Cosmos to Lead Return to Post-Embargo Cuba

Abstract: The New York Cosmos will play the Cuban national team in June in Havana, becoming the first American professional team to play on the island in 16 years and the first since the United States government announced that it would restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba in December. Cosmos officials would not comment on the game, which was announced erroneously this weekend on several Cuban websites as scheduled for April 2. In fact, the game will be played on June 2 and will feature a full-strength Cuban national team that will be preparing for July’s Concacaf Gold Cup , the biennial regional championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean. A formal announcement of the match is expected soon, perhaps as early as this week. The game will take place during a break in the Cosmos’ regular schedule in the North American Soccer League, the second tier of American men’s pro soccer. The Cosmos are a particularly attractive first opponent for Cuba because of their strong global brand and because they have the former Spain World Cup stars Raúl and Marcos Senna as well as several players from Central and South America . While Cuba’s main sporting preoccupation is baseball , it now has a serious rival in soccer. The United States national team regularly meets Cuba’s national team in international matches and won by 4-1 in the last meeting, in Sandy, Utah, during the 2013 Gold Cup. The teams are hardly rivals, however; the Americans have won all seven games between the teams since 1998, including a World Cup qualifier in 2008, but before that they had not met in men’s soccer since 1949. American pro teams were once regular visitors to Cuba. The Brooklyn Dodgers held spring training there in the late 1940s, and the Yankees did the same in the ’50s. The Baltimore Orioles were the last American pro team to play in Cuba, beating the host country’s national team, 3-2 , in an exhibition game in Havana in March 1999. The Orioles lost a return game in Baltimore six weeks later. The Class AAA Rochester Red Wings were the last team from the United States to play in Cuba before the embargo began in 1960. At the time, the International League, of which the Red Wings were a member, had a team in Cuba, the Havana Sugar Kings. But soon after the Red Wings’ final visit, in June 1960, the International League president ordered the Havana team to move to Jersey City because, he said at the time, the safety of visiting baseball personnel “ is or might be endangered. ” The United States government imposed its economic embargo that fall. After President Obama announced he would restore relations in December, the Boston Red Sox were seeking to become the first pro team to visit, according to several reports . But the Cubans, it seems, preferred soccer, and the Cosmos.

Soccer
Cuba
Embargoes Sanctions
New York Cosmos Soccer Team


Southampton Wallops Sunderland, 8-0

Abstract: Southampton crushed visiting Sunderland, 8-0, in one of the biggest wins in the Premier League’s 22-year history, overshadowing Sergio Agüero’s four-goal haul in Manchester City’s thrashing of Tottenham on Saturday. On an incident-packed day of goals, red cards and drama in England’s top league, Chelsea preserved its 5-point lead — and its unbeaten start to the season — by beating host Crystal Palace, 2-1, thanks to a free kick from Oscar and a great team goal finished off by Cesc Fàbregas. Second-place City, the defending champion, is leading the chase, with Agüero grabbing two goals in each half — two coming from penalties — and also missing from the spot in a 4-1 win at home over the 10-man Spurs. City has now scored 15 goals in three straight wins over Tottenham. Southampton stayed a point behind in third after scoring five times in the final 27 minutes against imploding Sunderland, narrowly missing out on equaling the record margin of victory in the Premier League held by Manchester United in its 9-0 win over Ipswich in 1995. “I’m still a little bit in shock,” Southampton Manager Ronald Koeman said. “Sometimes football is strange.” That victory, Southampton’s biggest in the league, upstaged Agüero’s effervescent attacking display against Tottenham, with his four goals moving him level with Chelsea striker Diego Costa as the Premier League’s top scorer, with nine. Danny Welbeck’s stoppage-time strike secured injury-hit Arsenal a 2-2 draw at home with Hull, and goals by Phil Jagielka, Romelu Lukaku and Seamus Coleman earned host Everton a 3-0 win over Aston Villa. West Ham defeated host Burnley, 3-1, and Newcastle’s match against Leicester was delayed by an hour after part of a newly erected big screen was dislodged by wind at St. James’ Park. RONALDO SETS RECORD Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 14th and 15th goals to set a Spanish league record for scoring to start a season as Real Madrid eased to a 5-0 win at Levante. Ronaldo has 15 goals in eight games despite missing one game because of injury. Barcelona’s Neymar is in second place with seven goals. Madrid rose provisionally into second place, 1 point behind Barcelona, which was scheduled to host Eibar later in a match where Lionel Messi would need two goals to tie the league’s career record. Athletic Bilbao and visiting Celta Vigo tied, 1-1. DORTMUND’S SLUMP CONTINUES Borussia Dortmund slumped to its fourth defeat in five Bundesliga games with a 2-1 loss at Cologne, while the league leader Bayern Munich routed visiting Werder Bremen, 6-0. Stuttgart fought from three goals down to draw, 3-3, with visiting Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Möenchengladbach defeated host Hannover by 3-0, visiting Wolfsburg beat Freiburg by 2-1, and host Mainz beat Augsburg by 2-1.

Soccer
Manchester City Soccer Team
Tottenham Hotspur Soccer Team
Sergio Aguero


Chunk of New Jersey’s Money From Exxon Settlement Is to Go to Legal Fees

Abstract: New Jersey’s decision to settle a multibillion-dollar pollution lawsuit with Exxon Mobil Corporation has come under broad criticism, as lawmakers and environmentalists have questioned why the state would agree to accept only $225 million — a small fraction of the $8.9 billion in damages it was seeking in court. But if the deal is approved, the state will not even get that much: New Jersey’s recovery will most likely total about $180 million or so, after legal fees and costs are deducted, records show. The litigation was handled on a contingency basis by an outside law firm, Kanner & Whiteley of New Orleans, which specializes in environmental lawsuits. The firm, retained by the state, had worked closely with the state attorney general’s office and Department of Environmental Protection, the records show. A state official said on Monday that the Kanner firm would receive roughly 20 percent of any recovery, if the settlement and legal fees were approved by a judge. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the settlement papers have not yet been made public. In a decade or so of litigation in the Exxon case, the state, working with the Kanner firm, won key rulings on liability. Last year, a trial commenced to establish what damages Exxon should pay for contamination at two refinery sites in northern New Jersey. In November, after the trial ended, the state argued that the “scope of the environmental damage resulting from the discharges is as obvious as it is staggering and unprecedented in New Jersey.” Exxon said it should not pay any damages. The judge, Michael J. Hogan, was believed to be ready to rule in January when the attorney general’s office asked him to hold back and then informed him that a settlement had been reached. The acting attorney general, John J. Hoffman, and the state’s environmental commissioner, Bob Martin, said in a statement last week that the “historic” deal came about “because this administration aggressively pushed the case to trial” and engaged in “long-fought settlement negotiations.” The statement said that Mr. Hoffman’s office negotiated the deal, “working in coordination” with Mr. Martin’s agency and the office of Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. A spokesman for the Christie administration on Monday declined to comment on the legal fees issue. The state retained the Kanner firm more than a decade ago to help develop an initiative that would include suing for compensation for damages to natural resources and the loss of their use to the public. A 2004 news release from the attorney general’s office that announced the first wave of cases said the state would be assisted by “a group of experienced outside counsel.” Jeffrey Jacobson, a top adviser to Mr. Hoffman, said in an interview last April with Law360, “In these big-stakes cases like the $9 billion Exxon trial, New Jersey should and will be happy that we had those outside partners working with us.” During the damages trial, John Sacco, an official with the Department of Environment Protection, testified about the rationale for using outside firms. The environmental agency, as well as the attorney general’s office, he said, did not “have the expertise in-house to litigate a case of this complexity.” Exxon, meanwhile, was represented by a legal team led by Theodore V. Wells Jr., a partner and co-chairman of the litigation department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a prominent Manhattan law firm. The Kanner firm, which declined to comment for this article, helped the state assess potential lawsuits under the initiative and try cases that could not be settled, according to a biography of the firm filed in court. The firm was also assigned to handle the Exxon suits, which sought damages for contamination by refineries in Bayonne and Linden, also known as Bayway. The firm was to be paid on a contingency basis, with a sliding scale that included a fee of 20 percent of recoveries over $25 million after a trial begins, according to the retainer agreement, signed by the attorney general at the time, Peter C. Harvey, and the lawyer Allan Kanner. A judge later invalidated that fee scale, saying the rates had to comply with New Jersey’s court rules, which do not specify a percentage for recoveries over $3 million except to say the fees must be “reasonable.” The fees also had to be approved by a judge. Since that ruling, the attorney general’s office has endorsed the original fee scale, including the 20 percent figure, as “presumptively reasonable,” according to a 2010 filing by the office in a $3 million settlement handled by the Kanner firm. Under the state’s retainer agreement, litigation costs are born by the outside firm if there is no recovery by the state. In deciding whether to approve the legal fees in the Exxon case, Judge Hogan would quite likely consider issues like the risk the law firm undertook, the number of hours its lawyers worked and their standard billing rates, said John Leubsdorf, a law professor at Rutgers University who has written extensively about legal fees. The fact that the attorney general’s office settled for significantly less than the state had been seeking, however, would probably not be a consideration, he said. “The client always has the right to settle the case,” Professor Leubsdorf added, noting that a state may have “many motives” to settle, in addition to seeking “as much money through the courts as it can.”

New Jersey
ExxonMobil
Environment
Water pollution
Wetlands
Chris Christie
Kanner & Whiteley
Lawsuits
Bayonne NJ
Linden


What the Death of Thailand’s King Means, and What’s Next

Abstract: King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, one of the longest-reigning monarchs in history, died Thursday at age 88 . His death, and the transition of power, could become a turning point for a country ruled by a military junta and long divided by rival political factions. What power did the king have? As head of state and the military, King Bhumibol endorsed the appointment of high-ranking government and military officials. The military government that has ruled the country since taking power in a coup two years ago claimed legitimacy from the king’s endorsement. The king was a symbol of national unity and viewed with great affection by the people of Thailand. His portrait hangs from buildings, in schools and along highways across the country. Who succeeds him? Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, was appointed by King Bhumibol as the crown prince in 1972. The king’s only son, Prince Vajiralongkorn is seen by many as a playboy living a jet-setter lifestyle in Europe. That reputation has prompted speculation that the 2014 coup may have been an attempt by the military to tighten its grip on the government before his ascension and ensure a smooth transition. The crown prince has delayed his coronation , saying that he wanted to grieve for his father with the country. A top official said the coronation would take place after the king’s cremation, after a yearlong mourning period. Where does the military stand? In 2014, the junta overthrew the elected government for the second time in a decade and suspended most of the Constitution. Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha was installed as the prime minister and chief of the junta, a move that the king blessed. The coup was seen as a victory for the political elite and a defeat for a rising populist movement. In August, voters backed a new Constitution , written by the military, that reduces the power of political parties and gives the military the authority to appoint members of the Senate. The junta restricted political assemblies and criticism of the referendum in the months leading up to the vote. As many as 120 people were jailed by the ruling generals . What happens next? General Prayuth announced after the king’s death that officials in the government and at state enterprises would begin a year of mourning starting Friday. Flags will fly at half-staff for 30 days, and he urged the public to refrain from holding any celebrations during that period. Past deaths of members of the royal family have included a period in which the body has lain in state, followed by a six-day ceremony. The cremation of King Bhumibol will not take place for at least a year, a top official said. In the absence of a king, Prem Tinsulanonda, 96, a former prime minister and the leader of the powerful Privy Council, will serve as regent pro tempore.

Bhumibol Adulyadej
Thailand
Coups D'Etat
National Council for Peace and Order
Prayuth Chan-ocha
Vajiralongkorn


Nearly a Fifth of War Veterans Report Mental Disorders, a Private Study Finds

Abstract: One in five service members who have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression , but little more than half of them have sought mental health treatment, according to an independent study of United States troops. The service members and veterans who reported these symptoms represented about 19 percent of the 1.6 million service members who have deployed to war in the last five years, a figure consistent with the most recent findings by military researchers. A 2007 survey of combat Army soldiers who had been home for several months found that 17 percent of active-duty troops and 25 percent of reservists had screened positive for symptoms of stress disorder. The study, released on Thursday by the RAND Corporation, reported that about 19 percent of the troops said they might have experienced a traumatic brain injury , usually the result of powerful roadside bombs, yet a majority of those troops had never been evaluated for such an injury. The 500-page study is the first exhaustive, private analysis of the psychological and cognitive injuries suffered by service members. The study sought to determine the prevalence of these injuries, gaps in treatment and the costs of treating, or failing to treat, the conditions. RAND researchers conducted a telephone survey from last August to January 2008 with 1,965 service members, reservists and veterans who had deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the last five years. Some respondents had deployed more than once. The researchers also gathered data from focus groups. The survey was conducted in 24 communities with high concentrations of service members, reservists and veterans. The Defense Department said that it was heartened that the data reflected its own findings on the prevalence of mental injuries, and that the study helped highlight the hurdles the military faces in helping veterans. “We’re on a long journey, and we’ve come a long way, but we’ve got a long way to go,” said Col. Loree Sutton of the Army, head of the new Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury. Lisa H. Jaycox, a senior behavioral scientist at RAND and a co-author of the new study, “Invisible Wounds of War,” said the findings also served to underscore the barriers, some of them self-imposed, that troops face in getting help. War veterans say they are often reluctant to seek treatment, in part out of fear that their medical information will be used to derail their careers. Commanders typically have access to a service member’s military medical records. “There is a perception that the record can be used against them,” Ms. Jaycox said. “That is hard to overcome given that the record is not confidential.” Only 53 percent of service members and veterans who reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression sought treatment. Of those, about half got “minimally adequate treatment,” according to the study. “Clearly, that’s a finding that concerns us,” Colonel Sutton said during a meeting with reporters. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is considering removing a question about a service member’s health care history from security clearance questionnaires, she said. “We think that’s going to be a big step forward to help our service members understand that seeking care, in fact, is a sign of strength,” Colonel Sutton said. A shortage of well-trained mental health workers in the military and the veterans’ health care system compounds the challenge. The RAND study also estimated the two-year cost of treating service members who return from war with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. It put the figure at $6.2 billion, an amount that includes medical care, lost productivity and losses from suicide. The better the treatment, the more that the nation saves, the study concluded. “This is a crisis, and we can’t keep muddling around the edges,” said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonpartisan advocacy group. “We can pay for mental health care now or pay for the jail cells and cemeteries and alcohol and drug treatment programs later. Not to mention the moral obligation we have to these veterans.”

Veterans
Mental Health and Disorders
Iraq


On the Bowery, Questions About the Catholic Church’s Shifting Mission

Abstract: Men lined up outside St. Joseph House on the Lower East Side on a recent morning, some with their belongings stuffed in worn bags, all with their stomachs empty. Inside the dining hall, which is run by Catholic Worker, a hearty meal of stew and bread awaited. Most of the men were homeless, though not necessarily hopeless — this daily ritual gave sustenance and respite in a neighborhood that has steadily pushed them aside as tenements and poor people give way to luxury buildings. Gerald Howard ushered a few men at a time inside. Once homeless himself, he has lived at St. Joseph House for several years, and helps the ministry in welcoming the needy. “The hipsters, yuppies or whatever name you call them have been infiltrating this neighborhood,” he said. “They’re gentrifying the area, and I don’t think the homeless are part of their equation. I think, for them, out of sight is out of mind. You don’t see them. You don’t talk to them.” The Bowery was once synonymous with being down and out, but, Mr. Howard said, services for homeless men have become harder to find there. He used to work at the Holy Name Center for Homeless Men, a stalwart presence on Bleecker Street since the 1940s, where each day about 100 men took morning showers, grabbed a meal and got their mail. The Archdiocese of New York closed the center in 2011, citing “changing demographics” and low demand. It renovated the building and turned it into a Roman Catholic cultural center containing a 250-seat auditorium, a black box theater, rehearsal rooms and a small gallery. The building will also house eight campus ministry volunteers. Named after Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the center was envisioned as a vehicle for the church to evangelize through culture and art. This month, for instance, it will serve as one of the venues for the New York International Fringe Festival. In September, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan will preside over its dedication and deliver an address about Archbishop Sheen, who gained fame as a television personality for his show “Life Is Worth Living.” Fred Armour is puzzled by the cultural center. Having lived on the streets for five years, Mr. Armour used to rely on Holy Name for taking showers, which he could do early enough to have the rest of the day to look for work. A few other places in the area offer showers, but too late in the day. Instead, he washes himself under the sprinklers at a local park. Not that long ago, Mr. Armour was struck by the sight of well-dressed people milling about outside the Sheen center. “It looked like one of those events you’d see at any art center,” he said. “We already have a lot of culture around here. Why is the church joining in with what everybody else is doing around here? Joining the crowd.” Although some of her friends questioned the church’s decision to build a cultural center, Heidi Hynes, a volunteer at St. Joseph House, saw an opportunity. She hoped the church might be persuaded to open the building early in the morning so that the homeless could at least shower there. “That would be a powerful message to the people in that neighborhood and the visitors to the center about what is Catholic culture, and to know that serving the homeless is at the core of that,” Ms. Hynes said. “The Catholic Church is in a unique position to show people what it really means to love your neighbor.” Encouraged by Pope Francis’s pronouncements about the obligation of the faithful to help the poor and marginalized, she wrote to Cardinal Dolan, the archbishop of New York, hoping that an accommodation could be reached. The cardinal replied in a letter that “the time has come to make a different use” of the building, but he vowed that the church would continue to provide services to the homeless in Lower Manhattan. “I told Heidi if there is a need, we will look at it,” said Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, who runs Catholic Charities . “I do know we looked around when we were phasing out the center and thought the Bowery Residents’ Committee and the Rescue Mission provide a lot of services right around the corner.” Undaunted, Ms. Hynes continues to press for a more favorable decision, gathering signatures on a petition and praying a novena to Dorothy Day, who helped found the Catholic Worker movement and spent years living and working with the poor on the Lower East Side. What is happening on the Bowery is not surprising, Ms. Hynes said, in a city where the well-off need not interact with the needy. “People who are poor help people who are poor more than rich people do,” she said. “That’s because we live with each other and know each other. Other people think the poor are trying to scam them. That’s the saddest part of the hyper-segregation of this city, that people in need are deemed unworthy.”

Theater
Joseph House
Catholic Church
Bowery Manhattan
Homelessness
Lower East Side Manhattan
Fulton J Sheen
Cardinal Dolan


Ryan Fitzpatrick and Muhammad Wilkerson Have No Contracts, but Jets Have Patience

Abstract: FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Jets General Manager Mike Maccagnan tackled 29 questions Friday at what had been billed as a predraft news conference. All but 11 had something to do with the St. Louis Rams’ seventh-round draft pick from Harvard in 2005. That player, of course, is quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who joined the Jets last March in a trade with Houston and, surprisingly, led them to a 10-6 record. Fitzpatrick, 33, is a free agent, and Maccagnan was asked if Fitzpatrick’s contract status would affect the Jets’ draft plans next week. “We like Ryan very much,” Maccagnan said. “We feel like we have a very good situation for Ryan here. He’s a very good fit for us, too. So, hopefully, at some time we can work out some kind of an agreement on a contract.” When asked when that might be, though, Maccagnan said, “It may take some time.” Maccagnan said he felt no pressure to get a deal done, even though he acknowledged that he had made an inquiry with the Tennessee Titans about acquiring the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. The Titans have since traded the pick to the Los Angeles Rams. Maccagnan is also at a contract impasse with the Pro Bowl defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson, who has not signed a $15.7 million franchise tender. Wilkerson, who is seeking a long-term deal, may be Maccagnan’s finest trade bait. Maccagnan said he was not interested in following the lead of the Carolina Panthers, who dropped the franchise tag from cornerback Josh Norman. (After becoming a free agent, Norman signed with the Redskins on Friday, according to The Associated Press.) Maccagnan said keeping the franchise tag on Wilkerson “leaves you with multiple options.” “We’re not actively shopping Mo,” Maccagnan said. But he also said he would not rule out drafting a quarterback in the first round — or any other round, for that matter. The N.F.L. draft, which begins Thursday in Chicago, is likely to open with two quarterbacks being taken: Jared Goff of California to the Rams; then Carson Wentz of North Dakota State to the Philadelphia Eagles, who acquired the No. 2 pick from the Cleveland Browns this week. It is possible that quarterback Paxton Lynch of Memphis could be available when the Jets pick 20th in the first round — or that they might trade up to get him. “It’s such an impactful position,” Maccagnan said. “Green Bay, when they drafted Aaron Rodgers, had Brett Favre. It was not as if they were sitting there thinking, ‘We really need one.’ ” He said it was important to have quarterbacks in the pipeline, and the Jets already have two: Bryce Petty of Baylor, who is entering his second season, and Geno Smith, the second-round draft pick in 2013, who played one game last season. It would not be the worst thing in the world, Maccagnan said, if Fitzpatrick went unsigned even through three sets of organized team activities scheduled for late May and early June. Fitzpatrick only lightly took part in the O.T.A.s last year, when he was recovering from a broken leg. “If we have the other quarterbacks who need more reps and more time, it benefits them, too, with their development, and that would be Geno and Bryce,” Maccagnan said. “But, no, I don’t feel any pressure to have one by a specified time.” Although he was joining his sixth N.F.L. team and his fourth in four seasons, Fitzpatrick became an integral part of the Jets’ success despite not having reached the playoffs. He passed for 3,905 yards and a franchise-record 31 touchdowns, both career highs. Fitzpatrick was among several Jets who attended Tuesday’s playoff game between the Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden. Fitzpatrick wore the blue No. 28 sweater of forward Dominic Moore, who is also from Harvard, but did not taunt the Penguins’ coaching staff, as center Nick Mangold did. Brian Hoyer, a 30-year-old free-agent quarterback, visited the Jets this week but left without a contract. Maccagnan said he was simply doing “due diligence” by looking at Hoyer. Other teams have not shown much interest in Fitzpatrick, either. “Our focus is on Ryan,” Maccagnan said, “but he’s a free agent, and you never know what will happen in free agency. Our focus has always been Ryan.” Fifteen months into the job, Maccagnan was asked how it felt to be dealing with the pressure of two critical contract negotiations while preparing for the draft. He said, “Wow,” then added that he had not really thought about that. “It’s like playing chess,” he said later. “As long as you have moves left, you feel comfortable, to a degree. It doesn’t alleviate anything in terms of feeling stress. But it’s just the way it works.”

Football
Sports Drafts and Recruits
Jets
Ryan Fitzpatrick
Mike Maccagnan
Muhammad Wilkerson


2 Bankers Charged With Creating A.T.M. Cards to Steal From Accounts

Abstract: The 15 JPMorgan Chase bank accounts had a few things in common: They had high balances, there was little activity on them and they belonged to elderly clients — indeed, at least eight were dead. And all 15 of the accounts got regular cash infusions, thanks to direct deposits from the Social Security Administration. That caught the eye of two private bankers who worked at a Bedford-Stuyvesant branch of JPMorgan Chase , Jonathan Francis and Dion Allison, according to an indictment filed this month in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Creating cards for automated teller machines and forged documents, the men and their accomplices withdrew about $400,000 from the accounts over two years, according to the indictment. The New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, warned in June that bank tellers and other employees have easy access to customer data, and had committed fraud using the data on multiple occasions. In this case, prosecutors for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office charged in an indictment, the bankers could not only gain access to but also issue A.T.M. cards for the 15 accounts, without the account holder’s consent. Mr. Allison, 30, and Mr. Francis, 27, created bank cards for several of the dormant accounts. (While prosecutors believe most, if not all, of the account holders have died, benefit checks continued to be deposited because of faulty reporting to the Social Security Administration.) With two friends, Gregory Desrameaux, 24, and Kery Phillips, 40, the men then withdrew most of the stolen money, about $300,000, by using A.T.M.s around New York City, according to the indictment. Some withdrawals were as small as $200; some were up to $2,000, the daily limit for A.T.M. withdrawals for some Chase accounts. In April 2013 alone, members of the group made withdrawals on 26 of 30 days, according to the indictment. One night at a Chase branch at Nostrand and Church Avenues, they withdrew $1,000 from one account; 49 seconds later, group members took out $1,000 from a different account. By May of that year, people in the group had created fake power of attorney documents. That gave Mr. Phillips control of four of the dormant accounts, Adam Zion, an assistant district attorney, said in court on Monday. This allowed Mr. Phillips to withdraw much more money than the daily A.T.M. limit, up to $9,500 at a time, through a teller. Image From left, Jonathan Francis, Dion Allison and Gregory Desrameaux, three of the men charged in the case. The fourth, Kery Phillips, is still at large. Credit Brooklyn District Attorney's Office In another example of the scheme, in February 2013, according to the indictment, Mr. Allison created a bank card for one account. That May, at a Chase branch on Flatbush Avenue, Mr. Phillips turned in fake power of attorney documents giving him control of the account. The same day, prosecutors said, Mr. Phillips withdrew through a teller $49,929.91 — everything that remained — from the account. JPMorgan Chase has already faced accusations of fraud among staff members this year. In April, an investment adviser, Michael Oppenheim, was charged in Federal District Court in Manhattan with stealing $20 million from seven of the bank’s clients. Also in April, another employee, Peter Persaud, who worked at a Chase branch in Brooklyn, was accused of selling customer data — including account numbers, Social Security numbers, addresses and dates of birth — to an informant and an undercover officer. Mr. Persaud was charged with fraud and identity theft in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. Lauren Ryan, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase, said the company had been “working closely with the authorities and the Social Security Administration” in the current fraud case. The four men listed in the current indictment have been charged with conspiracy, grand larceny and falsifying business records. On Monday, Mr. Allison was arraigned before Justice Cassandra M. Mullen in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Mr. Zion, the prosecutor, said that Mr. Allison searched for and maintained the targeted accounts, and issued and used some of the cards. He had told Chase investigators that he had looked for high-value accounts, issued and used the A.T.M. cards, sold some of the cards and account data, and worked with Mr. Francis on the scheme, Mr. Zion said. Also, he had logged onto the Chase system with his co-workers’ credentials when they were away from their desks, according to Mr. Zion. Prosecutors requested $100,000 bail; Justice Mullen released him on $25,000 bond. Mr. Francis and Mr. Desrameaux were arraigned earlier this month. Mr. Allison’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Douglas Rankin, the lawyer for Mr. Francis, said that his client denied the allegations, and that he no longer worked at Chase and “left on his own before this became an issue.” David Walensky, the lawyer for Mr. Desrameaux, said his client denied involvement in the scheme. Mr. Phillips is still at large, according to a news release from the district attorney’s office.

JPMorgan Chase
Robbery
Jonathan Francis
Dion Allison
Bed-Stuy
Fraud
Social Security


Like Old Times: Pettitte Rights Yanks

Abstract: For most of the 54,290 fans in the stands at misty Yankee Stadium last night, this was the Andy Pettitte of their dreams. This was the Pettitte they remembered from the glory years, the one who took the ball in big games and delivered. It did not always work that way, of course. Pettitte had his share of losses in his first stint with the Yankees . But his role in building a dynasty has made him a leader now. When the Yankees needed someone to snuff a burgeoning losing streak, Pettitte was their man. Pettitte worked eight innings, allowing a run and five hits in the Yankees’ 6-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers. The victory was the Yankees’ first in four games. “We hit a little stumbling block, and he’s been that guy his whole career, especially for the Yankees,” said Jason Giambi , who homered twice. “He hasn’t missed a beat. He’s the guy to go to.” The victory was the Yankees’ first in four games, and the 2,041st of Joe Torre’s managerial career, moving him past Walter Alston into seventh place on the career list. It was fitting that Pettitte was the winner, considering his history with Torre. “When the game is important, or a need for us, he just responds so well,” Torre said. “He may not win, but he’s always kept things together, and he just pitches tough.” The rookie Joba Chamberlain recorded the last three outs to continue the electric start to his career. The crowd chanted Chamberlain’s first name before he even threw a pitch, taking quickly to a pitcher who has had only four career outings. “There were a lot of people here going crazy,” Chamberlain said. “It makes you feel good. You use that energy to the best. Sometimes you let it the most of you and you try to do too much, but I’ve done a good job of slowing the game down and getting used to the role.” Chamberlain threw 10 pitches — 7 for strikes — and hit 99 miles an hour on the radar gun three times. His second pitch hummed it at 100. Gary Sheffield, who is 0 for 7 in this series, flied to left to lead off the ninth. After a single by Magglio Ordóñez, Chamberlain induced a pop out from Carlos Guillén, then fanned Iván Rodríguez on a slider to end the game. In six scoreless innings, Chamberlain has allowed two hits and struck out nine. Pettitte has a long history of success in the second half. He came into the game with a .708 career winning percentage after the All-Star Game break, second only to Johan Santana among active A.L. pitchers with at least 60 decisions. This year has been no exception. Before last night, Pettitte was 5-1 with a 3.15 earned run average in seven starts since the break. The Tigers scored four runs in the top of the first against Mike Mussina on Thursday, but against Pettitte last night, they went down in order. “I wanted to be aggressive,” said Pettitte, who worked on his mechanics last weekend to keep from opening his lead shoulder too soon. “Maybe that’s something I made a conscious effort to do — come out and be aggressive with the team struggling.” The second hitter, the top prospect Cameron Maybin, was making his major league debut. Pettitte, who said the scouting report on Maybin was that “he likes the heater,” whiffed him with his trademark biting slider. He did so again in the third. That had been an odd inning, starting with a single by Ryan Rayburn that Alex Rodriguez let roll down the third-base line. It hit the bag to stay fair. Brandon Inge followed with a double to the left field corner. Hideki Matsui gathered it and threw to shortstop Derek Jeter, who fired home. It seemed as if the Yankees had a good chance to catch Rayburn, but the throw was off line, Torre said, and first baseman Andy Phillips cut off the throw as Inge charged toward third. Phillips threw there, but Inge scrambled back to second base, where no fielders were waiting. Second baseman Robinson Canó had been backing up Jeter, and right fielder Bobby Abreu did not cover the bag for him. After a walk and Maybin’s second strikeout, up came Sheffield, a favorite target of the fans. Sheffield bounced to Jeter for an inning-ending forceout. The Tigers were leading, 1-0, but the Yankees came right back. Canó and Phillips singled to start the Yankees’ half of the third, and after two outs, Bobby Abreu bounced a bad-hop single over the glove of shortstop Guillén. The break scored Cano to tie the game, and Rodriguez gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead with a ground-rule double to left. Giambi bashed Nate Robertson’s first pitch of the bottom of the fourth into the seats in right center, and he homered again off Aquilino Lopez in the eighth. Giambi has four home runs in his last 18 at-bats, and he is batting .348 (8-for-23) since coming off the disabled list on Aug. 7. “I’m fresh right now, so I’ve got good bat speed,” Giambi said. “I’m just seeing the ball and hitting it well.”

Baseball
New York Yankees
Pettitte Andy
Giambi Jason


Worker Is Killed in City’s Latest Crane Accident

Abstract: A construction worker fell about 400 feet to his death on Thursday as he and others worked to lower a tower crane at a building site on the West Side of Manhattan. It was the latest in a series of high-rise accidents in recent months — and the third fatal accident involving cranes — that are certain to bring renewed scrutiny to the Bloomberg administration. The accident occurred about 9:30 a.m. as a team of seven men worked to lower part of a tower crane that had been used to erect a 58-story tower at 600 West 42nd Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues, where the developer Larry A. Silverstein is building the Silver Towers on the River, a 1,350-unit residential building scheduled to open next year. The worker, Anthony Esposito, 48, a crane rigger, was on a 20-foot working platform attached to the crane about 40 floors up, said Deputy Chief Anthony DeVita of the Fire Department. The platform apparently tilted, according to one investigator, and Mr. Esposito lost his footing. Mr. Esposito was wearing a safety harness, but it was not attached to anything, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said. The authorities are trying to determine whether the platform was properly anchored, the investigator said. It appeared to have been secured at only two points instead of four, the investigator added. Tony Sclafani, a spokesman for the Buildings Department, said the platform was inspected on Tuesday. But he would not say whether it had been moved or altered since then. Hours after the accident, a stream of family and friends had gathered at Mr. Esposito’s house in Baldwin, on Long Island. A family friend who called himself Rocky but would not give his last name said Mr. Esposito had three children — one who just received confirmation, and a 13-year-old daughter and a child in high school. “He worked for his family first,” Rocky said, adding that Mr. Esposito knew his job was risky. “He caught the train at 5:30 a.m. every morning, he worked Saturdays, holidays, whenever he can for his family.” Chief DeVita and other city officials said the crane did not appear to have any structural problems. The operation and inspection of tower cranes have received considerable scrutiny this year after nine people were killed when two of them fell in separate accidents. The first accident occurred in March on East 51st Street, and left seven people dead. In that case, nylon straps snapped as they were being used to help “jump” the crane — in that case, raising it. The crane in Thursday’s accident was also being jumped, although in this case it was being dismantled, or lowered — an equally perilous operation. The March collapse prompted the Buildings Department to issue tougher safety protocols for jumping cranes, and this was the first fatal accident to occur during a jump since. Those protocols required that a Buildings Department inspector be present when a crane is jumped. That provision was eliminated when the department issued a later set of protocols just two days before a second fatal crane accident in May. That accident, on East 91st Street, did not involve a crane jump and left two workers dead. There was no inspector at the scene on Thursday, Mr. Sclafani said. In issuing the protocols in May, the department said it stopped requiring an inspector because a review of crane jumps found it unnecessary. As friends of the Esposito family gathered in Baldwin, the New York City Council voted unanimously to adopt a series of crane safety measures, many of which echoed the new protocols. The accident happened early in the workday at the gleaming glass towers overlooking the Hudson River, as cars and tourist buses streamed past on the West Side Highway. Several construction workers, visibly shaken, waved off reporters as they left the building and walked to their cars. Keith Gray, 44, the foreman of the sheet metal workers at the site, said he saw Mr. Esposito half-covered with an orange tarp as emergency workers worked on him. Mr. Gray, who works for Aabco Sheet Metal, said Mr. Esposito was wearing a yellow body harness that stretched from his thigh area up to and around his shoulders. “The guy had a harness on when he was on the ground,” Mr. Gray said, “but I heard he was not attached — he was not hooked off. If he was hooked off, we have supports along the building and he’d have been attached to that, and then if he fell he’d a been dangling in the air.” One investigator involved in the inquiry said Mr. Esposito had unhooked the harness shortly before he fell. Another investigator said federal safety officials were looking into whether the platform was sufficiently secured and whether one of the safety railings on the back side of it — where Mr. Esposito apparently fell — had been removed. Experts said jumping a tower crane was one of the most dangerous phases in the use of the giant machines. Mr. Sclafani said the department had issued a stop-work order on the site, which includes two 58-story towers. Mr. Esposito fell from the northwest corner of the complex. Work began in October 2007, and the towers have been built to their full height. Richard Mendelson, the area director for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration who will supervise the agency’s investigation, said it was too soon to draw conclusions about what led to Mr. Esposito’s death. In the investigation, OSHA and the Buildings Department are being joined by prosecutors from the rackets bureau in the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, which has looked into the two earlier fatal tower crane accidents, and the city’s Department of Investigation. As Chief DeVita briefed reporters about two hours after the accident on Thursday, a large black section of the crane was being lowered to the ground behind him, with nylon straps clearly visible securing a section of the crane’s frame. The bills that the City Council approved late Thursday would, among other things, require that general contractors hold safety coordination meetings with engineers, riggers and safety managers before erecting or dismantling a crane, and that crane workers take a 30-hour training course. The law allowed stop-work orders to be imposed faster. “We’re not going to tolerate sloppiness that leads to injury and death,” Mayor Bloomberg said. The general contractor at the site of Thursday’s accident was Gotham Construction, and the concrete subcontractor was DiFama Concrete, according to city records. Mr. Esposito worked for DFC Structures, an affiliate of DiFama, according to a spokesman for the company. A worker for DiFama died in January when he fell 42 stories from the top of Trump SoHo, a condominium hotel under construction at Varick and Spring Streets in Manhattan. DiFama has a history of safety violations at projects in Manhattan and has been fined tens of thousands of dollars in penalties, according to federal records. In November 2004, another DiFama employee died when he fell 60 feet from a platform on the mast of a construction crane at what is now the Lumiere, a seven-story condominium on 53rd Street, west of Eighth Avenue. A woman who answered the phone at the company on Thursday said it would have no comment. Mr. Morgenthau’s rackets bureau and the city’s Department of Investigation are conducting a broad criminal investigation into corruption in the Buildings Department’s cranes and derricks division, which has already resulted in the arrests of an inspector and the unit’s acting chief inspector. The office of a crane company, Nu-Way Crane Services, were searched as part of the investigation and more charges are expected, people briefed on the inquiry have said.

Derricks and Cranes
Accidents and Safety
Manhattan (NYC)
Buildings Department


Back-to-School Shopping Buoys Many Retailers

Abstract: Despite the volatile stock market, an East Coast hurricane and predictions of delayed back-to-school purchases, Americans continued buying at a fast pace in August. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.4 percent on average from August 2010, according to a Thomson Reuters tally of 23 retailers. That was 0.2 percentage points below what analysts had expected, but still a strong result. “It bodes well for the balance of the year — the consumer has shaken off the craziness of Wall Street and the negativity coming out of Washington, and they’re buying,” said Madison Riley, managing director at Kurt Salmon, a retail consulting firm. The companies with the biggest increases represented pretty much every retailing sector. BJ’s Wholesale and Costco, both warehouse stores, posted same-store sales increases of 11.5 percent and 11 percent. Limited, a consistently good performer because of its Victoria’s Secret division, was also up 11 percent. The teenage-oriented store chain the Buckle was up 8.3 percent, while Nordstrom rose 6.7 percent. All five were also the biggest upside surprises, beating analyst estimates by the biggest margins among the stores reporting. On the downside, Kohl’s and J. C. Penney, which have been heavily promoting back-to-school shopping, continued to have sales trouble. Both retailers posted same-store sales declines of 1.9 percent. Analysts had expected increases of 1.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Earlier in the summer, analysts were predicting that back-to-school shoppers would postpone purchases until September as they waited for deals. But at most retailers, that did not seem to be the case. “Part of the dynamic we see here is consumers had held off on a fair amount of spending in the last 18 months due to the economic situation. It’s pent-up demand, and it’s an important part of the retail year,” Mr. Riley said. “I don’t think they’ve put it off; I think they’ve gone ahead.” MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse, which tracks spending at the retail level, said sales in back-to-school categories increased 3 percent in both July and August. “This is the best back-to-school season we’ve seen in terms of growth since 2006,” said Michael McNamara, vice president for research and analysis for SpendingPulse. While luxury spending is usually correlated with the stock market over the long term, that is not always the case over the short term, as August showed. In addition to Nordstrom’s gain, Saks Fifth Avenue’s same-store sales rose 6.1 percent. SpendingPulse did not release a percentage increase for luxury spending this month because of changes in how it reports data, but “the luxury trend throughout the summer has been one of the leading areas, and it continues to be through August,” Mr. McNamara said. Still, analysts said that some lower-end stores have raised prices because of increases in cotton and other materials, but are having trouble getting shoppers to pay more. “Thus far in the season, promotions appear to be deeper than last year, and inventory levels across the sector are growing faster than sales, which bodes poorly for successful price increases,” Adrienne Tennant, an analyst at Janney Capital Markets who covers apparel stores, wrote in a note to clients this week. Hurricane Irene , which caused stores to close and shoppers to stay at home along the East Coast last weekend, seemed to have a light impact on sales. The retailers that quantified the impact of Irene on same-store sales said it had hurt sales by 0.6 percent (J. C. Penney) to 1.5 percent (Macy’s and Saks). The more significant impact of Irene will be felt next month, Paul Lejuez, an analyst with Nomura Securities, said in a note to clients, because the beginning of this week, including Sunday, when many of the stores were closed, will be counted as part of the next period’s results. At Costco, several warehouses closed briefly over the hurricane weekend, but “we saw a lift in sales prior to the weekend as members anticipated the storm,” a Costco spokesman said in a recorded message. Over all, the net effect of Irene was slightly negative, Costco said. Costco also said Thursday that its longtime chief executive and one of its founders, Jim Sinegal, would resign on Jan. 1. He will be succeeded by Craig Jelinek, who is Costco’s president and chief operating officer. Mr. Sinegal will continue as a board member.

Consumer Behavior
Shopping and Retail
Sales


Arms Airlift to Syrian Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid

Abstract: With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders. The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports. As it evolved, the airlift correlated with shifts in the war within Syria, as rebels drove Syria’s army from territory by the middle of last year. And even as the Obama administration has publicly refused to give more than “nonlethal” aid to the rebels, the involvement of the C.I.A. in the arms shipments — albeit mostly in a consultative role, American officials say — has shown that the United States is more willing to help its Arab allies support the lethal side of the civil war. From offices at secret locations, American intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia, and have vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive, according to American officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. The C.I.A. declined to comment on the shipments or its role in them. The shipments also highlight the competition for Syria’s future between Sunni Muslim states and Iran, the Shiite theocracy that remains Mr. Assad’s main ally. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraq on Sunday to do more to halt Iranian arms shipments through its airspace; he did so even as the most recent military cargo flight from Qatar for the rebels landed at Esenboga early Sunday night. Syrian opposition figures and some American lawmakers and officials have argued that Russian and Iranian arms shipments to support Mr. Assad’s government have made arming the rebels more necessary. Most of the cargo flights have occurred since November, after the presidential election in the United States and as the Turkish and Arab governments grew more frustrated by the rebels’ slow progress against Mr. Assad’s well-equipped military. The flights also became more frequent as the humanitarian crisis inside Syria deepened in the winter and cascades of refugees crossed into neighboring countries. The Turkish government has had oversight over much of the program, down to affixing transponders to trucks ferrying the military goods through Turkey so it might monitor shipments as they move by land into Syria, officials said. The scale of shipments was very large, according to officials familiar with the pipeline and to an arms-trafficking investigator who assembled data on the cargo planes involved. “A conservative estimate of the payload of these flights would be 3,500 tons of military equipment,” said Hugh Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, who monitors illicit arms transfers. “The intensity and frequency of these flights,” he added, are “suggestive of a well-planned and coordinated clandestine military logistics operation.” Although rebel commanders and the data indicate that Qatar and Saudi Arabia had been shipping military materials via Turkey to the opposition since early and late 2012, respectively, a major hurdle was removed late last fall after the Turkish government agreed to allow the pace of air shipments to accelerate, officials said. Simultaneously, arms and equipment were being purchased by Saudi Arabia in Croatia and flown to Jordan on Jordanian cargo planes for rebels working in southern Syria and for retransfer to Turkey for rebels groups operating from there, several officials said. These multiple logistics streams throughout the winter formed what one former American official who was briefed on the program called “a cataract of weaponry.” American officials, rebel commanders and a Turkish opposition politician have described the Arab roles as an open secret, but have also said the program is freighted with risk, including the possibility of drawing Turkey or Jordan actively into the war and of provoking military action by Iran. Still, rebel commanders have criticized the shipments as insufficient, saying the quantities of weapons they receive are too small and the types too light to fight Mr. Assad’s military effectively. They also accused those distributing the weapons of being parsimonious or corrupt. “The outside countries give us weapons and bullets little by little,” said Abdel Rahman Ayachi, a commander in Soquor al-Sham, an Islamist fighting group in northern Syria. He made a gesture as if switching on and off a tap. “They open and they close the way to the bullets like water,” he said. Two other commanders, Hassan Aboud of Soquor al-Sham and Abu Ayman of Ahrar al-Sham, another Islamist group, said that whoever was vetting which groups receive the weapons was doing an inadequate job. “There are fake Free Syrian Army brigades claiming to be revolutionaries, and when they get the weapons they sell them in trade,” Mr. Aboud said. The former American official noted that the size of the shipments and the degree of distributions are voluminous. “People hear the amounts flowing in, and it is huge,” he said. “But they burn through a million rounds of ammo in two weeks.” A Tentative Start The airlift to Syrian rebels began slowly. On Jan. 3, 2012, months after the crackdown by the Alawite-led government against antigovernment demonstrators had morphed into a military campaign, a pair of Qatar Emiri Air Force C-130 transport aircraft touched down in Istanbul, according to air traffic data. They were a vanguard. Weeks later, the Syrian Army besieged Homs, Syria’s third largest city. Artillery and tanks pounded neighborhoods. Ground forces moved in. Image Even with the weapons from abroad, rebels say they are hard pressed to fight the government. Credit Abdalghne Karoof/Reuters Across the country, the army and loyalist militias were trying to stamp out the rebellion with force — further infuriating Syria’s Sunni Arab majority, which was severely outgunned. The rebels called for international help, and more weapons. By late midspring the first stream of cargo flights from an Arab state began, according to air traffic data and information from plane spotters. On a string of nights from April 26 through May 4, a Qatari Air Force C-17 — a huge American-made cargo plane — made six landings in Turkey, at Esenboga Airport. By Aug. 8 the Qataris had made 14 more cargo flights. All came from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a hub for American military logistics in the Middle East. Qatar has denied providing any arms to the rebels. A Qatari official, who requested anonymity, said Qatar has shipped in only what he called nonlethal aid. He declined to answer further questions. It is not clear whether Qatar has purchased and supplied the arms alone or is also providing air transportation service for other donors. But American and other Western officials, and rebel commanders, have said Qatar has been an active arms supplier — so much so that the United States became concerned about some of the Islamist groups that Qatar has armed. The Qatari flights aligned with the tide-turning military campaign by rebel forces in the northern province of Idlib, as their campaign of ambushes, roadside bombs and attacks on isolated outposts began driving Mr. Assad’s military and supporting militias from parts of the countryside. As flights continued into the summer, the rebels also opened an offensive in that city — a battle that soon bogged down. The former American official said David H. Petraeus, the C.I.A. director until November, had been instrumental in helping to get this aviation network moving and had prodded various countries to work together on it. Mr. Petraeus did not return multiple e-mails asking for comment. The American government became involved, the former American official said, in part because there was a sense that other states would arm the rebels anyhow. The C.I.A. role in facilitating the shipments, he said, gave the United States a degree of influence over the process, including trying to steer weapons away from Islamist groups and persuading donors to withhold portable antiaircraft missiles that might be used in future terrorist attacks on civilian aircraft. American officials have confirmed that senior White House officials were regularly briefed on the shipments. “These countries were going to do it one way or another,” the former official said. “They weren’t asking for a ‘Mother, may I?’ from us. But if we could help them in certain ways, they’d appreciate that.” Through the fall, the Qatari Air Force cargo fleet became even more busy, running flights almost every other day in October. But the rebels were clamoring for even more weapons, continuing to assert that they lacked the firepower to fight a military armed with tanks, artillery, multiple rocket launchers and aircraft. Many were also complaining, saying they were hearing from arms donors that the Obama administration was limiting their supplies and blocking the distribution of the antiaircraft and anti-armor weapons they most sought. These complaints continue. “Arming or not arming, lethal or nonlethal — it all depends on what America says,” said Mohammed Abu Ahmed, who leads a band of anti-Assad fighters in Idlib Province. The Breakout Soon, other players joined the airlift: In November, three Royal Jordanian Air Force C-130s landed in Esenboga, in a hint at what would become a stepped-up Jordanian and Saudi role. Within three weeks, two other Jordanian cargo planes began making a round-trip run between Amman, the capital of Jordan, and Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where, officials from several countries said, the aircraft were picking up a large Saudi purchase of infantry arms from a Croatian-controlled stockpile. The first flight returned to Amman on Dec. 15, according to intercepts of a transponder from one of the aircraft recorded by a plane spotter in Cyprus and air traffic control data from an aviation official in the region. In all, records show that two Jordanian Ilyushins bearing the logo of the Jordanian International Air Cargo firm but flying under Jordanian military call signs made a combined 36 round-trip flights between Amman and Croatia from December through February. The same two planes made five flights between Amman and Turkey this January. As the Jordanian flights were under way, the Qatari flights continued and the Royal Saudi Air Force began a busy schedule, too — making at least 30 C-130 flights into Esenboga from mid-February to early March this year, according to flight data provided by a regional air traffic control official. Several of the Saudi flights were spotted coming and going at Ankara by civilians, who alerted opposition politicians in Turkey. “The use of Turkish airspace at such a critical time, with the conflict in Syria across our borders, and by foreign planes from countries that are known to be central to the conflict, defines Turkey as a party in the conflict,” said Attilla Kart, a member of the Turkish Parliament from the C.H.P. opposition party, who confirmed details about several Saudi shipments. “The government has the responsibility to respond to these claims.” Turkish and Saudi Arabian officials declined to discuss the flights or any arms transfers. The Turkish government has not officially approved military aid to Syrian rebels. Croatia and Jordan both denied any role in moving arms to the Syrian rebels. Jordanian aviation officials went so far as to insist that no cargo flights occurred. The director of cargo for Jordanian International Air Cargo, Muhammad Jubour, insisted on March 7 that his firm had no knowledge of any flights to or from Croatia. “This is all lies,” he said. “We never did any such thing.” A regional air traffic official who has been researching the flights confirmed the flight data, and offered an explanation. “Jordanian International Air Cargo,” the official said, “is a front company for Jordan’s air force.” After being informed of the air-traffic control and transponder data that showed the plane’s routes, Mr. Jubour, from the cargo company, claimed that his firm did not own any Ilyushin cargo planes. Asked why his employer’s Web site still displayed images of two Ilyushin-76MFs and text claiming they were part of the company fleet, Mr. Jubour had no immediate reply. That night the company’s Web site was taken down.

Syria
Airlift
Arms Trade
International relations
CIA
Military
Arab Spring


Northern Ireland: Belfast on Alert

Abstract: Two schools and several dozen homes were evacuated in Belfast on Friday after what appeared to be a mortar was found near a police station. The alert followed two attacks on law-enforcement targets in the past two weeks that the police said were probably carried out by Irish nationalist militants. It was not immediately clear whether the tube, described as a “mortar type device,” contained a viable explosive device, but a police official said it suggested “murderous intent.” No group claimed responsibility.


Existing-Home Sales Hit a 3-Year High

Abstract: Prices surged as resales of homes in the United States rose in April to the highest level in nearly three and a half years, offering the economy a buffer from the stiff headwinds of belt-tightening in Washington. The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday that existing-home sales had advanced 0.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.97 million units, the highest level since November 2009. The data underscored the housing market’s improving fortunes as it starts to regain its footing. Resales were 9.7 percent higher than in the same period last year. “It’s quite supportive of the overall economy,” said Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. “It’s a cushion against some of the other concerns in the economy.” Tight supplies in some parts of the country have constrained the pace of home sales, but sellers are starting to wade back into the market, attracted by rising prices. In April, the median home sales price increased 11 percent from a year ago to $192,800, the highest level since August 2008. It was the fifth consecutive month of double-digit gains. Image Credit The New York Times With prices rising, more sellers put their properties on the market. The inventory of homes on the market rose 11.9 percent from March to 2.16 million. Adding to signs that the housing recovery was becoming firmly established, distressed properties, which can weigh on prices because they typically sell at deep discounts, accounted for only 18 percent of sales last month. That was the lowest since the real estate association started monitoring them in October 2008. Those properties — foreclosures and short sales — made up 21 percent of sales in March. In another bright sign, properties were selling more quickly. The median time on the market for homes was 46 days in April, down from 62 days the previous month. About 44 percent of all homes sold in April had been on the market for less than a month, while only 8 percent had been on the market for a year or longer. Sales were up in three of the four regions, falling 3.4 percent in the Midwest.

Real Estate
Housing
Federal Budget
US Economy


Uganda: Anti-Gay Law Draws Sanctions

Abstract: The Obama administration announced additional punitive steps against Uganda on Thursday in response to the country’s new law criminalizing homosexuality. Certain Ugandan officials will be barred from entering the United States, and some aid money for Ugandan police and health agencies will be cut off or redirected, the administration said. In addition, the Obama administration canceled plans to hold a military aviation exercise in Uganda. But administration officials said the moves would not diminish the American partnership with Uganda against the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel force known for its brutality. And the new travel ban is not expected to prevent Uganda’s foreign minister, Sam Kutesa, from traveling to New York, where he has just been elected president of the United Nations General Assembly.


Colin Powell Says He’ll Vote for Hillary Clinton

Abstract: Colin L. Powell, the Republican former secretary of state, said on Tuesday that he planned to vote for Hillary Clinton for president as he condemned her rival, Donald J. Trump, at an event on Long Island. Speaking before the Long Island Association, a trade group that frequently hosts political figures, Mr. Powell divulged his intentions come Election Day. “I am voting for Hillary Clinton,” he said, according to Matthew Cohen, a spokesman for the association. Mr. Powell went on to praise Mrs. Clinton for her skills as a leader and her experience. Paule Pachter, a Long Island Association board member, said that Mr. Powell was blunt. “He said he would support Hillary Clinton and he also elaborated on several reason why he felt that Donald Trump was not the right candidate,” he said. “He spoke about his inexperience, he spoke about the messages that he’s sending out every day to his supporters, which really paints our country in a negative light across the globe with all our allies.” The comments were a change from Mr. Powell’s tone in hacked emails from his inbox that were made public in September. In the emails, Mr. Powell criticized Mr. Trump but also expressed bitterness at Mrs. Clinton for repeatedly pointing to Mr. Powell’s email habits to explain away her own use of a private email server while she ran the State Department. Mr. Powell’s comments make him the latest member of the Republican foreign policy and national security establishment to openly condemn his party’s nominee, and to say that Mrs. Clinton is the preferred choice. But Mrs. Clinton came under harsh attack on Tuesday from Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, who echoed in more pointed language Mr. Trump’s recent assertions that Mrs. Clinton should be jailed. “When I see her, I see her in an orange jumpsuit,” Mr. Giuliani, a former United States attorney, said on a Philadelphia talk radio station, WPHT. “I’m sorry, or at least a striped one. I’d have prosecuted her a year ago and probably convicted her by now.”

2016 Presidential Election
Colin L Powell
Long Island


Shackleford, Reluctant at Start of the Preakness, Finishes the Right Way

Abstract: BALTIMORE — Shackleford is a little colt, and as he skittered into the starting gate for the 136th running of the Preakness Stakes he seemed to be shrinking before everyone’s eyes. He had foam on his neck and sweat pouring down his sides and looked like a horse who had left his race in the paddock. Jesus Castanon, his jockey, was not worried. The last time Shackleford had been this wet and worked up, he had led every step but the last in the Florida Derby, getting caught at the wire by the late-running Dialed In. Johnny Velazquez was feeling pretty good, too, atop the Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom. His colt had been unflappable through saddling and warming up, and Velazquez believed he was sitting on a monster. When the starting gate popped open, it was the hot horse that calmed down. Castanon, 38, could feel it, and he turned Shackleford loose and rolled him into the first turn a half-length behind Flashpoint in a fast quarter-mile of 22.69. Velazquez, meanwhile, was having problems. Animal Kingdom had broken slowly and was chasing the pack in 13th place. Worse, dirt was flying in the colt’s face and Animal Kingdom was losing his composure. So Velazquez wrapped him up to settle him down and suddenly was nearly 14 lengths behind. “I had to pull him farther back than I wanted to be,” he said. Shackleford and Castanon were winging it up front behind Flashpoint, rolling through the half-mile in 46.87 seconds and stringing the field out behind them. Castanon was getting excited. This was his horse and his shot at a victory in a Triple Crown race. Last year, he had been on two of the trainer Dale Romans’s horses early in their career, only to be replaced by more prominent riders. One horse, Paddy O’Prado, finished third in the Derby, and the other, First Dude, was the runner-up here to Lookin at Lucky. This time, Romans decided to keep Castanon on Shackleford. He liked him and thought he was underappreciated. “He is like the critically acclaimed movie that has never become a big hit,” Romans said. As Shackleford began rounding the far turn, Castanon rolled past Flashpoint and asked his colt for his run. Velazquez turned Animal Kingdom loose at the same time. He was in 12th place, and ahead of him horses were bouncing each other around. “I had to bide my time all the way from the half-mile to the quarter pole and had a lot of ground to make up,” he said. Shackleford and Castanon hit the stretch first, just as they had at the Derby. Two weeks ago, Shackleford started wobbling, and Castanon watched as Animal Kingdom and two others overtook him. Not on Saturday. Castanon had plenty of horse beneath him. “It was amazing,” he said. In the grandstand, Romans, a big man, was on his tiptoes wondering if his horse and rider could hold on. The trainer of Animal Kingdom, Graham Motion, was on his feet along with 107,398 spectators — a significant increase from last year — who had come to cheer on the colt who looked like a threat to sweep the Triple Crown. Animal Kingdom was on the move. Velazquez guided him to mid-track, and the pair was blowing by horses. “I felt somebody was coming,” Castanon said. “I thought it could only be him.” Castanon gathered up Shackleford’s reins and urged the colt to hang on. Velazquez was doing the same, coaxing gigantic steps from Animal Kingdom. “At the quarter pole, I thought I had a chance,” he said. But the wire was nearing and Shackleford was a length and a half ahead of him. Velazquez got one more surge out of Animal Kingdom, but it was too late. Shackleford had held on for a half-length victory. “I had left him too much to do,” Velazquez said. In Kentucky, it was Romans who had shown Motion to the winner’s circle after Animal Kingdom pounded to a two-and-three-quarter-length victory as a 20-1 shot. On Saturday, it was Romans, his little, sweaty horse and an underappreciated jockey that had kept him from it. “It looked like he was going to get there,” Motion said of Animal Kingdom. “He needed another sixteenth of a mile. Dale’s horse ran huge.” It had taken Shackleford just 1 minute 56.47 seconds to derail Animal Kingdom’s Triple Crown bid, and those who believed he could do it were rewarded $27.20 for a $2 bet. The $1.1 million first-place check boosted the bankroll of Shackleford and his owners, Mike Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge, to nearly $1.5 million. For Castanon, the result was priceless. It was not only his first victory in a Grade I race, but it also validated a hard-knocking career at a time he needed to be validated. He broke down in tears in the moments after the race at the memory of his father, Jesus, a horse trainer in his native Mexico who died last November. “When I came to the wire, he just came to me,” he said. “I know he was up there watching me.”

Horse Racing
Preakness Stakes
Triple Crown (Horse Racing)
Shackleford (Horse)


Focusing on Education for Family’s Success

Abstract: It is seldom easy to achieve one’s dreams, but Naomi Bradshaw, 43, wishes it had not been quite so difficult. In 1997, her fiancé died, 10 months after their son, Shaun Lambert, was born. Later, Ms. Bradshaw, who lived in Guyana, rekindled a friendship with a man who lived in the United States. The pair had met years earlier, during one of his visits to his relatives. Their friendship grew into a relationship. “He said he wanted to marry me,” Ms. Bradshaw said. “I decided to come and have a life with him.” She moved to Brooklyn and they married in 2002. The couple had two sons, Nason and Jabari Hall. Marital bliss was short-lived. “Things got crazy,” Ms. Bradshaw said. “He told me that I couldn’t go to work or to school.” She recalled numerous instances of abuse and controlling behavior, including several occasions when her husband unplugged the family’s telephone and television to prevent Ms. Bradshaw from watching talk shows like “Oprah,” which might empower her to leave. She said her husband repeatedly threatened to harm her with a cricket bat and large kitchen knives. “Up to this day,” Ms. Bradshaw said, “I can’t use a big knife.” In 2005, she left her husband and took her sons to a shelter. “If I didn’t find the strength, I would have lost myself and the kids,” Ms. Bradshaw said. In 2006, the couple legally separated and she and the children moved in with a family friend. Since 2007, they have been sharing a home with Ms. Bradshaw’s sister in Queens. She has not had direct contact with her husband in more than two years. She filed an order of protection against him, and said he had been arrested several times on assault charges against her. As a single parent, Ms. Bradshaw pressed on. She took a job at a printing factory and was adamant that her children focus on their academic success — they were forbidden to leave their kitchen table until all their homework was completed. The Neediest Cases The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund provides direct assistance to struggling New Yorkers. Tap for information about how to donate. “My main thing was for them to stay on top in school,” she said. “I’ve failed so much and made many bad choices, so I need to make them understand I’m doing this for them, to make a better life. I’m going to enforce this as much as I can.” All three of her sons are A students and on the high honor roll at their schools. Shaun is a contender for class valedictorian at the Law, Government and Community Service High School in Jamaica, Queens. He is set to graduate in 2016, and is already enrolled in classes at Queens College, with ambitions to pursue a career in law. Shaun also played football and ran track in high school. But last spring, he collapsed in school. He was later found to have myocarditis, an infection of the heart, and can no longer play sports. “He’s one of those kids who is a high achiever,” Ms. Bradshaw said. “He doesn’t want to be doing one thing.” In 2010, Ms. Bradshaw graduated from the Empire Beauty School. Working in the cosmetology field has not been lucrative. “It’s hard because you barely make any money and you can’t pay your bills,” she said. Ms. Bradshaw receives $1,050 each month from her husband in court-ordered child support, and $140 each month in food stamps. In the hope of finding better-paying work, she enrolled at Grace Institute, an agency affiliated with the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New York, one of the agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. The institute provides free classes in business and job training to women in need. “I wanted a start, a real start,” Ms. Bradshaw said. Catholic Charities drew $310 from the fund to buy her a laptop computer, which has been an invaluable studying tool for her and her sons. Ms. Bradshaw graduated from Grace Institute in late October and has begun looking for a job. She hopes to work for a nonprofit group that helps women in situations similar to hers. “I’m going to keep pushing like I always do,” Ms. Bradshaw said. “I’m not afraid.”


Ambitious Revival for Military Park in Newark

Abstract: NEWARK — During a recent tour of Military Park on a frigid afternoon here, Daniel A. Biederman waved his arm at the derelict plaza before him, with its once-proud statuary gazing out at ailing trees and graffiti-covered garbage bins. “This could be the Bryant Park of Newark, but nobody uses it,” said Mr. Biederman, the urban parks expert who two decades ago transformed that park in Midtown Manhattan from a forbidding drug haven to a jewel-box refuge. “If it was a gorgeous day in June, you’d still have six or eight people here.” But with the city in the midst of a building boom, Military Park is poised for its own makeover. This spring, ground will be broken on a $3.25 million renovation overseen by Mr. Biederman and his firm, Biederman Redevelopment Ventures . The plan, Mr. Biederman said, is to replace unhealthy trees, plant a full acre of flowers, build a new cafe and public restroom, repair the Victorian-style lampposts (more than half are broken), create new seating areas and install custom-designed trash bins in the triangular six-acre park. One of the biggest tasks is to address the ugly concrete structures in the park that enclose stairwells leading to an underground parking garage. Plans call for converting the stairwell heads to glass and aluminum, making them more appealing and less dangerous. Image Daniel A. Biederman, who remade Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, will oversee extensive changes to the Newark park. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Dating to 1667, Military Park in downtown Newark has witnessed the city’s sometimes triumphant, sometimes painful history, from a colonial settlement to an industrial powerhouse to a symbol of urban decay. Newark officials said the plan for Military Park fit in with Mayor Cory A. Booker’s focus on parks across the city. Some 40 acres of parkland in residential neighborhoods have been newly built or rehabilitated, representing a $20 million investment, said Damon Rich, the city’s chief urban designer. “For the administration, the revival of Military Park is really about bringing the mayor’s vision for parks downtown,” Mr. Rich said. “Historically, Newark has been ‘underparked.’ We’ve had a real deficit to address.” There are two other downtown parks, but Military Park is the closest to the central business district and, perhaps more important, will be the new front yard of Prudential , the insurance behemoth whose roots in Newark date to the 1870s. Prudential’s world headquarters is a few blocks south of the park, but the company plans to build a new $440 million tower on a site directly opposite the park. And construction is under way on Panasonic’s North American headquarters, which is moving from Secaucus to a site a block away from Military Park It is no surprise, then, that Prudential is a pillar of the Military Park Partnership, the nonprofit group overseeing the park’s renovation. The group also includes the city; the MCJ Amelior Foundation , which is active in Newark causes; and the Theater Square Development Corporation , a subsidiary of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. For many, it was the 1997 opening of the arts center, which also overlooks Military Park, that signaled the start of the city’s attempted rebirth. Last fall, the Newark Municipal Council voted unanimously to put the Military Park Partnership in charge of the park’s redevelopment. The partnership had earlier hired Biederman Redevelopment Ventures. Mr. Biederman has worked on park projects in several cities in the past decade, including Boston, Buffalo, Dallas and Pittsburgh. He is still active in Bryant Park, as president of the Bryant Park Management Corporation. “We’re really excited to see Dan Biederman bring his vision and have that vision evolve in the soil of Newark,” Mr. Rich said. Image Concrete stair enclosures in Military Park will be replaced with aluminum and glass structures. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times The goal is for Military Park to be self-sustaining, a model pioneered by Bryant Park, which receives no money from New York City but reaps income from concessions, fees from office buildings and corporate sponsorships. Whereas Bryant Park, which is roughly the same size, has a gardening budget of $500,000 a year, Military Park will have to make do with less. Mr. Biederman anticipates a horticulture budget of $100,000 to tend the planned boxwoods, hydrangeas and geraniums. (That will still buy a lot of mulch.) In addition to the physical upgrades, Mr. Biederman’s firm plans to infuse the park with programming. On any given day in Bryant Park, there is table tennis, chess, yoga classes, juggling lessons, lectures, concerts and film screenings. “All of that enlivens the park,” he said. “Downtown Newark needs use. It needs really busy spaces.” The park, bounded by Broad Street, Rector Street and Park Place, has a number of assets, chief among them its sculpture. An epic monument, “Wars of America,” was designed by Gutzon Borglum, who created Mount Rushmore. Nearby, at the southwestern tip of the park’s triangle, rises a bust of President John F. Kennedy, by the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz; it was erected in 1965, a few years before race riots sent the city into a tailspin. At the moment, the future site of Prudential’s headquarters is occupied by the long-empty S. Klein department store, whose faded sign conjures the city’s retail heyday. On the other side of the park, Theater Square Development plans to erect a residential building. “Crime in downtown Newark has come down enormously,” said Mr. Biederman, addressing the question of whether people would be drawn to the park. “But there is still uncertainty because the perception of crime trails reality.” Residents and city officials hope the park’s restoration will evoke Newark’s vibrant history. In 1869, Military Park displayed what is believed to be the first public electric lights in the country. That was the year the park officially became a town commons, ending its 200-year run as a training ground for soldiers. “With new office towers on the way from Prudential and Panasonic, and new residents moving downtown,” Mayor Booker said, “a revitalized Military Park will be the central community public space.”

Parks
Urban Planning
Daniel A Biederman
Newark NJ
Biederman Redevelopment Ventures


In Koreatown, Squid, Beer and a Legendary Rivalry

Abstract: A TAVERN called Players Sports Restaurant and Lounge, on West 32nd Street near Broadway, is unlike most sports bars. You can choose from a selection of soju (Korean vodka) or order oh jing uh ( dried squid) to go with your beer. West 32nd Street is the heart of Koreatown, of course, and on Tuesday night, the entertainment suited the setting. On a large projection screen and seven television sets, the South Korean national baseball team was facing its archrival, Japan, in the second round of the World Baseball Classic. “We usually come here to celebrate birthdays or just to party,” said John Choi, a Columbia pre-med student with a toothy smile. He and two friends sat on plush white benches in the middle of the noisy room. Two low tables were laden with shot glasses, a carafe of Coke, several bottles of Corona, a bottle of Johnny Walker Black and a plate of tong-dak, or fried chicken. As the friends picked at the chicken with chopsticks, the South Korean batters picked apart Japan. At the end of the third inning, the score was South Korea 3, Japan 0. “I’m pretty sure we’re better than them,” Mr. Choi said. One of his friends, a Princeton student named Jin Hyun Cheong, shed some light on the game’s historical context. “Japan colonized Korea,” Mr. Cheong said. “They didn’t teach in Korean in the elementary schools. A lot of people in my grandfather’s generation only speak Japanese.” At another table, Michael Yoo, a hedge-fund employee who played third base for a Little League team in Forest Hills, Queens, had this to say: “It’s a much bigger rivalry than the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.” Back at Mr. Choi’s table, three small glasses were filled with beer, and everyone drank. “When we watch baseball games,” Mr. Choi said, “it’s a combo of fried chicken and beer, not pizza.” How about Cracker Jack? “We eat Saewookkang,” Mr. Choi said. “It’s a shrimp-flavored chip.” During the regular South Korean baseball season, Mr. Choi roots for the LG Twins (of Seoul — Korean baseball teams are generally named after the companies or conglomerates that own them). On this night, a Twins pitcher, Jung Keun Bong, was on the mound. Mr. Choi and his friends respectfully referred to him as Mr. Bong. Mr. Bong and his teammates would eventually win, 4-1. But at the moment, it appeared that the pitcher was in trouble: men on first and second, one out, top of the fourth. Then Seiichi Uchikawa, the Japanese designated hitter, grounded into a double play: Park to Jeong to Kim. Mr. Choi and his friends celebrated American style, with high fives. “Byung sal-ta,” Mr. Choi said. Translation? “Side-by-side kill hit.”

Baseball
South Korea
Japan
Manhattan (NYC)


Romney Aide Flaherty Leans to Right With Soft Touch

Abstract: The response seemed to defy the rough-and-tumble rules of modern politics. One of the nation’s most prominent opponents of same-sex marriage , Maggie Gallagher, had just told aides to Mitt Romney that she was endorsing Rick Santorum, a favorite of social conservatives, and encouraging her supporters to do the same. So what did the Romney camp do? A few hours later, it invited her to send over a copy of her forthcoming book, for which Mr. Romney, it suggested, might provide a flattering blurb. “It was,” Ms. Gallagher recalled, “extremely unusual and gracious.” The gesture, which caught her off guard and earned her admiration, was the deft diplomatic handiwork of Mr. Romney’s unseen but crucial weapon this campaign season: his liaison to the Republican Party’s right wing, Peter G. Flaherty, a former homicide prosecutor who keeps a statue of the Virgin Mary on his desk. As Mr. Romney confronts the rise of Mr. Santorum, whom polls now show running even with him nationally, Mr. Flaherty, a Catholic, has been handed an urgent and tricky task — winning over social and religious conservatives who remain suspicious of the candidate’s ideological commitment and wary of his Mormon faith. As his experience with Ms. Gallagher suggests, Mr. Flaherty is not always successful, but he is reliably resourceful. It was Mr. Flaherty who organized a confidential meeting between Mr. Romney and dozens of conservative leaders in Washington last week. It was Mr. Flaherty who persuaded five former ambassadors to the Vatican to publicly back Mr. Romney over his Catholic rivals, Mr. Santorum and Newt Gingrich, before the New Hampshire primary. And it is Mr. Flaherty who has coached Mr. Romney on how to defend his position on fraught issues like abortion during debates, according to campaign colleagues and conservative leaders. In a field that churns out hard-charging operatives, Mr. Flaherty, 46, is something of an anomaly, described by those he has courted as disarmingly mild-mannered, soft-spoken and philosophical. But they know him, too, as a man of deep feeling, propelled into the law by the murder of an aunt at a Boston church, where he returned to pray during jury deliberations as a prosecutor. He tends to begin conversations with an update on his three sons and two brothers, whom he speaks to several times a day. He deliberately avoids the hard sell, to the point where some conservatives say the Romney campaign has not been aggressive enough. Mr. Flaherty is known to tell skeptical evangelical leaders and reluctant conservative luminaries backing rival candidates that he can live with being their second choice in the nomination contest. “Keep us in mind,” is a common Flaherty refrain, said those who have spoken with him, followed by this: “Our door is always open.” That style has earned him a deep reservoir of good will, even among those who disapprove of Mr. Romney. Several conservatives said he is the only campaign official they will work with. His highly personal approach has paid dividends. As 150 Christian conservative leaders prepared to meet in Texas a few weeks ago to discuss ways to block Mr. Romney’s path to the nomination, one of the attendees, Gary L. Bauer, felt compelled to call Mr. Flaherty and offer a personal assurance: he would not allow the meeting to dissolve into a Romney bashing session. “My advice to Governor Romney,” Mr. Bauer said, “is to listen to Peter more.” Gary Marx, the executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, described the Flaherty Doctrine this way: “You disarm your opponents and dampen their desire to rally an army of opposition.” In New Hampshire, Mr. Flaherty spent weeks pursuing Maureen C. Mooney, a former state lawmaker and an influential activist in the Catholic community, who had backed John McCain in the 2008 Republican primary. He arranged for Mr. Romney to meet with her, sent her samplings of the candidate’s writings on religious liberty and, during an hourlong telephone conversation, assured her, Ms. Mooney recalled, that Mr. Romney would select a running mate who shared his conservative views on social issues. Soon after, Ms. Mooney endorsed Mr. Romney. “He was very persuasive,” she said of Mr. Flaherty, adding: “Nobody devoted that much time to me.” Mr. Flaherty operates outside the public eye: he is rarely quoted in the news media and studiously avoids the gaggle of press surrounding Mr. Romney. He declined to be interviewed for this article. Few advisers are as close with Mr. Romney as Mr. Flaherty, who has worked with him for a nearly a decade, starting in the Massachusetts governor’s office. Mr. Flaherty socializes with Mr. Romney’s oldest son, Tagg. “I don’t know of any key decisions Governor Romney made where Peter wasn’t in the conversation,” said James Bopp Jr., an influential social conservative who is backing Mr. Romney. For those who doubt the depth of Mr. Romney’s conservatism — and there are many — Mr. Flaherty serves as a powerful character witness. As Mr. Romney’s deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office, it was Mr. Flaherty who guided the administration’s handling of hot-button social issues, like same-sex marriage and emergency contraception. He was intimately involved, for example, in discussions with Mr. Romney about embryonic stem cell research, the focus of a bill in the Massachusetts Legislature in 2004. Mr. Flaherty made sure he heard not just from scientists in favor of the new techniques, but from bioethicists who raised questions about their morality. Eventually, Mr. Romney publicly sided with foes of the new technology — and, in a major shift not long after, became a vocal opponent of abortion rights, explaining that what he had learned about the destruction of embryos in the lab had awakened him to the injustice of taking a life in the womb. To this day, some credit Mr. Flaherty with the change of heart and say that his involvement has given him substantial credibility among social conservatives. “Peter speaks from authority. He was there,” said Bay Buchanan, the conservative commentator and activist. Many remain unpersuaded, of course, and perhaps unpersuadable. “Peter is as good as anyone I have ever seen at what he is doing, but you have to remember the hand he has been dealt,” said Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition. “If you have a background that is pro-choice and pro-gay rights and come from a liberal state,” he said, speaking of Mr. Romney’s past, “it’s a more difficult sell.” In interviews, a few conservative leaders complained that the low-key approach overseen by Mr. Flaherty this year has at times bordered on inattentive, especially compared with 2008, when the Romney operation waged an elaborate effort to win them over. Back then, in a campaign that Mr. Flaherty heavily shaped, Mr. Romney invoked the Rev. Rick Warren, the popular evangelical author, quoted Scripture and invited dozens of evangelical leaders to his home. (Afterward, he sent each attendee a chair, with an inscription promising a seat “at our table.” ) Mr. Reed said that in the last presidential campaign, “they tried a little too hard. There were times they strained their pander muscles. This time, they have at times overcorrected.”

Flaherty Peter G
Romney Mitt
Presidential Election of 2012
Conservatism (US Politics)


Albany Sides With Independence Plaza in TriBeCa Rent Suit

Abstract: Several months after the highest court in New York ruled that Stuyvesant Town’s owners were wrong to deregulate apartments while receiving tax breaks, the state’s housing agency has determined that another landlord who once received the breaks had the right to charge market-rate rents. Although the new case, which involves Independence Plaza North , a TriBeCa complex with 1,300 apartments, has similarities to the Stuyvesant Town case, there were some differences. Last fall, the high court, the Court of Appeals, found that the owners of Stuyvesant Town and its sister complex along the East River, Peter Cooper Village, had wrongly charged market rates on apartments while receiving tax abatements for renovations under New York City’s program known as J-51. The ruling could affect thousands of apartments citywide. Independence Plaza was once part of the state’s Mitchell-Lama program, which kept rents low in exchange for low-interest mortgages and tax breaks. After buying Independence Plaza, the new owner, Laurence Gluck of Stellar Management, exercised his right to leave the Mitchell-Lama program in June 2004. In a deal with tenants and the city, Mr. Gluck agreed to limit rent increases for several years, though eventually they would rise faster than stabilized rents would, and one-bedrooms are already renting for up to $3,800 a month. But the complex, which had been receiving J-51 tax breaks, continued to receive them for about two years after Mr. Gluck left the Mitchell-Lama program. After he learned of the trouble this might cause, the city allowed him to repay the two years’ worth of tax breaks — $17,879.42 — and retroactively ruled that he had stopped receiving the breaks in 2004. Tenants sued, and the judge, Marcy S. Friedman of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, asked the state’s housing agency, the Division of Housing and Community Renewal , to weigh in. In a decision issued on March 5 , the state agency said that because the J-51 program was administered by the city, the agency had no oversight over the program and would defer to the city’s ruling that the J-51 benefits had ended in 2004. “I am gratified that the D.H.C.R. made the correct decision, ruling that Independence Plaza is not rent stabilized,” said Stephen B. Meister, a lawyer for Mr. Gluck, noting that tenants still had some rent protection because of the 2004 agreement. Justice Friedman can accept or reject the state’s decision. The tenants’ lawyer, Seth Miller, criticized the decision. “They’re saying, ‘We can’t apply the rules that govern the effect of terminating J-51 benefits because J-51 benefits are terminated,’ ” he said. “And if that sounds absurd, it’s because it is absurd.”

Renting and Leasing
TriBeCa (NYC)
Decisions and Verdicts
Mitchell-Lama Projects