Open-Skies Agreements Challenged

Abstract: For more than two decades, domestic airlines and successive administrations have pushed for, and achieved, broad international agreements that have fostered greater competition, lower airfares and more flights to hundreds of destinations like Tokyo, Beijing and Rio de Janeiro. But now, with the rise of Persian Gulf airlines and other nimble foreign carriers, those pacts, called open-skies agreements, are under attack from an unlikely alliance of domestic airlines and unions. The chief executives of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines recently joined together to quietly lobby the Obama administration to restrict access by fast-growing rivals based in the Persian Gulf. They cited unfair competition from the Middle East carriers Emirates, Etihad Airlines and Qatar Airways, which they say receive large government subsidies that put domestic carriers at a disadvantage. This comes as another foreign airline, Norwegian Air Shuttle, is facing opposition from pilot unions and some domestic airlines to expand low-cost flights from Europe and Asia. The Transportation Department is reviewing Norwegian’s application, but delays have prompted a complaint by European Union officials. Legacy airlines, which have traditionally backed open-skies policies to expand their markets, are now rebelling against the sort of competition that these policies are meant to bring about. The push has gained their rivals’ attention. Tim Clark, the president of Emirates, said their attacks threaten “the bedrock of the modern-day aviation system.” “By challenging open skies, you are not just challenging the aero-political situation, you are challenging the very essence of economic liberalization that the U.S. has championed for decades,” Mr. Clark said in an interview. “I hope the administration will not stand for this nonsense.” Last week, the top executives from Delta, American and United met with several government officials, including Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, and Penny Pritzker, the commerce secretary, and requested that existing open-skies agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar be renegotiated. “We welcome robust competition provided the playing field is level,” all three airlines said in similar statements. “A reopening of those open-skies agreements is the first step and the right step to ensure competition is preserved and enhanced.” This is the latest skirmish in a long-running battle that Western airlines have been waging against the fast-growing Middle East carriers. Some European countries curtail flights from the United Arab Emirates, and Canada has placed restrictions on the number of flights from there as well. The three gulf carriers have expanded their operations into the United States in recent years, though they do not compete directly with domestic airlines. Emirates flies to nine United States cities from its hub in Dubai. Delta and United have only one daily flight each to Dubai and none to Abu Dhabi. Gulf carriers are more threatening to the European allies of United States carriers, which have had more direct competition for a lot longer. Through their partnerships, all three big United States airlines have business ventures with a major European airline, sharing revenue and profits on trans-Atlantic flights: Delta with Air France, American with British Airways, and United with Lufthansa, the German carrier. The domestic airlines’ change of heart about open-skies agreements is an abrupt shift after decades of pushing for them. Since 1992, the United States has signed more than 100 open-skies agreements, a policy that usually gets the strongest backing from the domestic carriers. Last year, Delta’s chief executive, Richard Anderson, called on Japan’s government to expand competition. Image Flight attendants serve the business class section of an Emirates A380 jet at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. The head of the airline criticized those who once backed but are now opposed to open-skies agreements. Credit Michael Nagle for The New York Times But it is the stunning ascent of the Persian Gulf carriers — Dubai’s airport is now the world’s busiest international air travel hub — that now concerns the domestic airlines. Mr. Anderson has become their most vocal critic, championing what he calls “fair skies” instead of open skies. Last year, Delta sought to block gulf carriers from receiving American loan guarantees through the Export-Import Bank to buy new jets from Boeing. It also tried to block Emirates from flying a new route between New York and Milan, and took the matter before an Italian court. Mr. Clark said Emirates did not receive any subsidies from the Dubai government. And in a sharp retort to Mr. Anderson, Mr. Clark warned that focusing on government subsidies could backfire since many airlines around the world were supported by governments. “If you go down this minefield, you must ask yourself,” he said, “to what extent all the foreign carriers serving the U.S. are subsidized? Take China, take Thailand, take Malaysia, take Japan, take New Zealand. I could go on forever.” Gulf carriers have succeeded by creating new markets that domestic airlines were not serving, Mr. Clark said. Emirates, for instance, offers connections between Seattle and Hyderabad in India, with a single stop in Dubai. The service is popular among the large population of technology workers with Indian origins. “Look at where these people are going and ask yourself where was Delta, where was United, where was American when the world was becoming more globalized?” he said. The latest talk of restricting flights has also divided the industry. Consumer advocates point out that opening new markets benefited travelers in the United States and abroad. Airports in the United States also welcome the extra traffic from the Middle East and beyond. “Historically, shifts toward protectionism have ended up hurting markets and choking off growth and job creation,” the United States Travel Association said in a statement this week. “Travel to and within the United States has lately been under assault from protectionist, anti-competitive forces, and the move against open skies is the latest example.” Not all domestic airlines are pushing against open skies. Robin Hayes, JetBlue’s chief executive, expressed strong support in a letter to three cabinet members, including Secretary of State John Kerry. The first open-skies agreements between the United States and the U.A.E. and Qatar were signed in 1999. Both countries are major United States allies in the Middle East. Last year, in a move that angered domestic carriers, the United States established a customs and immigration pre-clearance facility in the Abu Dhabi airport, which allows passengers flying into the United States to clear immigration before the flight. Supporters of open skies point out that United States carriers have received government support in the past. Delta, American and United, for example, have been granted far-reaching antitrust immunity to set up joint ventures with rival carriers on some specific routes to Europe and Asia. “Now that U.S. airlines have secured antitrust immunity, industry consolidation and concomitantly rising airfares and ancillary fees, and are achieving record unprecedented profits, some carriers shamelessly seek to close off U.S. markets to competition from foreign carriers,” Kevin Mitchell, the chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, a trade group, wrote in a letter to various government officials. A spokesman for the Transportation Department, Brian Farber, said the administration was taking the airlines’ concerns seriously and was reviewing them. Still, he said that the administration “remains committed to the open-skies policy which has greatly benefited the traveling public, the U.S. aviation industry, American cities and the broader U.S. economy through increased travel and trade, and job growth.”

Airlines,airplanes
Competition law
International trade
International relations
Protectionism


Mildred Cohn, Biochemist, Is Dead at 96

Abstract: Mildred Cohn, a biochemist who overcame religious and sex discrimination to advance the study of metabolic processes, research that contributed to the development of medical technologies like M.R.I. ’s, died on Oct. 12 in Philadelphia. She was 96. The University of Pennsylvania announced her death. Dr. Cohn, whose honors included the National Medal of Science, helped develop sophisticated techniques and instruments to measure how enzymes and other proteins behave in the body. She used magnetic forces, for example, to examine the atomic nucleus in order to study the shapes of molecules and identify compounds. Variations on the approach led to the development of magnetic resonance imaging, which is used to create images of internal tissues. Indeed, her work in developing powerful research instruments was one of her major contributions, the Chemical Heritage Foundation said in a biography of her. “When the right instruments weren’t available, she built her own,” the foundation said. Moreover, by shedding light on how chemicals produced by the body are processed, her research helped lead to better diagnoses of illnesses, said Nick Zagorski, a senior writer for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Dr. Cohn achieved success only after repeatedly encountering prejudice, from the college professor who told her that being a chemist would not be “ladylike,” to chemical company recruiters who explicitly refused to interview women or Jews, to university departments that would not allow a woman on the track to be a tenured professor. She had to wait 21 years after receiving her Ph.D. to receive her first tenure-track appointment. Dr. Cohn eventually became the first woman appointed to the editorial board of The Journal of Biological Chemistry and the first woman to become president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. A biography prepared by Washington University in St. Louis, one of the institutions where Dr. Cohn taught and researched, said she had worked in laboratories or written papers with six Nobel laureates. She wrote 160 published papers in all. Mildred Cohn was born on July 12, 1913, in New York City to Jewish immigrants from Russia. Her father was a tailor who invented a machine for cutting cloth more accurately. She graduated from high school at 14 and moved on to Hunter College, then an all-women’s school, where she majored in chemistry, minored in physics and graduated at 17. The teacher who advised her against being a research chemist urged her to become a chemistry teacher instead. Afterward, she enrolled in Columbia University’s doctoral program, only to find that she would not be accepted as a teaching assistant because the position was reserved for men. She earned a master’s degree. She then took a research job at a NASA forerunner, where she was the only woman who worked on a project with 70 men to develop fuel-injection airplane engines. Though she was able to publish two papers there, one as senior author, she left when told that she would not be promoted. She then returned to Columbia, where she worked on the team of Harold C. Urey, a Nobel laureate, and earned her Ph.D. She studied ways of using the different weights of carbon and other atoms to trace the atoms’ movement in cells. Dr. Urey helped her join the research team of Vincent du Vigneaud, a biochemistry professor at George Washington University Medical School. There she helped develop methods of tracing isotopes as they move through bodily processes. The tracing methods opened the way for much broader medical research at the molecular level. In 1946, her husband, Dr. Henry Primakoff, a physicist, joined the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Cohn accepted a research position there with the husband-and-wife team of Carl and Gerty Cori, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1947. Dr. Cohn went to Penn in 1960 and became a full professor the next year. In 1964, the American Heart Association chose her to be a career investigator, making her the first woman to hold the position. She did so for 14 years. Dr. Cohn was also the Benjamin Rush professor of physiological chemistry at Penn and a senior scientist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She retired in 1985, but continued working in her lab at Penn. At Washington and at Penn, her research contributed to the understanding of the structure of ATP, a molecule that stores energy for cellular functions. The growing body of knowledge about ATP has had an impact on fields including neuroscience and biotechnology. Dr. Primakoff, her husband, died in 1983. Dr. Cohn is survived by her daughters, Nina Rossomando and Laura Primakoff; her son, Paul; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. The Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y., inducted Dr. Cohn the day after she died. She had learned beforehand that she would receive the honor. “When I saw that Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey were also members,” she said in an interview with ASBMB, the magazine of the biochemistry society, “I decided this could be a good place for me.”

Cohn Mildred
Biology and Biochemistry
Magnetic Resonance Imagers
Deaths (Obituaries)
Science and Technology


Hub of Halfpipes Rises in Corner of California

Abstract: CARLSBAD, Calif., July 31 — Ten years ago Bucky Lasek moved west with his wife, newborn daughter and commitment to a career in skateboarding, settling in this laid-back seaside community in northern San Diego County. Lasek had been living in Baltimore, commuting an hour to the nearest skate ramp on weekends. In bad weather, he drove to an indoor ramp in Philadelphia. “If you want to be a movie star, you have to move to Hollywood,” Lasek said. “To be a top professional skateboarder, I had to move out here because skating on the weekends wasn’t cutting it for me. Out of sight was literally out of mind, as far as sponsors go.” This week Lasek, 34, will compete in vertical skateboarding, in which riders pull tricks on a massive halfpipe, at the X Games in Los Angeles and Carson, Calif. Lasek has won seven X Games gold medals. About his success, he said, “It wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t move out here.” Carlsbad is part of a region in northern San Diego County known as North County, which includes communities like Encinitas, Oceanside, Vista and Rancho Santa Fe. They make up an area that is to vertical skateboarding what Hollywood is to the movie and television industry, without the tour buses and the maps to the stars’ homes. Seven of the 10 skaters who will compete Sunday in the men’s skateboard vert discipline at the X Games live in the North County region, as do at least four of the female skateboarders. The other three male skateboarders live within an hour’s drive. There are several reasons skaters are concentrated in the area. For one, most skateboard companies are nearby. There are also several large ramps for training, similar to those used in competition. But perhaps most important is the presence of other top skaters. Bob Burnquist, a four-time X Games gold medalist from Brazil, lives in rural Vista with the professional skateboarder Jen O’Brien and their daughter. Their backyard has a sprawling complex of ramps, where other professional skaters often ride together. “As far as the vert skating world, there’s not many of us that can ride good,” Burnquist said. “If you ride alone in your own world, you can only get so good.” “You want to surround yourself with talent,” he added. “Usually you want to surround yourself with people who are better than you so you can get somewhere.” Shaun White, who grew up in Carlsbad, said, “If you want to know what your biggest competitor’s new trick is, you’ve got to be down there watching him skate and skating with him.” This spirit of competition and the presence of some of the world’s best ramps lured Mathias Ringstrom to the region from Stockholm 13 years ago. “At that point, if you wanted to make it in skateboarding, you had to be here,” he said. Although a growing number of top professional skateboarders have their own private ramps, several still use public skate parks, particularly at the Y.M.C.A. in Encinitas, which features a 13-foot-tall halfpipe used in the X Games. When Lasek is not skating at the private ramp of the icon Tony Hawk, he goes to the Y.M.C.A. or three other public skate parks within a 30-minute drive of his home. Hawk grew up in the area. So did Danny Way, who launched over the Great Wall of China on his skateboard in 2005. Hawk settled in Carlsbad; Way in Encinitas. “It’s a very skate-oriented culture,” Lasek said. “It’s a small spot where everyone lives. “I’ll go into the Coffee Bean and they’ll be like, ‘Tony was just in here,’ ” he said, referring to Hawk. With skateboarding increasing in prominence on television through events like the X Games, skaters have attained new levels of fame, making the area like Hollywood in at least some respects. White, 20, was catapulted to international stardom when he won the gold medal in halfpipe snowboarding at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He has since bought a house in Rancho Santa Fe. Before he put up a fence, White said, strangers would knock on his front door and introduce themselves. At grocery stores, families have followed him to see what he’s buying. “You would think it’s mellow, but it’s not at all because everyone knows you,” White said. Lasek’s fame and family have grown, too. He and his wife, Jen, have two daughters, ages 10 and 7, and a third on the way. Three years ago they moved into a spacious stucco house in the hilly horse country outside Encinitas. A swimming pool sits outside his living room’s large picture window. Lasek plans to build another, larger pool, but not for swimming. He showed off designs for a kidney-shaped concrete pool that would serve as his private skate park. It would be 13 feet deep and roughly 60 feet long and 40 feet wide. One estimate for the project was $200,000. Ringstrom, who slept on couches or in his car when he arrived in the area, lives in a house in a subdivision of cul-de-sacs. The professional skateboarder Colin McKay lives across the street. Neither of their small yards has room for a skateboard ramp. But Lasek’s house is a short drive away. And when he builds his backyard pool, his professional skater peers will be welcome. Contemplating all the nearby places he could skate, Ringstrom said, “There is no better place for a vert skater.”

Skateboards
X Games
California
Hawk Tony
White Shaun


Start-Up Handles Social Media Background Checks

Abstract: Companies have long used criminal background checks, credit reports and even searches on Google and LinkedIn to probe the previous lives of prospective employees. Now, some companies are requiring job candidates to also pass a social media background check. A year-old start-up, Social Intelligence , scrapes the Internet for everything prospective employees may have said or done online in the past seven years. Then it assembles a dossier with examples of professional honors and charitable work, along with negative information that meets specific criteria: online evidence of racist remarks; references to drugs; sexually explicit photos, text messages or videos; flagrant displays of weapons or bombs and clearly identifiable violent activity. “We are not detectives,” said Max Drucker, chief executive of the company, which is based in Santa Barbara , Calif. “All we assemble is what is publicly available on the Internet today.” The Federal Trade Commission, after initially raising concerns last fall about Social Intelligence’s business, determined the company is in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, but the service still alarms privacy advocates who say that it invites employers to look at information that may not be relevant to job performance. And what relevant unflattering information has led to job offers being withdrawn or not made? Mr. Drucker said that one prospective employee was found using Craigslist to look for OxyContin. A woman posing naked in photos she put up on an image-sharing site didn’t get the job offer she was seeking at a hospital. Other background reports have turned up examples of people making anti-Semitic comments and racist remarks, he said. Then there was the job applicant who belonged to a Facebook group , “This Is America. I Shouldn’t Have to Press 1 for English.” This raises a question. “Does that mean you don’t like people who don’t speak English?” asked Mr. Drucker rhetorically. Mr. Drucker said his goal was to conduct pre-employment screenings that would help companies meet their obligation to conduct fair and consistent hiring practices while protecting the privacy of job candidates. For example, he said the reports remove references to a person’s religion, race, marital status, disability and other information protected under federal employment laws, which companies are not supposed to ask about during interviews. Also, job candidates must first consent to the background check, and they are notified of any adverse information found. He argues the search reduces the risk that employers may confuse the job candidate with someone else or expose the company to information that is not legally allowable or relevant. “Googling someone is ridiculously unfair,” he said. “An employer could discriminate against someone inadvertently. Or worse, they are exposing themselves to all kinds of allegations about discrimination.” Marc S. Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center , based in Washington , said that employers were entitled to gather information to make a determination about job-related expertise, but he expressed concern that “employers should not be judging what people in their private lives do away from the workplace.” Less than a third of the data surfaced by Mr. Drucker’s firm comes from such major social platforms as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace . He said much of the negative information about job candidates comes from deep Web searches that find comments on blogs and posts on smaller social sites, like Tumblr, the blogging site, as well as Yahoo user groups, e-commerce sites, bulletin boards and even Craigslist. Then there are the photos and videos that people post — or find themselves tagged in — on Facebook and YouTube and other sharing sites like Flickr, Picasa, Yfrog and Photobucket. And it is photos and videos that seem to get most people in trouble. “Sexually explicit photos and videos are beyond comprehension,” Mr. Drucker said. “We also see flagrant displays of weapons. And we see a lot of illegal activity. Lots and lots of pictures of drug use.” He recalled one man who had 15 pages of photos showing himself with various guns, including an assault rifle. Another man included pictures of himself standing in a greenhouse with large marijuana plants. Given complex “terms of service” agreements on most sites and Web applications, Mr. Rotenberg said people do not always realize that comments or content they generate are publicly available. “People are led to believe that there is more limited disclosure than there actually is, in many cases,” he said, pointing out that Facebook’s frequent changes to its privacy settings in recent years may have put some people at risk in getting a job now because of personal information they might have inadvertently made public. “What Facebook was doing was taking people’s personal information that they made available to family and friends and make that information available more widely to prospective employers,” said Mr. Rotenberg, whose organization has several pending complaints at the Federal Trade Commission about Facebook’s privacy settings. Joe Bontke, outreach manager for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ’s office in Houston , said that he regularly reminds employers and human resource managers about the risks of violating federal antidiscrimination employment rules and laws by using online research in hiring decisions. “Things that you can’t ask in an interview are the same things you can’t research,” he said, which includes the gamut of information covering a person’s age, gender, religion, disability, national origin and race. That said, he added that 75 percent of recruiters are required by their companies to do online research of candidates. And 70 percent of recruiters in the United States report that they have rejected candidates because of information online, he said. Dave Clark, president of Impulse Advanced Communications, a telecommunications company in Southern California , began relying on Social Intelligence for background screening because he said the company needed a formal strategy and standards before assembling online information about job candidates. “They provided us with a standardized, arm’s-length way of using this additional information to make better hiring decisions,” he said. About half of all companies, based on government and private surveys, now use credit reports as part of the hiring process, except in those states that limit or restrict their use. As with social media background checks, there are concerns about information that is surfaced. The equal employment agency filed a lawsuit last December against the Kaplan Higher Education Corporation, accusing it of discriminating against black job applicants in the way it used credit histories in its hiring process. But it is not unusual for senior-level executives in many companies to undergo even more complete background checks by a private investigating firm. “We are living in a world where you have an amazing amount of information and data on every executive,” said Ann Blinkhorn , an executive recruiter in the converging technology, media and communications industry. “I think that puts the burden on the recruiter and the hiring manager to be really thoughtful about what is important and not important when making the hiring decision.”

Job Recruiting and Hiring
Privacy
Startup


Nets Honor Their Past by Ignoring Defense

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Feb. 22 - The Nets honored Julius Erving, the greatest player in franchise history, on his 56th birthday Wednesday night by wearing throwback uniforms from his glory days in the long-defunct American Basketball Association. As if in tribute, the Nets turned in a first-half performance at Continental Arena befitting the run-and-gun A.B.A., which was never known for its defense, then rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second half for a 96-93 victory over the Orlando Magic. A night after coming back from a 16-point second-quarter deficit to win in Milwaukee, the Nets allowed the undermanned Magic to shoot a sizzling 67.6 percent from the floor in the first half -- the highest first-half percentage against the Nets this season. The Magic led by 10 points at halftime and 13 early in the third quarter before the Nets' Jason Kidd took things into his own hands. Kidd, who scored 7 points in the final 2 minutes 29 seconds (including 5 straight to break an 85-85 tie), finished with a game-high 28 points and added 11 assists and 7 rebounds. The Nets (30-23), who received 23 points from Richard Jefferson and 22 points from Vince Carter, sent the reeling Magic (19-34) to its eighth consecutive defeat. Orlando's Carlos Arroyo missed a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left that would have sent the game into overtime. "Vince might have been a little tired because we put so much weight on him last night," Kidd said of Carter, who scored 45 points Tuesday against the Bucks. "I don't want him to feel he has to do it every night. Vince was getting so much attention that other guys had to step up." The Magic was playing just hours after trading guard Steve Francis to the Knicks for Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza. As a result, Orlando, which was also without the oft-injured Grant Hill (abdominal strain), suited just 10 players. Before the game, Nets Coach Lawrence Frank said he did not know what to expect from the Magic, which had lost 11 of 12 games, or from the Nets, who had won 6 of 8 going into Wednesday' game. "It all depends on our approach," Frank said. "I think if we're not focused, like anything else, then we're going to be vulnerable to getting beat." That was apparent early, as Orlando hit 12 of 19 field-goal attempts in the first quarter (63.2 percent) en route to a 29-25 lead. The Magic, which had come in shooting 45.7 percent from the field, was even hotter in the second quarter, knocking down 11 of 15 (73.3 percent) on its way to a 56-46 lead at the half. "I think in the first half, we were just going through the motions," Kidd said. But as they did in Milwaukee, the Nets rallied in the second half, when Orlando shot just 38.2 percent from the floor (13 for 34). And unlike Tuesday, when Carter scored 38 of the Nets' 55 second-half points, this was more of a team effort, in part because the Magic double- and triple-teamed Carter instead of covering him one on one as the Bucks had. "That's the beauty of having a three-headed monster," Carter said, referring to himself, Kidd and Jefferson. "Just at any given time, I could do it. I did it last night. J. Kidd did it tonight. It could be R. J. on Friday. Our goal is to make teams figure: who are you going to stop?" REBOUNDS With less than 24 hours before Thursday's 3 p.m. trading deadline, Nets President Rod Thorn did not sound optimistic about pulling off a deal. "We've had some conversations," Thorn said before the game Wednesday. "But we're not close to doing anything." ... As part of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Nets' 1975-76 A.B.A. championship, Julius Erving was honored at halftime. Erving was presented with a framed No. 32 jersey signed by the current Nets, a watch and a birthday cake.

ORLANDO MAGIC
NEW JERSEY NETS
ERVING JULIUS
BASKETBALL


In Tajikistan, Debt-Ridden Farmers Say They Are the Pawns

Abstract: SHAARTUZ DISTRICT, Tajikistan — Farhod, a farmer in this dusty southwestern spit of land pushed up against the Afghan and Uzbek borders, said that he had committed a subversive and potentially punishable act this growing season. He planted watermelons in addition to the usual cotton. Such is the precarious position of growers throughout this impoverished republic of seven million that Farhod refused to be photographed or to give his real name. He fears the authorities will destroy his crop, even though they had assured him that he could plant whatever he wanted this year. “They press down on us from all sides,” said Farhod, a father of eight, as he looked out on his neatly planted rows of millionaire, shakira and maistros watermelons. Cotton is king in Tajikistan, at least as far as the government is concerned. In fact, say agricultural experts, the regal metaphor is apt: the system is close to feudal. Farmers are shackled to the land — “like slaves,” one European official says — and forced to grow cotton through a complex system of debts and obligations. The fact that cotton is often grown to the exclusion of other crops could have catastrophic implications this winter. After a dry summer, Tajikistan and possibly other Central Asian countries are facing severe food shortages, and international aid organizations are girding for a possible crisis. Cotton is at the core of Tajikistan’s economy and, reportedly, corruption. Companies associated with President Emomali Rahmon’s inner circle monopolize the business, diplomats and industry experts say, paying taxes that account for 25 percent of the country’s annual budget. The cozy arrangement contributes to what the International Crisis Group, a private research organization, called in a 2005 report “political repression, economic stagnation, widespread poverty and environmental degradation.” Cotton growing, the group said, is “simple and exploitative.” For instance, Tajikistan’s and Uzbekistan’s governments have traditionally mobilized tens of thousands of university students and children as young as 10 to pick the harvest by hand, since many men from the work force emigrate to other countries for seasonal work. For Farhod, as for other Tajik farmers, the problems began from his first days as an independent farmer three years ago, when the local collective farm, which dated from the Soviet era, was broken up. He was allotted, but does not own, 40 acres of land and a $5,000 debt carried over automatically from the farm’s arrears. Each year most of his profits go to working off the debt, which was assumed by a cotton trading company. The company maintains a monopoly over all cotton trade in the Shaartuz region and sells Farhod his supplies on credit — at inflated prices, he said — and then buys his production at below market prices. Under this system the farmers are perpetually strapped, as they never see any cash. Farhod and others say that what little they earn goes for food and other essentials, but since they have no money in hand, they are forced to buy from the trading company at inflated prices. “They pay us, but only 14 months later when they sell the cotton,” Farhod said. “Each year the debts get bigger and bigger.” The government works in tandem with the trading companies, say Western experts, who spoke off the record because they need to work with Tajik officials. Until recently, officials enforced an unwritten law requiring farmers to devote 80 percent to 90 percent of their arable land to cotton production. When farmers have tried to grow something else, officials and the companies have claimed breach of contract and plowed the field under, farmers say. Cotton’s significance was underlined early this year when the International Monetary Fund revealed that the Tajik government had secretly diverted its hard currency reserves to use as collateral for $240 million in foreign loans for the cotton trading companies. The scandal broke just as the country was paralyzed last winter by a heat and electricity crisis, which laid bare what many Western experts saw as the Tajik government’s ineptitude and inadequacy. Following a crippling civil war in the 1990s, international donors funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into the country, but now are beginning to question this policy. Carlos Pinerua, an International Monetary Fund official formerly responsible for Tajikistan, said in a telephone interview that the bar was set high for the Tajiks to regain the trust of the international multilaterals, which are multinational organizations that finance development. Noting that the Tajiks had lied to the I.M.F. over a 10-year period, he said, “We will have to look at how to help the country — they are an I.M.F. member — but financing will be very hard.” With Tajikistan’s currency reserves now close to zero, the country is highly vulnerable to economic shocks, like the current credit crisis , Western diplomats say. Also complicating the picture is Tajikistan’s endemic governmental dysfunction and corruption. A case in point is the fate of one of the government officials at the heart of the loan scandal, the governor of the central bank, Murodali Alimardon. Far from being fired, Mr. Alimardon was promoted to deputy prime minister, and put in charge of agricultural reforms. This year the Tajik government issued a decree guaranteeing farmers the right to cultivate their land as they see best. Farhod says that he has been planting about 30 acres of the 40 acres in cotton and the rest in other crops. Other farmers say that the cotton quota remains in effect, though slightly lower at 70 percent. But few here place much trust in a decree. “So far, they’re not against the melons, but we’ll see,” Farhod said.

Tajikistan
Cotton
Agriculture
Farmers
Politics and Government
Economic Conditions and Trends
International Monetary Fund


Bomb in Pakistan Market Kills 10 and Wounds 45

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A powerful bomb hidden underneath a fruit cart detonated among shoppers at a market in the southern port city of Karachi on Monday evening at rush hour, and officials and local news reports said it killed at least 10 people and wounded at least 45, four of them critically. The blast coincided with a visit to Karachi by President Pervez Musharraf. A spokesman for Mr. Musharraf ruled out a connection. “No symbolism should be read in the blast,” the spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, a retired major general, said in a telephone interview on Monday evening. “It was in a different part of the city. Nothing to do with the president.” Karachi, the country’s commercial and industrial hub, has a history of sectarian and extremist violence. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. The bomb was planted under a fruit cart, Chief Azhar Farouqi of the Karachi police was quoted as saying by the state-run news media. The bombing was in a crowded industrial neighborhood in northern Karachi. It ripped through a throng of people gathered around fruit stalls during the evening rush hour. Local television news channels showed the wreckage of a motorbike, its mangled parts scattered on the asphalt. Fruit and vegetables splattered with blood were spread about the area. Police officers cordoned off the area after the bombing, and the ensuing panic and chaos caused a traffic jam in parts of the city.


Afghan Bombing Strikes at Foreign Agencies

Abstract: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A huge bomb detonated on Tuesday night in a part of Kandahar where international aid agencies and United Nations offices are clustered, in an attack assumed to be by the Taliban on foreigners in the country. At least 31 people were killed and 56 wounded in the blast, which shook the entire city just after dusk at 7 p.m., when Afghans were gathered for the festive evening meal that breaks their daily Ramadan fast. Officials said most of the dead and wounded were civilians. The explosion flattened the headquarters of Saita, a Japanese company engaged in reconstruction efforts , destroyed at least 20 homes and set off raging fires. A witness, Muhammad Anwer, said the devastation was immense. “I thought it was doomsday,” he said. “I saw dead men and children lying on the road.” Provincial officials in this southern Afghan city initially said that five car bombs had been involved, but later said the explosion appeared to be from a single truck bomb outside the building used by Saita. Officials said that the attack appeared to be aimed at the company, which employs mostly Pakistani workers. The toll was expected to rise. More people appeared to be trapped in the rubble of the destroyed buildings, and fires burned in dozens of nearby shops. At the Marwais hospital in central Kandahar, injured children lay in hospital beds, some missing limbs. “We have received 30 bodies,” said Dr. Mohammed Daoud Farhad, the hospital’s director. “Most of them are civilians, including women and children. And still there are more coming.” Kandahar has been relatively quiet over the last several months, and witnesses said that this explosion was the largest in the city in years. There was no initial claim of responsibility for the attack, but it bore the hallmarks of the Taliban, who have been carrying out attacks of increasing complexity and brutality in Kandahar against Afghan and international forces and those allied with them. The Taliban also mounted a campaign of violence and intimidation against potential voters in Thursday’s presidential election. During the voting in Kandahar, 20 rockets hit the city, many near polling stations, and four people were killed, hospital officials said.

Afghanistan War (2001- )
Bombs and Explosives
Kandahar (Afghanistan)


Freddie, Fannie and the Third Rail of Housing Policy

Abstract: WHILE Congress toiled on the financial overhaul last spring, precious little was said about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance companies that collapsed spectacularly two years ago. Indeed, these wards of the state got just two mentions in the 1,500-page law known as Dodd-Frank: first, when it ordered the Treasury to produce a study on ending the taxpayer-owned status of the companies and, second, in a “sense of the Congress” passage stating that efforts to improve the nation’s mortgage credit system “would be incomplete without enactment of meaningful structural reforms” of Fannie and Freddie. No kidding. With midterm elections near, though, there will be talk aplenty about dealing with the companies precisely because Dodd-Frank didn’t address them. Unfortunately, if past is prologue, this talk is likely to be more political than practical. Fannie and Freddie amplified the housing boom by buying mortgages from lenders, allowing them to originate even more loans. They grew into behemoths because they lobbied aggressively and played the Washington political game to a T. But after both companies bought boatloads of risky mortgages, they required a federal rescue. The Treasury’s study on Fannie, Freddie and housing finance must be delivered to Congress by the end of January 2011. In a speech last week, Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, told a New York audience that resolving the companies isn’t “rocket science.” But attaining genuine remedies for our housing finance system could actually be harder than rocket science. That’s because it would require an honest dialogue about the role the federal government should play in housing. It also requires a candid conversation about whether promoting homeownership through tax policy and other federal efforts remains a good idea, given the economic disaster we’ve just lived through. Alas, honest dialogues on third-rail topics like housing have proved to be a bridge too far for many in Washington. So, what we may hear instead about Fannie and Freddie before the elections is a lot of sound and fury signifying a stealthy return to the status quo. This would be unfortunate, not only because the financial crisis presents a rare opportunity to reassess the supposed benefits of homeownership but also because there was a lot not to like about the way these companies operated and the ways their friends in Congress enabled that behavior. Outwardly, Fannie and Freddie wrapped themselves in the American flag and the dream of homeownership. But internally, they were relentless in their pursuit of profits from partners in the mortgage boom. One of their biggest and most steadfast collaborators was Countrywide, the subprime lending machine run by Angelo R. Mozilo. Countrywide was the biggest supplier of loans to Fannie during the mania; in 2004, it sold 26 percent of the loans Fannie bought. Three years later, it was selling 28 percent. What Countrywide got out of the relationship was clear — a buyer for its dubious loans. Now the taxpayer is on the hook for those losses. But what was in it for Fannie? An internal Fannie document from 2004 obtained by The New York Times sheds light on this question. A “Customer Engagement Plan” for Countrywide, it shows how assiduously Fannie pursued Mr. Mozilo and 14 of his lieutenants to make sure the company continued to shovel loans its way. Nine bullet points fall under the heading “Fannie Mae’s Top Strategic Business Objectives With Lender.” The first: “Deepen relationship at all levels throughout CHL and Fannie Mae to foster alignment and collaboration between our companies at every opportunity.” (CHL refers to Countrywide Home Loans.) No. 2: “Create barriers to exit partnership.” Next: “Disciplined Risk/Servicing Management” and “Achieve Fannie Mae Profitability Goals.” (Later in 2004, by the way, the Securities and Exchange Commission found that Fannie had used improper accounting and ordered it to restate its earnings for the previous four years. Some $6.3 billion in profit was wiped out.) The engagement plan also recommends ways that Fannie executives should mingle with Countrywide’s top management, because “fostering more direct senior level engagements with key influencers throughout their organization will be beneficial in ensuring strategic alignment and building organizational loyalty.” RECOMMENDATIONS included conferring with Mr. Mozilo at Habitat for Humanity golf tournaments and Mortgage Bankers Association conventions. Franklin D. Raines, then Fannie’s C.E.O., and Daniel H. Mudd, then its chief operating officer, were advised to see Mr. Mozilo twice a year. “We will be successful when Angelo influences the industry or his organization on our behalf,” the document says. Mr. Raines didn’t respond to e-mails requesting comment last Friday; he left Fannie in December 2004. The memo advised pursuing other Countrywide executives: “Deep Rapport” should be the goal with David E. Sambol, the lender’s president, but because he did not “heavily attend outside events” Fannie executives should “look for opportunities for meetings” at Countrywide headquarters. “We will be successful if we can foster ongoing communication channels that allow us to understand and leverage Sambol’s priorities and demonstrate our commitment to making him successful,” the memo stated. Mr. Sambol and Mr. Mozilo could not be reached for comment. For his part, Mr. Mudd, now the chief executive of the Fortress Investment Group, said Fannie’s courting of Countrywide was not unusual. “We tried to build a program that was based on having multiple strong relationships with our main customers,” he said. “You want to be sure that the first call is not the last call, that a customer is not doing business with you anymore.” But Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican and ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, says he has concerns about such mating dances. “Lost in the debate over how best to legislate the aftermath of the financial crisis has been the necessity to conduct an inward examination of the too-cozy relationship between government enterprises and private industry,” Mr. Issa said. “The true nature of this strategic partnership between Countrywide and Fannie-Freddie should be exposed so we can measure the extent to which it fostered the conditions leading to the financial meltdown.” Understanding how these companies operated is crucial if we want to avoid repeating the mistakes of our recent past. So, when you hear about Fannie and Freddie reform this fall, remember that we still don’t know the half of it.

Reform and Reorganization
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Federal National Mortgage Association
Mortgages
United States Politics and Government


Crossed Legs, Heightened Worries?

Abstract: Q. Does sitting with one leg crossed over the other lead to circulatory problems? A. “Contrary to popular belief,” it does not cause vascular problems, especially varicose or spider veins, said Dr. Darren B. Schneider , chief of vascular and endovascular surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. In fact, Dr. Schneider said, most varicose veins are caused by a problem intrinsic to the veins, characterized by weakening of the vein walls and failure of the valves that control blood flow. Genetics probably has much more do with the development of varicose veins than the sitting position, Dr. Schneider said, adding, “You’re at greater risk of developing them if other family members also have them.” Anything that increases pressure within the veins combines with the existing vein problem to cause pooling of blood and bulging of the vein walls to form what are called varicosities, he said. Things that lead to chronic elevation of the pressure within the veins in the abdomen and lower extremities can aggravate the condition. “That’s why pregnancy, obesity and standing for long periods of time are associated with the development of varicose veins,” Dr. Schneider said. Wearing tightfitting clothing or high heels may also make them worse. Exercise can improve the condition, since muscle contractions in the legs help circulation, he said. Finally, it is true that an aneurysm or the placement of arterial stents in the lower legs can mean that sitting with legs bent or crossed for long periods could cause problems, Dr. Schneider warned, so anyone with these conditions should check with a doctor about the risks of crossed legs.


The Techniques Behind the Most-Accurate Polls

Abstract: As Americans’ modes of communication change, the techniques that produce the most accurate polls seem to be changing as well. In Tuesday’s presidential election, a number of polling firms that conduct their surveys online had strong results. Some telephone polls also performed well. But others, especially those that called land lines only or took other methodological shortcuts, performed poorly, showing a more Republican-leaning electorate than actually turned out. Our method of evaluating pollsters involves looking at all the polls that an organization conducted over the final three weeks of the campaign — rather than only its very last poll. For each of the two dozen polling firms that issued at least five surveys in the final three weeks of the campaign, counting both state and national polls, I have calculated an average error and an average statistical bias. The bias calculation measures the direction, Republican or Democratic, that a firm’s polls tended to miss. The estimate of the average error in the firm’s polls measures how far off the polls were in either direction, on average. Among the more prolific polling firms, the most accurate by the error measure was TIPP, which conducted a national tracking poll for Investors’ Business Daily. Relative to other national polls, its results seemed to be Democratic-leaning at the time they were published. However, it turned out that most polling firms underestimated Mr. Obama’s performance, so those with seemingly Democratic-leaning results were often closest to the final outcome. Among telephone-based polling firms that conducted a significant number of state-by-state surveys, the best results came from CNN, Mellman and Grove Insight. The latter two of these firms conducted most of their polls on behalf of liberal-leaning organizations. Several polling firms got notably poor results. For the second consecutive election — counting 2010 — Rasmussen Reports polls had a statistical bias toward Republicans, overestimating Mr. Romney’s performance by about four percentage points, on average. Polls by American Research Group and Mason-Dixon also largely missed the mark. One of the most well-known polling firms, Gallup, had among the worst results. Gallup has now had three poor elections in a row . In 2008, its polls overestimated Mr. Obama’s performance, while in 2010 they overestimated how well Congressional Republicans would do. Some of the most accurate polling firms this year conducted their polls online. The final poll by Google Consumer Surveys had Mr. Obama ahead in the national popular vote by 2.3 percentage points — very close to his actual margin of 2.6 percentage points, as of Saturday morning. Ipsos, which conducted online polls for Reuters, and the Canadian online polling firm Angus Reid also fared well. Looking more broadly across the 90 polling firms that conducted at least one likely-voter poll in the final three weeks of the campaign, polling firms that conducted their polls wholly or partially online outperformed others on average. Among the nine in that category, the average error in calling the election result was 2.1 percentage points. That compares with a 3.5-point error for polling firms that used live telephone interviewers and 5.0 points for “robopolls,” which conducted their surveys by automated script. The traditional telephone polls had a slight Republican bias on the whole, while the robopolls often had a significant Republican bias. (Even the automated polling firm Public Policy Polling, which often polls for liberal and Democratic clients, projected results that were slightly more favorable for Mr. Romney than he actually achieved.) The online polls had little overall bias, however. The difference between the performance of live telephone polls and the automated polls may partly reflect the fact that many of the live telephone polls call cellphones along with land lines, while few of the automated surveys do. (Legal restrictions prohibit automated calls to cellphones under many circumstances.) Research by polling firms and academic groups suggests that polls that fail to call cellphones may underestimate the performance of Democratic candidates. The roughly one-third of Americans who rely exclusively on cellphones tend to be younger, more urban, less well-off financially and more likely to be black or Hispanic than the broader group of voters, all characteristics that correlate with Democratic voters. In my view, there will always be an important place for high-quality telephone polls, like those conducted by major news organizations, which place calls to cellphones. And there may be an increasing role for online polls, which can have an easier time reaching some of the voters, especially younger Americans, that telephone polls are prone to miss. I am not as certain about the future for automated telephone polls. Polls that place random calls to land lines only, or that try to estimate who will vote based on models that were developed decades ago, may be behind the times. Perhaps it will not be long before Google, not Gallup, is the most trusted name in polling.

Polls and Public Opinion
Presidential Election of 2012
Voting and Voters
Cellular Telephones
Wireless Communications


Events in New Jersey for Aug. 17-23, 2014

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in New Jersey. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to njtowns@nytimes.com. Comedy NEW BRUNSWICK State Theater Terry Fator, ventriloquist. Aug. 26 at 8 p.m. $45 to $85. Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. Aug. 28 at 8 p.m. $35 to $85. State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue. (732) 246-7469; statetheatrenj.org. RED BANK Count Basie Theater Joan Rivers. Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. $35 to $145. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. (732) 842-9000; countbasietheatre.org. Film ENGLEWOOD Englewood Public Library “When Harry Met Sally” (1989), romantic comedy directed by Rob Reiner. Aug. 20 at 7:30 p.m. Free. “Blazing Saddles” (1974), comedy directed by Mel Brooks. Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Englewood Public Library, 31 Engle Street. (201) 568-2215; englewoodlibrary.org. HIGHLAND PARK Highland Park Public Library “Wadjda” (2012), written and directed by Haifaa al-Mansour. Aug. 19 at 6:30 p.m. Free. Highland Park Public Library, 31 North Fifth Avenue. (732) 572-2750; hpplnj.org. SOUTH ORANGE Meadowland Park Free Movies in the Park: “Back to the Future” (1985), directed by Robert Zemeckis. Aug. 27 at 7:45 p.m. Free. Meadowland Park, North Ridgewood Road. (973) 378-7754; sopacnow.org. For Children BEACH HAVEN Surflight Theater Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Through Aug. 31. $13. Surflight Theater, 201 Engleside Avenue. (609) 492-9477; surflight.org. CAMDEN Adventure Aquarium “Hippo Haven,” with Nile hippos, Button and Genny. Continuing. $18.95 and $25.95; children under 2, free. Adventure Aquarium, 1 Riverside Drive. (856) 365-3300; adventureaquarium.com. SOUTH ORANGE Meadowland Park “Frozen” (2013), animated film. Aug. 20 at 7:45 p.m. Free. Meadowland Park, North Ridgewood Road. (973) 313-2787; sopacnow.org WEST ORANGE Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center “The Incredibles” (2004), animated superhero film written and directed by Brad Bird. Aug. 19 at 7:30 p.m. Free. “Despicable Me 2,” animated film. Aug. 26 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center, 4 Boland Drive. (973) 669-7385; ospac.org. Music and Dance ASBURY PARK Wonder Bar Billy Hector Birthday Bash, with the Billy Hector band and the Midnite Horns. Aug. 30 at 9 p.m. $15. Wonder Bar, Ocean and Fifth Avenues. wonderbarasburypark.com; (732) 502-8886. BYRAM The Salt Stage Albert Lee, guitarist. Aug. 19 at 8:15 p.m. $27. The Salt Stage , 109 Highway 206. (973) 347-7258; saltgastropub.com. EAST RUTHERFORD Izod Center Austin Mahone, pop singer-songwriter. Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. $40.35 to $76.60. Izod Center, 50 Route 120. izodcenter.com; (201) 935-3900. EAST RUTHERFORD MetLife Stadium The Monster Tour: Eminem and Rihanna. Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m. $83.80 to $282.15. MetLife Stadium, 1 MetLife Stadium Drive. (201) 559-1500; metlifestadium.com. ENGLEWOOD Bergen Performing Arts Center Christopher Cross, singer-songwriter. Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. $45.45 to $88.65. Deep Purple, rock band. Aug. 25 at 7:30 p.m. $50.30 to $193.50. Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 North Van Brunt Street. (201) 227-1030; bergenpac.org. HOLMDEL PNC Bank Arts Center Brad Paisley: Nation World Tour, with Randy Houser, Leah Turner and Charlie Worsham. Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. $42.60 to $108.05. Drake vs Lil Wayne, Hip-hop concert. Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. $53.25 to $171.50. PNC Bank Arts Center, Garden State Parkway, Exit 116. (732) 203-2500; livenation.com. MADISON Shanghai Jazz Restaurant and Bar Freddy Cole Quartet, performing the music of Freddy Cole, Nat King Cole and beyond. Aug. 22 and 23 at 6:30 and 8:40 p.m. $59 and $69. Shanghai Jazz Restaurant and Bar, 24 Main Street. (973) 822-2899; shanghaijazz.com. MONTCLAIR Wellmont Theater Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular. Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. $30.25 to $79.25. Get The Led Out: The American Led Zeppelin. Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. $29 and $42. Wellmont Theater, 5 Seymour Street. thewellmonttheater.com; (973) 783-9500. MORRISTOWN Mayo Performing Arts Center Deep Purple, rock. Aug. 24 at 8 p.m. $69 to $159. Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South Street. (973) 539-8008; mayoarts.org. MORRISTOWN The Minstrel, Morristown Unitarian Fellowship Christine DeLeon, folk, with Mike Del Vecchio. Aug. 22, 8 to 11 p.m. $9; 12 and under, free. The Minstrel, Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Road. (973) 335-9489; folkproject.org. NEW BRUNSWICK Boyd Park “Hub City Sounds Summer Series,” with performing artists at several locations, including Boyd Park, State Theater and Crossroads Theater. Through Sept. 27. Free. Boyd Park, Route 18. newbrunswickarts.org; (732) 729-0320. Image PRINCETON A highlighted map detail from Pieter van der Aa’s “Nouvelle Hollande” (1729) is in “Nova Caesarea: A Cartographic Record of the Garden State, 1666-1888,” an exhibition at the Firestone Library at Princeton University, 1 Washington Road, through Jan. 25. For information: (609) 258-1470; library.princeton.edu . Credit Historic Maps Collection, Princeton University NEWARK New Jersey Performing Arts Center Horizon Foundation Sounds of the City: Living Colour, rock. Aug. 21 at 5 p.m. Free. New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street. (888) 466-5722; njpac.org. NEWARK Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center Beres Hammond, featuring Chaka Demus and Pliers, reggae. Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. $59 to $119. Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street. (888) 466-5722; njpac.org. OCEAN GROVE Ocean Grove Great Auditorium Johnny Mathis. Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. $50 to $65. Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, 21 Pilgrim Pathway. (800) 590-4064; oceangrove.org. PRINCETON Paul Robeson Center for the Arts “Cafe Improv,” music, poetry, and comedy. Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. $1 and $2. Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, 102 Witherspoon Street. artscouncilofprinceton.org; (609) 924-8777. RAHWAY Union County Performing Arts Center Southside Johnny and the Poor Fools. Aug. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Amy Helm, singer-songwriter. Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Union County Performing Arts Center, 1601 Irving Street. (732) 499-8226; ucpac.org. RED BANK Count Basie Theater Lyle Lovett and his Large Band. Aug. 19 at 8 p.m. $30 to $99.50. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. (732) 842-9000; countbasietheatre.org. SUMMIT Reeves-Reed Arboretum “Reggae Rocks Reeves-Reed Arboretum,” Massive Reggae Band. Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. $5 and $10 donation for non-members; Free for members. Reeves-Reed Arboretum, 165 Hobart Ave. (908) 273-8787; reeves-reedarboretum.org. WEEHAWKEN Lincoln Harbor Park Lisa Fischer, R&B, and Grand Baton. Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. Free. Lincoln Harbor Park, 1500 Harbor Boulevard. hrpac.org; (201) 430-6881. Theater BEACH HAVEN Surflight Theater “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” musical by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. Through Aug. 24. $45. Surflight Theater, 201 Engleside Avenue. (609) 492-9477; surflight.org. CAPE MAY Cape May Stage, the Robert Shackleton Playhouse “Blithe Spirit,” comedy by Noël Coward. Through Sept. 19. $15 to $35. Cape May Stage, the Robert Shackleton Playhouse, 405 Lafayette Street. capemaystage.com; (609) 770-8311. CAPE MAY East Lynne Theater Company “Zorro!,” action drama adapted by James Rana. Through Aug. 30. $15 to $30. East Lynne Theater Company, 500 Hughes Street. (609) 884-5898; eastlynnetheater.org. HACKENSACK Hackensack Cultural Arts Center “Lost in Yonkers,” comedy-drama by Neil Simon. Through Aug. 17. $10 to $15. Hackensack Cultural Arts Center, 39 Broadway. (201) 692-0200; go-tnt.org. HAMMONTON Eagle Theater “I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett,” singers and a jazz quartet. Through Aug. 23. $30 and $40. Eagle Theater, 208 Vine Street. (609) 704-5012; theeagletheatre.com. JERSEY CITY Merseles Studios “So What If I Loved You,” a multimedia one-woman show by Summer Dawn Hortillosa. Aug. 21 through 24. $12 and $15. Merseles Studios, 339-345 Newark Avenue. sowhatifilovedyou.com; (917) 239-8865. MANASQUAN Algonquin Arts Center “Glory Crampton: From Broadway to Abbey Road.” Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. $22 to $41. Algonquin Arts Center, 173 Main Street. (732) 528-9211; algonquinarts.com. METUCHEN Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center, Old Franklin Schoolhouse “The Coarse Acting Show,” three one-act spoofs of classic plays. Aug. 22 and 23. $15 to $20. Dragonfly Multicultural Arts Center, Old Franklin Schoolhouse, 491 Middlesex Avenue. (908) 930-3210; dragonflyartsnj.com. NEWARK Prudential Center Cirque du Soleil Varekai. Aug. 27 through 31. $54.30 to $170.50. Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette Street. prucenter.com; (973) 757-6000. RED BANK Two River Theater “2014 Crossing Borders Festival,” new plays by Latino writers. Through Aug. 17. Free. Two River Theater, 21 Bridge Avenue. (732) 345-1400; trtc.org. SUMMIT Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater at Oakes Center A reading of “Grounded,” by George Brandt, with the actress Harriett Trangucci. Aug. 27 at 8 p.m. $20. Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater at Oakes Center, 120 Morris Avenue. dreamcatcherrep.org; (908) 514-9654. Museums and Galleries BERNARDSVILLE Bernardsville Public Library “Something’s In My Eye,” photography by Arthur Krasinsky. Aug. 30 through Sept. 30. Bernardsville Public Library, 1 Anderson Hill Road. bernardsvillelibrary.org; (908) 766-0118. CAPE MAY Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery Works in wood along with pastels of southern New Jersey locations by Michael Terenik. Through Aug. 31. Daily, 10.m. to 6 p.m. Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery, 122 Sunset Boulevard. (609) 435-5253; capemayartistcoop.com. CLINTON Hunterdon Art Museum “Swept Away: Translucence, Transparence, Transcendence in Contemporary Encaustic.” Through Sept. 7. “Artist Founders of the Hunterdon Art Museum.” Through Sept. 7. “Darren McManus: Tangents,” 3-D paintings. Through Sept. 7. “Sky Pape: Traces of Places,” unconventional uses of traditional drawing materials. Through Sept. 7. Suggested donation, $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hunterdon Art Museum, 7 Lower Center Street. (908) 735-8415; hunterdonartmuseum.org. HOBOKEN Hoboken Historical Museum “Hoboken, Ellis Island and the Immigrant Experience, 1892-1924.” Through Dec. 23. $2; members, free. “Artworks by Tracie Fracasso,” multimedia compositions. Through Sept. 14. $2. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 2 to 7 p.m.; Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Hoboken Historical Museum, 1301 Hudson Street. (201) 656-2240; hobokenmuseum.org. Image OCEAN GROVE Johnny Mathis is scheduled to sing at the Ocean Grove Great Auditorium, 21 Pilgrim Pathway, on Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $50 to $65. Information: (800) 590-4064; oceangrove.org . Credit Jeff Dunas HOBOKEN Monroe Art Center “Abstracting Nature,” expressionist artwork by Alberte Bernier and Olga Guerra. Through Sept. 7. Monroe Art Center, 720 Monroe Street. (201) 319-1504; hob-art.org. LAMBERTVILLE The Artists’ Gallery “Oil & Water,” recent watercolors and oil paintings by Charles David Viera and Eric Rhinehart. Through Sept. 1. Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; evening hours until 9 p.m. on Saturdays in August. The Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street. (609) 397-4588; lambertvillearts.com. MADISON Museum of Early Trades and Crafts “The American Revolution in New Jersey: Where the Battlefront Meets the Homefront.” Through Feb. 13. $3 to $13; members, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, 9 Main Street. metc.org; (973) 377-2982. MAHWAH Mahwah Museum The Old Station Museum and Caboose. Through Sept. 14. $3 to $5; members and children under 5, free. Sundays, 2 to 4 p.m. Mahwah Museum, 201 Franklin Turnpike. (201) 512-0099; mahwahmuseum.org. MONTCLAIR BrassWorks on Grove “Looking Back, Looking Forward: Expressive Colorful Abstractions by R M Cimini.” Through Sept. 19. BrassWorks Gallery, 105 Grove Street. (973) 744-5100; brassworksongrove.com. MORRISTOWN Gallery at 14 Maple “Capturing Nature,” paintings by Natalia Margulis and Joseph Losavio. Through Aug. 27. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and by appointment. Gallery at 14 Maple, 14 Maple Avenue. morrisarts.org; (973) 285-5115. MORRISTOWN Macculloch Hall Historical Museum “Thomas Nast Brings Down Boss Tweed,” political cartoons. Through Aug. 17. “Made in New Jersey: A Celebration of Decorative and Fine Arts.” Through Oct. 1. $8; seniors and students, $6; children ages 6 to 12, $4; children 5 and under, free. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, 45 Macculloch Avenue. maccullochhall.org; (973) 538-2404. MORRISTOWN Morris Museum “Legacy in Clay: Contemporary American Indian Pottery.” Through Sept. 28. “Industrial Photography by Laurie Ann Orlovsky.” Through Sept. 14. $7 to $10. “Portrait of an Athlete: Special Olympics of New Jersey & United States Paralympics,” photographs by Pete Byron. Through Nov. 16. $7 to $10. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road. (973) 971-3700; morrismuseum.org. MORRISTOWN Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth “Compiled and Composed: Sculptural Formations,” 3-D pieces by 15 contemporary artists of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Through Sept. 14. Tuesdays through Sundays, 5 to 8 p.m., or by appointment. Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, College of Saint Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road. (973) 290-4315; maloneyartgallery.org. NEW BRUNSWICK Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum “Odessa’s Second Avant-Garde: City and Myth,” trends in art from the 1960s to the ’80s. Through Oct. 19. “Bugs & Frogs & Toads! Oh My!” Children’s book illustrations by Nancy Winslow Parker. Through June 2015. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton Street. zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu; (848) 932-7237. NEW BRUNSWICK Museum of American Hungarian Foundation “Eva Zeisel: Life, Design and Beauty,” modern industrial design. Through Sept. 30. “40th Anniversary of Rubik’s Cube,” a selection from the Rubik’s Cube collection of Andre Farkas. Through Jan. 31. $5. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Museum of American Hungarian Foundation, 300 Somerset Street. ahfoundation.org; (732) 846-5777. NEW BRUNSWICK Rutgers University, Douglass Library “Momentum: Women/Art/Technology,” works by Grimanesa Amorós, current artist-in-residence. Through Nov. 7. Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to midnight; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, noon to midnight. Rutgers University, Douglass Library, 8 Chapel Drive. (732) 932-3726; iwa.rutgers.edu. NEWARK The Newark Museum “Ready or Not,” works by 40 New Jersey artists. Through Sept. 7. “City of Silver and Gold From Tiffany to Cartier.” Through 2015. “Gone Fishin’: Aquatic Imagery in Asian Art,” folding screens, hanging scrolls, ceramics and sculpture. Through March 1. $7 and $12; members, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. The Newark Museum, 49 Washington Street. newarkmuseum.org; (973) 596-6550. OCEAN CITY Ocean City Arts Center Oil paintings by Heather Lynn Gibson. Through Aug. 31. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ocean City Arts Center, 1735 Simpson Avenue. oceancityartscenter.org; (609) 399-7628. PATERSON Lambert Castle “Pancakes, Patties and Pies: The History of the Silk City Diner Company of Paterson.” Through Oct. 6. Admission, $3 to $5. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Lambert Castle, 3 Valley Road. (973) 247-0085 ext. 201; lambertcastle.org. PRINCETON Morven Museum and Garden “Micah Williams: Portrait Artist.” Through Sept. 14. $5 and $6. Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Morven Museum and Garden, 55 Stockton Street. (609) 924-8144; morven.org. PRINCETON Princeton University Art Museum “Lee Bontecou: Drawn Worlds,” retrospective exhibition of drawings. Through Sept. 21. “Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting From the Collection of Preston H. Haskell.” Through Oct. 5. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Princeton University campus. artmuseum.princeton.edu; (609) 258-3788. PRINCETON Princeton University Library “Nova Caesarea: A Cartographic Record of the Garden State, 1666-1888,” an exhibition featuring first wall maps and atlases of a number of New Jersey counties at the Main Gallery of Firestone Library and Museum. Through Jan. 25. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, Noon to 5 p.m. Princeton University Library, 1 Washington Road. (609) 258-1470; library.princeton.edu . RED BANK Oyster Point Hotel New Art Exhibition. Through Aug. 31. Oyster Point Hotel, 146 Bodman Place. (732) 530-8200; theoysterpointhotel.com. SHREWSBURY Guild of Creative Art “Shrewsbury and Surrounding Area,” multimedia artwork by guild exhibiting members. Through Aug. 20. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Guild of Creative Art, 620 Broad Street. (732) 741-1441; guildofcreativeart.org. SOUTH ORANGE South Orange Performing Arts Center “A Conversation,” paintings, drawings and constructs by Ann Vollum and Russell Christian. Through Sept. 18. South Orange Performing Arts Center, 1 Sopac Way. (973) 313-2787; sopacnow.org. TRENTON Artworks Trenton “HUN-ted,” Endre Kis. Through Aug. 30. Artworks Trenton, 19 Everett Alley. (609) 394-9436; artworkstrenton.org. TRENTON New Jersey State Museum “Nano,” interactive exhibition of nanoscience. Through Aug. 17. “Aljira at 30: Dream and Reality,” examining the role the Aljira art center has played in the state and the region. Through Sept. 28. Suggested admission, $5. “Drawn to Dinosaurs: Hadrosaurus Foulkii,” with a 25-foot cast of a dinosaur and a life-size illustration. Through Dec. 31. “ New Jersey on Display: World’s Fairs and the Garden State,” stories of pioneering entrepreneurs such as Thomas Edison who promoted their products at world’s fairs. Through Jan. 4. Suggested admission, $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street. statemuseum.nj.gov; (609) 292-6464.


Sergeant Fled Army, but Not the War in His Head

Abstract: EAST ORANGE, N.J., Nov. 15 — The psychotherapist remembers the strapping young soldier, slouched in a chair in her office one morning last month, asking if God could be punishing him because he had once thought it would be exciting to fight in a war. By then, the soldier, Sgt. Brad Gaskins, had been absent without leave for 14 months from his post at Fort Drum in northern New York State, waging a lonely battle against an enemy inside his head — memories of death and destruction that he said had besieged him since February 2006, when he returned from a second tour of combat in Iraq . “I asked Sergeant Gaskins whether he thought about death,” the psychotherapist, Rosemary Masters, said in an interview on Thursday. “He said that death seemed like a good alternative to the way he was existing.” On Tuesday, Sergeant Gaskins, 25, traveled almost 300 miles from his home here to the Different Drummer Internet Cafe near Fort Drum. He planned to surrender to military authorities, and his lawyer had notified commanders at the base. But before he could turn himself in, two officials from Fort Drum, accompanied by a pair of police officers from Watertown, showed up at the cafe and placed him under arrest. Sergeant Gaskins has been hospitalized for his psychiatric problems and could be discharged from the Army for medical reasons. He could be court-martialed, which could land him in prison and prevent him from receiving veterans’ benefits. “I just put faith in God that everything is going to work out according to his plan,” he said during a telephone interview on Thursday from a veterans’ hospital in Syracuse, where he was taken after his arrest. (On Friday, he was transferred to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, said Benjamin Abel, a civilian spokesman at Fort Drum.) “I just want it all to go away, and I want to get my life back,” Sergeant Gaskins said. He had always spoken with pride about his military service, his relatives said. He enlisted in the Army at 17, while still a senior at Orange High School, where he was starting quarterback for the Orange Tornadoes. He used to wear his olive-green dress uniform, lock arms with his paternal grandmother, Bernice Murray, and strut inside New Hope Baptist Church in Newark for Sunday services. “He joined the military because he wanted to improve his life, to have a career,” said Mrs. Murray. “He wanted to help his family and to serve his country, and we were all supportive.” No one knows for sure when Sergeant Gaskins’s troubles started. He is, by all accounts, tough and reserved, and he said that he was reluctant to share his emotional distress because he feared his superiors would label him as weak — or, worse, as crazy. But after he returned home on leave in August 2006 and decided he would not go back to Fort Drum, his relatives began to notice signs that something was seriously wrong. He started biting his nails compulsively, a new habit, one of his aunts said. He slept little, and often woke up screaming and drenched in sweat. He became reclusive, locking himself in a darkened room at his grandmother’s apartment in Newark whenever her friends stopped by. His legs trembled as he watched images from Iraq on television. He yelled at his 2-year-old son for no apparent reason, his wife, Amber Gaskins, said. And once, she said, he placed a knife at her throat, as if he did not know who she was. Even before Sergeant Gaskins came home, there were hints of distress. In a letter from Iraq in September 2005 to Sonia Murray, an aunt who helped raise him, Sergeant Gaskins asked, “Will God forgive me for the people I’ve killed?” Sergeant Gaskins, who first went to Iraq in 2003, transferred to Fort Drum, home of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, after his second deployment, and he said he sought help at the base for his problems. He stayed for two weeks at a psychiatric ward at Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, and was prescribed a cocktail of drugs — Zoloft and trazodone for depression, and Ambien to help him sleep. But he said he received no psychotherapy or follow-up care. He was discharged from Samaritan and returned to the base, but he said the nightmares and flashbacks about Iraq would not go away. At Fort Drum, the tanks, marching soldiers and gunfire became too much to bear. So when he came home on a two-week leave in August 2006, he decided not to go back. Ms. Masters, the Manhattan psychotherapist who evaluated Sergeant Gaskins on Oct. 18, said his symptoms were consistent with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression. The sergeant said he did not receive a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder at the Watertown hospital, and the Army would not discuss his medical history. An Army report released on Tuesday found that soldiers suffer more mental distress in the transition to life at home than they show upon leaving Iraq. The report also estimated that one in five active duty soldiers and as many as 40 percent of reservists are in need of treatment. The Army has said that it employs about 200 mental health workers in the field. There are 31 mental health workers at Fort Drum, and there are plans to add 17 more, Mr. Abel said. The base is home to 17,000 troops. For years, researchers have debated the definition and extent of post-traumatic stress. Many of the experts believe that the frequency of the disorder reported among Vietnam veterans has been inflated. “I don’t know what Brad had when he came home,” Mrs. Gaskins said. “All I know is that he had changed. I didn’t recognize it; nobody recognized it as post-traumatic stress disorder. He just needed help.” Sergeant Gaskins and his wife had been classmates since the seventh grade, she said, but it was not until their senior year in high school, after she asked him to be her date at a Sadie Hawkins dance, that they started dating. After graduation, she went to college and he joined the military. They married at Fort Stewart, Ga., on May 9, 2002. Sergeant Gaskins went to Iraq as a member of the Third Infantry Division. At the end of his first tour, he re-enlisted and transferred to Fort Irwin, Calif., where he was deployed again to Iraq, this time with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. His son, Brandon, was just a month old when Sergeant Gaskins left. “The first time, he was excited,” said Mrs. Gaskins, 25. “He’d say, ‘I swear, baby, I’m going to fight hard and get a medal.’ But when he came back after the second time, I asked him how it was, and he told me he didn’t want to ever talk about it, so I didn’t ask anymore.” Last year, after Sergeant Gaskins decided not to return to duty, he sought work in construction and at a warehouse, but could not hold jobs for long, Mrs. Gaskins said. One night, she said, she woke up to find her husband holding a kitchen knife against her throat. She soothed him, and eventually he let go of the knife, but she was scared. She said that she called Fort Drum, and that a victim’s advocate at the base advised her to contact the police and get a restraining order against her husband. She acted on the advice that same day. Sergeant Gaskins was arrested and spent almost two weeks in the Essex County jail, until his grandmother cobbled together $3,000 for his bail. He went to live with a cousin and then disappeared for several months. “He went into hiding,” said Sonia Murray, his aunt. “No one really knows where he was or what he did.” In September, Sergeant Gaskins called his aunt and asked her for help. “He reached a breaking point,” she said. Sergeant Gaskins started going to church again, and he also approached Tod Ensign, director of Citizen Soldier, a veterans’ advocacy group, for advice. Mr. Ensign persuaded him to see Ms. Masters for a psychological evaluation and encouraged him to turn himself in. “I’m not a deserter. I’ve served my country, but now I need help,” Sergeant Gaskins said on Thursday. “I don’t know what the Army is going to do to me. I’m just hoping to get treated, to get better, to be back to who I was before the war.”

Mental Health and Disorders
United States Armament and Defense
Fort Drum (NY)
Iraq


Injunction a Reprieve for Churches Worshiping in Schools

Abstract: Days before the city was to close public schools to religious groups that have been holding services there, a federal judge issued a ruling on Thursday that reopened the schools for worship, caught city officials off guard, and could set the stage for years of legal battles. The judge, Loretta A. Preska , issued a terse temporary order that provided no explanation but directed the city not to proceed with its plan to eject dozens of churches and religious organizations this weekend. The decision was greeted with elation by some of the churches that had been pressing the Legislature to intervene, and with dismay by city officials, who said they immediately filed an appeal as they seek to press the argument of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg that the Constitution requires strict separation of church and state. Legal experts said the case demonstrated the difficulties of balancing religious-expression protections against the principle that government cannot endorse specific religions. In her three-page ruling, Judge Preska, of United States District Court in Manhattan, recited the tangled history of the case. Then she simply said the evangelical congregation that had been fighting its case for 16 years, the Bronx Household of Faith, had “a likelihood of success” on its claim that the Constitution required the schools to be open to them. Judge Preska — whose injunction against the same prohibition of worship in schools 16 years ago began the litigation — said that her injunction would last 10 days. She could then make the order more permanent. The city’s legal department called the injunction a “last-minute decision” and noted that in a June ruling , the federal appeals court in Manhattan had “agreed with the city that worship in schools raised legitimate concerns about First Amendment violations.” The Supreme Court declined to review the case in December, leaving the appeals court ruling in place. But Jordan W. Lorence, the lawyer for the Bronx Household of Faith, said the appeals court’s June decision, which rejected the church’s free-speech claims, did not resolve all the church’s arguments. He said that the constitutional provisions protecting free exercise of religion and barring the establishment of religion provided additional legal grounds for allowing services in school buildings. “They can’t step in and determine what is acceptable worship and what is not,” Mr. Lorence said. Mr. Lorence also argued that a widely noted Supreme Court decision in a different case last month opened broad new areas of religious protection. In that case, the justices said there was a “ministerial exception” that permitted a church to fire a teacher who had filed an employment discrimination suit. The case was seen as giving churches wide legal latitude. Around the city, groups that have been meeting in schools said the injunction was a reprieve that offered them new hope. “This is a meaningful victory,” said Jeremy Del Rio, a minister at Abounding Grace Ministries. He said the congregation’s leaders would intensify their lobbying on behalf of a bill to reverse the city’s no-church rule. Some experts on religious-expression law said they had been surprised that the Supreme Court last year had declined to review the appeals court ruling, and that a new round in the case could draw wide interest. But some experts said they were perplexed by Judge Preska’s ruling. Marci A. Hamilton, a professor at Cardozo Law School, said the Supreme Court’s “ministerial exception” decision did not seem to provide new arguments concerning the use of public buildings for regular church services. “The question here,” she said, “is whether a school building can be transformed into a church every week.” Ira C. Lupu, a law professor at George Washington University, said, “They’ve already litigated this out to the end.”

Preska Loretta A
New York City
Religion-State Relations
Education (K-12)
Decisions and Verdicts
Education Department (NYC)
Bloomberg Michael R


Tishman Speyer to Build Tower for Health Department in Long Island City

Abstract: The Bloomberg administration and Tishman Speyer Properties have struck a deal to move the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and 2,700 of its employees to a planned $316 million office building in Long Island City, the first phase of a large-scale project designed to bolster a nascent business district in Queens. The project, called Gotham Center, has been in the planning stages for more than three years. It is near Queens Plaza, at 28th Street and Thomson Avenue, where a six-story municipal garage now sits. Work has begun on demolishing that garage, widely considered to be an eyesore. Tishman Speyer completed the financing for the 21-story building last week and signed a lease with the health department. “I’m so pleased we finally got here,” said Deputy Mayor Robert C. Lieber. “I think this is going to be huge for Long Island City. Hopefully, it will bring a vibrancy and more people to the area and catalyze the development” of more retail and service businesses. The city has wanted to create an office district in Long Island City for companies unwilling to pay higher Midtown Manhattan rents. It is using government offices to anchor the project with the hope that private companies will follow. The move would also be enable the health department to consolidate some of its operations in more modern space, officials said. Citigroup built a 48-story tower nearby in the 1980s, and a second, smaller tower was recently completed across the street. But Long Island City has not quite caught on as an alternate commercial district. The new building would be the first step in Tishman Speyer’s plan for 3.5 million square feet of housing, office and retail space. The Modell sporting goods family, which had owned some of the land, is a partner. The Bloomberg administration has been eager to promote new development projects, especially now that the economy has slowed after a long boom and developers are finding it almost impossible to get financing, delaying a number of projects. Tishman Speyer obtained financing from Wells Fargo for the Long Island City building, which will be occupied solely by the health department under a 20-year lease. The city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., said on Thursday that two municipal pension funds were also investing a total of $18.6 million as part of an ongoing agreement with Tishman Speyer to back some of Tishman’s New York projects. He said the deal had benefited the city and the pension funds. “We applaud the city’s commitment to development, especially in this environment,” said Rob Speyer, co-chief executive of Tishman Speyer.

Health and Mental Hygiene Department (NYC)


An Offline N.Y.S.E. Makes Barely a Ripple in a Day’s Trading

Abstract: Investors who wanted to buy and sell shares of companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, such as I.B.M. or Target, were still able to do so with ease on Wednesday. In years past, a shutdown of the N.Y.S.E. might have stopped Wall Street dead in its tracks, with a broad range of companies’ shares sitting frozen until all technical problems were unwound. But as the lengthy stoppage on Wednesday showed, the modern world of stock trading is much quicker, more complex and reliant on sophisticated computers — and in many cases able to adapt to issues that could have proved disastrous to the financial markets and the investors’ holdings. Now, an immense amount of trading takes place on so-called off-exchange venues, including the private stock trading platforms known as “dark pools” that let investors buy and sell shares without tipping their hands to the broader markets. Those alternative markets have multiplied as big investment banks like Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs have waded into the business. Dark pools now make up roughly 40 percent of all stock trading volume, having drawn away huge volumes from traditional stock markets. That means that customers can still find plenty of other alternative venues to do business. Such complexity has drawn criticism from analysts and investors who have complained that fragmentation of the stock market world has made the business much more fragile and has provided opportunities for so-called high-frequency trading firms that can execute trades in milliseconds. Yet, that splintering has also provided investors with something of a safety net against many problems. The diversification of trading has been blamed for an array of problems that have bedeviled the markets over the years. But analysts say that spider web of systems has also made issues like the N.Y.S.E.’s less catastrophic than they once might have been. “It’s much more complicated, but much more robust,” said Larry Tabb, the founder of the Tabb Group, a financial market research firm. A History of Stock Exchange Failures Stray squirrels, security breaches and, more commonly, technical glitches have caused exchanges around the world to halt. Long gone are the days when the only exchanges around were the Big Board and the Nasdaq, with floor traders handling huge percentages of stock trading by hand. A monthslong shutdown of the New York exchange in 1914, at the onset of World War I, virtually eliminated stock trading in the country until the exchange reopened. Now there are 11 exchanges, including three owned by the N.Y.S.E., three by the Nasdaq and four by BATS Global Markets, one of the biggest electronic markets around. And the average E-Trade or Charles Schwab customer, for instance, should not have even noticed that there was any problem, because many of these brokerage firms use those other exchanges. “This is negative for those who complain that market fragmentation is hurting liquidity and small investors,” Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities, wrote in a research note on Wednesday. “Yet fragmentation also means there is still robust trading even when a major exchange experiences a technical glitch. To us, this makes it harder to fight against.” The N.Y.S.E. itself is now a subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange, which began in Atlanta as a way to buy and sell electricity. It has commanded more than 24 percent of public stock trading volume over the last month, according to data from its competitor BATS . BATS said that it handled about 20 percent, and Nasdaq oversaw under 19 percent. It is a far cry from 1997, when the N.Y.S.E. and Nasdaq handled 80 percent of stock trading volume, according to Bloomberg data. Gone, too, are the days when N.Y.S.E.-listed stocks could be traded only on the Big Board, and Nasdaq-listed shares on that exchange. Now each of the 11 stock exchanges can handle trades in any issuer. Thus, if one market goes down, others are able to pick up the slack. Such was the case on Wednesday, making the halt of the N.Y.S.E. less severe than it could have been otherwise. (The stoppage did affect indexes that rely on the prices originating from primary listing markets, though with the Big Board having resumed trading by late afternoon, that was less of an issue.) Still, more serious problems can grind trading to a halt altogether. Seared into many traders’ minds is the 2010 flash crash , when a cascade of technical errors prompted huge swoons in the market before prices rebounded within a half-hour. Then two years ago, system problems shut down the Nasdaq for three hours, stopping trading in huge names ranging from Google to Apple in what became known as the “flash freeze.” Investors, however, need not rely on traditional exchanges to trade their shares at all. Before, orders would flow to the brokers on the N.Y.S.E. floor, who would then turn to specialists who hand-matched would-be sellers with interested buyers. Now, many Wall Street firms execute trades within their own systems. “There are many other alternative places to trade,” Mr. Tabb said. The only ones who suffer from that, he added, are the exchanges themselves.

NYSE
Stocks,Bonds
Computers and the Internet
Tech Industry
Network Outages


Grant Hill Becomes a Hawks Executive

Abstract: Grant Hill was introduced as vice chairman of the Atlanta Hawks, one day after the franchise and arena rights were bought for $850 million. Hill has a stake in the ownership group, led by the billionaire Tony Ressler, who said Coach Mike Budenholzer had an agreement with the team to become president of basketball operations.

Basketball
Grant Hill
Mike Budenholzer
Atlanta Hawks