Los Angeles Angels Switch Gears and Rely on Pitching

Abstract: The Philadelphia Phillies traded Bobby Abreu in 2006, and soon they won a championship. Then the Yankees let Abreu go, and they won, too. Fifteen years in the majors, a glittering résumé, and no World Series to show for it. “My teammates, they wanted to have a ring,” Abreu said on Tuesday, sitting by his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium. “I feel happy for them. It wasn’t my time, I guess. Let’s see when it’s going to be.” Abreu, 37, still believes. He is the oldest player on the Los Angeles Angels , with a better career on-base plus slugging percentage than Ernie Banks, Eddie Murray and Carl Yastrzemski. He is enduring the worst slump of his career, yet channeled his inner star on Tuesday with homers off A. J. Burnett and Mariano Rivera in a 6-4 victory . For the Angels to overtake the Texas Rangers in the American League West, they need more production from Abreu and their other veteran sluggers, Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells. If they do not get it, they would waste an exceptional starting rotation. Only two teams have three starters with at least 150 innings and an earned run average under 3.50. The Phillies are one, with Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. The Angels are the other, with Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana. “You see three guys who could be No. 1’s,” Abreu said. “The way they pitch, everybody has fun. The fans enjoy the way they dominate, the way they throw the ball, the way they show respect on the mound — the way they own the mound.” Manager Mike Scioscia said he could not remember a rotation this strong in his 12 seasons as the Angels’ manager. The starters have helped the Angels win 13 of their last 15 series, despite an offense that ranks next to last in the league in runs scored. It is a transformation from Scioscia’s most successful team, the 2002 bruisers who won a World Series title with unimposing starters but relentless offense. Even the 2009 team that lost to the Yankees in the A.L. Championship Series ranked second in runs. That team’s most productive hitter was the switch-hitter Kendrys Morales, a first baseman who hit .306 with 34 homers and 108 runs batted in. But Morales has been out since May 29, 2010, when he leaped onto home plate to celebrate a game-ending grand slam, fracturing his lower left leg. The Angels believed Morales would return this season to anchor the offense. But a second ankle operation ended his season before it began. “Our template had a No. 4 hitter that was going to hit well from both sides of the plate, especially that left-handed presence we would need in our lineup,” Scioscia said. “With the addition of Vernon Wells, we thought we had a very, very deep lineup. Obviously, that didn’t materialize. So Kendrys’s loss continues to affect us, but we’ve turned the page and moved on.” First baseman Mark Trumbo, a right-handed hitter, leads all A.L. rookies in homers (22) and runs batted in (63), and Scioscia batted him fifth on Tuesday, moving Wells down a spot. Wells, the former Toronto All-Star, has a .243 on-base percentage, the lowest in the majors among players with at least 350 plate appearances. Before his breakout on Tuesday, Abreu was hitting .155 since July 1. Hunter has been hot lately, but his average is .252. “If you look at Torii and Bobby Abreu and Vernon Wells, these guys are really at the low end of what you would expect in production for a season from them,” Scioscia said. “We’re not asking them to get to their high end, but we are asking them hopefully to be in their midrange at some point. That’s going to go a long way for us making a push.” Hunter and Wells are former Gold Glovers in center field. Now they play in the corners, flanking the speedy Peter Bourjos in center. The Angels’ defense has helped the pitching staff, which ranked ninth in the league in strikeouts yet first in E.R.A., at 3.35, through Monday. Weaver, who will not pitch this series while serving a suspension for throwing at a hitter on July 31, could win his first Cy Young Award. Haren, who started on Tuesday, is having the best season of a very good career. Santana is 5-0 with a 1.57 earned run average in his last eight starts, including a no-hitter in Cleveland last month. A seven-year veteran, he said he has never been in such a groove. “The key is we go deep in the game every time,” Santana said. “It’s all about working hard and throwing strikes. It sounds simple, but it’s not easy.” Only one staff has gotten more innings from its starters — the Phillies, naturally. But while the Phillies are cruising toward the playoffs in the National League, the Angels might not get there unless their veteran hitters do more damage. As he yearns for a ring, Abreu recognizes his responsibility. “Sometimes you realize when it’s time to go, but there’s more there,” he said. “There’s more gas in the tank. We all know what we have to do.”

Baseball
Playoff Games
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Haren Dan
Scioscia Mike


During Practice Rounds, Marines Were on Lookout for Errant Golfers

Abstract: FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — How do you keep track of errant golfers at a United States Open? You call in the Marines . During the actual tournament, players are unlikely to go AWOL, but practice rounds are another story. Players skip holes or don’t finish, and sometimes they switch their tee times or don’t show up at all. To keep tabs on everyone at Bethpage, the tournament used a software program developed by a company called myLEADERBOARD , and deployed by volunteer Marines, many of them Iraq veterans, from Garden City, N.Y. Their leader — by default, he said — was Bobby Alley, a gunnery sergeant, originally from Johnson City, Tenn. He stood at a little desk by the first tee, took down the names of golfers as they showed up, and as soon as they teed off phoned in the information to an office in Philadelphia. He also radioed ahead to the next Marine down the line, who in turn passed the group along to another Marine as soon as it passed. After being entered into a computer in Philadelphia, the whereabouts of the golfers magically appeared on a map on a giant TV screen in a tent. You could sit there all day on a mock grandstand and, without even going outside, watch Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson — or their names, anyway — move from hole to hole. On Wednesday evening, however, the Marines moved out. Mission accomplished. Come Thursday morning, the U.S.G.A. spotters would take over. INDOOR GOLFING Also without going outside, you can play virtual golf at the American Express Championship Experience tent. There is a booth where you can putt on artificial turf permanently guaranteed to roll at 13 on the Stimpmeter — fast, but not as fast as the U.S.G.A. would like to see on the real grass. You can also undergo a rapid-fire swing analysis, which is sort of like a simultaneous cardiogram and M.R.I. exam. You put on a harness wired to a computer, take a single swing, whacking a golf ball at a Bethpage backdrop, and a week later a swing doctor will e-mail a diagnosis. If you’re an American Express cardholder, you can get the bad news on the spot by signing up for a 10-minute analysis with an on-site clinician, who may try to contort your body into positions it was probably not designed to accommodate. Next door, at the Lexus Perfect Drive booth, you can also hit at a backdrop, a replica of a Bethpage par-3, while the computer keeps track of who lands closest to the hole. No free car if you win, but you can have your photo taken next to a Lexus that has been carefully dented so that it resembles a dimpled golf ball. No word on whether this increases gas mileage. TAKE OUT THE CREDIT CARD The most extreme indoor sport at Bethpage, however, is shopping. The merchandise tent, by far the biggest on the grounds, looms right at the entrance, sucking in the unwary as well as the eager. Inside is like being in a mall dedicated to anything that can be stamped with the Open logo: golf balls, of course, but also glasses, mugs, towels jewelry, umbrellas, shorts, shirts, key chains and teddy bears. You’d like a shirt? Should that be solid, striped, striped with striped collar, striped with solid color or two-tone. And what color would you like, and which manufacturer do you prefer? Same with hats. Fitted? Adjustable? Pastel? Checked? And would you like to print your name or a message on the back? Hurry, please, because the registers are getting jammed. You’ll know the next one is open when the cashier waves a yellow paddle like the ones the marshals use to quiet crowds at the tees. The array of choices here is so dizzying, the armfuls of merchandise toted by your fellow shoppers so towering, that you may yearn, at least temporarily, for a Communist Open. One hat, one shirt, same size for everyone? Thank you, comrade. THE 50-AND-OVER CROWD There is the GQ pairing of Sergio García, Adam Scott and Camilo Villegas. So why not the AARP grouping of 50-year-old Tom Lehman, 53-year-old Fred Funk and 54-year-old Eduardo Romero? “That would have been cool, actually,” Funk said Wednesday. The United States Golf Association didn’t get that creative in its pairings, but no matter. When Funk tees off Thursday afternoon with Stuart Appleby, 38, and Todd Hamilton, 43, he joked that he would play the course as if it were a par-74 and let the strokes fall where they may. “I was feeling really good,” Funk said, “prior to my knee flaring up on me.” He aggravated the injury to his right leg not on the golf course but on the high seas. He was deep-sea fishing Sunday off the coast of Jacksonville, Fla., he said, and the conditions turned rougher than was forecast. “We were getting pounded constantly,” said Funk, who is taking anti-inflammatory medication for the pain. On the practice green, he made a 50-foot putt, and a few people who were watching cheered and applauded as if it were the 72nd hole on Sunday. Funk interrupted his putting for several minutes to sign fans’ pin flags. Funk’s best finish on the PGA Tour this year is a tie for 79th at the Players Championship. Lehman, meantime, comes into the Open on a roll. He has made the cut in his last six PGA Tour events. Romero, the reigning United States Senior Open champion, remains as long off the tee as Funk is not, and even he feels as if the course is daring him to reach the greens in regulation. “You know, many par-4s I hit a drive and 3-wood, drive and 2-irons,” he said. In 2002, Bruce Fleisher earned an invitation as the reigning United States Senior Open champion, came to Bethpage State Park, played a practice round, determined the course was too tough and bowed out. “It’s too tough,” Romero said, “but I like playing it. I love it, yeah.” KAREN CROUSE

United States Marine Corps
United States Open (Golf)
Golf


Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Union Fees

Abstract: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether public-sector unions may require workers who are not members to help pay for collective bargaining. A ruling against them could deal a severe blow to organized labor. The case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, No. 14-915, was brought by California teachers who said that being compelled to pay union fees to subsidize activities they disagreed with violated their First Amendment rights. Limiting the power of public unions has long been a goal of conservative groups, and they welcomed Tuesday’s development. “The question of whether teachers and other government employees can be required to subsidize the speech of a union they do not support as a condition of working for their own government is now squarely before the court,” Mark Mix, the president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, said in a written statement. Union leaders expressed alarm at the court’s decision to consider the issue. “The Supreme Court is revisiting decisions that have made it possible for people to stick together for a voice at work and in their communities — decisions that have stood for more than 35 years — and that have allowed people to work together for better public services and vibrant communities,” Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the National Education Association, and other union officials said in a statement. The challengers said that some collective bargaining with a government employer amounts to lobbying and that forcing them to pay for those activities violates their First Amendment rights. “This is a challenge to the largest regime of state-compelled speech for public employees in the nation,” the teachers wrote in a brief urging the justices to hear their case. They are represented by Michael A. Carvin, the lead lawyer in the recent challenge to nationwide tax subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. The court allowed the subsidies in a 6-to-3 decision last week. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case in its next term, which begins in October. The ruling could affect millions of government workers, but is unlikely to have a direct impact on unionized employees of private businesses. Under California law, public employees who choose not to join unions must pay a “fair share service fee,” also known as an “agency fee,” typically equivalent to members’ dues. The fees, the law says, are meant to pay for collective bargaining activities, including “the cost of lobbying activities.” Kamala D. Harris, California’s attorney general, defended the fees in a brief urging the justices not to hear the case. “Mandatory agency fees ensure that all employees in a particular bargaining unit pay a fair share of the cost of the representation,” she wrote. “They prevent the unfairness and conflict that could arise were only part of the work force to support representation activities that, by law, must advance and protect the interests of every employee.” The teachers challenging the fees said they were a costly and unconstitutional infringement of free speech. “Agency fees for nonmembers typically consume roughly 2 percent of a new teacher’s salary,” the teachers wrote in their brief. “These fees sometimes increase regardless of whether there is an increase in teacher pay. The total amount of annual dues often exceeds $1,000 per teacher.” The teachers acknowledged that nonmembers who ask are entitled to a refund of fees used by the union for purely political activities. “The amount of the refund received by nonmembers who successfully opt out each year is generally around $350 to $400,” their brief said. They argued that the Supreme Court should at a minimum require that nonmembers should have to opt in before they are charged for such activities. But the teachers’ broader claim was that collective bargaining is itself a political activity when the employer is the government. “In this era of broken municipal budgets and a national crisis in public education,” the teachers wrote, “it is difficult to imagine more politically charged issues than how much money cash-strapped local governments should devote to public employees, or what policies public schools should adopt to best educate children. Yet California compels petitioners to fund a very specific point of view on these pressing public questions.” “Nor is California alone,” they said. “More than 20 other states compel millions of public employees to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to public-employee unions regardless of whether those unions advocate policies the employees support or, indeed, regardless of whether the policies even benefit those employees.” Ms. Harris said the challengers’ arguments were far too sweeping. “Negotiations addressing routine employment matters — procedures for taking leave, for example, or the condition of faculty lounges, or the method for processing employee grievances — are not ‘political’ ” in the sense the Supreme Court has used the word in other First Amendment settings, she said. “Even if petitioners are correct that some topics of collective bargaining could be said to involve matters of public or policy interest,” Ms. Harris added, “this case offers no sound basis for testing whether there is a constitutionally relevant line between conditions of employment and matters that are principally issues of public policy.” That is because, she wrote, “petitioners argue that all public-sector bargaining is ‘political speech.’ ” The California Teachers Association, in its own brief opposing Supreme Court review, said the teachers challenging the agency fees had failed to identify any objectionable position taken by the union. “One searches the petition in vain for anything the unions actually seek in collective bargaining to which the petitioners are opposed,” the group said. Last year, the court stopped just short of overruling a foundational 1977 decision and declaring that government workers may not be forced to pay dues to unions to represent them in collective bargaining negotiations if they disagreed with the positions the unions took. In that 1977 decision, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education , the Supreme Court said that teachers who declined to join a union could nevertheless be required to help pay for the union’s collective bargaining efforts to prevent freeloading and ensure “labor peace.” The new case asks the justices to overrule Abood.

Labor Unions
Supreme Court,SCOTUS
Civil service
California
Teachers
Collective bargaining
Michael A Carvin


Battles in California Over Escaping Mortgage Debt

Abstract: As the housing market continues to sputter, the real estate industry is increasingly split on the responsibilities of overextended and foreclosed homeowners. On one side are the bankers, who say borrowers should be liable for what they owe. On the other side are real estate agents, who say those who lost their houses should not be so burdened by debt that they cannot move on. The differences have real financial consequences: bankers want to collect on billions of dollars in outstanding loans ; real estate agents want as many people as possible to return to the housing market. For the first time, the debate is spilling into the realm of law making, with state legislators in California considering a bill that would redefine the obligations of many defaulting homeowners. The efforts to shape the bill demonstrate how much is at stake — in California and the many other states with distressed real estate markets. The legislation introduced in the winter by the real estate lobby would have largely shielded foreclosed homeowners from debt collectors. But by the time it passed the state Senate on June 3, the banking lobby had succeeded in scaling it back. Now the bill goes to the state Assembly, where a committee will take it up next week, and bankers intend to continue lobbying. “We’re concerned this could adversely accelerate strategic defaults,” said Rodney K. Brown, chief executive of the California Bankers Association, referring to instances in which borrowers leave their properties without settling with the lender. For years, a house in California was a machine for building wealth, and few were the families that could resist temptation. They refinanced their loans to pay for vacations, operations, tuition or, frequently, investments in more houses. Many of these households ended up struggling after the crash. The lenders were often aggressive in making loans and frequently were predatory. The extent to which this absolves the borrowers of responsibility is at the center of the current debate. The original legislation said borrowers who took cash out of their houses would be shielded as long as they used the money for home improvements. In its current form, the proposed law is not quite so forgiving. The bill that passed the Senate by a lopsided vote of 30 to 4 would protect former homeowners up to the amount of their original loan. For instance, a family that took out a $500,000 mortgage to buy a house and then refinanced and took cash out, swelling their loan to $600,000, would be released from claims on the original sum but remain vulnerable on the $100,000. Ellen M. Corbett, the Democratic state senator from San Leandro, Calif., east of San Francisco, who introduced the measure, said it is a matter of fairness. During the Depression, she said, California legislators decided that losing your house was punishment enough. They did not want lenders endlessly hounding borrowers for the difference between what they owed and what their former house was worth, an amount called the deficiency. Seventy-five years later, because of that law, anyone who has an original loan and wants to get rid of the house because it has fallen in value can simply walk away without further legal jeopardy. But a homeowner who refinanced, even for the straightforward reason of getting a lower interest rate, could in theory lose the house and be pursued for the deficiency. “I don’t believe the original intent was to have a two-tier system, where some were protected and some were not,” Ms. Corbett said. The agents, too, say this is a fairness issue. But there is also self-interest involved. “Realtors are very worried about this because they think it will destroy the housing market if people end up with these huge deficiency judgments and are never able to buy a house again,” Ms. Corbett said. To some extent, this is a fight over something that is not happening, at least not yet. Lenders in California rarely chase foreclosed borrowers for deficiency judgments. Pursuing such cases in court can be an arduous process, and few of those in foreclosure have the assets or incomes to make it worthwhile. But the threat of such action can come in handy for lenders, servicers and collection agencies. By raising the possibility of a court fight, they can negotiate favorable terms when agreeing to loan modifications and workouts, surrenders of deeds and sales for less than the full amount owed, also known as short sales . “Using the threat of a deficiency, full-recourse lenders often prevail upon distressed borrowers to sign new, unsecured obligations in exchange for their assent to a proposed short sale or surrender of a deed,” said William A. Markham, a lawyer with Maldonado & Markham in San Diego. “This practice will nearly vanish overnight if the new measure becomes law.” About a third of the seven million California households with a mortgage have negative equity, a condition known as being underwater, according to the research firm CoreLogic. Many of these families might be content to wait years for a rebound in real estate but others, if at least partly freed from deficiency worries, might walk away. “This will lead to a surge in the supply of housing, a corresponding decrease in the price, and a welcome hastening of the end of the foreclosure crisis in California,” Mr. Markham said. State Senator Mimi Walters, a first-term Republican representing Laguna Niguel, north of San Diego, voted against the measure precisely because it could encourage more defaults. “I’m very sympathetic to what’s going on in the economy and to people that are losing their homes,” said Ms. Walters, a former executive with two Wall Street firms. “But we have to be careful not to overleverage ourselves and to take responsibility when making investments.” The banking lobby says it could accept the bill as is, on one condition: that it apply only to new loans. In its current form, it applies to any existing loan. “We really don’t want the legislature redoing contracts,” said Mr. Brown of the California Bankers Association. “That sends a bad signal to investors, to markets and to those whom we extended the credit.” Whatever the fate of this particular bill, the issue of responsibility for debt is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. New government-mandated modification programs that for the first time will reduce borrowers’ debts will go into effect this fall, sparking another round of debate about who gets help and who does not. “We’re a little in the Wild West here,” said Paul Leonard, California office director of the Center for Responsible Lending. “People are struggling with what it means to uphold the terms of your mortgage contract and what it means to walk away. There are no tried and true rules.”

Mortgages
Foreclosures
Housing and Real Estate
California
Law and Legislation
Banks and Banking
Politics and Government
State Legislatures


At the Trade Deadline, Some Players Fight a Battle Between Reality and Rumors

Abstract: Brandon Nimmo, a Mets outfield prospect, did his best not to check his cellphone as Monday’s nonwaiver trading deadline drew near, but the stream of updates was unavoidable. Although he has a Twitter account, he did not have the application on his cellphone set up to alert him of trade news, he said. Still, Nimmo received three text messages from friends around noon on Monday congratulating him on his trade to the Cincinnati Reds. One text message read, “You’re going to be missed.” Even Nimmo’s agent, Mark Pieper, called around 2 p.m. asking whether he knew if a trade had been completed. “I tried to keep my phone off to the side and checked it every now and then to see if I got a phone call or if someone was going to come tell me something,” Nimmo said. Nimmo was supposed to have been a piece of the Reds’ return for the veteran outfielder Jay Bruce until a medical problem with an unspecified player involved in the trade changed the deal. The Mets acquired Bruce, but for Dilson Herrera, an infield prospect, and Max Wotell, a minor league pitcher. Nimmo remained with the Mets and was sent to Class AAA Las Vegas on Tuesday after Bruce had arrived. However, after Wednesday’s game, the Mets announced that Nimmo would be called up again on Thursday to take the place of Yoenis Cespedes, who was headed to the disabled list with a quadriceps strain that has been hindering him. “Getting Bruce is awesome for our team,” Nimmo, 23, said. “However I can help the team, that’s what I want to do. And right now, that’s me going down and working on my craft at Triple-A. I’ll continue to get better. I’m still young and still have a lot to work on.” Travis d’Arnaud, the Mets’ starting catcher, was in a similar situation. He was not part of an agreed-upon deal that changed; he was simply dangled in the Mets’ trade offer for Jonathan Lucroy, the Milwaukee Brewers’ All-Star catcher, who ended up with the Texas Rangers after vetoing a trade to the Cleveland Indians. The developments at the deadline have raised a question: How do Nimmo and d’Arnaud move on from such public moments, when their lives nearly changed? “I thought this was home for me the whole time,” d’Arnaud said. “This was out of my control, so I didn’t really think about it too much. But I guess I’m glad to still be here. I’m looking forward to still being here.” In the age of social media, roster transactions occur in real time. Some of Nimmo’s friends, family members and teammates knew of his near trade to Cincinnati even before he did. D’Arnaud, who was traded twice while he was in the minor leagues, said that he had tried to stay away from the news, too, but that it was inescapable. “It was something that was out of my control,” he said. “I figured if I thought about it, it would probably tear me up a little bit.” Knowledge of deals that do not come to fruition can create some awkwardness for team officials. Sandy Alderson, the Mets’ general manager, said he had not spoken with either nearly traded player since the deadline. Nimmo had left for Las Vegas before Alderson could see him, and Alderson said he had heard that d’Arnaud had handled the situation gracefully. “The deadline itself clears things up,” Alderson said. As d’Arnaud’s name surfaced in trade rumors for a week leading up to the deadline, it was inevitable that Alderson would run into him at Citi Field, Alderson said. “In the clubhouse, I’m passing him in the hallways, and he’s looking one way, and I’m looking the other for five or six days,” Alderson said with a chuckle. “That’s the nature of things.” Trades are a fact of life in baseball. Seven of the nine Mets in Wednesday’s starting lineup had been traded at one point in their careers. Wilmer Flores was nearly dealt at last year’s deadline to the Brewers, along with pitcher Zack Wheeler, but the deal fell through because of medical concerns about the player the Mets wanted, Carlos Gomez. After he had heard about the trade, Flores was seen crying on the field during the game. But he remained with the Mets, played a key role during the team’s late-season surge into the playoffs, and has been one of the team’s best hitters this season. “His was a little different situation,” said d’Arnaud, 27, who joined the Mets, along with Noah Syndergaard, in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012. “But to be able to experience that with him gave me some experience to what’s going on right now.” Nimmo and d’Arnaud had other help inside the clubhouse. Nimmo said that David Wright, the team’s injured captain, had pulled him aside on Monday afternoon to offer his support. The Mets are the only organization that Nimmo has known. He was their first-round draft pick in 2011 and made his major league debut in June. “He was pointing out the pros to both sides,” Nimmo said of his conversation with Wright. “He was just trying to be a team guy and a leader and a mentor and make sure that I was O.K.” D’Arnaud, who is hitting .245, said he was confident that he could improve on his performance over the rest of this season. He said that Wright, in addition to his veteran teammates Curtis Granderson and Jerry Blevins — both of whom have been traded in their careers — had spoken to him. Speaking of d’Arnaud, Blevins said: “He’s got a good head on his shoulders, and I just reminded him that there are certain things in this game that you can control and certain things you can’t. So just remember to focus on the things you can control. You can tell he battled through it, and I’m glad he’s still here.”

Baseball
Sports Trades
Mets
Jay Bruce
Social Media
Brandon Nimmo
Reds


Obama and Romney Step Up Accusations on Jobs

Abstract: CINCINNATI — President Obama and Mitt Romney escalated their running battle over capitalism, integrity and the economy on Monday as each sought to portray the other as part of the nation’s problem rather than its solution. At a freewheeling town-hall-style meeting with supporters here, Mr. Obama took aim at Mr. Romney’s corporate tax proposals, saying they would create jobs overseas rather than at home. Mr. Romney’s campaign accused Mr. Obama of “crony capitalism” by using government resources to reward donors at the expense of the middle class. The sharp exchanges came after a week in which the president’s campaign pounded away at Mr. Romney over business deals at the Boston-based private equity firm he founded and over his refusal to release more than two years of his personal tax returns. In focusing on his opponent’s tax policies on Monday, Mr. Obama tried to cement the impression of an out-of-touch tycoon, while Mr. Romney tried to get off the defensive by questioning the president’s ethics. “We don’t need a president who plans to ship more jobs overseas or wants to give more tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas,” Mr. Obama told supporters at Cincinnati Music Hall in this important swing state. “I want to give tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in Ohio, that are investing in Cincinnati, that are investing in Hamilton County. I want to give incentives to companies that are investing in you.” Mr. Obama cited a study saying that Mr. Romney’s plan to eliminate taxes on foreign income earned by corporations would create 800,000 jobs. “There’s only one problem,” Mr. Obama said. “The jobs wouldn’t be in America.” The study, published in the journal Tax Notes by Kimberly A. Clausing , a professor at Reed College, argued that those overseas jobs could offset jobs at home. “With high unemployment rates, why further tilt the playing field in favor of jobs in low-tax countries?” she wrote. Republicans said the study was conducted by a professor from a well-known liberal college who contributed money to Mr. Obama’s campaign and to other Democrats. They also pointed out that the policy she and Mr. Obama oppose is actually supported by members of the president’s jobs advisory council and export advisory council. It was also supported by Mr. Obama’s own bipartisan commission on reducing the national debt, led by Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator, and Erskine B. Bowles, a former Clinton White House chief of staff. Corporations argue that eliminating taxes on foreign income, a policy called a “territorial tax system,” would encourage them to repatriate that money and invest it in the United States. “A territorial tax system should be adopted to help put the U.S. system in line with other countries, leveling the playing field,” the Simpson-Bowles commission concluded. Jennifer R. Psaki, an Obama spokeswoman, said Professor Clausing was a “well-respected economist” and brushed off the fact that Mr. Obama’s own advisers disagreed with him on the issue. “Of course the president receives a range of advice from outside advisory boards,” she said, “but the only view that matters is the president’s. And he thinks this is the wrong approach.” Mr. Romney, who held no public campaign events on Monday, authorized a new Web video asserting that Mr. Obama has steered money and payoffs to political supporters. The video shows headlines from news organizations as Mr. Obama sings the opening verse from “Let’s Stay Together” in the background, a response to an Obama campaign ad released Saturday featuring Mr. Romney singing “America the Beautiful.” Among the headlines shown in the latest Romney ad: “Report: Obama’s big-money raisers get key posts, access, stimulus dollars,” and “Democratic donors rewarded with W.H. perks.” In a statement, Mr. Romney’s campaign said: “Middle-class families are struggling in the Obama economy. Instead of working to restore their economic security, President Obama is too busy rewarding his biggest donors. The Obama record is one of political payoffs and middle-class layoffs.” Ms. Psaki said Mr. Romney was “treading on thin ice here,” noting that the president has released information that Mr. Romney has refused to. “President Obama has set a bar of transparency that Mitt Romney has not met, cannot possibly meet, even on his tippy toes,” Ms. Psaki said. Ed Gillespie, a senior Romney adviser, said Mr. Obama was trying to distract voters from a string of disappointing jobs reports with “shiny objects” — meaning the attacks on Mr. Romney’s business record. The Romney campaign’s response will be to call out Mr. Obama’s “Chicago-style politics and Chicago-style economics,” Mr. Gillespie told reporters on a conference call. Mr. Obama’s event here, cast as his first town-hall-style meeting of the campaign, was animated at times. The heavy topics were leavened by lighter moments. A barber asked if he could cut Mr. Obama’s hair, but the president declined. “You would not want a president who was disloyal to his barber,” he said.

Presidential Election of 2012
Corporate Taxes
Labor and Jobs
Romney Mitt
Obama Barack


Early Humans Used Heat to Shape Their Tools

Abstract: Tool manufacturers know that sometimes you have to heat-treat a material to make it harder or stronger. Ancient toolmakers learned that trick, too. And archaeological research from South Africa pushes back the date of the earliest use of heat treatment at least 45,000 years, to more than 70,000 years ago. Kyle S. Brown, a doctoral student at the University of Cape Town, and colleagues report finding stone tools that show signs of being heated to about 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat-treating in this way, most likely by burying under a fire, made the stone easier to knap, or shape into a tool by striking with another stone. Archaeologists were studying several sites on the South African coast, with artifacts dating from 72,000 to 164,000 years ago that would have been made by modern humans from the African Middle Stone Age. Mr. Brown, an archaeological knapper who tries to replicate ancient tools, said they noticed that blades found at the site, made from a stone called silcrete, did not match silcrete obtained from outcroppings in the area. They experimented by heat-treating some of the stone themselves. “When we pulled it out of the fire and flaked it, it did look like the kind of stone we were finding at our site,” Mr. Brown said. Their findings are published in Science . The researchers had to show that the tools they found were intentionally heated to improve workability, not accidentally through a bushfire or other means. They found tools in areas where there was no evidence of burning. And they conducted tests on some of the artifacts, including one that showed that flaked surfaces had a glossiness that occurs only when the stone has been heated, proving that the stones were heated first and then worked into tools. Mr. Brown said that the consensus among archaeologists had been that systematic heat treatment first occurred in Europe about 25,000 years ago. The current work, he added, “is almost indisputable evidence” for heat treatment 72,000 years ago, and perhaps as early as 164,000 years ago, although researchers need more samples from the earlier period to be sure.


The Ebell Club, a Women’s Social Club, Tries to Remain Relevant in Los Angeles

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — Of all the clichés about this town that are provably untrue — no one reads, or has the lips that God gave them — it is undeniable that Los Angeles has often been a poor guardian of its physical history. Scores of historical buildings have been razed or weirdly repurposed over the last century, and large areas of this young city have been plowed with nary a trace left to examine. An interesting exception is the Ebell Club, a women’s social club that still operates in one of its original buildings, erected in 1927 in the Hancock Park neighborhood. Established in 1897 as a substitute for the university education that women were largely denied, the club had 2,500 members in its heyday in the 1920s, and activities included Shakespeare, gardening and art appreciation. The club, one of the first of its kind in the country, is now struggling with a 21st-century problem: how to convince modern women that such a club has contemporary value to them. The Italian renaissance revival building, a national landmark, covers its $2 million in annual bills largely through its uses as a theater and rental space. But the women who continue to gather for singing, socializing and studying are passionate about maintaining the building’s original purpose. “You can find in this club something you cannot find on Facebook, in wine bars, or any number of places which offer social interaction: genuine friendship and mutual concern,” said Shirlee Haizlip, the club’s current president. “It is a wondrous thing to be constantly surrounded by three generations of women.” Women’s clubs were established in American life shortly after the Civil War. “It was a time women all over the country decided a woman’s place is not in the home, that they needed to get out,” said Karen J. Blair, a history professor and expert on women’s clubs at Central Washington University. “So they got together to study literature, history, philosophy and poetry.” In 1868 in New York, a journalist named Jane Cunningham Croly founded her own club, Sorosis, after she was denied entry at an all-male press club where Charles Dickens was speaking. Ms. Croly was instrumental in the creation of clubs throughout the country, whose missions soon began to include various political and social welfare agendas, from women’s suffrage to child labor to public health. Club members came together for conferences annually by train. “Los Angeles women could find out in Kansas City that Texas women were having enormous success with playgrounds,” Professor Blair said. “A hundred years ago they were doing what Michelle Obama is doing today.” The Ebell was named after Adrian Ebell, a German professor who traveled around California forming study groups for women. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Ebell was one of the largest and most elite clubs in the nation, rivaled only by the Friday Morning Club in downtown Los Angeles. Its newsletters from the 1930s are peppered with treaties on glassmaking, descriptions of luncheons and, in a plus ça change sort of twist, ads for life insurance policies that promise “no bank failures; no buildings and loan debacles and stock market crashes.” The club’s home — not its original but by far the longest serving — is an enormous, meandering building designed by the architect Sumner Hunt. It has an elaborate coffered ceiling with gilded rosettes, a grand entrance on Wilshire Boulevard made from 200 separate pieces of wrought iron, and all sorts of fancy sitting rooms, like the one where the queen of Romania once infamously smoked. The stairs maintain their original risers, which were built to allow women to hold their dresses while climbing them with grace. The Ebell evolved greatly in the century, its largely white and aristocratic housewives now replaced at least in part by actors, like Patricia Heaton, film makers, doctors and businesswomen. Once closed to blacks, Jews and Catholics, its current president, Ms. Haizlip, is African-American and is in her second term. It maintains a large charitable mission with scholarships. “It’s a very diverse group,” said Anne Combs, who is the chairwoman of the choral group at the club. “Shirlee, who I met here, was my first close black friend.” But while the club is one of the few old buildings in Los Angeles that maintains its original purpose, attracting women — who began to leave the women’s clubs nationally around the 1970s — is a battle. Ms. Haizlip said that membership had recently increased to 480, up from 325 in 1993, but that her goal was to get back to at least 1,000 women, still far shy from the number during the club’s glory days. Membership efforts now focus on women from 30 to 40 years old, with programs on things like child rearing and mind-body workshops. It is an effort all women’s clubs face. The membership of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs is 10 percent of what it was in the middle of the last century, when the federation had one million members, said its spokeswoman, Michele Mount. “Women’s clubs are a victim of our own success,” Ms. Mount said. “The past presidents of these clubs would have been C.E.O.’s, and now they are that instead of being members of clubs.”

Los Angeles (Calif)
Historic Buildings and Sites
Women and Girls
Ebell Club
Organizations Societies and Clubs


Sold-Out Mixed Martial Arts Event Invades Muay Thai Turf

Abstract: BANGKOK — When the local fight legend Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke walks into a packed arena here Friday, he will find much that is familiar, including the roar of his fans and the rhythmic “sarama” music that is an integral part of traditional Muay Thai kickboxing in this country. But there will be one major difference: His fight will be the main event of the first major professional mixed martial arts event in Thailand, which for years had unofficially banned the sport in an effort to protect Muay Thai. The fight night at Bangkok’s 11,000-seat Impact Arena, organized by the Singapore-based promotion One Championship , will culminate with Dejdamrong defending his M.M.A. strawweight title (52.3 to 56.7 kilograms, or about 115.3 to 125 pounds) against Yoshitaka Naito of Japan. The nine-fight event, which also will include performances by two of Thailand’s most popular music groups, is sold out. It is being viewed as a test of both the popularity and the acceptability of M.M.A. in this country, whose sports authority in 2012 vowed never to support such an event because it was too violent and would smear the character of the popular domestic sport of Muay Thai. Thailand’s Ministry of Interior and its Ministry of Tourism and Sports, however, have both endorsed Friday’s event, according to One Championship, much to the delight of local M.M.A. fans. “My father’s generation is a bit skeptical, and are afraid that M.M.A. will change Muay Thai,” said Nuttadaj Vachirarattanawong, whose family-run company has been promoting Muay Thai fights for 40 years. “But my generation welcomes it. It’s good for Muay Thai, and for the Thai fighters.” M.M.A. is a full-contact sport that combines boxing with wrestling, jujitsu, taekwondo, Muay Thai and other disciplines, with attacks allowed both standing and on the ground. Fighters try to knock out opponents or force them into submission by using a variety of holds. In Muay Thai, fighters can use punches, kicks, elbows and knees from a standing position only; tackling or striking an opponent on the ground is forbidden. Mixed martial arts, which once was called “human cockfighting” by United States Senator John McCain , has become an entertainment juggernaut and is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. Last month, New York ended its ban on mixed martial arts — the state was the last holdout in the United States — and the promoter of one of the sport’s biggest brands, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, said it would hold its first show in the state in November at Madison Square Garden. Nearly four years ago, the Sports Authority of Thailand said it would never support M.M.A. events, claiming the sport violated the country’s boxing laws. Officials with the sports authority, which falls under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, said the sport was “too brutal.” Critics of the unofficial ban said that Thai sports officials, under pressure from Muay Thai promoters and gyms, were trying to shield the sport from competition for ticket sales and television broadcast rights. “It’s all about money,” said Vachara Vacharaphol, chief executive of Triple V Broadcast Company, which in March signed a one-year deal with One Championship to televise M.M.A. fights in Thailand. Image Dejdamrong Sor Amnuaysirichoke will defend his One Championship strawweight title on May 27 in Bangkok. Credit Aaron Joel Santos for The New York Times “They felt that if M.M.A. comes in, it will take away from their business,” Vachara said. After seeing One Championship fights being held with great fanfare in nearby Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar, Thai officials ultimately caved to public demand, Vachara said. “It’s a global trend,” he added. “They can’t resist it.” Chatri Sityodtong, the chairman of One Championship, said that one or two large-scale M.M.A. events per year in Thailand would make no financial impact on Muay Thai, since its fights are held daily at venues large and small across the country and are broadcast live every weekend on Thai television. Chatri, a former Muay Thai fighter and M.M.A. trainer and coach from Thailand, said that in the end, mixed martial arts would end up promoting Muay Thai globally because competitors needed to possess strong kickboxing skills. “I think people were confused five years ago about what M.M.A. is, and whether it was harmful to Muay Thai,” he said. “We want to showcase Muay Thai, which has played an integral part in me being able to escape poverty and bring my family out of poverty with me.” Muay Thai has been viewed as the sport of the masses in Thailand, and many fighters come from poor, rural areas. A top Muay Thai competitor fighting in Bangkok can earn around 200,000 baht, or $5,700, in prize money for a bout, but the best fighters with One Championship can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per fight. M.M.A. officials said their sport could prolong the careers of Thailand’s Muay Thai fighters, who usually retire when they are in their early 30s. For example, Dejdamrong, 37, a three-time national champion with more than 200 victories in Muay Thai, had been in semiretirement as a kickboxing instructor in Singapore before he took an interest in jujitsu and started a new career as a mixed martial artist in 2014. He is 6-0 and won his strawweight belt a year ago. “It was difficult at first because I didn’t know the ground game, but I got comfortable after a while,” he said. “Some Thai people think M.M.A. is dangerous, but when they finally see it, they will realize it’s not more dangerous than Muay Thai.” Not everyone agrees. Sakon Wannapong, the governor of the Sports Authority of Thailand who publicly announced the unofficial ban on M.M.A. in 2012, said that he remained opposed to M.M.A. because it was not a recognized sport in Thailand and remained too violent. “I understand that they have invested a lot of money into this event,” he said. “I don’t want to spoil their fortune, but I won’t support it. One word: never.” Such opposition has not dampened the determination of Thai M.M.A. fighters like Shannon Wiratchai, who is on the card for the May 27 event. Unlike many Thai fighters, he grew up learning judo and karate, not Muay Thai. “At my age, Muay Thai was considered a low-class sport,” Wiratchai, now 27, said. “I think M.M.A. will help promote Muay Thai, but Thai fighters need to improve because of the changing style of M.M.A., and not just rely on Muay Thai.”


Southwest Buys Takeoff Slots at La Guardia

Abstract: Southwest Airlines said it had agreed to buy 12 takeoff and landing slots at New York’s La Guardia Airport from American Airlines as part of the merger settlement reached between American Airlines, US Airways and the Justice Department. In addition, Southwest said it had also gained permanent control of 10 takeoff and landing slots that it was leasing from American Airlines at La Guardia, expanding its foothold in one of the nation’s busiest travel markets. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. Southwest said it would begin the new service from the airport in May. Together, Southwest and its subsidiary AirTran operate 27 daily round-trip flights between La Guardia and eight destinations. The newly acquired slots will add six daily round-trip flights, Southwest said. As part of the deal struck last month with the Justice Department to clear their merger, American and US Airways agreed to sell 104 takeoff and landing slots at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington and 34 slots at La Guardia to low-cost carriers. Southwest said it would also bid for slots at Reagan National. The sale of these slots is meant to ease competition concerns about the merger, which creates the world’s largest airline and is scheduled to close on Monday. Because of congestion problems, some airports can accommodate only a limited number of takeoff and landings every day. While the antitrust regulators said the slots should be sold to low-cost carriers to foster competition, rival airlines like Delta Air Lines had also expressed their interest in acquiring them. Other airlines contending for these slots include JetBlue Airways and Virgin America.

Airlines,airplanes
Mergers and Acquisitions
United Airlines
Delta Air Lines
US Airways Group
LaGuardia Airport Queens NY


Comedy Central Establishes Merchandising Division

Abstract: Given the changing landscape of the television business, the Comedy Central channel has decided it now makes sense to sell T-shirts as well as laughs. Not to mention DVDs, concert tickets, books, coffee mugs and whatever else the network’s newly created enterprises division can conceive of in the effort to extend and solidify its brand. “It’s not just about what’s on the TV screen anymore,” said Michele Ganeless, Comedy Central’s president. The network will announce this week that it is establishing a business division, Comedy Central Enterprises, intended to cash in on its identity as a destination for comedy. Mitch Fried, an executive with long experience in making deals with comedians and their representatives, will be named executive vice president in charge of the division. Translating TV popularity into consumer sales is not a new idea, as Mr. Fried acknowledged. But he noted, “There are only a few networks in the entertainment business that can pull something like this off and, realistically, the bulk of them are on the children’s end of the business.” Disney has been for most of a century the gold standard for creating and selling products tied to its entertainment properties. Nickelodeon, which, like Comedy Central is part of MTV Networks, has generated billions of its own in sales of items related to its characters, like SpongeBob SquarePants. Comedy Central’s performers are not household names like SpongeBob or Mickey Mouse. But the channel says contemporary comedy has forged a deep connection with its mostly young viewers, in a role similar to the one music once played. “Because it’s comedy and because it travels so well, it’s not unlike music in that it’s talent-based,” Ms. Ganeless said. “People are rabid fans of the comedians they love, and they want to consume comedy anywhere they can.” Mr. Fried plans to use his long relationships with comics who have performed on the channel to set up ancillary streams of revenue. “I’ve been touring these guys for years and making them millions of dollars,” Mr. Fried said. He cited the example of the stand-up comedian Gabriel Iglesias. Comedy Central identified him early on, and eventually Mr. Fried put together a tour for Mr. Iglesias. That spun into a television show, a one-hour stand-up special that also generated a DVD, and a tour this year that Mr. Fried said generated $7 million in ticket sales. “Comedy Central came in and took what I was doing to a new level,” Mr. Iglesias said. “Putting that name on what I’m doing adds real value.” He cited one marketing strategy that impressed him. Mr. Fried set up deals with Best Buy stores in each of the cities where Mr. Iglesias was about to appear, arranging displays of the comic’s latest DVD that also promoted ticket sales to the tour. “We sold through 117 percent of the DVDs we shipped,” Mr. Fried said. (Some stores sold out and went back for more.) “Retail was thrilled, because we just sold a boatload of product, and every single tour we went to sold out 100 percent of the seats,” Mr. Fried said. Lewis Black has been one of the most enduring stars on Comedy Central, identified closely with “The Daily Show,” but also as a star in stand-up specials. Mr. Black shifted his recording work to Comedy Central’s label several years ago, and in the fall will take his act to Broadway in a one-man show that the network will promote heavily. “It’s difficult for me to defend a corporation, but they’ve been very good,” Mr. Black said in an interview by phone. “I always thought I was lucky because they were in essence advertising me, even as I was advertising them. It was a real symbiotic relationship.” Mr. Fried noted that even comedy stars with shows on other networks, like Denis Leary (his “Rescue Me” was on FX) can take advantage of the brand. Mr. Leary will have a holiday book published through Comedy Central this year — and promoted on it. In addition, the supporting stars of “The Daily Show” are going to perform an “Indecision 2012” tour this fall timed to the presidential election. Comedy Central has a deal in place with Urban Outfitters to sell T-shirts, hats and other products tied to the tour. The financial upside of all this is not yet quantifiable. “I’m not saying it’s going to be hundreds of millions because it’s the kids’ products that make that much money,” Mr. Fried said. “But it’s a very solid business, and more importantly, it’s the branding part, and it’s the talent-relations part. And it’s the ad sales part.” It is also the hedging-the-future part. Ms. Ganeless said, “We know this is where we need to be to sustain the equity in our brand. Today the linear screen is the most important screen perhaps, but it won’t be in a few years. And we need to make sure we are everywhere we can be.”

Cable Television
Fashion and Apparel
Comedy Central
Television
Comedy and Humor


Records Show Canada Balked at Taking Detainees Cleared by U.S.

Abstract: TORONTO, Aug. 16 — Canada balked at several requests from Washington to provide asylum to men cleared for release from the United States military prison at Guantánamo Bay , government documents released Wednesday show. Notes prepared for former Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay in February this year, obtained by The Canadian Press news agency under Canada’s Access to Information Act, indicate that the Bush administration had asked Canada to accept detainees of Uighur decent from China’s Xinjiang region who were deemed to be no threat to national security. The United States was not prepared to resettle the men in its own territory, but could not send them back to China for fear they would face persecution. Canada — like other countries — seemed ill at ease with taking on refugees to remedy a public-relations headache for the United States. Today, 17 of the men are still being held and live in isolation for 22 hours a day. “Canadian officials indicated to the U.S. delegation that the men would likely also be inadmissible under Canadian immigration law,” says a Foreign Affairs briefing note prepared about a meeting last May. The Pentagon confirmed that the government had talks with other countries over the possible transfer of detainees. “The government has long stated that we have no desire to be the world’s jailer. To that end, we continue to discuss with other governments the possibility of transferring detainees once humane treatment and continuing threat concerns have been satisfactorily addressed by the receiving country,” a Pentagon spokesman, Greg Hicks, said in an e-mail message. The 22 Uighur men were transferred to American custody by Pakistani bounty hunters after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. Several of the Muslim men maintained they were simply trying to escape Chinese persecution when they were picked up. The United States is holding about 360 men at Guantánamo, in Cuba, suspected of links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, about half the number held in 2003. Faced with rising international pressure to close the prison, the United States has identified dozens of detainees who can be released or transferred. But before it puts any detainees on a plane, the United States must find a country willing to accept them. It also must obtain assurances the prisoners will be prevented from attacking the United States or its allies, and will not be tortured. American officials traveled to Ottawa on three occasions in 2005 to press their case. By May 2006, Washington had succeeded in persuading Albania to take five Uighurs, who now live in squalid conditions. A week after that transfer, the Americans were back in Canada, meeting with both political aides and bureaucrats from several departments and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office. The obstacle seemed to be a point of principle. Under the Canada-United States Safe Third Country Agreement, refugees cannot make claims to enter Canada from the United States except under a few specific exceptions, like fear that they would face the death penalty in America. The documents suggest the Canadian government was still uncertain about whether it had the appetite for any future transfers.

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba)
Canada
Immigration and Refugees
Politics and Government
Prisons and Prisoners
United States Armament and Defense


City Bees Stick to a Flower Diet Rather Than Slurp Up Soda

Abstract: Do city bees feast on flower nectar, or do they mostly slurp up sugary soda? That was the question Clint Penick was mulling while he tended to some hives. Dr. Penick is an entomologist at North Carolina State University, and he wanted to find out if midsize cities had enough flowers available to sustain hungry bees, or if the buzzing insects were guzzling Big Gulps to get their fix. Bees have been caught cheating on their all-natural diets before. In 2010 a beekeeper in Brooklyn discovered her bees were stealing sips of syrup from a nearby maraschino cherry factory after she noticed her hives were oozing bright red honey . To figure out if something similar was happening in midsize cities, Dr. Penick and his colleagues collected bees from 39 different colonies within 30 miles of Raleigh, North Carolina. Their specimens came from hives managed by beekeepers as well as from wild colonies. They examined each bee for a specific carbon signature called carbon 13. This isotope is often referred to as ‘heavy carbon’ because unlike regular carbon, it contains an extra neutron in its nucleus. The presence of heavy carbon in the bees’ bodies provides clues to their diets. Image Bees on a rooftop from Bee Downtown , which works with businesses to keep bees in urban areas in North Carolina. Credit Lauren Nichols “If you find a bee that has a higher proportion of the heavy carbon, then that’s a clear indication that they are feeding on sugar cane or corn syrup,” said Dr. Penick. Bees that eat mostly nectar from flowers would not have high proportions of heavy carbon, he said. Dr. Penick and his team thought they were going to find high levels of heavy carbon in the bees — evidence that they were slurping processed sugars — but to their surprise they found the opposite, low levels of the isotope. The bees were seeking out flowers rather than turning to Dumpsters for food, even in the areas that had the fewest green spaces. He published his results Tuesday in The Journal of Urban Ecology . “If you are an urban beekeeper in an area like Raleigh or smaller,” Dr. Penick said, “you can be pretty sure the honey you’re getting is flower nectar honey and not recycled soda.” Dr. Penick said his next steps are to test whether or not the same holds true for large cities, like New York or Tokyo, where there are more urban bees and flowers are even harder to find.

Bee
Soda
Urban area
Raleigh NC
Environment
Research


N.B.A. Playoffs — A Fan’s Rocky Relationship With the Nets

Abstract: The question inevitably comes twice a year: once in November, when the N.B.A. season usually starts, and again in the spring, when the playoffs near. Wait, you’re a Nets fan? My under-the-breath response — “Yeah, I grew up a Nets fan, lived on Long Island, saw Dr. J” — is usually enough of an answer. But every once in a while, a follow-up question arises: But why are you still a Nets fan? That’s more complicated. My parents owned Chinese restaurants on Long Island that used unusual architectural details to stand out. One had a distinctive windmill. Then they opened one with a golden dome, and there, at a place that my father modestly named after himself, my love affair with the team truly began. Danny Chang’s was as aspirational as Chinese restaurants could get at the time. Egg foo young? Not on the menu. The dishes were spoon-served by jacket-clad captains, and drinks were brought by attractive young women. My father, who had worked at Trader Vic’s , had learned a thing or two about showmanship. The restaurant was a hit. A fair number of well-known people would come, but I was interested only in the sports stars: the Rangers, who came in their Corvettes, and the jockey Jorge Velasquez, who, to my family, may have been the biggest celebrity to grace the dining room. And then there was the night that would change my life as a basketball fan forever, the night I met the tallest man I had ever seen. My dad handled the introductions: Mr. Ladner, meet my son, Dean. He’s a big fan. Wendell Ladner was a hard-nosed power forward on the Nets, a Kurt Rambis type with a better mustache. Fans loved him. I now loved him, too. We shook hands, mine disappearing into his. Then he told me to wait for a moment while he stepped out to his car. He returned with an A.B.A. basketball, signed it and handed it to me. I had seen the Nets play at Nassau Coliseum — they were still in the American Basketball Association then — and I was as much of a Dr. J fan as anyone else. But that was run-of-the-mill, childhood hero worship. This was something different. Ladner was my favorite player, my direct connection to a real-life pro — no small thing when you’re 9. He began to visit the restaurant every once in a while; one time, he brought along Billy Paultz, the Nets center known as the Whopper. Another time, Ladner gave me a second A.B.A. ball, this one signed by all the Nets, Dr. J included. Danny Chang’s was at the foot of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, close enough to Kennedy Airport that your body shook when a big plane went by. The village, not yet saturated with million-dollar homes, had its share of airline workers who shared small beach homes in town. So, on the night of June 24, 1975, the mood at the restaurant was understandably somber. Image The Nets eventually sold Julius Erving's contract to the 76ers. Credit Larry Morris/The New York Times Earlier that day, Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 crashed near Kennedy as it approached the runway; wreckage was scattered along Rockaway Boulevard. Of the more than 100 passengers and crew, only a few survived. I don’t recall how the news came to me — whether my parents told me or I read it in the newspaper — but there it was: among the casualties was Wendell Ladner, his identity eventually confirmed, in part, because of the A.B.A. championship ring on his finger . I remember crying, primarily because Ladner was dead and I would never see him again. And then I thought of the first basketball he had given me, which I boneheadedly had been using on the driveway court. His signature was all but erased by gravel and backboard. My kinship to the Nets just became bulletproof. A year later, the A.B.A. and the N.B.A. merged, allowing the Nets to join the big league. If there was a high point in my 30 years of being a Nets fan, this might have been it: a chance for the Nets to prove their worth and justify my loyalty. But then the Nets sold Dr. J’s contract to the Philadelphia 76ers for $3 million, in part to pay for the indemnity fee to join the league. And they moved to Piscataway, N.J. , leaving Long Island and most of their fans. Better times would follow — some good years in the 1980s and ’90s, and back-to-back N.B.A. finals appearances with Jason Kidd — but I never really put complete faith in the team. It remained cursed for the Dr. J deal, and my penance was still to be served for using, and eventually losing, the Ladner ball. Penance can take unexpected forms, and for me, it took the form of Duncan, the Nets’ dragonlike mascot for many years. (History differs on whether Duncan was a dragon or a swamp monster ; I would describe him differently.) In early 1987, in the midst of a dreadful season for the Nets, I dragged a few college friends to the Meadowlands to watch them play the Detroit Pistons. With the game falling out of the Nets’ reach, Duncan began working the crowd, high-fiving fans and interacting with youngsters. He was several rows lower than us when he spotted me. He opened his arms theatrically, and then clasped his hands together beneath his chin and bowed slowly and deeply, as an idiotic mascot might to an Asian. Then he did it again. And in case the gesture was lost on me, he walked up to my row and repeated it. Come on. This was what a team mascot did to a fan? I said a few choice words. Duncan said nothing, continuing to genuflect until play resumed. I contemplated doing or saying more, but held back. It was as true then as it is now: nothing good can come of a scrap with a team mascot. I have not been back to see the Nets since, except for visits to the Garden to see them play the Knicks. But I’m still a fan. I wish I could say that I still own the A.B.A. balls, but I do not. They were lost somewhere in my family’s trail of moves from New York to Florida to Mississippi — not far, coincidentally, from where Ladner grew up. I miss them, but I’ve come to realize I don’t need to physically own them to retain the sentimental value of Ladner’s gifts. The Nets retired Ladner’s No. 4, but they have not hung his uniform in the rafters , where the other five retired numbers are displayed. I hope that will change, and if it does, I will be there when it happens. I hear Barclays Center is a nice place. And I hear they have a new mascot.

Brooklyn Nets
Basketball
Julius Erving
Brooklyn Nets


FedEx Reports $419 Million Quarterly Profit

Abstract: FedEx , the package delivery company, swung to a fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday and offered a conservative outlook that relied on international sales, an area that also led growth in the last three months. FedEx reported a profit of $419 million in the fourth quarter, in contrast to a loss of $876 million in the quarter a year ago. The company said it had net income of $1.18 billion for 2010, up from $98 million a year ago. Revenue rose 20 percent, to $9.43 billion, in the quarter that ended May 31. Earnings were $1.33 a share, in the upper range of its forecast of $1.17 to $1.37. The company lost $2.82 a share in the quarter a year ago. Analysts, including Matthew S. Brooklier of the Piper Jaffray investment firm, expected $1.32 a share. But the share price fell 5.95 percent after FedEx offered a subdued forecast based on stable fuel prices and “a continued moderate recovery.” FedEx forecast earnings of $4.40 to $5 for 2011, driven by international trade that seemed unhampered by European sovereign debt concerns and volatile financial markets. Analysts had expected a 2011 forecast of $5.05 a share. “I think the $5 is a great number,” the managing director of Morgan Keegan, Arthur W. Hatfield, said. “It won’t be the peak number. It will go up from there. We should continue to see growth beyond the $5 number.” FedEx’s chief financial officer, Alan B. Graf Jr., said in a statement that the company’s outlook included higher pension and health care costs as well as aircraft maintenance. Mr. Hatfield said the softer-than-expected outlook for the year was still positive news. “What was most important about the guidance was internal cost issues ramped up, but it’s not the economy,” said Mr. Hatfield about the aircraft maintenance, employee compensation and health care costs. “They still think the economy is going to grow.” While FedEx’s results are typically considered a bellwether for the United States economy, Daniel L. Ortwerth, transportation analyst with the Edward Jones investment firm, said he would “caution anyone to interpret these results as a strong positive indicator for the U.S.” because FedEx’s growth outlook focused on its services abroad. “A company in this business needs to think globally, and that’s exactly what this company is doing,” he said. The company freight segment, which is largely dependent on North America, reported a $36 million loss in the quarter on lower yields and higher volume-related costs, compared with a loss of $106 million a year ago. Kevin W. Sterling, senior vice president of BB&T Capital Markets, said the 23 percent increase in FedEx’s International Priority average daily package volume, mainly because of exports from Asia, was impressive. FedEx spent $2.8 billion on capital expenditures for the fiscal year. The company projects capital expenditures of $3.2 billion next year, also to bolster its international services. The $3.2 billion exceeded Mr. Ortwerth’s estimates, but he said he considered it a sign the company had the financial health to continue its expansion. David J. Bronczek, the chief executive of FedEx Express, said financial events in Europe did not stunt FedEx Express’s business in Europe. “We’ve seen solid growth in Europe, as our numbers would indicate, double-digit growth,” he said.


4 Arrests, Then 6 Days to a Resignation

Abstract: The beginning of the end came on Monday morning, as Eliot Spitzer rode south through Manhattan in his black S.U.V. with his wife, Silda, still not sure if he would resign as governor of New York. He was a headstrong and temperamental politician, but no fool. He told family and friends the night before that he could not survive this scandal. But by the time he arrived at his office on Monday, he decided only to acknowledge the obvious — that his behavior was deeply troubling — and he apologized to his family and the public. Then he returned to his apartment and to a blur of passionate talks with advisers and friends, his wife and, eventually, three criminal defense lawyers, one of whom was an old acquaintance from his days as state attorney general. He had revealed his failings to his wife only the night before, but surprisingly she counseled him to hold fast and resist resignation. Mr. Spitzer’s mentor and friend, Lloyd Constantine, also urged the governor, in person and by telephone, to make no concessions. But others, particularly those aides who hailed from the political realm in Albany and were privately furious with the governor, recognized a maze with no good place to go. Mr. Spitzer’s statement Monday momentarily left state legislators slack-jawed. By Monday evening, Republicans began talking impeachment. And Democrats offered little comfort for a beleaguered governor. By Tuesday, he was leaning toward resignation, and that night, he decided it was all over. Just six days separated the federal court arraignment of one man and three women on charges of running an online prostitution ring from the governor’s ashen-faced announcement that he would surrender his office after just 14 months. Several aides spoke about the events and deliberations that preceded his resignation on the condition of anonymity. He spent Wednesday morning attending to the trappings of political demise, picking the suit he would wear, and writing the remorseful statement he would read to a national TV audience. A Curious Vice Case The scandal unfolded in an innocuous fashion. The press release was e-mailed to reporters on Thursday morning, shortly after 11 o’clock: “Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Organizers and Managers of International Prostitution Ring.” At first glance, the case seemed routine, and the suspects elicited no gapes of surprise: A man and three women arrested on charges of running a pricey, on-line escort business, known as Emperor’s Club V.I.P. Marshals escorted the defendants into the courtroom, before Magistrate Michael H. Dolinger of the Federal District Court in Manhattan. Mark Brener, 62, accused of being the ringleader, looked to be dressed in the same black shirt he had been arrested in. Cecil Suwal, 23, was charged with being the operation’s day-to-day manager. Temeka Rachelle Lewis, 32, and Tanya Hollander, 36, were accused of being the service’s booking agents. Ms. Lewis and Ms. Hollander were released on bail; Mr. Brener and Ms. Suwal remain in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal jail in Lower Manhattan. No one had talked of the escort ring’s inner workings, and certainly no one mentioned the governor’s name. Just one fact piqued interest for some in the room: The lead prosecutor on the case was Boyd M. Johnson III, the chief of the public corruption unit of the Manhattan United States attorney’s office. Later that day, reporters at The New York Times learned of the unusual presence of three lawyers from the corruption unit, including the boss of that division and an F.B.I. agent from one of the bureau’s public corruption squads. The public corruption units often look at the conduct of elected officials. Within hours, the reporters were convinced that a significant public figure was involved as a client of the prostitution ring. A Final Bit of Routine Eliot Spitzer’s Friday schedule reflected the everyday workings of a politician’s life: an announcement in southern Manhattan, a gala at the Hilton Hotel. But sometime that day, a person familiar with the case says, the government informed Mr. Spitzer or his advisers that he had been identified as a client of a prostitution ring. Other aides to the governor say they are not sure that he was notified. By Friday, The Times was confident that the official was Mr. Spitzer. The next day a reporter was sent to the governor’s apartment building, just south of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue, to see if Mr. Spitzer was meeting with senior staff members. That day, he took a long run in Central Park and, with his wife, walked his dogs. Late Saturday afternoon, the governor hopped an Amtrak train to Washington, changing into a white-tie tuxedo in the train’s restroom. The Gridiron Dinner is one of those sometimes painful, sometimes amusing semibacchanals in which reporters, publishers, celebrities and politicians pretend that politics is a grand fellowship. Mr. Spitzer rarely shrinks from a camera, and those who saw him that night say he was ebullient, talking politics with one person after another. But Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, a polling operation, remembers thinking that the governor seemed a touch off. “There was more edge than usual,” Mr. Miringoff said of the conversation with Mr. Spitzer. “I couldn’t get the answers out before the next question came.” Midday Sunday, The Times sent an e-mail message to the governor’s communication’s director, Christine Anderson, requesting the governor’s travel records for the week of Feb. 11, 2008, specifically Feb. 11 through Feb. 15. The message also requested the names of all the hotels he stayed at, where he traveled, flight records and any available records of receipts billed to the state. Ms. Anderson peppered The Times with questions and alerted the governor’s staff that a story was apparently breaking. Ms. Anderson assumed that an article was being prepared related to a continuing investigation into efforts by Mr. Spitzer’s aides to discredit Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader. That night, around dinnertime, Richard Baum, Mr. Spitzer’s top aide, received a phone call at his home in upstate New York. The governor asked him to drive to Manhattan immediately. Late that night, the governor told his wife, Mr. Baum and his friend, Lloyd Constantine, an almost incomprehensible tale: He was a client of a high-priced prostitution ring; he had been caught on a federal wiretap; The Times had requested records for the date of an alleged tryst with a prostitute in Washington. The atmosphere was alternately charged and funereal. Mrs. Spitzer and Mr. Constantine, the governor’s senior adviser, counseled hanging tough. The governor, though, seemed convinced that he was finished. Hoping for Survival The governor returned to his apartment after his abbreviated statement Monday, where he played host to his sister Emily, Mr. Baum, Mr. Constantine, Michele Hirshman, who was his lawyer and a top aide when he was state attorney general, and his friends, George and Pam Fox. So close was Mr. Spitzer with Mr. Fox that he had used his name as his alias when checking into the Mayflower Hotel in February for his liaison with the prostitute. Mr. Fox said that this use of his name came as a complete surprise. His friends continued to argue that this was a storm he might survive if he just held on. Meanwhile, Mr. Baum telephoned the governor’s senior aides early on Monday morning and told them the news. There was shock, tears, and no small amount of anger. The governor’s public image, his power as a politician, was built upon a foundation of moral rectitude; this felt like betrayal. The end loomed Tuesday. Some Republicans were calling for impeachment, and newspaper editorial boards were firing broadsides demanding his resignation. Ms. Hirshman, a lawyer with the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, traveled down to the United States Attorney’s office to discuss the evidence of Mr. Spitzer’s involvement with the prostitution ring. Aides differ on whether Ms. Hirshman sought to negotiate a plea agreement for Mr. Spitzer. Ms. Hirshman did not return calls. By late Tuesday, the governor had decided to resign the next morning. Even at that late hour, Mr. Constantine urged him to fight on, aides say. The next day, he again got in the black S.U.V. with his wife and traveled to his office to announce his resignation. The man who had promised to awaken Albany from a long slumber left behind a government shattered. Top aides are left wondering about their next jobs, and the state faces a mountainous budget deficit. Mr. Spitzer spoke in the sorrowful past tense used by those exiting public life involuntarily: “I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me.”

Spitzer Eliot L
Prostitution
Ethics
Politics and Government
Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations


Teenage Striker’s Energy Propels U.S. to a Tie

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The United States national team adopted a new motto on Saturday: Indivisible, which was emblazoned on their new red jerseys. In stark contrast, Saturday’s 1-1 tie against Argentina in an international friendly match was divided neatly into two tidy 45-minute halves — the first dominated by the visitors, the second belonging to the Americans. After allowing a goal late in the first half in front of 78,926 fans at chilly New Meadowlands Stadium, the United States went to the bench to start the second half. The infusion of youth from Juan Agudelo, 18, and Timothy Chandler, 20, seemed to give the team more spit and vinegar, and the team and the crowd were energized from what had been a moribund performance. Agudelo, a striker for the Red Bulls of Major League Soccer, scored the tying goal in the 59th minute, giving him two goals in only three appearances for the senior national team. “For a young player, whenever you put him on the field he has confidence with the ball and he comes on strong,” United States Coach Bob Bradley said of Agudelo. “He’s always looking to try things, he’s improving and he has a knack for turning up in spots to get goals.” That was exactly what happened after Bradley replaced Jermaine Jones with Agudelo to start the second half after leaving Jozy Altidore as the lone striker in the first. On the goal, Landon Donovan sent a free kick from about 30 yards out into the penalty area, where Carlos Bocanegra headed it down to the near post. Argentina goalkeeper Mariano Andujar pushed the ball off the line, but Agudelo, falling to his left off the field of play, pounced and scored off the rebound with a flick of his right foot. Agudelo is the latest in a line of promising American players. That list includes Freddy Adu, Eddie Johnson and even Altidore, who all showed great potential, left to play in Europe and became lost. “He’s been impressive in training,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “But we’ve seen a lot of Juans who have come and gone; few have been able to sustain it. It’s important not to let your head get pumped up. He’s a young kid with a loads of talent and a lot of confidence.” From the start, Argentina controlled the ball, controlled the tempo, controlled the game. And when the Argentines lost the ball, which was not often, their superior tactical sense left the Americans with few options for short passes. Instead, the result was either errant balls that were easy pickings, or ill-advised long passes into empty space. As if anyone needs to be informed, the Argentine locomotive was the diminutive, shifty and generally unstoppable Lionel Messi. He was mesmerizing on the ball, dropping deep into the midfield in the first half to snatch passes and launch quick counterattacks. He was not difficult to pick out in his bright orange cleats. Messi, a Barcelona striker, took his share of hard fouls. He was hacked to the turf in the 23rd minute by Jones, but the referee Roberto Garcia of Mexico waved on play as Argentina maintained control. Two minutes later Messi went to ground after taking Oguchi Onyewu’s hand to his face. “Argentina came out with such good rhythm,” Bradley said. “They press hard. But Messi, he’s an amazing player because of his movement everywhere.” Messi’s partner upfront, Real Madrid striker Angel Di Maria, had several tantalizing scoring chances in the first half, but was thwarted by Howard. That could not last forever. With time running out in the first half, Messi took a pass and shimmied past defender Jonathan Spector to the end line. He pulled the ball back and sent a pass through the legs of Bocanegra to Di Maria, whose shot was kicked out by Howard. Esteban Cambiasso, lurking at the top of the six-yard box, slammed the rebound into the goal. With Chandler on the right side of the defense in the second half and Agudelo partnering with Altidore up front, the United States was able to get its sea legs and gain a bit of control. Chandler, the son of an American serviceman and a German woman, was making his debut for the United States. He showed good speed and enterprise in breaking out of the back and forcing the Argentine defense to follow him into the offensive zone. “For a player who comes on for the first time, it was a good half for him,” Bradley said. “He helped the team and gave us a lot of momentum coming forward. His crossing, at least three or four, were good.”

Soccer
Agudelo Juan
Chandler Timothy
Bradley Bob
United States
Argentina


Texans Rebut Gov. Rick Perry After Rejection of Medicaid Expansion

Abstract: AUSTIN, Tex. — Hundreds of activists and uninsured Texans plan to rally at the steps of the Capitol here Tuesday, increasing the pressure on Gov. Rick Perry and other Republican leaders to switch their stance on expanding Medicaid, a major provision of President Obama’s health care overhaul. Mr. Perry has told federal officials that Texas has no intention of expanding Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income and sick people, saying he would not take part in socializing health care and admitting millions of Texans into an unsustainable program at a cost of billions to taxpayers. When Mr. Perry made his decision official in July, he wrote of standing “with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab.” In recent weeks, however, that chorus has diminished, as several Republican governors who had resisted the expansion — including Chris Christie of New Jersey and Rick Scott of Florida — said they would accept federal money to expand the program. Meanwhile, the number of state organizations and individuals who vocally support an expansion in Texas has grown. Several cities and counties have passed resolutions calling for expansion of the program — including the City Councils of Austin and Waco — as have health care and financial experts, including Elena Marks, former director of health policy for the City of Houston, and Ray Perryman, an influential economist in Waco. The Texas Medical Association, which represents more than 47,000 physicians and medical students, asked state leaders to expand the program while instituting reforms. The Chambers of Commerce in Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and other cities also support expansion. Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents of any state, 24 percent of the population, officials said. Supporters said the Medicaid expansion would provide coverage to more than one million low-income Texans and ease the burden on local taxpayers, who help support the public hospitals now providing much of the care to the uninsured. The federal law covers 100 percent of the costs for the first three years of the state’s Medicaid expansion, and in the years that follow, Texas would not pay more than 10 percent. From 2014 to 2023, about $100 billion would be available to the state in an expansion, with Texas having to pay about $15 billion in that time, supporters said. “If you have a chance to provide that coverage and improve health care, then in the long run, you’re going to have a healthier, more productive state,” said Dr. Roland A. Goertz, the chief executive of the Waco Family Health Center, which treats thousands of Medicaid and uninsured patients annually. A spokeswoman for Governor Perry, Lucy Nashed, said his position had not changed. “It would be irresponsible to add more Texans and dump more taxpayer dollars into a broken and unsustainable system that already consumes a quarter of our budget, making it harder to pay for other things like public safety and education,” Ms. Nashed said. “Medicaid should transform into a system that gives the states flexibility to tailor the program to serve the needs of their specific and unique challenges.” Critics of Mr. Perry’s stance have grown increasingly brazen. In January, protesting activists interrupted Mr. Perry’s State of the State address at the Capitol. One of the most significant developments for Medicaid advocates came the day before, however, when a report by the state’s former deputy comptroller, Billy Hamilton , described expansion as smart, affordable and fair. The report found a substantial impact on the Texas economy. In fiscal years 2014 to 2017, the injection of $27.5 billion in new federal Medicaid money would increase the state’s economic output by nearly $68 billion, said the report, which was sponsored by two religious-based advocacy groups, Texas Impact and Methodist Healthcare Ministries. Some leaders, including State Senator Tommy Williams, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, have insisted that the state needs flexibility to administer a “Texas solution,” like requiring co-pays and deductibles for Medicaid recipients and enrollment in private or employer plans if available. The likelihood of a compromise remains unclear. Officials with the federal Department of Health and Human Services said they were not currently in talks with Mr. Perry’s office, but welcomed conversations with him and other governors.

Medicaid
Rick Perry
Texas
Health Insurance
Texas Medical Assn


Draft Is Set to Keep U.S. Forces on Iraqi Soil

Abstract: BAGHDAD — Iraqi and American negotiators have agreed to a draft of a long-awaited security agreement to govern the presence of American troops in Iraq , American and Iraqi officials confirmed Wednesday night. The agreement remains subject to approval by the political leaders in each country. Negotiating teams have been working on the agreement for five months. The two sides have come close to an agreement before, only for their optimism to prove premature. The difficulty in reaching a final agreement reflects its importance to Iraq and the United States. Technically, the document will provide the legal basis for American troops to remain in Iraq beyond 2008. But it will also amount to a political document, spelling out for the people of each nation the most difficult issues of this war, notably how long American troops will remain. The main sticking points, in fact, are also the most delicate: setting a timeline for American troops to leave and declaring whether American forces would be granted immunity from Iraqi prosecution. In Baghdad, Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq’s foreign minister, said that the text of a draft had been agreed upon by negotiators on the technical and legal teams who had worked on it since March 11. But he cautioned that this fell short of a final agreement because it had yet to be approved by the political leadership in either country, including Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. “Both sides have reached the conclusion that there is no need for any further negotiations. A draft agreement is there. It is now a political decision,” he said in Baghdad. He declined to say whether it addressed timelines for a withdrawal of troops or immunity for American servicemen. A range of Bush administration officials acknowledged that progress had been made in narrowing differences between the American and Iraqi positions, and that a draft proposal was now circulating. But senior leaders in each nation had not approved any draft proposal, “so we still do not have a final agreement,” according to one senior American official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the subject. Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House spokesman, would say only that an agreement was not final yet, adding: “The improved security in Iraq allows us to have conversations with the Iraqis about setting goals for more American troops to come home and for the Iraqis to take the lead in more combat missions. Any dates in an agreement will be based on conditions on the ground because we do not want to lose the hard-fought gains of the surge.” In Baghdad the chief Iraqi negotiator, Muhammad al-Haj Hamoud, told Reuters that the draft did not give a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, and left unresolved the issue of immunity of American troops from prosecution. He said those issues would be resolved later, according to Reuters, but without resolution of those two points, the import of the agreement would be diminished. Both issues are important for Mr. Maliki’s government, which wants to demonstrate that it is asserting Iraqi sovereignty and independence after more than five years of an American military presence in Iraq. Other key issues have included how much input the Iraqis would have in authorizing American military operations, and whether nonmilitary contractors would be granted immunity from Iraqi prosecution. The need for an agreement is dictated by the expiration at the end of this year of the United Nations mandate under which American troops operate in Iraq, and the planned shift from United Nations authorization to an arrangement between Iraq and the United States.

Iraq
United States Armament and Defense
United States International Relations
Politics and Government
International Relations


A Batting Title That May Whisper: .317

Abstract: For all that the sabermetric community has given baseball, one thing it has taken away is the concept of a batting champion. The devaluation of batting average, and the emphasis on power, has made the yearly batting average leader, once one of the game’s top honors, somewhat irrelevant as people focus more on other statistics. In the National League, where the batting title has been won by the likes of Tony Gwynn, Stan Musial and Rogers Hornsby, the honor may fall this season to Josh Harrison of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a utility player known more for versatility than prowess with a bat. Given his anonymity, and his modest .317 average, it would have to be considered a low point in the title’s prominence. Harrison, an All-Star in his first full season, has come out of nowhere to be in a two-man race for the batting title with Justin Morneau of the Colorado Rockies, whom he leads by 1 point. Should Harrison’s .317 average hold up as the league’s top mark, it would be just the third time since 1876 that the National League has been led with an average below .320. As Gwynn tends to be the answer to any question involving National League batting titles, it should not be surprising that he even holds the record for lowest average to lead the league, .313 in 1988. Despite hitting 68 points above the league average, Harrison has found himself having to defend his talent in the midst of a breakout season. “It comes off as effort, but for me, it’s natural,” Harrison said earlier this season. “I could steal a base and people say, ‘Oh, man, that’s good hustle.’ And somebody else steals a base and it’s ‘Man, he’s fast.’ I’m just like anybody who has skills.” The problem, however, is not with Harrison but with the rest of the league. The National League as a whole is batting .249 this season, its worst showing since 1989. There are just seven qualified batters hitting higher than .300. Things are not much better in the American League, where the league average is .254 and there are only eight batters hitting .300. But in that league, Harrison’s average would place him only sixth, and he would be trailing the league leader, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros, by 25 points. In the past, such a low average leading the league might have caused a controversy, but batting average now mostly takes a back seat to modern statistics that produce a broader picture of a player’s ability. Miguel Cabrera briefly breathed life into the statistic during his triple crown run in 2012, but the emphasis on such old-fashioned stats caused a bit of a civil war among baseball fans, many of whom thought Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels was the superior player. Cabrera may have led the league in traditional statistics, but Trout had a significant lead in wins above replacement. During that same season, the National League helped to devalue the batting title when a rule change was made to avoid having Melky Cabrera of the San Francisco Giants win the award in a season in which he received a suspension for use of performance-enhancing drugs. Suddenly a simple award based on nothing more than hits divided by at-bats became something that could be manipulated. For Harrison, there are no asterisks or controversy. He has spent time at third base, left field, right field, second base and shortstop. He has hit 13 home runs, stolen 17 bases, put together an adjusted on-base plus slugging percentage that is 39 percent better than the league average and at 26 seems as if he could be a quality player for years to come. But the days of prestige for the batting title are waning, and barring another triple crown contender or a player making a run at .400, it is hard to see it making much of a comeback.

Baseball
Pittsburgh Pirates
Josh Harrison