Bruins Take 3-0 Lead on Penguins With Goal in Second Overtime

Abstract: BOSTON — On a night when they could not afford to lose, the Pittsburgh Penguins played easily their best game of the Eastern Conference finals against Boston. Their goalie was superb. Their defense was unforgiving. They outshot the Bruins by a wide margin and had the better scoring chances. Their stars came out, if not on the statistics sheet, then certainly on the ice, in the face-off circles and along the boards. They extended the game to overtime and then into another day. In the end, it did not matter. This has not been the Penguins’ series: in Pittsburgh they were exposed as impostors, and on Wednesday night (and Thursday morning) at TD Garden, they let a terrific chance go to waste. Patrice Bergeron redirected a Brad Marchand centering pass at 15 minutes 19 seconds of the second overtime to give the Bruins a stirring, exhausting 2-1 victory and a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Jaromir Jagr also assisted on the play. The Penguins, solid favorites entering the series, hounded the Bruins all night, but goalie Tuukka Rask was near impenetrable, stopping 53 shots in all. Pittsburgh now finds itself in a position from which only three N.H.L. teams have ever extricated themselves, and Boston can close out the series in Game 4 at home on Friday night. The big question before Wednesday’s game was the identity of the Penguins’ goalie. Tomas Vokoun had started the first two games of the series, but he was pulled from Game 2 before the first period ended, having allowed three goals. Coach Dan Bylsma still went back to Vokoun for Game 3, bypassing Marc-Andre Fleury, who had been ineffective in the postseason and who also surrendered three goals in Game 2 against the Bruins. “Looking for a solid game from our goaltender,” Bylsma said before the game. “We’ve gotten that from Tomas in virtually every game he’s played, and that’s what we need. We don’t need perfection. We’re looking for a solid game to allow our team to win the game.” Image Patrice Bergeron, left, celebrating with Brad Marchand after scoring the winning goal. Credit Jared Wickerham/Getty Images Perfection lasted less than two minutes. The leading scorer of the playoffs, Bruins center David Krejci, scored at the 1:42 mark, his 9th goal and 21st point of the postseason. Krejci controlled the puck behind the Pittsburgh goal, and no one challenged him. While three Penguins gathered in front of Vokoun around Boston wing Milan Lucic, Krejci casually skated to the face-off circle, turned and fired the puck. The shot appeared to deflect off the stick of Penguins defenseman Matt Niskanen and through the legs of a clearly frustrated Vokoun. Vokoun settled down, but his teammates blew a chance for a power play midway through the period. Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk leveled Brenden Morrow and was called for interference, but Penguins center Joe Vitale took an ill-advised roughing penalty, negating the Penguins’ potential power play. Pittsburgh did get a power play later in the period and came close to knotting the score. But Chris Kunitz fumbled a Sidney Crosby pass in front of an open net and never got off a shot. The play epitomized the series to date for Pittsburgh, which entered the series having one of the league’s most potent offenses but managed one goal in the first seven periods while allowing 10. The Pittsburgh drought ended about nine minutes into the second period. By that time, the Bruins had killed off two penalties — the Penguins had yet to be called for one — and Rask had made strong stops on James Neal and Beau Bennett. But with the teams at full strength, defenseman Paul Martin carried the puck down the right side and backhanded a pass across the goal mouth. Kunitz did not miss this time, shoveling a 10-footer over the right shoulder of Rask, his fifth goal of the playoffs. It was the first time in the series that Pittsburgh had managed to produce a tie game (outside of 0-0). Boston survived yet another penalty — this one a bench minor for too many men on the ice — and Rask then foiled Evgeni Malkin on a partial breakaway after Malkin had stolen the puck from Dennis Seidenberg. The Bruins finally got a power play in the final 80 seconds of the period, but Vokoun was up to the task, sending the teams to the locker room tied at 1-1, where the game stayed until the second overtime.

Ice hockey
Pittsburgh Penguins
Bruins
Patrice Bergeron
Brad Marchand
Tomas Vokoun
Tuukka Rask
Playoffs


Mitt Romney’s Stance on China Trade

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Among all the elements of Mitt Romney ’s 59-point economic plan, his vow to crack down on China’s trade policy would seem the most out of place. That is not because his promise to label China a “currency manipulator” and impose tariff penalties is unique. Plenty of politicians in both parties talk tough about Beijing. What is unusual is that Mr. Romney, a former financial executive identified with Republicans’ free-trade, pro-business wing, has promised to go further than Presidents Obama or George W. Bush in confronting China. Some other business-friendly Republicans warn that his approach could set off a counterproductive trade war that would damage the United States economy. The political question is whether Mr. Romney’s stance can attract enough votes to give him the chance to put it into effect. That question echoes through Republican primaries, in which he has struggled to connect with working-class conservatives, and a possible general election against Mr. Obama. Republican and Democratic strategists alike say that confronting China can play effectively to an anxious public’s sense of economic grievance. The Obama administration has recently lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization against China’s handling of crucial rare earth mineral exports, and imposed tariffs on Chinese solar panels to counter what it considers unfair subsidies by Beijing. “With blue-collar voters specifically, there’s a perception that we have an economic adversary in China that doesn’t play by the rules,” said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster. And the concern “cuts across socioeconomic lines,” said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster, who said higher-income voters fear that China’s ownership of United States government debt threatens American security. Yet prominent figures who generally share Mr. Romney’s economic outlook have criticized his stance, which the Wall Street Journal editorial page called “Romney’s China Blunder.” Business leaders, while pressing for China to open its markets and protect intellectual property, caution that labeling China a currency manipulator could backfire, harming those efforts. Jon M. Huntsman Jr., who was ambassador to China before embarking on his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination, accused Mr. Romney of “total pandering” on the issue before exiting the race and endorsing him. Rick Santorum, now competing with Mr. Romney for blue-collar votes, has taken a similar view. “We all know Mitt Romney will do and say anything to get votes,” said Hogan Gidley, Mr. Santorum’s communications director. Mr. Obama’s advisers called Mr. Romney’s stance hypocritical. A Romney family blind trust owns a stake in an investment fund established by his former company, Bain Capital, that has bought a Chinese video surveillance company. And in his 2010 book, “No Apology,” Mr. Romney criticized Mr. Obama for levying a trade complaint against Chinese tire exports. Accusing Mr. Obama of acting to reward union supporters, he wrote, “Protectionism stifles productivity.” Mr. Romney’s China currency stance “is about as authentic as his brief flirtation with cheesy grits,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s top political strategist. “When you build a career around outsourcing, slashing jobs and wages, and profiting handsomely off of bankrupting companies, I don’t think people are going to be moved by what is an obvious election-year conversion.” One Romney adviser, Vin Weber, initially wondered whether the position reflected political calculation. When he joined internal discussions about Mr. Romney’s forthcoming economic plan last year, Mr. Weber said he sought to persuade other economic advisers to abandon the promised currency crackdown, which he still considers a policy mistake. Soon Mr. Weber was making that case directly to the candidate — who rejected the appeal and insisted his policy is the right one. “This is directly from him,” said Mr. Weber, a Washington lobbyist and former Republican congressman from Minnesota. “He believes it will strengthen his hand substantially. Mitt Romney is a person who sees himself as a successful negotiator.” Underpinning Mr. Romney’s argument is his assertion that recent presidents of both parties have been “played like a fiddle” by Chinese leaders. By keeping the yuan’s value lower against the dollar than market forces would dictate, Beijing makes exports to the United States cheaper and imports from the United States more expensive. In a Republican debate last year, Mr. Romney said China’s interest in smooth relations with a mammoth customer like the United States would preclude his actions from backfiring. “You think they want to have a trade war?” Mr. Romney said. “If you are not willing to stand up to China, you will get run over by China, and that’s what’s happened for 20 years.” That assertion grates on veterans of the Bush administration, which in 2006 began a “strategic economic dialogue” with China led by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former chairman of Goldman Sachs. The Obama administration has extended that dialogue, pressing Beijing to raise the value of the yuan while stopping short of declaring China a currency manipulator. “Both the Bush and Obama administrations have been as aggressive as possible while protecting the American people,” said Neel T. Kashkari, a Bush administration Treasury official now at Pimco, the giant bond-trading firm. “Launching a trade war with China would hurt us as much as it would hurt them.” Mr. Romney’s economic plan makes it sounds as if he is willing to take that risk. It lists the currency crackdown among five executive orders he pledges to issue on “Day 1” of his presidency. But a close reading of the language suggests he has left himself an out. It pledges to label China a currency manipulator “if China does not quickly move to float its currency.” China has already been raising the value of its currency against the dollar somewhat in recent years, including by 4.7 percent in 2011. Some experts on China policy predict a President Romney would find a way to sidestep his pledge once electioneering gave way to governance. “It is a campaign, after all,” said Nicholas R. Lardy, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “My forecast is that if Romney becomes president there will be little or no change in our China policy.”

Presidential Election of 2012
Romney Mitt
International Trade and World Market
Protectionism (Trade)
China
Republican Party


Florida Governor to Sue Obama Administration Over Medicaid Expansion

Abstract: A standoff over expanding Medicaid in Florida escalated on Thursday after Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, said he planned to sue the Obama administration for using what he called “coercion tactics” to try to pressure the state into adopting the program, a centerpiece of the president’s contentious Affordable Care Act. In a letter this week, the federal government made clear that unless the Republican-controlled state legislature moved forward with Medicaid expansion, it could lose as much as $2.1 billion in federal dollars to help hospitals care for the uninsured. The federal aid is scheduled to expire June 30. “It is appalling that President Obama would cut off federal health care dollars to Florida in an effort to force our state further into Obamacare,” Governor Scott said in a statement. The Supreme Court “ruled that the President could not use ‘gun-to-the-head’ approaches in pushing for Medicaid expansion.” The White House called Governor Scott’s threat of a lawsuit a transparent political gesture that illustrated his indifference to the large number of low-income people eligible for government-financed insurance if the state were to expand its Medicaid program. “It’s difficult to explain why somebody would think that their political situation and their political interest is somehow more important than the livelihood and health of 800,000 people that they were elected to lead,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said in a briefing on Thursday. No longer a purely partisan battle, the notion of expanding Medicaid has divided Republicans in Florida’s Legislature. The more conservative House of Representatives fiercely opposes the move. The Florida Senate, along with most hospitals, supports the idea and has already approved a private-sector version of Medicaid expansion. It wants to try to salvage the $50 billion in federal funds it would receive over the next decade that come with expansion and find a way to help hospitals recoup their costs. The showdown in Florida is one of many playing out across the country as Republican governors grapple with whether, or how, to expand Medicaid. Ten states with Republican governors have decided to expand the program, like Indiana. But others have run afoul of Legislatures or backed off the plan. In 2013, Governor Scott astonished Republicans and Democrats when he announced that despite his antipathy toward the Affordable Care Act (he made the issue the focus of his 2010 campaign), it seemed unreasonable to deny the uninsured access to care. But this month, the governor changed his mind again, saying he had little confidence in the federal government’s ability to pay the long-term costs of adding so many Floridians to the health care rolls. His decision further emboldened the House to fight the Senate on any proposal for Medicaid expansion. The impasse over Medicaid this year has all but frozen work on a budget agreement between the House and Senate, which remained about $4 billion apart. Under Medicaid expansion, the federal government pays for new enrollees — who are allowed to earn up to 138 percent of the poverty level — through 2016, and after that, the federal share never pays less than 90 percent. Republican leaders in Florida said they expected to run out of time — the legislative session ends May 1 — and will most likely have to work out their budget disagreements during a rare special session. Senate leaders are playing hardball with Mr. Scott, saying that his priorities — tax cuts and increased education funding — will suffer if the state loses more than $2 billion in federal hospital aid. On Thursday, the Senate president, Andy Gardiner, criticized the governor’s plan to sue and said the federal government’s move on indigent reimbursements for hospitals was not a surprise and was raised several times beginning last year. “From where I sit, it is difficult to understand how suing C.M.S. on day 45 of a 60-day session regarding an issue the state has been aware of for the last 12 months will yield a timely resolution to the critical health care challenges facing our state,” said Mr. Gardiner, a Republican and an executive at Orlando Health, a nonprofit provider. C.M.S. refers to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative nonprofit group affiliated with the billionaire Koch brothers, has been lobbying intensely against the expansion. The group praised the governor’s announcement. Aaron K. Albright, the director of media relations for the C.M.S. said the program, called Low Income Pool, to help compensate hospitals for indigent care was long scheduled to end for Florida in June and could not continue in its current form. Federal officials had asked Florida to submit a plan for how to best to deal with uninsured patients but, so far, they have not received one. Joan Alker, the co-executive director at the Georgetown Center for Families and Children and a health care expert, said to sue the federal government on this issue would be unusual. “There are only a handful of states that even have anything like” Florida’s pool of low-income patients, she said.


NATO Tankers Torched in New Attack

Abstract: QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) — Gunmen in southwestern Pakistan set fire early Saturday morning to nearly 30 tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan , a local official said, two days after the United States apologized to Pakistan for a cross-border air raid that killed three soldiers of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps. Suspected Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on convoys carrying supplies for NATO forces since the air strike on Sept. 30 in northwestern Pakistan, which was described by the American ambassador to Pakistan as a terrible accident. About 20 gunmen set fire to the tankers parked outside a roadside restaurant near the southwestern town of Sibi in a pre-dawn attack, said the local official, Naeem Sherwani. The tankers were on their way to the border town of Chaman. “The attackers first fired shots and then fired small rockets at the tankers,” Mr. Sherwani said. “Twenty-eight to 29 tankers caught fire.” He said a paramilitary soldier escorting the convoy had been wounded. The Pakistani government shut a border crossing after the NATO strike, citing security reasons. But a second supply route passing through southwestern Pakistan has remained open.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Defense and Military Forces
Pakistan
United States
Afghanistan


Coughlin Is Concerned by Burress’s Absence

Abstract: ALBANY, Aug. 17 — Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress will not play in Sunday’s preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens because of an ankle sprain, and one of his backups, Sinorice Moss, could also miss the game with the same injury. Burress has not practiced since Aug. 2, and Moss sat out Friday’s workout, which was the last extended practice before the game Sunday. Coach Tom Coughlin said the team would wait until Saturday before making a decision on Moss’s availability. Moss, a 2006 second-round pick, missed all of last season’s training camp and 10 regular-season games with an injured quad muscle. Burress’s absence continues to be a source of concern for Coughlin because he wants his first-string receivers to work with Eli Manning in the preseason. “We need the timing work of having Amani and having Plaxico with Jeremy and the quarterback and with the runners, that type of thing,” Coughlin said earlier this week of Amani Toomer, Burress and tight end Jeremy Shockey. “So that’s where I think we’re a little behind, in our timing.” Burress also missed much of the Giants’ off-season conditioning program when he could have been catching passes from Manning. But Burress has played down the significance of missing practice time or the need to work on the timing between quarterback and receiver. “I know what to do at the right time,” Burress said Tuesday. “Timing has never been an issue with me.” Toomer agreed with Coughlin while still supporting Burress’s position. “Plaxico has played together with Eli quite a lot, so I’m sure it won’t take too long to get things back,” Toomer said. “But the coach is right. It’s definitely important to be out there.” Coughlin said the Giants’ starting units would play well into the second quarter Sunday. Jared Lorenzen will replace Manning at that point, followed by Tim Hasselbeck in the second half. The quality of Hasselbeck’s performance could help sort out the backup situation. Lorenzen seems established as the second-string quarterback; he shows flashes of brilliance in practice with crisp, well-thrown passes. But Hasselbeck’s status as the third quarterback has been challenged by the presence in camp of the veteran Anthony Wright, who has taken most of the practice snaps with the third offensive unit. Wright has played for four N.F.L. teams, most notably Dallas and Baltimore, but has not made a start since 2005. In the Giants’ first preseason game, a 24-21 loss to Carolina, Wright completed 5 of 11 passes for 49 yards. Hasselbeck did not play in the game. Hasselbeck, 29, has been with the Giants since 2005, when he appeared in two games but did not attempt a pass. Last season, he was inactive for all 16 games as the third quarterback. Sunday’s game will also be a significant test for the Giants’ revamped running game, which features Brandon Jacobs, Reuben Droughns and Derrick Ward. The rushing attack was one of the few highlights during the Carolina game, but the stout Ravens defense should present a substantial test, especially for Jacobs, whose role has been greatly expanded from his days as a short-yardage back. Finally, the Giants are hoping the game will provide an opportunity for their coaches to evaluate the two place-kickers in camp, Lawrence Tynes and Josh Huston. Neither attempted a field goal in the first preseason game.

Football
Burress Plaxico
New York Giants
National Football League
Baltimore Ravens
Coughlin Tom


Sentimental Journey, Sentimental Favorite

Abstract: I’ve got my team. That is to say, I know which outsider I’m supporting in the first round of the N.C.A.A. tournament — I want the 15th-seeded Belmont Bruins to give second-seeded Duke a good run Thursday. This is why I love the first round much more than the Final Four, because of these fascinating outsiders with their unfamiliar team colors and nicknames, having their televised 15 minutes of fame in our finest national jamboree — no hanging chads, no superdelegates, no sliming, just hoops. We’ve all seen glorious upsets in the first round, but my favorite was No. 14 Cleveland State over No. 3 Indiana in 1986. (“Take it easy on me, big guy,” Cleveland State Coach Kevin Mackey begged Bob Knight before the game, evoking a delightful tantrum from the terrible one.) This is the week for that good stuff. I’m rooting for Belmont against the Dookies because I used hang out in Nashville, and I got to meet Belmont’s most popular alum — the Grand Ole Opry character with the moniker Minnie Pearl The university may prefer to be known for its consistent grade point average of better than 3.0 for athletes, including the men’s basketball team, which only a handful of teams in the final 64 could claim. The Bruins won 25 of 33 games this season, led by their senior guard, Justin Hare, from Cleveland, Tenn., who was fifth in the nation in free-throw shooting, making 91.5 percent — and was a first-team academic all-American. Still, I am fascinated that the university’s signature alum is a woman known for the price tag on her straw bonnet.  Minnie Pearl was the comedian on “The Grand Ole Opry” and “Hee Haw,” the country bumpkin who greeted people with a shrill “How-DEE!” and wore a gingham outfit that could have been purchased only in a yard sale in Grinder’s Switch, the hamlet where she had lived as a child, near Centerville, Tenn. By the time I met her backstage at Ryman Auditorium around 1972, she had the act down pat. But when you got up close, you noticed the alert eyes and parsed sentences, and you sensed the rustle of an unseen pearl necklace. Minnie Pearl was a college lady, an alumna of the Ward-Belmont School, once a tony women’s college, which in 1951 became a coed private Christian university that these days qualifies for the N.C.A.A. tournament. A country girl named Sarah Ophelia Colley, she felt out of place among city girls, but she became a star as Minnie Pearl and married Henry Cannon, and played tennis and lived next door to the governor’s mansion. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, she was a true insider, whether as Minnie Pearl or Sarah Cannon. When the Robert Altman film “Nashville” opened in 1975, she was a tad steely about the rakish image of her town and her industry. She was also a philanthropist, leaving a couple of cancer centers in her name and a scholarship at Belmont. By coincidence, there is a fund-raising concert Thursday for the Minnie Pearl Scholarship for the EAR Foundation for young musicians in nearby Franklin, Tenn. Sarah Cannon died at 83 in 1996. Now her old school is in the great national clog dance. “I joke that she was one of my students,” said Don Cusic, a professor at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont. Cusic, a renaissance man who has done everything from covering the industry to writing lyrics, often repeats a tale that Sarah Cannon once told him. Coach Rick Byrd, in his 22nd season at Belmont, could do worse than repeat this story in the locker room before the Duke game. It is about giving your best every minute. Cannon told Cusic she had once aspired to a part in the new musical “Oklahoma!” when she was performing and teaching drama in the late 1940s. During a snowstorm somewhere in Kansas, only 15 people showed up for her little act, and she gave a low-energy performance. Little did she know, she told Cusic, that a talent scout was in the sparse audience, measuring her for a part in “Oklahoma!” She never got to Broadway, but she always remembered that snowy night whenever she went on stage. As Joe DiMaggio once said, there will always be somebody in the stands who is seeing you for the first and only time. The Bruins may not need that story for motivation, but they certainly could use some help in the annual seeding. Representing the Atlantic Sun Conference, they have now been paired with a former national champion three consecutive years — U.C.L.A., Georgetown and now Duke. Belmont has not yet sent a player to the N.B.A., but Trisha Yearwood, Brad Paisley and Lee Ann Womack went there, and Vince Gill is a close supporter of the team. Lately, students have been wearing team colors and basketball gear more than usual.  I wouldn’t advise anybody to pick Belmont over Duke in the great national office pool. (I recently met somebody who said her company’s computers slow down every March because of bracket madness, with a concurrent downswing in employee efficiency. What does her company make? Airplane parts, she said. Charming.) This may not become one of those classic No. 15 versus No. 2 upsets, but even if it’s just for the opening tip-off, here’s my battle cry for Belmont: Win one for Minnie Pearl.

Belmont Bruins
NCAA Basketball Tournament


With LeBron James in Rearview Mirror, No Shot Is Safe

Abstract: CLEVELAND — Do not get LeBron James wrong. He takes plenty of satisfaction in his rim-rattling dunks. There is another play, however, that James said he preferred: the chase-down block . “Just because it’s a defensive play and it’s allowing us to get into an offensive set,” James said. “You protect your teammates in any kind of way, and it definitely helps not only our team but our momentum.” The chase-down block is the defensive equivalent of one of James’s dunks, and it is becoming his signature play. The sequence begins with James in the backcourt as a fast break develops for the opposition. James’s speed enables him to make up ground, and his size and athleticism allow him to come from behind and block the layup or dunk attempt. Because James is one of the few players who can block shots this way and the only one who performs it regularly, the chase-down block is a statistical category he has mostly created on his own. “It’s instinct, and it has a lot to do with a little athletic ability to be able to get up there and get the ball at the rim, and anticipation,” James said. Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown prefers the spectacular block to the spectacular dunk. “I like defense a little bit better than offense,” Brown said. He added, chuckling: “I have not taught him that. He learned that on his own.” James first used the chase-down block in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio. He rarely did it in his first five years in the N.B.A., but resumed it last season. “I just wanted to play that side of the floor a little bit better than I was when I first came into the league,” James said. Fred McLeod, a sportscaster for FSN Ohio, gave the block its name. “And I don’t remember him fouling on any of the plays, that takes away the block,” McLeod said. “That’s a pretty good batting average.” The Cavaliers started keeping track of those blocks last season. In 2008-9, James recorded 23 of them. He had 20 in the 2009-10 regular season. On Monday, in the second quarter of Game 2 of the N.B.A. Eastern Conference semifinals, it appeared as if Boston’s Tony Allen had a clear layup. James chased and caught him, though, thudding the ball hard off the backboard for his third chase-down block of this postseason. “You’ve got to be conscious of where he’s at all the time,” Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said of James. “I think he’s more dangerous without the ball at times than with the ball.” Boston’s Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo, Miami’s Dwyane Wade, Chicago’s Derrick Rose, Phoenix’s Jason Richardson and the Nets’ Chris Douglas-Roberts are among the victims of chase-downs. “You got to attack the rim,” Allen said. “You can’t just go up soft.” Opposing players must be conscious of the possibility that James can catch them from behind. Portland’s Rudy Fernandez once slowed at the rim, checking right and left, only to have James block his shot from behind. “One time, a guy had a wide-open layup,” the Cavaliers’ Jamario Moon said. “It was just him. I don’t even think LeBron could have gotten to it and blocked it. He was dribbling down the right wing and saw LeBron coming and he dribbled all the way through the baseline and brought it back up. That’s scary. If you can’t dunk it, I guess you might as well pull it out. Because when he does that, he can demoralize a team. It’s never just a little tap block; he tries to put the ball through the backboard.” ESPN’s “Sport Science” dissected one of James’s chase-down blocks against Memphis’s O. J. Mayo last season. As the play began, Mayo had an eight-foot head start on James. And when he received the pass on the breakaway, Mayo had stretched the separation to 16 feet. In total, it took Mayo four seconds to get to the rim from the opposite free-throw line, a gap James closed in 10 strides, or 3.1 seconds, according to “Sport Science.” After Mayo released the ball, it took 0.150 of a second for James to smack it with 30 G’s of acceleration, causing it to ricochet 25 feet off the backboard. To execute the block without goaltending or fouling, James had a window of 0.324 of a second, according to the program. “That’s an impressive play to be able to run somebody down, especially with the athletes in this business,” Brown said. “Usually, when somebody has a play like that, they’ve got to be pretty quick, they’ve got to be pretty athletic, they’ve got to have something to them in order to create that separation from the rest of the players on the floor. And so for him to run it down and on top of that to get a block from behind, that is something special.” Because of the rare set of skills the block requires, it is hard to find players who used chase-downs as a part of their game. Tom Heinsohn, a teammate of Bill Russell’s on the Celtics, said Russell sometimes blocked shots in a similar way. “Russell did that occasionally, but the greatest blocked shot I ever saw happen on a regular basis was, every third or fourth game, he would block four shots on the same possession from four different guys,” Heinsohn said. Despite the frequency of his chase-down blocks, James does not have the most memorable one. That one came in Game 2 of the 2004 Eastern Conference finals, when Detroit’s Tayshaun Prince caught up to Indiana’s Reggie Miller at the last moment and blocked his shot . “That is one of the most amazing blocks I have ever seen,” said Rivers, who was a television commentator for the game. In a full-circle moment, Miller served as a TNT analyst for Monday’s game, witnessing James’s block against Allen, one of Rivers’s players. “You knew it was coming at some point in time,” Miller said. “His timing is too good.”

Cleveland Cavaliers
James LeBron
Basketball


Romanian Premier Faces Runoff in Presidential Race

Abstract: BUCHAREST, Romania — Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania, the favorite to replace Traian Basescu as president, has been forced into a runoff after failing to capture the majority of votes in an election over the weekend that was closer than expected. The official results from Sunday’s election showed a 10-percentage-point lead for Mr. Ponta, with 98.3 percent of the votes counted. Mr. Ponta of the Social Democratic Party had 40.33 percent of the vote, with Klaus Iohannis, the ethnic German mayor of Sibiu and the candidate for the National Liberal Party, finishing a strong second with 30.44 percent. Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, the former prime minister, came in third, with 5.4 percent of the vote, in a crowded field of 14 candidates. “These are worrying results for Victor Ponta,” said Adrian Moraru, deputy director at the Institute for Public Policy in Bucharest. “Everyone knew he would be in first place after this round, but now it could be a very tough second round.” The runoff election between Mr. Ponta and Mr. Iohannis will take place Nov. 16.

Victor Ponta
Romania
Traian Basescu
Election
Klaus Iohannis


Macedonia: 17 Convicted in Spy Case

Abstract: A court has convicted 17 people in Macedonia’s first espionage trial since the country proclaimed independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Eight of the defendants were convicted Monday of espionage in a case that involved the passing of classified documents to the security services of another country. The other defendants were found guilty of lesser charges. The defendants were not officially identified, but a police official said they included employees of the intelligence agency, the Defense Ministry and the financial crimes unit of the police. Sentences ranged from probation to 15 years in prison.

Spying and Intelligence Agencies
Republic of Macedonia
Classified Information


Powerhouse to Punch Line, N.F.C. East Is in Free Fall

Abstract: If the N.F.C. East were a state, city or county, the federal government would declare it a disaster area and provide millions of dollars to bulldoze the refuse and start over. But the sovereign body overseeing the worst division in major American sports is the N.F.L., so even if it appears the entire N.F.C. East shut down months ago, the Giants, the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins will be forced to keep playing anyway. And we may be compelled to watch it, because the N.F.C. East is fast becoming the N.F.L.’s version of an overdramatic reality show, with every main character a serial letdown. It’s a Fox special: Who will disappoint us the most this week in the N.F.C. East? Will it be Eli Manning, the little brother who keeps connecting with all the wrong playmates (i.e., his opponents)? Or will it be Tony Romo, the brooding Texas gunslinger who wins everyone’s hearts each week until the final seconds when he shoots himself in the foot— the way he did last week, and the year before that, and the decade before that? Or will it be Michael Vick? No, wait, Vick is hurt again. That’s his annual scene-stealing downer. Or could it be Robert Griffin III, enduring the most heart-rending twist of fate, the chosen one betrayed by his own body and an elder’s callous ambition in prime (playoff) time? The best, or worst, part is that the perpetrator of one of these sad story lines gets a spot in the postseason. The winner of the division will even host a playoff game. People seemed shocked that this has happened to the N.F.C. East, long respected as one of the most powerful, competitive divisions in professional football. It was known as a smash-mouth circuit, a place of tough, cold-weather defensive units. But that’s myth now. The N.F.C. East has been declining for years. The Giants’ run to a Super Bowl championship after the 2011 season simply obscured the fundamental deterioration. In the last four seasons, including the current one, only one N.F.C. East team has been ranked among the top 10 defenses in the league. And that was the 2010 Eagles, an 8-8 team that was ranked 10th and did not make the playoffs. This year, defensively, the highest-ranked N.F.C. East team is the Giants, who are 26th. Dallas is 28th. In last is Washington. In second to last is Philadelphia. Image Robert Griffin III is not the dynamic quarterback he was last season. Credit Ben Margot/Associated Press Offensively, the N.F.C. East’s numbers are a little better — except for the Giants. But look at the scores of the games when the N.F.C. East teams venture out of their division. N.F.C. East teams are 2-11 in those games and have been outscored, 405-276. The teams are giving up an average of 31.2 points a game outside the division. The average margin of defeat is 21.2 points. The two N.F.C. East victories outside the division were against the underwhelming St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders, teams that could apply this year for honorary N.F.C. East membership, except they might be overqualified. The Rams and Raiders, both 2-3, would be tied for first place in the division with the Cowboys and the Eagles. It is a monumentally bad division, represented so perfectly at the bottom by the 0-5 Giants. It’s stunning how bad the Giants have been. They are last in the N.F.L. in rushing yardage a game (56.8), last in turnover ratio (minus 13), last in third-down conversion rate (26.2 percent), last in net yards a punt attempt (34.8) and last in points yielded a game (36.4). And that’s just a sampling of their deficiencies. They’re probably last in other categories not usually measured, like this one: liveliness and dynamism on the sideline. The Giants even seem to be last in the karma department. Opponents have tried 12 field goals against the Giants and have made each one. The Giants have fumbled the ball eight times in 2013. They have lost seven of those fumbles. The Giants have been outscored in the fourth quarter, 61-21. They are the first team since the 1954 Chicago Cardinals to give up 31 points or more in their first five games. And you never want to be compared to the Chicago Cardinals, a team that won a total of 33 games in the 1950s. Where do the Giants and the N.F.C. East go from here? Probably further into the national consciousness as the butt of jokes whenever the conversation is pro football. On Monday, the anchors on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” started laughing whenever the division came up. Expect the division’s woes to work their way into late-night monologues as well. That is what has happened to what was once the N.F.L.’s dominant grouping, the division that was always rough and tumble. Now it’s the snicker and giggle division. Last week, Giants Coach Tom Coughlin used the weakened, depleted state of the N.F.C. East as a means to motivate the Giants. If the Giants could beat the Eagles, Coughlin said, they could be one game out of first place. Preparing Monday for the Giants’ Thursday night game at Chicago, he did not mention the standings. The Giants are only two games out of first place, but enough is enough. Still, after Sunday’s victory over the Giants, Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson knew where his team now stood. “We could be in first place, baby,” Jackson said, smiling widely. That’s what a 2-3 record gets you in the N.F.C. East this year. A losing record is nothing to be ashamed of — it’s worth first place, baby.

Football
Giants
Dallas Cowboys
Redskins
Tony Romo
Michael Vick
Philadelphia Eagles
Eli Manning


Handful of Niche Chains Stay Alive in Retailing

Abstract: In one of the darkest holiday shopping seasons in decades, perhaps it is fitting that a retailer has been given new life by vampires. While sales at most stores plummeted last month, the teenage retailer Hot Topic enjoyed a 6.5 percent gain, thanks mostly to brisk sales of gear inspired by “Twilight,” the teenage vampire movie. As the nation’s retailing landscape has deteriorated, Hot Topic is one of a handful of chains that seem to be coming out ahead. The most obvious winners are discounters like Wal-Mart Stores and BJ’s Wholesale Club, which are helping American families trade down to cheaper merchandise. But another, more surprising group of beneficiaries has emerged: niche chains that cater to teenagers and young adults. For these chains, never has the quality of a management team, and its ability to see around corners, mattered as much as it does now. “The management team needs to be able to keep finding the next one-hit wonder,” said John D. Morris, a retailing analyst with Wachovia. The margin for error has probably never been narrower. While teenage retailers like Hot Topic, American Apparel and Buckle have landed on the right product at the right time (and the right price), and the discounters are catering to consumers’ desire for bargains, analysts are scrutinizing many more critical factors as they struggle to make sense of a changed retail landscape and predict which chains will survive a brutal shakeout expected to unfold early next year. In the good old days, a year or two ago, little more was required than comparing a chain’s sales from one period to the next, a metric known as same-store sales that was long considered a vital measure of a retailer’s health. But in the new climate, that comparison can be deceptive. Frederick A. Crawford, chief executive of AlixPartners, a global restructuring firm, said it was now more essential than ever to assess the soundness of a retailer’s real estate portfolio, the rate of management turnover, sales per square foot and proportion of a company’s cash that is going to overhead. Above all, a retailer’s debt load, and the timing of its principal and interest payments, is of utmost importance because obtaining fresh credit has become difficult or impossible for many companies. “There will be good businesses that will liquidate in the next 24 months,” Mr. Crawford said. “When credit was free-flowing and there was no problem, I don’t think the absolute amount of debt was as important as it is today.” Analysts who have been looking closely at all of these factors are optimistic about the prospects of some retailers, like Kohl’s and Costco, in spite of recent sales declines. “These are real companies that are going out the other side of the economic slowdown as winners, gaining market share and gaining select locations,” said Bill Dreher, senior retailing analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities. Sales at Kohl’s stores open at least a year sank 17.5 percent in November, in contrast to a 10.2 percent increase last year. Yet analysts have praised its management team. Deborah Weinswig, an analyst with Citigroup, described Kohl’s as the best-positioned department store in this economy, calling it “one of the leading retailers with respect to inventory management, technological innovation, and merchandising and marketing execution.” Mr. Dreher noted that Kohl’s generated on average $60 a square foot more than J. C. Penney and Macy’s. And the company is in a position to pick up market share as other retailers falter. Last week, Kohl’s and Forever 21 jointly acquired 46 store locations from the bankrupt Mervyns for $6.25 million. Mr. Dreher said Kohl’s — which plans to take over 31 Mervyns locations for about $1.74 a square foot — is grabbing store locations in areas it has yet to saturate in “deals once considered unimaginable.” It is one of the few retailers poised to benefit from the industry shakeout, he said, and will probably be among the first to see signs of a consumer spending recovery. Kohl’s declined to comment. Another chain that suffered a same-store sales decline in recent months, but still looks strong over all, is Aeropostale, the low-priced casual clothing retailer. The company’s same-store sales dropped 5 percent in November, but it had record-breaking sales and profits in its most recent three-month reporting period. Julian R. Geiger, the company’s chairman and chief executive, underscored during an earnings call this month that Aeropostale had a “strong balance sheet with absolutely no debt,” though analysts have warned that the company’s profits will probably erode as it offers ever deeper discounts to lure shoppers. Still, Mr. Geiger was bullish: “This should be our 11th consecutive year of positive same-store sales, a feat never before accomplished in the teen specialty business,” he said. Marsha Brady, creative director for American Apparel — which in November had a 6 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year — said the key to its continued success in this economy is its demographic: young, single, urban creative-types accustomed to living on a shoestring. “They hear about the stock market but stocks are something their parents worry about,” Ms. Brady said. “They don’t own anything. They rent. They’re not really facing foreclosure or falling property values. If anything they’ll just get another roommate or move into a cheaper rental. It’s not utter devastation to their cores.” A lesser known teenage apparel retailer, Buckle, flouted sales trends with a double-digit sales increase. Like Hot Topic, Buckle has Goth-inspired merchandise, including brands like Affliction, which embellishes clothes with skulls and crosses. Sales at stores open at least a year jumped 15 percent last month, compared with an 18.2 percent increase last year. Finding the right mix of merchandise to capture teenage and young adult consumers is essential. However, even the best management team, with the sharpest instincts, cannot save a company saddled with too much debt. It is a feat, frankly, for any apparel retailer to do well in this economy because consumers have by and large cracked open their wallets only to buy food and fuel. That, of course, has helped discount and warehouse stores like Wal-Mart and BJ’s Wholesale Club to thrive. Cathy Maloney, vice president of investor relations for BJ’s Wholesale Club, said “food and consumables have really been the drivers” of the company’s sales increases. Food sales soared 14 percent last month, though general merchandise sales were down by 4 percent. Over all, sales at stores open at least a year increased 6.2 percent in November. BJ’s is also taking market share from supermarkets and casual dining restaurants as consumers short of cash gravitate to its low prices and prepared meals, like Panera Bread soups and Boston Market side dishes. “They still want that time with family,” Ms. Maloney said, “but they don’t want to spend it in a restaurant.” For the three months that ended Nov. 1, profit at BJ’s Wholesale Club increased to $28.2 million, up from $22.7 million in the period a year earlier. Management teams at both BJ’s and Wal-Mart began getting back to basics years ago and are reaping the rewards. Wal-Mart is plucking market share not only from supermarkets — last month it had the biggest grocery sales jump in its history — but also from electronics retailers. The company offered name-brand televisions for less than $400 for the first time this holiday season. Wal-Mart’s profit for the most recent quarter was $3.14 billion, up from $2.86 billion. Sales at stores open at least a year increased 3.4 percent in November, not including fuel, compared with a 1.5 percent increase in the month a year earlier. A few other retailers have received honorable mentions from analysts, though the most frequently cited is Urban Outfitters. The company does not report monthly sales, but it had record profits in its latest quarter. Analysts have described it as the lone mass market retailer offering new, compelling styles. “They pushed the envelope on fashion and product beyond what anyone was willing to risk in a very tough economy,” said Kimberly Greenberger, a retailing analyst with Citigroup. “And it paid off for them.” Long-ailing retailer Gap appears to be pulling itself out of the grave by relentlessly cutting costs and moving inventory. Its same-store sales fell 10 percent in November, but that was an improvement over the company’s September and October figures, which were down 11 and 16 percent respectively. In the most recent reporting period, Gap made a profit of $246 million, compared with $238 million in the period a year earlier. Retailers like Gap and Hot Topic, which have been experiencing their own internal economic crises for many months, are in some ways prepared to weather the recession because they had an early start cutting inventory and learning to manage during hard times. Hot Topic’s management team was able to anticipate the “Twilight” trend, acquiring licensed merchandise, creating a vampire-theme blog and holding in-store events with cast members from the film. Still, a wave of retail bankruptcies in 2009 is all but assured as companies limp through one of the weakest holiday shopping seasons in years. Analysts, for instance, wonder whether Hot Topic — which had same-store sales declines every month this year until October — will be able to get exclusive licenses and continue to consistently identify hot trends — or if “Twilight” was simply a lucky bite. “We’re certainly seeing a darker mood that very few retailers can tap into as authentically as Hot Topic,” Ms. Greenberger of Citigroup said. “There is a huge opportunity in front of Hot Topic right now.”

Hot Topic Incorporated
Retail Stores and Trade
Economic Conditions and Trends
Teenagers and Adolescence
Discount Selling


North Carolina Planner Named to Head New York City Parks Dept.

Abstract: Mayor Bill de Blasio has chosen an out-of-state urban planner to head the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation, an agency that oversees 29,000 acres of parkland and 1,900 parks, according to officials with firsthand knowledge of the decision. The new parks commissioner, Mitchell J. Silver, whose appointment is to be announced on Friday, has most recently served as the chief planning and development officer and planning director for Raleigh, N.C. In January, he was reported to be on Mr. de Blasio’s short list of candidates to lead the City Planning Commission, but that post went to Carl Weisbrod. While Mr. Silver has worked in North Carolina since 2005, he has deep roots in New York. He went to high school in Brooklyn and earned a bachelor’s degree from Pratt Institute and a master’s degree in urban planning from Hunter College. In the late 1980s he worked in the planning department and then for the Manhattan borough president. Mr. Silver was a top official in the Office of Planning for the District of Columbia before the Raleigh job. From 2011 to 2013, he was president of the American Planning Association. Mr. Silver’s appointment comes more than two and a half months after Mayor de Blasio took office, a delay that some parks officials had privately said was starting to hurt the agency. Mr. Silver’s selection suggests that the mayor plans to confront the issue of inequality in the city’s parks. In a speech on urban planning in London last year, Mr. Silver said that in planning he used the “3 E’s — the environment, economy and equity,” the British newspaper The Guardian reported.

NYC Parks and Recreation
Bill de Blasio
Raleigh NC
Mitchell J Silver
NYC


Panel Recommends Building New School at Site of Sandy Hook Elementary

Abstract: NEWTOWN, Conn — Confronting imperfect options, but in a spirit more hopeful than resigned, a task force of local leaders on Friday unanimously recommended tearing down Sandy Hook Elementary School and building a new one on the site where a gunman massacred 26 children and educators on Dec. 14. In a meeting that addressed issues of land use, eminent domain, grief, traffic and even the two mother ducks who lay their eggs at the school every year, members of the 28-person task force in the end came down to two options: the current site or one about 200 yards down the road. They heard from half a dozen community members, all of whom urged a return to the school site. “We’re going home,” Lorna Szalay, the school’s kitchen manager, said as she hugged parents after the decision was reached. Last week, the task force heard from teachers and a couple who had lost their child, saying it would be too painful to return. But on Friday, residents said the school was a central part of the community, and that it would be a triumph over tragedy to return there. “Call me crazy, call me insensitive, but I would go back to that school tomorrow,” said Mergim Bajraliu, a local high school student, who rushed to the school that morning and who, with his two siblings, went to Sandy Hook. One is still a student at Sandy Hook. Mr. Bajraliu added: “The least we could do for those kids is to bring them home.” The recommendation will now go to the local school board and would need the approval of local residents, who will vote in a referendum. The task force reviewed four sites at the meeting on Friday, and then narrowed the options to two. Each would cost between $42 million and $47 million, with the state and federal governments expected to pick up the cost. The 430 surviving students are attending a renovated school renamed Sandy Hook Elementary School in the neighboring town of Monroe. Task force members said the new site, which would have to be taken through eminent domain, could take longer to open as a school and provided little distance from the tragedy. Many parents preferred a new school on the old site and some feared the rancor that could come with seizing land for a new school. Image John Mancini, an architect who volunteered his expertise to the Newtown task force, at the meeting on Friday. Credit Andrew Sullivan for The New York Times The process of picking a new school has been an agonizing one, mirroring those at other schools where there have been shooting tragedies. At Columbine High School in Colorado, where a shooting rampage in 1999 by two students killed 12 schoolmates and a teacher in 1999 and injured 24 others, the school reopened several months later with the library, where most of the victims had died, taken apart and replaced with an atrium. At Virginia Tech, a classroom building where an armed student killed 32 people in 2007 was converted to a peace studies and violence prevention center. The West Nickel Mines Amish School, where a gunman killed five girls in 2006, was torn down and a new school was built a few hundred yards away. The Newtown task force had hoped to offer a recommendation on May 3 but after an emotional session with Sandy Hook teachers opposed to returning to the site, the group concluded a five-hour meeting without deciding what to do. The reactions from teachers and others associated with the tragedy made it clear just how difficult any attempt to salvage the existing building would be for some parents and teachers. The task force began with a list of 40 possible locations. It investigated issues including enrollment patterns and more technical ones related to site selection, including traffic patterns, sewer and utility issues, land grade and the presence of wetlands. It boiled them down to two, the original school site and one nearby, but then reconsidered two others at a meeting last week. Most vexing has been the emotional decision of whether to return to the original site, either with a renovated school or a new one at the same site, or to make the site a permanent memorial and place the school elsewhere.. “To me, that is always going to be a site where 26 people were murdered,”one panel member, Laura Roche, said at last week’s meeting. But on Friday, she voted with the other members for a new school at the old site as the best available option. The longer the process went on, the more it became clear that there was no solution without costs and pain, said E. Patricia Llodra, the first selectwoman and a member of the task force. “We all wanted a wonderful solution that would satisfy everyone and we realized that wasn’t going to happen,” she said. “But I think we reached a point where we could make a positive decision that we feel is the right thing to do.” “It’s going to be a happy place full of children and learning,” Ms. Llodra said. “We need to make this work, and we will. We will.”

Sandy Hook Elementary School Newtown Conn


U.S. Guidelines Aim to Bolster Software Security

Abstract: The Homeland Security Department unveiled a new system of guidance on Monday intended to help make the software behind Web sites, power grids and other services less susceptible to hacking. The system includes an updated list of the top 25 programming errors that enable today’s most serious hacks. It adds new tools to help software programmers eliminate the most dangerous types of mistakes and enable organizations to demand and buy more secure products. The effort to improve software security has been three years in the making, according to Robert A. Martin, principal engineer at Mitre, a technology nonprofit organization that conducts federal research in systems engineering. The costs of flaws or omissions that make software susceptible to attack was highlighted by a number of recent attacks that resulted in the theft of credit card information, user names and passwords from government and banking sites. During an online news conference, government officials pointed out that a wide range of stakeholders had an interest in seeing the top 25 errors addressed, and they stressed the need for better training and education for people writing software. Officials also noted that organizations are under “persistent” attack. The Homeland Security Department’s hope is that the program, which is voluntary, will make it easier for companies and agencies to better secure their corners of cyberspace and contribute to building safer global networks. “We’re going after root cause issues,” said a senior department official, who declined to be named because he was speaking before the announcement had been made. “You can make your enterprise more resilient from the people who would attack you.” The guidance could spur a long-awaited shift in the technology industry’s approach to computer security, which puts software security at the heart, in the place of network security, said Jeremiah Grossman, chief technology officer of WhiteHat Security, a firm that helps companies secure their Web sites. Many organizations do not recognize that software security should be the focus, he said, “which is why you see the bulk of the security dollars spent on defense flowing to firewall and antivirus products, and precisely why the current wave of breaches keep happening.” Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization, emphasized during the presentation on Monday that it was a “first step” and much work still needed to be done, especially with training. The top 25 list was created by SANS and Mitre with the help of top software security experts in the United States and Europe. It includes programming errors that have been used in a number of recent hacking attacks. No. 1 on the list is a programming mistake that allows so-called SQL-injection attacks on Web sites, which were successfully used by the hacker group LulzSec. That group was able to use the flaws to cause databases to spit out user names and passwords from Web sites, including one associated with the F.B.I.’s InfraGard program and NATO’s online bookstore. The list also warns about the type of error that allowed hackers to steal several hundred thousand credit card numbers from a Citigroup site recently. The guidance framework will include “vignettes” for industries like e-commerce, banking and manufacturing, and will highlight for them which programming errors are of greatest concern in the types of technologies they use. Companies that make tools to test software for dangerous programming mistakes are already beginning to incorporate the framework into their products, Mr. Paller said before the presentation. And eventually there will be services that help businesses evaluate whether the software they are considering has stood up to scrutiny. Avoiding common programming mistakes is vital to fending off today’s worst attacks, Mr. Paller said. “This is the only way to get around ‘zero days,’ ” he said, referring to attacks that make use of software vulnerabilities that are unknown and, therefore, cannot be fixed quickly with patches. “The only possible defense is to stop the error from being in the software in the first place.”

Computer Security
Homeland Security Department


Union Is Caught Up in Illinois Bribe Case

Abstract: The Service Employees International Union has long boasted that it is on the cutting edge of the labor movement. But the union found itself badly embarrassed this week when it was named in the federal criminal complaint charging Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois with maneuvering to secure financial gain from the appointment of the state’s next senator. The complaint said Mr. Blagojevich’s chief of staff, John Harris, had suggested to a service employees official that the union should help make the governor the president of Change to Win , a federation of seven unions that broke away from the A.F.L.-C.I.O. The complaint said Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat, was seeking a position that paid $250,000 to $300,000 a year. In exchange, the complaint suggested, Mr. Blagojevich had expected the service employees union and Change to Win to seek to persuade him to name President-elect Barack Obama’s first choice, Valerie Jarrett, to succeed Mr. Obama in the Senate. The union would also receive help from the Obama administration, presumably for its legislative agenda. Several union officials in Chicago and Washington said the service employees official approached by Mr. Harris was Tom Balanoff, the president of the union’s giant janitors local in Chicago and head of the union’s Illinois state council. Mr. Balanoff, one of the union officials closest to Mr. Obama, is widely seen as an aggressive, successful labor leader, who has helped unionize thousands of janitors not just in the Chicago area but also in Texas. Reached by telephone on Tuesday, Mr. Balanoff said, “I can’t comment on anything right now.” The Illinois branch of the service employees issued a statement Wednesday night saying, “We have no reason to believe that S.E.I.U. or any S.E.I.U. official was involved in any misconduct.” It added that the union and Mr. Balanoff were cooperating with federal investigators. Change to Win’s spokesman, Greg Denier, said the federation “had no involvement, no discussion, no contact” with Mr. Blagojevich or his staff about Mr. Obama’s successor. “The idea of a position at Change to Win was totally an invention of the governor,” Mr. Denier said, “and his stance has no basis in reality.” Mr. Denier added that the presidency of Change to Win was an unsalaried position. The federation’s president, Anna Burger, is the service employees’ secretary-treasurer and receives only her union salary. Service employees officials said the criminal complaint did not accuse the unnamed “S.E.I.U. official” of having done anything wrong. All the official did, they said, was listen to Mr. Blagojevich and his chief of staff and ferry some messages for them. A senior service employees official who insisted on anonymity because prosecutors had asked union officials not to talk said his union was one of many that backed Mr. Blagojevich and received favors from him. But he said it was understandable that Mr. Blagojevich would ask the service employees for a favor because it was so powerful and was one of the unions closest to Mr. Obama. (Patrick Gaspard, the former political director of the service employees’ huge New York health care affiliate, 1199, was political director of Mr. Obama’s campaign and has been named the White House political director.) If Mr. Blagojevich was going to approach a union to help land a high-paying job after leaving the Illinois governorship, it probably made sense for him to approach the service employees, the nation’s fastest-growing union. With more than 1.8 million members nationwide, it is the largest union in Illinois, was an early and generous backer of his ambitions to become governor and received some important favors from him. In 2005, the governor issued an executive order that enabled the service employees to unionize 49,000 in-home child care providers who were paid through state and federal funds. Afterward, the service employees negotiated a 39-month contract that raised the child care providers’ daily rates by 35 percent on average and provided them with health coverage. With Mr. Blagojevich evidently hoping to trade favors with Mr. Obama, the service employees seemed like a sensible intermediary because it was widely seen as having done more than any other union to elect Mr. Obama. The service employees’ political action committee spent at least $26 million on Mr. Obama’s behalf in the presidential campaign, making it by far the largest single PAC donor in the campaign. The service employees union was also the top overall donor to Mr. Blagojevich’s 2006 re-election campaign, with records showing it donated more than $900,000, or about 5 percent of his total campaign funds. Michelle Ringuette, a spokeswoman for the service employees’ union, said such political contributions were not unusual. “Many unions make donations to political candidates,” Ms. Ringuette said, “in the interest of making sure we have elected officials who represent the interest of working families, men and women who get up and go to work every day.” The service employees’ president, Andy Stern, is often seen as the most powerful union official in the nation, serving as both a dynamo and a lightning rod for the labor movement. Mr. Stern led the schism from the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and now is seeking to lead an effort to persuade Mr. Obama to enact two major pieces of legislation in his first 100 days: universal health coverage and a bill that would make it easier for workers to unionize. Mr. Stern was embarrassed this year when Tyrone Freeman, an official he had appointed to run a large home-care workers local in Los Angeles, was suspended and later banned for misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds. Mr. Freeman was found to have improperly directed union funds to his wedding, to his wife’s company and even to membership in a private cigar club. Mr. Stern has named a panel of experts to develop a tougher ethical code for the union.

Service Employees International Union
Change to Win
Blagojevich Rod R
Bribery


Emphasis Shifts for New Breed of Evangelicals

Abstract: The evangelical Christian movement, which has been pivotal in reshaping the country’s political landscape since the 1980s, has shifted in potentially momentous ways in recent years, broadening its agenda and exposing new fissures. The death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell last week highlighted the fact that many of the movement’s fiery old guard who helped lead conservative Christians into the embrace of the Republican Party are aging and slowly receding from the scene. In their stead, a new generation of leaders who have mostly avoided the openly partisan and confrontational approach of their forebears have become increasingly influential. Typified by megachurch pastors like the Rev. Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., and the Rev. Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago, the new breed of evangelical leaders — often to the dismay of those who came before them — are more likely to speak out about more liberal causes like AIDS , Darfur, poverty and global warming than controversial social issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. But the conservative legacy of the religious right persists, and abortion continues to be a defining issue, even a litmus test, for most evangelicals, including younger ones, according to interviews and survey data. “The abortion issue is going to continue to be a unifying factor among evangelicals and Catholics,” said the Rev. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who is often held up as an example of the new model of conservative Christian leaders. “That’s not going to go away.” The persistence of abortion as a core concern for evangelical voters, who continue to represent a broad swath of the Republican base, could complicate efforts by Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has been leading the Republican presidential field in nationwide polls, to get primary voters to move past the issue and accept his support for abortion rights. The broader impact that the changing evangelical leadership may have on politics appears to be just beginning. Many evangelicals remain uneasy about the other leading Republican contenders, Mitt Romney, because of his Mormon faith and his past support for abortion rights, and Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has long had a tenuous relationship with conservative Christians. The evangelical movement, however, is clearly evolving. Members of the baby boomer generation are taking over the reins, said D. G. Hart, a historian of religion. The boomers, he said, are markedly different in style and temperament from their predecessors and much more animated by social justice and humanitarianism. Most of them are pastors, as opposed to the heads of advocacy groups, making them more reluctant to plunge into politics to avoid alienating diverse congregations. “I just don’t see in the next generation of so-called evangelical leaders anyone as politically activist-minded” as Mr. Falwell, the Rev. Pat Robertson or James C. Dobson, he said. Mr. Warren, 53, who wrote the spiritual best seller “The Purpose-Driven Life,” has dedicated much of the past few years to mobilizing evangelicals to eradicate AIDS in Africa. Even so, he remains theologically and socially quite conservative. He tempers the sharper edges of his beliefs with a laid-back style (his usual Sunday best is a Hawaiian shirt). Although he does not speak from the pulpit about politics, he sent a letter before the 2004 presidential election to pastors in a vast network who draw advice from him, urging them to weigh heavily “nonnegotiable” issues like abortion, stem cell research and same-sex marriage from a biblical perspective. Mr. Warren, along with Mr. Hybels, 55, and several dozen other evangelical leaders, signed a call to action last year on climate change. The initiative brought together more mainstream conservative Christian leaders with prominent liberal evangelicals, such as the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners and the Rev. Ronald J. Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, who have long championed progressive causes. Notably absent from the list of signatories were several old lions of the Christian right, some of whom were openly critical of the effort: Mr. Falwell; Mr. Robertson, 77; and Mr. Dobson, 71, founder of Focus on the Family. Another evangelical standard-bearer who did not sign the statement was Charles W. Colson, 75, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries, who said in an interview that there were many environmental groups behind the statement that were hostile to evangelical causes. Nevertheless, he said he appreciated the direction that younger evangelical leaders are taking the movement. “What’s happening today is the evangelical movement is growing up,” he said. “The evangelical political conscience today is much more sophisticated than it was in the early ’80s.” The Rev. Joel C. Hunter, 59, a Florida megachurch pastor who signed the climate change statement, stepped down last year as the president-elect of the Christian Coalition over what he said was resistance among members of the organization’s board to expanding its concerns beyond the usual social issues. He has been active in encouraging evangelicals to speak out on issues like global poverty, and signed on this month to an evangelical declaration on immigration reform that called for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. He is critical of the tactics and rhetoric employed by the old religious right. Despite the changes in the movement, Mr. Hunter predicted that Mr. Giuliani would not garner much of the evangelical vote because of his liberal views on social issues. “There always will be in the evangelical movement a strong identification with what we call the traditional moral issues — abortion, marriage between a man and a woman, addiction to pornography,” he said. A poll conducted this year by the Pew Research Center showed that white evangelical Protestants have similar concerns to other Americans, including the war in Iraq, education and the economy, but a far greater percentage continue to cite tackling the “moral breakdown” in society as a key priority. They remain solidly Republican. “While I think a lot of their leaders have begun to talk about other things, like Darfur and the environment, this remains a pretty social conservative group in some respects,” said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. “There doesn’t seem to me to be any sign of a sea change.” Indeed, the survey showed that fewer evangelicals assigned top priority to protecting the environment than did the overall population, and that roughly the same number of evangelicals identified alleviating poverty as a top priority as did the general population. Meanwhile, evangelicals identified reducing illegal immigration as a priority at a much greater percentage than the population as a whole. In a separate survey in 2004, John C. Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, however, placed evangelicals into three camps — traditionalist, centrist and modernist — based on the how rigidly they adhered to their beliefs and their willingness to adapt them to a changing world. The traditionalists are evangelicals who are usually labeled as the Christian right, while the centrists might be represented by the newer breed of evangelical leaders, who remain socially and theologically quite conservative but have mostly sought to avoid politics. The two camps are roughly the same size, each representing 40 to 50 percent of the total. Experts agree, though, that the centrist camp is growing. Estimates of the number of evangelicals nationwide vary, depending on how they are counted and how the term is defined, but Mr. Green put it at 26.3 percent of Americans. The full electoral implications of the shift that is occurring in the movement will likely unfold over the next decade or more, several religious experts and activists said, as opposed to in this next presidential election cycle. “I think we’re talking about a 20-year effect,” said Andy Crouch, an editor at Christianity Today. The tremors of change are, nevertheless, detectable, especially among younger evangelicals. Many are intrigued by Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, who has demonstrated the ability to speak convincingly about his faith on the campaign trail, as a presidential candidate. “The person I just hear about all the time is Obama because he is seen as spiritually serious, even if people know he’s really kind of a liberal Christian,” Mr. Crouch said. Gabe Lyons, 32, is emblematic of the transformation among many younger evangelicals. He grew up in Lynchburg, Va., attending Mr. Falwell’s church. But he has shied away from politics. Instead, he heads the Fermi Project, a loose “collective” dedicated to teaching evangelicals to shape culture through other means, including media and the arts. “I believe politics just isn’t as important to younger evangelicals as it has been for the older generations because we recognize from experience that politics does not shape the morality of a culture,” he said. “It simply reflects what the larger culture wants.” There are other signs of attitude changes among younger evangelicals. Recent surveys conducted by the Barna Group show that younger “born again” Christians are more accepting of homosexuality than older ones and are less resistant to affording gays equal rights. But on abortion, they remain almost as conservative as their parents — more fodder for both political parties to weigh as they consider the future.

Evangelical Movement
Christians and Christianity
Leaders and Leadership
Warren Rick
Hybels Bill
Falwell Jerry


In N.H.L. Deadlock, More Talks, and Perhaps Some Shifting

Abstract: Negotiations between the N.H.L. and its players union are scheduled to resume Monday in New York amid indications that ownership’s solid front may be cracking. On the league side, the talks, coming after more than a week off and taking place on Day 65 of the lockout, are expected to include Commissioner Gary Bettman and his deputy, Bill Daly, as well as some owners, including the Boston Bruins’ Jeremy Jacobs, who is chairman of the N.H.L. Board of Governors. Expected on the union side are the executive director, Donald Fehr, and his brother and deputy, Steve Fehr, as well as some players. On Saturday, reports from Philadelphia indicated the Flyers owner Ed Snider was growing sour over lost revenue and marketing momentum because of the lengthy lockout. Snider is also the chairman of Comcast-Spectacor, which, like NBCUniversal, is a division of Comcast. NBC has paid $2 billion to carry N.H.L. games but is losing advertising revenue because of the lockout. Snider denied the reports Sunday, calling them “absolutely erroneous.” Long known as a hard-liner, Snider said he remained “a solid supporter” of Bettman. Progress was made in some key areas before the sides broke off negotiations Nov. 11. The league and the union were very close to agreement on an expanded revenue-sharing system between clubs. They were also only $2 million to $3 million apart per year, per team, from finding a way for owners to pay full value on existing contracts after the salary cap is lowered under a new collective bargaining agreement. But big differences remain in other areas — particularly in free agency and contract rights, for which the N.H.L. has not altered its proposal since its opening offer in July. The owners are still proposing that the minimum qualifications for free agency be raised to 28 years of age or eight years of service, from 27 or seven. Contract lengths would be limited to five years, with no more than five percent fluctuation from year to year, and salary arbitration would become more difficult for players to seek. While both sides have agreed to a 50-50 split of revenue, the players want a gradual step down from the 57 percent they earned under the old agreement, reaching 50 percent in the third year of the deal. The owners, however, want the 50-50 split to take effect immediately. “I don’t see a path to an agreement here,” Donald Fehr said after the league declined to budge on those issues in the Nov. 11 bargaining session. That prompted Bettman to suggest a two-week moratorium on negotiations. It was not until Friday that the sides made contact again, when the No. 2 officials, Daly and Steve Fehr, discussed the logistics that paved the way for Monday’s talks.

Hockey Ice
Labor and Jobs
Lockouts
National Hockey League


Six States Sue R. J. Reynolds Over Cartoon in Marketing

Abstract: Six states sued the maker of Camel cigarettes yesterday, contending that a promotion in Rolling Stone magazine violated a 1998 agreement not to use cartoons in its marketing efforts. The suits focus on ads for the Camel brand, produced by the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which appeared in a nine-page foldout section in the Nov. 15 issue of the magazine. The section, titled Indie Rock Universe, was intended to look like doodling in a student’s spiral-bound notebook, with drawings of planets made to resemble animals and characters. It featured Camel’s name and logo. Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania filed the suits. Through the late 1980s and much of the 1990s, the Joe Camel cartoon character represented the brand in print ads. Antismoking groups charged that because they used cartoons, the advertisements were in effect an appeal to children. In 1998 Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American, and other cigarette makers agreed to drop cartoon characters from advertisements in a settlement with 45 states and Washington. “We view this cartoon-based advertising campaign as a flagrant violation of the 1998 national tobacco settlement, which includes an outright ban on the use of any cartoon in tobacco advertising,” the attorney general of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, said in a statement. R.J. Reynolds said the section — which does not use the Joe Camel character — was produced by Rolling Stone. “We were surprised and concerned when the issue was published, and had we been aware of the graphics prepared by Rolling Stone, we would not have advertised adjacent to the gatefold,” a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds, David Howard, said. The suits ask the respective state courts to stop Reynolds from running ads using cartoons, to cease distributing a promotional compact disc associated with the ads; they also seek monetary penalties. Rolling Stone had no comment, a spokesman said.

Advertising and Marketing
Smoking and Tobacco
Cartoons and Cartoonists
Trademarks and Trade Names
Rolling Stone


N.F.L. Suspends Use of Helmet Sensors

Abstract: The N.F.L. will not use sensors in players’ helmets next season to measure head hits, ending — at least temporarily — one effort to gain a better understanding of concussions. The league suspended the pilot program, which was voluntary, even as researchers around the country are continuing to collect data from the helmet sensors to scrutinize how often and how hard players are hit in the head. Still, Brian McCarthy, a spokesman for the N.F.L., said that members of the league’s head, neck and spine committee would “continue to review and analyze the research.” The sensors relay information about the number and velocity of hits to helmets. That data can be used to determine whether a player might need to come out of a game or whether game rules should be changed. Kevin Guskiewicz, an expert on brain trauma who was coordinating the research, said the committee collected data on about 11,000 impacts during the 2013 season but had difficulty determining the location and severity of the impacts. The committee, he said, wants more time to determine if there is a better system available. The N.F.L. Players Association, he added, questioned whether the data would be kept private and not used against a player. “There was not an agreement by some of the individuals, so we thought it was best to take a time out and see what systems work most reliably,” he said. Dr. Robert Cantu, another member of the committee, said he thought the data was not reliable enough. “Because there is such concern about the sensors, this might not be the most prominent time to be doing this study,” Cantu said. Cantu said the sensors the league had used were less accurate when the helmets were not hit squarely. “It showed that if you hit the center of gravity perfect, they are pretty accurate,” he said. “The further you get away from the center, you don’t have the accuracy.” But researchers who have collected data for years said the league was being too careful. Stefan Duma, who runs the biomedical engineering department at Virginia Tech and has helped develop a helmet rating system, said that while the sensors on the market had flaws, they were accurate enough. “I continue to think that while not perfect, the sensors are valuable and give reasonable data that is useful,” he said. Even with a 10 or 20 percent error rate, the sensors provide data that can be used to determine whether helmets should be improved or rules governing certain plays, like kickoffs, should be changed. The sensors can also be used to analyze head hits in sports like soccer and hockey. While Duma said he was not familiar with the N.F.L.’s reason for suspending the program, he said the league and the players’ union might be ambivalent about the sensors because they could show that players were receiving more blows to the head than was commonly thought. Duma said he feared that the N.F.L.’s decision, which was first reported by Sports Business Journal , could dampen research efforts by others. “It’s a concern because this release will get tremendous traction, and it doesn’t acknowledge all the good things that have happened,” he said.

Football
Concussion
NFL
Super Bowl
Super Bowl 2015
Helmet
Stefan Duma


Former Dynegy Accountant Is Resentenced

Abstract: HOUSTON, Sept. 22 (AP) — A former midlevel Dynegy executive who originally received a 24-year prison term for his role in a fraudulent accounting scheme was resentenced Friday to six years in prison. The original sentence was thrown out last October by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which deemed it unreasonable. The executive, Jamie Olis, was convicted by a federal jury in 2003 of six counts of conspiracy and wire, securities and mail fraud. The charges involved his role in helping disguise a 2001 transaction called Project Alpha, a gas trading and finance deal that helped Dynegy inflate its reported cash flow by as much as $300 million. Mr. Olis worked as an accountant for Dynegy. Judge Sim Lake, who imposed Mr. Olis’s first sentence, also handed down his new prison term. Judge Lake said Friday that he had calculated the sentencing range to be about 12.5 years to 15.5 years, but gave Mr. Olis a lighter term.

Dynegy Incorporated
Sentences (Criminal)
Decisions and Verdicts
Suits and Litigation


For Mauresmo, Grand Slam Title Is All About Her

Abstract: MELBOURNE, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 29 - It was unquestionably an anticlimax, but after waiting seven years between Australian Open finals, Amélie Mauresmo was in too good a mood Saturday afternoon to quibble over the means to her happy end. She did not get to win her long-anticipated match point -- Justine Henin-Hardenne retired because of stomach pain and general fatigue early in the second set -- yet Mauresmo won her first Grand Slam singles title just the same. Let others focus on whether Henin-Hardenne should have muddled through out of respect for Mauresmo's feelings instead of cutting the moment short with Mauresmo leading, 6-1, 2-0. Let others focus on the strange-but-true fact that three of Mauresmo's last five opponents here retired with illness or injury. Despite the odd circumstances, Mauresmo insisted that she felt like a champion at last. "I know what I've done to get here; I know what kind of moments I've been through," she said in an interview in the players' restaurant at Melbourne Park. "The sadness of one person sometimes leads to the happiness of someone else. I've made others happy sometimes in the past, and now, this time, it's a bit the reverse." She and Henin-Hardenne were indeed contrasting portraits on Saturday. Not long before Mauresmo leaned back in her chair to express a sense of fulfillment, Henin-Hardenne leaned forward in hers during a news conference, covered her face with both hands and sobbed. "It's not easy, because I really believed in my chances," she said after regaining some of her composure. "I was playing the best tennis of my career. I had a chance to get another big title. I really wanted it, and that it ends like this is difficult." Being questioned about her sportsmanship did not make defeat any more palatable. "I mean, everyone has the right to think that, but it's my health," she said, when asked how she would answer those who think she should have stayed the course. She added: "I think it's very easy to say that here in a press conference. But when you're on the court, and you suffer a lot, and you feel like you don't have anything to give, it's pretty hard to stay on the court. I have no regrets about the decision I took." Though Henin-Hardenne played poorly by her standards, she showed no signs of distress until she called for a trainer in the second game of the second set. She later explained that she had had stomach problems throughout the week, vomiting the night before her quarterfinal victory over Lindsay Davenport and waking at 3:30 a.m. on the day of the final because of an intense burning sensation in her stomach. Henin-Hardenne said she believed the pain was probably linked to an increase in the dosage of anti-inflammatory medication she had been taking for her chronically sore right shoulder. "For two nights, I felt better, but then it was hellish," she said. "As soon as I got into the match, I couldn't get the ball to go. I felt I had no power." During her career, Henin-Hardenne has earned a reputation as one of the more intense and dogged competitors on the circuit. In the semifinals of the 2003 United States Open, she fought through cramps in a marathon victory over Jennifer Capriati, then won the title over Kim Clijsters less than 24 hours later. But Henin-Hardenne has experienced serious health problems in the last two years. She missed much of 2004 because of a lingering viral infection and missed several tournaments in 2005 because of a knee injury and a hamstring injury. She takes greater care in planning her schedule and her recovery periods, and while she appeared to be in rare form in Australia, winning 10 straight matches, she determined that she could not go the distance on Saturday. Asked whether it was the right move, Mauresmo chose to neither criticize nor condone it. "I don't want to really comment on that," she said. "I was ready to die on the court today. That's just the way I was coming out on the court this afternoon, so that's it." Later, she said that she believed Henin-Hardenne might have played longer if the match had been closer. "If the match is a bit tighter, if I give her more points with errors, I don't know, but perhaps she would stay in it," Mauresmo said. "There really was zero hope for her, so from my point of view, this victory is deserved." Mauresmo said the postmatch focus on Henin-Hardenne's retirement did not surprise her. "It was predictable," she said. "It's never perfect. I've come to understand that there's always something. If she hadn't stopped, people would have been talking about the fact that she played a bad match. It's just the way it goes, but my joy is still there." Mauresmo, 26, has certainly paid her dues since losing to Martina Hingis in the final here in 1999, a time when, she now concedes, she did not understand the intricacies of the game. "It was more instinct," she said. That unexpected run in Melbourne made her a star in France at 19 and also made her a public symbol after she announced that she was gay during the tournament. Speaking to Swiss reporters before that final, Hingis called Mauresmo "half a man." The ensuing furor turned what should have been a career highlight into a tournament that Mauresmo prefers to block out. "That final and those days seven years ago were a bit painful," Mauresmo said, "so I think in my head I tried to wipe it away, and I think I must have succeeded a bit, because I really don't have any clear memories." In the years that followed, she developed a more complete game, shortening her backswing and playing closer to the baseline to have a better chance of dictating play. She has also relied increasingly on her fine net game. Though she met two other major career goals -- winning the Fed Cup for France and reaching No. 1 in 2004 -- she continued to fall short in the Grand Slam tournaments, losing four times in the semifinals. Some of her biggest disappointments have came at the French Open, where she has struggled to cope with huge expectations and has looked stiff and even frightened at times. But she and her coach, Loic Courteau, have continued to experiment, hiring the former French champion Yannick Noah as a motivator at one stage and tinkering with her preparation. She attributed this victory, in part, to the confidence gained from winning the Tour Championships in Los Angeles in November. She also attributed it to maturity. "I think eventually things happened so that the timing was right, my timing," she said. "I've often said that my progress was a bit slower than other players, like Justine or Kim or the Williams sisters or Hingis, who broke through and stayed there very young. For me, it took quite a bit longer, but I savor it all the more." She might have savored it more had she been allowed to finish her last two matches here. (Clijsters retired in the third set of their semifinal.) But Mauresmo was leading in that match, too, and her emphasis on fitness in recent years has clearly helped her cope in an increasingly grueling and power-hungry game. Though her one-handed topspin backhand looks familiar, much has changed in seven years. And on Saturday, as Mauresmo sat with the singles trophy glittering next to her, Hingis, who lost in the quarterfinals here, walked through another section of the players' restaurant. Any lingering sense of bitterness or of poetic justice? "Not seven years later," Mauresmo said. "If it had been one month later, perhaps. But seven years? No. No. Thisis about me. We don't talk about Hingis or X or Y. This is about me and the personal satisfaction I have." NOTES The men's final between Roger Federer and Marcos Baghdatis was scheduled to begin Sunday night in Melbourne (3:30 a.m. Sunday, Eastern).

HENIN JUSTINE
HENIN-HARDENNE JUSTINE
MAURESMO AMELIE
AUSTRALIAN OPEN (TENNIS)
TENNIS