Cubs, Under Theo Epstein, Recall Red Sox of September

Abstract: CHICAGO — On a 90-degree Memorial Day afternoon at Wrigley Field, Theo Epstein stood outside the Cubs’ dugout, calmly faced a scrum of reporters and answered questions about his team’s 12-game losing streak. Asked if he had ever been part of such a trying stretch, Epstein said that obviously he had. “Last September was as nails-on-a-chalkboard as you can get,” he said of a month in which the Red Sox — at the time his Red Sox — lost 20 0f 27 games, blew a nine-game wild-card lead and ended up concocting one of the great collapses in baseball history. It was not long after that disaster that the Cubs hired Epstein as their president of baseball operations in the hope he would remake them in the image of the Red Sox, last year’s version, of course, not included. What the Cubs wanted was the Red Sox team that Epstein, as general manager, led to a World Series championship in 2004, breaking an 86-year drought, and then led to a second title just three years later. Given enough time, Epstein may be able to create that kind of team in Chicago. But not yet. Indeed, when the Red Sox visit Wrigley this weekend for a three-game series with the Cubs, the link between Epstein’s past and present will be that both the Red Sox and Cubs are now last-place teams. The Cubs, who won 71 games last year, are admittedly in a rebuilding phase, but even by their modest standards these days, 2012 has been nightmarish. Chicago is 21-42 and could break the franchise record for losses in a season, which stands at 103. “Sometimes when you rip the scab off there’s some pain,” Epstein said. Meanwhile, the Red Sox, who followed their 2011 fiasco with a rocky start to 2012, remain under .500 with a record of 31-32. Boston has been hit hard by injuries but even so seems flawed as a club, which inevitably reflects on Epstein, since the Red Sox still bear his imprint. Nevertheless, the Cubs remain committed to a franchise makeover based on the Boston blueprint. Since arriving in Chicago, Epstein has preached the Cubs Way — a carbon copy of what he once called the Red Sox Way — including everything from a baseball-operations mission statement to rehabilitating a treasured, antique ballpark. “It’s similar in that we’re trying to create a way of thinking in an organization,” Epstein said on Memorial Day. “If you can create that kind of ethos, it really permeates every decision.” The Fenway influence can be felt, and seen, all over Wrigley. Epstein’s Chicago brain trust includes General Manager Jed Hoyer, who worked in Boston’s baseball operations department for most of the last decade, and the director of scouting, Jason McLeod, who spent six years with the Red Sox under Epstein. Meanwhile, a new patio, with seats, rises above the wall in Wrigley’s right-field corner, conjuring images of the seats that were put atop Boston’s Green Monster (the prices almost match, too: $125-$250 per ticket at Wrigley, $165 at Fenway). And the Cubs are planning a multiyear, multiphase renovation of Wrigley, much like Fenway’s decade-long face-lift, and are moving, however slowly, toward a deal in which the city and state would help foot the bill for a $500 million proposal. “We’ve really only had the one change out in right field, and there’s probably many more to come over the next 10 years,” said the new Cubs manager, Dale Sveum, who coached third base for the Red Sox in 2004 and 2005. “It’s going to help the fans. It’s going to help resources.” On the baseball front, the Cubs unveiled plans for a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic in February. The Red Sox opened one of their own in 2003, just months after Epstein was named general manager. The Cubs also made a deal with Bloomberg Sports during the off-season to design advanced models for statistical analysis. In Boston, Epstein famously consulted a computer program affectionately nicknamed Carmine. The new Cubs regime has also given greater emphasis and more resources to amateur scouting, drafting and player development, a staple of Boston’s sustained success. As evidence, the Cubs won a bidding war this week for 20-year-old Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler. The payoff from these efforts, however, is probably years away, although Epstein does not seem to mind. In interviews with the Boston media in recent days, he has made it clear that he regrets becoming impatient after the 2009 season and opting for big free-agent contracts against his better judgment. The message seems to be that he does not intend to make that mistake again. Still, Hoyer noted, “you have to be careful not to talk too much about the future when we need to go out and win some games.” Which is not happening much these days, although outside Wrigley you can buy a T-shirt that reads, “Theology: the field of study and analysis to build a world championship baseball team at Clark and Addison.” Patience and T-shirts. And off in the distance, Epstein hopes, the Champagne, last opened in 1908.

Epstein Theo
Chicago Cubs
Boston Red Sox
Baseball


Bumpy Ride Ahead for Air Industries

Abstract: The skies appear to be clearing for international aviation as the recession of the past two years slips into history. But big challenges remain for the global airline industry and aircraft makers. Airline traffic in May rose above its 2008 pre-recession peak, and the International Air Transport Association, which earlier predicted a $2.8 billion loss for its members this year, revised its forecast last month to show a $2.5 billion combined profit. “Passenger traffic is now 1 percent above prerecession levels, while the freight market is 6 percent bigger,” Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the association, said last month in Geneva. Yet, if traffic is back to prerecession levels, passenger and cargo revenues are not. Passenger load factors — a measure of seat occupancy — now typically average about 85 percent, compared with 70 percent to 75 percent before the recession. That, however, is partly because airlines have pared their operating fleets; and recession-wary customers are paying lower fares. Hard-pressed airlines have also been merging, rationalizing route structures and consolidating their fleets. Examples in Europe include Air France’s merger with KLM; Lufthansa’s with Swissair; and British Airways’ with Iberia. In the United States, Delta’s recently completed merger with Northwest is being followed by United and Continental, which hope to combine by the end of the year. At the same time, apart from permanently decommissioned older aircraft, many currently retired planes are only temporarily grounded, to be returned to service before any new orders are placed. And at the next level of consolidation, airline alliances like SkyTeam, Oneworld and Star Alliance are increasingly seeking joint venture antitrust immunity to plan, schedule and operate their Atlantic and Pacific operations, further rationalizing service frequencies and routes and reducing their need for new aircraft. For the aircraft manufacturers and jet engine makers, none of this is good news. Thrifty customers are not the only challenge facing the plane makers. A history of tit-for-tat complaints to the World Trade Organization is also coming home to roost. W.T.O. actions filed in 2004 by the United States and the European Commission alleged unfair trade practices benefiting Airbus and Boeing , including European “launch aid” loans for new Airbus models, and U.S. military research contracts for Boeing, along with other subsidies and tax breaks. A report on the U.S. case against Airbus, published by the W.T.O.’s dispute settlement panel late last month, specifically condemned some fundamental European practices. A parallel report, on E.U. complaints against Boeing, due for publication Friday, has been postponed to September. European frustration over the delay will likely add extra edge to the high profile competition between Airbus and Boeing for leadership in the airliner market, which has become a feature of the Farnborough and Paris air shows. In the past, that fight has been accompanied by an equally intense smaller-scale contest between Bombardier , of Canada, and Embraer , of Brazil, on the regional jet transport scene. Recently, however, that tidy division of the market, and its main players, into distinct segments has become increasingly blurred, first with the emergence of Embraer’s E-170 and E-190 family of four medium-range passenger jets in the 70- to 120-seat sector — straddling the regional and mainstream markets — and then with Bombardier’s definitive go-ahead for its C Series jet. Ending a four-year hesitation waltz, Bombardier finally decided in July 2008 to produce the C series in two sizes. The larger 300 version aims to compete directly with the Boeing 737-700 and Airbus A319, while the smaller 100 version is being sent out to do battle against the Embraer 190 and 195. The trigger for Bombardier’s decision, characterized by some analysts as an audacious declaration of commercial total war, actually was pulled by Pratt & Whitney, the engine manufacturing unit of United Technologies, said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace and defense analyst at Teal Group, in Fairfax, Virginia. Pratt & Whitney has agreed to fit its GTF 1000 Geared TurboFan engine, intended to be significantly more fuel-efficient than existing power plants, to the Bombardier planes, giving them a potentially winning edge in a highly cost-conscious market. The C series challenge comes at a very inconvenient time for both Airbus and Boeing, which recently announced plans to step up production of their A320 and 737 aircraft families to meet future airline demand. Both would like to be able to keep profitably churning out those workhorse models — the backbone of short- and medium-haul airline fleets all over the world. Instead they may have to invest in modernizing their product lines. “The Big Two have been outmaneuvered by Pratt & Whitney’s GTF, which has enabled Bombardier’s C Series to become a growing competitive threat,” Mr. Aboulafia said. The C series’s “main virtue is basically the engine,” he said. “Airbus has pushed a simple A320 re-engining, but several key customers desire a more ambitious upgrade. They will need to do something, especially if P&W and Bombardier show up at Farnborough with a notable order or two.” John Leahy, the head of sales and marketing at Airbus, said early this year that a re-engined A320 family could be in service by 2015, with a probable 10-year life cycle. This could be replaced around 2025 by a totally new aircraft, he suggested. Boeing, meanwhile “is swinging like a metronome on the question,” Mr. Aboulafia said, “one day looking at a 737 re-engined upgrade, then convinced the next day that it’s time to do something all new.” Both companies, he added, “are likely to find that they’ll need to act faster than they would like, and they are not likely to find a lot of other new technology, apart from the engines, probably including General Electric’s new LEAP-X engine, that could justify an all-new aircraft now.” The LEAP-X is a low noise, high efficiency turbofan jet being developed by GE Aviation of the United States and Snecma of France. Boeing’s chairman and chief executive James McNerney, speaking last month at an aerospace investment conference in New York, said the timing and economics of developing a 737 replacement were the main questions facing the company. Boeing, he said, is trying to establish “during what time frame we can get an all-new airplane done that our customers will pay for. “If that answer is 2025, then the case for re-engining strengthens,” he said. “If the answer is 2020, no matter what Airbus does, I think customers will wait for us.” Mr. McNerney said Boeing was studying various options, including the possibility of adapting technology from its 787 Dreamliner , before deciding whether to go straight to a new narrow-body jet or to put new engines on the longserving 737 airframe. “What does it cost, and what’s the time of re-engining? Say that’s 2016. We’re also studying how fast we can flow some technology from the 787 into a new narrow body,” he said. “I’d rather not put the backlog at risk twice, unless we have to,” he concluded, referring to the possibility that customers might cancel or postpone orders for current versions ahead of a new model introduction. As if the narrow-body scene were not enough to keep senior management occupied, Boeing also “needs to keep watch on the Airbus A350 XWB-1000,” the largest version in development of the Airbus extra-wide-bodied airliner program, Mr. Aboulafia said. “If that wins a few prestigious converts, Boeing needs to move forward with a major 777 derivative or replacement,” he said. Both the A350 and the 777 are larger than Boeing’s much-delayed 787 — which is still moving through its flight test program toward planned delivery by the end of December to its first customer, All Nippon Airlines. Embraer, meanwhile, says it too is looking at fitting new engines to its E series in response to the Bombardier challenge. In September, five years after the E-170 was first introduced, it delivered its 600th E-jet and marked the occasion with a long, hard look at prospects for the family. One result was that a computer-generated “E-195X” stretched version with 130-seat capacity was shelved after being offered for evaluation by customer airlines, Luiz Sergio Chiessi, a top Embraer marketing executive, told a recent media briefing. Potential customers had liked the additional seating capacity, but balked at the plane’s reduced performance, resulting from its extra weight, he said. While mulling its E family options, Embraer is also busy developing its KC-390 medium-size military transporter for the Brazilian Air Force. The twin-engine jet will be the largest and heaviest aircraft that Embraer has ever produced and is designed to play a core role in a strategic reorganization of Brazil’s armed forces, said Orlando Neto, the company’s head of defense marketing. Plans prepared by Brazil’s joint military staff call for highly trained specialist ground units to be regrouped at central locations, from which they can be flown to deal with emergencies across the vast Amazon territories — or along Brazil’s borders with various narcotics-producing and distributing neighbors. Never forgetting the commercial side, however, Embraer says it is in discussion with the Chinese authorities to modify its current production facility in that country, initially dedicated to building the ERJ regional jet. A new proposal is for production of the E-190 in China, to tap into the burgeoning Chinese market for short-haul carriers.

Embraer - Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA


In ‘Practical Wisdom,’ Ways to Be a Mensch - Review

Abstract: WHAT is it about businesspeople and self-help books? Is there any other field where so many people read so many books about how to do better, manage better, lead better, sell better, speak better, tan better and turn somersaults better? O.K., I made those last two up, but you see the point. People in business will take advice from just about anyone. Football coaches, bicyclists, surfers, Sufis — at some point, it seems that almost anyone who has ever achieved success in America has written a book explaining how you, too, can do it. Call me complacent, but there’s something about the whole genre that feels too glib, too shiny, too Newport Beachy. “The only way to get rich from a self-help book,” Christopher Buckley once observed, “is to write one.” Thus, my first impulse upon opening “Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing” (Riverhead), by Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe, was to light some incense and put on the sitar music; it all sounded very Eastern. It’s not. By “practical wisdom,” the authors, a pair of Swarthmore College professors, mean applied or situational wisdom, which might have made better titles. (“Practical” would seem to be implied. Who’s going to read a book about impractical wisdom?) As the authors see it, practical wisdom roughly amounts to being a mensch — that is, having honor and integrity, but also rising above workaday ephemera to recognize and enact wise decisions for the greater good. They are primarily interested in calling for an infusion of this kind of wisdom into the professions, especially medicine, law and business, all of which, let’s face it, could use some. They have valid, thoughtful points to make but, by and large, this is not “Ten Ways to Be a Mensch by Tuesday.” Rather, the book appears to be aimed at managers and especially at educators in position to introduce the spirit of the mensch into their organizations. This is high-concept stuff, and a lot of it is pretty obvious. Still, it’s comforting to know that smart people at Swarthmore worry about such things. The basic problem, Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Sharpe argue, is that too many doctors, lawyers and business types must operate under too many rules and regulations, which by their very existence are intended to reduce discretionary behavior — free thinking being the basis for wise decision-making. A classic case would be judges hamstrung by sentencing guidelines. Or maybe a corporate board forced into layoffs by a sense of fiduciary duty. Practical wisdom, however, is not relegated to management. The book’s centerpiece example is of a hospital janitor named Luke. He has just cleaned the room of a coma patient, but the patient’s father, distraught, doesn’t notice and harangues him to clean it again. Luke’s first reaction is to tell the fellow to take a flying leap. But, in a moment the authors rightly applaud, Luke sizes up the situation, realizes the father’s need for his emotional health and cleans the room all over again, so the father can see it done. The world, especially the professional and institutional world, needs far more of this, the authors say. The key, they continue, is to clear out unnecessary rules from our lives and to grant people more individual discretion: “Detailed rules and procedures, however well intentioned, are undermining the skill that wisdom requires,” they say. They attack workplace incentives, especially monetary ones, as pathways to personal corruption. An example would be a doctor who is paid for each patient he sees, not for the quality of his care. This is valid, assuming that people use their leeway wisely. I kept thinking, “I hope Luke the janitor uses his newfound freedom to help patients instead of shoot aliens on his Game Boy.” “PRACTICAL WISDOM” is strongest in discussing ways to improve the education of professionals. Too many graduate schools — especially law schools, with their emphasis on impersonal case studies — tend to force-feed information into young minds rather than teach them how use this information to make wise decisions. The authors spend a good deal of time describing experimental programs that, for example, teach law students how to push past the demands of angry clients and try to understand the underlying emotions driving these demands. It makes management sense. (And, yes, I know, it sounds very Dr. Phil.) The book makes a good case that educators should put more emphasis on professional apprenticeships. Practical wisdom cannot be taught the way accounting can. It is derived largely from personal experience, and the surest way to become a mensch, the authors argue, is to watch a mensch at work. Menschiness is a frame of mind and a value, they say — and like many values, it is best learned by example. “We’re not teaching good judgment to the medical schools,” as one school puts it. “We’re causing it to be learned.” Everyone can see the value in practical wisdom. The problem is, how to create more of it? What the book is missing is a recipe to spread practical wisdom. The authors settle instead for a survey of best practices, which is fine. But if they truly want to spread their gospel, “Ten Ways to Be a Mensch by Tuesday” isn’t such a bad idea.

Books and Literature
Schwartz Barry
Sharpe Kenneth
Practical Wisdom (Book)
Careers and Professions


A Young Islander Gears Up for the Rangers

Abstract: SYOSSET, N.Y. — The Islanders have found lineup stability leading into Wednesday’s first game against the first-place but struggling Rangers at Barclays Center. With the return of Ryan Strome and the top line again anchored by John Tavares and Kyle Okposo, the Islanders can focus on their rival with momentum on their side. Strome, 22, has two goals and two assists in three games since his eight-game stint with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and the Islanders (13-8-4) have won three of their last four games. The loss came in a shootout on the road against the Panthers on Friday. Strome, who had 17 goals and 50 points in his first full N.H.L. season last year, expressed confidence that his brief exile to the American Hockey League would pay dividends. “For me, it’s all about trying to work hard and be better,” said Strome, the fifth pick in the 2011 draft. “I have to remember every day is a privilege and use that to my advantage.” Coach Jack Capuano, who has nurtured many young players in his five years behind the bench after a coaching apprenticeship in Bridgeport, said he would keep pressuring Strome to play to his capabilities. “He’s bringing energy, but there are some things he has to work on, no question,” Capuano said. “I know the offense is there. But he has lots of room for improvement, and he realizes that. It’s the play away from the puck and the battles along the edges that I’m going to continue to harp on.” The Islanders will need contributions from all four lines against the Rangers (17-6-2), who ended a three-game losing streak on Monday against the Hurricanes. Strome has skated on right wing with the veterans Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin in recent games after starting the season on Tavares’s right wing with Anders Lee on the left. Strome, who has three goals and six assists in 15 games, sounded as if the expectations of performing alongside a superstar were overwhelming. “Johnny can be a tough guy to play with,” Strome said. “You have to learn as you go, and sometimes just take the bull by the horns. That’s why Kyle is so good with him. He’s got his own game. That’s something I’m trying to develop.” Tavares now has Okposo on his right and Brock Nelson on the left. Frans Nielsen is centering Josh Bailey and Anders Lee, while the gritty fourth line features Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin. Strome said he liked his current line makeup and was glad to have a fresh opportunity to flourish. “Our top two lines give us so much — with Johnny’s line scoring a lot and Franzie’s line playing strong at both ends,” he said. “Working to be part of that third line is my goal. I’m playing with great players. If we can continue to build chemistry, that will be good for us and the whole team.” The Islanders are only 6 points behind the Rangers in the Metropolitan Division and enter the game with an 8-4-2 mark at Barclays Center. They are preparing for the type of game they have not yet seen in Brooklyn. In addition to an expected sellout — which would be only the second in 15 games — the question is how many Rangers fans will travel to Barclays Center, only a 20-minute subway ride from Madison Square Garden. “It’s always a high-intensity game against the Rangers,” Tavares said. “The rivalry is always a lot of fun, and I’m sure both sets of fans will break in Barclays the right way. It definitely should be fun.” Capuano added: “Obviously, this first Ranger game at Barclays will be the best so far, and hopefully our guys can feed off that. I expect a lot of Ranger fans and a tremendous atmosphere.” At least one Islander suspects that the first 14 games in Brooklyn were a dress rehearsal for a game that area hockey fans circled when the schedule was released. “It’s the calm before the storm,” said Nielsen, the most senior Islander, who joined the team during the 2006-7 season. “We’re all ready for the excitement and energy of playing the Rangers in our new home.” SLAP SHOTS Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein will miss the next two to three weeks with an oblique strain. He joins center Derek Stepan, out four to six weeks with broken ribs, on the injured list.


Venezuela: New Regional Group Meets

Abstract: A new regional group setting itself up as a counterweight to the United States in the Western Hemisphere began a two-day summit meeting in Caracas on Friday. Unlike the Organization of American States , the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States includes Cuba and excludes the United States and Canada. President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua said it was time for the region to end the Monroe Doctrine, the policy of United States intervention in the hemisphere declared by President James Monroe in 1823. “We are sentencing the Monroe Doctrine to death,” Mr. Ortega said before the opening ceremony.


Letters to the Editor

Abstract: Printing a Nickname That May Leave a Stain To the Sports Editor: I find it disturbing that The New York Times, a newspaper that is so self-reflective and so thoughtful about its practices and standards, is continuing to print the racist slur that is the commercial name of the Washington football team. Other publications have taken the important and enlightened step of refusing to print the name of the team. Can there be any justification for continuing the benighted tradition of using such an offensive name to refer to the team? I can’t imagine that there is, and I am certain that in the very near future, this blindness to the pain the word inflicts will be a stain on the paper’s history. JANE DIMYAN-EHRENFELD, Silver Spring, Md. Blunders in Philadelphia To the Sports Editor: Re “ Unbrotherly Feelings ,” Dec. 31: As a die-hard Eagles fan, I would like to say that the word “incompetent” perfectly describes what has taken place with our team the last three years. Chip Kelly has come into our city, replaced all of our top talent with below-mediocre players and gutted our franchise. Kelly reduced DeMarco Murray’s carries to two in the latter games of the season, a year after he was the N.F.L.’s leading rusher. In his last news conference, Kelly eluded responsibility for player personnel, despite having been given complete keys to the kingdom and having made terrible roster decisions. CHRIS LANG, Bethlehem, Pa. Rethinking the Extra Point To the Sports Editor: Field-goal kickers already had a magnified role in the outcomes of games before this season’s change in the rule for extra points. Now their extra-point misses, almost nonexistent before, are likely to decide a number of games. Having a team’s fortunes so heavily dependent on a specialty player cannot be healthy for professional football. Since the extra point had become superfluous, the rule makers should have awarded 7 points for a touchdown, with the scoring team having the option to take 6 points instead and try for a 2-point conversion. This simple expedient would have eliminated the extra-point try and left the scoring unchanged, except for the couple of missed extra points each year. MICHAEL HORSTEIN, Los Angeles One-of-a-Kind Globetrotter To the Sports Editor: When, years ago, the New York Times crossword called for a five-letter word meaning “Meadowlark,” I instantly filled in, in ink, “Lemon.” I felt betrayed when that answer proved incorrect. For anyone who ever saw him on the court, there was only one Meadowlark. DAVID R. SHERIDAN, Delmar, N.Y. Doubts About Manning To the Sports Editor: Re “ Doping Claims Raise Nagging Questions ,” Dec. 28: Hadn’t Peyton Manning done enough, accomplished enough and aged enough to pack it in with a broken neck? Walk away while he still could? For a year or two, I thought I was wrong. He came back to a high level of play. Then this season, he was not the player he used to be. And with all that neck and back surgery, do you just go along your merry way and feel fine the rest of your life? I am also glad that in this recent craze of concussion awareness, someone has finally mentioned steroids. EDDIE ISAACS, Forest Hills, N.Y.


Crowdfunding Tips for Turning Inspiration Into Reality

Abstract: MIKE WHITEHEAD’S big idea was to design a better cast-iron skillet. Stephanie Turenko’s big idea was to make an animated short film about her Ukrainian grandmother. Colin Owen’s big idea was to manufacture a hard-to-steal bike light. Many of us have ideas like that, hatched while staring out the window or doodling on a cocktail napkin. And that’s where the dream ends, stunted by a lack of capital, credibility and confidence. Not anymore. Online crowdfunding is helping better cast-iron skillets and other big ideas become reality. What started as a handful of websites promoting people’s pet projects has turned into hundreds of platforms that serve as vehicles for not only fund-raising — the record is $10.2 million — but also product development and market research. But succeeding at crowdfunding isn’t as easy as raising your hand and saying you need money. It demands strategy and stamina, though a sincere appeal can still trump the slickest competitor. “A lot of people think if they just put their project on Kickstarter, money will start rolling in,” said Mr. Whitehead, who used the popular Kickstarter crowdfunding platform last fall to raise $211,027 . “It’s not as easy as it looks.” Successful crowdfunding campaigns, most often 30 days long, take several months of preparation. With the help of an industrial designer, Mr. Whitehead first spent six months developing a prototype skillet in his Portland, Ore., basement so he’d have something to show potential backers. He then spent another four months reaching out to friends and family as well as culinary, technology and design publications, alerting them to his coming Kickstarter campaign. While Kickstarter is to crowdfunding what Kleenex is to tissues, there are many other highly trafficked sites that perform similar functions, like Indiegogo, RocketHub and Crowdtilt . There are also niche sites like PubSlush , which caters to aspiring authors, and Appbackr , which is a home for hopeful app developers. They vary not only in the types of projects presented, but also in their fee structure, geographic coverage and whether you can keep what you raise or lose everything if you don’t reach your fund-raising goal. Ms. Turenko, who is from Toronto but is teaching English in Slovakia, chose RocketHub to raise money for her animated film . “They take a higher percentage if you don’t make your goal, but you do get to keep what you raise,” she said. That’s a big difference from Kickstarter, where you can lose everything if you don’t make your goal. “I’d rather be allowed to take what I can get,” Ms. Turenko said. So far, she has raised $4,066 toward a goal of $7,000 with 15 days of fund-raising remaining. There is also a growing number of private equity crowdfunding websites like Crowdfunder and CircleUp , where investors can buy shares in start-ups rather than just make a donation. Currently, equity crowdfunding is limited to wealthy, so-called accredited investors. But less moneyed investors will soon get their chance thanks to preliminary guidelines published last year as part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act. Regardless of which platform you choose, keep in mind that people don’t back projects randomly. “The crowd is quite rational and sensitive to signals of quality,” said Ethan Mollick, an assistant professor and crowdfunding researcher at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Many in the crowd are early adopters of technology and enjoy watching as a big idea turns into an actual product that they, as early backers, often receive first as a reward for their donation. Crowdfunding platforms don’t like to call this preordering since there are no guarantees, but that’s essentially what it is. “We don’t present products that are already completed and sitting on some shelf in Iowa shrink-wrapped and ready to ship,” said the Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler. “You actually have a role in something coming to life. You know the creators and see the process from the beginning.” Not surprisingly, a clear and concise presentation of your idea through video, illustrations and text is essential. Put yourself in the place of a would-be funder scrolling through projects. You’ve got maybe 30 seconds to grab their attention and less than that to turn them off. There is an entire crowdfunding support system of video producers, editors and other consultants listed on sites like CrowdCrux if you need help. “A single spelling error reduces chances of success by 13 percent,” said Mr. Mollick at Wharton. Oddly, his research also indicates that mentioning how nerdy you are, and referring to Star Wars seems to help — a clue to the type of people trolling the more popular crowdfunding sites. But your audience is also venture capitalists, who view a successful crowdfunding campaign as proof that your big idea is viable and worthy of their attention. Mr. Owen said he didn’t consider starting a crowdfunding campaign for his theft-resistant bicycle lights until a venture capitalist said he wouldn’t consider investing until he did. “I felt crowdfunding was like having a bake sale to fund your company,” said Mr. Owen, who lives in San Francisco and raised $66,386 on Kickstarter in November. “What I came to realize was it wasn’t so much the money as the validation.” With crowd-conveyed credibility, he was able to get a Small Business Administration loan to pay for the first production run of his lights, which 500 people on Kickstarter were promised in exchange for their financial support. Moreover, venture capitalists are now knocking on his door rather than the other way around. Because he was out to demonstrate demand more than find money, Mr. Owen’s crowdfunding goal of $45,000 was based on what similar projects were able to raise rather than what he actually needed to make his product. Rachel Gant and Andrew Deming, on the other hand, asked the crowd for $20,000 because that was precisely the amount required to manufacture their big idea: tote bags that unzipped into picnic blankets. They raised $25,765 on Kickstarter and now two months later they are shipping totes to their funders as promised. “We didn’t go to a bank because we decided we wanted to build a community around our new company so people would be more interested and invested,” said Ms. Gant, who lives in San Francisco. “It was also sort of like research to see how people would react to the product.” She said she got suggestions for colors and also learned the product appealed particularly to mothers with small children who could use it as a toy bag and play mat. “We never would have thought of that because we aren’t parents,” she said. “If you just got money from a bank you wouldn’t have that kind of interaction with people.” Crowdfunding experts and veterans of the process agree that such engagement with potential funders, together with a clear vision and a sincere belief in a product, are hallmarks of successful campaigns. But more than anything, your big idea has to be a good idea. “If you don’t have a good idea, even the slickest crowdfunding campaign won’t fly,” said Mr. Whitehead, a self-described serial entrepreneur who is currently overseeing the manufacture of the 1,550 iron skillets he presold on Kickstarter. “You can sit through marketing classes, you can get an M.B.A., but put it out there for the crowd and you will learn the physics of bootstrapping real fast.”

Crowdfunding
Small business
Startup
Kickstarter
IndieGoGo.com
RocketHub
CircleUp Network


Colombian Wins Tour de Romandie

Abstract: Nairo Quintana of Colombia protected his overall lead to win the Tour de Romandie, in Geneva, a Tour de France trial, after a final stage won by Michael Albasini. ■ Thomas Voeckler of France secured overall victory in the Tour de Yorkshire with a sprint finish in the 198 km final stage, from Middlesbrough to Scarborough, England. (REUTERS)

Biking
Nairo Quintana
Geneva
Road Cycling


Tasmanian Tigers’ Brains Yield Clues Long After Extinction

Abstract: The tale of the Tasmanian tiger was tragic. Once numerous across Tasmania, the doglike marsupial was branded a sheep killer by colonists in the 1830s and hunted to extinction. The last of its kind, Benjamin, died in a zoo in 1936, and with it many secrets into the animals’ lives were lost. The striped creature, which is also known as the thylacine, was hardly studied when it was alive, depriving scientists of understanding the behavior of an important predator from Australia’s recent biological past. Now, for the first time, researchers have performed neural scans on the extinct carnivore’s brain, revealing insights that had been lost since the species went extinct. “Part of the myth about them is what exactly did they eat, how did they hunt and were they social?” said Dr. Gregory Berns , a neuroscientist at Emory University and lead author on the study, which was published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One . “These are questions nobody really knows the answers to.” Dr. Berns’s main research pertains to dogs and the inner workings of the canine brain, but after learning more about Tasmanian tigers, he became fascinated by the beasts. With their slender bodies, long snouts and sharp teeth, Tasmanian tigers looked as if they could be related to dogs, wolves or coyotes. But actually they are separated by more than 150 million years of evolution. It is a classic example of convergent evolution, in which two organisms that are not closely related develop similar features because of the environment they adapted to and the ecological role they played. To better understand thylacines, Dr. Berns spent two years tracking down two preserved Tasmanian tiger brains, one at the Smithsonian Institution and the other at the Australian Museum. Their brains, like those of all marsupials, are very different from the brains of placental mammals. The biggest difference is that they lack a corpus callosum, which is the part of the brain that connects the left and right hemispheres. Image Brain scan images of the Tasmanian devil and Tasmanian tiger. Credit Dr. Gregory Berns Because of the differences, Dr. Berns said, if he wanted to make any sense out of the Tasmanian tiger brain, he could not compare it with one of his dog brain scans. Instead, he needed to analyze it against something much more similar. “That’s where the devil comes into the picture,” Dr. Berns said. The Tasmanian devil, a carnivorous marsupial that mostly scavenges for food, is one of the Tasmanian tiger’s closest living relatives. Dr. Berns collected two Tasmanian devil brains, scanned them and compared them with the two Tasmanian tiger brains. For the brain scans, he used magnetic resonance imaging to study the gray matter, and diffusion tensor imaging to study the white matter. From the scans Dr. Berns found that Tasmanian tigers had a larger brain, particularly the frontal lobes. The differences suggested that Tasmanian tigers were smarter than Tasmanian devils and used their cortex more for planning and decision-making, Dr. Berns said. That, he said, further supported the idea that Tasmanian tigers were avid hunters, rather than scavengers like Tasmanian devils. Leah Krubitzer , a neuroscientist from the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the study, called the work a “heroic effort” for scanning brains of the extinct animal. “The authors cleverly used the best available techniques to examine brain organization in nonliving brains that were in not very good condition,” she said. And Dr. Berns said his research could change our understanding of these extinct Australian predators. “Go back 100 years, people dismissed thylacines as stupid animals because they weren’t fast moving,” he said. He added that what he could see of the Tasmanian tigers’ brains revealed that “they were probably quite intelligent.”

Endangered Species
Tasmanian Devils
Brain
Tasmania
PLoS One Journal
Gregory S Berns


Radio Royalty Deal Offers Hope for Industrywide Pact

Abstract: For decades, the recording industry has lobbied Congress to change how radio stations pay royalties. The broadcasters have lobbied just as hard to preserve the status quo, making an agreement look all but impossible. But last week, a groundbreaking deal by Clear Channel Communications, the country’s largest radio broadcaster, raised the possibility of a solution to the standoff through marketplace negotiations instead of political head-butting. It also put the spotlight on how federal copyright law keeps up with digital media. The agreement, between Clear Channel and Big Machine, the record label behind Taylor Swift and other country acts, will for the first time allow a label to collect a royalty when its songs are played on the radio. In the United States — and almost nowhere else — radio companies pay only songwriters and music publishers, not record companies. The system, dating back almost a century, is based on the idea that radio play has enough promotional value for performers that they do not also need to be paid royalties. The arrangement has long irritated labels and performers; Frank Sinatra was a vocal opponent. But with record sales plummeting over the last decade, the labels have pursued royalties more urgently as an additional revenue stream. “Terrestrial broadcasters have an inexplicable ‘free ride’ when it comes to performance royalties,” Ben Allison, a jazz musician and the governor of the New York chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization that produces the Grammys , told a House subcommittee last Wednesday at a hearing with music and technology executives called “The Future of Audio.” “They are exempt from paying performers any royalties when they use our recordings to fuel their multibillion-dollar industry,” Mr. Allison continued. “This makes corporate radio the only business in America that can legally use another’s intellectual property without permission or compensation.” So why did Clear Channel change its position, breaking ranks with its powerful lobbying group, the National Association of Broadcasters? The answer apparently has nothing to do with politics; with Republicans expected to retain control of the House in this year’s elections, few in the industry predict a new Washington battle is likely. Rather, it has to do with digital music, and Clear Channel’s desire to reshape its business in anticipation of rapid changes in the marketplace. When the first webcasting laws were passed in the 1990s, labels and artists gained the right to performance royalties for online streams. But webcasters have long complained about the size and structure of these royalties, which are set by federal statute. The more people listen, the more the companies have to pay — unlike on radio, where stations pay a set percentage of revenue to music publishers. Pandora Media pays more than half its revenue in music royalties. For Clear Channel, digital royalties are a looming problem. Today, 98 percent of listening to its stations is through its 850 terrestrial radio stations, and 2 percent is online, the company said. But that is expected to change, which would leave Clear Channel and other broadcasters exposed to expanding royalty payments. To limit those expenses, Clear Channel struck its deal with Big Machine, bypassing the federal “penny rate” for a share of advertising revenue, both online and over the air. As various forms of digital music proliferate, the distribution of royalties has become a crucial issue throughout the industry, with efforts to reach new agreements, expand existing systems or bypass those systems entirely. Last week, SoundExchange, a nonprofit group in the United States that processes online royalties, made five deals, bringing the number of foreign countries from which it collects royalties to 22. Yet Sirius XM Radio recently has sought ways to avoid SoundExchange through direct licensing agreements with record labels, an effort that has proved contentious. For Clear Channel, the Big Machine deal is likely to be a money loser in the short run, because it will be paying the label far more for terrestrial radio play than it will save online. But if the deal takes hold, it could save Clear Channel a great deal of money in the long run and change the economics — and politics — of radio. The Clear Channel deal came up several times at the Congressional hearing on Wednesday, and was often characterized as a positive sign that the marketplace could solve a problem that high-powered lobbying had been unable to settle again and again. “We’re obviously delighted that the biggest radio group acknowledged that something should be done,” said Cary Sherman, the chairman of the Recording Industry Association of America . Media executives used the hearing to air some of their familiar concerns and requests, including the need for the government to be tough on piracy and the broadcasters’ wish to have radio chips placed in mobile phones. Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, called for lower rates for streaming services and for equivalent royalty systems across media, because Pandora must pay labels millions of dollars in royalties that broadcast radio companies are not required to pay. “It is time for Congress to level the playing field and to approach radio royalties in a technology-neutral manner,” Mr. Westergren said. “The current rate-setting law is unfair to performing artists, unfair to record labels, and unfair to Pandora and Internet radio as we compete every day with broadcast radio and satellite radio for listener loyalty and advertising and subscription revenue.” Few companies have the negotiating leverage of Clear Channel to change an entrenched royalty system. But its Big Machine agreement at least suggests that changes can be made in the industry.


When a Superfund Site as a Neighbor Isn’t the Biggest Hazard

Abstract: For the past three years, Manuel Pimentel and his wife and two small children lived half a block from a toxic Superfund site in West Oakland. The site — a gated concrete lot with the Environmental Protection Agency’s yellow testing wells and a few buildings covered in graffiti — was the old AMCO chemical distribution facility. The ground is full of cancer-causing contaminants like vinyl chloride, and the chemicals have seeped under the old row houses on Third Street. But as Mr. Pimentel moved his family last week 13 miles away to Richmond, he said he had also worried about other sources of pollution: Interstate 880, which looms across Third Street, and the Port of Oakland with its diesel tractor trailers just beyond the highway. “There’s all this other stuff on top of the AMCO site,” said Mr. Pimentel, a jovial 30-year-old with a chin-strap beard and slicked-back hair. “It might be different if you don’t have little kids, but I just decided I didn’t want to take the chance that in 30 years my little girl has some kind of cancer.” Testing by the E.P.A. has found that, in spite of the dangerous chemicals trapped under the ground, vapors from the Superfund site posed less of an immediate threat to neighbors than the air they breathe every day. A 2008 study by the California Air Resources Board showed that the cancer risk from diesel emissions was 1,500 in a million for the people living along Third Street, more than three times higher than the Bay Area average. “The ambient air is actually worse than this thing that the government calls the worst thing possible,” said Brian Beveridge of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, an environmental organization. Mr. Pimentel used to be known as Little Wal-Mart at the flea market where he sold sunglasses, water filters, toys and Mexican food from his taco truck. He paid $1,200 a month for the apartment he shared with his wife, Lorena Mendoza, and children, Alex, 8, and Samantha, 3. Mr. Pimentel and Greenaction, an environmental organization, tried to get the E.P.A. to help finance the family’s move. They argued that the cumulative effects of the air and the Superfund site made it a dire case. But the actual science of measuring cumulative impacts is still nascent, and the E.P.A. wouldn’t bite. Mr. Pimentel, who now has a sign and decal business, dug into his savings for the new house — and he now pays more for his mortgage than he did for rent. His former landlord, 67-year-old Miguel Avalos, still lives upstairs from the Pimentel apartment, which is still empty. Mr. Avalos has owned and lived in the building since 1984, and he said he felt just fine. A man of few words who speaks only in Spanish, he said matter-of-factly, “Yes, it’s going to be difficult to rent this out I imagine.”

Superfund
Oakland (Calif)
West Oakland (Calif)


5 Rescue Workers Are Killed in Northern Syria

Abstract: BEIRUT, Lebanon — Five rescue workers with a civil defense group were killed in aerial attacks on their headquarters in northern Syria on Tuesday as violence escalated in the critical battlegrounds of Aleppo Province, where government and insurgent attacks have killed dozens in recent days. The rescuers died after four airstrikes and a surface-to-surface missile hit the headquarters in quick succession in Atareb, in western Aleppo Province, according to the group, the White Helmets, a civilian organization that responds to attacks in insurgent-held territory and says it has helped save as many as 50,000 people. Airstrikes in the area are being carried out by the government and its Russian allies. A day earlier, 19 civilians, including several children, were killed by insurgent shelling in the government-held section of the divided city of Aleppo, according to the state-run news media. Opposition groups and news outlets put the death toll from government airstrikes and shelling over the past week at well over 100. The rash of attacks was an indication that a partial truce that held for nearly two months had collapsed, with dire results for Syrians in both government-held and rebel-held territory. Areas held by the extremist Islamic State group were not included in the truce. Video from both sides of the divided city showed rescuers and dazed civilians fleeing amid yellowish clouds of dust. There were accusations of war crimes and calls from both sides for more protection. “We are being killed for saving lives,” said Raed Saleh, head of the White Helmets, also known as Syria Civil Defense , accusing the Syrian government and Russia of deliberately targeting rescuers. He called for enforcement of United Nations resolutions calling for an end to bombing of civilian areas. A Syrian state media reporter, Shadi Halwi, blamed rebels for indiscriminate attacks on the government-held side. He issued a plea on his personal Facebook page for the government to take the city of Aleppo from rebels, much as it took Palmyra from the Islamic State, “to liberate it from those who are proudly killing civilians.” Video from White Helmets rescuers showed what appeared to be the bodies of several children being pulled from wreckage of a government airstrike in rebel-held Aleppo on Tuesday. Across the line, in a government hospital, a doctor told her daughter, Abeer Pamuk, how a 9-year-old boy had died as she tried to treat him. “His lungs were outside his chest,” she said, according to an account posted by her daughter, an aid worker, on Facebook. “He had a tennis ball in one pocket and 10 Syrian pounds” — about five cents — “in the other.” Last week, Mr. Saleh was denied entry into the United States, where he was to receive an award recognizing his contributions to humanitarian relief. Mr. Saleh had made several previous trips to the United States, and the State Department declined to say why he was denied entry last week.

Fatalities,casualties
White Helmets
Aleppo Syria


Chargers’ Momentum Makes Their Fall That Much Harder

Abstract: SAN DIEGO — The Chargers were rested and ready, they were playing the best football in the N.F.L., and they believed they had a coach who knew how to win in the playoffs. So much for those notions, which were as off the mark as kicker Nate Kaeding on Sunday as San Diego dropped out of the playoffs with a 17-14 loss to the upstart Jets . Instead of the Super Bowl dark horse they fancied themselves, the Chargers, who had won their final 11 games of the regular season, played like jittery novices. Kaeding, one of the N.F.L.’s most accurate kickers, missed three attempts — as many as he had all season. Philip Rivers, who had thrown nine interceptions in the regular season, threw two on consecutive passes, the second of which led to Mark Sanchez ’s go-ahead touchdown pass to Dustin Keller early in the fourth quarter. Even as they were attempting to come back, the Chargers could not keep their poise. After Vincent Jackson’s 37-yard reception in the final minutes, he drew a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. It was one of 10 penalties for 87 yards. “To come out and lay an egg in this game. ...” tight end Antonio Gates said, his voice trailing off. “Words can’t really describe how I feel, how this team feels. It’s heartbreaking.” These types of playoff meltdowns were supposed to be a thing of the past after the Chargers fired Marty Schottenheimer three years ago. Norv Turner had them playing well at the end of the season, and even though they were saddled with injuries, they had managed to beat the Colts in the playoffs the past two seasons. The Chargers expected to be heading to Indianapolis again for the American Football Conference title. The playoff table was set neatly. The Jets’ win over Cincinnati in the wild-card round meant that they traveled here rather than Baltimore, which had won in San Diego in October. When the Jets took the field during pregame warm-ups Sunday, they sensed the Chargers were looking ahead — both by their words, according to linebacker Bart Scott, and by their actions, according to receiver Braylon Edwards. “They said things and you can feel things, and that’s what we felt,” Edwards said. “Then, in their heart, they knew they couldn’t beat us — that’s what led to them getting tight and dropping some passes and missing some blocks and reads, and interceptions.” If the Chargers were looking ahead, they were not the only ones. Qualcomm Stadium was rocking at the opening kickoff, but it was not long before a discomfiting sign appeared. Kaeding, the Pro Bowl kicker, who had made his last 20 field-goal attempts, missed a 36-yard try in the first quarter, conjuring ghosts of playoffs past. As a rookie in 2005, Kaeding missed a 40-yarder here in an overtime loss to the Jets. When the Chargers were trying to claw back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth, Kaeding missed from 40. He was also short on a 57-yard attempt on the final play of the first half. “One of these rested on my shoulders before,” Kaeding said, referring to the 2005 loss. “I feel sorry for my teammates, my coaches and the support staff for letting them down. It’s going to be a tough few months, but I have to get through it.” That the Chargers, who had not been held below 20 points all season, floundered was because of more than their kicker. The Jets’ top-rated run defense held LaDainian Tomlinson to 24 yards on 12 carries, turning San Diego one-dimensional. Nursing a 7-3 lead late in the third, Rivers, throwing from his end zone, sailed a pass over the head of Jackson and into the arms of Jets safety Jim Leonhard, who returned it to the 16. “It was just not a smart play,” Rivers said. A penalty set up Mark Sanchez’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Keller, which gave the Jets a 10-7 lead. They extended it to 17-7 on their next possession on Shonn Greene’s 53-yard run, puncturing a defense that had held up well. Rivers brought the Chargers back, sneaking into the end zone from 1 yard away to bring San Diego to 17-14 with 2 minutes 14 seconds to play. But the Jets recovered an onside kick, and when Thomas Jones bulled his way for a first down on fourth-and-1, the stadium grew silent enough to hear the Jets hollering. And the Chargers grasping for answers. “The things that we had to do to get to this point, and then you get in this game, what you like to have happen is to play your best game,” Turner said. “You like to be playing your best game in January in games like this. Certainly we weren’t, for whatever reasons.”

Football
San Diego Chargers
New York Jets
Playoff Games
Rivers Philip
Sanchez Mark
Kaeding Nate
Turner Norv
Revis Darrelle


Safety Agency Says New Tests Are Needed on Boeing Battery

Abstract: Tests on a new kind of battery for 787 planes were inadequate, and new tests should be devised for determining whether batteries with new chemistries are safe for use on airliners, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday. Internal flaws can make the lithium-ion batteries catch fire with no warning, the safety board said in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration, adding that it should develop “abuse tests” that could be carried out aboard a plane to see how well its systems cope with smoke or fire. The F.A.A. said it was “already working closely with domestic and international battery experts” to incorporate the lessons learned from the problems with the 787, including devising new tests. Boeing said that the tests it conducted after the battery system was redesigned were consistent with the recommendations issued on Thursday. In January 2013, batteries on two 787s began smoking and one of them caught fire, a result of a chemical process called thermal runaway that leads to smoke or fire. The safety board, which hopes to finish its investigation by this fall, said Boeing and the F.A.A. had believed that thermal runaway could result only from overcharging the battery. The board said there was no evidence that the battery in the first case, which caught fire while the plane was at an airport gate in Boston, had been overcharged. In the second case, a few days later, a battery began smoking during a flight in Japan. Investigators there said there was no evidence of overcharging in that case, either. Image A burned auxiliary power unit battery removed from an All Nippon Airways 787 last year. Credit Reuters The battery problems kept 787 planes, known as Dreamliners, grounded for four months worldwide . The battery’s manufacturer, GS Yuasa, tested it in 2006, but the test did not replicate conditions of a battery installed on an airplane, the board said. The test battery was not grounded during the test and was cooler than its maximum normal operating temperature. In service, the batteries are grounded and running at a higher temperature. Hence in the test, a single bad battery cell did not set off adjacent cells, but a bad cell in a battery in service became hot enough to do just that, the board said. Tests that induce a thermal runaway should be conducted on airplanes, the board said, although it pointed out that “current test methods might not reliably produce failure effects as severe as those observed in actual field failures.” Instead, the F.A.A. accepted a test program devised with Boeing. If it had sought independent outside help, the agency “could have recognized that the 787 methods of compliance were insufficient to appropriately evaluate the risks,” the letter said. Boeing said in a statement that the original tests on the batteries were “consistent with the widely accepted industry standards of that time.” “Airplane certification standards evolve as the state of knowledge advances,” the company said, and it promised to work with the F.A.A. and others to consider the recommendations. But it said that tests conducted before the 787 was returned to service last year were “fully consistent with the recommendations made by the N.T.S.B. today.” The safety board responded late Thursday that “as provided to us by Boeing,” the description of tests on the redesigned battery was “consistent with the N.T.S.B. recommendations made today.” The acting chairman of the safety board, Christopher Hart, said in a statement that emerging technologies could enhance aviation safety, but that it was “crucial that the process by which these technologies are evaluated and certified is as robust and thorough as possible.”

Boeing
Airlines,airplanes
NTSB
FAA
Plane Crashes and Missing Planes
Batteries


New York Assembly Passes Medical Marijuana Bill

Abstract: ALBANY — For the fifth time in seven years, the State Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana, backing a measure that would far surpass a program Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced this year. But with less than four weeks left in the legislative session, the prospects for passage in the State Senate remained uncertain. The bill allows the possession and use of up to two and a half ounces of marijuana by seriously ill patients whom doctors, physician assistants or nurse practitioners have certified. It permits organizations to establish dispensaries to deliver the drug to registered users and their caregivers, part of what advocates call a “seed to sale” system meant to prevent abuse or illegal use. “There are tens of thousands of New Yorkers with serious, debilitating, life-threatening conditions whose lives could be made more tolerable and longer by enacting this legislation,” said Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried, a Democrat from Manhattan who heads the Health Committee and sponsored the bill. But enacting any bill on medical marijuana may be difficult. The Assembly, where Democrats are a majority, has passed such bills as far back as 2007, but Republicans in the Senate have been chilly to the concept. This year, supporters’ hopes have been aided by the advocacy of Senator Diane J. Savino of Staten Island, a member of the Independent Democratic Conference, a breakaway group that shares leadership with the Republicans. She has sponsored a similar bill in her chamber, and said she had the support of as many as 40 senators, including several Republicans. Ms. Savino’s bill narrowly passed the Senate Health Committee last week; the finance panel could take it up next week. Still, for the bill to be brought to a vote in the Senate, the Republican leader, Dean G. Skelos of Long Island, would need to allow it. Senator Skelos was considerably more circumspect about medical marijuana’s chances on Tuesday, saying no decision had been made on a vote. Ms. Savino suggested that talks with Mr. Skelos were continuing and said she fully expected her bill to be passed before the legislative session is scheduled to end June 19. “I’m doing this,” she said in an interview. “It’s going to happen.” The Senate and the Assembly bills are more expansive than a program announced in January by Mr. Cuomo, which uses a 1980 law to allow some hospitals to dispense marijuana to patients. Advocates for medical marijuana criticized the governor’s plan as difficult to put in place and fraught with legal and logistic problems, like getting enough of the drug to treat what could be tens of thousands of sick people. Mr. Cuomo has said he would have to review any medical marijuana bill. At least 20 states and the District of Columbia already allow some form of medical marijuana. In the Assembly on Tuesday, the debate was less about the bill’s fate and more about potential ramifications. Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin, a Republican from the Buffalo area, suggested hypothetically that a drug kingpin, if certified as a caregiver, might be allowed to give marijuana to his sick child. Mr. Gottfried, seemingly bewildered, offered a grudging yes and said, “I would hope that we would not prevent that child from having his or her life saved because of the sins of the child’s father.” Assemblyman Stephen M. Katz, a Mohegan Lake Republican who was arrested last year with a small bag of marijuana (the charges were dropped), said a medical marijuana law could encourage the sale of various things, from soil to edible marijuana products. “Each of these different industries have the ability to create hundreds if not thousands of jobs here in our state,” he said.

Legislation
Marijuana,Pot,Weed
Medical Marijuana
State legislature
New York
Drug Abuse
Richard N Gottfried
Andrew Cuomo


Comedy Central Cancels Larry Wilmore’s Late-Night Show

Abstract: The Nightly Show - Blacklash 2016: The Unblackening - Wild Claims from the Trump Campaign Credit Credit Video by Comedy Central For almost a decade, the combination of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert made Comedy Central destination viewing for fans of late-night comedy and barbed political commentary. But over the last 12 months, the post-Stewart and post-Colbert era has not been as easy for the network. On Monday, Comedy Central announced that it was canceling “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore” because of falling ratings and a distinct lack of buzz. The final episode of Mr. Wilmore’s 11:30 p.m. show — the slot formerly occupied by Mr. Colbert before he left for CBS — will be Thursday. Kent Alterman, Comedy Central’s president, said he informed Mr. Wilmore of the news late last week. The move, Mr. Alterman said in an interview, was made for a simple reason: The show “hasn’t resonated.” “Even though we’ve given it a year and a half, we’ve been hoping against hope that it would start to click with our audience, but it hasn’t happened, and we haven’t seen evidence of it happening,” Mr. Alterman said. The awkward timing of the cancellation, just 12 weeks before the presidential election, ultimately came down to a contract, Mr. Alterman said. Mr. Wilmore’s deal, along with those of several of the show’s other staff members, was set to expire in a few weeks and the network had to decide now whether to renew or cancel. For the time being, Comedy Central’s 12 a.m. show, “@midnight,” will replace “The Nightly Show” at 11:30 p.m. “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah remains at 11 p.m. Mr. Alterman said he hoped to name a full-time replacement for “The Nightly Show” sometime next year. The cancellation makes Mr. Wilmore, 54, an early casualty of a television late-night comedy slate that has been vastly reordered over the last two years. With the retirement of David Letterman, Jay Leno and Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Colbert’s move to CBS, a series of new hosts have stepped into the spotlight, including James Corden, Samantha Bee, John Oliver and Mr. Noah. Jimmy Fallon, the host of “The Tonight Show,” has most formidably filled the power vacuum left by his predecessors, earning the highest ratings of any late-night show. While Mr. Stewart was the host of “The Daily Show,” Mr. Wilmore became a fixture as the program’s “senior black correspondent,” offering wry observations on racial issues. In May 2014, Mr. Stewart tapped Mr. Wilmore to get his own show, and Mr. Wilmore formally became Mr. Colbert’s successor when “The Nightly Show” premiered in January 2015. “The Nightly Show” has been known for a signature segment, “Keep It 100,” (slang for telling the truth, no matter the consequences) and for Mr. Wilmore’s often stinging commentary on race and this year’s election. (He called the election to find Barack Obama’s successor “The Unblackening.”) Though the late-show genre remains heavy on easygoing laughter, any one episode of “The Nightly Show” could occasionally go for prolonged stretches without a single joke, something that intrigued some critics but failed to attract a broader audience. Image Larry Wilmore on the debut episode of Comedy Central’s “The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore.” Credit Comedy Central “I’m really grateful to Comedy Central, Jon Stewart and our fans to have had this opportunity,” Mr. Wilmore said in a statement. “But I’m also saddened and surprised we won’t be covering this crazy election or ‘The Unblackening’ as we’ve coined it. And keeping it 100, I guess I hadn’t counted on ‘The Unblackening’ happening to my time slot as well.” The move by Comedy Central is also the first concession that the transition from Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert — both pioneers of a certain kind of political comedy as media criticism and social commentary — to Mr. Noah and Mr. Wilmore has not gone as smoothly as the network had hoped. Though Mr. Alterman strongly defended Mr. Noah’s iteration of “The Daily Show” — next month will be his first anniversary as host — both Mr. Noah and Mr. Wilmore have failed to capture the critical praise that rivals like Ms. Bee, Mr. Corden and Mr. Oliver have enjoyed. This year, for the first time in 16 years, “The Daily Show” was not nominated for an Emmy in the best variety show category. Mr. Noah and Mr. Wilmore have also lost a good portion of the audience that used to tune in to Comedy Central between 11 p.m. and midnight. “The Daily Show” had an average of 2.1 million viewers a night in Mr. Stewart’s final year as host, while Mr. Noah’s audience has averaged 1.3 million, according to data from Nielsen. And Mr. Wilmore has lost more than half the audience that he inherited. In Mr. Colbert’s final year as host of “The Colbert Report,” he had an average audience of 1.7 million viewers, but in Mr. Wilmore’s first year, that viewership fell to an average of 922,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. This year, the total has fallen to 776,000 viewers a night. Likewise, in the demographic most important to Comedy Central — young men — he has not made a dent. In recent months, Mr. Wilmore has even started losing to the show that is on after his, “@midnight.” Mr. Wilmore’s most visible role in the last year may have been his turn as host of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. But reviews for his act were decidedly mixed, and the exposure did not result in a ratings bounce. Mr. Alterman said that he had hoped that there would be a ratings surge — particularly around the political conventions — and that the decision to cancel “The Nightly Show” was a recent one. “We were hoping that we would get a turnaround along the way including the wild, wild two weeks of the conventions,” he said. “We just haven’t seen it on any level from the general conversation to ratings to any sort of traction on social media platforms.” That stands in contrast, he said, to what the network has seen regarding Mr. Noah. Calling the perception that Mr. Noah is struggling “a myth,” Mr. Alterman pointed to the show’s strong performance on Hulu — though he is not allowed to disclose figures, he said. Mr. Noah’s show is the No. 2 late-night show among young adults ages 18 to 34, Mr. Alterman said, and his ratings have grown among 18- to 24-year-old men. Mr. Alterman said he “couldn’t be happier” with Mr. Noah’s performance. “In the last couple of weeks — leading up to the conventions and especially the conventions — we feel like Trevor got to a whole new level in terms of having a strong voice and point of view,” he said. “It’s been no surprise to us. We expected him to take time to find his rhythm and find his way.” It’s unclear whether Mr. Wilmore will stay on with Comedy Central — “We haven’t even addressed that,” Mr. Alterman said — but he is involved in other projects. In addition to developing ABC’s Emmy-nominated comedy “black-ish,” he is an executive producer for HBO’s coming comedy “Insecure.”

The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore
Comedy Central
Kent Alterman
Larry Wilmore
TV


Sizing Up Prospects for Teams and Drivers

Abstract: There will be 11 teams with two drivers each racing in the 2013 Formula One season. Below are overviews, predictions, strengths and weaknesses of the teams and drivers that will start on the grid at the first race, the Australian Grand Prix on March 17 in Melbourne. They are listed in the order of their final position in the series last year. Red Bull Base Milton Keynes, England Drivers Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber Engine Renault First Season 2005 Constructors’ titles 3 Image Sebastian Vettel of Reb Bull is aiming to win a fourth straight world drivers’ title. Credit Roman Rios/European Pressphoto Agency Drivers’ titles 3 Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel have won all the titles for the last three seasons. Vettel became only the third driver in Formula One history to win three drivers’ titles in a row, after Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s and Michael Schumacher last decade. Only Schumacher, Fangio and Alain Prost have won more than three titles, with seven, five and four, respectively. So both Vettel and the team have more pressure on them than ever. Still, Red Bull has the advantage of the consistency of keeping the same two drivers and technical team, and Mark Webber is still pushing for his own final career chances to capture the drivers’ title. With the great designer Adrian Newey leading the way, Red Bull should remain among the strongest teams. Ferrari Base Maranello, Italy Drivers Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa Engine Ferrari First Season 1950 Constructors’ titles 16 Drivers’ titles 15 After a slow start last year followed by a fantastic charge for the title to the final race, Ferrari this year has put as much effort as possible into starting in a stronger position. While most teams preferred to evolve the previous year’s car, Ferrari took bigger risks. Winter testing has shown the car is much closer to the mark — with Fernando Alonso even saying it was 200 percent better than at this point last year. Pumped up by Alonso’s exceptional results last year, Ferrari remains confident and a likely contender for the title. Image The former world champion Lewis Hamilton left McLaren to the join the Mercedes team this season. Credit Albert Gea/Reuters McLaren Base Woking, England Drivers Jenson Button, Sergio Pérez Engine Mercedes First Season 1966 Constructors’ titles 8 Drivers’ titles 12 After six years with Lewis Hamilton, this perennially winning team reluctantly watched its star driver move to Mercedes this year. Such losses can destabilize a team, but McLaren has another world champion, Jenson Button, still driving for it, and the hungry, rising talent of the Mexican driver Sergio Pérez. Despite few changes in the rules this year, McLaren redesigned much of the car to have a larger margin for development throughout the season. It was reasonably fast in winter testing. Lotus F1 Team Base Enstone, England Drivers Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean Engine Renault First Season 2011 Image Fernando Alonso narrowly lost the title last year to Sebastian Vettel, but Ferrari has revamped his car this winter to give him a better start than he had last season. Credit Albert Gea/Reuters After losing its star driver, Robert Kubica, in 2011 — when he was seriously injured in a rally crash — Lotus got back on track last season by hiring Kimi Raikkonen. The 2007 world champion proved that after two seasons away from Formula One he still had his speed, racecraft, desire and ability to win. Raikkonen delivered the team’s first victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November after several podium finishes. Although Raikkonen finished third in the championship, the team placed only fourth, as a result of lost opportunities from its other driver, Romain Grosjean, who mixed excellent results with disastrous accidents, including one for which he was given a one-race ban. Lotus hired Grosjean again this year, believing in his speed — he was often faster than Raikkonen — and expecting him to sort out his poor racing judgment. Ever the solid team through all of its previous incarnations — from Toleman to Benetton to Renault — Lotus could become the giant-killer, dethroning any of the top three teams. Mercedes Base Brackley, England Drivers Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton Engine Mercedes First Season 2010 After winning the title as Brawn in 2009, the team was bought by Mercedes, and in 2010 it changed its name and hired Michael Schumacher out of retirement at age 41. It also hired another promising German driver, Nico Rosberg. But in its first two seasons, the team failed to win a race. Rosberg finally won one last season — the Chinese Grand Prix in April — but it was downhill after that. In the fall, the team dropped Schumacher and hired Lewis Hamilton. Then Norbert Haug left as head of Mercedes motorsport. Joining the team as executive director and as a shareholder is Toto Wolff, an Austrian who is also a shareholder in the Williams team. Ross Brawn, the man behind the team’s success before it was bought by Mercedes, is now sporting director but may leave when the McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe arrives next year. In transition, the team will not likely challenge for the title, but the car finished fastest at the end of testing and Hamilton may surprise. Sauber Base Hinwil, Switzerland Drivers Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Gutiérrez Engine Ferrari First Season 1993 The new Sauber car was fast and reliable in winter testing. But the team starts the year with two new drivers, having dropped Kamui Kobayashi and losing Sergio Pérez to the McLaren team. It hired the Mexican rookie Esteban Gutiérrez, and with Nico Hülkenberg it has a driver entering his stride after racing at Force India last year and Williams in 2010. Sauber is still recovering after losing its BMW owner three seasons ago, but it is showing steady progress. Image Teamed with Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull once again, Mark Webber is still pushing for his final career chances to capture the drivers’ title. Credit Roman Rios/European Pressphoto Agency Force India Base Silverstone, England Drivers Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil Engine Mercedes First Season 2008 The new car looked fast in winter testing. Paul di Resta is firmly established within the team and as a Formula One driver after two previous seasons. The competition between him and Adrian Sutil, his teammate from 2011, will be interesting. It will also be interesting to see if Sutil has lost any of his touch, after a year away from the series. His previous year racing was his best, as he finished ninth in the series in 2011. The team has potential funding problems, with its owner, the Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya, facing problems with his businesses Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries. Williams Base Grove, England Drivers Pastor Maldonado, Valterri Bottas Engine Renault First Season 1978 Constructors’ titles 9 Drivers’ titles 7 Williams moved one spot up the standings last year from the year before, and won its first race since 2004 with Pastor Maldonado’s victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in April. But after that, neither driver finished close to the podium. This year, with a car that looked successfully designed during winter testing and a combination of two quick drivers, including the rookie Valterri Bottas, the team may climb another rung or two up the standings. Image Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion driver, and his Lotus F1 Team could challenge the top three teams: Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren. Credit Roman Rios/European Pressphoto Agency Toro Rosso Base Faenza, Italy Drivers Jean-Eric Vergne, Daniel Ricciardo Engine Ferrari First Season 2006 “The new one is definitely better,” Jean-Eric Vergne told a reader of Autosport in an online discussion in winter testing, referring to the 2013 Toro Rosso car. “It’s a new car, new suspension, new chassis, new everything. There’s no carry-over from last year, except the drivers.” But how it is compared to the other teams, I can’t say.” It will be a year to see where the team’s drivers and car stand against each other and against the rest of the grid. Toro Rosso was conceived by Red Bull — the team’s owner — as a training ground for future drivers of the parent team. In 2008, Sebastian Vettel shocked the system by winning the Italian Grand Prix in the Toro Rosso, before the Red Bull team had won its first race. He joined Red Bull the following year. Subsequent Toro Rosso drivers have simply been ejected from the team and the series. Caterham Base Leafield, England Drivers Charles Pic, Giedo van der Garde Engine Renault First Season 2010 Moving to a large new factory in Leafield in August, the team has continued to show its ambitions, and for the third year finished 10th in the series, earning prize money given to only the top 10, even though it has yet to score a single point. In November it hired as team director Cyril Abiteboul, a former top director of the Renault engine program. It signed Charles Pic from Marussia, who was arguably the strongest of the three French rookies last year, despite not having a car comparable to that of the quick but irregular Grosjean at Lotus (who also had some previous experience in 2009). Marussia Base Banbury, England Drivers Max Chilton, Jules Bianchi Engine Cosworth First Season 2010 Struggling for survival at the back of the grid, this young team had a difficult winter settling on a second driver. Despite having a contract with its most solid previous driver, Timo Glock, it was forced to drop the German for a driver who could bring a budget. In early February, it hired Luiz Razia, a Brazilian who raced in GP2 last year. But when a payment from his sponsors failed to materialize, he was replaced on March 1 by Jules Bianchi, a Frenchman who is in the Ferrari young driver program. Marussia had a solid deal in place with Max Chilton, a British rookie who raced in GP2 last year, so it starts the season with two rookies. Unlike the HRT team that was also founded in 2010, Marussia at least has survived to start a fourth season.


Texas: Trial Sought in Fort Hood Case

Abstract: Col. James Pohl, who oversaw a military court hearing for an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan, has recommended that he stand trial and face the death penalty for last year’s fatal shooting rampage at Fort Hood , a defense lawyer said Wednesday. The final decision on whether Major Hasan will stand trial rests with a commanding general.

United States Defense and Military Forces


Heat’s Crash Course Can’t Prevent Another Wreck Against the Spurs

Abstract: MIAMI — It was no fun. Before meeting the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night in Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals, the Heat spent a substantial portion of Wednesday huddled in a darkened room watching film of their well-publicized debacle in Game 3. There on the screen, for a solid two hours, were all the Heat’s defensive miscues — none of them censored — and all the Spurs’ record-setting feats, the layups and the 3-pointers, the crisp passes and the backdoor cuts. The Heat are accustomed to dominating opponents, or at least defending them with a marginal degree of competence, so it was an unpleasant, and faintly foreign, experience. Coach Erik Spoelstra went so far as to describe the “painful emotions” that went along with watching a familiar opponent treat them like a piñata. LeBron James called the film session demanding. The Heat put in plenty of study time, yet none of it did an ounce of good, not against the Spurs, who returned to American Airlines Arena on Thursday and did what they do best in a 107-86 victory that put them on the cusp of another championship. San Antonio has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, which will resume Sunday at AT&T Center. “We can let the clutter out tonight, the frustration and the surprise of this game,” Spoelstra said. “I think everybody came in expecting something dramatically different than this.” James said, “They smashed us.” With their symphony of bounce passes, elbow cuts and runners off the glass, the Spurs have made the fundamental fashionable and turned these games into exams. The Heat are still searching for answers. No team in finals history has overcome a 3-1 deficit, and it will take a monstrous effort for Miami to become the first. “We know they’re going to play for their lives,” said the Spurs’ Boris Diaw, who collected 8 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists, “so we’ve got to be ready for that.” Kawhi Leonard, who scored a career-high 29 points in Game 3, finished with 20 points for San Antonio, and Tony Parker added 19. Tim Duncan, the Spurs’ 17-year veteran, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. He needs one win for a fifth championship. “I’m pleased that they performed as well as they did while we’ve been in Miami,” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said, “and that’s about as far as it goes. Now we’ve got to go back home and play as well or better.” The game turned early in the second quarter thanks in part to Diaw, who was back in the starting lineup. At 250 pounds, Diaw does not exactly levitate. But he managed to get airborne long enough for a two-handed slam, and later he slipped a cagey behind-the-back pass to a cutting Tiago Splitter for a layup. The lead was 12, and James — who had already made two trips back to the locker room, first to have a sore ankle retaped and then to use the bathroom— threw up his hands in disgust. Image LeBron James, left, and the Heat fell at home to Tim Duncan and the Spurs, who closed in on their fifth title. Credit Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Miami’s predicament got worse. When Leonard raced to the basket for an emphatic putback dunk, the Spurs were ahead by 22 and staging a clinic. They were leading by 55-36 at halftime, a performance that was reminiscent of their 111-92 victory Tuesday in Game 3, except they were even better this time around. The Heat, who are wheezing on exhaust fumes in their fading pursuit of a third consecutive title, had won 13 straight postseason games after a loss. For all the accolades the Spurs receive for their offense, and deservedly so, it was their defense that most affected the Heat. James, who scored a game-high 28 points, was Miami’s only viable option. He scored 19 in the third quarter, and the Heat still entered the fourth trailing by 24. Dwyane Wade, 32 and no stranger to knee ailments, looked as if he were playing in clogs. He had 10 points, making 3 of 13 shots from the field. “I just missed them,” he said. The Spurs missed their first three shots, which was something of an anomaly. They compensated by sinking three of their next four. By the time Danny Green drilled his second 3-pointer of the evening, the Spurs had a 13-4 lead and Spoelstra was calling his first timeout, an air of early resignation beginning to circulate among the arena’s bongo players and semiprofessional beachgoers. The Heat’s leaky defense had put them in this dire position. Consider that the Spurs entered the game having already assembled the two best shooting quarters in finals history. In the fourth quarter of Game 1, they set a record by shooting 87.5 percent from the field (14 of 16). They started Game 3 by shooting 86.7 percent (13 of 15) in the first quarter. On Thursday, the Spurs merely shot 56.3 percent over the opening 12 minutes, but it was enough for a 26-17 lead. “They put you in so many difficult positions,” James said. “If you’re not right on time, right on target, they’re going to make you pay for it.” The game presented another opportunity for Mario Chalmers, the Heat’s starting point guard, to emerge from a series-long slump. In the first three games, Chalmers averaged 3.3 points and 3 turnovers while shooting 25 percent from the field in 23.4 minutes a game. His poor play was enough of an issue that James said he was seriously contemplating yelling at him more. Chalmers had another brutal night, scoring 4 points on 2-of-6 shooting. Miami rallied at the start of the third. After scoring just 9 points in the first half, James had 10 points in a 12-4 run that reduced San Antonio’s lead to 13. “It meant nothing,” James said. That was close as Miami got. Diaw twisted past a pair of defenders for a layup, Leonard sank a long jumper, and the Spurs — so smart, so savvy — made it academic. REBOUNDS Before the game, LeBron James said he was completely unaware of recent reports that the Heat were interested in acquiring Carmelo Anthony this summer. “What happened? When did this happen?” James said. He added, “Obviously, Melo has his own decisions to make.” Joining the Heat would require a massive pay cut for Anthony.

Basketball
Miami Heat
Spurs
Kawhi Leonard
Tony Parker
Tim Duncan
LeBron James


JPMorgan Chief Buys $17 Million of Company’s Stock

Abstract: Jamie Dimon , the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase , has bought about $17 million worth of common shares and sold about $13 million in preferred shares, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Dimon spent about $17.1 million buying common shares for himself and indirectly for his wife and limited liability company. He directly purchased 110,000 common shares at about $34.43 a share on Thursday and 250,000 shares at $34.02 on Friday for a total of about $12.3 million, bringing the number of shares he owns directly to 3,226,153, according to the filing. Mr. Dimon also bought 65,000 shares indirectly for the benefit of his wife for about $2.23 million, according to the filing, which was made on Friday, bringing the total shares she owns to 971,459. Additionally, he bought 75,000 shares at $34.45 for a limited liability company. The purchases came after the sale of 12,142 preferred shares at $1,110 each, for a total of $13.48 million, which he had held indirectly for trusts or limited liability companies, according to the filing. JPMorgan Chase shares closed at $33.90 on Friday. Joseph Evangelisti, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, declined to comment.

Dimon James
JPMorgan Chase & Company
Stocks and Bonds


Mavericks’ Cuban Says He Was Hit by Object in Loss to Portland

Abstract: As the pain in his knee persisted for another day, Chauncey Billups all but conceded Friday that he might not make it back during this series. Billups missed his second straight game and said he was “praying for a miracle” to return at some point. He has not been able to run or jump since Sunday night, when he strained his left knee. “It’s so frustrating having to come in here and know that I can’t play today,” he said at his locker before the loss in Game 3. “It’s just tough, man. This is the time of the season that I live for. “So it’s really tough. But I’m just going to continue trying to do the best that I can do to get back on the floor, man, but simply, it’s just not ready.” Billups said he had not yet felt any relief from a cortisone shot he received on Wednesday. The shot typically takes 48 hours to have an effect, he said, which suggests that it might not work in this case. Billups sounded pessimistic about playing in Game 4 on Sunday. “Walking around, I’m fine now,” he said. “But as you see in the series, there’s not a lot of walking being done.”

Playoff Games
Basketball
Dallas Mavericks
Cuban Mark
Portland Trail Blazers
New York Knicks
Boston Celtics
Billups Chauncey
Sports Injuries


The Clintons Look to the Past, for Now

Abstract: LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s in-between phase started here on Saturday, at a carefully staged appearance with her daughter and surrounded by old friends. In her first public event since the midterm elections, and before she announces whether she will run for president in 2016, Mrs. Clinton joined Chelsea Clinton at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center to discuss the advancement of women and girls and to take questions from an audience of friends and local activists. “The fact that we have a granddaughter means that we are even more focused on these issues and thinking about what the world she will grow up in will be like for young girls,” Mrs. Clinton said in one of many references to Chelsea’s new baby, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky. Her joint question-and-answer session was part of a weekend-long c elebration of the 10th anniversary of the Clinton Center . After the event, Mrs. Clinton said, “You have to look at the past, you have to see what we’ve done and why we did it and we learned from it in order to think about what you can do for the next ten years.” The event provided a warm Arkansas embrace for Mrs. Clinton as she waded back into charitable work after weeks of intense campaigning for Democrats, many of whom lost their midterm races. Before she and Chelsea took the stage, the former first couple strolled through the lobby of the sunlit museum, embracing Arkansas friends and White House aides who had flown in for the weekend’s festivities. As those around Mrs. Clinton begin to angle for positions on a potential campaign, she has wound down her public schedule to a handful of awards galas and events related to her charitable work at the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation. On Friday, Bill Clinton had closed a day’s worth of panel policy discussions about his administration to deliver a passionate defense of his legacy. But on Saturday, it was Mrs. Clinton’s turn, and she focused on her early work with single mothers and children as first lady of Arkansas. Mrs. Clinton and Ms. Clinton asked some local advocates and business leaders to join them on the stage to talk about their relationship with the Clintons and how their work to help women and girls overlaps. “I started a lot of these programs and the point was to show that, as Chelsea rightly said, these can work and you can’t get discouraged,” Mrs. Clinton said after the event.

Hillary Clinton
2016 Presidential Election
Arkansas
US Politics