Fallow Years Leave Todd Demsey on Margins of Golf World

Abstract: IRVING, Tex. — Todd Demsey walked onto the first tee at T.P.C. Four Seasons Resort at Las Colinas on Thursday dressed in an off-the-rack golf shirt and khaki pants held up by a white cotton belt with a nondescript buckle. His clubs sat in a vintage lightweight leather golf bag with one divider, two pockets and no logos. On the brand-conscious PGA Tour, Demsey looked out of place, like a muni golfer who had crashed the Byron Nelson Classic. The truth is, few pros have a better pedigree than Demsey, who won an N.C.A.A. championship, a Pacific-10 Conference title and the Pacific Coast Amateur while at Arizona State, where he was a four-time All-America selection. Demsey was pegged for stardom when he turned professional in 1995. A chronic back injury and two operations for a benign brain tumor have limited him to two tours on the PGA circuit. “He has a lot of game,” said Phil Mickelson , a recent inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame and a former teammate of Demsey’s at Arizona State. “He is a really, really good ball striker and has always had a lot of talent, been a tough competitor, and he and I have had great matches over the years. I have always expected and still expect to see him succeed.” On the tour, the difference between success and failure can be harder to judge than where the fairway ends and the first cut of rough begins. Demsey’s health problems clipped his practice and preparation, which pruned his confidence, which curtailed his consistency. David Duval, who lost the 1993 N.C.A.A. individual title to Demsey by one stroke, is ranked 676th in the world, down from No. 1 in 1999. “I’ve had my share of setbacks, so I know what it’s like,” he said. “It’s tough. I do admire the work ethic, the keeping at it, the belief in himself that he’s shown.” For more than three years, Demsey has eked out a living on the margins of the Nationwide Tour and in lesser pro events that are a day’s drive from his Arizona base. With his 40th birthday looming at the end of this month and a wife and two children under the age 6 to support back home in Scottsdale, Demsey feels a sense of urgency that his unhurried stride does not betray. Having regained his health, he has turned his attention to reclaiming his spot among golf’s elite. “I’m never too far off,” Demsey said. “It’s just a matter of letting myself play well. You just have to go play golf and not worry about everything else, and that’s what I’m trying to do.” He added: “I feel I have a lot of years left in me. Physically, I feel the best I’ve ever felt.” He gambled that his game was ready this past week, shelling out $100 to enter Monday qualifying and a shot at one of four spots. Demsey beat out several dozen other golfers to secure his place in the field. Playing in the last group off No. 1, in a threesome that included Steven Bowditch and Charlie Beljan, he started inauspiciously, with an errant drive that led to a bogey. After making another bogey, on the third hole, Demsey was approached by the volunteer who was carrying the walking scoreboard for his group. Demsey listened with growing interest as the man described his receiving a diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor a few years ago, his subsequent surgery and continuing recovery. “I probably wasn’t in the mood to start chatting, but I’m glad he came up to me like that,” Demsey said. “Listening to him tell his story, it sort of settled me down.” Demsey reeled off four consecutive birdies on the front and three on the back nine on his way to a three-under-par 67. After he signed his scorecard, he was walking toward the clubhouse when a fan approached him and said: “It was a pleasure watching you play today. I’ve heard bits and pieces of your story. It’s very inspiring.” He hears that a lot, Demsey said. “I’d rather be known for doing good things on the golf course,” he said. In Arizona, Demsey’s college coach, Randy Lein, had tracked his round on the Internet. Lein is never surprised when Demsey shoots a low score, he said, because Demsey’s swing has changed little since he set a course-record 11-under 61 at Desert Mountain Renegade, then rated by Golf World as the toughest course in the United States, as a redshirt freshman in college. “He’s one of the only guys where I can say I could watch him hit balls and feel as though I was getting better because he has such a rhythmic swing,” Lein said by telephone. Demsey can repeat his swing, but could he duplicate his low score in the second round? That was the question gnawing at Lein, who said: “It’s difficult because you’ve got to be ready to play when you do have these opportunities. You have to be able to seize the moment.” On Friday, Demsey made seven bogeys on his way to a 77 and missed the cut by two strokes. Instead of a potentially big payday, Demsey was staring at a shortfall because of his travel and lodging expenses for the week. Lein said, “I’ve had a lot of people ask me, ‘How does Todd afford to keep going out there?’ ” When the question was conveyed to him, Demsey said: “I guess people don’t pay attention. I’ve been a pro for 17 years and I’ve made enough money to keep going. “The last two years have been really bad, but I’m proud that I’ve been able to play the game for a living and support my family. Not many people can do that.”

Golf
Demsey Todd
Arizona State University
Mickelson Phil


‘Lost’ Memorabilia Draws Big Bids at Auction

Abstract: SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Carrying a presale estimate of $400, a mangled piece of Oceanic Airlines fuselage — immediately identifiable to any fan of “Lost” — came up for bids here on Saturday. Four paddles popped into the air, which was tinged with fake fog. “$1,500! $2,000!” the auctioneer shouted as offers climbed. James Comisar, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a straw hat, ultimately emerged the proud owner of a (very heavy) piece of television history by paying $3,000. “Anything tightly related to that plane is going to emerge as iconic — the plane is the key to the whole show,” said Mr. Comisar, who is a leading collector of TV memorabilia. Ultimately, no item proved to be too mundane at the circuslike auction of props and costumes that closed the door on “Lost,” the celebrated castaway drama that ended in May on ABC. Collectors, dealers and fans — some in costume — were on track late Sunday to snap up every item for sale: 1,174 lots, with most entries containing multiple items. “This show is the new ‘ Star Trek ’ when it comes to collecting,” said Joseph Maddalena, the founder of Profiles in History, the auction house that mounted the event. A copy of “Watership Down,” read by the actor Josh Holloway in several episodes, sold for $3,300 (including a 20 percent buyer’s fee) against an estimate of $300. A set of Oceanic Airlines-branded water bottles, seen in the pilot episode and estimated at $200, went for $1,680. Among the top sellers was a script signed by two of the program’s creators, J. J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. The script, estimated at $300, brought a frenzy of bidding — over 100 people were vying for it in person, on the telephone and over the Internet — and it sold for $18,000. Hurley’s red-and-white Camaro, prominently featured in season three, was estimated at $15,000 and sold for $24,000. In decades past, TV studios threw away old props and costumes or recycled them for new programs. As fans salvaged items, a collecting market was born. In recent years, studios, under severe financial pressure, have grown more interested in auctioning show materials. Profiles in History said Saturday’s session totaled about $900,000 with bids coming in from 35 countries. No total was available for the Sunday portion, which stretched into the evening, although it appeared to be on track to exceed $1 million. Several thousand people attended the auction, in a hangar at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport, although many fans came just to view an elaborately staged exhibition of the material up for sale. Set decorators and lighting designers from ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company, had created a palm-tree jungle replete with waterfalls. That fake fog billowed from “the hatch,” a set piece familiar to “Lost” fans as the steel entrance to the Dharma Initiative bunker. A woman dressed as Mother, the adoptive parent of Jacob and the Man in Black — if you didn’t watch the show, don’t even ask — took a peek inside while her four children lay on the ground and spelled out the show’s title with their bodies. (The children were all named after “Lost” characters, one coincidentally, the other three deliberately.) “I think it’s terrific that fans have the chance to own and treasure these things,” said Jessica Holmes, 28, a student from Long Beach who was dressed as a “Lost” polar bear. Profiles in History, which has recently suffered a black eye from selling movie posters that turned out to be fake, came under scrutiny before the sale from collector sites like thePropBlog.com for misrepresenting items. Some props described as appearing on screen had not, for instance; Profiles in History eventually issued multiple corrections and clarifications on the catalog, which the auction house sold for $55. Some small items from “Lost” were, well, lost — taken by cast members as souvenirs. Terry O’Quinn, who played the outdoorsy John Locke on the show, has one of those narcotics-filled Virgin Mary statues from season one, for instance. Locke’s knife — the main one used for filming — was donated to the Walt Disney Company’s archives, which also has one of the show’s Dharma vans. It is unusual for a studio to participate as fully in a sale as did ABC, which helped organize the auction into an experience worthy of charging $42 for admission (the entrance fee was waived for registered bidders). An ABC spokeswoman said an undisclosed portion of the auction proceeds would go to charities in Hawaii, where the series was taped. “It’s definitely sad,” said Noreen O’Toole, a “Lost” associate producer, as she watched the sale from the sidelines. “But this at least is a way for ‘Lost’ to live on in people’s homes forever.”

Lost (TV Program)
Television
Auctions
Memorabilia and Souvenirs


On Taconic Parkway, 20th-Century Design Meets 21st-Century Traffic

Abstract: BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. — As it unfurls for more than 100 miles from the Kensico Dam in Westchester County to the Albany region, the Taconic State Parkway meanders north through suburbs and dense woods and on past meadows, gracious weekend homes and working farms. The Taconic, with its arching stone bridges and spectacular vistas, has long been regarded as one of the most scenic byways in the New York region. It is a leaf peeper’s paradise, a city dweller’s escape route to the country, a link to the Sunday drives of long ago. But on a Sunday three weeks ago, it was the scene of Westchester’s deadliest car accident in 75 years when a Long Island woman, Diane Schuler , entered from the Pleasantville Road exit ramp here and drove the wrong way for nearly two miles. Accompanied by three nieces and her own two children, she eventually crashed her minivan head-on into a Chevy TrailBlazer carrying three men. All but Ms. Schuler’s 5-year-old son were killed. There was nothing confusing about the signs at the exit ramp, which clearly warned “Do Not Enter” and “One Way,” although the state added two “Wrong Way” signs after the crash. And once Ms. Schuler, whom the authorities say was drunk and high on marijuana , got onto the parkway headed in the wrong direction, there was ample opportunity to get out of harm’s way, by pulling onto a small shoulder or a median. Still, among its veteran travelers, the parkway has a reputation for being scary. At night, with no overhead street lights or illuminated shopping centers nearby, it is pitch dark, the deer staring blankly along its grassy fringes. In certain areas, particularly in Putnam County, the lanes are especially winding and narrow. Farther north, in Dutchess County, there are still several “at grade” intersections where drivers approaching the Taconic have only stop signs before they zip across four lanes of high-speed traffic. From 2004 through 2008, 18 people were killed along its 105 miles. Over the decades the number of accidents has jumped along with traffic volume, to 1,392 in 2007 from 847 in 1977, according to the State Department of Transportation. Last year the number of accidents dipped to 1,301. Nonetheless, compared with other state highways, the Taconic is a bit safer, having a slightly lower accident rate, calculated by the number of accidents per miles traveled. Last year, for example, the accident rate on the Taconic was 1.41 per million miles driven, compared with the statewide accident rate that year of 1.45 in urban areas and 1.79 in rural areas. For statistical purposes, the Taconic comprises a mix of urban and rural areas, according to Allison Ackerman, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department. Transportation engineers have worked to make the parkway safer, through both tweaks and major renovations. Such upgrades began in the 1960s in Westchester County, the most heavily traveled portion, just around the time the parkway was finally completed. Beginning as a 30-mile extension of the Bronx River Parkway, the Taconic — named in the early 1940s after a geologic ridge — was designed and built in sections over nearly 40 years, starting in the 1920s. Over the years, the state has had to consider the competing challenges of speed and volume. Designed as a scenic roadway with recreational features like parks, campgrounds and swimming areas along its periphery, the Taconic evolved into a major commuter route between the capital region and Westchester County, which itself shifted from a pure suburb to a commercial center in its own right. “When the parkway was first thought about in the 1920s, it was a different driving environment,” said Richard Peters, a regional planning and program manager for the State Department of Transportation. “People didn’t drive as much or as fast, and there was less traffic. Now everybody’s used to driving on an expressway or freeway where you have 12 lanes going 70 miles per hour.” He added, “The Taconic requires you to pay attention.” The speed limit was raised over the years to the current 55 miles an hour, but the reality is that many drivers on the Taconic push their cars to 70 and beyond. In the interest of safety and traffic flow, transportation officials have added lanes, shoulders, ramps and overpasses to portions of the Taconic. Since 2000, the Transportation Department has spent $103 million on such construction work. Engineers are now planning a new $20 million interchange and overpass for Pudding Street in Putnam County, one of the remaining at-grade crossings on the parkway. Signage on the Taconic is continually reviewed as well, Ms. Ackerman said. After the collision that killed eight people on July 26, the Westchester County executive, Andrew J. Spano, said he would “double- and triple-check” ramps and entrances on four county parkways, including the Bronx River, so that “there can be no question of whether you’re entering or exiting.” On Aug. 7, the state installed “Wrong Way” signs about 100 feet down the long exit ramp that Ms. Schuler used to enter the parkway. Ms. Ackerman called the existing signage — two “Do Not Enter” signs and two “One Way” signs — “proper” and “fully in compliance” with state guidelines. But the new signs will “enhance drivers’ perception of existing traffic patterns,” she said. As they try to bring the Taconic into the 21st century, transportation officials are mindful that for many, the parkway is an important piece of the Hudson Valley’s heritage, as much as the Gilded Age mansions along the river’s shores. When installing a new overpass, for example, planners try to use stone facing instead of concrete. “We’re always keeping two things in mind: safety and how do you keep it looking like a parkway,” Mr. Peters said. “The parkway sits in the land; it doesn’t overpower the land. It’s like you’re riding through nature. You just don’t want to make it look like the Thruway.”

Taconic State Parkway (NY)
Schuler Diane
Accidents and Safety
Roads and Traffic
Drunken and Reckless Driving
Transportation Department


Putting the Past Behind in China

Abstract: HONG KONG — The days of China’s relying on export manufacturing and infrastructure construction as drivers of economic growth are gone. China’s service sector is now larger than its manufacturing sector and growth of gross domestic product is slowing, fueling seismic shifts in current and future energy demand against a background of complex developmental and political factors. China’s official G.D.P. growth in the second quarter of this year was 7 percent, but power demand growth for the same period was a mere 1.6 percent. Oil consumption is growing at half the rate of just a few years ago, and in the first four months of 2015, coal consumption dropped 8 percent year on year. On the surface, these numbers paint a picture of a more drastic slowdown than official G.D.P. statistics suggest. But the reality isn’t that simple, said Zhou Xizhou, senior director and head of China Energy at IHS Energy. “If you look one level deeper, you can see a pattern,” Mr. Zhou said. “The structure of G.D.P. and that of power demand are very different. The numbers are painting a very clear picture of the heavy industrial sector’s energy consumption slowing down.” Because heavy industry represents such a large percentage of energy consumption, small shifts in consumption have a big impact on overall data. Notably, heavy manufacturing accounts for 17 percent of G.D.P., but 41 percent of power demand. Data for the second quarter of this year showed a 0.9 percent year-on-year decline in power consumption by heavy industry, compared with growth in consumption by light industry and the commercial sector of 2.4 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively. “China went through an extraordinarily high-energy growth period, driven by energy-intensive investments in heavy industries and infrastructure,” said Edward C. Chow, senior fellow at the Energy and National Security Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “That was bound to slow down.” Chinese energy demand has exaggerated and extended global cycles, Mr. Chow said. During a period of high oil prices, Chinese imports grew at a high rate, including a spike of one million barrels per day in 2010, a result of the government stimulus in response to the recent financial crisis. “Now that oil prices have dropped by more than half, along with lower international coal and gas prices, Chinese energy demand and import growth seem to be slowing at a rate lower than official G.D.P. growth numbers,” he said. China’s economy has experienced a bumpy ride this year, when compared with most of the preceding quarter century. This will put the economy front and center for the short term. “The prospects for the economy will be the most powerful factor shaping China’s energy plan, especially the next five-year plan between 2016 and 2020,” said Tao Wang, resident scholar in the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing. The plan is being completed and is expected to be adopted in March 2016. Cheaper oil also raises other issues. How the major state-owned oil companies will fare is a big question, but not as big as in a country like Russia, where oil revenues are vital for the government. An additional question is how much Beijing has done to build up strategic and commercial reserves. “China appears to be taking advantage of lower prices to build strategic oil stocks, although not much data is available on this,” Mr. Chow said. “Data availability, accuracy and transparency in general are challenging in China, including for the authorities themselves.” Image A wind farm in China’s northwest Xinjiang Province. China is the largest investor in renewables. Credit Cai Zengle/Imaginechina, via Agence France-Presse In terms of Beijing’s short- to mid-term oil and gas strategy, “there is general policy confusion at this point, although long-term objectives of diversifying supply sources and routes are unlikely to change,” he added. With major pipeline projects with Russia and other countries either on line or on the way, energy security, once a prime concern for China, is beginning to yield to other more pressing problems. “In the short term, there will be much less concern regarding security of supply for oil and gas,” Mr. Wang said. The economics of existing deals and investment and how to reform the country’s oil and gas sector in the context of low prices — and profits — are moving to the forefront, he said. Because of China’s large consumption base, incremental demand volumes for oil remain large. IHS expects China to continue to be significant in terms of global oil consumption growth, accounting for 30 percent to 40 percent of new oil demand growth through 2020. Last year was a turning point for coal consumption in China’s coastal region, where the first phase of intensive economic development began in the late 1970s. In 2014 coal consumption along the coast peaked, with consumption rising in the central and western regions, Mr. Zhou of IHS said. “The coast has already peaked for several reasons, including slower growth but also environmental pressure, which has made it difficult to site new coal-fired power plants and industrial boilers,” he said. However, he added, coal consumption will continue to grow, peaking in the 2020s. Now new facilities are being built in the interior, both for power transmission to the coast and to serve indigenous consumption growth. The days of China’s reliance upon coal to produce as much as 75 percent of its electricity are coming to a close, for two reasons. The first is the shift away from an economy focused on industry, which currently accounts for 80 percent of China’s coal consumption. The second is political: Last November, China and the United States agreed to reduce greenhouse emissions, with China pledging to hit a peak for carbon dioxide by 2030. Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and tidal power plus hydropower have received much attention and investment during the past three years. China is the largest investor in renewables, although like other countries, it is struggling to deal with challenges such as enabling the electric grid to handle the intermittency of wind and solar power. “The renewable energy industry is growing fast in China, despite the slow economy,” Mr. Wang said. “The government is determined to make it a strategic industry for the future, and it will increasingly play a more important role in China’s energy system in the coming decade.” China has won praise for pushing renewable technology forward, but in terms of immediate environmental impact, it will still be minimal. Renewables account for less than 1 percent of China’s current energy mix. Richard Brubaker, founder of the Shanghai-based consulting firm Collective Responsibility, said that reducing demand by improving building energy efficiency in China’s cities, which will add 300 million residents in the coming decade, should be a developmental focus. “Cities really need to start implementing energy efficiency programs, be it through glass curtains, HVAC systems, insulation or other areas,” Mr. Brubaker said. “These are investments that are nearly impossible to make if relying on developers or investors alone, because of the motive to invest in lowest tech benefits investors who are only concerned in short-term gains.” Instead of heavy investment in renewable energy sources, putting that money into improving building efficiency will have greater returns, he said. “Reduce their load 40 percent and you have done far more to improve the sustainability of energy than any investments in solar,” he said. “Then, make the investments in renewable to clean up the remaining supply.”

China
Oil and Gasoline
Energy industry
Energy Efficiency
GDP


Court Confirms Death Sentence for Egyptian Tycoon

Abstract: CAIRO — A court on Thursday confirmed the death penalty for an Egyptian tycoon convicted of paying a hit man to kill a Lebanese pop star, in a case that has riveted the Arab world with its tantalizing blend of fame and fortune. The tycoon, Hisham Talaat Moustafa, an Egyptian real estate developer and politician with an estimated net worth of $800 million in 2007, was initially sentenced to death in May for ordering the killing, but the punishment first had to be approved by Egypt ’s chief religious official before the court could confirm it. Mr. Moustafa’s lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict, but it is widely believed here that Thursday’s ruling is unprecedented in a country where money and power can often trump justice. “It is a fair verdict and a respectable judge,” Belal Fadl, an Egyptian scriptwriter and columnist, said after the initial ruling. “It makes you think that the judicial institution is still alive in Egypt.” Prosecutors said that Mr. Moustafa, 50, a member of Egypt’s governing National Democratic Party in the upper house of Parliament, paid $2 million to a former Egyptian state security officer to kill Suzanne Tamim , 30, a Lebanese singer who fled Egypt after a failed relationship with Mr. Moustafa. The fact that the murder was committed and investigated in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is an element that many analysts in Egypt say rendered Mr. Moustafa’s political influence useless in the face of his crime. A statement issued by Egypt’s public prosecutor at the beginning of the yearlong case said that the man Mr. Moustafa hired to carry out the murder, Mohsen al-Sukari, had stayed in a hotel close to Ms. Tamim’s residence in Dubai. On July 28, 2008, he knocked on her door, disguised as an employee of the building, supposedly to deliver a gift and a letter. When Ms. Tamim opened the door, he attacked her with a knife and slit her throat, the statement said. Mr. Sukari was also convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Despite the court’s ruling, few here expect this to be the end of the story, or the end of Mr. Moustafa, who has close ties to the family of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak. “This is essentially a political, not criminal, case about the marriage of power and money in Egypt,” said Magdy el-Gallad, the editor of the Egyptian independent daily Al Masry Al Youm, which dedicated more than 200 pages to the coverage of the Moustafa-Tamim saga. “It delivers a very strong message to all businessmen, but in the end, Hisham Talaat Moustafa will not be executed.”

Moustafa Hisham Talaat
Tamim Suzanne
Decisions and Verdicts
Capital Punishment
Murders and Attempted Murders
Egypt


Texas: Cleanup After Oil Spill

Abstract: A ruptured offshore pipeline that spilled 42,500 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is leaking at a rate of about 500 gallons a day as crews begin the cleanup, officials said. Crews began skimming operations after the weather calmed at the site about 30 miles southeast of Galveston, said Petty Officer Mario Romero of the Coast Guard. The spill occurred after a portion of the High Island Pipeline System ruptured early Sunday. Plains All American Pipeline, the pipeline’s owner, shut down the line after detecting a pressure loss in the system, Petty Officer Romero said. The spill had spread to a light sheen 4.7 miles long and 80 yards at its widest spot, he said.

Plains All American Pipeline LP
Gulf of Mexico


Sandusky Settlements Date to Abuse Claims in 1971

Abstract: The settlements paid out by Penn State University to accusers of the former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky include one alleging sexual abuse in 1971, 40 years before his arrest, the university said.

College football
Rape
Child Abuse
Jerry Sandusky
Joe Paterno
Penn State


Protests Over Bull Riding Turn Violent in India

Abstract: NEW DELHI — In the traditional bull-wrestling sport of jallikattu, men compete for prizes based on their ability to ride or hold on to a bull that is released into a crowd. But after years of complaints about cruelty to the animals, the Supreme Court issued a ban on the practice, leading to protests in the southern state of Tamil Nadu over the past week. On Monday, those protests turned violent when the police tried to evict demonstrators from Marina Beach in Chennai, Tamil Nadu’s capital, and several other districts, The Hindu newspaper reported . Image Police officers tried to evict demonstrators from Marina Beach in Chennai, Tamil Nadu’s capital. Credit Associated Press The newspaper said protesters, who had gathered at the beach in support of jallikattu, refused to leave and blocked the roads near Marina Beach and many other locations. They said that the sport, long associated with a winter harvest festival, was central to their cultural identity. Protesters also attacked a police station in Chennai, burning automobiles parked out front and more than a dozen two-wheeled vehicles, the NDTV television channel said. Local news media reports said hundreds of people were detained. The local police, reached by phone, refused to release figures for the number of people arrested and injured, or to discuss violence perpetuated. Image During the competition, men win prizes if they successfully hold on to the hump of a bull for a particular distance or length of time. Credit Arun Sankar K/Associated Press Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said he appreciated the rite’s cultural significance, and noted that the court was reviewing its ruling. The protests prompted the state’s lawmakers to adopt an emergency law allowing the practice to continue, The Hindu reported, though it was not clear whether that superseded the Supreme Court ruling. PETA India has said that bulls were often given alcohol and “poked with spears, knives and sticks” during the competition, in which men win prizes if they successfully hold on to the hump of a bull for a particular distance or length of time. Seventeen people died and about 1,100 people were injured in the festivals from 2010 to 2014, according to PETA India , which tallied injuries and deaths reported in local news media. Jallikattu seemed to be going ahead elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, where a police officer in the Virudhunagar district died Monday afternoon after he was injured by a bull, a police official said. “The policeman was injured by the bull while on duty at the jallikattu and trying to save people,” the official said in a telephone interview.


Latvia’s Tensions With Russians at Home Persist in Shadow of Ukraine Conflict

Abstract: RIGA, Latvia — History has bequeathed this Baltic port capital much beauty, captured in elegant Art Nouveau buildings or the Gothic church steeples that stud the windswept skyline. But it has also left a nasty ethnic rift that has persisted despite Latvia’s absorption into NATO, the European Union and the euro currency, and which has now deepened with the crisis in Ukraine. In this nation of two million, about one-third of the residents speak only or primarily Russian. Many — but not all — are people whose families arrived during the decades of Soviet rule here. Ever since Latvia declared independence in 1991, many of these Russian speakers have been in limbo, as noncitizens squeezed out of political life, largely unable to vote, hold office or even serve in the fire brigade. Those who refuse to acquire proficient skill speaking Latvian do not get citizenship. In the coming October elections, unless the government decides to issue special voting cards, about 283,000 will, once again, not cast ballots. This weekend the Baltic nations marked 25 years since the Baltic Way, a seminal event in the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when two million of their citizens linked hands across nearly 400 miles to declare their goal of independence. Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians “took each other by the hand back then to show the world that they wanted to be free, independent states,” noted Laimdota Straujuma, the prime minister of Latvia, at a ceremony here on Saturday. It was “a shout of three abandoned nations for freedom,” said her Estonian counterpart, Taavi Roivas. But while the Baltic majorities remember with relish their successful bid for freedom, others who live in the three lands recall the end of the Soviet Union as a misfortune, or worse. As an ethnic Russian member of Latvia’s Parliament, Boriss Cilevics feels the daily crosscurrents created by the rift which, he stressed, is “not a problem of blood.” About 25 percent of marriages are mixed Latvian-Russian, he noted. “We work together, and spend time together.” Russian is widely heard, and Russian citizens make up about a third of the tourists who visit the country. But the dominant political consensus, Mr. Cilevics said, holds that “an absolute majority of ethnic Latvians must be ruled by ethnic Latvians only.” Mr. Cilevics is a member of Harmony Centre, a political party often supported by Russians that has regularly cleared the 5 percent hurdle needed to get into the 100-seat Parliament but has never been included in Latvia’s coalition governments. The government has one ethnically Russian minister — Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis, in charge of the economy. Riga’s telegenic blond mayor, Nils Ushakovs, is the Russian leader of Harmony Centre and has won election twice in the city of 700,000, by far Latvia’s largest. In October, he is making a bid for prime minister, though he is considered unlikely to succeed. Latvian politicians who defend the status quo portray it as the natural outcome of the Soviet period, when the ethnic Latvian population here dwindled dangerously close to 50 percent after deportations of Latvians to Siberia before and after Nazi occupation, and an influx arrived from other parts of the Soviet Union. In 1991, citizenship was automatically granted to those who had held citizenship before 1940 — the start of Soviet occupation — and their descendants, including many who fled abroad in the chaos during and after World War II. Those non-Latvians who had arrived in Soviet times, and their descendants, had to prove they knew the language and history. “If the major goal is for everybody to become a citizen, you have to have some kind of attachment to the values,” said Artis Pabriks, a former foreign and defense minister here who now sits in the European Parliament. Today, Mr. Pabriks asked, noting President Vladimir V. Putin’s annexation of Crimea and interference in eastern Ukraine, if Russian speakers “are sharing values with Putin, how can they be citizens of Latvia?” Image Credit The New York Times Mr. Pabriks, who wrote his doctorate on minorities in Europe, noted that the number of Latvian residents without citizenship had dropped dramatically, to 12 percent from 36 percent in the early 1990s. By comparison, he said, 9 percent of German residents are not citizens. That is beside the point for ethnic Russians living in Latvia like Lyudmila, 56, a flower seller and mother of six who declined to give her last name. “I was born here, but I’m not a citizen. I studied Russian, and you have to go and get that naturalization. I am not going to beg,” she said. “I do feel at home here, but there is some kind of process of differentiation, and it is offensive.” The Ukraine crisis has made matters worse, Mr. Cilevics of the Latvian Parliament argued, because most Latvians rely on media in their own language, which give very different views of the conflict. Broadly speaking, the Latvian media is more supportive of Ukraine’s tug away from Russia while Russian-language media echoes, though more mildly, the Kremlin line. Exceptionally, Mr. Cilevics said, “I am one of those people who have two ears,” absorbing Russian media, but also subscribing to reports from European monitors in Ukraine, and finding “the truth is somewhere in between.” It reminds him of Soviet times, he said, reading the Communist daily Pravda, then listening to Radio Liberty, which is financed by the United States. But most people, he noted, “only have one ear.” Mr. Ushakovs, the mayor, added that many Latvians “still have some concerns about Russians, because of the very complicated history in the past.” Thousands of Latvians who survived mass Soviet deportations are still alive, for example. Conversely, Russians here “are not happy when they see fellow Russians burned to death in Odessa,” he said, referring to the deaths of some 40 people in violence in the Ukrainian port in May. The divide, Mr. Pabriks stressed, “is not an ethnic issue. It is political.” Seeing Ukraine pulling out of Russia’s orbit reminds Russian speakers of how Latvia did the same as the Soviet Union collapsed. They have “a feeling of humiliation that the Soviet Union was dissolved. This is about perception of the world. They think, ‘Who are you, you small countries? You have no greatness.’ This is how they feel and this is why they don’t want to integrate.” On the other hand, as Mr. Ushakovs put it, summing up the sentiments of more than a dozen conversations, “no one wants Ukraine here.” That nightmare, he argued, could not repeat in Latvia or the other small Baltic States, which are suddenly feeling vulnerable to Russian aggression, agricultural sanctions on produce from the European Union and Mr. Putin’s threats to protect Russian minorities outside Russia. Latvia and its neighbors, Lithuania and Estonia, which have smaller Russian minorities, have always been stable, with per capita gross domestic product in Latvia four times higher than Ukraine, the mayor said. Mr. Pabriks, the former minister, estimated that approximately 60 percent of Russians in Latvia are sympathetic to Mr. Putin, and his cultivation of Soviet glory. “On the other hand, even 99 percent of the supporters of Putin in Latvia, I don’t think they are ready to do more than talk.” Russia could make its influence felt in other ways. Latvia depends 100 percent on Russia for deliveries of natural gas. Although the country gets about one-third of its electricity from hydropower, and has shifted toward renewable energy, it is clearly vulnerable to pressure from Russia’s Gazprom, which has a large stake in Latvijas Gas, the natural gas company. Reinis Aboltins, a researcher at the nongovernmental Providus Institute, cited a parliamentary vote last March postponing until 2017 what was supposed to be a mandatory diversification of the gas supply network as one example of Russia’s bringing pressure to bear. Yet dependence is to some extent mutual: Gazprom, which has never cut off delivery to the Baltics, also relies on part of the Latvian network to supply gas back into northwest Russia, including St. Petersburg. For centuries, Russia and Germany have wielded influence here. Riga was an imperial port in czarist times. Russians have been a large minority here for more than 200 years. Today, as visitors drive in from the airport, the first commercial office is that of Siemens, the German engineering giant. The first gas station belongs to Russia’s Lukoil. But now Latvia’s foreign ties are no longer a symbol of dominance by another nation. When Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany visited last week , making clear that NATO will support the Baltic States but not permanently station troops so close to Russia’s borders, crowds of a few hundred cheered her at two different locations. Most were tourists, “not just from Germany but from all over Europe,” the chancellor noted later. “That shows,” she said, “just how much Latvia has simply become also a part of our common European space.”

Latvia
Russia
Ukraine
Russian language
Citizenship
Language
Angela Merkel


Serena Williams Outlasts Simona Halep to Advance to Miami Open Final

Abstract: KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. — The duel was supposed to happen last month in the California desert in Indian Wells. But Serena Williams’s winning streak finally did collide with Simona Halep’s winning streak, and it was worth the wait. It was punch against counterpunch late Thursday night. It was Williams’s dictation against Halep’s deft baseline typing. And although Williams fluctuated between ruthlessly efficient and surprisingly shaky, she managed — as she has so often against her most dangerous opponents — to find the lines and the solutions under greatest duress. Her 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory put her into her yet another final at the springtime tournament in South Florida now called the Miami Open. The event has changed names and sponsors through the years, but Williams has been a near-constant factor. She is now 10-0 in semifinals here and will be going for her eighth singles title on Saturday. She will face an unexpected opponent: Carla Suárez Navarro, the 12th-seeded Spanish veteran who is now assured of rising into the top 10 for the first time after defeating Andrea Petkovic, 6-3, 6-3, in Thursday’s first semifinal. It has been 14 years since a Spanish woman was in the top 10, and Suárez Navarro is only the third woman to make it into that select group, joining Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and Conchita Martínez. But Suárez Navarro will certainly be no favorite on Saturday. She is 0-4 against Williams and has lost the eight sets they have played by the following scores: 6-0, 6-3, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, 6-2, 6-3. No wonder Suárez Navarro admitted that she was hoping to play Halep next. It could have happened, despite a remarkable first set from Williams in which she did a fine impression of a player in the zone. But Halep — the last woman to beat Williams — managed to avoid the knockout punch in the second set and finally broke her serve at 4-4. Halep, the third seed, from Romania, was so focused on the challenge at hand that when she held serve in the next game, she was unaware at first that she had won the set. She finally realized that it was time to sit down, and she did so laughing to herself. “I didn’t play for the score,” she said. “I played just to try to play my best tennis, to try to be close to her, and just to hit and to fight for every ball.” That was what was required, but the No. 1-seeded Williams was definitely keeping score despite her ups and downs, her satisfactions and frustrations. They were supposed to play in the semifinals in Indian Wells, but Williams was forced to withdraw with a knee injury. Halep went on to win the title, but her winning streak is now over. Williams rolls on and has won the last 20 matches she has played.

Tennis
Serena Williams
Simona Halep
Miami


With Four More Months to Switch, Hundreds of Television Stations Are All Digital

Abstract: More than 400 television stations have stopped broadcasting in old-fashioned analog form, according to the Federal Communications Commission, months before the rescheduled transition to digital TV. Turning off the analog signal allows stations that are short of cash to save money, but it also means a loss of service for viewers who have not yet upgraded their older television sets. The long-awaited move to digital TV, which promises clearer pictures and more channel choices for over-the-air television viewers, had been scheduled to happen Tuesday, more than three years after the federal government set the day as the deadline for stations to cease analog broadcasting. This month, however, the government delayed the move until June 12, citing a troubled transition process and a fear that millions of Americans would find that their televisions had been rendered incapable of receiving signals. Despite the delay, 421 stations, most of them in smaller TV markets, chose to turn off their analog signals Tuesday. When they are combined with the 220 broadcasters that already broadcast solely in digital, the F.C.C. estimates that 36 percent of the nation’s stations will have switched by Wednesday morning. President Obama signed legislation last week that pushed back the deadline until June and allowed some stations to turn off their analog signals earlier. Nielsen Media Research estimates that about 5.8 million households, or about 5.1 percent, have not upgraded their sets. Households that rely on rabbit ears and older analog televisions to watch TV over the air need to install a converter box to view the digital programming. The government’s coupon program to subsidize the cost of the converter boxes is experiencing a backlog; the stimulus bill Mr. Obama signed on Tuesday allots $650 million more for the initiative. The F.C.C. said it had sought to ensure that at least one ABC, CBS, Fox or NBC affiliate in each market would stay on the air in analog form until June. In about 20 markets where all the major affiliates intended to turn off the analog signal on Tuesday, the agency pushed stations to keep at least one signal on the air for news and emergency information. “We are trying to make the best of a difficult situation,” Michael J. Copps, the acting chairman of the agency, said in a statement. “While this staggered transition is confusing and disruptive for some consumers, the confusion and disruption would have been far worse had we gone ahead with a nationwide transition on Tuesday,” Mr. Copps said. In major markets like New York, all the major affiliates will remain on the air in analog until June. San Diego is the largest market where three of the biggest affiliates are turning off their analog signals. In that market, only 7 percent of people rely on over-the-air signals. “We have been running crawls and stories and spots, everything required by the F.C.C., in great abundance, to try to end whatever confusion there is,” said Ed Trimble, the general manager of KFMB, the CBS affiliate in San Diego. Most stations across the country are choosing to stay in both analog and digital form until June 12, meaning that viewers will see four more months of reminders to buy a converter box. “There are still a few consumers who are not quite prepared yet, and that’s why we elected to go with the delay,” said Brent Hensley, the general manager of KOCO, the ABC affiliate in Oklahoma City. Under the F.C.C.’s current rules, other stations may be allowed to turn off their analog signals in March and June. Once stations stop analog broadcasting in local markets, the stations are bound to hear from confused consumers. The F.C.C. said more than 4,000 people were available to answer the agency’s phone number, 1-888-CALLFCC (1-888-225-5322), to help consumers who are confused about the switch.

Digital Television Transition
Television
Digital and High-Definition Television


Freddie Gray’s Injury and the Police ‘Rough Ride’

Abstract: In Baltimore, they call it a “rough ride.” In Philadelphia, they had another name for it that hints at the age of the practice — a “nickel ride,” a reference to old-time amusement park rides that cost five cents. Other cities called them joy rides. The slang terms mask a dark tradition of police misconduct in which suspects, seated or lying face down and in handcuffs in the back of a police wagon , are jolted and battered by an intentionally rough and bumpy ride that can do as much damage as a police baton without an officer having to administer a blow. Video Residents of Baltimore describe their experience with “rough” rides in police vans. The exact cause of the spinal injury that Freddie Gray, 25, sustained while in police custody in Baltimore before his death April 19 has not been made clear. The police have said that he was not strapped into a seatbelt, a violation of department policy. That has led some to wonder whether he was deliberately left unbuckled, reminiscent of a practice that while little known has left a brutal, costly legacy of severe injuries and multimillion-dollar settlements throughout the country. A lawyer for the Baltimore police union and news reports Thursday focused on Mr. Gray’s ride in the back of the van after his arrest by Baltimore officers on April 12. “Our position is something happened inside that van,” the lawyer, Michael E. Davey, said at a news conference last week. “We just don’t know what.” Determining exactly how Mr. Gray was injured will be a focus of the investigation. Even if it happened in the van, it does not necessarily point toward an intentional rough ride, a ritual experts said was at least several decades old. “I never saw it, but I’ve heard about it,” said Bernard K. Melekian, the undersheriff of Santa Barbara County, Calif., and a former director of the Justice Department’s community-oriented policing office. “My sense was that that kind of behavior had long been gone.” The tradition was regarded as a technique by aggressive officers to inflict punishment on those they arrested without ever being accused of physically assaulting them with their weapons or hands. For a suspect with hands cuffed behind him, seated on a thin bench in the back of a speeding police van, a sudden stop or a sharp turn or a bumpy road can cause severe injuries that can leave a person in a wheelchair or disfigured for life. Image A still from a video made by a bystander at Freddie Gray's arrest. The police say he was not in a seatbelt, making some wonder if he was taken on a “rough ride.” One June night in 1980, Freddie Franklin was walking on 75th Street in Chicago with a friend when he said that a group of police officers wrongfully arrested him, placed him in handcuffs and forced him into the back of a wagon. Two officers drove the van recklessly, to throw him around the floor of the van, he said in a federal lawsuit. According to court documents, by the time Mr. Franklin arrived at the police station, he had bitten off his lower lip. “It’s sort of a retaliatory gesture,” said Robert W. Klotz, a police-procedures expert and former deputy chief of police of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington. “It’s one of those nebulous type of things where the individual feels they’ve been subjected to it because they’ve been mouthy. The officers say they have no intent in doing anything. It winds up in a he said-she said situation.” Video Residents of Baltimore’s downtown areas largely view the influx of State Police and National Guard members positively. But blocks from where Freddie Gray was arrested, residents are much more wary. Lawyers and police experts said it was impossible to know how widespread the rough-riding practice has been throughout the country. Allegations have surfaced over the years in cities large and small. In 1999, a former police chaplain in Aurora, Ill., a city of nearly 200,000 outside Chicago, filed a civil rights lawsuit accusing the police department there of making it a common practice for drivers to stop suddenly to injure handcuffed suspects. Police leaders denied the allegations, but the suit was later settled. Police Board Clears Driver in Freddie Gray Case; No Officers Have Been Convicted Prosecutors dropped all charges against three officers awaiting trial. Three other officers had already been acquitted. In 2001, The Philadelphia Inquirer published a series of articles detailing injuries sustained by 20 victims of so-called nickel rides. The victims were paid $2.3 million in city legal settlements, although no officer had ever been disciplined for the practice. In response, the police commissioner at the time, John F. Timoney, banned the use of all police wagons not equipped with seatbelts or safety padding. In Chicago, the American Civil Liberties Union represented Mr. Franklin in the federal lawsuit he filed against six police officers, alleging injuries that required two reconstructive operations on his mouth. Although the city’s lawyers denied the officers had done anything wrong, the city settled the lawsuit for $135,000. At least two other Baltimore men, Jeffrey Alston and Dondi Johnson, were paralyzed after police van rides in separate cases that led to lawsuits. Mr. Alston, paralyzed from the neck down, settled for $6 million in 2004. Experts said that nationally, the tradition was no longer as prevalent as it once was. Many departments now require officers to place suspects riding in vans in seatbelts or other restraints. Some agencies use vans that allow prisoners with their hands cuffed behind their backs to hold on to belts behind them. And public scrutiny of police misconduct has helped reform agencies that might have once tolerated or ignored complaints of rough van rides. “I don’t believe this is standard operating procedure,” said Hubert Williams, a former police director of Newark, who is a consultant with the nonprofit Independent Institute. “What’s been happening through the years is that the police have changed. Policing by and large through the years has become more community-oriented and more accountable to the public. But that does not dispose of these questions. I think the absence of accountability is the reason they occur.”

Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings


Last Golfer in Becomes Odd One Out

Abstract: SANDWICH, England — Safely inside the interview tent with water still dripping off the bill of his cap, Matt Millar, the first man to finish on Saturday, looked over his shoulder toward the British Open course where he had just shot a 10-over-par 80. “It just belted me today,” he said. Millar was hardly alone on this tempestuous day when scores and suffering soared, particularly during early play, and pars felt like birdies, but Millar was more alone than anyone else in the field as he played the third round. With an odd number of men — 71 — making the cut and with pairings the format, someone was destined to go without a playing partner. Millar, a 34-year-old Australian playing in his first British Open, was the odd man out as the last player to secure his spot. And so, at 8:55 a.m., while his competitors prepared to play two-by-two at Royal St. George’s, Millar teed off as a party of one. Not that he got lonely. Along for the walk were a scorer, a standard-bearer, a rules official and his caddie from New Zealand, Rod Gutry. “It is strange, a bit different,” Millar said. “Usually you get to see someone else hit, and sometimes that can be an advantage, sometimes it’s a disadvantage. But once you get into it, three or four holes in, you sort of don’t think about it.” Millar had to do plenty of thinking before the round. He could have played with a marker, a partner provided by the Open who was not competing in the tournament. But after Millar and Gutry discussed it, they declined the marker, believing that on a day like Saturday, misery was best avoided without company. “The nicest way to say it is, Look it’s terrible conditions out there, the pros are struggling,” Gutry said. “You put an amateur out there, it’s a distraction, because you can’t tell me they’re not going to be searching for golf balls all the time. The other thing is, when there’s one of you, you play at your pace, and we were trying to get as many holes done as possible before the weather turns really bad.” The rain and wind did intensify for a time after Millar finished at around 12:45 p.m., but there was no dearth of foul weather in the morning. There were even a few hardy spectators, some of whom had concerns of their own. As Millar walked the 16th, a spectator held up an object made of metal spokes and shreds of fabric. “You know what this brolly is?” he said, answering his own question with a curse. But there were fewer complaints than cheers (not that this was Augusta National on a Sunday). “They are so encouraging, and I can’t even believe they are out here, to be honest,” Millar said. “Would you spend your weekend out there if you were not playing?” Simon Chase, a 25-year-old surveyor from the English city of Birmingham, said he never considered not making the journey to Sandwich. “You’ve got a ticket, booked your train,” Chase said. “I suppose some of these courses would get torn apart by these guys without the weather. That’s part of the game.” Chase’s friend Marcus Lovatt said that watching men like Millar persevere in person was educational. “I think it adds to it to see what these guys have to go through, the mentality they go out there with on a day like this,” said Lovatt, 25, of London. Millar, a father of two who is based in the Australian capital of Canberra, has had to endure plenty to get his moment in the sun (so to speak). He lost his European Tour card after finishing 194th on the European Tour money list in 2009 and now plays on the One Asia Tour, a less prestigious and lucrative circuit. He made it into the field here by winning the Australian qualifying event, then — with no tournaments available to prepare — spent weeks practicing on his own during the Australian winter, sometimes in conditions not dissimilar to Saturday’s. “I had a couple of days where I was able to practice in this, but you don’t spend five hours out there, that’s for sure,” he said. He did not spend five hours out there Saturday, either. His round, without the waiting that comes with playing in a pairing, required only about 3 hours 45 minutes, a fair bit of it spent drying off his equipment or pondering the unusual choices the weather was imposing on him. One example among many: On the par-4 15th, he hit a driver off the tee and a 3-wood but still required a sand wedge just to reach the green. “Those last few holes, there were a lot of funny clubs to be hit there,” Millar said. Those last few holes, he was not the only one in his party suffering. Sam Monro, the 16-year-old standard-bearer from Sandwich who carried the placard displaying Millar’s mounting score, was shivering uncontrollably. “Poor bugger, I was talking to him going down the 15th, and he couldn’t hear me, and he was just shaking,” Millar said. Monro was asked what the worst part was. “The wind,” he answered, looking haunted. But after the final indignity, a double bogey on the 18th, Millar and Monro were able to begin drip-drying. And on Sunday, Millar will have a bit more company as he tees off with the former Open champion Paul Lawrie. The South Korean teenager Hwang Jung-gon, in last place with a 54-hole total of 225, will be the odd man out this time.


Top Skiers Seek An Ever Faster Ski

Abstract: VAIL, Colo. — Forget podium ceremonies, World Cup trophies or Olympic medals. Perhaps the best way to judge the stature of top Alpine racers is to count the pairs of skis allotted them for testing, training and racing during a year. Ted Ligety of Park City, Utah, the gold medalist in combined at the 2006 Olympics and a two-time giant slalom overall World Cup champion, said he had used 35 pairs of skis while training here. Julia Mancuso , a three-time Olympic medalist from Squaw Valley, Calif., who had been on 20 World Cup podiums entering this season, switched to the German ski manufacturer Völkl over the summer. She estimated that between the four Alpine events in which she competes, she has been on 40 different pairs so far this season. Then there’s Lindsey Vonn , the most decorated female skier in United States history, with 33 World Cup wins, 3 straight World Cup overall titles and 2 Olympic medals. Vonn said recently that she had 125 skis from the Austrian manufacturer Head in her quiver for the season. That is not overkill, she stressed, in a sport where the best in the world are separated from the rest by hundredths of a second. “I will try everything and anything to be fast,” Vonn said while training at Golden Peak. “I try men’s skis, I try a lot of the men’s setups, I’ll try women’s setups, I’ll try everything. I think I went through 30 boots this year. It’s just a constant process of trying to find the next best ski.” That process consists of a steady stream of communication between racer and ski technician, an often-thankless behind-the-scenes role that is part crew chief, part caddie. A ski technician spends countless hours tuning skis, boots and bindings to exacting specifications while working as a liaison between racer and ski manufacturer. A ski tech’s role is arguably even more tied to a racer’s success than good coaching, Vonn said. “Your skis and boots are everything,” she said. “If you don’t have good equipment, you have no chance of winning races.” When Vonn began using men’s skis in the speed events of downhill and super-G last season, and won 10 races in the two disciplines, the rest of the circuit took notice. Other women started testing the longer, heavier skis in training, but only a few, most notably the Austrian speed specialist Andrea Fischbacher, used them in a race. “It didn’t improve their results, and I’m pretty sure they stopped racing on them,” Vonn said. Nonetheless, ski manufacturers this year introduced longer women’s speed skis that more closely resemble the men’s skis Vonn used last winter. “ “You’re always trying to find that next little bit of advantage,” she said. Or trying not to get left behind. When Bode Miller switched from the French manufacturer Rossignol to the Austrian manufacturer Atomic before the 2005 season, then won four of the first seven races, it did not sit well with some members of the Austrian ski team. Miller, at the time, had procured the ski technician of the retired Austrian star Stephan Eberharter , the 2003 overall champion and 2004 runner-up. Some members of the Austrian team implied that Miller had jumped his place in line. Miller was indifferent to those critics, pointing out that Atomic was owned by a Finnish parent company and that none of his wins had come on skis that Eberharter had previously used. Miller, in his World Cup career, has raced for four ski companies: Fischer, Rossignol, Atomic and now Head. Considering the success he has had, it raises the question: Is it the skis or the skier? “It’s just the direction you want to take with your career,” Miller said of his penchant for change. “In some cases, it’s about the other people who are on the equipment, or the interaction with the company and yourself and the athletes. Head is a really proactive company.” Mancuso said she switched from Rossignol to Völkl because she believed that she had a stronger commitment from Völkl when it came to providing her with the resources she needs to compete for an overall crown. World Cup skiers typically sign contracts with manufacturers that have victory schedules — an incentive-based structure that rewards skiers for results like World Cup podium finishes and world championship medals. “It’s not about the money anymore, because there aren’t a lot of ski companies who have the money anymore,” Mancuso said. “They’re always making stuff in the factory, but it’s another deal when you go in there and try the equipment and know that things need to be changed, and to have the support that they’ll actually go and make you new skis, and try to make everything the fastest for you.” Vonn switched to Head from Rossignol before last season for that reason. She was under contract with Rossignol through the Olympics, but the company gave her an out to look for another equipment sponsor when Rossignol scaled back some of its commitments to its roster of World Cup skiers. “They said either you can accept 50 percent of the salary or look for something else,” said Ben Drummond, Head USA’s racing and promotions manager, who works with United States racers like Vonn, Miller and Ligety. Drummond said equipment sponsorship deals were written with clauses that allow manufacturers to cancel or restructure contracts. He said he had never heard of the opposite: a skier trying to get out of a contract without prompting from the ski manufacturer. It pays to find the right company that will provide the equipment to win races, as opposed to signing with the brand that offers the most base salary, Mancuso said. Ligety agreed, saying his decision to switch to Head from Rossignol was based on a long-term plan. “The money is obviously an issue, but the biggest thing is you’re not going to be making money unless you’re winning ski races,” he said. Deciding is pretty simple, Ligety said. “You need to go onto a brand that you know is going to help you make the next step and make you a better skier.” Vonn even said there was a term for skiers who are shortsighted about equipment sponsorships. “Cash in and fade out,” she said. “You can take a bigger offer with a ski company, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to be fast. When I made the decision to switch to Head, I switched because they were the better ski company, period. That showed in my results.”

Alpine Skiing
Shoes and Boots
Ligety Ted
Mancuso Julia
Vonn Lindsey
Miller Bode
Eberharter Stephan


In-Box — Augusta, the Tour and the Uninvited

Abstract: To the Sports Editor: Re “Touchy Day at Augusta National Men’s Club,” April 5: Virginia M. Rometty, the chief executive of I.B.M., has ascended the corporate ladder without the assistance of Augusta National Golf Club. It appears the club has more to gain from her membership than does Rometty. She should not accept an official invitation to join Augusta National until the chairman issues a televised apology for the club’s colossal lapse in judgment. Kevin Palmer Martinez, Ga.  To the Sports Editor: Don’t blame Augusta National for its restrictive men-only policy. Any private club should be allowed to designate its membership any way it chooses. The fault is with the PGA Tour, which plays a tournament on the golf course of a restrictive organization. It will not sanction a tournament on a private golf course that excludes blacks, Jews, Hispanics or any other minority. But restricting female membership is somehow all right. Richard Jafolla Vero Beach, Fla.  To the Sports Editor: When Augusta National opens its private gates to the world’s television viewers for the Masters, it willingly becomes public. If the club wants total privacy, it must cancel any public broadcasting. Augusta can no longer have it both ways. Jerry Collamer San Clemente, Calif. Thorny, and Free, Speech To the Sports Editor: Re “In Miami, Winning Clearly Isn’t the Only Thing,” April 11: We all know that Ozzie Guillen makes a much better baseball strategist than a candidate for the diplomatic service. However, I believe that he has the right to publicly express his opinion, no matter how controversial it may be. Suppression of opinion is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. Martin Sternberg New York  To the Sports Editor: Those outraged at Ozzie Guillen’s exercise of his constitutional right to free speech would be better advised to direct their outrage instead toward the United States government’s antiquated, tone-deaf cold war embargo against Cuba, which serves only to strengthen the power of the man they hate so much. Tom Miller Oakland, Calif. College Sports ‘Servitude’ To the Sports Editor: Re “Begrudging the Wildcats’ Success and Opportunities,” April 9: All well and good for William C. Rhoden to posit N.C.A.A. basketball as “opportunity.” But that putative benefit is a mirage: what minuscule part of the populace can it serve? Instead of anointing Kentucky Coach John Calipari as the best thing since the New Deal, Rhoden might have thrown his support to exposing N.C.A.A. revenue sports for what they are: gross servitude, not to mention how inimical they are to the universities’ true missions. How many football or basketball players (or even athletes in the low-revenue sports) actually belong in a university? Calipari’s Bismarckian realpolitik should not be lauded.Stephen D. Craig Charlotte, N.C.

Golf
Masters Golf Tournament
Basketball (College)


The Road Ahead for Ford Is Full of Smaller Cars

Abstract: DEARBORN, Mich. — In recent months, as Ford Motor Company executives watched $4 a gallon gas and a softening economy take a growing toll on sales and market share, the chief executive, Alan R. Mulally , prodded his management team for answers. “Everybody says cut and cut some more, but how are we going to sustain this company?” Mr. Mulally said in one meeting in his office on the 12th floor of Ford headquarters, according to people in attendance. “What does a sustainable Ford look like, gentlemen?” In less than two years since he arrived as an outsider from Boeing to run Ford, Mr. Mulally had already mortgaged the company to raise cash, sold off three brands and cut truck production in the face of rising gas prices. “Why are we in business?” he repeatedly asked the group. “We are in business to create value. And we can’t create value if we go out of business.” On Thursday, the company will officially announce its response to those questions — a huge shift in production to build more small cars , and fewer pickups and sport utility vehicles. It’s a big bet on the future of the American auto industry, involving the redirection of billions of dollars in investment, that Mr. Mulally hopes will help Ford thrive, not just survive. There are no guarantees that it will pay off, of course. But industry analysts are beginning to see Mr. Mulally as an executive who is willing to take big chances to reinvent a way of doing business in Detroit. The old way, relying on sales of big, profitable trucks and S.U.V.’s, increasingly looks out of step with the times. “He has become the symbol of change for the American auto industry,” said John Casesa of the consulting firm Casesa Shapiro Group. “Because he’s from the outside, he’s not tied to the past.” Mr. Mulally, who will turn 63 next month, has been unavailable for interviews in advance of Thursday’s announcement of Ford’s new direction and its second-quarter earnings. Rapidly shifting consumer tastes have forced Mr. Mulally to quickly find a way to break Ford’s dependence on pickups and sport utility vehicles for profits in North America. After losing a combined $15.3 billion in 2006 and 2007, Ford surprised the industry by posting a $100 million profit in the first quarter of this year. But with gas prices rising and truck sales collapsing, Mr. Mulally stunned the industry less than a month later by announcing that Ford was abandoning its 2009 profit goal and drastically scaling back truck production. Analysts said the company, long considered the least nimble of Detroit’s automakers, usually would have waited at least until another quarter passed before dropping such bombshell. “Mulally is far more of an activist than the traditional Ford chief executive who was a 35-year lifer in the company,” said David Healy of Burnham Securities. Mr. Mulally has also made a believer of Kirk Kerkorian, the financier who has invested more than $1 billion in Ford stock since April. Mr. Kerkorian had previously taken large stakes in General Motors and Chrysler, and then sold out after running afoul of management. But his interest in Ford appears primarily based on Mr. Mulally’s leadership and strategic direction. In fact, Mr. Kerkorian substantially increased his stake in Ford after his top deputy, Jerome York, had a meeting with Mr. Mulally. “Alan is the real deal,” Mr. York said. On Thursday, Ford is expected to report a second-quarter loss that includes charges to cover the temporary shutdowns of several assembly plants and reductions in its salaried and hourly work forces. But investors and analysts will be focusing more on Ford’s radical plan to shift production to smaller cars and crossover vehicles. “This is not a sure thing by any means,” said Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst with the forecasting firm Global Insight. “The question is whether Ford can produce the styling and quality in cars that consumers want.” Where once Ford built its car line around the midsize Taurus sedan, the company will now make its compact Focus the linchpin of the lineup. Restoring Ford’s car business has been a paramount concern for Mr. Mulally since he succeeded William C. Ford Jr., a Ford family scion, as chief executive. As recently as 2004, two-thirds of Ford’s United States sales were of truck-based products. Many people in the company were skeptical that Ford could be profitable with more small cars in the showroom. But Mr. Mulally has challenged those notions. At a town hall-style meeting this year, he expressed frustration when one employee suggested that making small cars was a money-losing proposition. “Why can’t we make money on small cars?” Mr. Mulally said, according to two people in attendance. “Do you think Toyota can’t make money on small cars?” At virtually every management meeting, Mr. Mulally would repeatedly refer to charts showing that smaller vehicles constituted 60 percent of the global automotive market. Each time an executive suggested that Ford’s future lay in expanding its truck business, Mr. Mulally pulled the charts out. “Let’s see, the global share of large vehicles is 15 percent,” he said at one such meeting, according to people in attendance. “And you’re telling me you want to invest more in them?” He often exhorts his employees to “take a point of view of the future,” and then devise a plan supporting it. By betting on the growth of small cars, Ford will move billions of dollars in investments away from the pickups and S.U.V.’s that have provided the bulk of its profits for nearly two decades. Mr. Mulally is committed to building global platforms for Ford cars that can be sold throughout North America, Europe and Asia. And his senior managers have been hand-picked for their expertise in international markets. Mark Fields, who heads Ford’s Americas division, was formerly a top executive with Ford’s Japanese partner Mazda. Derrick Kuzak, the company’s product chief, previously ran European vehicle programs. Mr. Mulally also recruited James Farley from Toyota to lead Ford’s global sales and marketing efforts. Besides recasting his executive team, Mr. Mulally changed how they worked together. Ford had been famous for its culture of executive fiefs that insulated senior officials from one another. One of Mr. Mulally’s first tasks was to institute regular Thursday meetings of top managers to review business plans and encourage debate among departments. He also created a new mantra for all employees to help break down walls: “One Ford, One Team, One Plan, One Goal.” Having spent 37 years with Boeing, Mr. Mulally often refers to his old company in describing how Ford can emerge from crisis conditions. As head of engineering for the Boeing 777 airliner in the early 1990s, Mr. Mulally would urge employees to stay focused even as the economy and airline industry struggled. In a documentary film about the making of the aircraft, Mr. Mulally repeatedly stressed that sticking to the plan was paramount, words that could as easily apply to Ford today. “We can’t let the anxiousness of today’s environment in any way slow us down,” he said. “Don’t let current events affect our intensity of getting this program done.”

Small Cars (Compact Subcompact and Microcars)


Stars Won’t Re-Sign Modano

Abstract: If Mike Modano plays a 21st season in the N.H.L., it will not be with the Dallas Stars . Modano will not be offered a contract by the Stars when free agency opens Thursday, according to his teammate turned boss, Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk. They won a Stanley Cup together 11 years ago — the only title in franchise history — but Nieuwendyk said the team needed to make room for younger players. Modano, 40, said he was “disappointed and upset” and was leaning toward returning with another team.

Modano Mike
Dallas Stars
Hockey Ice
Free Agents (Sports)


Congress to Vote on Financing for U.S. Role in Libya

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The House appears likely to vote this week on a measure that would limit financing for the American military efforts in Libya , using the chamber’s appropriations power to push back against the White House, which did not seek Congressional authorization for the mission. Any measures to end or reduce financing for the military’s involvement in the NATO -led airstrikes in Libya are likely to divide members of Congress. They are split in both the House and Senate between two slightly incongruous alliances: antiwar Democrats and Republicans who are angry about the usurping of Congressional authority, and Democrats who do not wish to go against the president, joined by hawkish Republicans who strongly support America’s role in Libya. Last week, Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio, said he would offer an amendment to a spending bill for the Department of Defense that is expected to reach the House floor this week. The amendment would cut off current and future spending for military operations in Libya. At least one Republican could propose a separate bill that would set terms for the financing of the Libya operation, Republican officials said. It would probably take a more narrow approach than the Kucinich amendment, cutting off spending for specific actions like Predator strikes. It also could prohibit the use of ground forces in the country. (There are no such American forces there now.) “The next step is something we’ll discuss with the members,” Michael Steel, a spokesman for the House speaker, John A. Boehner , said on Sunday. In recent weeks, Mr. Boehner has warned President Obama that his administration is in violation of the War Powers Resolution for failing to seek authorization from Congress for the United States’s military involvement in the NATO operations in Libya, meant to protect civilians there and put pressure on its leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi . Under some lawmakers’ interpretation of the resolution, Mr. Obama would need to terminate or scale back the mission after Monday, barring such authorization. Mr. Obama has responded by saying that American operations are limited and do not rise to “hostilities” as defined in the War Powers Resolution, and, therefore, Congressional authority is unnecessary. The question of financing the operations gained urgency over the weekend after an article in The New York Times revealed that President Obama had rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department in deciding that he had the legal authority to continue American participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization. Earlier this month, Mr. Kucinich offered a resolution that called for a withdrawal of the military from the air and naval operations in and around Libya within 15 days. The measure failed (though many Republicans voted for it) only because Mr. Boehner offered an 11th-hour resolution of his own, simply to rebuke Mr. Obama for failing to seek Congressional approval. That resolution passed , 268 to 145. As more lawmakers become impatient with the Libya mission, there may be more pressure on House members to rein in spending there. “Congress must use its constitutional authority of the power of the purse to end this war,” Mr. Kucinich said in a written statement . “My amendment will provide the first test whether this Congress will defend its own authority under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.” Mr. Boehner and many other Republicans are torn, wanting to chastise the Obama administration yet loath to pull out of a NATO operation, which they said would be a poor signal to American allies. The argument posed by the White House — that air operations and support of NATO’s operations do not constitute war — has been rejected by members of both parties. On the NBC program “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois and the assistant majority leader, said, “It doesn’t pass a straight-face test in my view that we’re not in the midst of hostilities.” He added: “We are engaged in hostilities in Libya. What we should do is act on a timely basis to pass Congressional authorization under the War Powers Act.” He said, however, that he would not support cutting off financing for the operations. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on the same program: “The president has done a lousy job of communicating and managing our involvement in Libya. But I will be no part of an effort to defund Libya or try to cut off our efforts to bring Qaddafi down. If we fail against Qaddafi, that’s the end of NATO.” Other senators — including John McCain, Republican of Arizona — have criticized House Republicans for moving against Mr. Obama on this issue. On “Fox News Sunday,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates defended Mr. Obama’s interpretation of the War Powers Resolution and suggested that Congress would be mistaken to move to block spending on the mission. “Frankly, I think cutting off funding in the middle of a military operation when we have people engaged is always a mistake,” he said, adding: “I believe that President Obama has complied with the law, consistent in a manner with virtually all of his predecessors. I don’t think he’s breaking any new ground here.”

Middle East and North Africa Unrest (2010- )


Moreno, the Broncos’ Top Pick, Agrees to a Five-Year Deal

Abstract: Knowshon Moreno, the Denver Broncos ’ top pick who was the first running back selected in the N.F.L. draft, ended his eight-day holdout on Friday, agreeing to a five-year, $23 million deal that includes $13 million in guarantees. Moreno, who rushed for 2,734 yards and 30 touchdowns in his two seasons at Georgia, was the 12th pick over all in the draft in April. Moreno will join the team for practice Sunday afternoon. The Broncos do not have a session Saturday. Broncos Coach Josh McDaniels said he and Moreno’s teammates were excited for him to arrive. “I understand how this game works,” McDaniels said Friday while the sides were still working out the final details of Moreno’s contract. “His representatives are doing what they feel is best for him.” Although Moreno has some catching up to do, McDaniels insisted he had not missed his chance to win the starting tailback job. “He’s missed 12 practices, so I think — he’ll earn his role after he gets here, that’s the best way to say it,” McDaniels said. Moreno will join a crowded Broncos backfield, which includes the free agents LaMont Jordan and Correll Buckhalter and the second-year holdovers Peyton Hillis and Ryan Torain. INJURY FOR GIANTS , SORT OF The first significant injury of the Giants’ training camp was to a ball boy. Ryan Kennelly, the 14-year-old son of the assistant head trainer Steve Kennelly, broke his left wrist Thursday night when he was bowled over by the rookie tight end Travis Beckum during a seven-on-seven passing drill. Linebacker Zak DeOssie knocked Beckum off balance at the line of scrimmage. Beckum, a third-round draft choice, then collided with Ryan Kennelly, who was holding a foam bag that simulates the end of the offensive line. “The way I tripped, I felt I would have kneed him,” Beckum said Friday. “I just tried to spread out to decrease the impact, but unfortunately he fractured his wrist.” Kennelly finished the drill before receiving attention for the fracture, which did not require surgical pins to fix. “When it involves your kid, it’s a little bit different,” Steve Kennelly said, adding: “It’s all part of football. He has a story for the rest of his life. His first training camp as a ball boy.” Coach Tom Coughlin said that after a second ball boy took a hit Thursday, he made changes on Friday. When the seven-on-seven drill was run again, Terry Mansfield, the team’s field security manager, and another adult held the foam bags. SUSPECT WON’T WITHDRAW PLEA The only suspect to plead guilty so far in the slaying of the Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor told a judge Friday in Miami that he was abandoning an effort to withdraw his plea. Venjah Hunte, 21, made the decision after a private meeting with his lawyer and his mother. At a brief hearing, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy asked Hunte if he still insisted on pursuing his motion to withdraw guilty pleas to second-degree murder and burglary charges. Hunte said no. He had previously claimed that he did not fully understand the requirements of his plea deal, in which he agreed to testify against his four co-defendants in exchange for a 29-year prison sentence. If he had gone to trial, Hunte would have faced a life sentence. 49ERS ’ JONES HURTS SHOULDER San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Jones will miss eight weeks because of a small fracture in his right shoulder. Jones was injured Thursday while trying to make a diving catch. The 49ers still have not signed their top pick, receiver Michael Crabtree. The sides were said to be far apart Friday. “In terms of Crabtree, when he comes in, he comes in,” Coach Mike Singletary said. “Would you love to have him in? Absolutely. You’d love to have him. Do we want him here? Yes, we want to have him in. But until that happens, I just can’t sit back and think about the what-ifs. All I can do is concentrate on what is, and control that.” INDUCTION DAY Ralph Wilson, the 90-year-old owner of the Buffalo Bills, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio, along with five former players: defensive end Bruce Smith, linebacker Derrick Thomas, defensive back Rod Woodson, offensive guard Randall McDaniel and receiver Bob Hayes. Thomas, whose career was cut short in 2000 when he died after a car accident, and Hayes, who died in 2002 at age 59, will be inducted posthumously.

Football
Denver Broncos
New York Giants
Washington Redskins
San Francisco 49ers
Moreno Knowshon


Hershey Cutting Work Force 12%

Abstract: Hershey will close more than a third of its assembly lines and eliminate 12 percent of its work force after sales fell for the first time in 3 ½ years, the company said yesterday. The company, whose products include Hershey’s Kisses and Reese’s peanut butter cups, will cut 1,500 jobs over the next three years and start production at a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico. The reductions will cost as much as $575 million before taxes, the company said. Hershey, which is based in Hershey, Pa., lost market share last year to Mars, the maker of Snickers, and last month reported a fourth-quarter sales decline of 0.7 percent. Hershey’s United States market share fell to 42.5 percent in the 13 weeks through Dec. 24, from 43.5 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2005, according to Information Resources. Mars’s share rose to 25.9 percent, from 24.2 percent. The data excludes sales to Wal-Mart Stores. When the plan is completed, Hershey expects 80 percent of its production to be in the United States and Canada. Shares of Hershey rose 80 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $52.10 on the New York Stock Exchange.


Citing Gas Prices, I.R.S. Raises Auto Mileage Deduction

Abstract: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service , citing the drain of high gas prices on households, said Monday that it was raising the automobile mileage rate that businesses and others could claim. The tax agency said the optional standard rate to calculate deductible operating costs for business vehicles will rise to 58.5 cents a mile, from 50.5 cents, for the final six months of 2008. That rate also applies to businesses and others entitled to depreciation allowances that operate autos for charitable, medical or moving purposes. The I.R.S. said it was also changing the rate for computing deductible medical or moving expenses to 27 cents a mile, from 19 cents, for the final six months of the year. That applies to individuals not entitled to depreciation allowances. Congress must enact legislation to change the rate for providing services for charitable organizations, so that will stay at 14 cents a mile. The I.R.S. normally updates the rates once a year in the fall for the next calendar year.

Internal Revenue Service
Tax Deductions
Automobiles
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline
Prices (Fares Fees and Rates)


Transit Officials Decide to Put ‘Optimism’ on MetroCards

Abstract: “ The Waterfalls ” flowed in the East River. “The Gates” snaked through Central Park. Now New York’s latest large-scale public art project is being exhibited in an even unlikelier space: your wallet. On the back of seven million MetroCards distributed this fall is a single printed word: “optimism.” Composed in clean, bold, sans-serif letters, it floats in a sea of white just beneath the boilerplate fine print. Another seven million are on the way early next year. At first glance, the word appears simple and unassuming, a non sequitur easily overlooked amid the blur of travel in the city. Even its creators acknowledge that many subway and bus riders may never see it. But as unemployment in the city reaches a 16-year high, as corporations close and deficits mount, optimism has become a scarce commodity, aboveground and below. New York, it seems, could use a chance to restock. “God knows people want to feel good, they want to feel up, they want to feel positive,” said Christopher P. Boylan, who oversaw the project at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority . “If I can make a couple of customers smile a day, that’s nice.” The work itself is the creation of Reed Seifer, a graphic artist and designer who first printed the “optimism” logo on small buttons that he distributed as a college student . “I’ve always loved art that exists in unexpected places,” he said recently, near his home in Hell’s Kitchen. “I like that maybe not everyone’s going to see it. Or maybe one day you just look and say, ‘Oh.’ ” The MetroCard , a ubiquitous slip of thin plastic barely three and a half inches across, certainly qualifies as an unusual canvas for conceptual art. The back of the card is mostly reserved for historical factoids (“The first female subway conductor began work on Dec. 28, 1917”), safety tips (“Fold the stroller. Hold your baby”), or the occasional commemoration of a World Series win or Rockettes performance (“MetroCard saves you $10 to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular!”). Occasionally, the card is also used for advertising, but those revenues have remained low, in part because of a lengthy production process. This year, the authority sold $165,000 worth of MetroCard ads, a fraction of its overall take in advertising revenue. The MetroCard ad revenue in 2009 is nearly double the amount sold in 2008, but ads were still printed on fewer than 3 percent of the 120 million MetroCards produced in the first 10 months of this year — perhaps underscoring the relevance of “optimism” to an agency facing further budget cuts from the state. Indeed, not all that the “optimism” project suggests is, well, optimistic. The word on the card can be read as an encouragement, a command, a taunt, an aspiration. “I like that people can digest it in any way they choose,” Mr. Seifer, 36, said. “I accept all praise and criticism. I love artwork in which people perceive things beyond the intention of the artist.” Despite its sunny surface, “optimism” originated in a darker place. Mr. Seifer was inspired by a maxim he found printed on a Domino’s sugar packet: “An optimist is someone who tells you to cheer up when things are going his way.” An undergraduate at the time, studying art at Clark University, Mr. Seifer incorporated the phrase into his senior thesis, which focused on an incident with his father, who once offered an empty soda bottle to a homeless man collecting cans for redemption. The man refused, finding the offer patronizing. To promote the project, Mr. Seifer created the “optimism” logo, a balanced, streamlined composition in Akzidenz-Grotesk, a 19th-century font considered a precursor to Helvetica. (An influential, widely used font, Helvetica is common in the subway system’s signage.) “It’s very open and minimal, and you can see the line weights of the letter forms are all equal weight, so it’s not distracting,” Mr. Seifer said. “What I like about this typeface is it promotes without calling attention to itself, which is sort of what the ‘optimism’ MetroCard is about.” “Optimism” buttons have been sold at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the New York Public Library, and handed out free by Mr. Seifer himself. Early last year, seeking a wider distribution, he got in touch with Creative Time , a nonprofit organization that works with artists on public art projects. The MetroCard idea came to him at an interview, after his initial plans were rejected. Arts for Transit , an arm of the transportation authority, receives hundreds of ideas from artists. But Mr. Seifer’s plan, with its simplicity and ease of installation, caught the eye of Sandra Bloodworth, the program’s director, who immediately accepted it. Riders and reporters were not informed when the word began appearing on MetroCards in September. The point, Mr. Seifer said, was for it to be intimate, a serendipitous discovery for the viewer. “It exists between the card and the person who receives the card,” he said. As he designed the card, Mr. Seifer said, he did not take into account the small hole punched along the left edge of every MetroCard. In a happy accident, the hole lined up perfectly with the word, becoming a kind of period. Mr. Seifer found this appropriate: “Optimism is about openings where people don’t expect to find them.”

Art
MetroCard (NYC)
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Subways
Transit Systems
Seifer Reed


Where Katharine Hepburn Got Her Chocolates

Abstract: The sign does say “Mondel Chocolates.” But the display window, a collection of boxes, posters and a neon sign that repeats the store name, shows no sweets. Habitual customers, however, ignore the arrangement and walk into Mondel’s with the same intention they have had for years. Thomas DiPrete was one such determined customer, entering and exiting shortly after with a paper bag of mixed dark chocolates with almond logs, citrus truffles, cordial cherries and Black Forest truffles. “I favor the ones that have a real fruity flavor,” Mr. DiPrete said. Mr. DiPrete, 65, of Morningside Heights, said he had occasionally been coming to Mondel Chocolates for a decade, but a few years ago he moved next door to the store on Broadway and West 114th Street. “Now I have to try to not come too often,” Mr. DiPrete said. “Only every few weeks.” Once you’re through the door, the narrow store reveals display cases filled with dozens of types of candies, like raspberry jellies and champagne truffles and almond bark. The handwritten price signs are yellowed with age. The little space that is not stocked with chocolates is occupied by fancy gift boxes and tins. Carl Mondel and his wife, Elsie, opened the store in 1943. Their daughter Florence worked there, starting as a young girl and retiring only a few years ago. According to Paula Blat, the manager and an employee for the past 22 years, the store hasn’t changed much since it opened. Image Paula Blat, the owner of Mondel Chocolates, assists a longtime customer. Credit Hilary Swift for The New York Times “The store is the same,” Ms. Blat said. “The same people come in. They say it’s exactly the same.” Such longevity creates longtime customers , some who discover Mondel Chocolates when they are students at nearby Barnard and Columbia and keep coming even once they graduate and move away. For instance, there’s the story (reported in Metropolitan Diary in 2003 ) of a man who was devoted to orange creams when he was a Columbia student in the 1960s. Thirty years later, he returned to Mondel with his daughter. The proprietor recognized him and mentioned that she hadn’t seen him “for a while.” The proprietor was Florence, if Ms. Blat recalls correctly, but an experience like that isn’t unusual, she said. “There are people that come with their children and then grandchildren,” Ms. Blat said. Perhaps Mondel Chocolates’ most recognizable fan was Katharine Hepburn, who called the store’s chocolates “the best in the world.” A note on the stationery of “Katharine Houghton Hepburn,” sent by the actress’s niece and now taped to the glass near the register, reads, “Thank you for the delicious chocolates — how very thoughtful — Ms. Hepburn was pleased.” The store had sent chocolates for Ms. Hepburn’s 90th birthday in 1997. For years, Hepburn would be driven to Mondel Chocolates to pick up her standing order: pecan turtles, molasses chips, butter crunch, dark orange peel, champagne truffles and dark almond bark. Customers still come in and request the Hepburn mix. The holidays are the busiest time. Boxes of chocolates are an obvious gift, but Mondel Chocolates also sells nuts and dried fruits for Hanukkah that can be paired with kosher chocolates. At Easter, Mondel finds room on the shelves for stuffed plush bunnies and the rest of the makings for an Easter basket. The economist Glenn Hubbard , the dean of Columbia Business School since 2004 and a resident of the Upper West Side since 1988, doesn’t remember how he first learned about Mondel Chocolates. But he stocks his office with Mondel gift boxes to give to visitors and leaves out a bowl of butter crunch. “I think gifts should be, if possible, local and special,” Mr. Hubbard said.

Mondel Chocolates
Morningside Heights Manhattan
Katharine Hepburn