A First Lady at 50, Finding Her Own Path

Abstract: WASHINGTON — She has perfected a mean forehand, is working on her yoga poses, dishes with girlfriends over brussels sprouts and dirty martinis (one olive) at the Mediterranean hotspot Zaytinya, pushes her two daughters to play two sports — one of her choosing and one of theirs — and said this week that the wonders of modern dermatology, like Botox, are in the realm of possibility for her. Michelle Obama is in many ways the embodiment of the contemporary, urban, well-heeled middle-aged American woman. She likes to take “me time,” as she did during an extra vacation week this month without family in Hawaii, setting off a tabloid furor over the state of her marriage. She frets that her older daughter, 15-year-old Malia, hangs out with the boys a grade above her. She gardens, although unlike the rest of us, she has significant weeding help. She toys with false eyelashes. On Saturday night, Mrs. Obama will celebrate her 50th birthday (which falls on Friday) with dancing and sweets throughout the state floor of the White House, drawing the nation’s attention away from her husband, at least for an evening. Guests will sip fine American wines, consume delicate macarons and be entertained — the expectation is by Beyoncé. Image Mrs. Obama at the White House kitchen garden last spring. Credit Christopher Gregory for The New York Times The mix of Hollywood and quirky individualism (American caterers, ready yourself for the onslaught of dessert-and-cocktails-only party requests) underscores the conflicting diptych of glamorous mystery woman and regular PTA mother that defines America’s first lady. Five years in, she has cobbled together a full life in Washington. Sometimes she moves so discreetly through the area that a customer at a local Target store, not recognizing her, asked the first lady to reach for some highly perched toilet paper. At other times, Mrs. Obama is on plain view around town as a parent on the sidelines of the soccer games of her daughter Sasha, 12. Marc Howard, whose daughter Zoe once played on the soccer team with Sasha, recalled how his daughter drained the tiny water bottle he had brought for her one hot Washington day on the field. Mrs. Obama lightheartedly chided him. “She said, ‘What kind of water bottle is that?’ and gave Zoe hers,” Mr. Howard said. “Those are things far away from the cameras.” Image Mrs. Obama at a convention for disabled veterans in Florida last year. Credit Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images For all of her complaints about the scrutiny and isolation that come with living in the White House, Mrs. Obama has created a vibrant life in Washington as well as a policy agenda that at times dovetails with her husband’s, particularly on education. But she maintains a powerful zone of privacy, aided by discreet friends and a controlling East Wing. Accounts of her life here are culled from interviews with staff members, friends and parents of Malia and Sasha’s schoolmates. The accounts also draw on Mrs. Obama’s public speeches and comments, including a recent interview with People magazine. While Mrs. Obama has been careful not to define herself or her role strictly through race, she has paid steadfast attention to her role as a model and mentor to minority children from poor backgrounds like her own, and has built much of her policy agenda around them. “She is more self-determinative than prior first ladies because she very rarely allows herself to be drawn into distracting conversations,” said Carl Anthony, a historian of first ladies. In addition, he said, “She speaks to a demographic pretty much ignored by the White House by all first ladies except for Eleanor Roosevelt.” He cited trips Mrs. Obama has made to the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington and White House invitations she has extended to local working-class African-Americans. Image Mrs. Obama with Malia Obama at President Obama’s second inauguration. Credit Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press The Obamas and their daughters usually eat together as a family at the White House, but the president and first lady also give small dinner parties at home with a mix of friends, notable local columnists and others. A typical menu is grilled shrimp with tomatoes and peppers, followed by lean fillet of steak (the first lady’s favorite) with potatoes and a selection of pies for dessert. Guests should not expect bread. Mrs. Obama also frequents Washington’s restaurants of the moment. She has been spotted more than once sweeping into B.L.T. Steak on I Street with a gaggle of female friends, headed for a private room. She eats roasted cauliflower and stuffed grape leaves at Zaytinya and guacamole and margaritas at Oyamel. She has grown fond of Bibiana, an upscale Italian restaurant downtown. “She is interested in local food,” said Eddie Gehman Kohan, the executive editor of obamafoodorama.com, an obsessive digital archive of the food ways and nutrition agenda of the Obamas. “Her typical meal is whatever is going on at the restaurant that is seasonal and best.” Image Mrs. Obama at a White House event in October announcing the enlisting of Sesame Street characters to help encourage people to eat more fresh produce. Credit Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Mrs. Obama’s group frequently includes her closest friend, Sharon Malone, a prominent obstetrician and wife of the attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. Often on hand are old friends from Chicago, like Valerie B. Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president; Cindy S. Moelis, the director of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships; and Angela Acree, who was one of Mrs. Obama’s roommates at Princeton. Mrs. Obama also is known to wander the city’s museums and screen films at the White House, where she is partial to those that explore themes of poverty and struggle. This week she saw the movie “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,” a story about poor children in New York produced by the singer Alicia Keys. “This is truly one of my favorite films this year,” Mrs. Obama told her guests, including Ms. Keys. “And it obviously has moved me, and it will be the guiding post for my work over the next three years.” Image The First Lady with the president at inaugural festivities last year. Credit Justin Sullivan/Getty Images In hairstyle news, the bangs of 2013 are gone, replaced by a traditional first lady wave. As Mrs. Obama told the TV chef Rachael Ray last year: “This is my midlife crisis, the bangs. I couldn’t get a sports car. They won’t let me bungee jump. So instead, I cut my bangs.” Then there is her fitness routine. Known for her biceps, Mrs. Obama has recently taken up yoga for strength training and takes vigorous walks through Rock Creek Park. She takes occasional tennis lessons with Malia or has clinics with friends to work on their swing. In addition to her forehand, “Michelle has a big backhand,” said Gordie Ernst, who coaches mother and daughter. One thing Mrs. Obama tends not to do as much as previous first ladies is travel. There is still time.

Michelle Obama
White House
First Ladies
Birthday
Party


U.S. Quarterly Trade Deficit Was the Smallest in 14 Years

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Big gains in exports and overseas investment income narrowed the United States’ current-account deficit in the fourth quarter to the lowest level in 14 years. The imbalance fell to $81.1 billion in the October-December quarter, down from $96.4 billion in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday . That is the smallest gap since the third quarter of 1999. The current account is the country’s broadest measure of trade, covering not only goods and services, but also investment flows. A smaller trade deficit usually means that American companies are producing more to meet domestic and overseas demand. Goods exports rose 1.9 percent to $405.4 billion, driven by higher overseas sales of petroleum and agricultural products. Americans received $206.1 billion in overseas income, mostly from investments, a 4.3 percent increase from the previous quarter. Payments to overseas owners of United States assets rose 2.4 percent, to $137.8 billion. That helped push the United States income surplus to $64.4 billion. As a percentage of the American economy, the current-account deficit declined to 1.9 percent, the lowest since the third quarter of 1997. Two trends have helped narrow the gap in the last several years. The United States has benefited from an oil and gas boom because new drilling technologies have made it feasible to drill in states like North Dakota and Pennsylvania. That has pushed down the trade deficit by bolstering petroleum exports and lowering oil imports. The deficit in goods and services trade fell to a four-year low in November. It has widened slightly since then. Second, low interest rates have reduced the payments foreigners have received on their holdings of United States Treasury bonds and other investments. The payments that Americans receive on overseas investments have risen, increasing the nation’s investment surplus.

US Economy
International trade
Foreign Investment


Man Killed in Hoboken Blaze

Abstract: HOBOKEN, N.J. — A four-alarm fire swept through an apartment building here early Tuesday, killing one man and leaving more than 60 people homeless. Another man, believed to be a roommate of the victim, suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns on his hands and forearms, said Bill Bergin, the Hoboken public safety director. Mr. Bergin said that the injured man was treated and released from the hospital and that five police officers and four firefighters were treated for minor injuries. Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire; Mr. Bergin said it appeared to have started in the victims’ apartment and did not appear to be suspicious. Officials declined to identify the man who was killed, pending the notification of his relatives; they said he had lived in the building for about three years. Neighbors said the man, described as in his 20s, worked in New York City and was often seen in the morning carrying a duffel bag on his way to a nearby gymnasium. The acting Hoboken fire chief, Richard Blohm, said more than 40 firefighters from his department responded to an automatic alarm in the five-story brick building at Washington Avenue and 12th Street at 1:43 a.m. Firefighters from Weehawken and Jersey City also responded to the alarm, and the fire was declared under control at 5 a.m. Shana Badillo, 23, who lived on the third floor, said that her apartment was directly under the apartment where the blaze started and that she awoke when she heard shouts of “Fire!” She said she ran from the building, banging on neighbors’ doors on her way out. Mayor David Roberts said the building was renovated about 30 years ago to meet the fire codes at the time, but it did not have sprinklers, which would be required if it were renovated now. Mr. Roberts said 152 families lived in the building, and more than half of them were able to return to their apartments on Tuesday. About 40 people were staying at a Red Cross shelter set up at the Wallace Primary School, and the rest of the people who were forced out of their homes were staying with family or friends.

Fires and Firefighters
Accidents and Safety
Hoboken (NJ)


World’s Protected Areas Draw Estimated 8 Billion Visitors Annually

Abstract: A growing number of people around the world are choosing to spend vacations and weekends in nature. But until recently no one had ever tried to quantify just how many visit protected areas each year. A few countries — like the United States, the United Kingdom and Chile — keep meticulous statistics on park visitations. Most others lack a central database tracking how many people visit forests, seashores and wetlands. Now, a team of British and American researchers has filled in the gap, providing what they say is the first global estimate of annual visits to protected areas. They complied data from more than 550 protected areas collected from 1998 to 2007. All of the sites were larger than about 25 acres, and they were located on every continent except Antarctica. Protected marine areas were not included. Using this data, the team built a computer model that extrapolated visitation rates for more than 94,000 protected areas around the world, taking into account such variables as a site’s remoteness and beauty, the number of people living nearby, and the national income. According to the team’s calculations, reported in PLoS Biology , protected areas receive roughly eight billion visits each year. More than 80 percent over the last decade took place in North America and Europe. The researchers point out, however, that protected areas around the world are seeing increasing numbers of domestic tourists, especially in countries like China and India. The team also estimated how much money people spend annually in protected areas. Their rough estimate: $600 billion. “That’s not climate regulation, flood control, pollination or any of the many other ecosystem services protected areas generate,” said Andrew Balmford, a conservation scientist at the University of Cambridge. “That’s just nature-related tourism.” In contrast, he said, we spend less than $10 billion annually on supporting natural sites around the world — a 60 to 1 ratio. “When asked why protected areas aren’t succeeding in safeguarding their contents, managers will consistently tell you about lack of money and resources,” Dr. Balmford said. “There’s a strong economic argument that it would probably make good sense to invest more in these places.”

Wilderness
PLoS Biology Journal
Travel,Tourism
US
Great Britain
Europe


American Car Parts Makers Gain in Russia

Abstract: MOSCOW — Critics of the Obama administration’s thawed diplomatic policy toward Russia, known as the “reset,” say it has brought few concrete results. But this week, a visiting American trade delegation is promoting an economic benefit — a doubling of exports of American car parts to Russia over the past year. The increase in sales is striking even compared with an overall rise in American exports to Russia, which the Commerce Department says were up about 40 percent last year, partly owing to trade rebounding after the recession . Aerospace and software companies are also doing well. Proponents of the reset point to the recent multibillion-dollar joint venture between Exxon Mobil, America’s largest oil company, and Russia’s state oil company, Rosneft, as another economic payoff of the policy. Most American auto parts exported to Russia are put in new cars at assembly plants set up earlier by Ford, General Motors or European or Japanese competitors. But aftermarket sales are also rising. Reflecting the significant accomplishment of makers of gaskets, fenders and headlights, a deputy under secretary of commerce for international trade, Michelle O’Neill, led the delegation of 13 car parts companies to the Russian capital and two manufacturing regions. “Russians love American cars,” Ms. O’Neill said. “We think there is extraordinary opportunity for growth.” Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization, expected this summer with American support, will require that Russia phase out local content rules for automotive assembly plants, further expanding the potential market. However, Congress must first grant Russia permanent normal trade relation status by repealing a cold war-era statute intended to liberalize emigration of religious minorities, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, before American companies can take full advantage of the new rules. Economists have noted for years that Russia and the United States have relatively little direct trade compared with the size of their economies — a legacy of the superpower standoff and politics today. To improve economic ties as part of the reset that President Obama introduced in 2009, the Commerce Department established a committee on trade with Russia. Members identified car parts as a prospective market and worked to eliminate barriers to United States exports. “It has been a focused effort by the Obama administration to deepen commercial and economic relations,” Ms. O’Neill said in an interview in Moscow on Monday. “This is one of the fruits of that labor.” The Commerce Department said auto parts sales rose to $125.3 million in 2011 from $63.3 million in 2010. Matthew Edwards, the department’s director of the office for trade with Russia and other former Soviet states, said mundane trade in items like car parts often goes unnoticed. “Everybody likes to roll out an airliner,” he said. “But a lot of trade takes place on a less sexy level.” The Hoosier Gasket Corporation, of Indianapolis, is one company poised to sell more parts to Russia. As major manufacturers outsource more components while also assembling vehicles overseas, exports rise for parts makers. “It’s a domino effect,” Oleg Gostomelsky, a vice president at Hoosier, who was on the delegation, said. “Now, when Ford decides to come to Russia, as it has, it pulls a lot of companies with it.” Critics of the reset policy, though, say it has deflected attention from more fundamental American interests by playing down human rights abuse and backsliding on democracy in Russia under Vladimir V. Putin, who is set to begin a third presidential term in May. Last month, after Mr. Obama inadvertently spoke into an open microphone while discussing missile defense policy with Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney characterized Russia as “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” As it happens, car parts manufacturers are heavily represented in swing states like Ohio and Indiana, one explanation, perhaps, for careful attention to their industry. The delegation included representatives of Dana Holding of Maumee, Ohio; Bushwacker of Portland, Ore.; and Cyclo Industries of Jupiter, Fla.

Russia
Automobiles
International Trade and World Market
United States Economy
Economic Conditions and Trends


Tebow and Bradford: Different Ways to Reach Summit

Abstract: MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Florida ’s Tim Tebow and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford will be forever linked thanks to this frenetic college football season. They sat together at the Heisman Trophy ceremony last month in New York, where Bradford joined Tebow as the only sophomores to win the most prestigious award in college sports. More important, they will be across the field from each other in the Bowl Championship Series title game on Thursday night as maestros of two of the nation’s best offenses. Despite each player’s success this season, there are more differences than similarities between them. Tebow’s and Bradford’s production and leadership are undeniable, but their recruitments, offenses and personalities are vastly different. Tebow is the fiery leader whose indelible image from this season comes with his face stained with the blood-colored paint of Florida State’s end zone. Bradford is more a low-key perfectionist, an only child who is more comfortable in the pocket than in front of the news media. Despite their differences, a strong mutual respect exists. “He’s a really nice guy and a great player,” Tebow said of Bradford. In return, Bradford said of Tebow, “It was really cool getting to meet him and getting to know what a great guy off the field that he is.” The convergent careers of Tebow and Bradford had wildly different starts. While Tebow was trailed around the world for a documentary about his recruitment that eventually was shown on ESPN, Bradford waited for an offer from his beloved Sooners. Bradford grew up in Oklahoma City. His father, Kent, was an offensive lineman for the Sooners. A scholarship offer did not come until Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach made one and the Michigan assistant Scott Loeffler promised that one was on the way. Even after Oklahoma offered a scholarship, Chuck Long, the offensive coordinator at the time, said that Bradford was recruited to provide depth behind Rhett Bomar, who arrived in Norman as the country’s top recruit. Bradford redshirted his freshman season. After Bomar was thrown off the team for taking money for a no-show job at a car dealership, Bradford found himself in a heated three-way battle for the starter’s job last season. Tebow arrived in Gainesville with so much anticipation that crowds booed the starter Chris Leak and offered standing ovations each time Coach Urban Meyer shuttled in Tebow to use his bruising frame in short-yardage situations. “That’s what was great about my freshman year,” Tebow said. “It wasn’t just coming in mop-up time. It was getting in big-time atmospheres in big-time games and playing in clutch situations.” Each player began to define his career during his sophomore year. Bradford did not get as many headlines as Tebow did in winning the Heisman Trophy, but he established himself as a big-time passer in Oklahoma’s spread offense. He threw for 36 touchdowns and 3,121 yards in 2007 while completing a little less than 70 percent of his passes. But an early-season loss at Colorado cast the Sooners off the national radar. And any chance for them to re-enter the national title race was squashed when Bradford sustained a concussion in a loss at Texas Tech. Tebow, meanwhile, had a potent sophomore season that Meyer likes to refer to as one with “Star Wars numbers.” He threw 32 touchdown passes, ran for 23 more scores and won the Heisman Trophy, but Florida stumbled to four losses. “Last year, I had to do a little bit more, make a few more plays,” Tebow said. Off-season changes at Oklahoma and Florida led to high-scoring seasons. At Oklahoma, Coach Bob Stoops switched to a no-huddle spread offense. Bradford flourished, picking apart defenses as the Sooners set a modern record with 702 points. They scored more than 60 points in each of their last five games. Bradford threw 48 touchdown passes and just 6 interceptions. He threw 442 passes and was sacked just 11 times. “Every time that I see him, his jersey is clean,” Florida safety Ahmad Black said. Tebow forged his reputation for getting his uniform dirty. Florida often runs the option in its spread offense, meaning Tebow routinely lowers his shoulder into linebackers and defensive backs. He is as emotional as he is physical, frequently head-butting his offensive linemen and jumping into defensive huddles for inspiration. “Tebow need medicine,” Florida offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey said, joking. But with the arrival on campus of the ultraquick tailback Jeffrey Demps and the emergence of the redshirt freshman Chris Rainey, Tebow’s role evolved this season from lead playmaker to lead distributor. His numbers dipped, especially in rushing touchdowns, to 12 from 23, but the diverse offense made the Gators a better all-around team. For all of Tebow’s great moments on the field, he provided one just as memorable off it, when he finished his postgame news conference after the Gators’ loss to Mississippi on Sept. 27. He promised to work as hard as any player in college football and to push his teammates to do the same. And as kickoff looms for the title game, Tebow looks like a prophet. “It’s a blessing to be up here in this game,” Tebow said. “I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.” They have drawn the biggest crowds of reporters this week. Bradford said he relished a return to a normal life after heading back to Norman from New York. Tebow, who is more comfortable with the news media, has hammed for reporters with his typical poise. When Bradford was asked about the worst part about winning the Heisman, he did not hesitate. “The media,” he said with a smile. No matter which team wins on Thursday, Tebow and Bradford will stay in the spotlight. Both players have submitted their names to the N.F.L. Draft Advisory Board to receive feedback on where they would be picked. (An N.F.L. scout, who was granted anonymity because he was not allowed to comment on specific players, said he considered Bradford a “no-brainer No. 1 pick” and compared him to Troy Aikman. He said Tebow was an “erratic thrower” and a riskier pick.) It’s possible that they could be linked all the way to the green room at the N.F.L. draft.

Heisman Trophy
Tebow Tim
Bradford Sam
College Athletics
Football


Tennis Stars Pressure Grand Slams Over Prize Money

Abstract: There were rain delays and lost sessions at the United States Open , pushed again to a Monday men’s final. There was a tornado warning and a chair blown onto the court in the midst of the men’s semifinal between Tomas Berdych and Andy Murray, the eventual champion. But this Open might end up looking like the calm before the storm. The top men, led by Roger Federer, remain intent on applying pressure on the Grand Slam tournaments over prize money next year, beginning with the Australian Open in January. “I think as a group, they’ve been led by Roger, who is very intelligent and measured in this,” said Craig Tiley, the Australian Open tournament director. “Anytime you can have a player council represented by arguably one of the great players of all time, you’re going to have some strength.” Though few of the major players or officials are prepared to speak publicly about the particulars for fear of compromising the negotiations, it is clear that tension is rising fast, player expectations are high and Grand Slam administrators are increasingly anxious. French Open officials, concerned that their message was not reaching the rank-and-file, recently sent an e-mail to French players seeking to clarify their stance, a move that raised hackles among some tour officials.The ATP World Tour players are seeking much more than another routine pay raise. They want to capitalize on the narrow window provided by their golden age and current solidarity to correct what they perceive as a long-running inequity. Late last year the ATP Player Council, with Federer as its president, began its push for more prize money at Grand Slam tournaments, particularly for early-round losers, in an attempt to address an earning gap in a top-heavy sport. The French Open, Wimbledon and the United States Open responded with larger-than-usual increases , weighted toward early-round losers. The United States Open, for example, included a raise of at least 18 percent for the first three rounds of the singles draw. But the players council made it clear that their main goal was major change in 2013. This is a high-stakes game of numbers but also of identity. The players want to emphasize the Grand Slam tournaments’ similarities with ATP events, which are believed to pay between 20 percent and 30 percent of revenue in prize money. The Slams continue to emphasize the differences, which include grass-roots responsibilities, nonprofit status and even the commitment to funding and promoting smaller professional events. “I really don’t think it is apples to apples,” Tiley said. But some tour events, including the Masters Series tournaments in Rome and Canada, are also run by national federations, and some players question why their efforts should help contribute to the funding of player development programs in the four Grand Slam nations instead of going to more global efforts. The players are believed to be asking for between 12 percent and 13 percent of total revenue. With the Grand Slams committed to equal prize money, that means — with the women along for the ride — the men are effectively demanding about 25 percent of total revenue for prize money. “The ATP is taking the lead in talking to the Slams as well as the directors of the Slams and trying to figure that out,” Serena Williams said. “It is what it is. I definitely do agree that the players should be reimbursed more than what we are.” A 25-percent share would be more in line with men’s tour events, but it would represent wrenching change for the Grand Slam tournaments. Based on rough estimates, prize money currently ranges from about 11 percent of revenue at the United States Open to about 17 percent at the Australian Open. In the case of the United States Open, 25-percent share would mean a hike in prize money from about $25 million to more than $60 million. The United States Tennis Association’s revenue for 2010, the most recent totals available publicly, was $243 million, with an estimated 80 percent to 85 percent of that coming from the Open. The players are offering little change of their own in return, and if they fail to reach their prize-money goal next year, they are considering a range of potential actions, according to tennis officials familiar with the possibilities. Those include staging alternative events concurrent with the Grand Slam tournaments, stripping ranking points from the Grand Slam tournaments and skipping the Grand Slam tournaments altogether. A formal boycott appears not to be an option because of antitrust laws, but the players are not part of a union and as independent contractors could choose to withhold their services. (It is unclear what the women’s players would do in this instance.) “I hope it doesn’t come down to that; I think that’s bad for everybody, really,” Murray said last week. The last boycott of a Grand Slam was in 1973, when in an unsettled political period in the game, more than 70 leading players withdrew from Wimbledon in solidarity with Nikki Pilic, who had been barred for failing to play Davis Cup for Yugoslavia. Gordon Smith, chief executive of the U.S.T.A., declined to comment on the negotiations, but a huge player pay raise could force staff and program cuts and jeopardize the viability of the U.S.T.A’s recently announced plans for a $500 million upgrade of the National Tennis Center. The French Open also has plans — approved last year — to expand Roland Garros stadium. The Australian Open has begun a major expansion of its own, which will use public financing. But Tiley said the event could not sustain a one-year prize money hike of the magnitude the players are requesting. “For us to add that much money into compensation in one year is just not feasible from a business point of view,” Tiley said. “We would have to completely change the way we do business. It’s not something our shareholders would support or our board would be able to do.”He said the only way to institute such change would be over a period of years. “We do agree that we should be increasing prize money,” Tiley said. “We’ve never shied away from that, and it’s just a question of what we can afford and just how satisfactory that is to the player group.” The deadline is approaching rapidly. The Australian Open is scheduled to announce its 2013 prize money totals in the first week of October, although Tiley said the tournament reserved the right to adjust the package later. Pete Sampras, the former world No. 1 from the United States who officially retired in 2003, said he supported the players’ push. “The Slams are making tons of money because of the players, and I think in fairness, the players should be compensated,” he said in a telephone interview. “I think the Slams have gotten away with it for way too long.”The players have cracked in the past. In the early 2000s, under the former chief executive Mark Miles, the ATP deployed many of the same arguments in an attempt to extract a greater percentage of revenue. But the top players lacked the necessary cohesiveness to follow through. “It’s tough to get 10 top players in the same room, let alone agree upon one thing,” Sampras said. “It’s not the N.B.A. It’s not a union. It’s individual guys. There were too many different opinions and to be quite honest with you, I didn’t have the energy to get involved. “The fact that Roger wants to get involved is a great asset. If the top players stick together, they can do whatever they want in the sport.” The true level of unity among the current player pool remains unclear, but there appears to be much more unity of purpose at the top. The leading four players — Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Murray — and the ATP Tour’s new chief executive, Brad Drewett, have met repeatedly with representatives of the Grand Slam tournaments this year. Nadal and Djokovic are no longer on the ATP Player Council, but Federer remains its president. Some Grand Slam officials have resisted the idea of linking prize money to percentage of revenue. Some argue that it should be linked to profit, and Grand Slam event officials note that approximately one-third of the overall prize money on the men’s tour comes from their tournaments. “If you have a look at 1998 and the consumer price index increase on prize money per tournament, the Slams have gone up 1,095 percent, the ATP Tour has gone up 216 percent, and the challengers have gone down 15 percent,” Tiley said. “So there’s a big gap. The Slams have stepped up in their prize money and we believe they can step up more, and of course we will step up more, but the question is just by how much.” The answer could make all the difference between a peaceful start to next season and a stormy one.

Tennis
Wages and Salaries
Australian Open (Tennis)
Federer Roger
Sampras Pete
United States Open (Tennis)


A Backward Rule and a Baseball Hall Backlog

Abstract: It happens every winter. An overstuffed, unwieldy collection of voters, some much more qualified and conscientious than others, holds an election to bestow the highest honor of a cherished American institution. It is a secretive process in a world that, more and more, craves transparency. It is, of course, the Oscars, voted on by nearly 6,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. What, you were expecting this to be about the Baseball Hall of Fame? The Hall of Fame is yet another example of the higher standard baseball must meet with the public. Nobody seems to complain much about the integrity of the Academy Awards process, which has a voting body roughly 10 times the size of the group that guards the doors of Cooperstown. Hundreds more vote for the Heisman Trophy than the Baseball Hall of Fame, but, again, nobody seems to mind. The steroids issue also seems much more troubling to those who care about the Baseball Hall of Fame than to those who care about its professional football counterpart. Mike Webster, the center for the fabled Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s who died in 2002, was a steroids user. Yet he has a bust in Canton, Ohio — as do many other steroid users, it is safe to assume — and yet somehow, the building still stands. None of this is meant to excuse the miscreants who warped baseball’s records by cheating. Neither is it meant to rationalize the flaws in the Hall of Fame voting process. But it bears mentioning, for context, as baseball again confronts issues that do not drag down other popular forms of entertainment. This is baseball, after all, and while it is fun and games, it is also serious business. Its historical underpinnings are a source of strength and, at times, a burden. That is why, this week, we will celebrate the election of some, but not all, of the best players in recent memory to the Hall of Fame. Nobody has as many Most Valuable Player awards as Barry Bonds. Nobody has as many Cy Young Awards as Roger Clemens. In their second appearance on the ballot, neither will come close to enshrinement because of his ties to steroids. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and probably Frank Thomas, all decorated performers with no connection to performance-enhancing drugs, should make it on their first try. Bonds and Clemens have been somewhat vindicated, officially, through the legal system. But so were the 1919 Chicago White Sox, eight of whom were barred for life anyway by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Bonds and Clemens never served a suspension and are, as the saying goes, members in good standing with Major League Baseball. The voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, however, gave Bonds and Clemens little support last winter. Clemens got just 37.6 percent of the vote and Bonds 36.2 percent, with 75 percent needed for election. Others with strong ties to steroids fared worse: Mark McGwire (16.9 percent), Sammy Sosa (12.5) and Rafael Palmeiro (8.8). A candidate must receive at least 5 percent to remain on the ballot. Voters are asked to consider integrity, sportsmanship and character, among other virtues, when filling out their ballots. But those seeking further clarity from M.L.B. or the Hall of Fame on steroid-era candidates are unlikely to get it. The only official guidance is the 1991 rule, put in place just before Pete Rose could appear on the ballot, that says any person on baseball’s permanently ineligible list is also ineligible for the Hall of Fame. Baseball’s rule on steroids is that a player must flunk three tests to be declared permanently ineligible. Nobody has been willful or foolish enough to do so. All 36 candidates on the current ballot played in the era before steroid testing, and even the tests are not a foolproof way to catch all the cheaters. We will never have all the evidence about who did what drugs, and how much they affected the game. This uncertainty, and the presence of some players who are presumed guilty of steroid use without a tangible link, has created a backlog of strong candidates. Employees of The New York Times are spared this thorny decision by an editorial policy that says writers should report the news, not make it. But we still have opinions, and as a 17-year member of the B.B.W.A.A. and the current chairman of the New York chapter, I have argued at national meetings for the elimination of the rule that limits voters to 10 selections. Last year, 22 percent of voters filled out all 10 spaces on their ballot. Nobody was inducted, so nearly all the candidates rolled over to this ballot. So if the voters who picked 10 last year wanted to vote this time for newcomers like Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Mike Mussina and Jeff Kent, some candidates would have to fall off their ballots. This is clearly unfair to the candidates, who could be considered worthy of the game’s highest honor in one election but not the next, simply because of a rule that serves no purpose. The ballot does not ask voters to rank candidates, as the annual award ballots do. The only question that matters for each candidate is, “Yes or No?” The 10-man limit is a contradiction. The B.B.W.A.A. voted last month to form a committee to study that issue and, perhaps, other elements of the voting process. The Hall of Fame would need to approve any recommendations from the writers, but excising the voting limit would be a logical improvement to a complicated but critical process that still matters greatly to so many.

Baseball
Baseball Hall of Fame
Tom Glavine
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Greg Maddux
Frank Thomas


Judge’s Comment on Courtroom Attire Incites Online Debate

Abstract: Lawyers, note well: Briefs might be long, but skirts cannot be brief. Neckties must be sober, not silly. Violate these laws of fashion, and you might incur the wrath of — or, perhaps worse, a glassy stare from — the judge. That is the message from a freewheeling panel discussion among judges this week in Indianapolis . The sartorial discussion was part of a general exchange of views among judges and lawyers during the annual Seventh Circuit Bar Association meeting on Tuesday morning, but its impact is reverberating far beyond the conference room of the Westin Indianapolis as lawyers around the country join an online gender battle. The topic was first raised by a federal judge, Joan H. Lefkow of the Northern District of Illinois , as the panel discussed good and bad trends in courtroom practice. Judge Lefkow said some women should dress more appropriately in court. According to an article in the National Law Journal and from the accounts of others in the room, she said one lawyer had shown up for a jury trial in a velour outfit that looked for all the world as if she was “on her way home from the gym.” While the lawyer won her case, Judge Lefkow suggested to the judges and lawyers in the room that unseemly clothing in court was the kind of issue that should be the subject of quiet conversation in law firms. That simple comment gave way to lively contributions from other participants, who quickly shifted the subject from schlubby to sexy. Judge Michael P. McCuskey, chief judge of the Federal District Court for the Central District of Illinois and a member of the panel, said that at moot court competitions in law schools, he had seen participants wearing “skirts so short that there’s no way they can sit down, and blouses so short there’s no way the judges wouldn’t look.” A member of the audience, Judge A. Benjamin Goldgar of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, joined the minicolloquy, saying that titillating attire was “a huge problem” and a distraction in the courtroom and that “you don’t dress in court as if it’s Saturday night and you’re going out to a party.” In the spirit of sexual equity, Judge Goldgar added that he was also unhappy with lawyers who sported loud ties, some with designs like smiley faces. Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois then got a supportive laugh from the audience when she said that giving clothing advice to young women in a law firm might not be as big an issue if the firms had more women as partners in the first place. As the story made its way around the Internet, readers rushed in to fire shots of their own. At the Web site of the American Bar Association ’s ABA Journal , one woman parodied the male judges’ comments: “I’m sorry, Sugar, I’d love to listen to what you’re saying, but I have a penis. As such, I am only able to use one sense at a time.” She added: “What garbage! Poor men can’t control themselves, so women have to respond.” That sentiment was countered by a comment from a man: “Yes, please ladies, by all means use your sexuality to get what you want (after all, that’s the only excuse you have for dressing in the manner described in this article).” In an interview, Judge McCuskey allowed that “it did end up being a spirited conversation,” and said he had intended to say that the problem “starts in law school” and should be dealt with there. In the panel discussion, Judge Lefkow, whose own taste in clothes tends toward the elegant, suggested that women wondering what might be appropriate for courthouse wear should browse the Web site Corporette . The site calls itself “a fashion and lifestyle blog for overachieving chicks,” and features fashion tips (“This week’s Suit of the Week is the lovely Albert Nipon pique dress and jacket, currently on sale at Neiman Marcus”) and polls (“Are fishnets appropriate for a conservative office?” Short answer: no.) On Thursday, the site posted a Twitter message stating, “Wow — we’re honored that Judge Lefkow gave us a shout out!” Judge Lefkow declined to comment, as did Judge Goldgar and Judge Kendall. Law professors who deal with issues of feminism expressed scorn over the talk. In an interview, Susan J. Koniak, a law professor at Boston University , said she found the discussion about revealing clothing absurd. If clothing in court is such a distraction, she said, “we should just have a bag when we walk in, a burqa.” “Men, women, everybody.”

American Bar Association
Lawyers
Fashion


Revered in N.B.A., Spurs’ Leader Remembers His California Ties

Abstract: OKLAHOMA CITY — The euphoria had not yet worn off when Oliver Eslinger, the basketball coach at the California Institute of Technology, walked into his office a few days after his team had won a conference game for the first time in 26 years. His team had garnered national attention and was reveling in its newfound celebrity. But as Eslinger arrived at work, he was taken aback when he saw what was waiting for him: a case of pinot noir and a heartfelt congratulatory note from the last coach who had lost to Caltech. It was signed by Gregg Popovich. As Popovich, chasing his fifth N.B.A. title with the San Antonio Spurs, is increasingly celebrated for his team’s perennial excellence, he often remarks how unlikely his career has been because, at heart, he still considers himself a Division III college coach. It seems quaint to think of Popovich, with his acerbic wit and his suffer-no-fools demeanor, coaching at Pomona-Pitzer, preparing his group of Sagehens — their gym is known as the Hen House — for battle against the Poets (Whittier College), the Stags (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) or the Kingsmen (Cal Lutheran). But the eight seasons he spent at Pomona-Pitzer, two colleges in Claremont, Calif., that are small enough to share an athletic department, were formative ones for Popovich. It was where he had his first head coaching job and where he first got the feel for what it was like to oversee an entire operation — although in San Antonio that no longer means driving a team van, working out of a converted janitor’s closet, and living in dormitories. Popovich has one trophy in his office at the Spurs’ complex, and it is for the 1986 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship, Pomona-Pitzer’s first in 68 years. “We worked real hard to get it,” Popovich said Sunday morning before Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, which the Spurs lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 106-97. “It meant a lot.” The trophy, in all likelihood, also serves as a reminder of why he has made a career in the sport. “It was sane and real,” Popovich said, surrounded by about 20 news media members and clearly not pleased by the gathering. “This is different.” Popovich, who won his third N.B.A. Coach of the Year award this season, left Pomona-Pitzer 26 years ago, but the bond remains — not just between him and the program and his former players, but also with the coaches in the Sciac (pronounced Sky-ack), a collection of small, mostly liberal arts colleges in the Los Angeles area that, like other Division III programs, do not offer athletic scholarships. Image Popovich in the huddle with his players at Pomona-Pitzer, a program he coached for eight seasons in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Credit Pomona College Popovich had no designs to leave in 1988 to join the Spurs’ staff under Larry Brown, with whom he spent the 1986-87 season at Kansas while he was on a sabbatical. He had built Pomona-Pitzer into a conference champion after going 2-22 in his first season. The intellectual atmosphere of the Claremont Colleges — a group of five undergraduate and two graduate colleges in Claremont — invigorated him, and it was easy for Popovich and his wife, Erin, to envision raising their children in the leafy commuter community. His departure was serendipitous. The Popoviches had been planning to buy a house in the area and had an agreement from the president of Pomona-Pitzer for a loan. But when the president died, the new president would not honor the agreement, which Popovich said he had in writing. Shortly after the meeting, Popovich received a call from Brown offering him a job. Marveling a bit at the fork-in-the-road moment, Popovich said that if he had gotten the loan, he would “absolutely” still be there. Popovich was one of the few coaches to leave the Sciac. The conference’s coaches earn a salary in the range of $80,000 to $120,000, comparable to that of many Division I assistants, and are free of the headaches of recruiting and the grind of travel that are present at other levels. Administrations, concerned more with academic success than winning, rarely push out coaches. Eslinger, who completed his sixth season at Caltech, is the new kid on the block; six of the nine coaches have been at their posts at least 16 seasons. Mike Bokosky, who has been at Chapman for 22 years, does not have a cellphone. Occidental Coach Brian Newhall has been around for 27 seasons, long enough to have coached against Popovich. “It’s the no-turnover league,” said Rich Rider, in his 19th season at California Lutheran after working as an assistant at Boise State. He is one of two coaches in the league with a doctoral degree. Coaches in the Sciac wear many hats. Redlands Coach Jim Ducey also coaches tennis. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Coach Ken Scalmanini teaches two classes and serves on committees for academic standards and work-study programs. And Charlie Katsiaficas, who succeeded Popovich at Pomona-Pitzer, is the chairman of the athletic and physical education departments. “I think people who do succeed and feel fulfilled at this level, they believe in the institution, and they believe in the mission and the influence and effect they can have on the student-athlete, and they like it,” said Katsiaficas, who has won 10 conference titles. “They’re passionate about what they do, but they also appreciate the balance that does exist.” Katsiaficas arrived as a volunteer in 1979, when Popovich lured him from Ellsworth, Me., with a job as a painter. Ducey, who also served as an assistant under Popovich at Pomona-Pitzer, spent his sabbatical eight years ago being “a mouse on the wall” observing the Spurs. “We’ve got our guys for two hours a day, maybe six hours a week,” Ducey said. “You want to be prepared and keep things simple and easily understood. Pop is really efficient. He spends a tremendous amount of time organizing.” Image Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan are trying to win their fifth title together. Popovich led Pomona-Pitzer to a 1986 league title. Credit Eric Gay/Associated Press It is probably not a coincidence that some of the N.B.A.’s well-regarded coaches have played Division III basketball: Detroit’s Stan Van Gundy, Chicago’s Tom Thibodeau, Boston’s Brad Stevens, Memphis’s Dave Joerger, Indiana’s Frank Vogel, Charlotte’s Steve Clifford and Atlanta’s Mike Budenholzer, who was recruited to Pomona-Pitzer by Popovich. And consider how Popovich’s San Antonio teams have evolved. His first title team tossed the ball into Tim Duncan and David Robinson in the low post. When rules prohibiting hand-checking were instituted, the Spurs put the ball in the hands of their quick point guard, Tony Parker. Now, the Spurs race up the court and whip the ball around, searching for layups and open 3-pointers. “There’s probably some truth in that,” Popovich said of the willingness of Division III coaches to tinker. “It’s not as volatile, obviously, as an N.B.A. coaching situation, but it’s still a very competitive place. Everybody’s trying to win, but there’s a little bit more sanity in the sense that priorities are a little bit more in line with real life and what’s important in the world.” Coaches in the Sciac said they could not help but see a little Division III in the Spurs. They cited the same characteristics in their teams that the Spurs were often lauded for — the sound fundamentals and the ever-present discipline. But they also noted that in recent blowouts, the players at the end of the bench played the same way as Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili. Mostly, though, they observe how everyone relates to one another. “It’s a clean, clean college program that happens to be in the N.B.A.,” Newhall, the Occidental coach, said. “The players like the coaches, the coaches like the players, and all they care about is winning. I’m guessing there’s only three or four places in the N.B.A. where people can coach with no fear, where they can tell the star player the truth.” Popovich sees Katsiaficas and his team as often as their schedules allow. During the 2011 N.B.A. lockout, he stayed at Katsiaficas’s home and attended the Sagehens’ training camp. Pomona-Pitzer regularly plays at Trinity University in San Antonio, and Popovich often catches a game when the Spurs swing through Los Angeles. On one of those nights, Occidental lost at Pomona-Pitzer. The Occidental players piled into two vans and prepared for the 45-minute drive back to campus. First, they stopped at a fast-food restaurant near Pomona-Pitzer. As the players stood in line, someone noticed Popovich and Budenholzer, then a Spurs assistant, at an outdoor table. “They got pumped up,” Newhall said. “One of our guys went over and asked, ‘Are you going to draft me?’ Pop said, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard about you.’ He couldn’t have been nicer. I think Pop’s got that romantic feeling about his time here. He has sincere feelings. He’s always been very warm to the league.” That sentiment runs both ways, of course. It offered a bit of comfort to Newhall three years ago when his team was beaten by Caltech, which ended its 310-game conference losing streak. “Pop and I are the only guys who have lost to Caltech,” Newhall said. “Well, I’m in good company.” There is little doubt that Popovich would say the same.

Gregg Popovich
Coaches
Basketball
College basketball
College Sports
Spurs
California Institute of Technology
Pomona CA


U.S. Housing Starts Increased in September

Abstract: Construction companies built more apartment complexes in September, resulting in a temporary rise in housing starts for a real estate market that otherwise appeared to have crested during the summer. Housing starts last month rose 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million homes, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. But a 17 percent surge in multifamily housing — which includes apartments — accounts for almost all of that. New construction and sales of existing homes surged in the first half of the year as more Americans found work and the unemployment rate dipped to a solid 5.1 percent. But tight inventories, rising prices and the absence of meaningful wage growth have capped growth as affordability has become an issue — a problem that new construction can help resolve. “Builders are stepping up to meet that demand but doing so cautiously,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities. “So, for beleaguered buyers who can’t find what they are looking for because of a dearth of listings, there is a bit of help on the way.” Construction rose last month in the Northeast, South and West, while falling in the Midwest. Housing starts have soared 12 percent in the first nine months of 2015. But the pace of building retreated from its June apex, in part because of the expiration of tax incentives for developers in New York. Approved permits fell 5 percent in September to an annual rate of 1.1 million, a sign that construction will slow in the coming months. Sales of existing homes similarly accelerated through the start of the summer, only to decline in August. The tight inventories — just 5.2 months’ supply of homes were listed for sale — have propped up prices. The median cost to buy a home increased 4.7 percent over the year, to $228,700, according to the National Association of Realtors. A greater share of the country is also choosing to rent. The percentage of Americans owning homes has dipped to 63.4 percent, the lowest level in 48 years. The influx of millennials and downsizing baby boomers into the rental market has caused monthly leases to jump 3.8 percent over the last year, according to the real estate firm Zillow. But many Americans lack the income to spend more on housing. Average hourly earnings have increased just 2.2 percent to $25.09, meaning that home values and rental costs are rising at roughly double the rate of incomes. There are signs that more Americans are renovating their homes instead of buying new properties. A new index compiled by BuildZoom — which identifies contractors for projects — found that renovations are running 2.8 percent above their 2005 level. Despite the gains of the last year, new home construction remains 57 percent below its 2005 level during the housing bubble. Still, remodeling activity has been flat during the last year as new home construction has advanced. The gains have left construction firms more optimistic. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released on Monday rose this month to 64. The last time the reading was higher was October 2005 at 68. Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good rather than poor.

Housing starts
Real Estate
Housing
Commerce Department
International trade


Studios Are Trying to Stop DVDs From Fading to Black

Abstract: A winner has finally been declared in Hollywood’s high-definition DVD war. So why isn’t there more cheering? In the 1980s, the triumph of VHS over Betamax helped develop the lucrative home entertainment market. DVDs, introduced in the 1990s, turned into an even bigger gold mine, accounting for roughly 60 percent of studio profits in recent years, analysts say. The entertainment giants have positioned high-definition DVDs as yet another blockbuster business. But the victory of Sony ’s new Blu-ray high-definition disc over a rival format, Toshiba’s HD DVD, masks a problem facing the studios: the overall decline of the DVD market. Domestic DVD sales fell 3.2 percent last year to $15.9 billion, according to Adams Media Research, the first annual drop in the medium’s history. Adams projects another decline in 2008, to $15.4 billion, and a similar dip for 2009. So instead of celebrating the Blu-ray format — which remains a nascent business — the studios are scrambling to introduce an array of initiatives aimed at propping up the broader market. Some efforts, like the addition of new interactive features and changes in how DVDs are packaged and promoted, are intended to prevent further market erosion while nurturing Blu-ray. But media companies are also introducing technology that they hope will solve the more difficult tasks of generating growth and delaying the obsolescence of DVD altogether. DVD sales are sagging for various reasons, including a flooded marketplace and competition for leisure time. But the Internet is perhaps the biggest enemy. Technology companies have watered down the DVD market by aggressively pushing Internet downloads. Apple’s iTunes now offers downloads of 500 movies and last month started renting titles like “Spider-Man 3.” Meanwhile, telecommunications providers like Time Warner and Comcast are pushing their faster broadband lines by promoting them as capable of delivering fast downloads. Movie studios are fighting back by taking a page from the Internet playbook. Indeed, the centerpiece of the market rejuvenation effort is something 20th Century Fox calls “digital copy.” Fox DVDs, starting last month, now come with an additional disc holding a digital file of the title. Consumers can download the file to a computer in about five minutes — far less time than via the Internet — and then watch the movie there or transfer it to their iPod . “This puts the DVD at the center of the digital revolution and returns the business to a growth trajectory,” said Mike Dunn, the president of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, Walt Disney and Warner Brothers are all pursuing their own versions of the idea. Most technology consultants, while not as optimistic about the DVD’s future as Mr. Dunn, are greeting studio efforts with enthusiasm. Tom Adams, the founder of Adams Media Research, said the packaging of digital files with standard DVDs “has the real potential to steal the thunder from the Internet delivery of movies.” But John Freeman, an industry analyst, sees the effort as a stall tactic. Although digital copies are “a step forward,” he said, that step is tantamount to Hollywood admitting that its lucrative hard-goods business is growing obsolete. Today, digital files on discs; tomorrow, mass downloading straight from the Internet. Troubles big and small started buffeting the DVD business in 2005. First, overall sales of television shows on disc started to slip as releases lost their freshness — New to DVD! “Murder She Wrote: The Complete Eighth Season” — and consumers realized they were devoting a lot of living room space to bulky boxed sets they never watched. Next, prices started to plummet as overall demand weakened and retailers and grocery stores turned to DVDs as loss leaders. DVDs sold for an average retail price of $15.01 last year, compared with $21.95 in 2000, according to Adams. “Wal-Mart has indicated it is getting bored with older library titles,” said Stephen Prough, the co-founder of Salem Partners, a small investment bank that specializes in film catalogs. “When there is little to no consumer demand at a $6 price point, you’ve got problems.” And a lingering battle among various participants in DVD marketing — hardware makers, studios and retailers — over which of two competing high-definition technologies would replace standard DVDs left consumers in limbo, analysts say. Last week, Sony’s Blu-ray finally won the battle after Toshiba threw in the towel on HD DVD. Media companies, aware of investor concerns about the future of their cash cow, say the problems are overblown. Their position in part: DVDs will continue as a giant profit center because the Internet — despite the “marketing hocus pocus” of the telecommunications industry, in the words of one Fox executive — will remain too slow for widespread downloading to catch on for the foreseeable future. International DVD sales are still growing, studios add, and some players do not concede that domestic growth is over. Bob Chapek, president of the home entertainment unit of Walt Disney, said that blockbusters like “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” achieve large numbers even if lesser titles are struggling. He said sales of Blu-ray discs would contribute to “a vibrant growth pattern” for the category by decade’s end. “There is nobody worried about the consumer suddenly fleeing,” said Ronald J. Sanders, president of Warner Home Video. Blu-ray DVDs, which sell for a 25 percent premium, will without question restore momentum to the DVD market, but there is disagreement over how much and how soon. “There is still plenty of concern at Sony, Best Buy and Blockbuster that this isn’t going to achieve the same level of success that the DVD has,” said Robert Heiblim, an industry consultant with RH Associates. Microsoft said this weekend it would stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 game system. Toshiba, reflecting on its failure with HD DVD, said the industry might be overestimating interest in a new format. Jodi Sally, Toshiba America’s vice president for DVD marketing, said consumers en masse do not feel a nagging need to upgrade. “Our biggest competitor was that consumers seem to be satisfied” with DVDs, she said. Studio executives dismiss that view as sour grapes, pointing to their own research. Fox, for instance, estimates that sales of Blu-ray discs will soar to nearly $1 billion in 2008, from $170 million last year. “Blu-ray growth will more than replace losses from the mature business,” said Mr. Chapek of Disney. Disney is leaving nothing to chance, mounting an aggressive campaign to persuade consumers to upgrade to Blu-ray. Among its efforts: a Blu-ray exhibit, built to look like the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, that tours shopping malls; Blu-ray previews on its DVDs; and a $10 rebate when consumers buy certain Blu-ray movies. Still, the studios are hedging their bets. Home video executives are racing to “refresh” the traditional DVD to raise sales. Some, like Warner Brothers, are getting results through more marketing. Mr. Sanders said the studio was releasing more movies on DVD and on video-on-demand services at the same time; typically the two are separated to prevent undercutting either revenue stream. “By pairing up the marketing, V.O.D. and DVD both do a lot better,” he said. Sony is trying to milk obscure titles from its library that it previously considered unsustainable on DVD, said David Bishop, president of Sony’s home entertainment unit. Last month, it said it would make certain niche movies available to consumers through Hewlett-Packard’s manufactured-on-demand service. “It allows us to sell some of the deeper catalog that retailers would not normally carry,” said Mr. Bishop. Over-the-top packaging stunts are also helping buoy sales. “We are trying harder to create very handsome, collectible packaging that retailers are proud to put on their shelves,” said Ken Ross, general manager of CBS Home Entertainment. CBS and its distribution partner, Paramount, recently had success with a 34-disc set, priced at $199, of the entire run of “I Love Lucy.” Mr. Ross sees no weakness in TV shows on DVD — CBS will release 15 percent more titles this year than last — but he said the company was trying to make exclusive agreements with retailers, like a recent deal with Borders for Showtime titles. “This business certainly isn’t as easy as it used to be,” he said.

DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)
Sales
Motion Pictures
Sony Corp
Toshiba Corporation


Beaks, Bills and Climate

Abstract: In the 1800s, an American zoologist named Joel Allen posited that animals in cold climates evolved to have shorter appendages (limbs, ears, and tails) than those in hot climates, in order to minimize surface area and thereby minimize heat loss. The theory, known as Allen’s rule, has long appeared in biology books, but scientific evidence for it has remained weak. Now a study comparing bird bills provides the most substantial evidence yet in support of Allen’s rule. Researchers looked at more than 200 bird species and found that there is a significant relationship between bill length and climate. Birds that live in hot environments, like the toucan, tend to have large bills. Those in colder environments, like the turkey, have smaller ones. In the case of the toucan, about 30 to 60 percent of body heat can be lost through the beak. In a hot, tropical environment, this is extremely useful. On average, birds living in cooler climates, like the turkey and the partridge, have beaks one-third to one-fourth the size of birds in warmer climates, said Glenn Tattersall , a biologist at Brock University in Ontario, Canada, and one of the study’s authors. This helps them retain body heat, Dr. Tattersall said. For the study, he gathered data on birds that live in Canada’s cooler climate, while his co-author, Matthew Symonds of Melbourne University, focused on Australian birds that live in warmer climates. Their study will appear in a future issue of The American Naturalist .


Judges Want to See Changes to Rockefeller-Era Drug Laws

Abstract: It is a cold spring morning, and a woman in her 30s, who has spent most of her adult life working as a prostitute to support a cocaine habit, pushes open the door to a courthouse on 161st Street in the Bronx. Last year, she was arrested and found with enough cocaine to send her to jail for a year. Instead, when she walked out of court on Tuesday, she had graduated: She had gone six months without using any drugs, she was in a rigorous job-training program, and her child, who had been in foster care, was living with her again. “This is one of the wins,” said Laura Safer-Espinoza, an acting State Supreme Court justice who presided over the woman’s case. If it was a human triumph, it was achieved by a kind of legal sidestep: the agreement of a prosecutor to move the case into one of the city’s special drug courts . That maneuver bypassed the strict regimen of statutes that New York State has used for nearly 40 years, since Nelson A. Rockefeller was governor, to wrestle with the possession and sale of narcotics. Now, Justice Safer-Espinoza and 14 other judges who sit in courts throughout the city are circulating an unusual open letter to ask that those laws, modified in 2005, be changed yet again. They argue that judges — not just prosecutors — should be able to pick among the remedies for nonviolent people who violate the drug law. For some, the judges say, that will be prison. For others, it will be treatment programs overseen by the courts. “This is not a soft-on-crime issue,” Justice Safer-Espinoza said during a recess on Tuesday. “The point is to give judges more alternatives.” Anyone looking at the lineup of power in Albany might jump to the conclusion that changes are inevitable. The governor and leaders of both the Assembly and the Senate have come out in favor of reforms. But the New York State District Attorneys Association has argued that its members should continue, in effect, to have power over the sentencing. With Democrats holding the State Senate by a single vote, no one is in a hurry to be accused of coddling criminals. Under current practices, a prison term can be avoided for many drug offenses only if the prosecutor agrees that the case can be handled outside the ordinary channels. The existing drug courts are demanding. Participants must attend a treatment program for up to two years, be tested several times a week, and hold down a full-time on-the-books job or attend school. Among the requirements that Justice Safer-Espinoza said ought to be changed is that participants not be taking methadone, which some treatment programs use as a substitute for more debilitating drugs. In addition, the programs are now limited to nonviolent first offenders. BETWEEN 12,000 and 13,000 people are serving prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, according to Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Democrat who is the chairman of the Codes Committee. The state estimates that public spends about $45,000 per year per prisoner. “There’s widespread agreement that we have to go to more treatment, and there’s agreement about what works,” Mr. Schneiderman said, adding that that goal can be achieved through different channels. “One of the best programs in the state is run by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.” The current struggle is really about whether judges or prosecutors will control access to the alternative programs, and whether second offenders should be eligible for consideration. “This is a matter of power,” Mr. Schneiderman said, “not good, dispassionate public-policy assessment.” To expand treatment, he said, would cost about $80 million, much of which he said could come from the federal stimulus bill. “The savings will come back to us in about two years,” he said. “If you are able to close more prisons, then you will have real savings.” Judges do not usually speak about pending legislation, but they are allowed to comment on policies affecting the court system. Justice Safer-Espinoza said that in 10 years in the drug court, she has seen many people who were unable to complete the programs and had to serve prison time. “Treatment is not for everybody,” she said. “A significant portion of our people do not make it.” Did any judges decline to sign? Justice Safer-Espinoza laughed. “Plenty of them,” she said. “Judges are sitting ducks. We are not allowed to respond to criticisms in the press of our actions.”

New York State
Drug Abuse and Traffic
District Attorneys
Supreme Courts (State)
Law and Legislation
Sentences (Criminal)


In Wild Finish, New Orleans Upsets North Carolina State

Abstract: T. J. Worley banked in a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left last night and visiting New Orleans became the latest midmajor to spring an upset by beating No. 21 North Carolina State, 65-63. In a wild finish that included three lead changes in the final 15 seconds, New Orleans erased a 7-point deficit by scoring 8 consecutive points in the final 1 minute 48 seconds. The Privateers took a 62-61 lead with 14.9 seconds left on two free throws by Bo McCalebb. Gavin Grant made a layup over Jaroslav Tyrna to put N.C. State up by 63-62 with 8.3 seconds left. The Privateers inbounded and passed to Worley, whose 3-pointer from about 25 feet kissed off the glass. Worley then broke up Brandon Costner’s desperation pass as time expired and the Privateers, out of the Sun Belt Conference, celebrated a victory against Monte Towe, who recruited many of them to New Orleans before leaving to become an assistant with the Wolfpack. VILLANOVA 70, BUCKNELL 64 Shane Clark scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Scottie Reynolds added 15 points and No. 24 Villanova overcame 15 3-pointers by the visiting Bison. NORTH CAROLINA 107, IONA 72 Tyler Hansbrough had 27 points and Danny Green 15 in the top-ranked Tar Heels’ home opener. Dexter Gray scored 18 points to lead the Gaels (0-3). LOUISVILLE 84, JACKSON STATE 53 Earl Clark had 20 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists to lead the sixth-ranked Cardinals at home. INDIANA 100, LONGWOOD 49 The freshman Eric Gordon scored 21 points and Jordan Crawford added 16 for No. 8 Indiana at home in the opening round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge. TEXAS 100, ARK.-MONTICELLO 52 A. J. Abrams scored a career-high 30 points and No. 16 Texas held visiting Arkansas-Monticello of Division II to 11 first-half points. ARKANSAS 70, V.C.U. 60 Sonny Weems scored 16 points and Patrick Beverley added 13 to lead the 18th-ranked Razorbacks in a consolation game at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan. SETON HALL 111, ROBERT MORRIS 107 Jamar Nutter scored 5 of his 11 points in the final seconds of overtime — including a 3-pointer off a steal that put Seton Hall ahead for good — and the Pirates overcame a 23-point, second-half deficit at home in the Philly Hoop Group Classic. Women RUTGERS 67, GEO. WASHINGTON 42 Matee Ajavon made four of five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points, and Kia Vaughn had 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead the sixth-ranked Scarlet Knights over the 14th-ranked Colonials in Washington. STANFORD 81, UTAH 77 Jayne Appel scored 4 of her 30 points early in the second overtime and the fifth-ranked Cardinal avoided an upset on the road. MARYLAND 75, L.S.U. 62 Kristi Toliver scored 23 points to help the third-ranked Terrapins beat the fourth-ranked Tigers at home in the Preseason Women’s N.I.T. championship. TENNESSEE 92, TEXAS 67 Candace Parker scored 21 points, including the first 11 for No. 1 Tennessee, and grabbed 6 rebounds in a victory at home over No. 21 Texas. The win for the top-ranked Lady Vols came on the same day they celebrated their 2006-7 national championship by hoisting a banner to the rafters of Thompson-Boling Arena. It was their seventh title. NORTH CAROLINA 97, SYRACUSE 72 Rashanda McCants had career highs of 27 points and 14 rebounds to lead the seventh-ranked Tar Heels at home.

Basketball
Villanova University
Bucknell University
Iona College
University of North Carolina
University of Louisville


A Kingpin of State Politics Bids Adieu to a Stage He Relished

Abstract: ALBANY — Like any good showman, Joseph L. Bruno knows how to leave his audience wanting more. Barely eight minutes after arriving at his conference room at the State Capitol on Tuesday to announce his retirement from the Senate, the majority leader tearfully choked out a final thought — “It’s bittersweet, it’s sad and it’s happy, it’s tough” — and darted from the room. But not for long. He bounded back a moment later, drawing himself up before the dozens of Senate staffers, reporters and lobbyists who had gathered for his farewell. “You have questions, and I’m not going to duck out on questions,” Mr. Bruno said, flashing a grin. It was the perfect encore for a man who, more than most of his predecessors as majority leader (not to mention the three governors and one Assembly speaker he served alongside), made the Capitol a stage for his own brand of political theater. For nearly 14 years, Mr. Bruno, 79, has been the courtly, wisecracking face of a hard-edged political machine, one that kept Republicans in control of the State Senate even as New York turned steadily more Democratic. To many New Yorkers, he was a leading symbol of Albany’s endless, grinding political stalemate. Yet Mr. Bruno’s longevity and tenacity rested in large part on his ability to defy political expectation again and again. He came to prominence as an outspoken fiscal conservative and ardent foe of taxes and regulation. Yet over the years, he built a close and unlikely relationship with the state’s powerful labor unions, bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars into Senate Republicans’ campaign coffers. A native of Glens Falls, about 200 miles north of New York City, and the son of a mill worker, Mr. Bruno also became close allies with Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire New York City mayor and another political chameleon. Last year, the senator faced an overwhelmingly popular new Democratic governor, Eliot Spitzer, and the beginnings of a federal corruption investigation. Yet within months, in a move of astonishing Albany jujitsu, Mr. Bruno had established himself as the sympathetic victim to Mr. Spitzer’s brash, scandal-tarred new kid on the block. Perhaps least obvious to outsiders, however, were the warmth and bonhomie that had helped fuel Mr. Bruno’s rise and cement his place in the corridors of the Capitol. Where the two men who preceded him — Ralph J. Marino, a cards-to-the-chest Republican from Long Island, and Warren M. Anderson, a patrician lawyer from Binghamton — were sometimes criticized for being aloof, Mr. Bruno was informal and personable. Where his predecessors often delegated to senior aides, Mr. Bruno made it a point to personally return every phone call from fellow senators and was carefully attuned to the needs of each Republican’s home base. That touch helped Mr. Bruno cement his position among Senate Republicans, inoculating him against potential rivals to his leadership. And as some of those senators approached an age perhaps more suitable for golfing in Florida than legislating in Albany, Mr. Bruno’s personal bond with his fellow lawmakers persuaded many of them not to retire. “He is completely approachable, a regular guy, never concerned with formalities,” said Senator Serphin R. Maltese, 75, a Queens Republican. Mr. Bruno also had a sentimental streak that occasionally inflected his political stances, including on health issues. In the late 1990s, for example, Mr. Bruno helped write legislation that used a portion of the state’s settlement from a national tobacco lawsuit to offer more health care to the uninsured. At the time, Mr. Bruno said he was motivated in part by his mother’s death after a botched operation. “I saw as a kid what happens when you don’t have adequate health care and when you don’t have funds for doctors,” Mr. Bruno said at the time. “One of the things that is important in my life is that there be adequate health care for people.” Similarly, in 2003 he pushed for legislation to ban smoking inside workplaces, which was heavily opposed by the tobacco lobby and most of his fellow Republicans. “This is a guy who governs from the heart a lot more than most of them,” said Russell Sciandra, director of the Center for a Tobacco Free New York. “If he felt strongly about something, he would make it happen.” On Tuesday, even some of his fiercest critics could not keep themselves from feeling sad about Mr. Bruno’s impending departure. “When he takes a stand, he will give you the arguments for it, and he’s difficult to get around,” said Barbara Bartoletti, the legislative director of the League of Women Voters of New York State. “But we have worked very collegially with him on many, many issues. I’m going to miss his humor.” That humor was never more on display than in Mr. Bruno’s public appearances, which — unlike some Albany politicians — he actually seemed to enjoy. He often opened news conferences to anyone who wanted to come and always seemed to relish jousting with reporters who importuned him with pointed questions. “Senator Anderson was inclined to leave the press and statements to his staff, and so was Senator Marino,” Mr. Maltese said. With Mr. Bruno, he said, “You never knew what he was going to say — and he rarely disappointed.” All those qualities were on display for Mr. Bruno’s farewell news conference after the senator swept in wearing a crisp pinstripe suit and his trademark tan. There was a nod to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, with whom Mr. Bruno has often sparred. On Tuesday, Mr. Bruno spoke of him like a sibling. (“We have our ups and downs, like any partnership.”) There were jokes about the press (“You are very, very special”) and about his nearly indiscernible age (“I have a great-granddaughter — most of you think I’m not old enough”). And of course, Mr. Bruno offered a decidedly Brunoesque answer to a question about the continuing federal investigation into his outside business activities. “There’s always one question too many,” he sighed.

Bruno Joseph L
Politics and Government
Albany (NY)


Chechen Claims Airport Bombing

Abstract: LONDON (Reuters) — The Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov said Monday that he had ordered the suicide bombing that killed 36 people at Russia ’s busiest airport last month. Mr. Umarov, 46, speaking in a video posted on an Islamist Web site, described the attack on the Domodedovo airport in Moscow on Jan. 24 as a “special operation” directed against the Russian people and the prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin. He said there would be further attacks in pursuit of an independent Muslim state in Russia’s Caucasus region, an area embracing Chechnya, Dagestan and other nearby territories. He appeared in the video, made on the day of the attack, wearing combat fatigues. Mr. Umarov, who has promised Russians that “the war will come to your streets,” also claimed to have ordered the suicide bombing that killed more than 40 people in the Moscow subway in March, and the bombing of a luxury train, the Nevsky Express, which killed 28 in November 2009.

Umarov Doku K
Russia
Terrorism
Airports
Moscow (Russia)


An Elusive Trophy, Gleaming Through the Smudges of Hands and Lips

Abstract: For 37 long years, as the sterling silver Triple Crown trophy waited for a permanent home, those handling it almost always did so wearing white cotton gloves. “It shows fingerprints easily; they don’t look good on the silver,” said Darren Rogers, the Kentucky Derby communications executive responsible for escorting the trophy on its many trips from the Kentucky Derby museum, where the award has been on exhibit since 1985. Fourteen times the Triple Crown trophy had made the journey to New York so it could be bestowed on a horse who won the Belmont Stakes after also winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Thirteen times the trophy had been returned unclaimed — and unblemished. On Saturday, about 15 minutes after American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, the trophy that comes with that achievement was being smudged by dozens of ungloved hands and kissed by joyful lips. The gloves were off. Under a bright sun, that did not seem to diminish the gleam of a trophy that had waited a long time for such a celebration. Image Victor Espinoza rode American Pharoah to victory in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, becoming the first horse since 1978, and the 12th over all, to sweep the Triple Crown races. 1 / 18 American Pharoah’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, raised the trophy over his head as the Belmont Park crowd cheered. He handed it to the trainer Bob Baffert, who handed it to the jockey Victor Espinoza. Espinoza handed it to Zayat’s son, Justin, who a few minutes earlier had been sprinting around the winner’s circle like a toddler on Christmas morning who had just unwrapped his favorite toy. Baffert smiled as he stared at the trophy, which was now being passed around to a greater circle of relatives, friends and associates. “I’ve seen that trophy a lot,” Baffert said. “So many times, really. But not in this way.” The 12th version of the Triple Crown trophy had been given away for the first and last time. The trophy will now return to Kentucky, where it will be engraved with the details of Saturday’s race and later sent to the owners of American Pharoah. Then, for the first time since 1978, there will not be a Triple Crown trophy waiting to be won — until a new one is created. The Belmont, From Every Angle A 360-degree view of American Pharoah winning the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown. American Pharoah’s victory prevented one of the most awkward moments in sports, when the Triple Crown trophy, which sits atop a regal, trackside table as the race is run, is whisked away when the winner of the first two legs of the Triple Crown fails to add the third successive victory. “I’m instructed to remove the Triple Crown trophy immediately,” Rogers said. “It’s like the end of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series when NBC had to clear out of the Red Sox clubhouse and pull all the champagne from the lockers at the last minute.” Nothing would be more ignominious for the stately trophy than to be publicly left on the award table after the festive ceremony in the winner’s circle — an award meant for a different horse who did not find that circle. But Saturday’s outcome eliminated the need for the trophy’s ungainly exit. It also provides a winsome conclusion to the trophy’s many years of fruitless trips to New York. It always left Kentucky in an airtight case especially made for the trophy. On those flights to New York, the airline pilots frequently wanted the Triple Crown trophy in the cockpit with them. In Manhattan, the trophy sometimes got its own hotel bed. In public appearances, it was protected by armed guards. It came to New York over and over so it could always be on the scene after some fast horse won the first two legs of the Triple Crown. “It’s like a little orphan looking for a home,” Rogers said. The trophy was commissioned in 1950 by the Thoroughbred Racing Association and created by Cartier jewelers. It has three sides, with each of the faces of the award representing one leg of the Triple Crown and engraved with information from each race. Video American Pharoah became the first horse since 1978 to sweep the Triple Crown. Credit Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times The first trophy was given retroactively to the 1948 Triple Crown winner, Citation. Each year thereafter, new trophies were given to the eight Triple Crown winners to that point — in reverse order of their accomplishment, until the owners or heirs of the owners of Sir Barton, the 1919 winner, received a trophy in 1957. A ninth trophy was crafted at the same time but not awarded until 1973, when Secretariat won the Triple Crown. Seattle Slew and Affirmed followed as trophy recipients in 1977 and 1978. Although not awarded for 37 years, the trophy remained a featured attraction. “Nothing has stopped it from being treated like royalty,” Rogers said. “When I check it through security at the airport, the airline personnel and then the T.S.A. security people, and then anybody who sees the hubbub the trophy is creating — they all want to take pictures with it.” What is the trophy’s appeal? While other trophies can be won year to year, and teams and individuals who fail in their pursuit of those trophies always have the possibility of claiming that prize again the next year, a horse going for the Triple Crown trophy has only one chance. As a result, the wait can last nearly four decades. For a 14th time since 1978, the Triple Crown trophy came to New York. It was protected, pampered and polished. Then, for the first time, it was handed over in celebration. Then handed over again. And again. By dusk, it was covered in fingerprints, each a sign that the Triple Crown trophy had finally found a home.

Horse racing
Triple Crown Horse Racing
Belmont Stakes


David Sedaris’s Latest Audiobook to Be Released on Vinyl

Abstract: As physical formats and devices have shrunk, revenues for the audiobook industry have grown, since it is more convenient to listen to an iPod while exercising and commuting than fiddling with CDs. Digital downloads grew to 21 percent of the industry’s total sales in 2008, from 6 percent in 2004, according to the Audiobook Publishers Association. It is all the more odd, then, that Hachette Audio recently announced that the latest audiobook by David Sedaris , “Live for Your Listening Pleasure,” which features readings before audiences, would be available on the least portable of formats: vinyl. Reminiscent of Blue Note albums from the 1950s and 1960s, the cover features a photograph of a woman sprawled on a white shag rug with a come-hither look, albums strewn about. Albums are enjoying something of a renaissance, posting $57 million in sales in 2008, more than double the previous year and the best for the format since 1990, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The format is so rare for audiobooks, however, that the Audiobook Publishers Association has never even tracked its sales. But Maja Thomas, senior vice president for digital and audio publishing at the Hachette Book Group, said she was drawn to the idea precisely because it was quirky. Mr. Sedaris’s “audience is very attuned to irony and is going to find this funny,” Ms. Thomas said. The 31-minute album, which will be released on Jan. 5 and cost $24.98, will include only two of the five essays on the CD version of the audiobook, but will feature a code enabling purchasers to digitally download the entire program. Hachette was less kind to another past-its-prime format in 2008. Upon releasing “Sail,” a novel by James Patterson and Howard Roughan, in a cassette version, it declared it would no longer release in the format and held a mock funeral for cassettes in its Manhattan office. “We had a funeral for one format, but you can think of this as the ultimate zombie,” Ms. Thomas said. “The record is coming back from the dead.”

Audiobooks
Recordings and Downloads (Audio)
Sedaris David
Hachette Book Group
vinyl
Live for Your Listening Pleasure (Book)


More Reports of Avastin Injections Causing Blindness

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — Five more patients who were being treated with the drug Avastin for eye disease have been blinded, according to one of the patients and medical professionals. The latest cases occurred last month at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Los Angeles. Late Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs confirmed that the problem had occurred and said that an investigation into the matter was continuing. “Our deepest sympathy goes out to the veterans affected by the Avastin eye injections,” it said in a statement. Avastin, made by Genentech, is a cancer drug but is commonly used to treat the wet form of age-related macular degeneration and other eye diseases because it costs only about $50 an injection. That saves Medicare and patients hundreds of millions of dollars a year compared with using Lucentis, a somewhat similar Genentech drug approved for the treatment of eye diseases but costing about $2,000 an injection. To use Avastin for eye disease, a vial meant for a cancer patient must be divided into numerous tiny doses and each dose placed in a syringe for injection into the eye. The extra handling increases the risk of bacterial contamination and other problems. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration issued an alert saying that 12 patients in the Miami area had suffered eye infections after being injected with Avastin. Some of the patients lost all of the remaining vision in their treated eye, the F.D.A. said. Earlier this year , four patients at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Nashville also suffered infections from the bacterially contaminated Avastin. The family of one man has filed a claim for $4 million, saying the infection left the man blind and with brain damage. In the cases in Los Angeles, no contaminant has been identified, according to medical professionals and a patient involved. The five patients, who had macular degeneration, all received their injections of Avastin on Aug. 12 at the V.A. Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in the San Fernando Valley. “We all ended up in the E.R. over the course of the next few days and put together the connection,” said the patient in Los Angeles. Most of the patients lost all of their vision in the eye that received the injection, he said. This man, who said his vision had not recovered, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he and other patients were in talks with the V.A. about the situation. He said he learned from V.A. officials that the drug had come from the pharmacy at the main campus of the V.A. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System in Los Angeles. The recent incidents could lead doctors and patients to use the far more expensive Lucentis instead of Avastin. In its statement, Veterans Affairs said that its Los Angeles medical center had suspended use of Avastin for macular degeneration on Aug. 15 and was now buying Lucentis to resume therapy for the 30 to 40 treatments it administers a week. Some proponents of the use of Avastin say that there have been more than two million injections of the drug to treat eyes over the last six years with few problems. The cases are also likely to raise questions about so-called compounding pharmacies, which prepare customized drugs for patients, including doses of Avastin to treat eye problems. The F.D.A. has limited oversight of these pharmacies. In its alert on Tuesday, the F.D.A. said the 12 cases of lost vision in Miami had been traced to a single compounding pharmacy, which it did not identify.

Eyes and Eyesight
Drugs (Pharmaceuticals)
Avastin (Drug)
Blindness
Medicine and Health


Newark: Court Upholds Death Sentence

Abstract: In what is considered the final appeal available to a man convicted of kidnapping and murdering a Fair Lawn businessman 17 years ago, the State Supreme Court upheld his death sentence yesterday in a 6-to-1 ruling. But a state moratorium on the death penalty was imposed in January. The convict, John Martini Sr., 75, killed the businessman, Irving Flax, in 1989 even though Mr. Flax’s wife paid $25,000 of the $100,000 ransom. Mr. Martini was later convicted of three other murders.

Capital Punishment
Murders and Attempted Murders
Kidnapping


When the Questions Turn Legal, Bonds Is Brief

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 — Barry Bonds made his first appearance of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, ambling out of the dugout with a black bat in his hands and a serious look on his face. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed from drab to delirious. In Bonds, these forever-loyal fans trust. With Bonds’s already chaotic personal life poised to become more complicated if he is indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday, he stayed focused enough Wednesday to line a pinch-hit single. Bonds’s hit started a rally and helped the San Francisco Giants score two runs and stop the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, at AT&T Park. After a smiling Bonds celebrated with his teammates on the field, he went back to his sneering self. When Bonds was asked how he had concentrated on the at-bat with all of the legal issues that were swirling around him, he said, “Is that your question?” After a pause, Bonds said, “I just saw it and hit it.” Bonds, who watched Bobby Brown perform “My Prerogative” on “The Tyra Banks Show” before agreeing to be interviewed, was surly about questions related to what could be looming. There is a chance Bonds could be indicted on perjury or tax-evasion charges, so that possibility dominated a brief session with the news media. “Is that why you guys are here?” Bonds said incredulously. “Well, if you want to talk baseball, you can do that. But, other than that, you guys can go in that direction.” When a reporter repeated the same question about whether Bonds was feeling anxiety about his future, he said, “O.K., you need to go that way,” and pointed to the other side of the clubhouse. The only question about Bonds that matters these days is what may happen to him Thursday. “I have not been told he’s going to be indicted or that he won’t be indicted,” said Michael Rains, Bonds’s lawyer. “I should be in the know, but I’m not.” Rains said he told Bonds that an indictment was “a piece of paper” and that “a criminal case takes time.” Rains added that there was a chance the case could “go away at the motion stage,” when his side disclosed what he called prosecutorial misconduct and leaks from the grand jury. He also said there was a possibility the grand jury could seek an extension, which would mean there would be no resolution Thursday. The Associated Press reported Wednesday night that the lawyer for Bonds’s personal trainer, Greg Anderson, expected Anderson to be released from prison on Thursday. Mark Geragos, the lawyer, declined to say how he knew Anderson would be released. Anderson was held in civil contempt and imprisoned earlier this month for refusing to testify to the grand jury investigating Bonds. It was unclear what Anderson’s release meant to a possible indictment, but his release would probably signal that the current grand jury would be allowed to expire on Thursday. Bonds received a respite from the legal questions when he was asked about his feisty at-bat against the Brewers’ Derrick Turnbow. Turnbow, who was throwing 98-mile-an-hour fastballs, looked as if he might have struck out Bonds on a nifty 1-2 slider, but Bonds checked his swing. When the count stretched to 3-2, Turnbow had to throw another fastball, and Bonds singled to center. “It’s hard to pinch-hit when the guy is throwing 98 miles an hour,” Bonds said. Even though Bonds is being investigated for his testimony in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case in 2003 and on charges that he failed to report memorabilia income, he claimed ignorance about why 30 reporters were crowded around his locker. Bonds did not start Wednesday because the Giants played a day game after a night game. Manager Felipe Alou, who was polite and eloquent for weeks while discussing Bonds’s pursuit of Babe Ruth’s 714 homers, waved his hands and declined to talk about what was happening off the field with Bonds. “I just want to talk about Barry the player,” Alou said. Mark Sweeney, who may be closer to Bonds than any other Giant, said he admired Bonds for continuing to play through difficult times. “It’s around us and so forth,” Sweeney said. “I guess the answer is we hope nothing happens, obviously, because we’re a better team with him.” Reliever Steve Kline said: “I don’t even care what’s going on. That’s none of my business. That’s his life.” Bonds’s life Wednesday involved a standing ovation, a crucial hit for the Giants and then more cheers. Afterward, Bonds allowed reporters a half-dozen questions. After the sixth question focused on Bonds’s feelings about what lies ahead, he ended the interview and ended the day before what could be one of the most memorable days of his life. “That’s it,” Bonds said. “See you later. Have fun. Have a nice day.”