Health Care Issues Loom in Politics, Payments and Quality

Abstract: The health care industry was unprepared for the presidential victory of Donald J. Trump, and executives at insurance companies and hospital systems are now uncertain what their business is going to look like in the years ahead. A Trump administration, coupled with a Republican Congress, is likely to lead to a reversal of many of the policies put into place by President Obama, and could mean a repeal of his signature health care law. Repeal, replace or something in between? After spending years and hundreds of millions of dollars to adapt to the Affordable Care Act, making fundamental changes to their business model, health insurers are bracing themselves for as striking an upheaval as they faced when the law was passed in 2010. The companies invested heavily in meeting the requirements of the federal law that dictated how they sold insurance, particularly to people who buy their own. Some 10 million people bought coverage last year through the state marketplaces and are in the process of picking a plan for 2017. Mr. Trump has indicated he wants a smooth transition from the current program to whatever replaces it. But policy experts say it may be difficult to agree on what the replacement should look like. In addition to overhauling how individuals buy policies, the plan would most likely include some makeover of the Medicaid program that is available to people with low incomes. There is even talk of an overhaul of Medicare as proposed by Representative Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who is speaker of the House. “The politics will take some time to play out,” said Larry Levitt, a senior executive with the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that studies the insurance markets. He emphasized insurers would need time to adjust — again — to any new playing field, even if it meant going back to what they were doing before the law was passed. “Unwinding creates just as much disruption in reverse,” he said. Even without repeal, the critical question is whether there will be enough federal money to pay for the generous subsidies that allow so many people to be able to afford coverage. “If the A.C.A. is not appropriately funded, it has the same effect” as repealing the law, said Bernard J. Tyson, the chief executive of Kaiser Permanente, the California-based system that includes hospitals, doctors and a health plan. At the greatest risk in any spike in the number of people who are insured are hospitals. Having already agreed to accept lower payments from federal programs like Medicare because they said they believed more people would have coverage, hospitals are faced with more people showing up at their doors needing care but unable to pay. Over all, 22 million people have coverage under the law, including through the expanded Medicaid program, and hospitals could face even more cuts in reimbursement in the future. “There’s a worry that the government will kick them when they’re down,” said Sam Glick, a partner with Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm. Image A patient gets free dental care at a clinic held at Seattle’s Key Arena. Credit Jason Redmond/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Changing how or how much doctors and hospitals will be paid. The Obama administration has provided a steady push to the industry’s efforts to find a new way of paying doctors and hospitals that puts less emphasis on volume and more on value. With Medicare leading the way, hospitals and doctors would no longer be paid solely on the basis of how many tests and procedures they perform but on whether they can keep patients in better health and deliver more cost-efficient care. The Republican Congress, which also helped pass legislation changing how doctors are paid, seems to be generally supportive of these efforts. “Those are bipartisan issues,” said Karen Ignagni, the chief executive of EmblemHealth, a nonprofit health plan based in New York. But progress has been uneven, and some are skeptical that these efforts will continue as aggressively under Mr. Trump. Given the Republicans’ historic concern over cost, the emphasis will be on reducing what the government pays for medical care, not rethinking how it reimburses providers, said Chas Roades, the chief research officer for the Advisory Board Company, which advises hospitals and other health care clients. “I think it is the end of payment reform, but the beginning of payment cuts,” he said. Others say the move away from paying piecemeal for medical care is inevitable as efforts remain to figure out how to improve quality while reducing costs. “I think the market has shifted and is not going to go back,” said Dr. David T. Feinberg, the chief executive of Geisinger Health System, a Pennsylvania group that includes hospitals, doctors and a health plan. While he says he believes there will most likely be cuts in reimbursement to providers, he thinks payers, including the federal government, will probably continue to focus on the quality of care. Expect to see more deals. Given all the uncertainty, many analysts are predicting more deal-making, as hospitals, health plans and doctors’ groups look to join forces to weather whatever changes come ahead. “You’re going to see a lot more consolidation,” Mr. Roades said, especially among the hospitals that will struggle to remain open in a more austere environment. Hospitals, in particular, may be attracted to mergers and other combinations as a way to achieve the kind of scale necessary to invest in computerized medical records and other technology that they think will allow them to become more efficient. Being larger also gives them more clout in their negotiations with insurers. Some of the recent frenzy of deal-making had cooled off because of resistance from federal officials in the Obama administration, who were concerned about how the deals among the nation’s largest insurers and hospitals would affect consumers. Two controversial insurance mergers, between Anthem and Cigna and Aetna and Humana, are being challenged by the Justice Department and are expected to go to trial in the coming weeks. But the election has created some speculation among investors that a new administration may have a change of heart. Aetna’s stock rose, for example, because investors thought its deal was more likely to go through.

Health Insurance
Obamacare,Affordable Care Act
Donald Trump
Medicare
Medicaid


A Campaign for Quaker Looks to the Bright Side

Abstract: SAY goodbye to the dutiful Quaker Man who declared of his namesake oatmeal, “Nothing is better for thee than me.” He and the Quaker Oats division of PepsiCo are clambering aboard a fast-moving marketing bandwagon by offering upbeat exhortations during these tough economic times. “Go humans go” is the theme of a major campaign getting under way for Quaker Oats. The theme acts as an umbrella under which all the division’s oat-based products are being peddled; as an announcer in a commercial declares, “The power of Quaker is in everything we make.” Television, print, online ( quakeroats.com/gohumansgo ) and outdoor ads — along with promotions and events around the country — proclaim that the Quaker oat is a “super grain” that “gives you a little lift, physically and emotionally” and “makes you feel good knowing you’re doing something good for yourself.” It seems counterintuitive to accentuate the positive amid all the downbeat financial news. But Madison Avenue is typically a place called Hope. Besides, gloom-mongering could convince consumers to put off what little spending they still intend. “You could always look at the glass as half-full or half-empty,” Annie Young-Scrivner, chief marketing officer and vice president for sales at the Quaker foods and snacks division, said on Monday at an event in Times Square to introduce the campaign. “We look at it half-full,” she added, which suits “a very iconic brand” like Quaker.  As Quaker Oats cheers on the human race, Visa has a campaign that also plays up the word go, which carries the theme “More people go with Visa.” And the Hillshire Farm unit of Sara Lee is running a humorous campaign under the banner “Go meat!” Those go-go ads join a lengthening list of cockeyed marketers sponsoring campaigns carrying optimistic themes. They include Bank of America , with “Bank of opportunity”; Coca-Cola, with “Open happiness”; the Pepsi-Cola soft drink sold by PepsiCo, with ads in which the o’s in words like “hope” are replaced by a logo resembling a smiling face; and Western Union, with a one-word burst of positivity: “Yes!” “We did a great deal of research around the globe,” said Gail Galuppo, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Western Union in Englewood, Colo., and determined that customers were still “working hard in pursuit of their dreams.” “In a world today where they hear a lot of ‘no’ and ‘maybe,’ ” she added, “we wanted to say ‘yes’ to them.” The Western Union campaign is by the Hong Kong office of Publicis Worldwide, part of the Publicis Groupe. The Quaker campaign, with a budget estimated at more than $100 million, is being created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco, part of the Omnicom Group. Another Omnicom agency, OMD, is handling the media part of the campaign. Edelman, part of Daniel J. Edelman Inc., is publicizing elements of the campaign like the Go Project, through which Quaker Oats will donate food to Share Our Strength, and Go Grants, $500 stipends from Quaker to consumers to start efforts to fight hunger in local communities. Many campaigns that are trying to put on a happy face during hard times are including charitable or philanthropic aspects to increase their feel-good appeal to feel-bad consumers.  The Quaker campaign is about “leveraging human energy to fuel your day,” Ms. Young-Scrivner said, “and also leveraging human energy to do more for others.” The development of the campaign began last summer. “Obviously, economic conditions are definitely a factor” in marketing decisions, Ms. Young-Scrivner said, but the premise of the campaign to “fuel yourself to be your very best” ought to resonate in a recession. A TV commercial and an accompanying print ad reflect that attitude, minus any presidents, by showing a man flying to work with a jetpack on his back powered by two packages of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats. A second ad compares Quaker Instant Oatmeal to a ramp that can send a child’s bicycle soaring into the air. A third ad, likening Quaker Chewy Granola Bars to a spring, urges shoppers to “put a little spring in your step.” The fourth ad depicts a section of the oatmeal package in the shape of a heart. “Take good care of your heart, and your heart will take good care of you,” the text reads. “Quaker Oatmeal has been helping lower cholesterol for 20 years.” The campaign represents the first work for Quaker Oats from Goodby, Silverstein since being selected last fall as the company’s lead creative agency. Goodby, Silverstein won the assignment from another Omnicom agency, Element 79 Partners. “Every once in a while as an advertising agency, you are presented with a brand that has great familiarity, great perceptions attached to it, but it’s out there in a latent phase,” said Jamie Barrett, partner and creative director at Goodby, Silverstein. The campaign offers “a focus and a mission for the products as a brand,” he added, which ought to increase product sales as it burnishes the image of the brand. The ads have a contemporary attitude, Mr. Barrett said, while at the same time acknowledging the heritage of Quaker Oats. “The Quaker Man has been an icon for more than a century,” he added, “so we wanted to make sure what we did was true to the brand, served up in a way that rang true and doesn’t take it to a place that’s not genuine.” The campaign began last week with so-called teaser ads, billboards and signs in a dozen large markets that showed only parts of the Quaker Man. The “reveal” came on Monday at the event in Times Square, along with material on the Quaker Oats Web site explaining the campaign. The jetpack TV commercial is scheduled to start next Monday, along with newspaper ads; outdoor ads bearing the “Go humans go” theme, appearing in 20 large markets; and ads on Web sites like health.com and instyle.com . Magazine ads are planned for later this month, as are activities involving bloggers.

Advertising and Marketing
Recession and Depression
PepsiCo Inc
Oatmeal
Consumer Behavior
Visa Inc
Sara Lee Corp
Bank of America Corp


Augusta’s Chairman Rebukes Woods

Abstract: AUGUSTA, Ga. — The annual Masters address by the chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club is usually a routine, even humdrum, affair. The principal topic of conversation is often the speed of the greens, and the closest thing to controversy is the yearly refusal to discuss whether the club will some day include a woman as a member . On Wednesday, Billy Payne, who has led Augusta National since 2006, did something unprecedented. In an uncharacteristic bit of theater alien to the Augusta National culture, Payne, without prodding, singled out Tiger Woods in a harsh rebuke, saying the world’s top-ranked golfer did not live up to role model expectations and had “disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grandkids.” Reading from a statement, Payne added: “His future will never again be measured only by his performance against par, but measured by the sincerity of his effort to change. I hope he now realizes that every kid he passes on the course wants his swing, but would settle for his smile.” As the chairman of a club with a membership that includes chief executives from many of the country’s biggest corporations and investment banks as well as business leaders worldwide, it is unlikely Payne’s statement was meant to be a personal one. Augusta National is an exceedingly secretive place, where things like the grass seed mixture spread on the grounds is kept guarded. Its membership list is shielded from the public and changeable, but has in recent years represented chiefs of companies that would have been sponsors of Woods, like AT&T, or close partners, like the many financial services executives that stocked a membership roll leaked in 2002. Interviews with members in past years have indicated that while business deals are generally not discussed at the club, business issues are. The suddenly disreputable affairs of a four-time Masters champion and his dissolution as a one-time champion of the athlete-as-pitchman marketplace would certainly have been a probable topic of conversation. For years, the voice of Augusta National has been one voice and that voice is the chairman’s. Forty years ago, that voice was delivered autocratically, but in recent decades, the membership has helped guide the club’s public comments. On Wednesday, on the most prominent stage the membership has, Payne appeared to be speaking for his irritated Augusta National brethren. Sitting at a lectern in the club’s news conference room, Payne spoke with two high-ranking members at his side and another 15 to 20 Augusta National members sitting in the back. Shoulder to shoulder, each wore the emblematic green jacket. Payne’s rebuke came on a day when Woods played another uneventful practice round in preparation for his return on Thursday to competitive golf. The day also saw the airing a new 30-second television commercial for Nike featuring a seemingly somber Woods staring straight into the camera with the voice of his father saying: “I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feelings are. And did you learn anything?” Payne began his remarks with a list of accomplishments and acknowledgments associated with the upcoming tournament, then suddenly mentioned Woods. He said Woods’s golf game and work ethic were worthy of comparison to Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Bobby Jones, but he quickly added that Woods had forgotten that with “fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility.” He called Woods’s behavior “egregious” and added, “Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children.” Payne, whose background as the driving force behind the 1996 Atlanta Olympics has made him comfortable in the spotlight, knew he had the attention of the approximately 100 reporters in attendance. He would have had a bigger crowd to play to — Woods’s Monday news conference drew twice as many, with a long waiting list — but many reporters were elsewhere because the chairman’s address is so commonly without significant news. Payne continued in an even but forceful voice. “Is there a way forward?” he asked, referring to Woods’s future. “I hope yes. I think yes. I hope he can come to understand that life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who bring joy to the lives of other people. We at Augusta hope and pray that our great champion will begin his new life here tomorrow in a positive, hopeful and constructive manner. But this time, with a significant difference from the past. This year, it will not be just for him, for all of us, who believe in second chances.” Asked later to elaborate on his comments, Payne declined. He did concede that he had talked with Woods at Tuesday night’s Masters champions dinner but did not divulge what was said. Payne was asked about several other issues related to Woods’s return, including enhanced security and whether Augusta National was worried that the attention Woods would receive could overshadow the Masters. “We were very aware of and responsive to the possible issues of this week,” Payne said. “So without going into details, I think we did what we would always do and that is to make adequate provision for every contingency.” A few minutes later, Payne conceded that the increase in security both inside and outside the club’s gates has its limits. “We prepare as best we can, fully realizing and knowing that when they come through the security,” Payne said, “you can screen for everything but bad intentions.” On the subject of Woods’s making the Masters a sideshow to his return to public life, Payne shook his head. “We don’t look at things that way,” he said. “We are very secure in who we are, and the Masters has almost now a 74-year history. We just kind of do things our way. We are not threatened by other big news stories or things like that.” Finally, Payne faced a question about Augusta National’s all-male membership. Reminded that he had talked of role models and responsibility, Payne was asked if the club felt responsibility to open its arms to women in golf. For the first time, Payne hesitated in reply. Then he mentioned that the club had contributed “tens of millions of dollars” to the game that benefited both men’s and women’s golf. “The rest of that may be a membership kind of issue,” Payne said. He tilted his head to one side and made an expression that could have been interpreted as an apologetic smile. Then Billy Payne leaned forward and said: “As you know, that is subject to the private deliberations of the members.”

Woods Tiger
Payne Billy
Masters Golf Tournament
Golf
Augusta National Golf Club


Why Barnes & Noble Is Good for Amazon

Abstract: On Thursday night in Clifton, N.J., Barnes & Noble was a way station, a third place between work and home where people sought respite and diversion. With its high ceilings, wide aisles and a large Starbucks, it is the kind of retail outlet that gives big-box stores a good name. In one aisle, a father and daughter were having a spirited generational discussion over the side-by-side covers of “The Great Gatsby,” one of which bore an image of Leonardo DiCaprio. For reasons I wasn’t quite clear about but nonetheless found charming, an older couple used a book on vegetarian cooking to cover up a copy of “The Art of Seduction” on the shelf. Nearby, two apparent siblings, one sporting pink hair and the other purple, traded loud opinions over the True Crime display. Watching the readers lounge in chairs with a view of Route 3, it was hard to reconcile the pageantry of retailing with the brutal recent headlines about the book business. At the beginning of July, the Big Six publishers became the Big Five with the blending of Penguin and Random House. At the beginning of last week, the chief executive of Barnes & Noble left the company after a grim earnings report that highlighted a failed strategy to have the company’s Nook device compete in the crowded tablet space. Then on Thursday, Judge Denise L. Cote of United States District Court in Manhattan issued a withering decision against Apple, writing that the company had conspired with the major publishers to fix the price of e-books in an effort to thwart Amazon’s momentum . So far, what has been bad for the industry has not yet hit consumers directly. If they are among the many millions of people enthralled by CBS’s “Under the Dome,” and decide to read the giant Stephen King novel that inspired it, they can hop on Amazon and buy it with a click for $13.99. Or they could avoid its door-stopping heft and spend just $7.99 for the Kindle version. No wonder that last year e-book sales boomed, including a 42 percent rise in sales of fiction. Net revenue for publishers also climbed more than $1 billion in 2012, to $15 billion, according to BookStats, an annual survey of the book business. But while publishers revel in the robust margins provided by e-books — no manufacturing, no shipping and no remaindering — the growth of Amazon leaves them as secondary characters in a business they used to control. Apple may be the one that was found guilty of setting prices, but Amazon has the kind of market power that allows it to set prices unilaterally. The company is already pulling back on discounts on scholarly and small-press books. Image A Barnes & Noble bookstore in Los Angeles. The company’s retail stores and Web site generated pretax earnings of $374.2 million in its most recent fiscal year. Credit Jae C. Hong/Associated Press Barnes & Noble tried to keep up with the technological shift, but the company’s earnings were perforated by a $177 million loss from its Nook division, and that news took out William Lynch Jr. , the chief executive, and threw a deep scare into publishers. In my view, Barnes & Noble is a company that did the right thing, and got clobbered anyway. When most media companies get into the device business, what pops out is clunky and useless, but the Nook is an excellent reading device that drew critical praise and, initially, buyers. At a time when legacy media companies are derided for letting the future overtake them, Barnes & Noble aggressively innovated. Amazon, however, not only had the Kindle, but consumer relationships, inventory and technical know-how that could not be overcome. And as consumers moved from e-readers to tablets to take advantage of multiple functions like video, the Nook ended up in a corner. During last Christmas season, Nook sales were down 12.6 percent compared with the period a year earlier. But the current spate of bad news may mask underlying strengths. As Bloomberg News pointed out on Thursday, Leonard Riggio, the 72-year-old architect of Barnes & Noble’s national buildup, is still considering buying the physical stores and taking them private, in part because the fundamentals of that business are still solid, if not spectacular. In the fiscal year that ended in April, the retail stores and Web site generated earnings of $374.2 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a 16 percent increase, even as sales declined almost 6 percent. One of the parties that might want to root for Barnes & Noble is Amazon. Sales of e-books fell immediately after Borders went under, leading some to suggest that reduced opportunity to browse the physical artifact resulted in less online buying. Having a bookstore in your neighborhood, as opposed to one that is bookmarked on your browser, is an invitation. Not long ago, I was walking by an airport bookstore and thought, “What if this was the only place to buy books?” Similar to Hollywood, only the blockbusters would get shelf space. After Borders called it quits two years ago this week, Barnes & Noble became the last big chain where publishers could get the exposure for their books that allows readers to discover them, and to sell all manner of books big and small that are still part of the foundation of the industry. Morgan Entrekin, publisher at Grove/Atlantic, says everyone has skin in the retail game. “We need to have a diversity of distribution channels to be healthy, and Amazon may want it all, but they are smart enough to know that,” he said. “People can’t live online all the time.” Bookstores offer discoverability, not just the latest Dan Brown or Carl Hiaasen book on the front table, but sometimes treasures deep in the stacks, a long tail of midlist authors and specialty books. Even as the book business consolidates, the physical object displayed in an actual place will continue to be an important part of the ecosystem. Let’s hope it survives. From the balcony of the Barnes & Noble, what looked like the buzz of literary commerce was less impressive on closer inspection. The checkout line was busy because there were only two people working the registers. And the coffee shop was not so much an amenity for consumers-on-the-go than a spot where people camped out and pawed over magazines they had not bought and probably never would. On the way out of the store, I saw the father and daughter who were arguing over the “Gatsby” cover. They had bought neither, but they probably settled on which one they were going to buy on Amazon.

Barnes and Noble
Amazon
Books
EBooks EReaders
Retail
Publishing
E Commerce


Kaymer Holds On for Players Title; Scott Falls Short of Top Ranking for Now

Abstract: PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The last time Martin Kaymer struck a putt that stung Jim Furyk, his ball traveled 6 feet in a mostly straight line and clinched Team Europe’s 2012 Ryder Cup victory against the United States outside Chicago. On Sunday at the Players Championship, Kaymer, from Germany, again doused Furyk’s celebration. With darkness closing in, Kaymer saved par at the par-3 17th with a 29-foot putt that broke a few feet, and drained a 3-footer for par at the 18th for a one-under-par 71 and a 72-hole total of 13-under 275. Kaymer finished a stroke ahead of Furyk, who closed with a 66 for his second consecutive runner-up finish. “What a putt on 17,” Kaymer said. “I mean, it was very, very tough to read because it was already very dark. But I don’t care anymore; it went in.” He laughed. Furyk had just missed an 18-foot birdie putt when an electrical storm caused a suspension of play for over an hour. When the round resumed, Furyk made his 3-footer for par to stay three strokes behind Kaymer, who was 15 under with four holes left. Before Furyk could work his way to the clubhouse, he had moved to a stroke behind the lead after Kaymer made a double bogey on the par-4 15th. “I hung it all out there today and every cliché you can think of,” said Furyk, who also finished second the week before at the Wells Fargo Championship. “I played hard today. I played really well.” Kaymer had no top-10 finishes in 2014, but with the tournament on the line, he summoned his sweetest golf memory. “Walking up on the 18th toward the 18th green, I thought a little bit about the Ryder Cup, how nice that feeling was, and that I’ve done it before,” Kaymer said, adding, “It’s never really easy if you’re trying to win a golf tournament.” After Kaymer and Furyk, nine of the next 10 finishers were Americans or Europeans, making the tournament feel less like the fifth major, as it is often described, than a preview for the Ryder Cup in September at Gleneagles Golf Club in Scotland. Image “I just didn’t play that great over all,” said Adam Scott, who stayed in 38th. Credit John Raoux/Associated Press For the second straight day, Kaymer, 29, played with the American Jordan Spieth, and he had reason to wonder if he was back at Medinah Country Club, so completely was the crowd against him. Kaymer probably will go to bed with the chant of “U.S.A.!” ringing in his ears. Spieth took the lead after making a birdie at No. 4, but his round began to unravel on the next hole when his drive landed left of the fairway and he made his first bogey in 59 holes. He closed with a 71 to finish tied for fourth at 10 under with the Englishman Justin Rose. Rose recorded a 69 after essentially gaining two strokes before he teed off. After his third-round 71, he was assessed a two-stroke penalty because a lengthy review, which included a picture from a high-definition camera, revealed his ball had moved behind the 18th green. Rose’s 73 was changed back to a 71 on Sunday morning, after a further review determined he was not responsible for his ball’s movement according to a rule that took effect this year. The new rule waives the penalty if a moving ball is not “reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time” and requires enhanced technology such as high-definition television. It was good news, Rose said, but it required him to quickly adjust his strategy as he was suddenly back in contention, only five strokes back. “It took me a lot of convincing myself that, right, O.K., this is the position I’m in; let’s go and take advantage of it,” Rose said. For the third time since March, Adam Scott, No. 2 in the world, was unable to capitalize on a chance to unseat Tiger Woods. If Scott had been able to duplicate his second-round 67, he would have finished inside the top 16 and moved to No. 1. He hit eight fairways and carded a 73 to finish in a tie for 38th at two-under 286. Scott, 33, wed his longtime girlfriend, Marie Kojzar, the week after the Masters. Had he chosen a honeymoon over golf this week, he would have become No. 1 because of a calculation quirk. “It’s weird,” said Scott, who will very likely go to No. 1 next week, while idle. “I think you want to do it playing well and getting good results.”

Golf
Players Championship
Martin Kaymer
Adam Scott


The Jets’ Other Brett, Ratliff, Has Turned Some Heads

Abstract: This is what it is like to be Brett Ratliff: “The other Brett,” Jets Coach Eric Mangini said. “Like the other white meat.” Brett Favre will be the main course Saturday against the Redskins, and the 10 to 12 snaps he is expected to take may make this the most important preseason performance of his career. But for all the anticipation surrounding Favre’s Jets debut, he is going to have a tough time topping Ratliff’s debut last week. On the night Favre joined the Jets, Ratliff, on his first N.F.L. play, threw a 71-yard touchdown pass to David Clowney. Ratliff later hit Clowney again, for a 70-yard touchdown pass. Less then 24 hours later, Ratliff was in the hospital, where his wife, Shailey, gave birth to their first child, Ellenor Shai — last Friday, Ratliff’s birthday. All Jets players live in the Hofstra dormitories during training camp, so Ratliff has changed just one diaper. (Shailey’s mother, a former labor and delivery nurse, is in town to help her daughter.) It has been that kind of camp for Ratliff, who has gone from signing a reserve/future contract with the Jets in January — he was originally signed as an undrafted free agent in 2007 — to being so impressive in training camp that he has taken snaps with the second team, sparking questions about whether he might be about to supplant Kellen Clemens as Favre’s backup. Clemens was competing for the starting job only 10 days ago and the backup role remains his. With this caveat: “We’ve got to see how the rest of camp goes,” Mangini said. Clemens has had an uneven camp — one unofficial count has him with at least 10 interceptions — but he has the advantage of being a second-round draft choice of the current regime, and it would indicate a startling lack of confidence in him if the Jets were to make Clemens the No. 3 quarterback. Favre is famously sturdy, but he is 38 and coming off a five-month layoff, and a backup could be critical this season. Ratliff is unimpressed by the horse race talk that surrounds him. It is what he imagined when he took off just two weeks during the off-season. He spent the winter and spring in Hempstead, N.Y., studying film and grabbing whomever he could in the hallways at Hofstra — the former Jets quarterback Chad Pennington, the quarterbacks coach Brian Daboll — to get in a few extra minutes of work. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes into being a quarterback and I struggled with it at first,” Ratliff said. “There is so much you have to learn. I questioned myself a little bit. I knew I had it in me. I knew if I worked hard I could come out and play well.” Ratliff had a familiar malady for many young quarterbacks — at Utah, he played in a spread option offense, which is used rarely in the N.F.L. It presents a steep learning curve and Ratliff had such a hard time that Mangini quipped early in camp that it used to take “an act of Congress” for Ratliff to get the play off. Ratliff worked mostly out of the shotgun at Utah, and he said he still felt more comfortable in that formation than under center. But he has a strong arm — he joked that he would let Favre win a competition to see who could throw the farthest — and before Pennington left, he served as something of a mentor to Ratliff, teaching him how to study film and prepare away from the field. Pennington might also have inadvertently taught Ratliff how to deal with questions about his job status, which Pennington faced nearly the entire time he was with the Jets. “Stuff like that can always creep up in your mind,” Ratliff said. “My wife tries to remind me all the time, control what you can control.” So much of the N.F.L. is beyond a player’s control, though, and Ratliff only has to look at Clemens for the best example. Clemens will follow Favre on Saturday before Ratliff plays. That leaves Erik Ainge, a fifth-round draft pick this year, as something of an odd man out. His snaps have been limited in practice and he has failed to shine when given the chance. Teams are usually loath to cut drafted players, but Ratliff might be making the decision for the Jets. The quarterback with the familiar name is finally getting comfortable with his place on the team — and maybe Favre will, too. “I get Rat or Ratty,” he said. “Every once in a while I get called Brett. But now we have another Brett.”

Favre Brett
Ratliff Brett
New York Jets
National Football League
Football


Nets’ 22-Point Lead Evaporates in Loss

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Vince Carter knew it. There was no way the Utah Jazz , renown for its meticulous execution, would depart the Izod Center without molding some type of comeback from a seemingly insurmountable deficit. “Our goal, definitely, was to be ready for their one push and hopefully to put the pedal to the metal and keep the game out of reach,” Carter said. The shifting momentum was more of a steady, rising wave than a powerful tsunami, but the Nets ’ 22-point lead eventually disappeared and they endured an unfathomable 103-92 loss at the Izod Center. For the Nets (12-12), it was the largest lead they lost in seven years. Even while enjoying large leads, the Nets cannot seal the deal at home and they lost for the eighth time in 12 games here. They are currently playing in fragments, cobbling together a quality quarter here, a spotty one there. “That’s the biggest thing for us,” said Carter, who scored a game-high 32 points. “Figuring out a way to play a complete game. We can’t play a great first quarter, an O.K. second quarter, bad third quarter and a terrible fourth quarter.” The Jazz took the court an All-Star short. Otherwise, the players appeared the same, a trademark of Jerry Sloan, their stalwart coach, and his penchant for consistency. They picked. They rolled. They popped. But without Carlos Boozer, the Jazz were uncommonly flustered for most of the game and did not take its first lead until Ronnie Price’s jumper made it 76-77 with just over seven minutes remaining. The Jazz outscored the Nets in the fourth quarter, 40-23. Sloan did not see his team’s improbable rally. He received two technical fouls in the span of 33 seconds at the start of the fourth. Mehmet Okur scored 23 points to pace five Jazz scorers in double figures. In the matchup of star point guards, Deron Williams had 17 points and 11 assists, and Devin Harris had 21 points and 11 assists. The Jazz trailed by 39-31 at halftime and none of its starters had connected on a shot beyond the paint. Ronnie Brewer threw down a fastbreak layup and Millsap tossed in three layups. Beyond that, the starters missed 15 shots through the first half. Amazingly, they were worse earlier. Morris Almond’s jumper late in the first quarter spared Utah from matching a franchise low for points in a quarter. The Jazz made only three field goals in that stretch and trailed by 27-7, setting a record for a first-quarter low by a Nets opponent. The drought stretched through much of the second quarter as well, only the Nets joined the Jazz and squandered much of their lead then. The Nets were a step out of place and a step too late on rebounds, allowing the Jazz to capitalize on second-chance efforts. Utah had 14 second-chance points in the first half to the Nets’ 2. The Nets have the second fewest home wins in the Eastern Conference. “Is it coincidental that it happens at home?” Coach Lawrence Frank said before the game. “It’s hard to figure. The court’s still the same size, the rims are still the same height.” REBOUNDS Forward Jarvis Hayes missed his fourth consecutive game with a strained left hamstring. ... The Nets were outrebounded, 53-36, and Vince Carter said he should have contributed more than his four rebounds.


Peter Powers, Mayor Giuliani’s Steady Right Hand, Dies at 72

Abstract: Peter J. Powers, a high school friend whom Rudolph W. Giuliani recruited to impose order on his chaotic novice mayoral campaign and later installed as his even-tempered alter ego to manage New York City’s government, died on Thursday in the Bronx. He was 72. The cause was complications of lung cancer, Mr. Giuliani said. Mr. Powers, who lived in Manhattan, died at Calvary Hospital Hospice. Before being hired to manage Mr. Giuliani’s 1989 mayoral race, Mr. Powers, a tax lawyer, had last been involved in a campaign in college, when his losing effort for senior class council president was managed by Mr. Giuliani. And before becoming deputy mayor in 1994, his only government job had been in the parks department mail room one summer three decades earlier. Mr. Giuliani, the most famous prosecutor in America but a neophyte candidate, had squandered $2 million, was being challenged for the Republican nomination and was trailing the Democrat, David N. Dinkins , by about 29 points in public opinion polls when he enlisted Mr. Powers. Mr. Powers proceeded to impose discipline on Mr. Giuliani’s disparate Republican, Liberal and independent supporters and, with Roger Ailes, focus on a runaway campaign. He helped steer Mr. Giuliani to within two points of victory that November in a race that Mr. Dinkins won. In 1993, with Mr. Powers managing the rematch, joined by the media consultant David Garth , Mr. Giuliani toppled Mayor Dinkins with 51 percent of the vote. In 32 months in City Hall, as deputy mayor for operations and first deputy mayor, Mr. Powers presided over the largest budget cuts the city had made since the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s. He reduced the payroll by 20,000 workers, most of them induced to leave with buyouts, and slowed the rate, though not the total amount, of city spending. “We changed the agenda,” Mr. Giuliani said at the time, referring to a shift in focus from how to spend money to how to cut budgets. “I helped, and so did my three budget directors. But Peter was at the core of much of that, if not all of that.” When Mr. Powers was first drafted to help in 1989, Mr. Giuliani, a former United States attorney, was already surrounded by a loyal and competent — if sometimes too compliant — cadre of fellow former prosecutors. But Mr. Powers enjoyed a personal rapport with Mr. Giuliani that gave him the leeway to reverse political losses in the campaign and, later, years of rising municipal spending and crime. “Peter was the glue that held the thing together,” Joseph J. Lhota, Mr. Giuliani’s former budget director and deputy mayor for operations, said in an interview on Thursday. Mr. Powers was variously characterized as the mayor’s Cardinal Richelieu, the good cop to Mr. Giuliani’s bad cop and even the conscience of the city administration. “I’m not afraid of losing my job if I give him bad news,” Mr. Powers said not long after becoming the mayor’s deputy. Image Mr. Powers in November 1993. Credit Ruby Washington/The New York Times Mr. Giuliani himself described their relationship in familial terms. “I never had a brother,” he said in a telephone interview this week. “Peter was my brother.” Peter James Powers was born on April 9, 1944, in Middle Village, Queens, the son of Thomas Powers, an organizer for the retail clerks’ union, and the former Florence Fitzgibbon. He befriended Mr. Giuliani during their sophomore year at Bishop Loughlin High School in Brooklyn. Mr. Giuliani induced him to join the opera club, though Mr. Powers preferred country music, and they ran on the same ticket for class office — Mr. Giuliani for president and Mr. Powers for treasurer — winning as sophomores but losing the next year. After high school, they both went on to Manhattan College, where they were members of the same fraternity, Phi Rho Pi, and from which they earned bachelor’s degrees in 1965. They were also classmates at the New York University School of Law. Mr. Giuliani even introduced Mr. Powers, on a blind date, to Kathleen Ingrassia, whom he would marry. That marriage ended in divorce. Mr. Powers is survived by their daughters, Heather McBride and Krista Harvey; his wife, Sylvia Ng; his brothers, Jack and Don; and four grandchildren. As young men, Mr. Giuliani was a Kennedy Democrat (he became a Republican later), and Mr. Powers a Goldwater Republican. They would argue regularly but politely — splicing, Mr. Powers once said, fiscal conservatism with a progressive social consciousness. “I think we both moved closer to the center,” he told The New York Times in 1993. “We’ve ended in the same place.” Mr. Powers, as a certified public accountant with advanced law degrees, became a successful corporate tax lawyer. He and Mr. Giuliani collaborated on several cases when they were in private practice. When Mr. Giuliani was elected mayor in 1993, he named Mr. Powers chairman of his transition team and, following his advice, focused first on finding a budget director once he had discovered the size of the deficit he was inheriting. Mr. Powers was self-effacing and carefully rationed his responses to reporters’ questions. His profile was so low that early on a police officer asked him for identification when he tried to enter City Hall. But woe to whomever defied him or reneged on a commitment. “If he got angry — and it was so rare — you didn’t want to be on the other side of him,” Mr. Giuliani said in the phone interview, “because it was probably for a really good reason, as opposed to those of us with a more volatile temper.” After he left city government in September 1996 and was succeeded by Randy M. Mastro, the mayor’s chief of staff, Mr. Powers joined a hedge fund, was chairman of a city charter revision commission and formed a consulting firm with powerhouse clients, some of whom had business dealings with the city. Before he left, he said, he had learned a revelatory lesson about the city. After only a few months as deputy mayor, his doubts about whether the city could be run effectively were dispelled. “It is very governable,” he said. But Mr. Powers had proved his political bona fides even earlier by grasping another lesson that public officials often forget. In his City Hall office, not far from the mayor’s, the screen on his computer was programmed to blink repeatedly “Power on Loan” — a reminder that his job was just temporary and subject to the voters’ approval.

Obituary
Peter J Powers
Rudolph W Giuliani
NYC


3 French Athletes Are Mourned After Argentine Air Crash

Abstract: PARIS — Florence Arthaud competed in solo trans-Atlantic sailing races at the age of 20. Camille Muffat captured three swimming medals at the 2012 London Olympics, including one in the grueling 400-meter freestyle. Alexis Vastine fought his way to a bronze medal in boxing at the 2008 Beijing Games. The three French athletes were flying in two helicopters late on Monday, on their way into a remote gorge in northwestern Argentina for the filming of a new reality show, “Dropped,” in which they would be left to fend for themselves and find their way back to civilization. But the two helicopters touched briefly in midair and then fell to the ground, killing the three athletes and seven other people on board, officials and witnesses said. A video posted in the Argentine news media showed the moment of contact. In France, a country that holds sports stars in high esteem, news of the crash was met on Tuesday with reactions of shock and grief from political leaders and fellow competitors. Video The French president, the chief executive of the channel TF1, the junior sports minister and the boyfriend of one of the Olympians killed in the helicopter crash in Argentina spoke on Tuesday. Credit Credit Christophe Ena/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Speaking to reporters at the Élysée Palace, President François Hollande hailed the three athletes as trailblazers. “Here again, they wanted to push boundaries and make feats, countries and regions known to the world,” he said. Prime Minister Manuel Valls told reporters in Paris that the athletes had “filled the French with wonder, each in their own discipline,” and Thierry Braillard, junior minister for sports, told BFM TV that French athletics had lost “three stars.” Five of the seven other victims were French as well, employees of Adventure Line Productions, which was making the reality show for TF1, a leading French broadcaster. Franck Firmin-Guion, the president of Adventure Line, said in a statement that the crash took place during filming for the second episode of the show, and that the company’s staff was “devastated” by the news. The other two victims were the helicopters’ pilots, both Argentines. Local news media identified them as Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate. Argentina’s state news agency reported that flying conditions at the time of the collision were ideal. The French government is sending aviation investigators to Argentina to help determine what caused the crash, officials said. Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation for involuntary manslaughter, a standard procedure for fatal occurrences involving French citizens abroad, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Image People gathered near the site of a helicopter crash that left 10 dead in the Argentine province of La Rioja on Monday. Credit Gabriel Gonzalez/Associated Press In all, about 80 people were working on the program in the province of La Rioja near the Chilean border, provincial officials said. The mayor of Villa Castelli, a town near the crash site, said the downed helicopters, which witnesses said exploded after the collision, were “totally burned.” Ms. Muffat, 25, retired from professional sports last year after winning gold, silver and bronze medals at the 2012 London Olympic Games . Mr. Vastine, 28, who won a medal in the 60-to-64-kilogram weight class in Beijing, had a sister who boxed as well; she was killed in a road accident in January at the age of 21. Ms. Arthaud, 57, was a symbolic figure in France and the yachting world, nicknamed the Little Fiancée of the Atlantic for her exploits in the Route du Rhum, a trans-Atlantic solo sailing race. After she won the race in 1990, she was named champion of the year by a French sporting newspaper, L’Equipe. Ms. Arthaud was not able to repeat her success in other major races and later struggled to attract sponsors, but her early breakthrough helped inspire other sailors, including the soloists Catherine Chabaud of France and Ellen MacArthur of Britain. Several more French athletes were taking part in the reality show but were not involved in the accident, including the figure skater Philippe Candeloro; the swimmer Alain Bernard; and the soccer player Sylvain Wiltord. Mr. Wiltord posted a Twitter message shortly after the crash on Monday night. “I am sad for my friends,” he wrote. “I am trembling, I am horrified, I have no words. I don’t want to say anything.” Adventure Line Productions made headlines in 2013 when a contestant in another of its reality shows — “Koh-Lanta,” a French adaptation of “Survivor” — died of a heart attack during filming, and the show’s doctor later committed suicide. The new program, “Dropped,” is in its first season.

Helicopter
Plane Crash
Argentina
France
Camille Muffat
Florence Arthaud
Alexis Vastine
Reality television
Dropped


A 35,000-Year-Old ‘Venus’ Sculpture Is Found

Abstract: No one would mistake the Stone Age ivory carving for a Venus de Milo. The voluptuous woman depicted is, to say the least, earthier, with huge, projecting breasts and sexually explicit genitals. Nicholas J. Conard, an archaeologist at the University of Tübingen, in Germany, who found the small carving in a cave last year, said it was at least 35,000 years old, “one of the oldest known examples of figurative art” in the world. It is about 5,000 years older than some other so-called Venus artifacts made by early populations of Homo sapiens in Europe. Another archaeologist, Paul Mellars of the University of Cambridge, in England, agreed and went on to remark on the obvious. By modern standards, he said, the figurine’s blatant sexuality “could be seen as bordering on the pornographic.” The tiny statuette was uncovered in September in a cave in southwestern Germany, near Ulm and the Danube headwaters. Dr. Conard’s report on the find is being published Thursday in the journal Nature . The discovery, Dr. Conard wrote, “radically changes our view of the origins of Paleolithic art.” Before this, he noted, female imagery was unknown, most carvings and cave drawings being of mammoths, horses and other animals. Scholars say the figurine is roughly contemporaneous with other early expressions of artistic creativity, like drawings on cave walls in southeastern France and northern Italy. The inspiration and symbolism behind the rather sudden flowering have long been debated by art historians. Commenting in the journal on the discovery, Dr. Mellars, who did not take part in the research, wrote that the artifact was one of 25 similar carvings found over the past 70 years in other caves in the Swabian region of southern Germany, “a veritable art gallery of early ‘modern’ human art.” These sites, he concluded, “must be seen as the birthplace of true sculpture in the European — maybe global — artistic tradition.” Scholars say the large caves were presumably inviting sanctuaries for populations of modern humans migrating then into Central and Western Europe. These were the people who eventually displaced the resident Neanderthals, around 30,000 years ago. Dr. Conard reported that the discovery was made beneath three feet of red-brown sediment in the floor of the Hohle Fels Cave. Six fragments of the carved ivory, including all but the left arm and shoulder, were recovered. When he brushed dirt off the torso, he said, “the importance of the discovery became apparent.” The short, squat torso is dominated by oversize breasts and broad buttocks. The split between the two halves of the buttocks is deep and continuous without interruption to the front of the figurine. A greatly enlarged vulva emphasizes the “deliberate exaggeration” of the figurine’s sexual characteristics, Dr. Conard said. The object reminded experts of the most famous of the sexually explicit figurines from the Stone Age, the Venus of Willendorf , discovered in Austria a century ago. That Venus is somewhat larger and dated about 24,000 years ago, but it is in a style that appeared to have been prevalent for several thousand years. Scholars speculate that these Venus figurines, as they are known, were associated with fertility beliefs or shamanistic rituals. The Hohle Fels artifact, less than 2.5 inches long and weighing little more than an ounce, is headless. Carved at the top, instead, is a ring, evidently to allow the object to be suspended from a string or thong.

Archaeology and Anthropology
Art
History
Germany
Caves and Caverns


Unraveling Why Some Mammals Kill Off Infants

Abstract: In the early 1970s, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, then a graduate student at Harvard, traveled to India to study Hanuman langurs, monkeys that live in troops, each made up of several females and a male. From time to time, Dr. Hrdy observed a male invade a troop, driving off the patriarch. And sometimes the new male performed a particularly disturbing act of violence. He attacked the troop’s infants. There had been earlier reports of infanticide by adult male mammals, but scientists mostly dismissed the behavior as an unimportant pathology. But in 1974, Dr. Hrdy made a provocative counter proposal : infanticide, she said, is the product of mammalian evolution. By killing off babies of other fathers, a male improves his chances of having more of his own offspring. Dr. Hrdy went on to become a professor at the University of California, Davis, and over the years she broadened her analysis, arguing that infanticide might well be a common feature of mammalian life. She spurred generations of scientists to document the behavior in hundreds of species. “She’s the goddess of all this stuff,” said Kit Opie, a primatologist at University College London. Forty years after Dr. Hrdy’s initial proposal, two evolutionary biologists at the University of Cambridge have surveyed the evolution of infanticide across all mammals. In a paper published Thursday in Science, the scientists concluded that only certain conditions favor the evolution of infanticide — the conditions that Dr. Hrdy had originally proposed. “My main comment is, ‘Well done,'” said Dr. Hrdy. She said the study was particularly noteworthy for its scope, ranging from opossum to lions. The authors of the new study, Dieter Lukas and Elise Huchard, started by plowing through the scientific literature, looking for evidence of infanticide in a variety of mammalian species. The researchers ended up with data on 260 species, and in 119 of them — over 45 percent — males had been observed killing unrelated young animals. Dr. Lukas and Dr. Huchard then looked at how infanticide might have evolved over the past 160 million years of mammal evolution. “When we started, we weren’t sure if infanticide was present in some ancestral mammal and is just more pronounced in some species and is lost in other species,” said Dr. Lukas. “Or maybe it just evolved in those species where the conditions were right.” Their research supports the second scenario. The common ancestor of living mammals did not practice infanticide: The behavior evolved later and independently in a number of separate animal lineages. Dr. Lukas and Dr. Huchard found that the species that evolved infanticide had a few things in common. For instance, the females tended to give birth year-round, rather than at just one time of the year. Another key factor was that males and females lived in groups where females greatly outnumber males. The scientists concluded that conditions such as these fostered the evolution of infanticide. If only a few males get to mate with females, there will be a lot of other males facing the prospect of dying childless. Natural selection will favor males that can take over groups of females. But these males are pressed for time. It won’t be too long before another male threatens them with exile. Meanwhile, many females will be busy nursing infants. Killing the offspring of other males can free up females for reproduction and widen the window of opportunity for new males, leading to more offspring for them. The researchers also noted that infanticide generally did not evolve in species where females only give birth once a year. “There’s no sense for a male to kill the offspring in the previous year, because he has to wait anyway,” said Dr. Lukas. Dr. Hrdy and other early infanticide researchers not only investigated how infanticide might have evolved. They also suggested that mothers and fathers had evolved defenses against infanticidal males. Dr. Lukas and Dr. Huchard found support for this idea, too. In species in which infanticide appeared, females gradually mate with more and more males. This behavior may protect infants by introducing uncertainty: Males might be more reluctant to kill infants if one of them could be his own. “In effect, whenever promiscuity is high enough, it does not pay for males to commit infanticide,” said Carel P. Van Schaik, a primatologist at the University of Zurich. “This new study beautifully confirms the major role of sexual behavior.” Despite its sweep, , the new study doesn’t settle every debate over infanticide. Dr. Van Schaik, for example, suspects that the true number of infanticidal species is higher. In some of them, defenses against the practice have become so effective that infanticide has become rare, and therefore hard for scientists to observe. The new study also clashes with earlier work finding that infanticide altered the social structure of some species. Last year, for example, Dr. Opie and his colleagues reported that monogamy — in which one male and one female lived together — has evolved in primates as a defense against infanticide. In their new study, Dr. Lukas and Dr. Huchard found no such pattern. Dr. Opie believes that is partly because they didn’t take into account the full diversity of how mammals mate. “What we’re saying is that infanticide is driving monogamy, and we don’t think anything they’ve shown in this paper contradicts that,” said Dr. Opie. Among the mammal species that Dr. Lukas and Dr. Huchard didn’t include in their study was our own. Dr. Lukas said the cultural diversity of humans means it is hard to make blanket statements about them. “For many social behaviors, it’s very difficult to define a human universal,” said Dr. Lukas. That’s not to say that adults never harm — or even kill — children. But Dr. Hrdy argued that the infanticide she documented in langurs — in which males stalked babies for days —was fundamentally different from what happens in our own species. “A male would have to pull out a butcher knife and stab the baby, but that’s not what you’re seeing,” said Dr. Hrdy. “I don’t think langur infanticide tells us much. I think it’s a very different phenomenon.”


Stocks Mixed in a Volatile Wall Street Session

Abstract: Wall Street lost more ground in volatile trading Monday as investors recoiled at a cautious economic outlook from a Federal Reserve official and the possibility of more financial troubles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The market found only slight solace in retreating oil prices. Janet L. Yellen, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said in a speech that the financial markets remained fragile and that it would take time for conditions to improve. “My expectation is that market functioning will improve markedly by 2009,” she said. “But things could get worse before they get better.” The comments added to concerns raised in a note by Lehman Brothers analysts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may need to raise more capital as the credit crisis continues. Worries about the ailing financial sector deflated a stock rally early in the day that had been fueled by a $4-a-barrel pullback in oil prices. The market managed, however, to rebound from its lows of the day, when the Dow Jones industrial average sank to its worst level since mid-August of 2006. Some investors bought back into the market to take advantage of the low prices. “The market is so skittish and so scared that half the people believe that this is just another leg of the down market and the other half believes that we’re forming a bottom,” said Frank Ingarra, assistant portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds. The Dow fell 56.58 points, or 0.5 percent, to 11,231.96. Over the course of the day, the blue chips rallied, tumbled, rebounded, and then fell once more. The Dow fell as much as 167.80 to 11,120.74, its lowest trading level since Aug. 15, 2006, but was also up more than 100 in early trading. Broader stock indicators also declined. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 10.59 points, or 0.84 percent, to 1,252.31, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 2.06 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,243.32. The technology-dominated Nasdaq was helped by Yahoo, which rose $2.56, or 12 percent, to $23.91 after Microsoft expressed support for Carl C. Icahn’s effort to oust Yahoo’s board next month. Microsoft said a successful rebellion would encourage it to renew its takeover bid for Yahoo, or negotiate another deal. Light, sweet crude oil fell $3.92 to settle at $141.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling by more than $5 a barrel earlier. The retreat did little to assuage fears about high energy prices, however. Wall Street, which has been hurtling stocks lower for the past few weeks, remains fearful that consumers are trimming their spending to pay for gasoline. With consumer spending accounting for more than two-thirds of United States economic activity, a pullback could create big ripples. Government bonds rose. The 10-year Treasury note rose 19/32, to 99 25/32 and the yield, which moves in the opposite direction from its price, fell to 3.90 percent from 3.97 percent last Thursday. Fannie Mae fell $3.04, or 16.2 percent, to $15.74 and Freddie Mac fell $2.59, or 17.9 percent, to $11.91, after Lehman Brothers analysts said new accounting rules could require Fannie to raise $46 billion more capital and Freddie to raise $29 billion. On Monday, the dollar traded mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell. Following are the results of Monday’s Treasury auction of three- and six-month bills:

Stocks and Bonds
Dow Jones Stock Average
United States Economy
Nasdaq Composite Index
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline


Diplomat Disrupted Flight by Lighting Cigarette

Abstract: WASHINGTON — When an illicit pipe and a foolish joke aboard an airliner touches off a national megascare, scrambling fighter jets and F.B.I. agents, alerting all 4,900 flights in progress and unleashing a media flood, does that mean the security system works? Or was the reaction to an Arab diplomat’s ill-timed smoke break aboard a flight to Denver on Wednesday night overkill, unnecessarily alarming the entire country, inconveniencing passengers and squandering the taxpayers’ money? Assessing the government and media response was complicated by the revelation on Thursday that the Qatari diplomat, Mohammed al-Madadi, was on his way to make a routine consular visit to a convicted agent of Al Qaeda, a citizen of Qatar who is imprisoned in Colorado. But officials said that they learned the purpose of the diplomat’s travels well after the plane landed, and that they did not believe Mr. Madadi had any ties to terrorism. Still, the bizarre coincidence only underscored a widespread view that the huge response was justified. “From a counterterrorism standpoint, the system worked perfectly,” said Kip Hawley, who served as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration under the Bush administration from 2005 to 2009. “The T.S.A. and counterterrorism officials are on high alert for a very good reason. Al Qaeda is going to use pregnant women, people with babies, and it is not out of the realm of possibility that they will use a diplomat.” The possibility of overreaction to perceived threats is by now a familiar problem in the age of terrorism, when a little powdered sugar can set off an anthrax panic or a Coast Guard training exercise can persuade cable television crews that the nation’s capital may be under attack, as occurred last Sept. 11. In this case, however, there seemed to be little second-guessing of the broad security alert in response to a situation that ultimately turned out to have posed no significant threat. “As far as I have heard, the passengers, crew and authorities all acted calmly and appropriately,” said Ian S. Lustick, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “Trapped in the War on Terror,” a 2006 book that criticized what he called the exaggerated response to terrorism. Law enforcement, Homeland Security and airline industry officials, who would speak about the investigation only on condition of anonymity, described what happened aboard United Flight 663 from Reagan National Airport in Washington to Denver. Some details about the flight, which carried 157 passengers and six crew members, varied in different officials’ accounts on Thursday night. Mr. Madadi, 27, a third secretary at Qatar’s embassy in Washington, was confronted by a flight attendant who smelled smoke as he left the forward lavatory near the cockpit. The flight attendant alerted a federal air marshal on board, and when challenged, Mr. Madadi denied smoking but admitted he had a pipe and made a joking reference to trying to set his shoes on fire. The authorities feared a repeat of the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25, in which a Nigerian passenger has been accused of trying to assemble explosives hidden in his underwear during a trip to the bathroom. In that case, the would-be bomb fizzled and the man, who later said he had been trained by the Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, ended up burning only himself. The episode on Wednesday evening seemed to echo the Christmas Day events, which led to a sharp increase in the deployment of air marshals, who pose as ordinary passengers and “break cover” only when there is a security threat. After the flight attendant and a passenger who followed Mr. Madadi into the lavatory both smelled smoke, the passenger found a bag of what the authorities said was tobacco. One of the two air marshals on the flight then approached Mr. Madadi at his seat in the first-class section, showing his badge and identifying himself as a federal agent. Mr. Madadi said he had not been smoking but acknowledged that the bag contained tobacco for his pipe. It was then that he made the remark about setting his shoes on fire, evidently a nervous joke referring to the 2001 episode in which Richard Reid tried to ignite explosives hidden in his shoe during a trans-Atlantic flight. Within a few minutes, top Transportation Security officials were on a conference call, the Federal Aviation Administration had alerted the pilots of the thousands of flights then in the air of the possible threat, an F.B.I. team had begun to assemble in Denver, and airport authorities positioned fire and safety equipment for the landing there, which took place at 6:54 p.m. Norad sent the fighter jets to accompany the plane for the final segment of its route. Intelligence agencies, meanwhile, checked their files for information not only on Mr. Madadi, but on the other passengers as well, because security officials had to consider the possibility that a team of terrorists was on the flight. With thousands of government officials and pilots now aware of what initially appeared to be a possible attempted terrorist attack, news organizations began to get tips and to respond with alarming reports. “Air Marshals Stop Alleged ‘Shoe Bomb’ Attempt,” said a headline on ABC News, which had one of the first reports. Other networks and newspaper Web sites quickly followed, and for an hour or two the reports continued. By about 8:30 Denver time, after the authorities failed to find any explosives, news media reports shifted to calling the episode a false alarm. On Thursday, officials confirmed that Mr. Madadi had been headed to the maximum security prison in Florence, Colo., for a routine monthly visit to Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a Qatari citizen who admitted last year that he entered the United States on Sept. 10, 2001, on the orders of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the chief planner of the Sept. 11 attacks. Mr. Marri was arrested in December 2001. Initially charged in the criminal system, he was then moved to the military system and held in a military jail in South Carolina. Finally he was moved back to federal criminal court, where he pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to eight years in prison. But the Qaeda connection appeared to be a red herring. P. J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman, said that such prison visits were routine and that permitting them was an obligation under international agreements. “We demand the same right of consular visits for our citizens who are imprisoned anywhere in the world,” Mr. Crowley said. Mr. Madadi’s words on the flight were a vivid confirmation of the ubiquitous airport signs that have warned passengers for decades against joking about bombs and other security issues. Though Mr. Madadi has diplomatic immunity and therefore cannot be prosecuted for violating the smoking ban aboard aircraft, he could be expelled from the United States. An American official said Qatari Embassy officials had headed off such a step by saying that Mr. Madadi would leave for Qatar soon. On Thursday, after he was interviewed by F.B.I. agents and released, he returned to Washington — but not on United. In view of his conduct, said a United spokeswoman, Jean Medina, her airline decided not to honor his return ticket.

Airlines and Airplanes
Smoking and Tobacco
Homeland Security Department


Boston Mayor Says He Won’t Try to Block Referendum on Hosting 2024 Olympics

Abstract: BOSTON — Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who is not in favor of holding a referendum on Boston’s hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics, said Tuesday that he would not try to block one. Putting the issue before voters would have the potential to throw a wrench into Boston’s plan to represent the United States in the international competition, particularly if it showed that support in Boston was only lukewarm. But just holding a referendum, a move that a recent poll shows has wide support, could be a deal-killer regardless of the results. Boston’s bid, chosen Jan. 8 by the United States Olympic Committee over those of three other American cities, did not include a public referendum. Holding one after the fact could be perceived as a change in the bid itself, allowing the U.S.O.C. to drop Boston. If the committee did drop Boston, Olympics experts said, it would probably not put forth any American city rather than go back to one it had passed over. Public votes on hosting the Olympics, usually held as a way to check cost overruns, can pose hazards. Perhaps the most infamous case occurred in Denver, which in 1970 was awarded the 1976 Winter Games. In 1972, Colorado voters overrode local officials and passed an amendment to the state Constitution banning the use of public money for the Games, effectively driving the Olympics from Denver. More recently, nearly 70 percent of residents in Krakow, Poland, voted last year against hosting the 2022 Winter Games, forcing the city to withdraw from the competition. On Tuesday, Berlin said that it would hold a referendum if it was chosen as Germany’s bid city over Hamburg for the 2024 Summer Games. Mayor Walsh said on Jan. 9 — the day after the U.S.O.C. chose Boston over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington — that a referendum was not necessary. But a poll on Tuesday for WBUR, NPR’s Boston station, found that 75 percent of Bostonians wanted a vote. It also found that only 50 percent of residents supported the idea of playing host, while 33 percent were opposed. Responding to the support for a referendum, the mayor said Tuesday, “I wouldn’t stand in the way,” The Wall Street Journal reported . Later in the day, his office issued a statement seeking to clarify his position. “Mayor Walsh is not in support of a referendum on the Olympics,” the statement said. “Should the public decide to collect signatures for a referendum, that is a right of the people that the mayor fully supports.” The statement seemed to be an attempt to appease both the proponents of the Boston bid, who have not indicated any desire for a referendum, and the opponents, who see a referendum as a way of holding the proponents — a small group of business leaders and construction magnates — accountable. The mayor has promised a fully transparent and democratic process. Most of the bid’s details will be made public on Wednesday night. The city is planning its first public neighborhood meeting on the Olympics next week. Chris Dempsey, a co-chairman of No Boston Olympics , comprising the chief opponents of the Games, said the group had not yet decided whether to gather the signatures necessary for a referendum. But he said: “It’s clear from the history in Denver and in a number of European cities that a ballot could be a threat to the bid advancing. When put to a public vote, Olympic bids tend not to fare that well.” Patrick Sandusky, the chief spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee, did not address specific questions about a referendum but said in a statement: “As the public learns more about what the Games could mean for the community, we’re confident the bid will have overwhelming support. We look forward to working with Mayor Walsh and the Boston 2024 team to more fully engage the local community and identify ways we can make the bid even better.” David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, said the danger of holding a vote would be that a majority of people would vote against holding the Olympics or that only a small majority would vote in favor of doing so. “The concern is always a question of expense: Is a city going to lose money?” he said. “The answer is usually yes.”

Boston
2024 Olympics
Referendum
US Olympic Committee
Martin J Walsh
WBUR
Olympics


The Bruins’ Brad Marchand Is a Pest in Black and Gold

Abstract: The Canucks do not possess the good-luck charms the Bruins have as they try to right themselves for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final s Friday in Vancouver, British Columbia. They do not have a 1980s vintage nylon Starter jacket that is given to the most valuable player after each victory. They do not have a legend like Bobby Orr to ignite the passion of home crowd before a game. On the ice, the Canucks also have loads of forces to contend with — starting with Brad Marchand, the Bruins’ dipsy-doodling ball of aggravation. Marchand, who is 5-foot-9 and built like a fireplug, had a defining moment in Boston’s 4-0 victory in Game 4 Wednesday when he broke into the Vancouver zone on the left wing and stepped around the defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, who fell, comically, because Marchand had knocked him off balance. A penalty was coming to Marchand as he glided behind goaltender Roberto Luongo’s net. But out of the corner of his eye, as the whistle blew, Marchand saw Daniel Sedin bearing down to smash him into the boards . Marchand ducked at the last moment and Sedin went somersaulting over him, again, comically. That was too much for Canucks defenseman Keith Ballard, who dropped his gloves and charged in to avenge the embarrassment. Marchand dropped his mitts, too, and the twosome wrestled to the ice as the TD Garden crowd roared. “It’s helped my game to try and be a bit of a rat out there,” said Marchand, a 23-year-old rookie from Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is useful to know that in a hockey context “rat” is a compliment. Some of the other ratlike things Marchand has done in this series that is tied 2-2: In Game 1 at Vancouver, he skated to the penalty box, where the two Spandex-costumed Canucks fans known as the Green Men station themselves to annoy opponents, and doused them (“I think I tried to spray some water in my mouth and I missed a bit — it might have gotten on them”); early in Game 4 he crashed into the injury-hobbled Canucks center Ryan Kesler and effectively removed him as a factor; and throughout the series he has chirped and jabbed and annoyed the Canucks with his after-the-whistle antics. But the most effective things he has done are not ratlike at all. Marchand’s short-handed goal midway through Game 3 was a highlight-reel beauty, as he skated around two Canucks and outwaited Luongo while gliding gracefully across the front of the net. It was a classic, and he did it when the score was 2-0 Boston and the result was in doubt. In Game 4, he helped create the Bruins’ third goal by knocking the puck away from Ballard and Henrik Sedin, then scored by taking Patrice Bergeron’s centering pass and slamming it in. It was Marchand’s second goal of the series and eighth of the playoffs — not bad for a player completing his first full season. Marchand has come through in this series, but the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel, have not. If the Canucks are to bounce back, they will need the Sedins to produce. But they seem rattled by Bruins goalie Tim Thomas. “We have to solve Thomas — that’s the thing,” Henrik said. “We have to keep working hard. We need bounces.” Daniel said, “We made a push, but Thomas stood tall.” With the Sedins frustrated, it seems as if the Canucks are in need of some new charm of their own — like former Canucks showing up to lend some mojo or, better yet, current players coming through as Marchand has.

Boston Bruins
Hockey Ice
Vancouver Canucks
Marchand Brad


Frank Beardsley, ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’ Father, Dies at 97

Abstract: Stacks of discount-price children’s shoes lined the walls of a large closet at the Beardsley home in Carmel, Calif., in the 1960s and ’70s — size after size in three types: oxfords for school, patent-leather dress-ups for church and tennis shoes for play. Frank Beardsley, a retired Navy chief warrant officer, had bought them in large quantity at a naval base store so that he would always be ready to refit his children’s growing feet. He had 20 children. Rather, he and the former Helen North had 20 after merging two very large families in a second marriage for both, he as a widower and she as a widow. Their union prompted wide media coverage and inspired a book and two movies titled “ Yours, Mine and Ours ,” the first starring Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball. Mr. Beardsley died on Dec. 11 in Santa Rosa, Calif., his eldest son, Michael, said. He was 97 and lived in Kenwood, Calif. Mr. Beardsley was 45 and a father of 10 when he married Helen North , a mother of 8, on Sept. 9, 1961. Reporters and a large crowd flocked to the church in Carmel for the wedding and later to the courthouse in Salinas, Calif., where each parent adopted the other’s children. Within three years, the couple had two more. The attention did not end. Tour buses stopped outside their home. A bread company hired the Beardsleys to do a commercial and posted a family photograph on its trucks. Shortly after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Beardsley appeared on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight” show. (Mr. Carson described their life as “Camp Run Amok,” one of their sons, Gregory, recalled, adding, “But we were pretty organized, actually.”) In 1965, Mrs. Beardsley wrote a book, “Who Gets the Drumstick?” It described assembly-line sandwich making and dormlike living in a house that had to be expanded to eight bedrooms and five bathrooms. By then, Mr. Beardsley was retired from the Navy and had opened a gift shop. The family later owned three bakeries as well. Mrs. Beardsley’s book caught the attention of Ms. Ball, whose Desilu Studios bought the rights and adapted it for film. In 1968 it released “Yours, Mine and Ours.” At the premiere all 22 members of the Beardsley family joined Ms. Ball on stage. The characters in the film were also named Beardsley. A remake starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo was released in 2005, to not-so-favorable reviews by the family. “It’s a cute movie, but I don’t know why they called it ‘Yours, Mine and Ours,’ because it’s not our story,” Germaine Robison, one of the 12 daughters, told The Associated Press. Among the changes, the children were given new names and several were of other ethnicities and adopted. Francis Louis Beardsley was born in San Francisco on Sept. 11, 1915, to Charles and Mary Grennan Beardsley. He joined the Navy in 1936, rising to chief warrant officer in a 31-year career. His first wife, the former Frances Albrecht, died in 1960. A year later, he married Helen Brandmeir North, who died in 2000. He is survived by his third wife, the former Dorothy Cushman. In addition to his sons Michael and Gregory and his daughter Ms. Robison, he is survived by his other children and stepchildren, some of whom have changed their last name back to North. They are: Charles, Joseph, Mary and Veronica Beardsley; Colleen, Janet, Thomas, Nicholas, Gerald and Phillip North; and Rosemary Richter, Louise Ingram, Susan Pope, Joan Rodewald, Jean Murphy, Teresa Wyble and Helen Vanucchi. Mr. Beardsley is also survived by about 60 grandchildren and about 24 great-grandchildren, Michael Beardsley said. Gregory Beardsley credited his parents with not overplaying the family’s fame. “My parents,” he told The Monterey County Herald, “always used to remind us, ‘You’re only 5 percent of the equation, so 5 percent of a celebrity isn’t too much to brag about.’ ”

Beardsley Frank (1915- )
Deaths (Obituaries)
Yours Mine and Ours (Movie)
Families and Family Life
Beardsley Frank


In a Personal Loss, a Celebration of the Spirit

Abstract: INDIANAPOLIS - I HAVE climbed onto the George Mason bandwagon, without shame and without apology. For sentimental reasons. This is the time in the college basketball season when the emotion of an exhilarating ride to the Final Four overcomes logic. I have tapped into this roller-coaster ride of emotions more than ever before. Like most basketball fans, I felt there was no way a team like George Mason, playing outside the walls of a major conference, could challenge big-time basketball programs and reach the Final Four. There was no way the George Masons of this country could play for the national championship. I gave in to cynicism. Three weeks ago, under the headline "Cinderella Is a Myth, and David Is a Lie," I said that the notion that the N.C.A.A. men's Division I tournament is wide open "is a myth." "Everyone does not have a chance; in fact, only a few do," I wrote. "Invariably, money and talent determine the national champion. By the Round of Eight, Cinderella teams will have been disposed of, dreams will have been crushed." But perspectives, your very take on life, can change in an instant -- in the exhilaration of triumph, in the depths of a loss, or in the aftermath of a call that turns your life upside down. Last Saturday, I was in Oakland, Calif., watching U.C.L.A. dispatch favored Memphis, when I received a message that my sister was seriously ill. On Sunday, my father, my mother and I sat in a hospital room in Florida, holding vigil over Yaa. My sister, Sue Elizabeth Rhoden (she changed her name after college), was one of the most important forces (if not the most important force) in my life -- indeed, in many lives. Yaa (short for Asaseyaa) introduced me to the first great love of my life: jazz. She insisted that I begin my collection with Coleman Hawkins and turned me on to Miles Davis's "Walkin.' " The first serious albums I carried off to college were hers: Bill Evans's "Undercurrent" and Oliver Nelson's "The Blues and the Abstract Truth." We also had a basketball connection. The first college basketball game I attended was because of Yaa. She was a sophomore at Northwestern at the time. On weekends during the basketball season, I took the "L" from Chicago to see the Wildcats play. I told her after each visit that the experience was disheartening because the stands were never full and the students were reading books during the game. College must really be difficult. Of course, later I learned, and Yaa confirmed, that it wasn't the academics, but the mediocre basketball team, that drove students to read during games. In May 1986 I received an emergency call from Yaa about my father, who had to have surgery in Chicago. I remember the Sunday afternoon in the hospital that the four of us watched the Bulls play Boston in Game 2 of the N.B.A. playoffs. Michael Jordan scored a playoff-record 63 points. We sat there -- my mother, father, sister and me -- flabbergasted by Jordan. My sister wasn't a basketball fan -- she earned a master's degree in city planning and became a television producer and a writer -- but she fully appreciated and loved the dramatic moment. There was something inspiring about Jordan against the Celtics, and against the world. The Bulls lost, but the human spirit won, and I became a big believer in the healing power of sport. My dad steadily improved and celebrated his 88th birthday last September. The family arrived in Florida Sunday morning; we went to the hospital and spent the day in a silent vigil. We updated my younger brother, Girard, by telephone in Germany. The television was on, and we turned our attention to the Connecticut-George Mason game -- the maddest moment of March. As the resident expert, I predicted there was no way George Mason could win: UConn was the closest thing in college basketball to an N.B.A. team. George Mason clawed and scratched, then began to soar. We became captivated as the upset unfolded. I know my sister would have savored the moment, the drama of a supposedly unbeatable team being outscrapped and outhustled, taken to the woodshed by an improbable team from a small conference. As the game gained momentum, I pulled from deep within for the great upset, hoping against hope that a great upending would somehow translate into a miraculous turn of events in real life for my sister, and for my family. The game ended, the good feelings faded, and the four of us -- mother, father, sister, brother -- communed in silence. The next morning, on our way to the hospital, we received the call telling us that Yaa had died peacefully a couple of hours earlier. The George Mason moment was the last time the four of us would be in each other's living presence. That's the moment I'll hold on to, and work backward to gather all the other great moments. Jim Larranaga, the George Mason coach, said something that resonated yesterday afternoon as he talked about what he told his team at the beginning of this tournament. "I told them I'm going to have more fun than any other head coach in the N.C.A.A. tournament, and I want to guys to have more fun than any other team," he said. I don't think George Mason can beat a bigger, deeper Florida team. But I hope it does. I'm on the bandwagon. For sentimental reasons. Sports of The Times E-mail: wcr@nytimes.com

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
SPORTS OF THE TIMES (TIMES COLUMN)
NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
BASKETBALL


Self-Driving Tesla Was Involved in Fatal Crash, U.S. Says

Abstract: DETROIT — The race by automakers and technology firms to develop self-driving cars has been fueled by the belief that computers can operate a vehicle more safely than human drivers. But that view is now in question after the revelation on Thursday that the driver of a Tesla Model S electric sedan was killed in an accident when the car was in self-driving mode. Federal regulators, who are in the early stages of setting guidelines for autonomous vehicles, have opened a formal investigation into the incident, which occurred on May 7 in Williston, Fla. In a statement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said preliminary reports indicated that the crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla, and the car failed to apply the brakes. It is the first known fatal accident involving a vehicle being driven by itself by means of sophisticated computer software, sensors, cameras and radar. The safety agency did not identify the Tesla driver who was killed. But the Florida Highway Patrol identified him as Joshua Brown, 40, of Canton, Ohio. Image A diagram from the police report about the Tesla crash shows how the vehicle in self-driving mode (V02) struck a tractor-trailer (V01) as it was turning left. Credit Florida Highway Patrol He was a Navy veteran who owned a technology consulting firm. In a news release , Tesla on Thursday described him as a man “who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla’s mission.” Mr. Brown posted videos of himself riding in autopilot mode. “The car’s doing it all itself,’’ he said in one, smiling as he took his hands from the steering wheel. In another, he praised the system for saving his car from an accident. The death is a blow to Tesla at a time when the company is pushing to expand its product lineup from expensive electric vehicles to more mainstream models. The company on Thursday declined to say whether the technology or the driver or either were at fault in the accident. In its news release it said, “Neither autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor-trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.” The crash also casts doubt on whether autonomous vehicles in general can consistently make split-second, life-or-death driving decisions on the highway. And other companies are increasing investments in self-driving technology. Google, for example, recently announced plans to adapt 100 Chrysler minivans for autonomous driving. Earlier this year, G.M. acquired the software firm Cruise Automation to accelerate its own self-driving applications. Even as the companies conduct many tests on autonomous vehicles at both private facilities and on public highways, there is skepticism that the technology has progressed far enough for the government to approve cars that totally drive themselves. Video The driver who tested the Tesla Model S with the new autopilot feature was nervous at first, but soon learned to let the computer drive the car. Credit Credit Beck Diefenbach/Reuters The traffic safety agency said it was working with the Florida Highway Patrol in the inquiry into Mr. Brown’s fatal accident. The agency cautioned that the opening of an investigation did not mean it thought there was a defect in the vehicle being examined. The federal traffic safety agency is nearing the release of a new set of guidelines and regulations regarding the testing of self-driving vehicles on public roads. They are expected to be released in July. At a recent technology conference in Novi, Mich., the agency’s leader, Mark Rosekind, said self-driving cars should at least be twice as safe as human drivers to result in a significant reduction in roadway deaths. “We need to start with two times better,’’ Mr. Rosekind said. “We need to set a higher bar if we expect safety to actually be a benefit here.” Karl Brauer, an analyst with the auto research firm Kelley Blue Book, said the accident served as a signal that the technology might not be as advanced and ready for the market as some proponents have suggested. “This is a bit of a wake-up call,” Mr. Brauer said. “People who were maybe too aggressive in taking the position that we’re almost there, this technology is going to be in the market very soon, maybe need to reassess that.” Tesla said in its news release that it had informed the traffic safety agency about the accident “immediately after it occurred.” But the company reported it publicly only on Thursday, after learning that the agency had begun to investigate. Mr. Brown had spent 11 years in the Navy and then founded a technology consulting company, Nexu Innovations, according to a May obituary of Mr. Brown in The Greensburg Tribune Review in Westmoreland County, Pa., where he had formerly lived. Image An excerpt of Joshua Brown’s obituary from The Greensburg Tribune Review in Westmoreland County, Pa., where he had formerly lived. The Nexu Innovations website , describing Mr. Brown as founder and owner, said that in the Navy he had been on active duty as a “master explosive ordnance disposal technician,” including a stint with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, which is commonly known as SEAL Team 6. Ricky Hammer, a retired Navy master chief who worked with Mr. Brown at the development group, said Mr. Brown had strong computer skills and “was the equivalent of an electrical engineer even though he didn’t have the degree.” In Iraq in 2006, he said, Mr. Brown played a crucial role in preparing captured explosive projectiles for shipment to the United States to support efforts to improve the armor on military vehicles. “He did it by being very aggressive,” Mr. Hammer said, noting that Mr. Brown helped to collect the projectiles after raids on bomb-making shops and would X-ray them to determine their contents. In the past, Elon Musk, the Tesla chief executive, has praised the company’s self-driving feature, introduced in the Model S last fall, as “ probably better than a person right now .” But in its statement on Thursday, the company cautioned that it was still only a test feature and noted that its use ‘‘requires explicit acknowledgment that the system is new technology.’’ It noted that when a driver activated the system, an acknowledgment box popped up, explaining that the autopilot mode “is an assist feature that requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times.”