Yankees’ Rodriguez Ends Postseason Slump

Abstract: Alex Rodriguez drilled a run-scoring single to left field, the kind of single that he had collected hundreds of times. But this hit was different. When Rodriguez crossed first base, he clapped his hands together hard. Then he bumped fists with Mick Kelleher, the Yankees ’ first-base coach, hard. He probably exhaled, too. With the single off Brian Duensing, Rodriguez ended an ignominious postseason streak. Rodriguez had been 0 for his last 29 with runners on base, stranding 40 runners. That included going hitless in his first two at-bats and stranding two runners against the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night. But, with the single, Rodriguez finally found some relief. His hit gave the Yankees a two-run lead in the fifth inning in an American League division series opener that they won, 7-2. He also smashed a run-scoring single off the right-field fence in his next at-bat. The Yankees hope those hits will help Rodriguez feel more comfortable in October, something he has not been in five years. “It certainly felt good to get that hit out of the way,” he said. How good did it feel? Rodriguez knew the depressing October numbers and surely heard the booing after striking out in his second at-bat. But Rodriguez did not elaborate on his animated display after the hit, deciding to keep with his safe approach of rationing his words. “It just feels good to contribute and do the little things,” Rodriguez said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to talk about all year.” Since Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox, Rodriguez has been the powerful player who disappeared in the postseason. Before his first single, he had been 9 for his last 63 in the postseason, a superb hitter who looked unnerved. When the calendar flipped to October, Rodriguez froze and faltered. Rodriguez finished that forgettable A.L.C.S. against the Red Sox by going 2 for 17. He followed that by going 2 for 15 against the Los Angeles Angels in the 2005 division series, went 1 for 14 and was even dropped to eighth in the batting order against the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 division series and managed to go 4 for 15 against the Cleveland Indians in the 2007 division series. In Rodriguez’s first two at-bats against Duensing, he looked like the same tense hitter from past Octobers. Duensing used a curveball to get Rodriguez to pop out to right field in the first and whiffed him on a 2-2 curve in the third. After the strikeout, some restless fans booed Rodriguez. With two outs and Derek Jeter on second in the fifth, the Twins decided to pitch to Rodriguez. There have been times when teams would have intentionally walked him in that situation. But not in October. Rick Anderson, the Twins’ pitching coach, visited the mound and asked Duensing what he wanted to do. The rookie wanted to challenge Rodriguez. “I said, ‘Let’s just go right after him,’ ” Duensing explained. “He said: ‘Well, we’ve got a base open. So, if you’re going to miss, miss in or miss out.’ I missed in the middle. That’s my fault.” Duensing uncorked a fastball on the first pitch. Rodriguez, who was happy to see such a tempting pitch, singled to knock Duensing out of the game. Because Rodriguez kept the inning alive, Hideki Matsui was able to follow with a two-run homer off Francisco Liriano that pushed the lead to 6-2. Rodriguez received warm cheers after his single. “Did I notice? Sure,” Rodriguez said. “That was good.” Rodriguez, who has mostly avoided doing interviews this season, explained Sunday that he hits cleanup for a reason and that the Yankees expect a lot from him. That is especially true in October. “When you lose, people look around and numbers get dissected,” Rodriguez said. “I understand the score. That’s the way it is, that’s the way it should be.” After Rodriguez retires, 2009 will be remembered as the season in which he acknowledged that he used steroids. That is a blemish that will cloud whatever he does. In addition, it is the season when Rodriguez had hip surgery and missed 28 games. Rodriguez said he “hit rock bottom” in the spring. Still, Rodriguez vowed to “focus on playing baseball” and eliminate “all unnecessary distractions.” As much as he relished the limelight, it was difficult to envision the highest-paid player in baseball not saying or doing something that attracted attention. Surprisingly, Rodriguez has remained loyal to his vow of remaining low-key. Rodriguez contributed two hits and two runs batted in as the Yankees won Wednesday night. But he also hit .421 against the Twins in the 2004 division series before the Yankees imploded against Boston. The Yankees secured one win on Wednesday in what could be a long October, a month when Rodriguez still has a lot to prove.

New York Yankees
Rodriguez Alex
Baseball
Playoff Games


Revamped United Airlines Board Could Be a Winning Compromise

Abstract: It’s not the fresh start Oscar Munoz, United Airline’s chief executive would have wanted. Two hedge funds said on Tuesday that they were aiming to install six new directors at the $20 billion United Continental, a week before Mr. Munoz, who took over as chief executive in September, is due to return from several months’ sick leave. Despite heated talk, a revamped boardroom could be a winning compromise for the third-biggest United States airline and its investors. Video Gordon Bethune, the former chief of Continental Airlines, said that the current board of United Continental has a “country club atmosphere.” Credit Credit CNBC PAR Capital Management and Altimeter Capital Management, which together own just over 7 percent of United shares, say they want to shake up what they contend is an “underqualified, ineffective and entrenched” board. The language is sharp, but they have a point. As of last week, few of United’s directors, other than two union representatives and a former Boeing executive, looked equipped to challenge managers on the nuts and bolts of running a major airline. As an example, nonexecutive chairman Henry L. Meyer III, who stepped in after United’s previous chairman and C.E.O., Jeff Smisek, departed in September amid a federal probe, used to run a regional bank. While United has made progress tackling late arrivals and other operational problems, the board hasn’t covered itself in glory lately. It paid Smisek lavishly despite mediocre performance, and failed to communicate clearly with shareholders when his replacement, Mr. Munoz, fell ill with heart trouble in October. United added three new directors on Monday in what looks like an attempt to spike the activists’ guns. Even if that’s part of the motivation, though, the new faces — including the former boss of Air Canada’s parent and a onetime operating chief at Delta Air Lines — bring relevant expertise. The hedge fund nominees look solid, too. The slate is led by Gordon M. Bethune, who led a turnaround of Continental Airlines in the 1990s. The company grumbles that PAR and Altimeter refused to engage constructively, but it ought to be possible to settle on compromise candidates, as well as agreeing whose services are no longer needed. A deal would be preferable to a drawn-out proxy fight. After a fight would distract Mr. Munoz from improving United Continental’s business and the tricky balancing act of making the company more shareholder-friendly while not paying out so much cash that it’s vulnerable to the next downturn.

Airlines,airplanes
Board of directors
United Continental Holdings
Gordon M Bethune
Oscar Munoz


With Quarterback Turnover in the Pacific-12, Parity Appears a Clear Call

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — The Pacific-12 Conference has no clear football favorite this fall, and the biggest reason was obvious at the conference’s annual Hollywood media days. Of the 24 players invited to represent their teams from this pass-happy league, just one was a quarterback. Most of the West Coast’s usual powers are still uncertain who will be throwing the ball this fall. Stanford’s Kevin Hogan, Southern California’s Cody Kessler, Oregon’s Vernon Adams, California’s Jared Goff, Utah’s Travis Wilson and Arizona State’s Mike Bercovici are all gone. In fact, only four teams — U.C.L.A., Washington, Colorado and Washington State — have clear returning starters. Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez is among the coaches who believe a quarterback competition takes place every week, which is why the prolific Anu Solomon is not guaranteed to be his starter. Other coaches, including U.S.C.’s Clay Helton, value the leadership of an established starter — if they can just pick one. Image Washington has the sophomore Jake Browning back behind center, and the Huskies are expected to be Stanford’s greatest challenge for the North division title. Credit Elaine Thompson/Associated Press “I’ve played quarterback, and I’ve coached the position,” said Helton, who plans to choose between Max Browne and Sam Darnold two weeks before the season opener. “I know that your team wants to know who the leader is, going into that first game.” In a league stacked with talented tailbacks, the turnover under center in the so-called Conference of Quarterbacks is glaring — and intriguing. New stars will be made this fall, but the holdovers could be the biggest ones of all. U.C.L.A. was picked over U.S.C. as the preseason favorite in the South Division, and the star sophomore Josh Rosen might be the main reason. Washington also has the sophomore Jake Browning back behind center, and the Huskies are expected to be Stanford’s greatest challenge for the North division title. Helton, the Trojans’ former quarterbacks coach, will name a replacement for Kessler, his durable three-year starter, in time to prepare for the Trojans’ opener against Alabama. Browne, a redshirt junior who has already graduated from U.S.C., is widely expected to get the first shot, but Darnold is making things complicated. “The separation between Max and Sam Darnold was not great,” Helton said. “If we talk about competing at every position, it’s got to be the quarterback position also.” Stanford is the preseason media poll’s pick to win another league title, but the Cardinal did not come out of spring ball with a clear successor to Hogan. Keller Chryst and Ryan Burns will continue their competition next month — even if their biggest responsibility might be handing off to the star tailback Christian McCaffrey. Across San Francisco Bay, California has the unenviable task of replacing Goff, the three-year starter and subsequent No. 1 pick in the N.F.L. draft. Chase Forrest was the front-runner heading into spring ball, but Coach Sonny Dykes said he ended up “neck-and-neck” with the redshirt freshman Ross Bowers. Dykes will add the freshman Victor Viramontes to the competition next month, indicating nobody has an advantage. “The good thing is we have some very viable options,” Dykes said. “We’re going to need to make a relatively quick decision, figure out who the guy is going to be, build a football team around him and his strengths, and go out and win.” Oregon must replace Adams after his up-and-down single season. Coach Mark Helfrich landed the Montana State graduate Dakota Prukop as a transfer to compete alongside Travis Jonsen and Terry Wilson. “We had three guys in spring ball that were very similar and completely different,” Helfrich said. Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham plans an open competition to replace Wilson, saying Brandon Cox, Tyler Huntley and Troy Williams all have a real shot at the job. “We did not really see much separation, so that competition will continue this fall,” Whittingham said. “The biggest question is the quarterback position, just because it’s unsolved. Not that we’re worried about that position, but there’s no pecking order established yet.” Even at teams with returning experience, there will be competition. Rodriguez pointedly declined to guarantee the starting job to Solomon over Brandon Dawkins, even after Solomon passed for 6,460 yards and 48 touchdowns in his first two seasons. “We have, in my opinion, two returning starters,” Rodriguez said. “We’ll see who wins the job. I hope both of them prove that we can win with them, and we’ll play both of them throughout the year.”


Suspect in Fatal Subway Attack Pleads Not Guilty to Murder Charge

Abstract: A Queens woman admitted pushing another woman to her death in front of a subway train in Times Square, prosecutors said in court on Tuesday, but the woman denied that she had confessed. At her arraignment in Criminal Court in Manhattan, the woman, Melanie Liverpool-Turner, 30, pleaded not guilty to a second-degree murder charge. The police said Ms. Liverpool-Turner pushed Connie Watton, 49, of Queens, in front of a southbound No. 1 train at the busy Times Square-42nd Street station around 1:20 p.m. on Monday. Prosecutors said in a statement read by Justice Gerald Lebovits of State Supreme Court that two witnesses saw Ms. Liverpool-Turner push Ms. Watton. “This is a strong case with multiple eyewitnesses, and the defendant has admitted to the crime,” Matthew Thiman, an assistant district attorney, said in court. Ms. Liverpool-Turner, standing next to her lawyer, seemed surprised. “What?” she said. “I did not admit to nothing.” Her lawyer, Mathew Mari, said his client maintained her innocence. “She was adamant that she did not confess,” he said, “and she is not guilty.” Image Melanie Liverpool-Turner, the suspect in the subway attack, being arrested on Monday at the Times Square-42nd Street subway station. Credit James Carman/Reuters The police described Ms. Liverpool-Turner as emotionally disturbed, but Mr. Mari said he was unaware of her medical history and had not spoken to any of her relatives. “She told me that she had some kind of medical history, but she wouldn’t go into it,” Mr. Mari said. He said that he spent about 15 minutes with Ms. Liverpool-Turner before her appearance on Tuesday, and that she had been calm but not very talkative. “She didn’t have very much to say other than, quote, she is not guilty,” he said. “And she didn’t want to discuss anything else.” Ms. Liverpool-Turner has no criminal convictions and has lived at the same address in Queens for three years, he said. She worked as a home aide until about two or three weeks ago, he said, but did not say why she was no longer employed. Justice Lebovits, filling in at the lower court on Election Day, granted the district attorney’s request that Ms. Liverpool-Turner be held without bail. He set her next appearance for Thursday. No relatives of Ms. Watton or Ms. Liverpool-Turner were in court. At Ms. Watton’s apartment building in Astoria, Queens, a friend of the family said her husband, Robert, did not want to talk.

Murders and Homicides
Times Square and 42nd Street Manhattan
Connie Watton
Melanie Liverpool-Turner
Subway
Train wreck
NYC


Leaner Operations Give U.S. Airlines a Profitable Year

Abstract: Despite everything that has been working against them, from a dismal global economy to rising fuel prices, the nation’s top airlines — United Continental Holdings , Delta Air Lines , US Airways , and Southwest Airlines — all turned a profit last year. Their recipe for success has been straightforward: fewer airlines, fewer planes and fewer seats combined with higher ticket prices and more fees. While the United States economy is showing signs of strength, the airlines have indicated in their latest earnings reports that they intend to stick to the formula. Oil prices last year averaged about $100 a barrel, about the same level as in 2008. But the airlines delivered higher-than-expected profits for 2011, while they lost 17 cents for every dollar of revenue they generated in 2008. In those three years, Delta completed its purchase of Northwest Airlines, United merged with Continental , and Southwest bought AirTran Airways. Meanwhile, American Airlines, left out of the latest round of consolidation, filed for bankruptcy protection in November after losing billions of dollars in recent years. The carrier hopes to be able to pare its costs during the restructuring process and emerge as a leaner, profitable carrier. That prospect has also set off renewed talk about a possible bid for American Airlines by one of its competitors, perhaps Delta or US Airways. “What the industry has done in three years is remarkable,” said William S. Swelbar, a research engineer in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Center for Air Transportation. “Airlines seem to be much more stable than I can remember in decades. Consolidation is having a significant impact on pricing, no doubt. And the industry has rid itself of unprofitable routes.” The airlines hope they can continue to raise revenue this year faster than fuel prices rise, while cutting capacity to offset weak demand. Labor relations are likely to take center stage in 2012. As part of its restructuring process, American is seeking to renegotiate its work agreements with pilots and other labor groups in a bid to cut its costs, which are the highest among its peers. These talks may put pressure on Delta and United, also facing labor negotiations this year, to address costs that have been slowly rising in past years. United, the nation’s top carrier since its 2010 merger with Continental Airlines , said Thursday that it cut its capacity, or the number of seats flown, by 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, it increased ticket prices by 9 percent over the same period a year earlier. As a result, United narrowed its fourth-quarter net loss to $138 million, an improvement from its loss of $325 million in the year-earlier period, the company said. The loss was largely attributed to costs associated with the merger. Revenue was up 5.5 percent, to $8.9 billion, in the quarter. Excluding one-time items of $247 million, United reported a net income of $109 million in the fourth quarter. The company recorded a full-year profit of $840 million, down 12 percent from 2010. United’s shares rose 6.3 percent to $21.70 on Thursday. Shares of Delta also rose for a second day after the company said Wednesday that fourth-quarter profit surged to $425 million, up from $19 million in the year-earlier period. In the quarter, which the company said was its most profitable ever for that period, Delta filled nearly 82 percent of its seats while it reduced capacity by 3.5 percent. As a result of higher ticket prices and higher fees, Delta increased its overall revenue by 11 percent in 2011, even as it operated 30 fewer planes than the previous year, according to Richard Anderson, the company’s chief executive. Delta reduced its capacity to most of its destinations, especially Europe, which saw a 10 percent drop. Latin America was a rare exception: Delta increased capacity there by 5 percent. The company said it would continue to reduce its capacity in the first quarter by 3 to 5 percent. At Southwest Airlines, net income grew 16 percent in the fourth quarter, to $152 million, with a 32 percent jump in revenue to $4.1 billion. US Airways said its net income declined by 35 percent to $18 million in the fourth quarter. Even though its revenue in that period rose 8.5 percent to $3.2 billion, fuel costs rose faster. Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways also posted a profit in the last quarter. JetBlue is one of the industry’s few exceptions in raising its capacity in 2011 — the airline increased seats by 10 percent in the fourth quarter, with new flights to the Caribbean and to Boston. It expects to keep adding more flights to its schedule this year. The airlines said they expected these gains to continue in the first quarter of 2012. “If anything, the new year has seen a step-up in business demand,” the US Airways president, Scott Kirby, said on Wednesday. “The pricing environment remains strong and the industry is successfully recovering high fuel prices.” Separately, US Airways confirmed this week that it was interested in exploring a deal with American Airlines. A combination between US Airways and American would create a carrier roughly the same size as United, Delta and Southwest.

United Airlines
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures
Continental Airlines
Airlines and Airplanes
Company Reports
United Continental Holdings Inc
Delta Air Lines Inc
Southwest Airlines Company
US Airways Group Inc


California Struggles With Paroled Sex Offenders

Abstract: ESCONDIDO, Calif. — Darrell Littleton calls them “his guys,” but he does not trust them. One got drunk and exposed himself to a jogger in a public park. Another was a fire captain until he molested his 13-year-old stepdaughter, went to prison and lost his wife, his job and his home. Now the man sleeps behind a drive-through restaurant. Mr. Littleton is a parole agent, and “his guys,” about 40 in all, are paroled sex offenders. On a September morning, as he does each day, Mr. Littleton fired up his laptop computer to check on his charges; the signals from their global-positioning ankle bracelets trace dotted trails cutting through a Google satellite map. Mr. Littleton tracks them, calls them frequently and shows up unannounced to make sure they are behaving themselves. But they still struggle to stay straight. One of his parolees recently harassed a teenage prostitute, and Mr. Littleton had to “violate him” — revoke his parole and return him to prison. Another promised Mr. Littleton that once he is off parole in a few months, and no longer subject to random drug testing, he is going to resume his marijuana habit. And before the day was over, another parolee would emerge as a suspect in a sexual assault on a 9-year-old girl. “Twenty is really the ideal caseload for my guys,” Mr. Littleton said as he drove a high-riding pickup truck on one of several parolee visits he had planned that day. “With that kind of caseload, I could spend more time in the field and less in the office. With these guys, you don’t want them to know you’re coming. You need to watch them when they don’t know they’re being watched.” A series of high-profile crimes involving parolees in California highlight the challenges of keeping track of them in a state that discharges more than 120,000 inmates annually, more than any other. Last month, two campus police officers at the University of California, Berkeley, became suspicious of a paroled sex offender named Phillip Garrido and called his parole officer, leading to Mr. Garrido’s arrest on charges of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard , now 29, in 1991, raping her and holding her captive in a backyard encampment. Like the sex offenders Mr. Littleton supervises, Mr. Garrido had been monitored by GPS and visited at his home at least twice a month by parole agents. But he was still able to keep his secret for 18 years. In July, a Los Angeles man on parole was arrested in the kidnapping and murder of a 17-year-old girl, and an Oakland parolee shot and killed four police officers before being killed by other officers. California is the only state that places all released prisoners on parole, no matter the seriousness of their crime. Even at a time of historically low violent crime, critics argue that overloading parole agents compromises public safety. Legislation passed this month will reduce the “average” caseloads for parole agents to 45, from 70, and nonviolent, less serious offenders will no longer be returned to prison for administrative infractions like missing counseling appointments, ditching parole agent visits or failing drug tests. Agents handling some of the most violent offenders, like Mr. Littleton’s parolees, will also see their caseloads reduced. Legislators argued that the law was necessary to reduce chronic prison overcrowding. Packed prisons thwart rehabilitation programs and medical treatment and incite riots on a regular basis, according to findings in federal civil rights cases against the California corrections system. The law was hard-won by the Democratic-controlled state legislature. Corrections officer unions, police organizations and prosecutors opposed it, arguing that even parolees convicted of nonviolent crimes were too dangerous to be left unsupervised. Mr. Littleton said he thought parolees should be given incentives for early release and reduced supervision inside and outside of prison — G.E.D. courses, drug treatment programs and psychological counseling, for example. But providing services is one thing the legislation does not emphasize. In fact, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced $280 million in cuts this week to educational and rehabilitation programs inside prison. The cutbacks follow an 80 percent cut in Proposition 36, the state’s largest drug treatment diversion program, even though most parolees suffer from drug and alcohol addictions, mental illnesses and chronic unemployment. A University of California, Los Angeles, study showed that the program, approved by voters in 2000, treated 30,000 drug offenders a year in lieu of prison and saved $2 in taxes for every $1 invested in the program. Michelle Jackson, a parole agent in Corona, about 50 miles east of Los Angeles, who supervises 40 violent felons, said she would prefer to focus on the social work aspect of her job rather than the law enforcement role but sees few alternatives, even with the new legislation. “Most programs won’t take my guys or they want them to pay, and all my parolees have very low-paying jobs,” she said. “They can’t afford a month’s worth of counseling.” When Ms. Jackson visits Faafetai Niusila, 39, a muscular member of the Sons of Samoa gang, she chides him for his lack of chivalry toward his wife. “Really? You’re going to let her carry the groceries by herself?” Ms. Jackson asked as she watched Mr. Niusila’s wife struggle to carry bags into their house. Mr. Niusila, who served 12 years in prison for attempted murder, hustled across the lawn to help. After Mr. Niusila, Ms. Jackson visited Shelton Miles, 38, who was on parole for shooting a man in 1991. He spent more than 10 years in prison. “Does someone collect shot glasses?” Ms. Jackson asked warily as she spied them on a shelf. If Mr. Miles is caught abusing alcohol, his parole could be revoked. “No, no,” he said. “My sons’ sports teams give them out.” Ms. Jackson said that in the absence of appropriate programs, she was more likely to revoke an offender’s parole. “If employment doesn’t work out, if staying home doesn’t work out, and they start using again or getting in trouble — even if it’s not another crime — we have to violate them to protect the community because we don’t know what will happen,” she said. That uncertainty keeps Mr. Littleton thinking about his guys even when he is off the clock. Even a vigilant parole agent cannot keep parolees out of trouble every minute of every day, he said. Around the middle of his shift, Mr. Littleton received an alert that the police here in Escondido, a suburb of San Diego, were looking for a parolee supervised by his office named Ricardo Perez Borbon, 70, in connection with an assault on a 9-year-old girl. Mr. Borbon was on parole after serving 12 years for sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl. The signal from Mr. Borbon’s GPS anklet indicated that he had lingered near an elementary school an hour earlier and then had gone to his residential construction job before tampering with the homing device a few blocks away. Mr. Littleton gunned his truck toward the location to meet other agents. They found the anklet under a roadside cactus. Mr. Borbon was now a fugitive. “We’ll be focusing on him now,” said Lindon Lewis, Mr. Littleton’s supervisor. “He has our full attention now.” Mr. Littleton returned to his truck and clipped Mr. Borbon’s mug shot — slicked-back hair, a salt-and-pepper moustache, grim eyes with dark circles underneath — onto his sun visor. The parolee’s face looked down at him.

Probation and Parole
Sex Crimes
California
Prisons and Prisoners
Law and Legislation
Garrido Phillip
Dugard Jaycee Lee


James Sterling Young, Oral Historian, Dies at 85

Abstract: James Sterling Young, who established the country’s only program dedicated to compiling comprehensive oral histories of the American presidency, and who also amassed a vast oral history of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s career, died on Aug. 8 at his home in Advance Mills, Va. He was 85. His death was announced by the Miller Center at the University of Virginia, which studies politics, policy and the presidency. The center houses the Presidential Oral History Program, of which Professor Young was the founder and longtime chairman. An award-winning historian of 19th-century American politics, Professor Young, who retired in 2006, was at his death an emeritus professor of government and foreign affairs at Virginia. He was previously a faculty member and administrator at Columbia University. The Presidential Oral History Program was begun in 1981 with the oral history of the administration of Jimmy Carter. It has since taken on the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. “The fundamental notion about doing oral history is that the documents aren’t going to tell us everything that we’d like to know,” Russell L. Riley, the program’s current chairman, said in a telephone interview. “There is always information stored in people’s memories that enlightens us in ways that we couldn’t just get from the documentary history.” Each presidential oral history entails interviews with scores of people: aides, cabinet members, political allies, political adversaries and, ideally, the former president himself. Among the interviewees for the Carter oral history, for instance, were Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mr. Carter’s national security adviser; Hamilton Jordan, his chief of staff; and Jody Powell, his press secretary. So far, Mr. Carter is the only president who has sat for his own oral history, although, Professor Riley said, “we are still hopeful for Clinton and Bush 43.” Over time, Professor Young was intimately involved in preparing interview questions on a broad spectrum of topics — none were considered off limits — and personally led some 300 interviews. In a noteworthy innovation, he often convened an entire panel of scholars to interview one or more subjects at a sitting. “The conventions for oral history had always held that typically one interviewer would interview a single interviewee,” Professor Riley explained. As recast by Professor Young, the sessions generally involved “multiple people at the table discussing their experiences,” Professor Riley said. “The great advantage of this was that it made it possible for the interviews to carry on at considerable length.” Once the interviews have been recorded, transcribed and approved by their subjects — a process that can take years — they are released online at millercenter.org/oralhistory . The Carter, Reagan and elder Bush interviews are currently available; the rest are in progress. In 2004, at Mr. Kennedy’s request, Professor Young expanded the program’s purview to document his Senate career. Over the next several years, Professor Young conducted about 90 hours of interviews with Mr. Kennedy at the senator’s homes in Washington and Hyannis Port, Mass. To further document his subject’s long tenure in national politics, Professor Young interviewed a welter of associates, including President Obama. The sessions with Mr. Kennedy ended in 2008, after the senator received a diagnosis of brain cancer; he died the next year. In a 2011 interview with the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, Professor Young described the Kennedy oral history as “both personal and institutional,” adding, “Senator Kennedy said to me: ‘Jim, this is not about me. It’s about the Senate and how it works. I don’t think people understand how our laws are made.’ ” Though the Kennedy oral history is not yet available to the public, Mr. Kennedy drew on it heavily for his 2009 memoir, “True Compass.” James Sterling Young was born in Savannah, Ga., on Oct. 14, 1927. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, followed by a Ph.D. from Columbia. His doctoral dissertation, about the workings of power in the capital in the Jeffersonian era, was published in 1966 as “ The Washington Community, 1800-1828 ” and is considered a landmark study to this day. In 1967, the volume won a Bancroft Prize, awarded annually by Columbia for the best books about history or diplomacy. Professor Young taught in the department of public law and government at Columbia, later serving as a deputy provost and a vice president at the university. He joined the Virginia faculty in 1978. Survivors include his wife, Virginia Heyer Young; two daughters, Millicent Young and Eleanor Young Houston; and two grandchildren. One of the most incisive assessments of Professor Young’s professional skill came, fittingly, orally. “Jim’s a rather quiet man, but his powers of persuasion are quite effective,” Mr. Kennedy remarked in a 2004 speech announcing their collaboration. “He reminds me of that great senator from the State of Washington, Warren Magnuson . Warren spoke very softly, even mumbled sometimes. One day, he mumbled in the Appropriations Committee and the Coulee Dam was built. Well, Jim came by my office one day, then another ... and the result is that we are all here today.”

James Sterling Young
History
Obituary
College


Ukraine’s Hopes Riding on a Chocolatier

Abstract: KIEV, Ukraine — After a leading contender dropped out of Ukraine’s presidential race on Saturday, the hopes of many Ukrainians and their Western supporters are now riding on a man known as the Willy Wonka of Ukraine, the billionaire owner of a chocolate candy company. Petro Olekseyevich Poroshenko, 48, was the highest-profile Ukrainian industrialist to support the street protests that ousted President Viktor F. Yanukovych last month, and has for several weeks led in polls for the May 25 presidential election. Known as a centrist who had previously worked for both pro-Western and pro-Russian governments, he became a strong advocate of integration with Europe after Russia banned imports of his chocolate. On Saturday, the candidate who had been running second in polls, the former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, withdrew from the race, throwing his support behind Mr. Poroshenko and solidifying his lead. The shuffle leaves Yulia V. Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and prisoner under the ousted government, as the remaining credible competitor to Mr. Poroshenko. She had been in third place according to a survey by four Ukrainian polling agencies last week. The former pro-government party, whose association with Mr. Yanukovych makes it a long shot, nominated Mikhail Dobkin, an oligarch with close ties to the former president, on Saturday. Mr. Poroshenko, also known as “the chocolate king” for his ownership of Roshen, the Ukrainian chocolate manufacturer, won notice during the antigovernment protests last month for climbing onto a backhoe to prevent an angry demonstrator from driving it into police lines. Until then, the man with the beefy face and mop of salt and pepper hair was hardly known for drama. In a country where politicians tend to be flamboyant and boisterous, Mr. Poroshenko carefully weighs his words and speaks in measured, sometimes monotonous technicalities. In fact, political analysts say, his staid manner may be part of his appeal in a country leery of further dramatic change. Mr. Poroshenko might have remained merely a chocolatier with a modest political career if not for Russian actions that started last summer as part of an effort to apply economic pressure on pro-European businessmen to discourage the country from signing a trade deal with the European Union. Russia banned his chocolate, ostensibly on the grounds that it posed health risks beyond the usual ones associated with candy, costing him millions in lost sales. Mr. Poroshenko reacted angrily. Rather than buckle, he financially supported the pro-European Union opposition, and won wide support for it. In an interview in his office in Kiev, he highlighted the economic skills he said he brings from businesses that, aside from sweets, also include media, shipping, agriculture and automobiles, and explained the limits of possible compromise with Russia. “I have experience in how to build up a new investment climate,” he said. “I know how to build zero tolerance to corruption. I know how to build a court system. I know how to create a positive, absolutely new page of Ukrainian history.” For him to win, he will need to persuade Ukrainians to overlook their wariness of someone who has made a career of combining business with government. A member of Parliament, he is also a former chairman of the national security council and a former minister of foreign affairs and of the economy. He began his political career in 1998 as a legislator loyal to the ruling pro-Russian government, before throwing his support in 2001 behind the opposition politician Viktor Yushchenko, who would rise to power and win the presidency three years later in the pro-democracy Orange Revolution. Though that government became mired in scandal, Mr. Poroshenko remained one of the most prominent and powerful opposition voices in the country. Like other tycoons throughout post-Soviet countries, Ukraine’s capitalized on the flawed privatization of publicly held assets to amass enormous fortunes. Mr. Poroshenko parlayed early profits from consumer goods trading to buy Ukraine’s rundown candy factories for a pittance in the 1990s, and later moved into government positions. “He bought his way in; that’s the way it works in Ukraine,” said Ivan Lozowy, the director of a policy research group in Kiev, adding that no real evidence of malfeasance had ever come out. Mr. Poroshenko’s reputation as a moderate who has tried to straddle the political divide between the Ukrainian-speaking west and the Russian-speaking east and as an economic modernizer has clearly intrigued Western governments, who have wagered vast sums of money and much national prestige on the proposition that Ukraine’s teetering domestic politics can be stabilized, with a goal of thwarting a threatened Russian invasion and a new war in Europe. Mr. Poroshenko, whose daughter-in-law is Russian, met last week with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, and his leading position in the race reportedly gave the International Monetary Fund confidence to agree to release an $18 billion aid package. A leading position for a centrist could also elevate the chances of a negotiated resolution with Russia. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia are to meet in Paris on Sunday to try to forge a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Yet even as Mr. Poroshenko’s political ambitions became clear, Russian authorities stepped up their economic pressure against his businesses, just this month raiding and shutting two Roshen chocolate factories in the Russian city of Lipetsk worth $200 million. The problem in finding a resolution with Russia, Mr. Poroshenko said, is that while the Kremlin’s military action in Crimea caused Russians to rally around the flag, it also did the same for Ukrainians, erasing any good will toward Russia. The chances of any candidate who openly endorses Russian proposals winning the election are vanishingly small. Mr. Poroshenko, for all his moderate leanings, flatly rejected Russia’s proposal for the federalization of Ukraine as allowing “somebody in the Russian government trying to tell us what type of governmental system we should have.” He cited polls showing Ukrainians who viewed Russia positively dropping to 20 percent from 92 percent after the Russian Army invaded Crimea this month. Rather than agreeing to rewrite its Constitution, Mr. Poroshenko said, the Ukrainian government’s response to Russian troops massing on the eastern border should be “if the aggression continues against the rest of the country, the Ukrainian Army will open fire.” Still, he has held up his experience running chocolate factories in Russia, along with his job as foreign minister, as proof he can work with the Russians. In fact, before the Russian ban, his company had bet big on the Russian market, introducing a line of Russian Classic candy bars that revived Soviet brands like the Seagull bar, featuring a Social-Realist style beach scene on the wrapper.

Petro Poroshenko
Ukraine
Election
Russia
Vitali Klitschko
Yulia V Tymoshenko


A Generation Gap Over Immigration

Abstract: MIAMI — Meaghan Patrick, a junior at New College of Florida, a tiny liberal arts college in Sarasota , says discussing immigration with her older relatives is like “hitting your head against a brick wall.” Cathleen McCarthy, a senior at the University of Arizona , says immigration is the rare, radioactive topic that sparks arguments with her liberal mother and her grandmother. “Many older Americans feel threatened by the change that immigration presents,” Ms. McCarthy said. “Young people today have simply been exposed to a more accepting worldview.” Forget sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll; immigration is a new generational fault line. In the wake of the new Arizona law allowing the police to detain people they suspect of entering the country illegally, young people are largely displaying vehement opposition — leading protests on Monday at Senator John McCain ’s offices in Tucson , and at the game here between the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks . Meanwhile, baby boomers, despite a youth of “live and let live,” are siding with older Americans and supporting the Arizona law. This emerging divide has appeared in a handful of surveys taken since the measure was signed into law, including a New York Times/CBS News poll this month that found that Americans 45 and older were more likely than the young to say the Arizona law was “about right” (as opposed to “going too far” or “not far enough”). Boomers were also more likely to say that “no newcomers” should be allowed to enter the country while more young people favored a “welcome all” approach. The generational conflict could complicate chances of a federal immigration overhaul any time soon. “The hardening of this divide spells further stalemate,” said Roberto Suro , the former head of the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center . And the causes are partly linked to experience. Demographically, younger and older Americans grew up in vastly different worlds. Those born after the civil rights era lived in a country of high rates of legal and illegal immigration. In their neighborhoods and schools, the presence of immigrants was as hard to miss as a Starbucks today. In contrast, baby boomers and older Americans — even those who fought for integration — came of age in one of the most homogenous moments in the country’s history. Immigration, which census figures show declined sharply from the Depression through the 1960s, reached a historic low point the year after Woodstock. From 1860 through 1920, 13 percent to 15 percent of the country was foreign born — a rate similar to today’s, when immigrants make up about 12.5 percent of the country. But in 1970, only 4.7 percent of the country was foreign born, and most of those immigrants were older Europeans, often unnoticed by the boomer generation born from 1946 to 1964. Boomers and their parents also spent their formative years away from the cities, where newer immigrants tended to gather — unlike today’s young people who have become more involved with immigrants, through college, or by moving to urban areas. “It’s hard for them to share each others’ views on what’s going on,” said William H. Frey , a demographer with the Brookings Institution . “These older people grew up in largely white suburbs or largely segregated neighborhoods. Young people have grown up in an interracial culture.” The generation gap is especially pronounced in formerly fast-growing states like Arizona and Florida , where retirees and new immigrants have flocked — one group for sun, the other for work. In a new report based on census figures titled “The State of Metropolitan America,” Mr. Frey found that Arizona has the largest “cultural generation gap,” as he calls it, between older Americans who are largely white (83 percent in Arizona’s case) and children under 18 who are increasingly members of minorities (57 percent in Arizona’s case). Florida ranks sixth on Mr. Frey’s cultural generation gap list, with a 29 percentage point difference between the percentage of white people among its older residents and the percentage that whites make up of its children. That very different makeup of the young and the old can lead t0 tensions. Demographers say it has the potential to produce public policy that alienates the young because older people are more likely to vote and less likely to be connected to the perspectives of youth — especially the perspectives of young people of different races and national origins. “Short term, politically, the age divide heightens polarization,” Mr. Suro said “Long term,” he added, “there’s the challenge of whether older citizens will pay for the education of the children of immigrants.” Some older Americans acknowledge that how they grew up has shaped their opinions. Mike Lombardi, 56, of Litchfield, Ariz. — one of 1,079 respondents in the Times/CBS poll conducted from April 28 to May 2 — said his support for his state’s new law stemmed partly from the shock of seeing gaggles of immigrants outside Home Depot , who he assumed were illegal. Comparing the situation to his youth in Torrance, Calif., in a follow-up interview, he said, “You didn’t see anything like what you see now.” Maggie Aspillaga, 62, a Cuban immigrant in Miami , had more specific concerns: a risk of crime from illegal immigrants and the costs in health care and other services. “They’re taking resources,” she said. Some young people agree, of course, just as many baby boomers support more open immigration policies. In the poll, a majority of Americans in all age groups described illegal immigration as a “very serious” problem. Still, divisions were pronounced by age: for instance, while 41 percent of Americans ages 45 to 64 and 36 percent of older Americans said immigration levels should be decreased, only 24 percent of those younger than 45 said so. Ms. Patrick, 22, said the gap reflected what each group saw as normal. In her view, current immigration levels — legal and illegal — represent “the natural course of history.” As children, after all, her generation watched “ Sesame Street ” with Hispanic characters, many of them sat in classrooms that were a virtual United Nations , and now they marry across ethnic lines in record numbers. Their children are even adopting mixed monikers like “Mexipino,” (Mexican and Filipino) and “Blaxican” (black and Mexican). That “multiculti” (short for multicultural) United States is not without challenges. Aparna Malladi, 31, a graduate student at Florida International University originally from India , said that when she first entered laboratories in Miami, it took a while for her to learn the customs. “I didn’t know that when I enter a room, I have to greet everyone and say goodbye when I leave,” Ms. Malladi said. “People thought I was being rude.” Still, in interviews across the nation, young people emphasized the benefits of immigrants. Andrea Bonvecchio, 17, the daughter of a naturalized citizen from Venezuela , said going to a high school that is “like 98 percent Hispanic” meant she could find friends who enjoyed both Latin music and her favorite movie, “The Parent Trap.” Nicole Vespia, 18, of Selden, N.Y., said older people who were worried about immigrants stealing jobs were giving up on an American ideal: capitalist meritocracy. “If someone works better than I do, they deserve to get the job,” Ms. Vespia said. “I work in a stockroom, and my best workers are people who don’t really speak English. It’s cool to get to know them.” Her parents’ generation, she added, just needs to adapt. “My stepdad says, ‘Why do I have to press 1 for English?’ I think that’s ridiculous,” Ms. Vespia said, referring to the common instruction on customer-service lines. “It’s not that big of a deal. Quit crying about it. Press the button.”

Immigration
Illegal immigration
Arizona
Polls
Baby Boomers


Finding Room, but No Place to Worship

Abstract: THORNWOOD FOR now, the Upper Westchester Muslim Society worships in a spare room in a bleak industrial building here that houses a lumberyard and a pottery studio, and lies across the street from a Shop-Rite. Strolling toward the building on a recent Friday afternoon, the ambience was anything but spiritual. But once inside, all that changes as 100 men, women and children murmur prayers and kneel toward Mecca, sometimes bowing their heads to touch the ground. Humdrum as it appears, the room is their mosque. The shoeless men are dressed on this day in knit shirts and slacks. The women wear headscarves, with some in the head-to-toe niqab, which, except for eye-slits, veils their face. The 35-family society has no imam, so the sermon is delivered by Dr. Saleem Mir, a nephrologist for Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow. If, in this post-9/11 world, someone expected a summons to jihad or a condemnation of Western civilization, Dr. Mir would disappoint. He preaches something closer to the opposite — an appeal for letting the wisdom of the secular and scientific worlds enrich Islam. “Why is it, we are so content now that we are saying ‘Islam is enough — we don’t have to borrow, we don’t have to learn from other cultures?’ ” Dr. Mir asked. That outlook, he said, explains why the Muslim world is “far behind in the fields of science and technology” and why, should that viewpoint triumph, “Islam will become decadent.” It is hard to believe that this congregation, made up mostly of professionals or business people working for Westchester institutions like IBM or Phelps hospital, are having trouble finding a suburban home for prayer. Like other county residents, these families migrated to Westchester years ago for elbowroom and good schools, but have sometimes found their relationship with the suburbs uneasy. The tension is played out in their two-year effort to build a roomier, more elegant mosque 15 minutes north in the town of New Castle in a neighborhood between Ossining and Chappaqua. It is not that pickets have surrounded the proposed site. Few people would allow themselves to be seen as opposing religious freedom in polite circles. Here the opposition is framed around fiscal concerns. Tearing down a tax-paying house and erecting a tax-exempt institution, a two-story building that will have 18 classrooms for a weekend school and 78 parking spaces, would be a drain on taxes, the argument goes. Traffic in this rustic pocket crisscrossed by stone walls would multiply on Fridays and Muslim holidays. Elizabeth Lees, a magazine editor who lives in the neighborhood, says she is not opposed to a house of worship for a faith uncommon in northern Westchester. After all, she herself is a practicing Buddhist. But she pays a relatively steep $21,000 in taxes on a 3-acre property, yet because the neighborhood is in the Ossining school zone, not highly ranked Chappaqua, some residents like her end up sending their children to private schools and don’t take advantage of those taxes. “I’ve heard grumblings that some residents are concerned about terrorism,” she said. But, she added, that is not her grounds for objecting. “Even though we know every religious group is entitled to a place to practice its faith, nevertheless, because of the adverse impact institutions have, we object just as we would to a Christian or Jewish organization,” she said. “As distasteful as it is, we’d rather see McMansions being built. It would ease the tax burden.” So far, New Castle’s Zoning Board of Appeals has approved only a document laying out data the society must provide for an environmental review, said David N. Levine, the board’s chairman. Other government approvals await. The Muslim society, which is made up mostly of Sunnis with roots in countries like India and Egypt, has outgrown the Thornwood building. “If you come to the building in the month of Ramadan, it is even more challenging,” said Anees Shaikh, 35, a native of Williamstown, Mass., and an IBM researcher who is vice president of the society. (Ramadan began last week.) “Our needs are no different than any other faith group,” he said. “We need a place to educate our children about our religion. We need to have gatherings for weddings and space to provide child care during a service.” For now, he is choosing to be sanguine. “We live among people who are educated and enlightened,” he said. “They know Muslims and don’t have the same fears. Geopolitical events that happen around the world are not relevant to what we do here.”


Parents Seek Answers After 2 Young Men Die in Indiana Crash

Abstract: CHICAGO, Sept. 17 — The police in Gary, Ind., came under fire on Monday from the parents of two teenagers who died in a car crash but whose bodies were not found until hours later, in a nearby ravine, by the father of one victim. Arthur Smith, said he found the body of his son, Brandon Smith, 18, and his friend Dominique Green, also 18, on Saturday morning, about seven hours after the crash, which occurred about 1:30 a.m. Mr. Smith said he went to the site of the crash in an effort to find out what happened to his son. Another parent had told him about the crash, in which two other high school seniors were injured. As he walked through brush in the ravine, Mr. Smith said, he kept finding shoes, all too small for his son. Then he spotted a blue cloth out of the corner of his eye and that led him to look down. “I was standing there, staring into the face of my dead son, just lying there, straddling a tree,” Mr. Smith said. The Associated Press reported that the Lake County coroner’s office said Brandon Smith and Mr. Green suffered skull fractures and blunt force internal injuries and that they died instantly. But that was little consolation to Mr. Smith, who questioned how the police could have overlooked the bodies. “They get up in your face with these flashlights and they shine so bright, but they couldn’t find them?” he asked. “I could have found them with a cigarette lighter. “You can’t bring them back,” he said, “but you sure can give me an explanation” as to why the police did not find them. One of those injured, Darius Moore, 17, said he told officers “over and over” that his friends were missing after the car flipped several times and smashed through a guardrail before settling into a ditch. “They left them out there to die,” Darius said. “I don’t think nobody ever searched for them.” But Commander Samuel Roberts of the Gary Police Department said all police procedures were followed. The car was lifted by a tow truck to check for bodies underneath and officers also searched the surrounding area. “It’s a heavily wooded area, and the bodies were at least 50 feet from where the vehicle came to rest,” Commander Roberts said. The police said that both survivors had alcohol in their systems and that they are awaiting toxicology reports on Mr. Green and Brandon Smith. Mr. Smith said the tires blew out on the car and the group veered and went over the edge of the highway. No charges were filed in the single-car crash, which Commander Roberts said was under investigation. Commander Roberts said Darius and the other survivor, DeAndre Anderson, who was hospitalized, told the police that they might have dropped off Brandon Smith and Mr. Green before the crash. He said department officials were checking to see whether officers tried to clarify that. “If we learn that there were things that were not done, then we will find out why,” he said. “If it is a disciplinary issue, then we will address it.”


Japanese Begin to Question Protections Given to Homegrown Rice

Abstract: AGA, Japan — For decades, Japan has defended its 778 percent tariffs on rice with a kind of religious zeal. Rice is a sacred crop, the government has argued, not open to trade negotiations. Its farmers are not just defenders of a proud agrarian heritage, but form the nation’s spiritual center as well. Hardly, says Hiromitsu Konsho, a young organic rice farmer in this rice-growing region of Niigata. Many Japanese farmers have all but given up on their tiny plots, he says. They earn most of their income elsewhere, farming only part time and paying little attention to improving their crops. Yet, kept on life support by subsidies, production controls and tariffs, these farmers grow mediocre rice year after year, he says. Now an increasing amount of this rice has nowhere to go, as Japanese favor bread over their traditional staple. The government will soon raise subsidies that encourage farmers to divert their rice to animal feed. More enterprising farms face difficulty in expanding their plots or experimenting with more sustainable cultivation, steps that would let them better compete in a free market. Mr. Konsho points to his Echigo Farm, a rare upstart in rural Japan, whose organically grown rice sells at high-end retailers as far away as Tokyo and Singapore. It faced difficulties at first, but now its rice has become a hit, fetching 5,500 yen per kilogram, or about $24 a pound — almost 10 times the market price. “It’s high time to revive Japanese rice farming,” Mr. Konsho said. Echigo Farm almost did not get off the ground 10 years ago, when Mr. Konsho first came to Niigata from a Tokyo office job with the idea of starting an organic rice farm. Bureaucrats tried to block his land leases. Local farmers threw rocks into his rice paddies and flung salt at him, an insult reserved here for evil spirits. “The idyllic rice farms most city people think of are things of the past,” Mr. Konsho said. “Rice farming is collapsing, and not because of free trade.” The recent debate over how much Japan should open up its agricultural sector to join a proposed free trade group led by the United States, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, is opening up new rifts in Japan, rifts that defy traditional urban-rural divides. Increasingly, urban Japanese — and even some farmers — are questioning exactly what those tariffs protect. Japan has signed only a few limited free trade agreements, thanks to its tough stance on agricultural tariffs. Consumers pay more than twice the global average price for rice, and four times more for wheat. Image Hulled rice, at left, and rejected rice and small rocks, right. Credit Kentaro Takahashi for The New York Times Still, Japan won’t give an inch on farming tariffs, Akira Amari, Japan’s trade minister, declared at the latest talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership last month, holding up talks at the 11th hour. The T.P.P., which involves the United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim nations, would create the world’s biggest free trade zone. Tens of thousands risk losing their livelihoods if farming tariffs are brought down, critics said at a recent national rally against the T.P.P. in Tokyo. “How is the government going to protect all the small-time farmers scattered across the country?” said Kazumori Yamazaki, a rice farmer from Ishikawa in central Japan. Shigeaki Okamoto, 52, who runs a successful fruit and vegetable farm in Aichi, in central Japan, says Japanese farmers can compete without tariffs. Unlike rice, Japan-grown vegetables face global competition, with most import levies between 0 percent and 3 percent. Still, four-fifths of the vegetables the Japanese consume are homegrown. Vegetable growers on average earn far more than rice farmers. Indeed, Japan’s stiff protections on rice no longer have much to do with protecting farmers, Mr. Okamoto says. They instead protect a sprawling network of farm co-ops that has leeched off farmers and stymied their efforts to innovate, he says. That network, as Mr. Okamoto likes to say, is bureaucracy run amok. About 216,000 people work in agricultural cooperatives in Japan, under the umbrella of the Japan Agricultural Group, or J.A. There is one co-op employee for every two full-time rice farmers. The central government’s ¥2.3 trillion farming budget for the current year is seven times the budget to oversee the nonagricultural 99 percent of the Japanese economy. Much of that money makes its way to these co-ops, charged with administering production controls on rice, as well as its sales and distribution. Under that system, farmers receive subsidies in exchange for limiting the amount of rice they grow, which keeps rice prices high and small, part-time rice farmers in business. The average Japanese rice farmer spends only about 30 days a year on agricultural work, and over half of all farmers till less than a hectare each of land, about 2.5 acres, according to the latest census data. The tiny farms find it impossible to achieve economies of scale. But that suits the J.A. just fine, because the organization gets commission income from collecting and selling their crop — something larger, dedicated farms could do on their own. The J.A. also makes money selling small farmers the machinery, fertilizer and pesticides necessary for growing rice part time. In addition, the J.A. acts as financier to Japanese farmers, handling deposits, loans and insurance in a side business that has made it one of Japan’s largest financial organizations. Japan could make a full switch to direct-income subsidies, like the United States and European Union have done, which would at least protect farmers against international competition without the need for tariffs. But that would mean the J.A. would lose its commissions and its political clout. Image Workers at Echigo Farm prepare gift packages of rice, a tradition at the end of the year. The farm’s organic rice is popular. Credit Kentaro Takahashi for The New York Times The rise of entrepreneurial farmers like Mr. Konsho or Mr. Okamoto would have the same impact because they do not rely on the J.A. for sales or equipment. Mr. Okamoto refused to work with the J.A. in expanding his farm, focusing on produce like strawberries, which he is able to sell independently. “Japan’s agricultural policy hasn’t made farmers strong — it’s made them weak to the point of collapse,” he said. But the biggest problems lie in rice cultivation, Mr. Okamoto says. Most Japanese rice farmers have no incentive to raise the quality of rice they grow, because J.A. buys their harvest regardless of quality. Years of neglect have made Japanese rice not just more costly, but also lower in quality — and more dependent on fertilizer and pesticides — than much of the rice grown in the United States, Southeast Asia or China, industry insiders say. Regulations that discourage new entrants have made the sector unattractive to younger Japanese. Three-quarters of Japanese farmers are over 60 years old. One thing that could help entrepreneurial farmers, Mr. Okamoto says, could be the “special economic zones” that are part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plans to revive the economy. Under those plans, several areas across Japan could experiment with easing regulations, helping farmers to tap outside financing to invest and to expand their fields. Mr. Abe has also said that the government will do away with production controls of rice in 2018. Experts remain skeptical, however, that there will be real change. Production controls live on even under Mr. Abe’s new plans, albeit as subsidies to farmers who switch to other crops or produce rice for livestock. Politicians cannot afford to ignore the J.A. The organization is able to deliver votes in rural areas, especially among legions of part-time rice farmers — not to mention dole out much-coveted jobs for farmers’ children. Kazuhito Yamashita, an agricultural expert at the Canon Institute for Global Studies in Tokyo, said that at Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations Japan could be forced to offer concessions to the Americans on some farm products, like wheat and sugar. Japan could even expand the small quota of rice imports it accepts each year to appease the United States and other rice producers. “But Japan will never free up its rice market in the real sense,” he said. “There are too many vested interests.” Toyokazu Wakatsuki, 47, a farmer whose family has farmed rice for generations in Aga, was initially among local farmers skeptical of Echigo Farm. But now he helps Mr. Konsho run it. “We’ve been growing rice for the J.A., not for the consumer,” Mr. Wakatsuki said. “Farmers need to start taking the initiative.”

Rice
Agriculture
Crop Subsidies
Japan
Regulation and Deregulation
International trade


Soldier Who Stopped Obeying Orders Given 30 Days in Jail

Abstract: HOUSTON — A soldier at Fort Hood who fought his deployment to Afghanistan and stopped obeying orders was sentenced to a month in jail and demoted to private in a military court on Wednesday morning. Victor Agosto, a 24-year-old signalman with the III Corps, ripped a patch showing his specialist rank off his uniform after an emotional hearing in front of an Army captain in which he had told the court he believed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan violated international law, his lawyer, James M. Branum, said. Later, about 20 antiwar protesters cheered Private Agosto as he was taken to jail, the lawyer said. “He’s not opposed to all wars; he is opposed to this war, because it is not a war of self-defense,” Mr. Branum said. Under a plea agreement, Private Agosto will be discharged after he serves his time in jail in Belton, Tex., Mr. Branum said. Col. Benton Danner, a spokesman for Fort Hood, said Private Agosto technically never refused an order to go overseas. Rather, in May, he refused to report to an office that takes care of the paperwork for overseas deployment, a relatively minor offense. Refusing an order to deploy or deserting during a battle carry much stiffer penalties, he said. Private Agosto said he lost faith in the war efforts abroad after returning in late 2007 from a 13-month stint in Iraq, in which he worked with computers and saw no combat. “I realized that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with making Americans safer,” he told The Associated Press in an interview this week. “After I got back, I started feeling guilty about my part in the occupation.” This year, the Army informed him he would not be discharged in June as he had expected but would be deployed to Afghanistan. He stopped obeying orders then and was assigned to pulling weeds and sweeping up. He also became active in local antiwar protests. Mr. Branum said Private Agosto’s stand against the wars was unusual in that he informed his superiors of his objections. Other soldiers who disagree with the wars simply break Army regulations to be discharged.

United States Defense and Military Forces


As UConn Plays On, Prized Recruit Nate Miles Flounders

Abstract: The former University of Connecticut basketball recruit Nate Miles is effectively homeless. He moves from friend’s couch to friend’s couch, still recovering from a violent assault that left him with a stab wound and a punctured lung and a monthlong stay in the hospital. Miles, 23, has obligations to go with his troubles, two sons from different mothers, and no great confidence in where his next meal is coming from. A life playing basketball, the sport he once planned to make a grand career of, seems unlikely. He was fired from the Premiere Basketball League’s Dayton, Ohio , team, and he now says he cannot afford to play at a local recreation center because he lacks the $10 fee. While Connecticut plays in the Final Four on Saturday in Houston , led by Miles’s former campus roommate, Kemba Walker, he is in his hometown, Toledo, a not unfamiliar casualty of what many regard as the cynical and broken system of big-time college recruiting. “I don’t feel like it’s fair, but it’s life; life isn’t fair,” Miles said. In two interviews in Toledo, Miles offered a window into major college sports. He said he went to six high schools in five years before heading to Connecticut . At one point in high school, he said, he got $250 every three days from an N.B.A. agent that he said a former UConn assistant coach introduced him to. He said he received improper help on at least two of the standardized tests he took to qualify academically to play in college, but for all that he never played a game for Connecticut, or any other Division I university. Connecticut and its longtime coach, Jim Calhoun , have already been punished for a variety of sins in their recruitment of Miles. The N.C.A.A. has limited the number of scholarships Connecticut can award, has placed its basketball program on probation and suspended Calhoun for three games next season. But the N.C.A.A., which issued its punishments in February and declared its investigation over, never interviewed Miles, who refused to take part in the investigation. He now says he is ready to tell the full story of his journey from cherished prospect to Connecticut recruit to leading man in a significant university scandal to homeless young father. “I’d probably be open to talk to them, and, you know, get some things straight,” Miles said. The N.C.A.A. is taking Miles seriously; a representative of the organization went to his grandmother’s house on Friday. Earlier, Stacey Osburn, a spokeswoman for the N.C.A.A., said of the initial investigation into Miles’s recruitment: “In addition to attempting to directly contact Nate Miles, the N.C.A.A. enforcement staff reached out to four people associated with him through phone, in-person outreach, e-mail and other modes, including social media. During these efforts, it was made clear Nate was not going to talk to us. If new information comes to light, the next step is to assess its credibility and determine if further steps are needed.” Miles, for many, is less than a fully credible character. He was kicked out of UConn before playing a game, and well before the scandal involving his recruitment became public. He said, after interviews with The New York Times , that he would demand to be paid for any other media interviews. And Miles’s admissions about taking cash from an agent conflict with a sworn statement he gave the N.C.A.A. UConn officials said they have cooperated with the N.C.A.A. and were abiding by its judgments and punishments. They would not respond to specific questions about Miles’s current account. Miles’s version of his recruitment, and his involvement with the N.B.A. agent Josh Nochimson, a former UConn team manager, is different than the one Calhoun gave in his 63-page response to the N.C.A.A. When read a series of Calhoun’s statements to the N.C.A.A., including whether Calhoun and the Connecticut assistant Tom Moore warned Miles not to take gifts from Nochimson, Miles responded “lie” after each of them. That included whether Calhoun called Miles in March 2007 to caution Miles about Nochimson. “ Lie ,” Miles said. Miles said Calhoun raised the subject of Nochimson with him only once, a few weeks after arriving at Connecticut and after Miles had received thousands of dollars worth of extra benefits. “He told me, like, he didn’t want me dealing with him anymore,” Miles said. When asked if Calhoun was aware that Nochimson provided cash, clothes and food, and had paid for toe surgery for Miles, Miles said, “He knew.” Connecticut officials rebutted that account in a statement Friday: “Coach Calhoun denies any claim that he knew that Nate Miles was receiving impermissible benefits. Moreover, Mr. Miles submitted a signed statement to the N.C.A.A. last year that contradicts his current story. Coach Calhoun cooperated fully with the N.C.A.A.’s investigation and considers this matter closed.” The fallout over Miles’s recruitment is striking for many reasons, not the least of which is he never made it to a practice. He was thrown out of the university in fall 2008 after violating a restraining order. Miles went on to junior college, but his collegiate career essentially ended in March 2009 when a Yahoo Sports investigation detailed his taking of gifts from Nochimson and the hundreds of impermissible phone calls and text messages from Connecticut staff members during his recruitment as a high school player. A Connecticut assistant coach, Pat Sellers, and director of basketball operations, Beau Archibald, resigned in the wake of the scandal. Miles said he never would have met Nochimson if Moore, the former Connecticut assistant coach, had not introduced them. Miles said that Moore approached him after a prep school game in Illinois and physically put Miles on the phone with Nochimson. Calhoun’s statement to the N.C.A.A., which was in part based on interviews with Moore, stated, “Moore did not make the introduction.” Miles said Moore introduced him to Nochimson because Miles had little support from his parents or access to money. “He knew my home life, and as far as financially having somebody there, you know, to help me, so he put me on with Josh,” Miles said. “He called Josh right there and put me on the phone with him and everything, had me talking to him.” Miles said that after he committed to play at Connecticut, which took place eight days after Moore introduced him to Nochimson, he began receiving gifts from Nochimson, shoes and clothes, and $250 every three days. “Once I committed and was really part of the family, he started to come, and help me out,” Miles said of Nochimson. Moore, now the coach at Quinnipiac University , declined to comment in a telephone interview Thursday night. “I should probably just say no comment to anything,” he said. Miles said he was not bitter toward Connecticut and acknowledged his mistakes, and his own participation in banned behavior. He said he appreciated Calhoun and Connecticut for the extraordinary efforts they made in recruiting him. Calhoun told reporters after Miles had agreed to play for him that he had “as much basketball ability” as anyone he had ever recruited, a high compliment for a program that produced N.B.A. stars like Ray Allen, Rudy Gay and Emeka Okafor . In the N.C.A.A.’s report, UConn’s athletic director, Jeff Hathaway, said it was the “most intense” he’d seen Calhoun recruit a player. “UConn was the only school willing to do what it took to get me cleared and eligible to play college basketball,” Miles said. “A lot of other schools were recruiting me, and wanting me just as bad as they were, but they weren’t willing to do the extra, to take the extra steps to get me cleared and eligible as Coach Calhoun and UConn.” Miles’s jagged journey began in Toledo, with an alcoholic mother and a father who Miles said played basketball, hustled and didn’t do much else. “I didn’t have a mom, dad,” he said. “I didn’t have nobody I could really lean on for advice, help, anything. I had nobody.” Miles described living “house to house” during his first few years of high school. He then bounced among high schools, being thrown out of three of them, including well-known prep schools that specialize in handling promising athletes — Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and the Patterson School in North Carolina . A person with direct knowledge of Miles’s time at the Patterson School said that Nochimson arranged for someone to fly to North Carolina to take the college entrance exam for Miles. The score from that test was not validated. Miles said he took the SAT twice with help, but declined to get into specifics, other than saying that he didn’t do all of his own work. The Patterson School has since closed. “I had people helping, I mean I had somebody read over the questions, and basically in so many ways helped me swindle my answers down,” Miles said. Miles said he ultimately came to thrive briefly at Cornerstone Christian High School in Texas , where he said the classes were online. But he said that he left because Calhoun feared that the coaching staff there or his host family would steer him to either Baylor University or U.C.L.A. He later spent a month at Notre Dame Prep in Massachusetts , but said he did not attend class. Miles said he gets pangs of regret when he hears Charles Barkley or Dick Vitale talk about Walker, his former roommate, who was a much less heralded recruit than Miles. “My stomach shakes every time because that could be me,” he said. “I was right there.” Instead, he is out of basketball, without an agent and trying to find a career. He said he would tell any young basketball player to avoid taking extra benefits and to sacrifice in the short term. “I’m definitely going to tell my kids to do it the right way,” he said of his two sons. “You know, because you don’t want to ever go through what Daddy went through. This is just something to learn from, grow from for real. And this is something that should never happen again.”

Nate Miles
NCAA Men's Basketball
Basketball
College Sports
College basketball
Sports Drafts and Recruits
NCAA Men's Basketball,March Madness
Jim Calhoun
Fines


Publisher Hachette’s 3-Way Deal to Acquire Perseus Fails

Abstract: The Hachette Book Group’s deal to acquire the independent publisher Perseus has collapsed after months of negotiations, representatives from each company said on Thursday. The three-way agreement among Hachette, Perseus and the book distributor Ingram had been in the works since February and was announced in late June. Under the proposed arrangement, Hachette would have acquired Perseus’s 10 publishing imprints, and Ingram would have taken on Perseus’s distribution business, which distributes books for more than 400 independent publishers. The sale was scheduled to be completed in late July. But closing the deal proved too complex, according to company representatives. “Despite great effort from all three parties, we could not reach agreement on all of the issues necessary to close the transaction,” Sophie Cottrell, a Hachette spokeswoman, said. David Steinberger, president and chief executive of Perseus, said that he could not disclose the specifics of why the agreement fell through, but that it was related to the complications of having three companies involved. “We’re going back to building the business now,” said Mr. Steinberger, who had planned to leave the company after the sale but will now stay. ”We’ve got to redirect that effort to moving the company forward as an independent business.” Hachette has been trying to expand, and Perseus would have been an attractive acquisition because of its strengths in core nonfiction categories that Hachette largely lacks, like academic and travel. Perseus, which was founded in 1996, was appealing because of its backlist of 6,000 titles, which include best sellers and notable books like “A Problem From Hell,” by Samantha Power and “Friday Night Lights,” by H. G. Bissinger. Perseus had nearly $100 million in revenue last year. Acquiring Perseus would have made Hachette more competitive with Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, said Mike Shatzkin, founder and chief executive of Idea Logical Company, which analyzes the book business. It also might have given Hachette more power in its continuing talks with Amazon over electronic book prices. Without Perseus, Hachette, which publishes best-selling authors like Michael Connelly and Malcolm Gladwell, James Patterson and Donna Tartt, will remain dependent on blockbuster titles. “The kind of publishing Hachette does is riskier and more volatile — you have to deliver the hits,” Mr. Shatzkin said. “Perseus was not particularly dependent on hits and would have given it a much steadier business.”

Publishing
Hachette Books
Perseus Books
Ingram Content Group
Mergers and Acquisitions
Books
H G Bissinger
David Steinberger


Italians Rescue Thousands From Teeming Migrant Boats

Abstract: ROME — Italy has rescued about 5,200 people and recovered three bodies from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean Sea since early Thursday, officials said Sunday. Calm seas have created an opportunity for this latest wave of migrants who have left North African shores for Italy over the past three days, an Italian Navy spokesman said. Merchant ships and a Maltese vessel aided the navy in the rescue efforts. A merchant tanker recovered three bodies from one of the migrants’ boats, the spokesman said, adding that he had no details about the dead. Three merchant ships took aboard a total of 700 migrants, a navy statement said, and it was taking them to ports in Sicily. The surge in the arrival of migrants is straining the ability of the Italian Navy to patrol the waters between Africa and Italy on its own. It has prompted officials in Sicily, where most of the migrants are taken, to call for more European support. “Europe can’t just turn its back on us,” Lillo Firetto, mayor of the Sicilian port city of Porto Empedocle, said in a television interview on Sunday. “This isn’t just Sicily’s border, but it’s Europe’s border, too.” Italy has repeatedly asked for more European Union countries to join the sea patrols, but so far only Slovenia has chipped in, offering one ship for two months late last year. The stepped-up patrols began last October after 366 migrants fleeing African countries drowned when their boat capsized a mile from Sicily. After that episode, the European Union pledged nearly $41 million in emergency funds, mainly for financing immigration facilities. The number of migrants who have reached Italy by boat this year has already topped the total of more than 40,000 for the whole of 2013. The pace of arrivals is on track to exceed the record of 62,000 set in 2011. Two-thirds of the migrants leave Italy for other European Union countries, the Interior Ministry said.


This Time, It All Came Together for NBC

Abstract: Big Brown made NBC’s job easy on Saturday at the Preakness Stakes . He won, as expected, by five and a quarter lengths. Eight Belles ’s breakdown and death at the Kentucky Derby were noted often, mostly during a 13-minute-long panel hosted by Bob Costas about the challenges to the horse-racing industry posed by drugs and breeding. But the Big Brown story line held true for a well-produced broadcast that lasted more than two hours. Big Brown’s trainer, Rick Dutrow, spoke with withering candor about himself in a feature about a past notable for his drug use. “I’m not a guy who can figure out something with my brain,” Dutrow said. Keep him in a stable and let him train horses, and he said he’s fine. He also called nearly everyone working for NBC “babe.” Kent Desormeaux, Big Brown’s jockey, showed in several segments, including one with Costas in the jockeys’ room, that he is a fascinating character who keeps the seven-second delay button in play. NBC’s camera was inadvertently present when Desormeaux forgot his whip. More importantly, NBC captured the winning jockey repeatedly looking under his arm to see his pursuers fade as Big Brown launched a burst of speed that moved him ahead — and far beyond. “In 27 years of racing,” said the NBC analyst Gary Stevens, a former jockey, “I’ve never seen a horse accelerate like this one.” Tom Durkin, the track announcer, also had it pretty easy, able to focus almost entirely on Big Brown. “Big Brown has seized the lead,” he said. “He is disappearing from the field. He’s ... just ... cruising.” The taped horse-industry panel was a welcome addition, the polar opposite of the moronic red carpet special, hosted by the anti-Costas, Billy Bush, that preceded the Derby broadcast. There were sparks between Stevens and William C. Rhoden, a columnist for The New York Times, over Rhoden’s comparison of horse racing to bullfighting. “Are we breeding to kill?” Stevens asked angrily. Only the presence of Buzz Bissinger, who greatly and profanely enlivened Costas’s HBO show during a recent segment about sports blogging, could have ensured an all-sparks panel. Larry Bramlage, the on-site veterinarian at Triple Crown races, strongly argued that the solution to track tragedies did not lie in waiting until horses were 3 years old before they race. Larry Jones, Eight Belles’s trainer, lobbied for all states to prohibit horses from racing on steroids and other drugs. Afterward, Dutrow said he would stop giving all his horses steroids once a month if the rules told him he had to. He said, almost incredibly, that he did not know what steroids did for his horses. Bramlage made the savviest point: that horse racing, as addicted as other sports to big events, prizes speed, not strength and stamina, “and rewarded huge performance with an early return to breeding farms.” That point was reinforced with news that Big Brown’s stud rights have been sold to Three Chimneys Farm for a reported $50 million or more. The winner’s circle ceremony was far less annoying than it was after the Derby. No sponsor was in sight to offer fatuous sentiments with a goofy, clueless smile. I thought Martin O’Malley, Maryland’s governor, had been dispatched when he popped up for a short welcome early in the broadcast. But he reappeared at the trophy ceremony, burbling about the “terrific day” and “terrific race” for an eternity of 38 seconds. Don’t they ever learn?

Horse Racing
Television
National Broadcasting Co
Costas Bob
Big Brown (Race Horse)


Europe Debates Use of Full-Body Scanners at Airports

Abstract: BRUSSELS (AP) — European nations were sharply divided on Thursday over the need to install full-body scanners at European airports. Some countries were skeptical of the need for beefed-up security measures, but the European Union indicated that it might compel nations to install the scanners. After meeting in Brussels, the bloc’s aviation security experts said in a statement that the European Union Commission might issue a binding regulation on imaging technology to improve passenger security, while also addressing privacy, data protection and health issues involved in using the technology. Italy joined the United States, Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday in announcing plans to install the scanners after a Nigerian man tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight as it neared Detroit on Christmas Day. American officials are seeking enhanced security measures on all trans-Atlantic flights heading for the United States. That represents an enormous undertaking, however, because European airports carry thousands of passengers on more than 800 flights a day across the North Atlantic. But even as the European Union’s aviation security experts met to discuss scanners, Belgium’s secretary of state for transportation, Etiennne Schouppe, described the enhanced measures as excessive, saying security requirements at European airports were already strict enough. Spain, too, has expressed skepticism on the scanners, and the German and French governments remain uncommitted. A German Interior Ministry spokesman, Stefan Paris, said the bloc’s rules on flight safety needed to be changed before scanners could be used. Germany’s position, he said, is that the scanners cannot be deployed until it has been shown that they will improve security, that they are not a health hazard and that they will not be so invasive that they harm individuals’ rights. Some countries in the European Union have expressed concern that full-body scanners will be dangerous because of the radiation they emit. However, the American College of Radiology issued a statement on Wednesday saying that a passenger flying cross-country receives more radiation from the flight at high altitude than from either of the two types of scanners that the Transportation Security Administration is using; these are presumably the same systems to be used in Europe. The Transportation Security Administration, which uses 40 scanners throughout the United States, has announced plans to order dozens more.

Security and Warning Systems
Scanning Devices
Airlines and Airplanes
Transportation Security Administration
European Union


Westchester Guard Heeds the Call as a Full Partner

Abstract: TWO years after 9/11, Alfred Luttman quit his job as a middle school teacher in Queens to enlist in the New York Army National Guard. He said patriotism played a part in his decision. “But the main reason I joined the Guard is because I was disenchanted with the public education system,” he said. Now a sergeant first class, he works full time as a logistics specialist with the Headquarters Company of the 101st Signal Battalion in Yonkers. “Every day is a different challenge,” Sergeant Luttman, 31, said. “I’m always learning and progressing, so it’s very fulfilling.” Sergeant Luttman is one of about 500 New York National Guard members who train or live in Westchester County, said Lt. Col. Richard Goldenberg, public affairs officer for the 42nd Infantry Division in Albany. Guard units, comprising both Army and Air National Guard components, are mobilized by presidential order to supplement regular armed forces and on declaration of a state of emergency by the governor. The state activated Guard units in the spring of 2007 to help with flash floods in Mamaroneck, for instance. It called others into service after Hurricanes Rita, Katrina and, most recently, Ike. Currently, 2,224 New York Army National Guard members and 310 New York Air National Guard members are on duty. It is hard to say precisely how many of those on active duty are from Westchester, Colonel Goldenberg said. But Defense Department records show one Army National Guard member from Westchester died in Iraq in 2005, and two other Guardsmen assigned to Westchester units, but not from the county, were killed in Afghanistan this year. Last Thursday, 43 soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry at Camp Smith near Peekskill returned home after a year in Afghanistan. They were among 1,700 New York National Guard members sent to train the Afghan national army and national police and provide reconstruction support to the country. Capt. Shawn Tabankin, a lawyer from White Plains, said it was Charlie Company’s second deployment. “Back in 2004, we all went,” said Captain Tabankin, the company commander. The company’s 125 members went to Iraq, patrolling the area around Camp Liberty in Baghdad. “The last time, it was a mandatory deployment,” he said. “This time, I only needed to send a third of the company. So I asked if anyone wanted to volunteer. I had more volunteers than I needed. I had to put some people on a wait list.” One other Westchester-based unit has served in Iraq, Colonel Goldenberg said. The 42nd Infantry Division Band, also based at Camp Smith, was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and demobilized at the end of that year, he said. Westchester has multiple New York Army National Guard units, including the Headquarters Company and Company C of the 101st Signal Battalion in Yonkers, with about 200 members; the 53rd Troop Command Headquarters in Valhalla, with about 55 members; and the Network Signal Detachment of the 369th Sustainment Brigade in Peekskill, with about 50 members. Westchester also is the site of the New York National Guard’s largest training center at Camp Smith, a 2,000-acre state-owned complex in Cortlandt Manor, south of the Bear Mountain Bridge and across the Hudson River from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Camp Smith is home to more than 250 Guard members who train with units as diverse as an infantry rifle company, an engineer detachment and a military band. There are no New York Air National Guard units in the county, but the 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh has roots in Westchester. It started in 1948 as the 137th Fighter Squadron at the Westchester County Airport in White Plains. It moved to Stewart in 1983. Col. Charles M. Faro, vice commander for the 105th Airlift Wing, said it has about 1,550 members, including about 60 from Westchester. Unlike the Army Guard, the Air Guard rarely deploys a full unit. Instead, it rotates individuals or small groups into service. “At any given time these days, the 105th has about 50 members deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq,” Colonel Faro said. Department of Defense statistics show that the Army and Air National Guards have struggled to achieve their recruiting goals since 9/11, largely because members have evolved from weekend warriors to full-time military participants. “The force has shifted dramatically over the past 8 to 10 years from a strategic reserve of the nation to a full operational force partner,” Colonel Goldenberg said.

Reserves (Military)
Westchester County (NY)
Iraq War (2003- )
United States Armament and Defense


A Usual Suspect Slips Into a Party Owned by Outsiders

Abstract: Newark It never gets old. That is surely what the fans in the royal blue outfits were feeling as their Kentucky Wildcats outlasted the North Carolina Tar Heels, 76-69 , Sunday to advance to the Final Four. The two teams were the equivalent of regular patrons arguing for their favorite table at a familiar restaurant — with the headwaiter able to seat only one of them. Kentucky is going to the Final Four for the 14th time, and North Carolina was denied its 19th trip. The usual suspects were bearing the accumulated swagger of championships past, and so did their fans. One middle-aged Kentucky fan, right behind the press table, jumped up and down, shouting: “He walked! He walked!” like a toddler deprived of his binky. Other fans chanted “S-E-C!” in honor of Kentucky’s conference. That’s what comes of all these Final Fours. The fans become professionals, come to expect Final Fours. Which is why this past weekend, along with the Final Four coming up, belongs to the outsiders, Butler and Virginia Commonwealth , two so-called midmajor teams that tossed the banana peel under the feet of higher-seeded teams. V.C.U. beat top-seeded Kansas, 71-61 , on Sunday, and Butler humbled Florida, 74-71, in overtime on Saturday — two former champions knocked off by relative outsiders. The sad thing is that Virginia Commonwealth and Butler have to play each other in one semifinal Saturday in Houston. Here is a gloomy thought heading toward the Final Four: What if Butler ever becomes one of the usual suspects? There is never enough room in the Final Four for all of the usual suspects . The players change, of course, which makes every year different. U.C.L.A., which reached the Final Four 18 times, with one voided by a violation, has not been around these parts lately. Duke, with 15 appearances, was among the missing this weekend. Kansas has been in 13 and Ohio State has been in 10, and something banana-peelish happened to both of them this past weekend. They have all suffered in the process. Just a couple of hours down the New Jersey Turnpike, 19 years ago Monday, Kentucky experienced a horrendous loss in a regional final, on the Christian Laettner shot. You may have seen it on the tube once or twice. I think Sean Woods of Kentucky was still lying on the hardwood in Philly with a towel over his face, right in front of the press table, a month or three after the shot went in. Suffering is not the issue for usual suspects. Familiarity is. That is why Butler is on the cusp of becoming a familiar face, albeit a thoroughly appealing one. The tiny private university in Indianapolis — overshadowed athletically by Indiana, Purdue and Notre Dame — appeals to the neutral fan who loves old-fashioned basketball. In its apparently endless underdog role, Butler looks like a darn good high-school team in the ’50s, but instead of being coached by Gene Hackman , it is coached by Brad Stevens , as played by Rick Moranis, the dweebish chemistry teacher who handles the basketball team for a few extra dollars. Butler always seems to be hanging on, about to go under, swamped by the size and brawn and reputations or maybe the tattoos of the current favored opponent. (It somehow does not seem likely that the Butler lads will be selling any of their Final Four memorabilia for a free tattoo, the way five Ohio State football players did, which has Coach Jim Tressel facing a five-game suspension.) The Bulldogs burst into consciousness last year by coming within one Gordon Hayward heave of beating Duke in last year’s final. Hayward turned pro early — happens even on midmajor outsiders — but here Butler is again, behind the resourceful Matt Howard and the sturdy Shelvin Mack and the others, playing within the Stevens system. Butler is also delightful off the court, as anybody can testify who has chatted with Ronald Nored and some of the others. They will graduate — another plus for Butler — and move on. And what happens if Stevens lives up to the 12-year contract — 12 years! — he signed last year and resists the calls that are sure to come from big-time programs as the Bruce Pearls of the world are caught lying and cheating? Conceivably, could Stevens come up with an entirely different squad of strivers who pass to one another, who work the ball, who do the dirty work, who listen to their coach? Coming from a midmajor conference, would they still be considered underdogs? The joke is that if Butler had not won the Horizon League tournament, it conceivably might not have gotten a bid to the N.C.A.A. tournament, given that the Big East-gaga committee did not invite a single other team from the conference. And V.C.U. might have been left out if the field had not expanded to 68 teams this season. But now we have the ultimate split-personality semifinal next Saturday in Houston, with Kentucky against Connecticut, in its fourth Final Four , along with Virginia Commonwealth, in its first , against Butler, which has now done it two years in a row. Omigosh, what if people said, “Them again?”

NCAA Basketball Tournament (Men)
University of Kentucky
Butler University
Virginia Commonwealth University
College Athletics
Basketball
Basketball (College)
NCAA Basketball Championships (Men)