Qaddafi Compound Is Pounded in Day Raid

Abstract: TRIPOLI, Libya — In a sudden, sharp escalation of NATO ’s air campaign over Libya , warplanes dropped more than 80 bombs on targets in Tripoli in an assault that began Tuesday morning and continued into the predawn hours of Wednesday, obliterating large areas of Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi ’s Bab al-Aziziya command compound and what NATO identified as other military targets around the capital. In response, Colonel Qaddafi posted an audio recording on Libyan state television vowing never to surrender or accept defeat. “We welcome death,” he said. “Martyrdom is a million times better.” The unusual daylight raids, the most intense on the Libyan capital since the aerial campaign started more than 11 weeks ago, began in midmorning and continued well past midnight — fulfilling NATO commanders’ recent warnings of an impending rise in the intensity of attacks. What appeared to be bunker-busting bombs laid waste to an area of about two acres in one corner of the compound, destroying six or seven major buildings and leaving a smoking mass of steel and concrete. A Libyan official said Tuesday night that the attacks had killed 31 people and wounded dozens more, many of them security guards and “totally innocent civilians.” That number could not be confirmed. Earlier, officials said that 10 to 15 people lay buried in the ruins of one building alone, though the only casualty seen by Western reporters who were bused to the scene was a man who was pulled from the rubble while they were there, identified by officials as a cleaner. In the absence of any visible rescue operations, the man’s body had been spotted by an American television crew, then laid out beneath a green sheet on a rubble-strewn roadway while an ambulance was summoned. Officials said the extent of the devastation made it impossible for the heavy machinery needed to search for bodies to reach the area. In a city grown accustomed to the NATO raids, the attacks caused a heightened level of alarm, partly because they began so early in the day, when this capital of 2.5 million people was busy with its daily routines. Most of the nearly 4,000 strike sorties flown by NATO since the air war began in March have been carried out deep into the night, partly, NATO officials have said, to minimize the risk of civilian casualties. But Tuesday’s daylight raids emptied much of the city of traffic, with stores in large areas of the city shuttered and the few people out hurrying to complete their business and find shelter. Colonel Qaddafi’s nine-minute audio message was his first public pronouncement in nearly four weeks, when he spoke after an earlier NATO attack on the Tripoli command compound. That message, also delivered in a recorded radio address, struck a defiant posture, telling NATO that he was “in a place where you can’t reach me — in the hearts of my people.” On Tuesday, the words seemed to aim at the morale-boosting tone of Winston Churchill ’s speeches when Britain faced the threat of German invasion in 1940. “The Libyan people right now are living hours of glory of which future generations will be proud,” Colonel Qaddafi said. “Our children and our grandchildren will be proud of us and of our resilience and courage today. We shall defeat the enemy; our fate does not matter.” Addressing NATO, he went on: “You are setting fire to the sea, you are setting fire to the desert, you are chasing a mirage. What do you want? What do you want? Did we cross the sea and attack you? Why this consistent bombing? Are you trying to force us into submission? You will not; we will never submit.” With the repeated bombing of his Tripoli compound, Colonel Qaddafi has become a fugitive in his own capital, so NATO and people in the rebel underground in Tripoli have said, forced to stay constantly on the move. His isolation has been compounded by signs that support for him has ebbed in wide areas of Tripoli, and growing numbers of high-level defections, from the top ranks of the government and the army. On Tuesday, Libya’s labor minister, Al-Amin Manfur, added his name to the growing exodus, declaring at a meeting in Geneva of the International Labor Organization that he was now supporting the rebel government, the National Transitional Council, Agence France-Presse reported. But Western leaders have been cautious, renewing warnings in recent days that it could still take weeks or months to topple the Libyan leader. The warnings have come with vows to intensify the airstrikes and to assist the rebels in breaking a stalemate in eastern Libya. A senior NATO diplomat said on Tuesday that the daytime barrage was consistent with the steady escalation of attacks in and around Tripoli by allied warplanes, missile-firing drones and, more recently, armed helicopters, with the majority of the strikes carried out by British and French aircraft. “It’s a continuing sign that the pressure is increasing all the time,” said the diplomat. “There’s a psychological aspect to the campaign, and we’re sending a clear message: There is only one way out, and that is to go.” The intensified campaign comes in advance of a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, where NATO officials are hoping to get more countries involved in Libya. In Washington, President Obama promised an increase in the punishing NATO effort against the Libyan leader’s government until Colonel Qaddafi left office. “I think it is just a matter of time before Qaddafi goes,” Mr. Obama said. “What you’re seeing across the country is an inexorable trend of the regime forces being pushed back, being incapacitated.” Mr. Obama’s comments, delivered in a news conference with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany , came as Mrs. Merkel joined the growing chorus calling for Colonel Qaddafi to step down. While Germany is not part of the NATO bombing mission, Mrs. Merkel said that her country would try to help once Colonel Qaddafi left. On the evidence seen by Western reporters who went to the Qaddafi command compound on Tuesday, it is unlikely that he or his top political and military associates could still be operating there. Officials led reporters through a landscape of total destruction, pointing to a couple of buildings they said were for administration, one of them a three-story structure where the cleaner’s body was found. Beside it was a building said to have provided emergency power to the compound. A few hundred feet away, more vast rubble piles were all that remained of buildings that the officials said had included a reception center and conference hall, and a V.I.P. guesthouse. Amid the rubble, all was still, the only sound that of water pumping from fractured hydrants and garden hoses.


Second Place Is Enough for a Victory

Abstract: Smiling through her post-race news conference yesterday, Gete Wami of Ethiopia did not look like someone who had spent the entire New York City Marathon within touching distance of first place, only to fall to second in the homestretch. Only 35 days after winning the Berlin Marathon, Wami had in fact picked up the most valuable second-place finish of her career. Her placement was good enough to seal the 2006-7 World Marathon Majors series title and the $500,000 prize that comes with it. Most elite marathoners compete only once in the spring and once in the fall. But the ranking system of the World Marathon Majors series may be changing runners’ incentives. The top five finishers at the races in Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York, and the world championship or Olympic marathons, receive points based on their placement. Runners’ top four scores count toward the final tally. Now, half a million reasons might influence a runner to go against the accepted wisdom of capping a season at two marathons. “Running a second marathon in 35 days and coming in second I feel was quite an achievement for me,” Wami said. “I’m also very happy to have won the Marathon Majors.” Her result in New York was added to her consecutive victories in Berlin and her second-place finish in London in April. Wami said that if she stayed healthy, she would keep up her intense schedule of marathons. But with the Olympic Games coming next summer, Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa, who finished third in the men’s race yesterday, said that running four marathons in a season — three majors and the Olympic race — would be too much of a strain. “If you ran three, maybe four marathons a year, you might only run five years instead of 10,” he said. “Maybe the ladies are just stronger. I don’t know if I could do it myself.” Wami ran just off the shoulder of the eventual winner, Paula Radcliffe of Britain, from the first mile. Wami never fell more than a few seconds behind and briefly took the lead until Radcliffe’s kick in the final mile. Wami finished 23 seconds back in 2 hours 23 minutes 32 seconds. In the end, Wami said, she could still feel the effects of Berlin. “When Paula made her move,” she said, “I found it difficult to catch up to her.” Rodgers Rop of Kenya did not seem to recover as well as he had hoped from the Sept. 30 race in the Berlin Marathon, even though he did not run the full race that day. He ran only 30 kilometers (18.6 miles), as part of his training program, and paced Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia during his world-record run. Rop hung with the lead pack through Brooklyn and was in a five-man breakaway on First Avenue, but he began to run out of steam around the 21-mile mark, falling 15 seconds behind the leaders. He finished 12th, in 2:18:10, nine minutes behind the winner, Martin Lel of Kenya. Ultimately, Rop said, tight muscles slowed him; he maintained that pacing Gebrselassie in Berlin had been the right strategy for his preparation. “I don’t regret it at all,” Rop said. “I had fully recovered and finished all my workouts. I would train again the same way.” Ramaala said he believed that running more marathons than what might be considered healthy, or at least useful, was not a quandary most marathoners had to face. “Gete did well in the first two, and she saw if she ran the third one, she might have a chance of winning,” he said. “But I’m not going to run the third one if I’m lying fifth or something. It’s too much of a gamble.”

Running
New York City Marathon
Wami Gete
Radcliffe Paula


Vikings’ Adrian Peterson Earns Most Valuable Player Award

Abstract: Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s sensational season after major knee surgery has earned him the Associated Press Most Valuable Player award. Peterson was also named the offensive player of the year Saturday. Peterson finished with 2,097 yards, 9 yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson’s rushing record set in 1984. Peterson beat out Peyton Manning, who in his first season as Denver’s quarterback contended for a fifth most valuable player trophy. Peterson received 30 ½ votes from a nationwide panel of 50 news media members who cover the N.F.L. Manning received the other 19 ½ votes. “My career could have easily been over, just like that,” Peterson said. “ The things I’ve been through throughout my lifetime has made me mentally tough.” Manning, who returned from four neck operations to guide the Broncos to the A.F.C.’s best record (13-3), was named the comeback player of the year. Houston end J. J. Watt was named the defensive player of the year. He received 49 of the 50 votes. Bruce Arians became the first interim coach to win coach of the year honors. Arians, now the head coach in Arizona, took charge of the Indianapolis Colts in late September, after Chuck Pagano was told he had leukemia, and led the team to the playoffs. Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III beat out two other first-year quarterbacks, Andrew Luck of the Colts and Russell Wilson of the Seahawks, as the offensive rookie of the year. Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, who led the league with 164 tackles, was named the defensive rookie of the year. SENSITIVITY TRAINING FOR 49ER San Francisco cornerback Chris Culliver will begin sensitivity training and education after the Super Bowl in the wake of his antigay remarks last week, then he will probably start volunteering with at-risk gay youth nationwide. Theodore Palmer, Culliver’s public-relations representative, said Culliver was scheduled to work with The Trevor Project , an organization that provides crisis and suicide intervention to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth.

Football
Minnesota Vikings
Adrian Peterson
AP
Awards


New York Court Lets Banks Sue MBIA Over Revamping

Abstract: UBS, Bank of America and about a dozen other banks won reinstatement of a lawsuit against MBIA challenging the 2009 revamping of its insurance unit that guaranteed bad debt. The state Court of Appeals in Albany, New York’s highest court, announced its decision Tuesday, overturning a lower court ruling. A state appellate court in January dismissed the suit by the banks, which claimed the bond insurer’s overhaul had been intended to defraud policyholders. The banks claim the revamping was a “fraudulent conveyance” that left MBIA undercapitalized and possibly unable to pay future claims. The Court of Appeals decision, in a 5-to-2 vote, turned on whether approval of the split by the state insurance superintendent had precluded the bank policyholders’ claims. “We hold that the superintendent’s approval of such restructuring pursuant to its authority under the Insurance Law does not bar the policyholders from bringing these claims,” Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick wrote for the majority. The decision restored the banks’ claims of fraudulent conveyance, breach of contract and abuse of the corporate form. The court agreed with the lower court that a claim for unjust enrichment should be dismissed. The banks said in court filings that the split had transferred $5 billion in cash and securities out of MBIA’s primary operating unit, the MBIA Insurance Corporation, to another entity, now known as the National Public Finance Guarantee Corporation. The insurer argued that the restructuring had been done to help unfreeze the public finance markets during the financial crisis and had been approved by state regulators after an extensive review that found MBIA Insurance would remain solvent and have sufficient resources to meet claims, according to a brief filed in April with the Albany court.

Suits and Litigation
MBIA Inc
Banking and Financial Institutions
Insurance
Frauds and Swindling


Greater Wax Moth Has World’s Most Extreme Hearing

Abstract: Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t want the greater wax moth to hear. Researchers from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, reported that the moth has the world’s most extreme hearing. The researchers determined that the moth, which is brown and feeds on honeycomb, is capable of sensing sound frequencies of up to 300 kilohertz. Humans can hear sounds up to 20 kilohertz. The figure drops to about 15 kilohertz in adults. Dolphins, known for their keen sense of hearing, can’t hear above about 160 kilohertz. Like most things in nature, there’s a reason the greater wax moth’s hearing is so sensitive. “The moth’s hearing has evolved because of predation,” said Hannah M. Moir , one of the researchers involved in the study, which was published in the journal Biology Letters . Bats use high-frequency echolocation calls to find the moths and other insects and to prey on them. But it appears that the moths can hear at frequencies that bats may not. “It’s a bit of a question as to why the moths actually need to hear that high,” Dr. Moir said. She added that recording at high-frequency ultrasound is a challenge, so it may be that the bats are capable of emitting calls as high as the moths can hear. Dr. Moir and her colleagues used a custom-built ultrasonic transducer that emitted high frequencies and then measured the moths’ neural responses with electrodes. Studying the structure and functionality of the greater wax moth’s ear could help researchers build miniature microphones, Dr. Moir said.

Butterflies and Moths
Hearing
Research
Biology Letters Journal


3 Senate Democrats End Holdout in Return for Power Sharing

Abstract: ALBANY — Three dissident Democrats agreed on Thursday to join with their colleagues in the State Senate to make Malcolm A. Smith the chamber’s first Democratic leader in more than 40 years, capping weeks of high-stakes wrangling with a deal that requires Mr. Smith to turn over considerable power to the three men. The handshake deal was negotiated during a three-hour meeting on Thursday afternoon at the University Club in Midtown Manhattan, involving Mr. Smith, of Queens, Gov. David A. Paterson and the three Democrats: Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr. and Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. of the Bronx, along with Senator Carl Kruger of Brooklyn. Several people involved with the negotiations said that, under the agreement, Democrats would separate the jobs of Senate president pro tempore and Senate majority leader, which have traditionally been held by the same person. Mr. Smith would be elected president pro tempore, a constitutional office that makes him the chamber’s leader. Mr. Espada would be elected to what would be the subordinate post of majority leader and appointed vice chairman of the Rules Committee, which must approve all legislation that goes through the Senate. The agreement makes Mr. Espada arguably the most influential Hispanic elected official in New York. Mr. Espada called the agreement “one step in the right direction” toward empowering Hispanics in state politics. Any arrangement must be formally approved by a vote of the full Senate when it reconvenes in January. Mr. Kruger would most likely become chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, with a bigger staff and more autonomy than past committee leaders have had, along with significant sway over budget negotiations and power to approve nominees to top executive branch posts. Mr. Díaz is slated to become chairman of the Senate committee on aging. More important, said people involved in the negotiations, Mr. Díaz is now confident that there will be no vote in the Senate next year on legislation to legalize gay marriage, something which most Senate Democrats support but which Mr. Diaz strongly opposes. Word of the potential retreat on a same-sex marriage legislation disappointed some backers of equal treatment for gay people. “All civil rights movements have moments where they move forward, and moments of perceived setbacks,” said Assemblyman Daniel J. O’Donnell of Manhattan. “If in fact our civil rights were bargained away, that’s deplorable. But in the end, I think justice and fairness will prevail.” The agreement ends weeks of uncertainty following the November elections, which left the Democrats with 32 of the Senate’s 62 seats. Mr. Díaz, Mr. Kruger and Mr. Espada played political chicken, holding out the possibility of their support to both Republicans and Democrats in the chamber. The effort to unite the Democrats was seen as a major test of Mr. Smith’s leadership and political skills. Although Mr. Smith succeeded in bringing the party together, he did so at significant expense, essentially inviting Mr. Espada to assist him in running the Senate. In a statement, Hank Sheinkopf, a spokesman for Mr. Smith, declined to give details of the deal. “The meeting held today resolved rules changes proposed by Senator Smith which will result in Senate reform and the election of Malcolm Smith as leader,” Mr. Sheinkopf said. The deal is a particular triumph for Mr. Espada and Mr. Kruger, who went from being pariahs in their own party to being two of its leading members. By elevating Mr. Espada to a senior job, Senate Democrats may also ease pressure on Mr. Paterson to pick a Hispanic to fill the United States Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton. The deal also eliminates a major obstacle to Mr. Paterson’s agenda: Republican Senator Dean G. Skelos, the current majority leader. “I pledge my full cooperation for an orderly transition,” Mr. Skelos said in a statement. Some Democrats worry that Mr. Espada, whose political career includes a previous term as state senator, will be magnet for prosecutors. In 2005, three employees of a nonprofit health care company run by Mr. Espada pleaded guilty to diverting $30,000 from programs for family care and AIDS treatment to Mr. Espada’s unsuccessful 2001 campaign for Bronx borough president. He was never charged in the case and has described the prosecution as politically motivated. Even now, weeks after Election Day and his successful run for the Senate, Mr. Espada has yet to register a Senate campaign committee with the State Board of Elections or file the required campaign finance disclosures. He has registered a political action committee, but such committees are not allowed to make direct expenditures toward the election or defeat of a candidate. In recent weeks, a State Supreme Court judge has fined Mr. Espada more than $1,000 for failing to file finance reports, and he could face another $2,000 in fines. In an interview, Mr. Espada described the problem as a clerical error and said the papers would be filed this month. He also said he was not worried about drawing scrutiny from law enforcement officials. “Those things have been unfortunately omnipresent in my life for 12 years,” Mr. Espada said. “I’m the most investigated, the most vetted person around.” The leadership agreement also includes plans to significantly overhaul the way the Senate does business, a step Mr. Smith had advocated on the campaign trail this year but which the three Democrats had insisted on including in any leadership deal. There will be more parity between Republicans and Democrats in the chamber regarding offices, staff levels and Senate mail privileges, officials said. Republicans and Democrats will sit in alphabetical order, not grouped by party, they said. Mr. Kruger called it “a historic agreement that will change the way the New York State Senate has been run for the better part of 200 years.”

Smith Malcolm A
Espada Pedro Jr
Diaz Ruben Sr
Kruger Carl
Politics and Government
Democratic Party
Paterson David A
New York State


Errant Fielding Undermines Yankees in Loss to Red Sox

Abstract: The play could not have been more routine. Shortstop Didi Gregorius gathered a ground ball and, with plenty of time, made an accurate, knee-high throw to first base, where Alex Rodriguez turned his glove over as he stretched. Then he dropped the ball. The Yankee Stadium crowd groaned. But the play, which occurred in the second inning of the Yankees’ 8-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox, was representative of their problems early in the season. The Yankees have lost four of their first five games this season, and their fielding — extolled as a virtue in spring training — has repeatedly let them down. They committed three errors, pushing their total to eight, the most in the majors as of Saturday afternoon. Rodriguez, playing his first major league game at first base, was involved in two of the miscues; he also could not keep his foot on the bag when stretching for an errant throw by Chase Headley in the eighth, which opened the door to three unearned runs. But other Yankees had problems in the field as well. John Ryan Murphy threw a ball into center field on an attempted steal and had a passed ball. Outfielders Brett Gardner and Garrett Jones had extra-base hits tick off their gloves. “I still believe that defense is going to be a strength of ours,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “We just haven’t shown it yet.” The Yankees have been fundamentally deficient in many areas. They have had three runners picked off base, and Gregorius was thrown out trying to steal third on opening day with the Yankees trailing by five runs. On Saturday, Mike Napoli caught the Yankees napping on a delayed steal, Xander Bogaerts beat a throw home on a bouncer to Headley, and Gregorius chose not to throw home when he might have had a play on Boston catcher Ryan Hanigan. Image Chris Young cut the Yankees' deficit to 8-4 with a three-run homer in the eighth inning. Credit Anthony Gruppuso/USA Today Sports, via Reuters “I still believe that we’re going to be a very good defensive team and a very good base-running team,” outfielder Chris Young said. “Both of those areas have been a rough first few days, for sure. There’s no denying that. We have to do better collectively, but we definitely have the guys who are capable of doing that.” Young’s three-run homer in the eighth put a cosmetic touch on the final score, but the Yankees were otherwise shut down by the Boston right-hander Joe Kelly, who has won all three starts against them since he was acquired from St. Louis last season. The only hit Kelly allowed in seven innings was a second-inning single by Rodriguez. Rodriguez, who turns 40 in July and is returning from a one-year suspension, might have been awarded Saturday off, but Friday night’s game — a 6-5, 19-inning loss to the Red Sox — dragged on for seven hours. Mark Teixeira played the entire game, so Rodriguez, the Yankees’ regular designated hitter, was tapped to fill in for him. Rodriguez had never played first and appeared reluctant to do so at the start of training camp, taking a while to use his new first baseman’s glove. But in two spring training games, Rodriguez looked mostly comfortable at first, though he was adjusting to the intricacies of the position — such as which balls he should leave for the second baseman. He did not look so at ease Saturday, especially with such a heavy workload. He had 16 putouts in addition to his error and Headley’s. “Not that I needed any more evidence to tell you how great Mark Teixeira is and has been for years, but I had so much action my head is spinning,” Rodriguez said. The ball he dropped, which led to an unearned run, was a play Rodriguez said he should make 10 times out of 10. After that, he began to use both hands to catch, a sign that he was not comfortable. He pledged to spend more time working at the position. “You have to know your infielders, just like a catcher knows his 12 pitchers,” Rodriguez said. “Every guy has a different arm strength, a different touch — the ball moves differently, and that’s going to have to be my job early, to realize the patterns for each guy.”

Baseball
Alex Rodriguez
Chris Young
Red Sox
Yankees


Report Says Immigration Agents Broke Laws and Agency Rules in Home Raids

Abstract: Armed federal immigration agents have illegally pushed and shoved their way into homes in New York and New Jersey in hundreds of predawn raids that violated their own agency rules as well as the Constitution, according to a study to be released on Wednesday by the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The study by the school’s Immigration Justice Law Clinic, backed by several law enforcement experts including Nassau County’s police commissioner, found a widespread pattern of misconduct by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement after analyzing 700 arrest reports obtained from the agency through Freedom of Information lawsuits. The raids were supposed to focus on dangerous criminals, but overwhelmingly netted Latinos with civil immigration violations who happened to be present, the study said. Raiders mistakenly held legal residents and citizens by force in their own homes while agents rummaged through drawers seeking incriminating documents, the report said. Acting without judicial search warrants, the agents were required to obtain informed consent from a resident before they entered a private residence. But the study found that in 86 percent of the Nassau and Suffolk County arrest reports that it analyzed, and a quarter of the New Jersey cases, no consent was recorded. “If any local law enforcement agency in the nation were involved in these types of widespread constitutional violations it would prompt a federal investigation,” said Lawrence W. Mulvey, the Nassau police commissioner, who led a panel that guided the Cardozo report. “Federal immigration agents simply need to play by the same rules as every other law enforcement officer.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded with a brief e-mail statement defending the conduct of its agents and the home raids — the same kind of response it has made to similar criticism since the Bush administration vastly expanded their use in 2006. In 2007, Mr. Mulvey sharply criticized raids that brought scores of agents from around the country to Long Island, some brandishing shotguns, and rousted many citizens and legal residents from their beds in what Nassau officials called a poorly planned antigang operation . The report said a similar “cowboy mentality” emerged in many other raids. In Paterson, N.J., last year, legal residents from Guatemala and their 9-year-old son, a United States citizen, were threatened with guns by immigration agents who had entered their home while the boy’s mother was in the shower. In a Staten Island case, an immigration judge recently ruled that the conduct of agents acting without a warrant was an “egregious violation” of fundamental fairness; they had entered a man’s bedroom armed with pistols, “forced him into the hall and required him to stand in his underwear before his brother, sister-in-law and their children.” In an e-mail message obtained under a Freedom of Information request, a federal immigration agent in Connecticut invited a state trooper to join a scheduled set of raids in New Haven, writing: “We have 18 addresses — so it should be a fun time! Let me know if you guys can play!” The report also found a strong suggestion of racial profiling in the difference between the ethnicity of the named targets — 66 percent Latino — and of the “collateral” arrests — 87 percent Latino in New Jersey and 94 percent on Long Island. Such concerns have surfaced repeatedly around the country in news articles and lawsuits since 2006, when the Bush administration raised the arrest quota of each raiding team eightfold, to 1,000 a year. Six months into the Obama administration, with the same spokesmen in place from the Bush years, Immigration and Customs Enforcement responded to the Cardozo report with a general defense of its agents. "The men and women of I.C.E. are sworn to uphold the laws of our nation,” the agency said in an e-mailed statement. “We do so professionally, humanely and with an acute awareness with the impact enforcement has on the individuals we encounter. While I.C.E. prioritizes our efforts by targeting fugitives who have demonstrated a threat to national security or public safety, we have a clear mandate to pursue all immigration fugitives." The Cardozo report said that Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, had changed some policies that contributed to the abuses it found, like eliminating the arrest quota. But the report recommended more drastic steps. Home raids should be “a tactic of last resort, reserved for high-priority targets,” and then only after agents have obtained judicial warrants, the report urged. A high-level supervisor should be on site, and home raids should be videotaped, it recommended. Agents should have to note why they initially seized and questioned any person, the study said. “That’s the bread and butter of any arrest report,” said Peter L. Markowitz, who teaches at Cardozo and is one of the report’s authors. Such a note was missing from two-thirds of the arrest reports analyzed in the study.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US)


Small-Business Owners Gained Confidence in April

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Small-business owners in the United States gained confidence in April and were surprisingly bullish about capital expenditure plans, further supporting views that economic growth is rebounding after a dismal first quarter. The Labor Department also reported on Tuesday that job openings fell in March. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday that its Small Business Optimism Index rose 1.7 points to 96.9 last month. It was the largest gain since December. Small businesses historically have accounted for half of private gross domestic product. The economy is clawing back after being hit by a mix of bad weather, disruptions at ports, a strong dollar and deep spending cuts by energy companies. Data on employment and consumer sentiment have suggested a pickup in growth momentum at the start of the second quarter, but the dollar and lower oil prices continue to weigh on manufacturing. Nine of the 10 components of the federation’s index rose last month, with the exception of sales. “In spite of the dramatic reversal of economic activity in the energy sector, owners in the shale states remained substantially more aggressive than their counterparts in the other states,” the group said in a statement. Overall business investment has sagged. Energy companies cut capital expenditure budgets and laid off thousands of workers as lower energy prices undermined exploration and drilling activity. The federation’s survey of 1,500 companies found that 60 percent reported capital outlays, a postrecession high. Of those making expenditures, 44 percent said they had bought new equipment, up four percentage points. About 26 percent of owners planned capital outlays in the next three to six months, up two percentage points. This bolsters views that the bulk of the energy spending cuts were front-loaded into the first quarter and hopes that capital spending outside the energy sector will spring back. The government initially estimated that the economy grew at a rate of 0.2 percent in the first quarter. Data on trade and wholesale inventories, however, suggest the economy contracted in the first three months of the year. The federation’s survey also found an increase in the number of owners saying that stocks of goods were too low and that they had plans to increase inventory investment. This could be positive for growth in the second quarter after businesses amassed huge stocks at the start of the year, which was seen as at least partly unintended. Owners were downbeat on sales, but surprisingly optimistic about earnings. The survey’s labor market indicators showed further signs that the job market was tightening; there was an increase in the share of owners saying they could not find qualified workers for open job positions. The Labor Department report said job openings in March slipped 150,000 to five million, in line with weak payroll growth that month. Openings were up 18.6 percent from a year ago, however, and the overall trend painted a solid employment picture. There was an increase in the number of people voluntarily quitting their jobs, a sign of confidence in the labor market. "Confidence in the labor market has obviously returned,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York. “People are quitting their jobs because they have options and opportunities."


Texas: Former Lawmaker Dies in Fire

Abstract: A former Texas legislator died when his house in San Antonio went up in flames after a holiday celebration that officials said included a large candle display. The man, Frank Madla, 69, a former Democratic state senator, and his mother-in-law, Mary Cruz, died in the blaze, a family spokeswoman, Toni Barcellona, said. Mr. Madla served 20 years in the Texas House and another 13 in the Senate. He represented the state’s largest Senate district, which stretches from El Paso to San Antonio. The fire appears be accidental, but investigators have not determined if the candles caused it, Assistant Fire Chief Randy Jenkins said.

Fires and Firefighters
San Antonio (Tex)


How Bermuda Landed the America's Cup

Abstract: ST. GEORGE'S, Bermuda — Fish sandwich in hand, Lorne Bean, a pastor with a mellifluous voice and a maritime past, talked last week about what the America’s Cup might mean to his tiny, isolated country in the North Atlantic Ocean. “It’s a perfect fit for our history, and it’s a great opportunity for us in the present and the future,” Bean said. It remains uncertain just what the Cup, sailing’s most prestigious event, will do for Bean and his compatriots, but what is as crystal clear as the waters of Bermuda’s Great Sound is that this is a most unexpected opportunity. Organizing a yacht race here seems an obvious enough idea: water views are inescapable — and routinely stunning — on this archipelago shaped rather like a fish hook. The Newport Bermuda Race already arrives every two years. But staging the 2017 America’s Cup was much more of a stretch considering that Oracle Team USA, the syndicate that holds the trophy, is American, and that Bermuda, despite accepting American dollars in its shops and restaurants, is a British overseas territory with a population of only about 65,000 and was bidding against major American cities like San Diego and Chicago. When Russell Coutts, the former star helmsman for Oracle who is now head of the America’s Cup event authority, first suggested that Bermuda bid for the Cup, local leaders said they were incredulous. “It was, ‘You’ve been hit in the head by the boom too many times. What are you talking about, man?”’ said Peter Durhager, now chairman of the America’s Cup Bermuda Development Authority, the ACBDA. At that stage, the Bermudians were only aspiring to hold a warm-up event, like the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series regatta it will stage here on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But urged on by Coutts and by their research, they were soon in the hunt for the main event. “We actually thought we were the stalking horse, that we were there to encourage the U.S. cities to be serious,” said Michael Winfield, ACBDA’s chief executive. “When they actually wrote to us confirming that we had won, we actually had the lawyers check the letter because we couldn’t find the loophole. It took the lawyers two days to go through a two-paragraph letter and say in fact that there was no loophole. You’ve got it.” If sailing were a major sport in the United States instead of a niche diversion, the decision by Coutts and Oracle’s billionaire owner, Larry Ellison, to take the regatta outside the country might have caused a nationalistic uproar. Instead, the surprise move reverberated mainly inside yachting circles. Malin Burnham, the American businessman who led San Diego’s unsuccessful bid, was outraged. “It’s confidential, so I can’t relate the party’s name,” Burnham said. “But one of the America’s Cup backers who was a nationally known figure wrote Russell a note, and among other things this party said was that this was the first time the America’s Cup had been prostituted.” Asked if he thought “prostituted” was too strong a term, Burnham answered: “Not at all.” The America’s Cup is the oldest major international sporting event. Since it began in 1851, only one team had chosen to defend the trophy outside its home waters. That was the Swiss syndicate Alinghi, which chose Valencia, Spain, in 2007 but only because Switzerland is a landlocked Alpine nation with no seacoast. Oracle’s choice was different and entirely optional. “I think there was in all honesty some complacency with the U.S. venues,” Coutts, a New Zealander, said in an interview last week in Hamilton, Bermuda’s capital. “They never thought, frankly, we would have the guts to take it outside the United States, and we just looked at it logically. And I’m absolutely convinced it’s the right decision.” Though the choice has its potential negatives, including the ocean that separates Bermuda from any major population center, one can understand the mutual attraction. For Bermuda, which has had to muddle through uncharacteristically lean times in recent years, this is a chance to stimulate its economy, inspire its populace, raise its global profile and boost high-end tourism, including the affluent super-yacht community if new facilities prove an effective magnet after the Cup. Image “My interest in doing this is it’s one part about a sailboat race and nine parts about other stuff,” Durhager said. For Coutts and Oracle, this is a chance to come to a venue where the Cup and its challenger series will be the main attraction instead of the sideshow it was in booming San Francisco in 2013. “The people here are just so into it; it’s like going to Augusta where it’s all about the golf,” said Jimmy Spithill, Oracle’s skipper. The government and business community in Bermuda is also easier to navigate than in San Francisco with its difficult political climate for waterfront initiatives. Bermuda is in the process of building an America’s Cup event village on about 10 acres of reclaimed land in the harbor at the Royal Naval Dockyard, although there has been some concern expressed about the project by local environment advocates. Though crowds are expected to be much smaller than in San Francisco, the time zone is advantageous for television: one hour ahead of New York and five behind Paris and much of Continental Europe (with challengers from Britain and France, European prime time is particularly important). An American venue like Newport, R.I., could have provided some time-zone benefit, but the American venues were not offering the same incentives as Bermuda, which agreed to pay $15 million as the cost of entry over a three-year period as well as underwrite a $25 million guarantee against commercial sponsorship. “We get a certain percentage of anything Bermuda introduces so there’s a way to claw back that guarantee, and that’s been happening already,” said Grant Gibbons, Bermuda’s minister of economic development. Gibbons estimated Bermuda’s capital and operational expenditures at $35 million to $40 million. Though some in the Cup community maintain that Bermuda overpaid, Durhager disagrees and said initial projections in 2014 were that “we were going to spend roughly $75 million and we’re going to earn somewhere around $250 million on a direct impact basis.” “Everyone has to keep their own counsel,” he said. “What is another event worth in a city the size of San Diego, where you have professional sports teams and major conference business with millions of people a year going through your city? What’s that worth compared to a country that is 22 square miles? It’s very different, so one is an apple and one is a pomegranate, not even an orange. So you can’t compare the two.” “If I look through their lens, why would we in Bermuda spend this kind of money to attract this kind of event?,” he said. “Fair enough. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for us.” It is also fair to say that the America’s Cup just might be the only significant global sporting event that Bermuda could attract in light of its location and demographics. Bean, the pastor in St. George’s who was once in the British Merchant Navy and knows his port from his starboard, embodies the acute local interest but also understands the common people’s expectations. “How it will trickle down is important,” he said of the Cup’s benefits. Coutts has been instrumental in creating a youth sailing program with a technological and environmental component for Bermudian schoolchildren. The steadily growing Cup community is renting houses and apartments, buying cars and groceries. The consensus for now is that Bermuda is a pleasant place to count down the days and nights to 2017 as well as a remarkable place to sail with its varying conditions and the natural amphitheater of the Great Sound that should provide enough runway for the high-speed, foiling catamarans that will contest the World Series this week and eventually the Cup. “This is the best sailing I’ve ever done,” said Tom Slingsby, Oracle’s well-traveled tactician. “You get the full wind range here, beautiful scenery and clear water. I saw a manta ray jumping in the air yesterday. Turtles, fish everywhere. It’s great out there.” In light of an American team’s unprecedented decision to defend the Cup outside of the United States of America, that seems a necessity.


From Rory McIlroy, an Apology and a Lesson Learned

Abstract: DORAL, Fla. — The public apology thinly veiled as a news conference opened Wednesday as the moderator turned to Rory McIlroy and said, “Just go straight into the heart of the matter here.” Pause. “How disappointed were you with Manchester United’s score yesterday?” McIlroy, an unabashed United fan, said, “It was not a red card, I’ll tell you that much.” He was referring to Tuesday’s ejection of the United star Nani in the 56th minute of the team’s 2-1 loss to Real Madrid in a Champions League elimination match. After the laughter subsided, McIlroy, the world’s No. 1 golfer, said he was giving himself a red card for the bruises to his reputation and the game’s honor resulting from his abrupt withdrawal during the second round of last week’s Honda Classic, one of four PGA Tour events he won last year en route to earning player of the year honors. “Obviously had a lot of time to think about it,” McIlroy said. “I realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t the right thing to do. No matter how bad I was playing, I should have stayed out there.” McIlroy, 23, was seven over par after eight holes and looking at another potential bogey or worse after his second shot on the par-5 18th landed in the water. He withdrew without finishing his ninth hole. An hour later, he released a statement saying a sore wisdom tooth had made it impossible for him to continue. Tour policy prohibits not finishing a round unless a player has an injury that requires medical attention or a personal emergency. There was no emergency; McIlroy smoothly rebutted reports of a rocky patch in his relationship with the tennis player Caroline Wozniacki. The tooth, McIlroy said, has been bothering him for a while, so much so that he plans to have it extracted the next time he is home in Northern Ireland. “But it wasn’t bothering me enough to, probably, you know, quit,” McIlroy said, adding, “It was a mistake, and everyone makes mistakes, and I’m learning from them.” For all the privileges that McIlroy enjoys as a sports celebrity — the private jets, the Palm Beach County mansion, the famous friends — he said he pays a small price. “Most of my mistakes are in the public eye,” he said without a trace of self-pity. How did the wisdom tooth incident make him, well, wiser? McIlroy said: “I learned that when the going gets tough, I’ve got to stick in there a bit more and I’ve got to grind it out. There’s no excuse for quitting, and it doesn’t set a good example for the kids watching me, trying to emulate what I do. It wasn’t good for a whole lot of reasons, for the tournament, the people coming out watching me. I feel like I let a lot of people down with what I did last week and, you know, for that I am very sorry.” The midround meltdown was the first real pockmark in McIlroy’s image, which has showed few imperfections during his swift rise to No. 1. His ease in the spotlight has made him an attractive global ambassador for a number of companies, most notably Nike, which signed him to a multimillion dollar clothing and equipment deal in January. Clearly, McIlroy’s success was not as effortless as he made it look, taking him far outside his comfort zone as he tried to build upon it, or, as he said, “just keep backing up” his 2012 results, which included his second major tournament title. Compounding McIlroy’s unease were some bad habits that crept into the takeaway on his swing over the winter and that have been hard for him to fix. The expectations he put on himself, and not his equipment, exacerbated the faults in his swing, he said. “It’s about me on the golf course and the expectations and the pressure that I put myself under,” McIlroy said. His withdrawal, while sudden, was a long time coming. McIlroy described it as “a buildup of high expectations from myself coming off the back of such a great year last year, and wanting to continue that form into this year and not being able to do it.” He added, “I just sort of let it all get to me.” McIlroy described what happened last Friday as “a blessing in disguise.” “It was like it just sort of released a valve,” he said, “and all that sort of pressure that I’ve been putting on myself just went away. And I was like: ‘Just go out and have fun. It’s not life or death out there. It’s only a game.’ I had sort of forgotten that this year.” The typically windy conditions notwithstanding, this week’s World Golf Championships event at Doral Resort and Spa’s Blue Monster is a good place for McIlroy to regain his equanimity. There is no cut in the 65-player field, so McIlroy is assured of four rounds over the next four days, which is half a round more than he has experienced in stroke-play competition in the season’s first nine weeks. He said he spent about 10 hours a day over the weekend working on his swing with his longtime coach, Michael Bannon. “You just have to get to the root of the problem,” McIlroy said. “No pun intended.” He laughed. “I know if I can get my takeaway fixed, the rest of the swing will follow.” Last year, the women’s world No. 1, Yani Tseng, sought McIlroy’s advice on dealing with expectations. Now is the time, it seems, for McIlroy to learn from Tseng, who has said she tries to ease whatever stress she is feeling by smiling her way around the course. “I’ve got four rounds, thankfully,” McIlroy said, “and I’m just going to go out there and have a good time.”


Times to Expand Texas Report

Abstract: The New York Times announced Monday that it had entered into another local news collaboration, this one with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news organization. The Tribune will contribute Texas news, political coverage, opinion and arts and entertainment coverage to run on Fridays and Sundays in expanded front sections of The Times distributed throughout the state. The project, which will begin on Oct. 29, will be overseen by Evan Smith, the chief executive and editor in chief of The Tribune. The report will be named Texas. It will also have an online element, which will include news from The Tribune along with regional content and news feeds from The Times. The Texas print report will be supported by local advertising. The expanded Texas report is the third in a series of local news initiatives at The Times; the others are partnerships in Chicago and in San Francisco.

New York Times
Texas Tribune
News and News Media
Newspapers
Texas


Clinton T-Shirts Are Off, Obama’s On

Abstract: Isaac Baker, who was Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton ’s communications director in Ohio , has stashed away the Hillary T-shirts and the campaign’s taunting “Meet Me in Ohio” sign. Mr. Baker did end up meeting Senator Barack Obama in the Buckeye State as the sign urged, but not in quite the way he expected. This time it is as part of the Obama campaign. “The mementos stay at home,” said Mr. Baker, now the Ohio communications director for Mr. Obama. “I am on board with Senator Obama’s campaign, and I am proud to be working here.” Two months after Mrs. Clinton suspended her campaign, a small group of staff members have moved over to that of their one-time rival, Mr. Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee. In making the move, many have had to place both their physical (Hillary buttons) and emotional (more complicated) keepsakes in storage to pursue a larger goal of electing a Democratic president. The shift from one campaign to another began almost as soon as Mrs. Clinton conceded the nomination on June 7 and freed her supporters and staff members not only to support Mr. Obama but to join the opposing team. So far, about 20 people have made the transition, the best known of whom is Patti Solis Doyle, a former Clinton campaign manager, who has been given the task of leading and organizing the staff for the vice-presidential nominee, whoever that might be. More are likely to make the shift, as the Obama campaign is still filling positions, though there are fewer than 90 days left in the campaign. Some people, like Mr. Baker, took the move in stride. “It’s never easy to lose, especially when you poured so much of your time and effort into a campaign like that,” Mr. Baker said, speaking from his office in the Obama campaign’s state headquarters in Columbus, a big bullpen of a room in a converted basement gymnasium. “But once we had a nominee, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to go work for Barack Obama, because the issues at stake in this election are too big.” Half a dozen of those who made the shift are in high-level positions in Chicago; most of the rest are working in the states as field, communications, political and advance staff members. Some were ready right away to make the move. Others have still not recovered from their investment in a ferocious campaign that went through the final primaries and was competitive every step of the way. “After such a hard-fought and tortuous contest, it’s only natural for hard feelings to linger for some,” said Philippe Reines, a fierce Clinton loyalist who has worked for her since 2002. He remains a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton but has had discussions with fellow campaign staff members about their moving to Mr. Obama’s campaign. “Maybe some of her primary opponents only slightly irked you, maybe you really couldn’t stand others. There’s a lot in between, and over time it dissipates.” “So people now fall into two groups,” Mr. Reines added. “One says, ‘I could never work for anyone else,’ and the other says, ‘I’d like to work for him, but is it O.K.?’ ” In an interview, Ms. Solis Doyle, who was a close confidante of Mrs. Clinton, said she cried watching Mrs. Clinton’s televised concession. But Ms. Solis Doyle, who is working at the Obama campaign headquarters in her hometown, Chicago, with many longtime political allies, said she was comfortable with the move. “I don’t feel disloyalty to Hillary by doing this,” she said in a telephone interview. “The best way to fight for what Hillary wants and what I want for my children is to work tirelessly for Barack Obama.” She added: “That Saturday of her concession speech was the toughest, but that next day I said to my daughter, ‘Hillary gave it her best shot, she worked really hard, and now we need to support Barack Obama.’ And now she believes, because Hillary didn’t win, that she could be the first woman president, which I think is great.” Others, though, said there have been jitters and even embarrassment over the switch. “It’s weird for me, personally, to tell people that I’m crossing over,” said one Clinton staff member, who requested anonymity to speak more candidly, “that I’m going over to the enemy, because that’s what it feels like.” She said she also worried that the move might come back to haunt her professionally. “There’s some sense of, am I burning bridges by going over to Obama?” said the staff member, who did advance work for the campaign. “Because who knows how they really feel about this, but outwardly, they’re encouraging everyone to go to Obama.” It has not helped that there is lingering resentment between the campaigns from the drawn-out contest. There are concerns about Mrs. Clinton’s future role, that she has most likely been discounted as a vice-presidential choice and that Mr. Obama has not done enough to help relieve her $12 million campaign debt. “Especially if you’re young, this is your first presidential, and you’re reading stories about supposed lists and the godfather rigmarole about the price of disloyalty in this business, you’re going to wonder if that will affect you,” Mr. Reines said. “And my answer is always, ‘Of course it’s O.K. to work for him. It’s more than O.K. She wants him to win and wants everyone to help.’ ” Some staff members see a stark dividing line between the primaries and the general election that helps them distinguish between their old and new jobs. Jonathan Swain, who was Mrs. Clinton’s communications director in Indiana and is now doing the same job for the Obama campaign, said that “especially during the primary here, it was about making the case for her as a candidate. It was never, in my mind, about being against Barack Obama.” After the primaries were over, the Obama campaign contacted people in Indiana politics looking for suggestions to fill the state’s communications post, and Mr. Swain’s name came up. When they called him on his cellphone less than two weeks later, he was back in Washington at his old job as Senator Evan Bayh’s press secretary. He remembers telling them that if they went back and looked at everything he had said, they would not find anything negative about Mr. Obama that could hurt him down the road. The Obama campaign has treaded carefully in reaching out to Mrs. Clinton’s staff — not just to pick those they think can be most helpful to their campaign but also to address the delicacy of the situation. “We are reaching out and signing up new Clinton supporters and volunteers every day, and we welcome all of them who are looking to join in the future,” Nick Shapiro, an Obama spokesman, said in an e-mail statement. Personal relationships between the two campaigns, which often existed, helped ease the transition. Neera Tanden, the policy director for the Clinton campaign who is now handling domestic policy for Mr. Obama, said she had received a call from David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist, the day after Mrs. Clinton ended her bid. He told her that Mrs. Clinton’s speech had been magnificent, and then the two, who have been friends since 1999, spent some time catching up on each other’s families. After her initial talks with the campaign, she spoke directly with Mrs. Clinton, who, she said, “definitely encouraged me to take the job.” Sarah Hurwitz, Mrs. Clinton’s chief speechwriter, said she had received an e-mail message from Mr. Obama’s head speechwriter two hours after Mrs. Clinton’s concession, complimenting her on a good speech and adding, “I’m going to call you.” “It was clear he wanted to get the ball rolling as soon as possible, but he also knew he should give me a few days,” she said. When he called her three days later, it was to ask if she would consider joining his writing shop. She is now a senior speechwriter for the Obama campaign. “Senator Obama called me himself just to welcome me,” she said. The former Clinton staff members are starting to observe the differences between the two campaigns. Mr. Swain noticed Mr. Obama’s “very extensive and very strong field operation” — an organization he had to compete against in the primaries. And, said Dana Singiser, who was director of women’s outreach for the Clinton campaign and arrived in Chicago on July 14 to serve as senior adviser to Mr. Obama, laughing, “His offices here in Chicago are a lot nicer than ours were in Ballston, Va.” They are also starting to see changes in themselves. The former Clinton staff member who was worried about telling her friends and co-workers that she had jumped to the Obama campaign received an e-mail message from a fellow Clinton campaigner early last month. The note, she said, read in part, “This is the first day that I can actually say, truly, I want Barack Obama to win, without my fingers crossed.” “It’s a gradual process,” she said. “We’re all Democrats at heart.”

Presidential Election of 2008
Obama Barack
Clinton Hillary Rodham
Ohio
Democratic Party


Firefighters’ Union Backs Thompson

Abstract: Firehouses can be potent symbols in New York City politics, a perennial subject of budget fights that supply bragging rights for candidates who like to claim credit for preventing their closing. Only one mayoral candidate, however, stood by the red-brick firehouse on Pitt Street in Manhattan on Tuesday to receive the coveted endorsement of the firefighters’ union: William C. Thompson Jr. Mr. Thompson, a Democrat and former city comptroller, stood flanked by several dozen red-shirted members of the Uniformed Firefighters Association as its president, Stephen Cassidy, sang his praises. “He’s always been a friend of New York City’s firefighters and he’s demonstrated real leadership,” Mr. Cassidy said. “And we need that leadership now more than ever.” Locked in a tight race for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Thompson can use the support. Unions provide ground support on Primary Day and a motivated membership. Mr. Thompson will also benefit from two 288-square-foot mobile billboards that will soon be driven around the five boroughs on trucks. The message, in large type: “Bill Thompson for Mayor, Endorsed by New York’s Bravest.” Mr. Thompson’s opponents have also courted firefighters. Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker who is running for mayor, was endorsed in February by the city’s fire officers’ union and has bragged about her work to keep firehouses safe from the budget chopping block. And Anthony D. Weiner, a former member of Congress who is also running for mayor, was endorsed by the Uniformed Firefighters Association in 2005. On Tuesday, the union president, Mr. Cassidy, said that “was a long, long, long, long time ago.” “Plus, he quit on us,” Mr. Cassidy added, referring to Mr. Weiner’s decision not to participate in a runoff election that year. “New York City firefighters don’t quit. We don’t believe in quitters. “The city has nothing unless they have public safety,” Mr. Cassidy said. “And Bill Thompson recognizes that.”

William C Thompson Jr
Political endorsement
Fire Department NYC
Mayoral races
NYC
Uniformed Firefighters Association


Steroid Investigators Requested Giambi’s Cooperation

Abstract: Before Commissioner Bud Selig requested that Jason Giambi of the Yankees meet with George J. Mitchell for Mitchell’s investigation into the use of performance-enhancing substances in Major League Baseball, Mitchell had already sent Giambi a letter seeking his cooperation. Mitchell said last month that he sent letters to current and former players seeking their help. According to a member of the front office of an American League team, Giambi was one of the players who received a letter. Giambi testified in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case, so it would have been surprising if Mitchell had not tried to interview him. Mitchell has sent two types of letters to players, the one that Giambi received and another in which Mitchell has asked players to allow their teams to release their medical records. No players have met with Mitchell’s investigators, and no one has allowed the release of medical records. The front-office person, who saw one of Mitchell’s letters like the one that was sent to Giambi, said it informed players that it would be in their best interest to cooperate with the investigation. Mitchell said in the letter that using steroids was a form of cheating. Mitchell also invited Giambi and other players to speak to investigators if they had information about anyone who had used performance-enhancing drugs. There was no deadline cited for cooperating with the investigation. Mitchell said in an e-mail message that he had been in discussions with the Players’ Association “regarding the process by which the players are being asked to agree to interviews.” Mitchell said that he hoped to “receive responses and begin interviews in the near future,” although he did not specify a timetable. “As I previously stated, this is one of the final phases of our investigation,” Mitchell said. “I expect to complete the investigation and issue my report in the coming months.” Mitchell declined to discuss specifics, saying, “We do not comment on the details of the investigation, including any letters we may send or receive.” While Mitchell can promise players immunity from being punished by Selig for anything that is said in an interview, Mitchell does not have the authority to provide immunity from other investigations if a player is called as a witness. Even if players wanted to cooperate with Mitchell, the threat of possibly being asked to participate in other investigations could be a deterrent. In asking players to meet, Mitchell has said that he is not obligated to give any of the information to the government. But if the information is subpoenaed, he must release it. When Giambi was asked last month if he had gotten a letter from Mitchell, he said, “You’ll have to talk to Arn.” Arn Tellem, Giambi’s agent, has declined comment about whether Mitchell contacted Giambi and about whether Giambi plans to meet with Mitchell. By tacitly admitting to USA Today last month that he had used steroids, Giambi created questions about his past actions. Selig issued a statement Wednesday in which he asked Giambi to cooperate with Mitchell’s investigation within two weeks. Once Giambi agrees or does not agree to cooperate, Selig will make a ruling regarding Giambi’s comments about steroids. Officials from the players’ union communicated with Mitchell’s people in person and in writing last week, and that dialogue will probably continue this week. The union is not telling players who receive letters what they should do. Players have been advised to speak to their lawyers. There are also continuing talks about clubs releasing medical records without identifying the players.

Steroids
Baseball
Athletics and Sports
Selig Bud
Giambi Jason
Mitchell George J
Major League Baseball


A ‘Rich People’s Woodstock,’ With More Drums

Abstract: SAGAPONACK, N.Y. — The mystery began on the first Monday night of August, when as many as 1,500 people, according to the local police, descended on Sagg Main Beach here to dance to the polyrhythmic beats of a Brazilian drumming circle. “We’ve always had a bit of a following — like 50 people or so, a nice little bunch of regulars,” said Richie Siegler, the founder of a local drumming school called Escola de Samba Boom, and the leader of the circle that has played most summer Mondays for the past five years. As the puzzled drummers drummed and the dancers danced, according to The East Hampton Star, a local newspaper, a police officer encountered several women frustrated by the padlock on the public bathroom shed and decided to follow them back to the beach. Unable to determine who was in charge, the officer shut down the party, citing the overflow of cars parked on access roads as a safety hazard. “There were no arrests, but with a group of that size, somebody should at least notify the town so we know what’s going on,” Officer Maureen Drew of the Southampton Police Department explained later in an interview. “It’s tricky, because you have a situation where you don’t technically have anybody who’s organizing the situation.” Mr. Siegler did not apply for a permit, but did inform officers that he planned to continue with the weekly ritual. The next week, he and his merry band of drummers braced for a showdown — “I was willing to get arrested for my cause,” he said — but the crowd was thinner, perhaps 500, and the police were prepared with what Mr. Siegler described as “a velvet-rope kind of setup for parking.” Again this Monday, once the beach parking lot filled, officers directed cars in an orderly procession to the side of Sagg Main Road, and hundreds of revelers poured up a hillock, past the bushes and onto the oceanfront, spreading across the sand as the setting sun glowed orange behind the dunes. There were young families, surf rats, and groups of couples with picnic blankets. Golden retrievers, glow sticks, Belgian casuals and patch madras. Mr. Siegler, with a snare drum strapped to his waist and a whistle in his mouth, orchestrated about 40 musicians (nearly half of whom, he said, he’d never seen before) in a series of extended jams that mostly began slowly, worked their way to a frenzied groove, then gradually slowed back down to a primitive and glacial tattoo. They played big drums, small drums, ganzas, tambourines, and maracas. A belly dancer wearing a bikini, armature, feathers and a live snake coiled around her shoulders attracted a great deal of attention. Vanessa von Bismarck, a public-relations executive in Manhattan and the daughter of Prince and Princess von Bismarck of Germany, said she’d been drawn this week by “word of mouth.” “This is kind of amazing,” Ms. Bismarck said. “I have no idea who these people are.” “It’s like a rich people’s Woodstock,” said her husband, Maximilian Weiner. Ms. Bismarck recognized a friend, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, the self-described “television personality” who plays herself on the reality show “The Real Housewives of New York City.” Mr. Weiner pointed toward the centermost scrum of dancers and said, ‘I’ll bet you anything there’s a wet dog in there. Somebody’s definitely got a wet dog around.” “It’s a very peculiar smell they have,” his wife agreed. Mr. Siegler, who has lived on Shelter Island for 25 years, said he grew up in a musical family in Greenwich Village and started the drumming school in 2002. He said the Monday night sessions, held at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton during the off season, are open to the public. “We teach people for free,” he said. “Occasionally we get a call to perform at some A-list party, and then we sock it to them.” Mr. Siegler ventured that the circle’s sudden popularity might have something to do with the recession. “It’s just about the only free thing out here,” he said. Giuliana Torre, who owns the Juicy Naam, a juice bar in East Hampton, said: “You know what I think? It’s a movement toward group consciousness. It’s in response to all the division and divisiveness in the world.” A friend of hers, who said he goes by the name Sao and is a shamanic astrologer in Sedona, Ariz., agreed. “Right now, in 2008, we’re at the end of the age of fear, greed, and selfishness,” he said. “In the next 16-year window we’re about to see a total flipping of the ages — from greed to enlightenment. So, basically, that’s what this is part of.” When it got dark and Mr. Siegler left, a handful of musicians began an impromptu, after-hours session. They were joined by the belly dancer, Heather Tankersley, who was described by her manager, Amanda Belloni, as “the only serpent-charmer-slash-belly-dancer in the Hamptons.” “It’s building her brand,” Ms. Belloni said. “You know what this is for her? Rehearsal. It’s rehearsal for all the other events she performs at: parties, fashion shows.” Ms. Belloni, a longtime drum circle attendee, had her own explanation for its sudden spike in popularity. “Very simple,” she explained. “Two weeks ago was my birthday, so I sent an e-mail blast to everybody I know to come out here. I called the radio station and told them to give it a shout-out. I wanted a big crowd to celebrate with me. Instant party.”


An Art Student Seeks to Give His Son the Life He Never Had

Abstract: In his moments alone, Anthony Pantoja found only temporary sanctuary, so his pencil provided a more reliable means of escape. “When things were getting worse in the foster home, I started drawing more,” he recalled. “Growing up, it was my passion. Later on, it was a distraction, an outlet.” One thing Mr. Pantoja loves about illustrating is the ability to play God on paper — whether it’s the chance to sketch his rendition of the Chupacabra, the Puerto Rican folklore monster, or depict a brand-new creature made of the composite parts of various dinosaurs. “I just want to say that this character is my own, this car is my own, this dinosaur is my own,” he said. “I like to create my own ‘everything.’ ” That desire most likely derives from the fact that much of Mr. Pantoja’s life has been out of his control. When he was 8 years old, he was removed from the custody of his mother, who he said was a drug addict, and placed into New York City’s foster care system. He remained there until he was discharged in October, when he turned 21. He now lives in subsidized housing in the Bronx. Before that, the bulk of his time in the system was spent in group homes, except for a few occasions when he was sent to stay with his grandmother. Mr. Pantoja said that while there, he was often taunted and abused by relatives who demeaned him, called him a “nobody,” and said that he was destined to end up an addict like his mother. Their poisonous words fed feelings of worthlessness and self-contempt. In 2006, Mr. Pantoja attempted suicide and was in a psychiatric hospital for a month. That year, he received a diagnosis of clinical depression. Two years later, Mr. Pantoja left his group home. He said he was often getting into fights and felt like an outcast because he preferred solitude. “Being in that group home was like premature hell,” he said. “I’m better off living in the streets.” When he did not have a place to stay, Mr. Pantoja spent his nights sleeping in subway cars; his pride and a “clean-freak” sensibility would not permit him to sleep on the street. He returned to foster care in 2009. One night in December 2010, while at the Kaplan House group home, a stressed Mr. Pantoja said that a therapist informed him that he again needed to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He says he objected so forcefully that the police were called, and he was arrested during an altercation with them. Mr. Pantoja spent a month jailed at Rikers Island on charges that were later dropped by the Manhattan Mental Health Court . Part of the program that wiped his record clean required him to participate in the Developing Opportunities Through Meaningful Education Project , a program known as DOME that is geared toward helping formerly incarcerated youths. Through the project, Mr. Pantoja earned his G.E.D. in April 2011. Martin Caba, executive director of the project, helped Mr. Pantoja find employment through AmeriCorps , which allows him to work part time as a program associate at DOME. He receives a stipend of about $600 a month. Mr. Pantoja is studying multimedia arts at Borough of Manhattan Community College. He said his education became more important because he now had a new consideration: a child. His son, Charley, was born in 2010, and last spring, the boy received a diagnosis of autism. Mr. Pantoja said the news made him feel powerless. “Why can’t I just suffer some more, and have him be healthy?” he said. The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies , one of the agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, lent Mr. Pantoja a hand, granting him $800 from the fund to buy furniture for Charley’s room. Charley lives in the South Bronx with his mother, Erika Leon, and although Mr. Pantoja and she are not a couple, he visits frequently. He said he was determined to discontinue the cycle of abuse he experienced in his family. To that same end, Mr. Pantoja is driven to find artistic success, saying he would love to one day work in the film industry, draw for Marvel Comics or maybe design video games. At his age, Mr. Pantoja does not view his varied interests as detrimental to his future; rather, he believes they will ensure that if he falters from one path, he will be able to turn to another. “I have stuff not to fall back on, but to fall forward on,” he said.


Students Return to an Altered Campus After Shootings

Abstract: DeKALB, Ill. — Under a hard, gray sleet, students at Northern Illinois University trudged back to class on Monday for the first time since a gunman burst into a lecture hall on Feb. 14 and killed five students and himself. Some students said they felt relieved to return to their routine of classes, calculus homework and television soap operas at the student center. Others said they felt newly shaken, on edge as they sat in big lecture halls and newly watchful of everyone around them, especially anyone who arrived in class after it had begun. In the array of reactions to the reopening of this public university, home to 25,000 students in a rural county 65 miles west of Chicago, nearly everyone, even university officials, was left wondering what the lasting scars will be. “It feels like part of our campus has been taken away from us,” Olivia Gabrys, 21, said as she wandered, shivering and teary, through a set of murals where students had left their remembrances of the dead and of the gunman, a graduate of this university. “Hopefully, our school won’t just be remembered for this, but I think it is going to be a long time,” Ms. Gabrys said. “I had never really heard of Virginia Tech before it happened there. We’re part of history, sadly.” About 500 counselors, volunteers from around the nation, filled the sprawling campus, which fluttered with new banners and a line from the university’s fight song, “Forward, together forward.” A counselor appeared in every classroom, and local residents handed out cookies. Others bearing signs offering “free hugs” wandered the streets. Ms. Gabrys and others said they knew of students who had not returned and were considering never coming back. Some weighed transferring to other colleges immediately or after this semester, the students said. University officials said no students had formally withdrawn since the shooting. The officials said they were uncertain late Monday how many had returned to class. Violet Koch, 19, a freshman from Chicago, said her parents had suggested the possibility that she not return. “The thing is, though,” Ms. Koch said, “it could happen at any school, here or somewhere else. You just don’t know. So it’s kind of there in the back of your head.” Beside makeshift flower and candle memorials that have cropped up in snowdrifts around the campus, students said they wanted to know about the university’s plans for increased security. Could all classroom doors be locked? Could sirens be placed outside all buildings in case of emergencies? Could latecomers to class be prevented from entering? A spokeswoman for the university, Melanie Magara, said it added to its security forces on Monday with law enforcement officers from nearby areas and a security company. Ms. Magara would not provide details of the increased forces or say whether the increase would be permanent. Security personnel stood at the rear of some classes, students said. Drew Jeskey, 20, one of about 100 students in Geology 104, the class where the shooting occurred, was among the returnees. Stepping into class had not been so hard as sleeping had been, Mr. Jeskey said. “Last night was the first night where I just kept seeing it all in my head, happening over and over again,” said Mr. Jeskey, who had been sitting in the back of lecture hall when Steven P. Kazmierczak kicked in a side door and started firing. “Between midnight and 4, I must have gone through it in my mind 20 times over,” Mr. Jeskey said. “That first shot was the loudest thing I have ever heard. You wouldn’t believe how loud it was.” For many, questions about Mr. Kazmierczak’s motives in the shooting have lingered, making it more difficult, they said, to stop thinking about it. Mr. Kazmierczak, an academically successful sociology student who won a dean’s award here, had been a graduate student at the University of Illinois more recently. The police said they were searching for what had led him to such a deadly rampage. “I keep wondering what was he thinking when he was driving here.” said Ryan Young, 21. “What was going through his head?” Cole Hall, scene of the shooting, has been closed. Officials said they had not decided whether to reopen it. Classes scheduled for Cole Hall were switched to other buildings, creating confusion. Some students uncertain about where to go, and some classrooms had more than one class expecting to meet there. Geology 104 meets for the first time on Tuesday. Officials said much of its future, where it will ultimately meet and who will teach it, depended on what students said when they returned. “We’re going to be trying to figure out how everybody is,” said Jonathan Berg, chairman of the geology department.

Murders and Attempted Murders
Northern Illinois University
Colleges and Universities
Illinois


Murdoch Resigns From His British Papers’ Boards

Abstract: LONDON — After more than a year of scandal in his British newspaper empire, Rupert Murdoch has resigned his directorships in a string of companies that control titles that include The Sun tabloid, The Times and The Sunday Times, raising fresh speculation that he may be planning for an eventual sale of the newspapers that were a major steppingstone during the decades in which he built his global media empire. A company spokeswoman said Saturday that Mr. Murdoch, the 81-year-old founder of the News Corporation, resigned last week as a director of the NI Group, the Times Newspaper Holdings, and Newscorp Investments in Britain . Those companies are subsidiaries of the News Corporation, Mr. Murdoch’s $53 billion New York-based company whose assets include The Wall Street Journal, the Fox Broadcasting television networks and the 20th Century Fox film company. Apparently eager to calm disquiet among thousands of staff members at the British newspapers, who received a corporate e-mail confirming Mr. Murdoch’s moves on Saturday, the company offered assurances that Mr. Murdoch and his family had no immediate plans to sever their connection to the newspapers. The British newspapers were central to building Mr. Murdoch’s fortune in the years after he expanded his media holdings beyond his native Australia, and before he moved on to expanding his empire with far more profitable enterprises in the United States. “Last week, Mr. Murdoch stepped down from a number of boards, many of them small subsidiary boards, both in the U.K. and U.S.,” a spokeswoman for News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of the News Corporation, said Saturday, speaking on the condition of anonymity in line with company policy. She described Mr. Murdoch’s resignations from the British directorships as “nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise” ahead of the restructuring announced last month that will split News Corporation into two separate entities. One company will consist primarily of newspapers and other print assets, while the other will own the far more profitable television and film enterprises. The latter businesses generated an operating profit of $4.6 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 2011, more than five times what the publishing businesses earned. The e-mail outlining the move to staff members said Mr. Murdoch would remain personally involved in the British newspaper operations, enterprises he has often said were central to a lifelong passion for newspapering, as chairman of the newspaper and publishing business that will be set up as part of the split, according to an employee who did not want to be identified as discussing a confidential internal document. Still, the move was a remarkable turnaround. Last February, Mr. Murdoch skipped the Oscars and flew to London to personally oversee the inaugural issue of the Sunday version of The Sun, pledging his “unwavering support” in a memo to employees. The British newspapers, with which Mr. Murdoch has had a strong personal bond since moving his corporate base to London from Australia in the 1960s, have been badly tarnished in the past year by revelations of widespread phone hacking and other newsroom wrongdoing, particularly at The Sun and The News of the World , a 168-year-old tabloid that was one of the country’s most profitable papers. According to company officials who claim to be familiar with his thinking, the scandal has convinced Mr. Murdoch that the British newspapers, including The Times and The Sunday Times, which have been racking up tens of millions of dollars in losses in recent years, have become a financial and reputational drag on the News Corporation’s other holdings. On both sides of the Atlantic, there has been mounting speculation among corporate analysts that he would seek to sell the newspapers once dozens of impending lawsuits stemming from the phone-hacking have been concluded. The scandal has led to a wide-ranging investigation by Scotland Yard, whose investigators have been looking into allegations that the Murdoch-owned newspapers illegally intercepted the voice mail messages of hundreds of people, including politicians, athletes, celebrities and crime victims, and that the wrongdoing extended to computer hacking and payments to public officials, including police officers, in search of scoops. The scandal prompted Mr. Murdoch to close The News of the World last summer, and led in recent months to the arrest of about 50 people, many of them executives, editors and reporters at the Murdoch-owned newspapers, on suspicion of criminal activities. In recent weeks, some of those arrested have been formally charged, including Rebekah Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of News International when the scandal broke last year. Ms. Brooks and her husband, Charlie Brooks, a racehorse trainer, have been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Both have been close friends of Prime Minister David Cameron, whose government has been caught in a bitter controversy over the web of connections among Britain’s newspapers, politicians and the police. The ramifications have been explored for the past nine months by a judge-led inquiry into the scandal that has produced a drumbeat of embarrassing headlines for Mr. Cameron and the Conservative Party, as well as for his Labour Party predecessors as prime minister, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Company representatives did not return messages seeking further comment on Mr. Murdoch’s resignation from the British corporate boards on Saturday evening. Before his resignation from the British directorships became public, Mr. Murdoch had signaled a waning interest in his British operations. In the wake of announcement that News Corporation would split, he told the Fox Business channel that he had decided to step back from efforts to acquire all of British Sky Broadcasting, or BSkyB, a British satellite television network that is 39 percent owned by the News Corporation. The abandonment of a $12 billion offer to acquire the remaining shares in the company, announced as the phone hacking scandal grew last year, was part of the heavy price the Murdochs have paid for the tabloid scandal. Referring to billions of dollars that the News Corporation had amassed for the BSkyB bid, Mr. Murdoch said, “If Britain doesn’t want them, we’ll invest them here. I’m much more bullish about America than I am about England.” It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Murdoch’s American newspaper and publishing interests would be affected by the moves announced Saturday.

Murdoch Rupert
Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations
News and News Media
News of the World
News Corporation
England
Newspapers
Great Britain


Olympic Sailing in Rio Still Planned for Polluted Guanabara Bay

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO — The world governing body for sailing is expected to announce this week that it is tentatively sticking to plans to hold races in next year’s Summer Olympics inside highly polluted Guanabara Bay, yet will keep the option open to moving the courses. Although reports of Rio de Janeiro’s polluted waters are intensifying pressure on sports officials to reconsider, the provisional Olympic sailing competition schedule has three of five racecourses inside the bay, the same ones that were used in test events here in August, said the international sailing federation, known as ISAF. A fourth course inside the bay has been added as a backup. “This is the competition that we want to happen,” said Alastair Fox, head of competitions for the federation. “But if on any given day we feel like we can’t get in a fair race, we’ll move the course outside the bay.” Video Two years ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics, sailors on Rio’s Guanabara Bay train in water tainted by sewage runoff and garbage from poor neighborhoods. Credit Credit Ana Carolina Fernandes for The New York Times The federation will closely monitor the installation of a new sewage pipe in Marina da Gloria, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. “The marina has always been the biggest headache,” Mr. Fox said. Once the pipe is built, “we need to start seeing weekly improvements starting at the beginning of next year,” he said. The decision to release a schedule now, without changes, stems from a desire to give athletes an opportunity to prepare. It was informed by medical data the federation collected from the August test race showing that problems with infection and illness among athletes were not as significant as feared. Image Litter and infections have raised concerns about the safety of the water in Guanabara Bay. Credit Silvia Izquierdo/Associated Press A report on the data, which has not been completed, will be presented next month at ISAF’s annual meeting, in Sanya, China. The group finished collecting raw data last week. Dr. Nebojsa Nikolic, a member of the sailing federation’s medical commission and its chief medical officer during the August regatta, said Tuesday that among 326 sailors who participated in the study he led, 29 experienced traveler’s diarrhea, a stomach illness also known as gastroenteritis that is often caused by local bacteria. Six of those 29 cases constituted a cluster and were attributed to eating food at Maracanã stadium while attending an event unrelated to the regatta or water, the results indicated. Putting aside those six athletes, the rate of illness among sailors was 7.1 percent. Dr. Nikolic said that was “much lower than would be expected,” and within levels considered acceptable. He also said the percentage was significantly lower than the rate among the general population traveling to Brazil. Final conclusions have not been made yet, and Dr. Nikolic cautioned that “we still don’t know the role of water.” Dr. Nikolic’s preliminary findings influenced the federation’s decision to release its schedule now. “We were confident from his report and feedback, and so we’ve gone forward with our Plan A,” Mr. Fox said. ISAF said it was also buoyed by athletes’ experiences in the August regatta. Mr. Fox said that in that competition, according to the group’s data, “not a single boat or any of the foils was damaged,” and “there were no reports at all that anyone’s performance was affected” by any debris in the water.

2016 Summer Olympics
Sailing
Olympics
Water pollution
Guanabara Bay


Utility Cut Off Stolen Meter Before Family of 8 Died in Maryland

Abstract: PRINCESS ANNE, Md. — A utility disconnected a stolen meter at the rental home of a kitchen worker and his seven children who were accidentally poisoned in their sleep by carbon monoxide from a gas-powered generator, authorities said Tuesday. Delmarva Power said it had not cut off the family’s electricity because they were behind on their bills, but rather for their own good. After discovering the illegal connection on March 25, it disconnected it for safety reasons, the utility said. Rodney Todd, 36, then bought a generator to keep his two sons and five daughters warm, relatives said. They were last seen alive on March 28. Chief Scott Keller of the Princess Anne Police confirmed their cause of death on Tuesday and said the utility had been subpoenaed to document exactly what it did and when. “I’m just numb. Like it’s a nightmare, but it’s not,” the children’s mother, Tyisha Luneice Chambers, who was divorced from Mr. Todd, said on Tuesday. “If I had known he was without electricity, I would have helped.” The police found the bodies on Monday inside the one-story wood-frame home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore after school workers, friends and Mr. Todd’s co-workers knocked on the door with no answer. “The children were all in beds, and it appears as though they were sleeping,” Chief Keller said. “Probably it was bedtime and they decided they needed some light and probably some heat, because toward the end of March, even though it was spring, we were having some pretty chilly nights.” Why Mr. Todd had a gas-powered generator running inside closed doors was not clear. The chief ruled out foul play and speculated that had it been outside, the noise would have bothered neighbors. Mr. Todd received some welfare money, but it was not enough, said Sarah Hardy, a close friend. “How can a man survive off of basically minimum wage with seven kids, and you can’t help him with a utility bill?” Ms. Hardy asked. “This man was working.” Later on Tuesday, the utility revealed that the rental home had never had legal power while the Todds lived there. It said that the electricity had been disconnected in October and that there had been no request to reconnect it after the family moved there in November. “Through the use of smart meter technology, Delmarva Power discovered a stolen electric meter was being used at the home on March 25, 2015,” the utility said in a statement. “Delmarva Power disconnected the illegally connected meter for safety reasons and to comply with standard protocol. Delmarva Power did not disconnect electric service at this address for nonpayment.” It was not clear whether Mr. Todd had made arrangements with the utility or any other authorities or advocates for the poor to restore power after the illegal meter was removed. What is known is that Mr. Todd bought a generator to keep the lights on. The children were identified by a family member as Tyjuziana, 15; Cameron, 13; Tykeria, 12; Tynijuzia, 10; TyNiah, 9; ZhiHeem, 7; and Tybreyia, 6. “He’s the man you need to know and the man you want to be,” Bilel Smith, who lives nearby, said of Mr. Todd. “They were their own football team, their own basketball team. This is breaking our hearts.” Mr. Todd had received assistance with utility bills in the past but did not apply this year, said Tom VanLandingham, who directs the Office of Home Energy Programs in Somerset County. “We’re all kind of baffled as to why he did not apply this year,” he said. “That’s the million-dollar question.”

Carbon monoxide
Maryland
Fatalities,casualties
Rodney Eric Todd
Electric power
Accidents and Safety


Chinese Shelter Operator Is Accused of Selling Laborers

Abstract: BEIJING — The Quxian Beggars Shelter in Sichuan Province did not provide much in the way of succor to the bedraggled men who sought help from its founder, a pig farmer named Zeng Lingquan. Instead, the authorities say, Mr. Zeng operated the unregistered charity as a sort of low-cost labor agency, selling at least 70 men to factories across the country where they toiled as virtual slaves. Most of the men, according to the Chinese media, were mentally disabled. On Tuesday night, a day after detaining Mr. Zeng, the police seized the owner of a construction materials company in the far west region of Xinjiang and accused him of keeping 12 of the men captive at his quarry, some for as long as four years. Described as mentally impaired, the men ate what the owner’s dogs ate and were beaten for trying to escape. Even though they worked seven days a week, they were never paid, according to the Xinjiang Metropolis Daily , which broke the story on Monday. In a country seemingly inured to scandals involving negligent coal mine owners and indentured teenage brick makers, the accusations against the Jiaersi Green Construction Materials Chemical Factory have produced an especially intense burst of public outrage. In recent days, news accounts about the plant have dominated the country’s main Web portals and prompted a torrent of angry comments and editorials, many of which take aim at the government. “Even after those black bosses have been apprehended, what about the fat, useless officials at all levels?” Su Limin wrote in the China Enterprise News. Much of the fury has been directed at the authorities in Xinjiang’s Toksun County who allowed the factory to flourish for years. They also blamed the police for failing to stop Mr. Zeng in 2006, when he was accused of providing a brick factory in Hunan Province with 18 men, one of whom was beaten to death. The police said at the time that Mr. Zeng could not be found, although they apparently never checked the shelter in Quxian that he has run since 1996 . An editorial in the Xinmin Evening News in Shanghai urged the authorities to aggressively prosecute Mr. Zeng and all those who exploited the vulnerable. “Please stand on the side of the people, not on the side of those enterprise owners or on the side that is most convenient for yourself,” it said. Although Beijing’s propaganda bureaucrats often try to manage potentially incendiary news, especially when negligent government officials are part of the narrative, they have so far stood back as scores of Chinese journalists from across the country rush to report on the scandal. The reporters from Xinjiang who stumbled on the factory last week described a place where men in tattered clothing ground rocks by hand to produce sand and talcum powder. None wore face masks, despite a pall of silica dust in the air, and some said they had not showered in years. The factory owner, Li Xinglin, told reporters he had paid Mr. Zeng a one-time fee of $1,350, for five workers, plus $45 a month for each man. Although the money went directly into Mr. Zeng’s bank account, he reportedly told Mr. Li it was earmarked for the men’s medical care and retirement. “He provides a livelihood to those who have no other means to survive or who can’t fend for themselves,” Mr. Li told the newspaper with apparent satisfaction. The article portrayed one of the workers, Peng Genggui, as resigned to his fate, saying that beatings were given only to those who broke the rules. Meat, he added, was the reward for those who worked hard. “Usually if we don’t escape, we don’t get beaten,” he said.

China
Factories and Manufacturing
Human Trafficking