A Little Pity, Please, for Lenders

Abstract: General Motors thought it had found a safe and profitable business, far away from the ups and downs of the automobile business that was causing so many headaches. Instead, it found an albatross that is now forcing the company to put up billions of dollars just to stay in business and hope for a turnaround. That business was residential mortgages, and G.M. went into it in a big way. It bought one of the more aggressive lenders around, Ditech, and came to specialize in the kind of innovative mortgages that flourished in recent years. By early 2006, most of the mortgage loans that it issued required that borrowers pay only the interest — no principal at all in early years — or allowed them to pay even less than that. Ditech was a pioneer in offering 125 percent loans, in which the borrower could get more than the property was worth. It specialized in low-documentation mortgages, which became known as “liars’ loans” because many borrowers falsified their income. The result has been a wave of defaults and foreclosures, bringing on big losses for both the company and for those who bought securities backed by those mortgages. Now the mortgage company is warning that it may not be able to pay its bills, and has set out to force those who lent money to it to agree to accept only a fraction of what they are owed. It appears that its lenders have little real choice. If they insist on being paid all that they are owed, they will go to the back of the payment line, with the risk they will get nothing. The mortgage industry has bitterly opposed legislative proposals that bankrupt homeowners be able to ask judges to reduce the amount they owe. But that is what this company hopes to accomplish through the threat of a bankruptcy filing. The lender in trouble is known as ResCap, short for Residential Capital. It is a subsidiary of GMAC, which was formerly owned by G.M. Now the automaker’s stake is down to 49 percent, with the majority stake held by Cerberus Partners, a private equity fund. When it was riding high, ResCap took lots of risks. It was a major lender in California, a market where home prices are falling and foreclosures are increasing. It invested in home developments, and bought model houses in subdivisions, hoping to sell the homes later at a profit. It expanded into many countries, including Australia, Mexico, Britain, Germany and Spain. Now it has problems in many of those countries, and has suffered losses on the model homes. ResCap has recently modified thousands of mortgages to make them more affordable, but those changes have almost all involved changing the interest rate, not reducing the amount owed, as ResCap is demanding from those who lent money to it. Back in 2005, when ResCap was formally separated from the rest of GMAC, the idea was to insulate the profitable mortgage business from the troubled auto finance business. Now the situation is reversed, and the mortgage losses are producing red ink for GMAC, even though its other businesses are profitable. GMAC is being forced to invest billions more to keep ResCap afloat, and on Thursday G.M. pointed to ResCap’s problems as it wrote down the value of its investment in GMAC by $1.5 billion. Owners of some notes issued by ResCap are being asked to trade them in for new bonds with face values of as little as 80 cents on the dollar. Other holders are being offered the chance to sell back bonds to the company, for as little as 65 cents on the dollar. GMAC has bought back some ResCap bonds in the public market, paying around 50 cents on the dollar. “We believe bondholders have little choice in this situation, as the alternative could be a filing” for bankruptcy, wrote Richard Hofmann and Adam Steer of CreditSights, a bond analysis firm. As part of the package, GMAC would put another $3.5 billion into ResCap. The company says that any current bondholders who reject the exchange offer would have their debt subordinated to the new loan from the GMAC parent, as well as to the new bonds being issued. The immediate risk for ResCap is that without the exchange it could run out of cash as early as next month as it must repay borrowings that it cannot refinance. With the exchange, and with the capital from GMAC and asset sales, it probably can buy time. But even if it does get time, it is not clear it can put it to good use. Nearly all the mortgage loans it is making now are being sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises, and it may be at a disadvantage to better-financed competitors. “ResCap has not proven it has a business model that can produce the required operating cash flow to service and ultimately repay” its debts, Moody’s said last week in reducing the company’s bond rating to a very low level of junk. “Even after this exchange, we believe ResCap’s debt levels will remain inconsistent with its long-term earnings,” said Craig Emrick, a Moody’s vice president. ResCap reported high profits in the good years, but its recent losses have been greater than the profits ever were. General Motors still has plenty of problems with the car business, but it has been forced to divert capital to a mortgage venture that may never be able to recover.


Fire Forces Thousands to Flee

Abstract: More than two dozen homes have been destroyed or badly damaged and about 30 people have sought medical treatment as a result of a huge wildfire that has raged out of control for days in southern Australia, officials said Monday. The fire has forced thousands of residents to flee from their homes and has razed 31,000 acres northwest of Adelaide.


Pasta Inspires Scientists to Use Their Noodle

Abstract: Most people eating pasta might enjoy the taste or appreciate the texture of noodles cooked al dente. Sander Huisman did, too — and then he wondered about what mathematical equation would describe the undulating shapes he was eating. Mr. Huisman, a graduate student in physics at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, spends much of his days using Mathematica, a piece of software that solves complicated math problems and generates pretty pictures of the solutions. “I play around with Mathematica a lot,” he said. “We were eating pasta, and I was wondering how easy these shapes would be recreated” with the software. So that evening after dinner, Mr. Huisman figured out the five lines or so of Mathematica computer code that would generate the shape of the pasta he had been eating — gemelli, a helixlike twist — and a dozen others. “Most shapes are very easy to create indeed,” he said. He posted one of them to his blog, thinking he would do a sort of mathematical-pasta-of-the-month for the next year. But he then forgot about them until someone asked for the recipes of the other pasta shapes, and he posted those to his blog , too. Mr. Huisman, who studies fluid dynamics, is not the only who has been mathematically inspired by pasta. Several years ago, Christopher Tiee, then a teaching assistant for a vector calculus class at the University of California, San Diego, included in his notes a pop quiz asking students to match pasta shapes with the equations. Meanwhile, in London, two architects, Marco Guarnieri and George L. Legendre, independently experienced a similar epiphany, also while eating pasta (spaghetti with garlic and olive oil, cooked by Mr. Guarnieri). Then Mr. Legendre went many steps further: He turned the idea into a 208-page book, “ Pasta by Design ,” released in September by Thames & Hudson, a British publisher specializing in art books. “We were interested in, if you like, the amalgamation of mathematics and cooking tips — the profane, the sacred,” Mr. Legendre said. “I was actually speaking to someone in Paris last week who said, ‘This might have been a project by Dali.’ ” The book classifies 92 types of pasta, organizing them into an evolutionlike family tree. For each, the book provides a mathematical equation, a mouthwatering picture and a paragraph of suggestions, like sauces to eat it with. Mr. Legendre calls trenne, a pasta with the rigid angles of triangular tubes, a freak. “It’s a mirror universe where everything is pliant and groovy, and in that universe there’s someone that stands out, and it’s the boring-looking trenne with its sharp edges,” he said. Mr. Legendre has even designed a new shape — ioli, named for his baby daughter — which looks like a spiral wrapped around itself, a tubelike Möbius strip. “I thought it might be nice to have a pasta named after her,” he said. He is looking to get about 100 pounds of pasta ioli manufactured, but that is still probably months away, because of the challenges of connecting the ends together.

Pasta
Mathematics
Noodles
Science and Technology
Books and Literature
Pasta by Design (Book)
Legendre George L


N.C.A.A. Men’s Conference Tournament Previews

Abstract: With Selection Sunday right around the corner, here is a look at some of the top story lines at this week’s major conference tournaments and who should be moving on to the N.C.A.A. tournament. American Athletic Conference Thursday-Sunday, Hartford Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Cincinnati, Southern Methodist Temple (22-9), with a Dec. 22 rout of Kansas as its best win of the season, could improve its case to make the N.C.A.A. tournament with a strong showing in Hartford. Squandering an opportunity to help its N.C.A.A. prospects, Tulsa (21-9) fell to S.M.U., 67-62, on Sunday in a game that decided the regular-season conference title. Atlantic Coast Conference Tuesday-Saturday, Greensboro, N.C. Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Duke, Louisville, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Virginia Miami (20-11) padded its résumé with an 82-61 victory at lowly Virginia Tech on Saturday, but the Hurricanes, whose best win came at Duke on Jan. 13, still need to do well in Greensboro to solidify their case for the N.C.A.A. tournament. Atlantic 10 Conference Wednesday-Sunday, Brooklyn Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Davidson, Dayton, Virginia Commonwealth Richmond (19-12) has won six straight games, including a 67-51 victory over St. Louis on Saturday, but the Spiders will probably miss out on an N.C.A.A. berth unless they win the conference tournament. Big East Conference Wednesday-Saturday, New York Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Butler, Georgetown, Providence, St. John’s, Villanova As long as Villanova (29-2) does not lose its first game of this tournament, it should be a No. 1 seed in the N.C.A.A. tournament. Xavier (19-12) had a .500 record in conference play, which may be good enough for an N.C.A.A. spot, but winning a couple of games at Madison Square Garden would improve its chances. Big Ten Conference Wednesday-Sunday, Chicago Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin Having already secured the conference’s regular-season title, Wisconsin (28-3), which routed Ohio State on Sunday afternoon, will have a good case for a No. 1 seed if it also wins this tournament. Indiana and Illinois, which have identical records (19-12), will need strong showings in Chicago to make a case for an N.C.A.A. spot. Big 12 Conference Wednesday-Saturday, Kansas City, Mo. Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia Even with sub-.500 records in conference play, Oklahoma State (18-12, 8-10) and Texas (19-12, 8-10) could make the N.C.A.A. tournament thanks to the strength of the Big 12. Still, they will need to avoid early exits from the conference tournament. On Saturday, the Cowboys lost at West Virginia, 81-72, their fifth defeat in six games. But the Longhorns beat Kansas State, 62-49, for their second win in a row after four straight losses. Mountain West Conference Wednesday-Saturday, Las Vegas Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Boise State, San Diego State Colorado State (26-5) ended the regular season on a five-game winning streak. The Rams may have done enough to make the N.C.A.A. tournament, provided they are not quickly eliminated from the conference tournament. Pacific-12 Conference Wednesday-Saturday, Las Vegas Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Arizona, Oregon, Utah Arizona (28-3) is still in the mix for a No. 1 seed in the N.C.A.A. tournament, but it may need to win this tournament first. U.C.L.A. (19-12) probably needs to pick up a couple of wins in Las Vegas to have a chance of making the N.C.A.A. tournament. Southeastern Conference Wednesday-Sunday, Nashville Likely N.C.A.A. tournament teams: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi Not even the unlikely possibility of an early exit from the conference tournament should prevent Kentucky from being the No. 1 overall seed in the N.C.A.A. tournament. Louisiana State (22-9) earned an impressive road win Saturday, an 81-78 victory over Arkansas that bolstered its N.C.A.A. case. Texas A&M (20-10), on the other hand, fell to Alabama, 61-60, its third loss in four games.

College Sports
NCAA Men's Basketball,March Madness
Big 12 Conference
Southeastern Conference
NCAA
Big Ten Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference
Pacific-12 Conference


China Railway in Talks for South Africa Project

Abstract: The China Railway Group, a construction company, said Tuesday it was in talks with South Africa ’s government for a $30 billion high-speed rail project between Johannesburg and the eastern port city of Durban. Discussions are at an early stage and no financing is in place, China Railway’s chairman, Li Changjin, said in an interview in Beijing. China Railway has signed an agreement with the Standard Bank Group, Africa’s biggest lender, Mr. Li said. Standard Bank and China Railway will “cooperate across a broad spectrum of opportunities,” the bank’s spokesman, Erik Larsen, said in an e-mailed response to questions. This will include “working together to develop infrastructure and funding solutions for African rail and infrastructure projects.” South Africa’s government said in April it was studying the feasibility of a high-speed railway link between Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa’s busiest harbor. Driving the 352 miles between the two cities takes five to seven hours, while a high-speed train would complete the trip in about three hours, according to the Transport Ministry. South Africa is hoping Chinese state-owned banks can provide loans for the project, Mr. Li said on the sidelines of a China-Africa investment forum, while China Railway wants South Africa to contribute up to 40 percent of the capital. Standard Bank sold a 20 percent stake to the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in 2008 as part of a plan to profit from growing trade between Africa and China.

China Railway Group
South Africa
High-Speed Rail Projects
China
Railroads


Where Rubber Meets Road

Abstract: Q. With the millions of cars being driven billions of miles on American roads each year, why don’t I see residue from their worn rubber tires along the roadside? What happens to all that rubber? A. While shreds from lost tires often show up along the highways, friction gradually wears the surfaces of most tires into a fine black powder. It unobtrusively blends with road dust and other automobile waste, like particles of motor oil. Image Credit Victoria Roberts Waste like this rubber dust is considered a potential environmental problem when it washes off roads and ends up in streams and lakes. Such waste, when it pollutes bodies of water, is called nonpoint source pollution . What is left of the worn-down tires also presents a formidable bulk-disposal problem , the Environmental Protection Agency says. Even a decade ago, 290 million scrap tires were generated each year, making up 2 percent of the country’s total solid waste. Some used tires are recycled, either in pieces or as ground rubber, and some end up in civil engineering uses like stabilizing road banks, but many end up being incinerated or burned for fuel. In properly designed burning facilities, the agency says, emissions are comparable to, and often lower than, those from conventional fossil fuels. question@nytimes.com


Patriots List Brady on Injury Report; St. Louis Approves $150 Million for a New Stadium

Abstract: Tom Brady was listed on the team’s injury report on Friday with an illness that made him questionable for Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans. Brady did not practice with the team, according to the injury report. Since he took over when Drew Bledsoe was injured in Week 2 of the 2001 season, Brady has played in every game of every season except for 2008, when he was injured in the first quarter of the opener and missed the rest of the season. Brady’s backup, Jimmy Garoppolo, has appeared in four games this season and has not thrown a pass this year. STADIUM DEAL ADVANCES Lawmakers in St. Louis agreed to contribute at least $150 million toward the building of a new, $1.1 billion stadium that would help prevent the Rams from moving to Los Angeles. The 32 owners are expected to vote as soon as January on whether the Rams, the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers can move to Los Angeles. In addition to considering their designs for stadiums there, the owners will consider whether host cities have made a good-faith effort to keep their teams. The N.F.L. said host cities had until Dec. 30 to finalize their proposals. With a stadium designed, land acquired and now one of the last pieces to the financial puzzle ratified, St. Louis has gone the furthest of the three cities that face losing their team. Political and corporate leaders in Missouri have worked for more than a year on a design for a stadium by the banks of the Mississippi River that would replace the Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams now play. After surviving months of legal and funding hurdles and a two-hour debate on Friday that was interrupted by protesters singing Christmas carols, the city’s portion of the financing plan was passed. “Today’s vote of approval represents a significant milestone in the effort to see our N.F.L. stadium and riverfront renewal project come to life and, in doing so, keep the St. Louis Rams here in St. Louis,” Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri said in a statement. “We recognize that our proposal will require extensive review before it is considered for approval by the N.F.L. We are confident that it will be well received.” The owners are split on which proposal they prefer for Los Angeles. E. Stanley Kroenke, who owns the Rams, wants to build an indoor stadium in Inglewood, south of Los Angeles, while the Chargers and the Raiders plan to build an outdoor stadium farther south, in Carson. The stadium would be paid for with at least $200 million from the N.F.L., though Commissioner Roger Goodell disputed reports that the league could contribute an extra $100 million. The sale of personal seat licenses and a mixture of bonds and tax credits would cover another big chunk. The Rams are expected to contribute $250 million, though Kroenke has not said publicly what he thinks of the plan. KEN BELSON BENGALS AND STEELERS FINED The N.F.L. fined five players from the Steelers-Bengals game last weekend a total of $118,649. Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict was fined $69,454 for three separate infractions. However, the league levied no fines over the pregame skirmish at midfield that began when Burfict and Pittsburgh linebacker Vince Williams tangled, butting their helmets at one point. Burfict was fined for roughing the passer, grabbing a face mask and unnecessary roughness. Pittsburgh cornerbacks William Gay and Brandon Boykin were each fined $8,681 for unsportsmanlike conduct over their group demonstration following Gay’s interception return for a touchdown. Steelers safety Mike Mitchell was fined $23,152 for a hit on a defenseless player, and wide receiver Antonio Brown was fined $8,681 for an illegal crackback block. (AP) MANNING SITS WITH SORE FOOT Peyton Manning’s left foot was sore so he did not practice after running the Denver Broncos’ scout team for two days. Manning’s foot has bothered him for months, and he has been sidelined since mid-November with a torn plantar fascia that required a cast or boot for 10 days. He returned to practice Wednesday but after two days of running the scout team, he reported to work saying he was sore. Coach Gary Kubiak had already ruled out Manning for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh (8-5), when Brock Osweiler will make his fifth consecutive start for Denver (10-3). (AP) PANTHERS TAKE IN STAR WARS Some of the unbeaten Carolina Panthers got in some bonding time away from the football field and went to the see the premiere of the new “Star Wars” movie. Panthers center Ryan Kalil said about 20 players made the trip. Kalil had “Purrbacca” T-shirts printed featuring the character Chewbacca made into the Panthers logo. Kalil rented out a theater in Charlotte months ago in preparation for the movie’s release. (AP)


Commodities Regulator Expands Its Reach

Abstract: Cotton, sugar, silver, wheat: in investment circles, commodities like these are hot. Maybe too hot. At a time when prices of many commodities are soaring — cotton has jumped 95 percent in the last 12 months, silver 43 percent — alarms are going off inside the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington. Long dismissed as a lackadaisical regulator, the commission is suddenly on the move. Indeed, it is busier than ever: It opened a record 419 investigations over the last year, into things as diverse as small-time Ponzi schemes and claims of market manipulation. It is a remarkable turnabout for the agency, which not long ago seemed on the brink of extinction. Its chairman, Gary Gensler , a former Goldman Sachs executive, has surprised some of his former Wall Street colleagues by flexing his agency’s muscles. He is rushing to expand the C.F.T.C.’s power now that the agency is poised to take on a new role in overseeing the vast market for derivatives that were traded off formal exchanges in the so-called over-the-counter market. He recently hired a former United States prosecutor as his new head of enforcement. Granted, the C.F.T.C., like its bigger cousin, the Securities and Exchange Commission, often reels in relatively small fish. One recent case centers on what it calls the Aloha scam — a $3 million suspected Ponzi scheme in Hawaii that the agency says was overseen by a man in prison. Bernie Madoff, this is not. What is more, agency outsiders question whether it has the means and experience to police new markets and take on the biggest players. “They had the whole commodities market, and now they’re getting an entire new market,” said Therese M. Doherty, a partner at the law firm of Herrick Feinstein. “I don’t think people have gotten their arms around just how big this market is.” The C.F.T.C., for instance, has about 200 lawyers in its enforcement division, while the S.E.C. has more than 1,200, Ms. Doherty said. The agency is certainly talking tougher. Last week, one of its commissioners, Bart Chilton , urged the agency to strengthen its two-year investigation into suspected manipulation in silver trading. “I believe that there have been repeated attempts to influence prices in the silver markets,” Mr. Chilton said at a hearing last month in Washington. “There have been fraudulent efforts to persuade and deviously control that price.” A day after Mr. Chilton made his comments, two silver traders filed separate lawsuits in Manhattan federal court against two banking giants, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC Holdings. They accused the banks of conspiring to suppress prices of silver futures on the Commodity Exchange division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, beginning in the spring of 2008. A third suit, this one charging actions in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, was filed this week. In the relatively thinly traded silver futures markets, a handful of large banks and financial firms dominate trading. In March 2008 when JPMorgan acquired the foundering Bear Stearns, Bear Stearns had made a significant bet that the price of silver would fall, one of the lawsuits says. A few months later, in August, JPMorgan and Bear Stearns’s bet against the market totaled about 25 percent of the annual world mining production of silver, the lawsuit states. The lawsuits say that JPMorgan and HSBC used their dominant positions in the market to manipulate silver prices. Starting last spring as the two banks cut back on their activities in the silver market, the prices of silver futures increased about 50 percent “even though no fundamental changes in supply or demand for silver, including industrial demand, have occurred during this time period,” one lawsuit states. A spokeswoman for JPMorgan declined to comment on the lawsuits. HSBC officials did not return a telephone call for comment. The investigation comes at a time when individual investors are increasingly interested in investing in commodities, following the lead of hedge fund giants like John A. Paulson and George Soros. Given the uncertain outlook for the economy, many investors have sought safety in precious metals like gold. Silver, copper, wheat and oil have also gained amid concern that new efforts to spur growth — including the $600 billion in new Treasury bond purchases announced by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday — could eventually ignite inflation. Now, as many are making millions legitimately as gold and silver streak to record highs, others are falling foul of frauds in the darker underbelly of the commodities boom. The C.F.T.C. filed 57 enforcement actions in the 12 months ended in September, 14 percent more than in the period a year earlier. And the pace shows no signs of slowing. On Wednesday, the agency took enforcement actions against five different groups or individuals, including accusing three individuals of running a $28 million Ponzi scheme in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. A senior enforcement official said the commission was working more closely with other law enforcement agencies. Its success in securing convictions has shown that commodities fraud is a crime, encouraging other investors to come forward with their complaints, he said. The increase in investigations also reflects a shakeout in Ponzi schemes during the financial crisis . Several of the successful cases over the last year came to light during the 2008 crisis. The agency is also now looking harder for these schemes. It saw a big increase in enforcement actions in the early 2000s, but the number declined in the following years as commodities fell out of fashion and the agency cut back its staff. Now the commission is expanding under Mr. Gensler. Its reach has recently grown to overseeing foreign exchange dealers, and it will share a large part of the burden of the new financial regulation , including new responsibilities for the swaps market. Specifically, the Dodd-Frank Act gives the agency new authority to fight manipulation in the swaps market, as well as new powers against disruptive practices in the swaps and futures markets. Mr. Gensler, who was one of the strongest proponents for moving over-the-counter derivatives onto public exchanges, estimates that his agency will need an additional 400 employees, taking staff levels from 688 now to 1,100 over the next two years. “Markets work best when they are transparent and they have an effective cop on the beat,” he said. Another sign of the change in attitude at the agency is that it hired David Meister, a former securities fraud prosecutor in New York, to run the agency’s enforcement division. Since 2008, the division has been overseen by acting directors.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Commodities
Gensler Gary
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry


The Chatter for Sunday, Dec. 29

Abstract: “I feel like Christmas is incomplete.” Dennis Yslas of Fort Worth, who bought a present that did not arrive via U.P.S. in time for Christmas. U.P.S. attributed a problem with late packages to a short holiday shopping season, a rise in online shopping and bad weather. “They jam their knee into the back of your seat as hard as they can, and they’ll do it repeatedly to see if they can get a reaction.” Mick Brekke, a businessman who flies for work a few times a month, talking about reactions he sometimes gets when he reclines his seat on an airplane. “What writer would pass up the opportunity to peer into the reader’s mind?” Quinn Loftis, a writer of young-adult paranormal romances, talking about new technology that can analyze people’s e-book reading behavior, including how fast they read a book and whether they finished it. “We’re just trying to make every possible use of cheese.” Tony Zielinski, an alderman who represents the Bay View district in Milwaukee. The city has begun a pilot program to repurpose cheese brine for use in keeping roads from freezing, mixing the dairy waste with traditional rock salt as a way to trim costs and ease pollution.


Long Island: FEMA’s New Flood Maps Hit Hard in Nassau County

Abstract: Few parts of the New York region will have their pocketbooks as deeply affected by the remapping of the nation’s flood zones as Long Island, particularly Nassau County. According to James J. Callahan, commissioner of the county’s Office of Emergency Management, 20,000 homes, shops and other properties will be newly required to buy flood insurance costing up to $2,200 a year. The Federal Emergency Management Agency took new measurements of elevations on the South Shore, and in general, houses less than 14 feet above sea level must have insurance after Friday, when the maps take effect. Homeowners in Valley Stream, Hewlett and Long Beach are among those hardest hit by the new insurance requirements. In Suffolk County, the picture is brighter; almost 4,500 structures were excluded from the flood plain, while only 450 buildings were added. The new maps were unveiled last year, and several public meetings followed, at which homeowners voiced their objections. In Nassau, 28,000 properties were reclassified, with 8,000 removed from the flood zone and 20,000 added, Mr. Callahan said. He said he had been getting about five inquiries a day about flood insurance. “What’s happening now is that people who didn’t realize it are now getting letters from their mortgage companies that, effective Sept. 12, you need to have flood insurance,” Mr. Callahan said. He advised homeowners to get insurance before then so they can be grandfathered in as discretionary buyers of flood insurance in a nonflood zone. Even when the new maps take effect, these homeowners will pay lower flood premiums than they otherwise would. JOSEPH BERGER


Changed Life of the Poor: Better Off, but Far Behind

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Is a family with a car in the driveway, a flat-screen television and a computer with an Internet connection poor? Americans — even many of the poorest — enjoy a level of material abundance unthinkable just a generation or two ago. That indisputable economic fact has become a subject of bitter political debate this year, half a century after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty. Starkly different views on poverty and inequality rose to the fore again on Wednesday as Democrats in the Senate were unable to muster the supermajority of 60 votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster of a proposal to raise the incomes of the working poor by lifting the national minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. House Republicans, led by Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, have convened a series of hearings on poverty, including one on Wednesday, in some cases arguing that hundreds of billions of dollars of government spending a year may have made poverty easier or more comfortable but has done little to significantly limit its reach. Indeed, despite improved living standards, the poor have fallen further behind the middle class and the affluent in both income and consumption. The same global economic trends that have helped drive down the price of most goods also have limited the well-paying industrial jobs once available to a huge swath of working Americans. And the cost of many services crucial to escaping poverty — including education, health care and child care — has soared. “Without a doubt, the poor are far better off than they were at the dawn of the War on Poverty,” said James Ziliak, director of the University of Kentucky’s Center for Poverty Research. “But they have also drifted further away.” Democrats have generally argued that addressing this disjunction requires providing more support for the poor, raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment insurance benefits and making health care more affordable by expanding the reach of Medicaid and subsidizing private insurance for those who lack employer coverage. Republicans, by contrast, have proposed reducing government regulations and overhauling existing programs to encourage more work, arguing that would allow Washington to decrease spending on the poor. “The question isn’t whether the federal government should help; the question is how,” Mr. Ryan said at the hearing on Wednesday. “How do we make sure that every single taxpayer dollar we spend to reduce poverty is actually working?” For many working poor families, the most apt description of their finances and lifestyle might be fragile. Even with a steady paycheck, keeping the bills paid becomes a high-wire act and saving an impossibility. Tammie Hagen-Noey, a 49-year-old living in Richmond, Va., tapped at an iPhone as she sat on the porch of the group home where she lives — its proprietor is a friend of her daughter’s. She earns $7.25 an hour at a local McDonald’s, and makes a little extra money on the side from planting small plots of land for neighbors who want to garden. Ms. Hagen-Noey is trying to rebuild her finances, which have been decimated by divorce, government liens and addiction. At the top of her list of priorities is finding better-paid work. She produced a paycheck that showed her earnings so far this year: $2,938.51. “It’s impossible,” she said. “Every cent of that goes towards what I need.” A few months ago, she sold her car for $500 to make rent. Two broad trends account for much of the change in poor families’ consumption over the past generation: federal programs and falling prices. Since the 1960s, both Republican and Democratic administrations have expanded programs like food stamps and the earned-income tax credit. In 1967, government programs reduced one major poverty rate by about 1 percentage point. In 2012, they reduced the rate by nearly 13 percentage points. As a result, the differences in what poor and middle-class families consume on a day-to-day basis are much smaller than the differences in what they earn. “There’s just a whole lot more assistance per low-income person than there ever has been,” said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “That is propping up the living standards to a considerable degree,” he said, citing a number of statistics on housing, nutrition and other categories. Decades of economic growth, however, have been less successful in raising the incomes from work of many poor families, prompting a strong conservative critique this year that hundreds of billions of dollars in antipoverty programs have failed to make the poor less dependent on government. “That’s the crux of the problem,” Mr. Rector added. “What sort of progress is that?” But another form of progress has led to what some economists call the “Walmart effect”: falling prices for a huge array of manufactured goods. Since the 1980s, for instance, the real price of a midrange color television has plummeted about tenfold, and televisions today are crisper, bigger, lighter and often Internet-connected. Similarly, the effective price of clothing, bicycles, small appliances, processed foods — virtually anything produced in a factory — has followed a downward trajectory. The result is that Americans can buy much more stuff at bargain prices. Many crucial services, though, remain out of reach for poor families. The costs of a college education and health care have soared. Ms. Hagen-Noey, for instance, does not treat her hepatitis and other medical problems, as she does not qualify for Medicaid and cannot pay for her own insurance or care. Video Today on the Minute, the minimum wage is at the heart of debate between Democrats and Republicans. Credit Credit Alex Wong/Getty Images Child care also remains only a small sliver of the consumption of poor families because it is simply too expensive. In many cases, it depresses the earnings of women who have no choice but to give up hours working to stay at home. “The average annual cost for infant care in the U.S. is $6,000 or $7,000 a year,” said Professor Ziliak of the University of Kentucky. “When you look at the average income of many single mothers, that is going to end up being a quarter of it. That’s huge. That is just out of reach for many folks.” Tiffany Beroid, a 29-year-old mother who works at a Walmart in Laurel, Md., said she works part time, rather than full time, because she and her husband could not otherwise afford child care. Their incomes already suffered when her doctors told her to stay off her feet during the late stages of her pregnancy, and she said Walmart would not accommodate her with a desk job. “Child care was costing probably $350 a week,” said Ms. Beroid, who makes $10.70 an hour. “I would love to be in full-time work, if I could make enough to cover child care payments.” And many poor families barely make it from paycheck to paycheck. For evidence, economists point to the fact that children living in families with food stamps eat more calories at the beginning of the month than the end of it. Economists pointed out that many low-income families struggled to use even the assets they had: keeping gas in the car, paying for cable and keeping the electricity on. Many families rely on expensive credit. And even if those families sold their assets, often it would only provide them with a small buffer, too. Anthony Goytia, who works the night shift at a Walmart in Southern California, is reliant on payday loans to pay his bills. “Some of our bills come in at the middle of the month,” said Mr. Goytia, a father of four who makes about $16,000 a year. “Then we’ve got to pay our rent by the first, and when we don’t have the money, we have to take out a payday loan.” Bobby Bingham, 38, of Kansas City, Mo., works three part-time jobs seven days a week to make ends meet, but struggles to cover basic living expenses: his apartment, his car, his car insurance, gas and utilities. He is also heavily in debt, owing $30,000 in student loans and about $12,000 in credit-card debt with an annual interest rate of 17 percent. “It’s hard on my psyche,” he said. “There’s no break. There’s no time to breathe. I always have to think about the next step just to survive. It’s not like I can look forward and plan, because I’m just trying to think about tomorrow.” In the end, many mainstream economists argue, the lives of the poor must be looked at in light of the nation’s overall wealth and economic advancement. “If you handpick services and goods where there has been dramatic technological progress, then the fact that poor people can consume these items in 2014 and even rich people couldn’t consume them in 1954 is hardly a meaningful distinction,” said Gary Burtless, an economist at the Brookings Institution. “That’s not telling you who is rich and who is poor, not in the way that Adam Smith and most everyone else since him thinks about poverty.”

Poverty
Paul D Ryan Jr
Income
Welfare in the US
House of Representatives
Congress
Income Inequality
Minimum wage
Filibusters


North Korea: Food Aid Urgently Needed, U.N. Says

Abstract: North Korea needs immediate food assistance after heavy rains killed scores of people and submerged vast areas of farmland, a United Nations office said Thursday. The assessment was released by the United Nations resident coordinator’s office in North Korea’s capital after visits to flood-stricken areas this week. Floods caused by two storms last month killed at least 119 people and left tens of thousands homeless, according to the North’s state media. The flooding, which occurred on the heels of a severe drought, renewed concerns about North Korea’s ability to feed its people. In June, the United Nations said two-thirds of the country’s 24 million people were coping with chronic food shortages. North Korean officials are asking for food, fuel, medicine, water and purification supplies, while farmers are requesting seeds and fertilizer for the next season, the United Nations said. The United States said it would consider a request for assistance but had not received one from North Korea.

North Korea
Floods
Food Aid
United Nations


This Week’s Men’s College Basketball Games to Watch

Abstract: 11 Iowa State at 21 Oklahoma Monday, 9 p.m. Eastern, ESPN Iowa State (17-5, 7-3 Big 12) has not fared well on the road in conference play, going 1-3, so Monday’s trip to Norman is critical for the Cyclones. One of those away losses came against Texas Tech, and Iowa State got some measure of revenge with a 75-38 rout at home on Saturday. Oklahoma (16-7, 7-4), which defeated Texas Christian, 68-56, on Saturday, relies on the junior guard Buddy Hield, who leads the Big 12 in scoring in conference play (19.7 points a game). Image Texas Tech's Keenan Evans, right, lost the ball against Iowa State's Monte Morris on Saturday. One of the Cyclones' road losses in conference play this season was against the Red Raiders, and the rout gave some measure of revenge. Credit Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press 19 Baylor at 8 Kansas Saturday, 1 p.m., CBS Kansas (19-4, 8-2 Big 12) opened conference play with a 56-55 victory at Baylor on Jan. 7, a game in which the Bears had the final possession but failed to get a shot off before time expired. The Jayhawks, who lost Saturday at Oklahoma State, 67-62, are set to play at Texas Tech on Tuesday before facing the Bears (18-5, 6-4), who won at West Virginia, 87-69, on Saturday and have a home game against Oklahoma State on Monday before the matchup at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas will have to contain the junior forward Rico Gathers, who has been on a tear in conference play, averaging a league-best 13.3 rebounds a game. 15 West Virginia at 11 Iowa State Saturday, 4 p.m., ESPN2 With Iowa State one game behind Kansas in the Big 12 standings, and a game ahead of West Virginia (18-5, 6-4), Saturday’s game will have a large impact on the conference race. When the two teams played in Morgantown on Jan. 10, Iowa State pulled out a 74-72 victory. The Mountaineers, who have lost their last two games, are first set to host Kansas State on Wednesday. 7 Villanova at 22 Butler Saturday, 6 p.m., CBS Sports Network The top two teams in the Big East Conference meet with both of them playing well. Villanova (21-2, 8-2) has won eight of its last nine games, including a 69-53 victory over Georgetown on Saturday. Butler (18-6, 8-3) has won seven of its last eight games, including an 83-73 victory over DePaul on Saturday.

College basketball
Big 12 Conference
Iowa State
University of Oklahoma
University of Kansas
Baylor University


Little Suspense With B.C.S. Rankings, but There’s Time

Abstract: The Bowl Championship Series released its first set of rankings Sunday, giving some hard data to quantify a season marked by upsets and dark horses. To no one’s surprise, Texas is No. 1 and Alabama is comfortably in the No. 2 spot ahead of Penn State. The only change of significance near the top of the polls this week came with the Crimson Tide losing 13 first-place votes in the USA Today poll of coaches on the heels of its unimpressive victory against Mississippi and Texas’ dominant performance against Missouri. In a decade when the B.C.S. has determined the participants in the national championship game, there have been few consistencies. The formula has changed more often than Madonna’s hair color, and public acceptance is tepid even in the best times. But one of the B.C.S.’s few bedrocks is that the debut poll is typically less accurate than a boardwalk psychic when it comes to projecting who will play in the title game. All you need to know is that during the debut poll last year, Ohio State checked in at No. 1 and South Florida at No. 2. The Buckeyes went on to lose a home game to Illinois before squirming their way into the title game. And perhaps the best sign of the potential volatility of the next seven weekends is that South Florida finished No. 23 in the overall poll. (Boston College, a trendy midseason upstart, was No. 3 in the first poll last season before falling to No. 14 at the end.) And while the Longhorns have a solid lead for the No. 1 spot — .9979 to .9487 — there is little reason for the Longhorns to start two-stepping. Only twice in B.C.S. history has a team gone on to win the national title after earning the top spot in the rankings. “We have a long way to go and a lot of room to improve,” Texas Coach Mack Brown said. “Watching film today on Oklahoma State will get your mind off of the ratings in a hurry and definitely will grab our players’ attention as we start to prepare for another great challenge.” There is good news for Texas and Alabama. Every season in B.C.S. history, at least one of the teams ranked No. 1 or No. 2 has reached the title game. Here is a quick rundown of the contenders and their title chances. No. 1 Texas WHY IT WILL MAKE IT No one has played consistently better than the Longhorns this season, and the Big 12 title game does not look as daunting. WHY IT WON’T It is difficult to win four games over top-25 teams, which the Longhorns would have to do. No. 2 Alabama WHY IT WILL MAKE IT Trips to Tennessee and L.S.U., which looked menacing a month ago, are not so daunting anymore. WHY IT WON’T The Tide has so little depth and is relying on so many freshmen that it may have a hard time holding up in the SEC title game. Big-game experience is also lacking. No. 3 Penn State WHY IT WILL MAKE IT If it goes undefeated, it is a near lock. WHY IT WON’T Ohio State seems to have emerged from its slumber. No. 4 Oklahoma WHY IT WILL MAKE IT Its best chance comes with a pair of Texas losses. The Sooners need the Longhorns to falter to reach the league title game. WHY IT WON’T Their case resembles Georgia’s conundrum of last season. The Bulldogs did not reach the conference title game, so they were not given a chance to play for the national title. No. 5 Southern California WHY IT WILL MAKE IT The Pac-10 is thinner than a Ginsu-sliced tomato. WHY IT WON’T The computers have U.S.C. ranked No. 10, which is worse than both Utah and Boise State. No. 6 Oklahoma State WHY IT WILL MAKE IT If it beats Texas in Austin on Saturday, it will control its destiny. WHY IT WON’T It has to beat Texas in Austin. That Missouri victory does not look as good after Texas eviscerated the Tigers. No. 7 Georgia WHY IT WILL MAKE IT Plenty of opportunity to leap forward with trips to L.S.U. and a game against Florida on a neutral field still to come. WHY IT WON’T The feeling here is that Georgia simply is not that good. It has no impressive wins, which does not portend a strong finish. No. 8 Texas Tech WHY IT WILL MAKE IT It will be a no-brainer No. 1 if the Red Raiders get through this four-week gantlet — at Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma State and at Oklahoma. WHY IT WON’T Struggles against Nebraska and Texas A&M point to a wobbly finish. No. 9 Ohio State WHY IT WILL MAKE IT Because of the slumping economy and endless election noise, America does not have enough to complain about. WHY IT WON’T Still needs to beat Penn State and hope other teams lose. No. 10 Florida WHY IT WILL MAKE IT L.S.U. was No. 7 in the second-to-last poll last season, so big jumps for SEC teams are realistic. WHY IT WON’T The Gators looked fallible in a loss to Mississippi and still have the SEC title game to deal with.

College Athletics
Bowl Championship Series
Football
Ratings and Rating Systems


CNN Expected to Revamp Its Morning Lineup

Abstract: CNN, which remodeled its afternoon and evening schedule earlier this year, is now on the verge of remaking its morning schedule. The channel, a unit of Time Warner, is expected to announce as early as this week that Soledad O’Brien, one of its former morning anchors, will start anchoring from 7 to 9 a.m. weekdays. Ashleigh Banfield, until recently a correspondent for ABC News, will start co-anchoring from 5 to 7 a.m. The plan, described by three people with direct knowledge of it, will effectively dismantle “American Morning,” which has had about 10 co-anchors in its 10 years on CNN. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the changes had not been announced. A CNN spokeswoman declined to comment on Sunday. Ms. Banfield, at 5 a.m., will have a co-anchor, the people with direct knowledge of the plans said. One possibility is Zoraida Sambolin, who was an early morning anchor in Chicago until this month. Time Out Chicago reported last week that CNN had hired her for a morning anchor slot. Ms. O’Brien, at 7 a.m., may be joined by an ensemble of contributors. “American Morning” has been largely an afterthought in a time period defined by the “Today” show and “Good Morning America” on network television and by “Fox & Friends” and “Morning Joe” on cable. The program also has routinely been beaten in the ratings by “Morning Express With Robin Meade” on CNN’s sister channel HLN. The latest round of overhauls started last December, when the co-anchor John Roberts left the program and joined Fox News, and continued in July, when Kiran Chetry left. It is unclear whether the interim anchors of “American Morning,” Ali Velshi, Christine Romans and Carol Costello, will retain any role on the new morning programs. Mr. Velshi, a business reporter, is expected to anchor a business program on CNN International. Ms. O’Brien is well aware of the challenges CNN faces in the morning, having co-anchored “American Morning” between 2003 and 2006. In her memoir, “The Next Big Story,” she recalled how the ratings would rise and fall depending on the news cycle. “ ‘American Morning’ is a hard news show, and when the news is soft, a lot of people tune out,” she wrote. She was dismissed from the program in 2007 and assigned to produce and host documentaries, something she perceived at first to be a “consolation prize” but came to view as a “backhanded” reward. Her documentaries, like the “Black in America” series, were warmly received by viewers and critics; the “In America” unit that produces them is expected to remain intact, according to two people with knowledge of the unit. Ms. Banfield has been seen recently on “Good Morning America” as a correspondent. She joined ABC News two years ago after working as a host on TruTV and her contract is believed to be up in November. She became well-known while anchoring for MSNBC after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and was briefly mentioned as a possible co-anchor for “Today,” but she departed the network in 2004 after giving a speech that was critical of television coverage of the Iraq war. She argued in the speech that too much of the coverage blindly embraced patriotic symbols and ignored civilian and military causalities and the other “horrors” of war.

News and News Media
CNN
O'Brien Soledad
Banfield Ashleigh
Television
MSNBC
ABC News


Enthusiasts See the Future in Pilotless Aircraft

Abstract: BOULDER, Colo. — A father of five and a professed geek, Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, is always looking for child-friendly activities that could, he hopes, inculcate his children with techie sensibilities. So one weekend in 2007, Mr. Anderson brought home a model radio-controlled airplane and a Lego Mindstorms robotics kit. Soon he and the children put the two toys together, making the Lego robot fly the plane. The result was a clunky Lego drone . His children moved on to other playthings. But Mr. Anderson was captivated. And that led him to found an online network for amateur drone enthusiasts, DIY Drones, and to co-found a new business, 3D Robotics, which features an online store for those hobbyists. “This is the future of aviation,” Mr. Anderson, 49, said. “Our children will not believe that people used to drive cars and drive airplanes. We are the weak link in the chain.” Unlike traditional radio-controlled planes, unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.’s, have the capacity for autonomous flight and navigation. A radio-controlled plane becomes an autonomous drone when it is given an autopilot, which Mr. Anderson calls “giving the plane a brain.” Mr. Anderson was among the enthusiasts here recently attending the third annual Autonomous Vehicle Competition, where teams of software programmers and robot tinkerers from across the country faced off in robot races. Though many of the racers focused on antics like dressing their robots as dinosaurs, Mr. Anderson believes that unmanned aircraft are not just for fun-loving hobbyists. He argues that small drones outfitted with sensors could be used to assess emergency situations like that at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, to find survivors of natural disasters, to assist law enforcement and to monitor pipelines, agricultural crops and wildlife populations. He is not alone in his thinking; many companies and research institutions are working to design drones for commercial and other uses. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that around 50 companies, universities and government organizations are at work on at least 155 drone designs in the United States alone. Some companies already manufacture sophisticated drones. AeroVironment, based in Monrovia, Calif., designed the 4.2-pound, hand-launched Raven aircraft currently used by United States military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, there are privacy and safety concerns, which the F.A.A. mitigates by limiting commercial opportunities for U.A.V.’s and by requiring special permits for unmanned vehicles to fly in the National Airspace System — a complex web of more than 19,000 airports that involves about 100,000 flights a day and thousands of air traffic controllers. So far, the agency has issued 240 such permits — the Department of Homeland Security received permission to patrol the border with drones, and NASA was allowed to fly unmanned aircraft to spot wildfires across the West. The F.A.A. has an additional 164 permit applications pending, and early this fall expects to release new rules, which Mr. Anderson hopes will be more lenient toward unmanned aircraft. Mr. Anderson said DIY Drones had 15,000 members and had about one million page views a month, tapping into a world of do-it-yourself hobbyists who build their own small drones and fly them around parks and neighborhoods. Many of the site’s members, he said, work day jobs at major technology companies like Apple and work in their off hours to develop open-source software that can fly seagull-size drones. Mr. Anderson founded 3D Robotics with Jordi Muñoz, 24. The two met soon after Mr. Anderson trolled the Web for fellow homegrown drone makers and saw a video of Mr. Muñoz flying a helicopter using a repurposed Wii controller. The company now sells the autopilot hardware, cords and sensors needed to build unmanned planes and quadcopters, small helicopters with four rotors. “We are growing really fast,” said Mr. Muñoz, the company’s chief executive, who assembled early prototypes at his home. “When we first started I was working 24 hours a day, seven days a week for almost a year.” The company opened a manufacturing facility in San Diego, which now employs 14 people to assemble and ship drone parts. Last year, the company had a 20 percent increase in sales every month, the founders said, with total sales over $1 million. Customers pay about $300 for an autopilot that includes a GPS device, accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers and all the gadgetry necessary to turn a model plane into an autonomous drone. Other companies sell pre-assembled drones. Under F.A.A. guidelines, recreational fliers like Mr. Anderson and his customers must keep unmanned aircraft lower than 400 feet, away from other aircraft and within the operator’s sight. Nicholas Roy, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, works with students to build the software to run small-scale drones that do not rely on GPS equipment, which is often faulty indoors and in cities — what Mr. Roy calls an “urban canyon.” “In terms of understanding what it means to operate in the physical world with intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles are a fantastic way to do that,” said Mr. Roy, who also leads M.I.T.’s Robust Robotics Group. But he has some reservations about the widespread use of drones. “It’s easy to say, these things are so small, what damage can they do?” he said. “But they can carry an awful lot of energy and they can accumulate energy very quickly. When one comes out of the sky and hits the ground the potential for real damage is there.” Others emphasize the privacy concerns. “The hobbyists are of less concern from a privacy perspective, but I am worried about surveillance of certain parts of cities by law enforcement using drones as though we were somehow in the theater of war,” said Ryan Calo, director of the Consumer Privacy Project at Stanford Law School. “And I’m worried about the inadequacy of privacy law at a constitutional and subconstitutional level to deal with that.” But, at the drone event, Mr. Anderson and Mr. Muñoz seemed most concerned with keeping their aircraft dry and airborne despite the snow flurries. “No guts, no glory,” said Mr. Anderson, who expected some drones to crash. After a day of sputtering failures and spectacular and often unpredictable flights, first place in the aerial category went to Antonio Liska, a 29-year-old aerospace engineer who hopes to start a business selling drones. He programmed his own autopilot and plans to fly his unmanned aircraft into volcanoes in Central America — “just because I can,” he said.

Anderson Chris
Drones (Pilotless Planes)
Robots and Robotics
Airlines and Airplanes


Inquiry Into Fukushima Plant Suggests Worse Damage

Abstract: TOKYO — The damage to one of three stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant could be worse than previously thought, a recent internal investigation has shown, raising new concerns over the plant’s stability and complicating the post-disaster cleanup. The government has said that the plant’s three badly damaged reactors have been in a relatively stable state, called a cold shutdown, for months, and officials say that continues. But new tests suggest that the plant — which was ravaged last March when a powerful earthquake and tsunami hit the area — might not be as stable as the government or the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, had hoped. The key to keeping the reactors stable is keeping their fuel rods cool with water. The company announced this week that an examination of one reactor, No. 2, showed that the water level in an outer containment vessel was far lower than estimated, which could indicate that the already badly damaged uranium fuel might not be completely submerged and, therefore, is in danger of heating up. Cooling water in that vessel, called the drywell, was just two feet deep, rather than the 33-foot level estimated by Tepco officials when the government declared the plant stable in December. That is probably not a problem for the fuel that the company says has leaked into the drywell from an inner containment vessel because Tepco says that melted fuel is unlikely to be higher than two feet. But Tepco officials said the low water in the drywell left open the possibility that the water level in the leaking inner containment vessel, where most of the fuel is thought to be, was also low. Experts say that could leave the fuel there exposed and lead to more damage. The fuel would likely then leach more radioactive materials into the water that is flowing through the reactor to cool it. That scenario would be particularly problematic since the company has long feared that some of the tons of water it is using to cool the reactors is escaping into the ground or into the ocean at the seaside plant. Throughout the nuclear crisis, both Tepco and the government were accused of playing down the dangers posed by the meltdowns at the plant. Subsequent disclosures that the event was indeed far more severe than they let on have badly damaged their credibility. Fukushima Daiichi’s vital cooling systems were knocked out in the early stages of the crisis last year. The cooling systems there now were put in place months after the accident. Although they are designed to be closed loops, circulating water in and out of the reactors, the reactors themselves were damaged when operators lost control of the plant and are likely leaking. The internal investigation also found current radiation levels of 72.0 sieverts inside the drywell, enough to kill a person in a matter of minutes, as well as for electronic equipment to malfunction. The high readings could be a reflection of the low water level, since the water acts as a shield against radiation. The high levels of radiation would complicate work to locate and remove the damaged fuel and decommission the plant’s six reactors — a process that is expected to take decades. Cleanup will probably require flooding the inner reactor vessel and lowering tools into it to scoop up parts of the radioactive rubble. That strategy worked well at Three Mile Island after the 1979 accident there. But at Fukushima, the reactor vessels are known to have cracked, because they were overpressurized. Filling them with water would be difficult, unless the surrounding drywell can also be filled. The fact that the drywell at No. 2 has so little water could mean that technicians will need to develop a new technique. “With levels of radiation extremely high, we would need to develop equipment that can tolerate high radiation,” Junichi Matsumoto, an executive at Tepco, said Tuesday. To gauge water levels inside the drywell at reactor No. 2, workers in hazmat suits inserted an endoscope equipped with a tiny video camera, a thermometer, a dosimeter for measuring radiation and a water gauge. It is unclear if they will be able to perform the same test at the other badly damaged reactors — No. 1 and No. 3 — because nearby radiation levels are higher there. Experts also worry about a fourth reactor that was not operating at the time of the tsunami, but nevertheless poses a risk because of the large number of spent nuclear fuel rods stored in a pool there. The spent fuel rods pose a particular threat, experts say, because they lie outside the unit’s containment vessels. Experts have become especially worried in recent weeks, as earthquakes continue to hit the area, that the damaged reactor building could collapse, draining the pool and possibly leading to another large leak of radioactive materials. Tepco has been working to fortify the crumpled outer shell of the building of that reactor, No. 4. “The plant is still in a precarious state,” said Kazuhiko Kudo, a professor of nuclear engineering at Kyushu University in southwestern Japan . “Unfortunately, all we can do is to keep pumping water inside the reactors,” he said, “and hope we don’t have another big earthquake.”

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Japan)


Turner Broadcasting, Home of CNN, TBS and TNT, Will Cut 1,475 jobs

Abstract: Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting System group said on Monday that it was cutting its work force by about 10 percent, or about 1,475 jobs, as the cable television group tries to overhaul its business in the face of ratings declines and a digital revolution that is upending how people watch television. The job cuts will occur across all levels of Turner, the home of the cable networks CNN, TBS and TNT. Employees in 18 Turner locations across the world, including Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles, will lose their jobs. The Turner headquarters in Atlanta — where its founder, Ted Turner, started the business in 1970 — will be hardest hit, with 975 positions eliminated there. John Martin, chief executive of Turner, is trying to reshape the business over the next six years. The plan, called “Turner 2020,” was announced in June but became more important after Time Warner rejected a takeover attempt this summer by 21st Century Fox. Time Warner, the media conglomerate that also owns HBO and the Warner Bros. movie studio, now needs to convince shareholders that it can grow on its own. The company, led by its chief executive, Jeffrey L. Bewkes, will pitch its strategy in a shareholder meeting next week. At Turner, the strategy behind the overhaul is to focus resources on programming, technology innovation and international expansion. Turner said it was adding 150 employees in growth areas. An important area focus is live sports, one of the few types of programming that continues to draw high ratings and lucrative licensing fees from cable and satellite TV providers. Turner’s TNT and TBS hold valuable sports broadcasting assets, like the broadcasting rights for the National Basketball Association and the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament. On Monday, it made its intention to invest in sports assets clear in announcing a new nine-year deal with the N.B.A. costing nearly three times what it had been paying in contracts that end after the 2015-16 season. “Turner 2020 is designed to improve efficiency and maximize performance across the organization and will likely result in restructuring charges in the second half of this year,” Howard Averill, Time Warner’s chief financial officer, said in a recent conference. “This is all consistent with our companywide strategy to limit nonprogramming expense growth in order to fund investments and drive continued margin expansion.” Turner generates more revenue than Time Warner’s other business units. In the first half of the year, revenues at Turner increased 4.8 percent to $5.3 billion compared with the same period in 2013. Operating income increased 9.8 percent to $1.8 billion. The layoffs will include jobs at Turner’s CNN cable news group, where ratings this year are hovering near 20-year lows. Total day viewers this year are down 7.6 percent, to 122,000, compared with 2013, in the audience that attracts the most revenue for news channels, viewers aged 25 to 54, according to Nielsen. Jeff Zucker, president of CNN, said in a call with employees in August that the group would need to “do less and have to do it with less.”

Turner Broadcasting System
Time Warner
Layoffs
TV
Cable television


Cam Newton Payment Plan Said to Be Outlined

Abstract: More details emerged on Wednesday showing how Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s father, Cecil, might have requested payments for his son to play at Mississippi State. ESPN.com reported that Bill Bell, a former Mississippi State player, told the N.C.A.A. that he received a text message from Kenny Rogers, who has financial ties to an N.F.L. agent, requesting $80,000 the day after Newton would sign, $50,000 after 30 days and another $50,000 after 30 more days. “He told me this kid’s dad is going to want money and the next day he sent me a text message,” Bell told ESPN.com . “He didn’t say anything other than, ‘This is what I want and I want it in three installments.’ ” Bell also said that Cecil Newton Sr. participated in three-way calls with him and Rogers to listen to potential arrangements to pay his son. Rogers’s lawyer, Doug Zeit, also confirmed to ESPN.com that Rogers met with Jackie Thurnes, an associate director of N.C.A.A. Enforcement, while another N.C.A.A. enforcement representative, Marcus Wilson, participated by telephone. Bell is the third person to say that Cecil Newton Sr. solicited money. N.C.A.A. officials have said that asking for money, even by a parent or representative, can be a violation.

College Athletics
Auburn University
National Collegiate Athletic Assn
Newton Cameron J
Bell Bill


Senate Says McCain Is Qualified

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Senate on Wednesday delivered its judgment on a constitutional question involving one of its own and formally declared that Senator John McCain is eligible to be president — at least from a citizenship perspective. Weighing in on an arcane question that has arisen because of Mr. McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone, the Senate without opposition approved a nonbinding resolution recognizing that Mr. McCain is a natural-born citizen. Among the basic qualifications the Constitution lays out for president is that the person be a natural-born citizen, a phrase not defined and one that has been subjected to various interpretations. At the request of Mr. McCain’s campaign, two constitutional lawyers studied the issue and found in favor of Mr. McCain, whose father was stationed in the zone with the Navy when the future candidate was born. Colleagues of both parties in the Senate, including his two potential Democratic rivals, concur. “There is no evidence of the intention of the framers or any Congress to limit the constitutional rights of children born to Americans serving in the military nor to prevent those children from serving as their country’s president,” the resolution said. It does not have the power of law. Its authors, chiefly Senators Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont and Claire McCaskill of Missouri, both Democrats, said they wanted the Senate clearly on record.

McCain John
Citizenship
Senate
Presidential Election of 2008
United States Politics and Government
Constitutions
Leahy Patrick J
McCaskill Claire


Robert Klein Enjoys Linsanity but Finds Nothing Funny About It

Abstract: Robert Klein landed in the middle of Linsanity only as a matter of luck, the Knicks having called to ask if he’d like his usual — but only occasional — courtside seat at Madison Square Garden several weeks before Jeremy Lin pierced anybody’s consciousness. As a Knicks fan since he was a child growing up in the Bronx, Klein could not have been more delighted to find himself in the middle of the craze. “It’s one of the great stories of this decade,” Klein said. “It’s the hope and promise of the impossible.” But as a comedian, Klein has also found very little humor in the insanity part of Linsanity. Some of it is backlash, rooted in bigotry. Some of it is silliness. But not much of it, Klein said, is funny. “America has not come far enough along,” Klein said. “Listen, the fortune cookie stuff is nothing. That’s not making fun of someone’s physical characteristics or ethnicity. Every Chinese restaurant gives out fortune cookies. The chink in the armor stuff, that’s much more harmful. “But I think some of that is generational. Younger people don’t understand how hurtful that word has been.” Klein said that being able to watch any of it from up close happened purely by chance. He said the lockout made him rather ambivalent about the season and that he was not thinking about coming to a game when his usual contact in the Knicks’ marketing office called him. But he agreed to come because he always goes to a game or two a year. Klein, 70, traces his fandom back to the early 1950s. Now when he attends, Klein becomes one of the celebrity faces the MSG cameras spotlight during the game, trying to add that bit of glamour to the Garden. This time, last Monday in a game against the Nets, the Garden did not need extra glamour. It already had Lin, who has become a worldwide sensation, as the starting point guard. And even though the Knicks lost that game, Lin won another fan. “It’s just miraculous,” Klein said. “This is one of the best stories ever in sports. Because basketball is a five-man unit, one person can make such a difference, unlike a baseball or football team. This kid just came in and brought all of these qualities they lacked. They have all these highly paid players like Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, and they’re going to have to learn how to fit in with him, not the other way around. The excitement is just tremendous.” Eventually, Klein hopes the Lin story becomes all about basketball and not about whether Ben & Jerry’s stepped over a line by putting fortune cookies in their Linsanity flavor or whether headlines contain latent bigotry. “A lot of it is political correctness, which is so badly named,” he said. “It sounds like something in North Korea, where to be politically correct, they’ll send you to a camp. But we haven’t come far enough as a country to make any jokes about this.” Klein said he would definitely be going to more games, where the MSG cameras will find him unabashedly rooting for his newest favorite Knick. “The thing everybody is overlooking is, this kid is American as can be,” Klein said. “He’s from California. Yes, there’s the ethnic angle because there have been so few Asian-Americans to play in the N.B.A. , but this kid’s just a great American story. He’s a first-generation American immigrant. He’s what America is made of.”

Klein Robert
Lin Jeremy
New York Knicks
Basketball
National Basketball Assn


Apple Watch Success Will Hinge on Apps

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — The value of a wristwatch is typically defined by its materials, design, features and brand. For the new Apple Watch, all those factors will apply, but so will something else: apps. Apple on Monday held a media event to explain how its long-awaited Apple Watch works and how much it costs. Just as important, it also demonstrated what the watch was capable of doing with apps made by other companies. If the watch is going to succeed, those other companies will have a lot to do with it because few devices — not even those made by Apple — will sell well without the help of a whole lot of app developers. “All of Apple’s devices really come alive with third-party apps, and it’ll be the same with the watch,” said Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst for Jackdaw Research. Image Apple demonstrated the functions of the Apple Watch on Monday during an event in San Francisco. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times When Apple released the iPhone in 2007, it was essentially a blank slate. When the App Store opened a year later, the device became much more than a fancy phone. Just by downloading an app, the iPhone could become a musical instrument, a medical device, a TV remote and gaming device. It became the ultimate Swiss army knife of gadgets. For the Apple Watch to be remotely as successful, Apple will have to find a way to take that world of apps to the wrist. But a watch presents unique challenges with its tiny screen. And the way app developers make money from it will be different than with other Apple products. Unlike the iPhone or iPad , the Apple Watch is not a stand-alone product. It relies on an iPhone to fully operate, partly because the brains of watch apps will live on the iPhone. So users will have to install watch apps on the iPhone as well. The economics of that combination are tricky. Developers working on watch apps have to make an iPhone app first and expand it to include support for the watch. And it remains unclear whether they can double-dip. Apple has not said whether developers can charge for the iPhone app, then charge again for the watch extension. Image Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, introduced features of the Apple Watch, the company’s foray into wearable devices. 1 / 6 Still, companies are trying, even though some are worried the watch’s tiny screen can limit features or — even worse — ads. Christian Gaiser, chief executive of Retale, said his company found a path to using a watch app to complement its smartphone app. Retale’s iPhone app displays weekly deals for retailers like Walmart and Target. Retale users who see something they want to buy in the iPhone app can push the nearest location of the retailer to the watch app, which will map out turn-by-turn directions on the watch screen. Retale collects fees from retailers whenever customers engage with their ads, so the watch app is meant to increase usage of the smartphone app, Mr. Gaiser said. At its event, Apple also demonstrated an app from Uber, the ride-sharing service, to summon a car. The watch app shows where the driver is on a map, and from there, the user can place a phone call to the driver. Apple also showed an app developed by Starwood Hotels. Starwood’s iPhone app can be used to book a hotel room. The watch app sends a notification to the watch wearer when he or she is near the hotel. When the guest arrives at the hotel, the watch app shows the room number, and after that the watch can unlock the user’s room door just with a hand wave over the lock. Image Guests of Apple’s media event tested out the new Apple Watch. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times “The end goal is to build loyalty with our most valuable guests,” said Chris Holdren, who led development of the Starwood watch app. “It continues to deepen the relationship we have with them.” Unlike past Apple products, the Apple Watch has a complex pricing structure. Because a smartwatch is both device and fashion accessory, Apple designed the watch to be highly customizable to suit the tastes of various users, from fitness buffs to collectors of luxury watches. Apple will offer three models, each with a casing made of a different material: Watch Sport, a version with an aluminum case; Watch, which has a stainless steel case; and Watch Edition, which has a case made of 18-karat gold. Each model comes in two case sizes — 1.5 inches and 1.65 inches. And for each watch, customers will be able to choose from a variety of interchangeable bands in different colors and materials. The cheapest model is the Apple Watch Sport, the one tailored to athletes, which starts at $350. The larger Apple Watch Sport costs $400. The next step up is the Apple Watch, with a more fashionable stainless steel case. The smaller version of this watch costs $550 to $1,040, and the larger one costs $600 to $1,100. The price range for both depends on the band. The golden Apple Watch Edition is a sure sign that Apple has entered the luxury market. Pricing for this high-end version starts at $10,000. Preorders start April 10, and the watches will go on sale on April 24. They will first be available in a select number of countries, including the United States, Australia, China and Japan. At the event, Apple also stressed some of the signature features of the device. The company has highlighted the crown as its latest signature innovation for controlling a device, similar to the mouse for the personal computer, the click wheel on the iPod and the touch screen for the iPhone. On the Apple Watch, the crown can be twisted to zoom in or out of the screen or to scroll through a web page. You can take and even make phone calls, as long as your iPhone is nearby. “I have been wanting to do this since I was 5 years old,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive. Image Journalists, bloggers, and Apple employees waiting for Apple CEO Timothy D. Cook to talk about the new Apple Watch. Credit Jim Wilson/The New York Times The watch includes a heart rate sensor and a sensor for tracking movement to complement fitness applications. It has a chip that helps it make wireless payments. The watch also includes Digital Touch, an application that enables a new method of communication between watch users. Watch wearers can scribble sketches on the watch screen and send them to one another, or even send their heartbeats. Apple also added to the watch a so-called taptic engine, which taps users on the wrist with a tactile sensation when they receive alerts, messages or notifications. Apple said the watch’s battery would last 18 hours. Apple also announced a new MacBook laptop with a 12-inch high-resolution “retina” display. It weighs two pounds and measures 13.1 millimeters at its thickest point. It also includes a new port called USB-C. It is a versatile port that can be used for charging, plugging in a video monitor, or hooking up a USB accessory like a keyboard. The MacBook’s starting price is $1,300 and it begins shipping April 10. Apple on Monday also released upgrades for some of its other notebooks, including the MacBook Air.

Mobile Apps
Wearable Computing
Apple
Watches and Clocks
iPhone


Keycorp Courts First Niagara in the Latest Bank Deal

Abstract: KeyCorp is close to buying the First Niagara Financial Group, people briefed on the matter said, the latest in a string of transactions that may signal bank deals are back. KeyCorp, based in Cleveland, is looking to pay slightly more than the almost $4 billion market value of First Niagara, which is based in Buffalo, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The deal could be announced within the next few days, they said. Bank mergers have increased recently as midsize companies seek to contend with lower interest rates that are cutting into their margins from loans. Earlier Thursday, New York Community Bancorp agreed to buy the Astoria Financial Corporation for about $2 billion. In August, BB&T said it planned to acquire National Penn Bancshares for $1.8 billion. Shares of First Niagara rose 3.5 percent in after-hours trading after The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the talks.