people,” said Garnet Coleman, a Democrat who represents a majority black district in Houston in the state legislature. “When I go to get a pack of cigarettes or a soda I’m in line behind people playing the lottery. They’re not buying one ticket or five tickets. They’re buying $50 or $75 worth and this is in my district, which is limited-income.” Unlike most states, Texas is required by law to provide detailed demographic information on lottery participation — data that backs up Mr. Coleman’s argument. In 2006, according to a University of North Texas survey commissioned by state lottery officials, the typical black player spent $70 a month on the lottery, compared with $47 for Hispanics and $20 for whites. The demographic differences were especially sharp when it came to scratch-offs. Players with a high school degree or less typically buy $20 a month worth of scratch-off tickets, compared with $10 for college graduates. Similarly, players with an annual income of less than $12,000 spent 33 percent more a month than those with incomes above $100,000. Mr. Passailaigue, the president of the state lotteries association, does not dispute that certain games appeal more to minorities and low-income people but he said these groups were not being singled out and the trend should not worry state lottery officials. “It’s more cultural in nature,” he said. “Some people think it’s O.K. to go and play golf and bet on each hole.” While golfers might have more disposable income than many scratch-off bettors, Mr. Passailaigue argued the reality was, “Culturally, people have experienced different ways not only to amuse themselves but to gamble. It’s been that way for a long time in this country.” Whatever the reasons, state lottery officials and the companies they hire to run the games appear to be concentrating on the heaviest players. The Scientific Games Corporation, which dominates the scratch-off market and counts states like Texas and Massachusetts as clients, advises lottery managers to increase jackpots to lure players, according to a report supplied by the company to the Texas Lottery Commission and obtained by The New York Times under an Open Records Act request. “But like any ‘tool,’ an increased payout is only useful when used in the right way,” the report cautions. Describing what it calls ‘‘chatter,’’ or midsize prizes, Scientific Games concludes, “Better to increase the number of chatter prizes in a game aimed at heavy players so that they see more of the prizes they are playing for and will communicate their excitement to others, creating a buzz for the game.” This approach seems to be working. In Massachusetts, which Mr. Passailaigue considers a forerunner in developing higher-priced tickets with bigger payouts, 70 percent of the state lottery’s $4.6 billion in revenue comes from instant games. In Texas, the $50 scratch-off was introduced after higher-value denominations of $20, $25 and $30 proved popular. The success of these and other instant games helped the state increase total lottery sales in four of the last five years. Meanwhile, the popularity of its more traditional lotto offerings has sagged and the percentage of Texans playing any game has fallen from 70 percent a decade ago to about half today. Lottery officials in Texas credit the rapid success of the $50 game, introduced in May, with helping it avoid a sharp drop in sales during the 2007 fiscal year. For the $50 game, the odds range from 1 in 6.67 for a $50 prize to 1 in 1.2 million for the top $5 million jackpot. As for the criticism from legislators and others that such games appeal most to compulsive gamblers or low-income players, a spokesman for the Texas Lottery Commission, Bobby Heith, said, “We value and respect those concerns very much but our job is to run the lottery, to generate as much revenue as possible, as responsibly as possible.” In Texas, urban liberal Democratic politicians like Mr. Coleman and Mr. Shapleigh of El Paso now find themselves aligned with the Christian Life Commission, the public policy division of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, as well as traditional conservatives like Robert F. Deuell, a Republican state senator from the suburbs east of Dallas. Four years ago, the Baptist group hired a former state lottery official to crunch the numbers and prepare reports intended for urban Democratic officeholders that detailed the high rate of play in their districts. “We use the facts that are the most persuasive,” said Suzii Paynter, executive director of the advocacy group. “If it’s just a religious argument, people can pat you on the head.” Mr. Deuell has opposed the lottery since he took office in 2003, but research from the anti-gambling group played an important role in Mr. Coleman’s change of heart, whose district has the highest rate of lottery spending in the Houston area. His constituents spend about 3 percent of their income on games, according to the anti-gambling group’s research. “Ten years ago, I wasn’t opposed to the lottery,” Mr. Coleman said. “This has really made me take a second look at whether the state should be in the gaming business.”¶ The Baptist group has been fighting the lottery ever since it was introduced in Texas in 1991 by Ann Richards, then the Democratic governor, and Ms. Paynter concedes the lottery will not be abolished overnight. “It’s a long fight, and a hungry industry,” she said. Mr. Coleman does not support shutting down the Texas Lottery. But he shares Ms. Paynter’s goal of eliminating the $50 scratch-off and similarly priced instant games. “If people want to play,” Mr. Coleman said, “they’re better off buying a dollar ticket and calling it a day.”


West Virginia: More Guilty Pleas for Polluting River

Abstract: Two former employees at Freedom Industries pleaded guilty to a pollution charge Wednesday in a chemical spill that fouled a tap water supply last year. Michael Burdette, the former plant manager, and Robert Reynolds, an environmental consultant, each face a year in prison and a minimum $2,500 fine when they are sentenced on June 24. The spill of thousands of gallons of a coal-cleaning agent from Freedom Industries into the Elk River went into West Virginia American Water’s intake two miles downstream on Jan. 9, 2014. It prompted a tap water ban for 300,000 residents for up to 10 days while the water system was flushed out. Two former owners of the company pleaded guilty this week. Dennis Farrell, also a former owner, and a former company president, Gary Southern, face trial later this year.

Water pollution
HazMat
Elk River West Virginia
West Virginia
Robert Reynolds
Michael Burdette
Gary Southern
Dennis Farrell


An Anniversary to Bear in Mind

Abstract: The rally in stocks is now two years old. The M.S.C.I. global index has nearly doubled since March 9, 2009, the postfinancial crisis nadir. Credit markets are thriving, and economic activity has returned. Yet the government actors behind the rebound look spent. Financial markets are on their own for future shocks. A call to arms from the world’s governments pulled the financial system back from the brink two years ago. Guaranteeing bank debt, slashing interest rates, buying more than $1 trillion of assets and stress testing large banks were among the moves that restored stability and revived markets. President Obama may have seen all the activity coming: On March 3, 2009, he called stocks “a potentially good deal.” Even the derivatives index used to hedge subprime mortgage loans is up 25 percent, according to Barclays Capital. With oil up more than 120 percent in two years and gold 55 percent higher, commodities look frothy. The International Monetary Fund on Monday noted “overheating” in emerging markets. Meanwhile, there remain plenty of potential flashpoints. Turmoil in the Middle East, which has increased the price of oil, is the most immediate. Sovereign debt stresses in Europe remain worrying. And rising inflation combined with an increase in interest rates is another situation that could torpedo market sentiment. For investors from banks to hedge funds, however, the safe options that may protect them against these risks just don’t make enough money. Short-term interest rates, for instance, are mostly still low, especially the Federal Reserve’s zero to 0.25 percent. They prefer, as before the crisis, to shoulder risk in return for more yield. But this time there’s no real government safety net. Huge budget deficits in the developed world leave little ammunition for governments. Politics won’t allow further large-scale intervention, especially in the United States. True, central banks like the Fed have shown themselves prepared to print money, even though doing more of that would run the risk of further undermining confidence. The government-fueled bull run is fresh in investors’ minds. But they might do well not to forget the dark days two years ago. A Dog of a Deal Walgreens , the pharmacy chain, has showed its arch-rival a solution to its problems by selling its pharmacy benefits management arm to better focus on retailing. Walgreens’ top competitor, CVS , has taken the opposite tack since it paid $26 billion for Caremark. That dog of a deal, which has dragged down performance and led to an antitrust inquiry, looks increasingly in need of unwinding. True, Walgreens’ pharmacy benefits management business was never a big part of the company. The unit, which is selling for $525 million in cash to Catalyst Health Solutions, contributes less than 2 percent to Walgreens’ bottom line. Still, with the middleman gone, Walgreens’ managers will be better concentrated on the firm’s core business. Contrast that with CVS-Caremark. The company runs a retail operation similar in scale to Walgreens along with a giant pharmacy benefits management company. Since the two merged, the Caremark business has lost some big contracts and downgraded its earnings forecasts. It has also spent precious management time explaining to the Federal Trade Commission why the combination doesn’t hurt consumers. Investors have noticed. The shares have underperformed and trade at a discount to other drugstore chains and pure-play pharmacy benefits firms Medco Health and Express Scripts. To the market, the group is neither fish nor fowl. The solution is to let them swim their separate ways again. CVS-Caremark claimed $700 million of synergies from merging. But even if these vanished, their net present value would still amount to less than the potential upside from splitting. Moreover, the looming presence of the antitrust inquiry would vanish. Here’s a case where the market might nicely do regulators’ dirty work. AGNES T. CRANE and LISA LEE

Banking and Financial Institutions
Credit and Debt
United States Economy
Drugstores
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures
Walgreen Co
CVS Caremark Corp


A Running Record Falls: Longest Scarf Knitted in a Marathon

Abstract: The long-distance friendship between Susie Hewer and David Babcock is held together by colored yarn and a world record few people knew existed. Their achievement is more of an oddity than a record, in the traditional sporting sense anyway — longest scarf knitted while running a marathon — but the people from Guinness had thought it interesting enough to give Hewer a place in their book of such things. Hewer set the original world record at the 2008 London Marathon, producing a multicolored scarf 5 feet 2 inches long as she ran, and extended the mark (literally) at this year’s race with another one that measured 6-9. On Oct. 19, she surrendered her crown to Babcock, who smashed the record when he stepped across the finish line at the Kansas City Marathon with a blue, purple, red and orange scarf that was 12 feet 1 ¾ inches long. Few were happier for him than Hewer, who awoke the next day in her home in Ewhurst Green, England, raced to her computer to confirm the news and fired off a joyous email that began, “Well done.” She followed it up with an 812-word entry on her blog , Extreme Knitting Redhead. “I really think it’s wonderful,” said Hewer, who has run 31 marathons, and knitted her way through four of them. “I’ll always be the extreme knitting redhead. I was the first person to have done it, and that will always be my claim to fame.” Image Susie Hewer this year in London, where in 2008 she set the original world record for scarf knitting while marathon running. Credit Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images Hewer, 56, was not a long-distance runner when she retired to become the primary caregiver for her mother, Peggy Walton, in 1999. Walton, who had taught Hewer to knit as a girl, died the day after her 89th birthday in March 2005. Hewer tried to honor her mother, who had vascular dementia, later that year when she ran her first marathon to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research U.K. She started her knitting blog in 2006. It was never Hewer’s plan to knit and run at the same time. That idea, she said, had seemed silly. But a friend’s offhand comment — that she “stay home knitting” instead of running a marathon for her 50th birthday — gave her the idea to try. A Guinness World Records staff member contacted her two weeks before the 2008 London Marathon with a proposition: How about trying to make a record out of it? Hewer figured she would run a few miles and then stop to chat with spectators while she knitted to raise awareness for her charity. “It wasn’t something that was planned very well,” she said. “The reality was, I was running with 32,000 other people. Everybody loved it so much that I decided to keep going with it.” Babcock, 41, a graphic design professor at the University of Central Missouri, found Hewer on the Internet. He had developed an interest in running in 2010, and when knitting became his next fascination a year later he soon became a reader of Hewer’s blog. The two soon began exchanging messages on Ravelry, a social networking website for knitters and crocheters. Video The world’s largest marathon took place on Sunday. A look at the number of paper cups, the oldest runner and other unexpected facts about the race. Credit Credit Christian Hansen for The New York Times “She was supportive,” said Babcock, who never asked Hewer about her technique, saying, “It was important that I had to figure out my own way of my own solutions.” He studied photos of Hewer’s scarfs, discovered his minimal gait would help keep his hands steady, and applied to challenge the record in September. Carrying his yarn in a pack around his waist and wearing sunglasses to ensure he would not poke his eyes if he fell, Babcock finished the Kansas City race in 5 hours 48 minutes 27 seconds — nearly six minutes faster than Hewer. He also followed in Hewer’s footsteps by running the marathon to support the Alzheimer’s Association. “If you’re going to do something that brings you unusual attention, you should have somewhere good to put it,” he said, adding, “I welcome anyone who wants to join this two-person club.” Guinness officials will review both the scarf and the continuous video Babcock recorded with a camera strapped to his chest before confirming his record. Hewer says she does not plan on reclaiming it. But she does want to begin a partnership with Babcock, whom she has yet to meet in person. “It would be really good fun if we could actually run a marathon together and do the knitting,” she said. “How about we do the New York marathon next year?” Babcock has started envisioning how that day might go. “I told her it would be cool if we could be knitting on the same scarf from opposite ends together,” he said. “Something like that I think would be a dream.”

NYC Marathon
Knitting
Running
Scarf
Marathon


N.C.A.A. Tournament — Notre Dame Returns to Final Four With Ease

Abstract: RALEIGH, N.C. — With a Final Four berth at stake and an encounter with rival Connecticut for a shot at a national title, Notre Dame could have showed up for Tuesday night’s Raleigh regional final against Maryland tense and vulnerable. Instead, the Fighting Irish smiled and laughed in warm-ups and went out and routed the Terrapins, 80-49. Point guard Skylar Diggins, a first-team all-American, had a triple-double (22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds) and Natalie Achonwa added 18 points for the Fighting Irish. Maryland forward Alyssa Thomas, also named to the first team, had 17 for the Terrapins. So much for pressure. Notre Dame (34-3) is on the cusp of redemption after losing to Texas A&M in last year’s championship game. The win set up a fourth meeting this season with Connecticut. The Fighting Irish are 2-1 against UConn this season, the loss coming in the Big East tournament final. “I’d like to play somebody else,” Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw said, though adding: “They beat us in the Big East final, so I like going in after a loss; I think it’s easier to get the team’s attention that way.” This one was not supposed to be so easy for Notre Dame. Maryland (31-5) went into the game on a 10-game winning streak, collecting the Atlantic Coast Conference title along the way. The No. 2-seeded Terrapins featured the fourth-best scoring offense in Division I, at 78.1 points a game, the second-best rebounding margin at 13.8 and a front line that featured three 6-footers. But Notre Dame had the second-best offense, 79.2 points a game. And the Fighting Irish had allowed an average of just 51.6 points, the fifth best in the country. Maryland could not match that. And it was obvious in the first half when Notre Dame built a 40-21 lead. Notre Dame shut down the Terrapins for a five-minute stretch, going on a 14-0 run for a 28-13 lead with 6 minutes 20 seconds to go. They extended the lead to 21 points. Diggins scored 13 points in the first half, one of three Notre Dame players in double figures along with Kayla McBride and Achonwa, who added 10 apiece. Thomas had 7 points for Maryland, but she was held scoreless in the final 10 minutes of the opening half when Notre Dame pulled away. Tellingly, Notre Dame had a 24-15 advantage in rebounds in the first half. If there was some hope for Maryland, it was that the Terrapins had a history of mounting comebacks. They fought back from a 20-point deficit to beat Georgia Tech in January. And they fell behind by 18 points against Texas A&M here Sunday, but rallied for the victory. Not this time. The Fighting Irish poured it on in the second half, building a 74-42 lead with a little more than seven minutes to go.

University of Notre Dame
University of Maryland
Diggins Skylar
Basketball
College Athletics
NCAA Basketball Championships (Women)
Basketball (College)


If You Have a Golf Rules Question, the U.S.G.A. Has the Answer

Abstract: The headquarters of the United States Golf Association are a dignified place ensconced on a manicured New Jersey estate that includes a long, winding driveway and clusters of stately trees. The offices are not open late on Sunday afternoons, but invariably at this time of year, the telephone at the main switchboard will ring. “It will be three guys on a speakerphone from the 19th hole at some club,” said Genger Fahleson, the U.S.G.A. director of rules education. “They have a golf rules argument to settle. They want an answer.” The security guard who answers these calls is trained to ascertain if the outcome of a live tournament or club championship is at stake. Questions that can wait a day will be directed to a U.S.G.A. rules associate’s voice mail. “But if there is some bona fide competitive event involved, the guard has cellphone numbers for the rules officials,” Fahleson said. “He will get in touch with us, and we will call back and make a ruling.” So somewhere at one of the roughly 16,000 golf courses in America, some golfer who did or did not mark a ball properly or did or did not move a bunker rake improperly will be penalized or exonerated. A scorecard will be accepted or adjusted. Another golf day in America will end with a specific tally of a specific number of strokes — all thanks to a U.S.G.A. rules official who probably stepped away from a Sunday barbecue to offer an expert decision. If this sounds unusual, or excessive, then you have no grasp of just how obsessed golfers can be with the Rules of Golf, or how necessary they are in managing the game. And you certainly haven’t sat at the desk of a U.S.G.A. rules associate. Monday through Friday, 40 hours a week, it is their full-time job to answer the phone calls, e-mail messages and mailings of everyday golfers who are perplexed or confounded by some element in the 181 pages of the Rules of Golf. How perplexed or confounded? The U.S.G.A. fields and answers about 20,000 rule queries every year. “They come in year-round but we are busiest from late May to September,” Fahleson said. “When we leave on a Friday, it’s not unusual for the rules e-mail in-box to be empty. When we come back Monday morning, there are several hundred questions in there.” In most other sports, be it beer-league softball or youth soccer, there is an umpire, referee or official presiding over the action to make decisions and enforce rulings. In golf, 99 percent of the time, the players are on their own trying to figure out what the appropriate ruling should be. And let’s face it, people don’t understand the rules as well as they think. And the rules can be unduly complicated. “We do try to make the rules as simple as possible, but we’re dealing with a game played across thousands of acres, with so many outside factors like weather and wildlife,” said Bernie Loehr, U.S.G.A. manager for the Rules of Golf. “There are a lot of situations that can happen and so many possibilities to consider.” For example, what if a golf ball hit near but not in a water hazard lodges beneath the shell of a turtle, and the turtle then dives into the water hazard with the ball? (You are allowed to drop a ball as near as possible to where the turtle was when the ball struck it, no penalty.) What if the ball got lodged in the turtle’s shell while the turtle was floating in the pond? (Proceed as if you hit your ball into a hazard, one penalty stroke.) What if the ball lodges in the turtle’s shell outside the pond, but the turtle is dead? (You may either play it as it lies without penalty or declare your ball unplayable, taking one penalty stroke). Most of the questions forwarded to the U.S.G.A. receive a response in 10 to 15 business days, which takes some doing when the queries are arriving by the thousands. There are two full-time rules associates, in addition to Loehr, Fahleson and nine regional directors who may answer up to 40 questions a month. Other U.S.G.A. staff members occasionally pitch in to help. Some questions take no more than half a minute to answer and can be handled with what amounts to a form reply. But given the vicissitudes of golf, rules situations can temporarily stump the U.S.G.A. officials. In that case, the rules gurus gather in the office hall. The group may take a vote on what the ruling is. And if something similar comes up again and again, the officials may ask the Rules of Golf Committee to make a decision. “That’s the fascinating thing about the Rules of Golf,” Fahleson said. “They’re kind of like the game of golf. You can never completely master it.” At social gatherings or parties, being a rules official is like being a doctor — everyone has a question. “People will invariably say, ‘I got one for you,’ ” said Loehr, who joined the U.S.G.A. when he retired as a comptroller four years ago. “And they give you a rules situation. It’s O.K.; I like the rules.” The staff members at the U.S.G.A. headquarters in Far Hills, N.J., said the most commonly abused rule involves golfers’ not playing a provisional ball when they think their ball may be lost or if they suspect they may have hit their ball out of bounds. The other frequent rule misinterpretation is golfers’ dropping their ball on the green side of a hazard when the ball they hit did not carry the hazard. Over all, questions about where to take relief or where to drop a ball are most common, as are misunderstandings about the rules for match play. Then there are the knuckleheads — I can call them that because I think I’m part of the group — who wonder about crazy, wacky possibilities. You know, what if my drive collides with a low-flying aircraft? Or what if everyone sees my ball roll into the hole, but when we get there, we can’t find it? “When the conversation begins with ‘what if,’ we know that what follows may not be reasonable,” Loehr said. “Sometimes you have to ask, ‘Guys, did this really happen?’ ” To help educate the golfing public, the U.S.G.A. Web site ( usga.org ) has a vast listing of frequently asked questions pertaining to each of the 34 primary rules. There are rules videos and quizzes as well, because the U.S.G.A. wants golfers to embrace the rules, not be puzzled by them. But in the end, when there’s a difference of opinion about golf procedure or about which rule applies to a thorny situation, the phone will ring at the grand U.S.G.A. headquarters. “Sometimes you’ll give them the ruling, and over the speakerphone you’ll hear people cheering in the background,” Loehr said. “Someone will say, ‘Thanks, Bernie, we owe you a beer.’ “I’ve never collected, but I’m probably owed a lot of beers all over the country.”