A Delegator, Obama Picks When to Take Reins

Abstract: WASHINGTON — In the months leading up to Senator Barack Obama ’s big loss in the Pennsylvania primary, he was a detached manager: around, but not meddling. Rarely on early-morning conference calls with his senior advisers, he delegated most decisions to others and did not immerse himself in all of the nuts and bolts of running for president. After that defeat in April, a friend gave Mr. Obama an urgent piece of advice: “Put your hand on the tiller.” And that Mr. Obama did. He began participating in more strategy sessions, spoke out against a summertime gasoline tax suspension more forcefully than some advisers initially preferred, and last week was involved in conference calls that led to the departure of James A. Johnson , the man leading the campaign’s vice-presidential search. He did not assign blame for the first big misstep of the general election campaign, participants said. But he asked his aides to assess the gravity of the problem and listened as they charted a course to proceed. Mr. Obama did not deliver the bad news himself — he seldom does — but he accepted the resignation of Mr. Johnson, who faced Republican criticism for getting cut-rate mortgages from the troubled lender Countrywide Financial. Like most presidential candidates, Mr. Obama is developing his executive skills on the fly, and under intense scrutiny. The evolution of his style in recent months suggests he is still finding the right formula as he confronts a challenge that he has not faced in his career: managing a large organization. The skill will become more important should he win the presidency, and his style is getting added attention as the country absorbs the lessons of President Bush’s tenure in the Oval Office. Mr. Bush’s critics, including former aides, have portrayed him as too cloistered, too dependent on a small coterie of trusted aides, unable to distinguish between loyalty and competence, and insufficiently willing to adjust course in the face of events that do not unfold the way he expects. Mr. Obama’s style so far is marked by an aversion to leaks and public drama and his selection of a small group of advisers who have exhibited discipline and loyalty in carrying out his priorities. The departure of Mr. Johnson, who was brought in to provide managerial experience to the vice-presidential search, was a rare instance of the campaign’s having to oust one of its own in the midst of a messy public crisis. He reads widely and encourages alternative views in policy-making discussions, but likes to keep the process crisp. He is personally even-keeled, but can be prickly when small things go wrong. As the chief executive officer of Obama for America, a concern of nearly 1,000 employees and a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Obama is more inclined to focus on the big picture over the day-to-day whirl. He delegates many decisions, and virtually all tasks, to a core group that oversees a sprawling, yet centralized operation in his Chicago campaign headquarters, which going into the general election season is absorbing many of the political functions of the Democratic National Committee. Mr. Obama stays connected to advisers and friends via a BlackBerry, sending frequent but unsigned messages that are to the point. A discussion that cannot be conducted in a sentence or two is likely to be finished by telephone. A night owl, Mr. Obama is known to send e-mail messages well after midnight. Laurence H. Tribe, his Harvard law professor who now serves as an informal adviser, said he received an e-mail message from the candidate at 1:30 a.m. on June 4, when he had received enough delegates to claim the nomination. In interviews with more than two dozen senior advisers, campaign aides and friends, a portrait of Mr. Obama emerges as a concerned but not obsessive manager. By now, his associates have learned, there is no need to deluge him with unnecessary details, so long as someone knows them. No state was more important to his candidacy than Iowa, but when he arrived there for campaign visits he stopped aides who tried to give detailed accounts of developments. “I’d get in the car with him and talk a mile a minute,” recalled Paul Tewes, who was the campaign’s state director. Mr. Tewes recalled that on the candidate’s fifth visit to the state, Mr. Obama interrupted one of his detailed updates, saying: “You know what, Paul? All I want from you is for you to do your best, and I trust you and you know what you’re doing.” On policy issues, Mr. Obama can have a photographic memory of intricate details, but he often struggled to remember the names of local political supporters he had met. A cool demeanor on primary election nights, even in defeat, can give way to a short temper when a speech text is not on the podium, a loudspeaker crackles or an aide has not brought over a throat-soothing herbal tea. “Who’s handling sound? Who’s handling sound?” he snapped at his staff when a microphone repeatedly went haywire at a campaign event in South Carolina. Most high-level gatherings involving Mr. Obama are held either in his kitchen or at an office away from campaign headquarters, and are expected to unfold in an orderly manner. Written agendas and concise briefings are preferred. He does not stir dissent simply for dissent’s sake, but often employs a Socratic method of discussion, where aides put ideas forward for him to accept or reject. Advisers described his meetings as “un-Clintonesque,” a reference to the often meandering, if engrossing, policy discussions Bill Clinton presided over when he was president. “He doesn’t sit there for hours chewing on it and discussing it,” said Susan Rice, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Obama who worked in the Clinton administration. “He’s very thorough, yet efficient about it.” If a presidential campaign is intended to be a test-run for the presidency, his chief priorities are the words in his speeches, messages in his television advertising and policy pronouncements. On other matters, even if he disagrees, he often allows himself to be overruled. Mr. Obama was not thrilled with a campaign slogan, “Change We Can Believe In,” that was unveiled last September. And he did not initially like the campaign’s blue and white logo — intended to appear like a horizon, symbolizing hope and opportunity — saying he found it too polished and corporate. “He made his concern clear, but said, ‘We have bigger fish to fry here,’ ” recalled David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist who was behind the logo’s design. “That’s one of his talents, his ability to distinguish between things that are absolutely essential and things that aren’t. He’ll give you some latitude based on your expertise.” But Mr. Obama’s ease belies a more controlling management style. For all the success his campaign has enjoyed with grass-roots organizing, the operation is highly centralized around Mr. Axelrod; David Plouffe, the campaign manager; Robert Gibbs, the communications director; Pete Rouse, his Senate chief of staff; Valerie Jarrett, a longtime friend from Chicago; and a handful of senior advisers that has barely changed since he opened his campaign in January 2007. Nearly all information is funneled to him, but he also makes his own inquiries. Last month, only hours before he was scheduled to make his first campaign appearance before skeptical Jewish voters at a Florida synagogue, Mr. Obama received word that an important vote had been scheduled in Washington. He was needed in the Senate. Mr. Obama was annoyed, but senior advisers traveling with him were livid at the prospect of the senator canceling a meeting with this critical constituency. Mr. Obama let them huff and puff, and began making calls himself. Soon, he was on the line with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, who said he was trying to be accommodating, but his fellow senators needed to vote on a spending bill and military legislation before leaving for a long weekend. It sounded reasonable, Mr. Obama told his aides, and plans were made for him to fly to Washington and delay — not postpone — the meeting in Boca Raton, Fla. Mr. Obama’s circle of advisers takes seriously his “no drama” mandate. It is a point of pride in his campaign that there have been virtually no serious leaks to the news media — small leaks are immediately investigated — about internal division or infighting. He is a careful reader of daily newspapers and magazines (titles from Foreign Affairs to Maxim are stocked on his campaign plane). He takes his briefing books — three-ring binders filled with political memorandums and policy discussions — to his hotel room or home every night, but aides say how well he reads the materials may depend on what is on ESPN. Mr. Obama has tried to learn from the mistakes of others. During the course of two long dinners at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington this year and last, Mr. Obama sought the advice of Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. “We covered a lot of territory,” Mr. Kerry said, adding that he had advised Mr. Obama to concentrate on his rapid-response operation. “I was as clear as I could be: you don’t let a moment go by unchallenged.” Mr. Kerry said Mr. Obama was a “quick study” who is as sure-footed on the national stage as he was new to it when he ran for president four years ago. Mr. Kerry, whose campaign was at times riven by division, said Mr. Obama’s operation seemed free of any such issues. “His staff is exceedingly loyal,” Mr. Kerry said. These days, Mr. Obama pays little attention to his fund-raising, a stark change from a year ago. “Barack was interested daily in knowing how we were doing, were we on track or were we not,” said Penny Pritzker, the campaign’s national finance chairwoman. After a record-setting first quarter tally of $25 million, he stopped asking as often. One area where he does not easily acquiesce is on speeches and television commercials, where he often rewrites words that shape the core message of his candidacy. Mr. Obama generally gives his ad-makers room to produce his spots, but he reviews scripts and often reworks them if he believes they do not capture his natural speaking style. “He’ll say, ‘that is not my voice,’ ” said Jim Margolis, a senior media consultant to Mr. Obama who oversees television advertising. “Definitely this isn’t somebody you just throw the script to and he’ll say anything that comes up on the screen. He tries to make sure that he’s got his imprint on it.” Three days after claiming the nomination, Mr. Obama, who makes infrequent visits to the campaign’s Chicago headquarters, offered his gratitude by way of a motivational pep talk. “I want everybody to catch your breath. Do what you do to get your ya-ya’s out — that’s an old ’60s expression — and then understand that coming back we’re going to have to work twice as hard as we’ve been working,” Mr. Obama said. “We’re going to have to be smarter, we’re going to have to be tougher, our game is going to have to be tighter.” Before finishing, he included a self-assessment, adding, “I am going to have to be a better candidate.”

Presidential Election of 2008
Obama Barack
Executives and Management
Axelrod David
Johnson James A
Kerry John


Rebellion on the Range Over a Cattle ID Plan

Abstract: HORSE SPRINGS, N.M. — Wranglers at the Platt ranch were marking calves the old-fashioned way last week, roping them from horseback and burning a brand onto their haunches. What they were emphatically not doing, said Jay Platt, the third-generation proprietor of the ranch, was abiding by a federally recommended livestock identification plan, intended to speed the tracing of animal diseases, that has caused an uproar among ranchers. They were not attaching the recommended tags with microchips that would allow the computerized recording of livestock movements from birth to the slaughterhouse. “This plan is expensive, it’s intrusive, and there’s no need for it,” Mr. Platt said. Mr. Platt said he already did all he could to fight epidemics. He does not bring any outside animals into his herds, and he happily staples on metal tags that identify animals to help with brucellosis control. But as he drove his pickup from grasslands into dense thickets of piñon pine on this highland desert that requires 100 acres per cow, he explained why he thought the federal plan was wrongheaded. Mr. Platt called the extra $2 cost of the electronic tags an onerous burden for a teetering industry and said he often moved horses and some of his 1,000 head of cattle among three ranches here and in Arizona. Small groups of cattle are often rounded up in distant spots and herded into a truck by a single person, who could not simultaneously wield the hand-held scanner needed to record individual animal identities, Mr. Platt said. And there is no Internet connection on the ranch for filing to a regional database. Looking over the 22,000 acres that his cattle share with elk, pronghorns and mountain lions and where animals can easily disappear, Mr. Platt scoffed at the idea of reporting every death, as animal health officials prefer. “They can’t comprehend the vastness of a ranch like this,” he said of federal officials. “They don’t appreciate what is involved logistically.” Ranchers like Mr. Platt have been joined by small-scale family farmers and other agrarian advocates to oppose the national animal identification system , a plan first broached five years ago by the Bush administration. It has created more visceral opposition than officials expected. The plan, which is still being ironed out, might have seemed simple enough. With the ever-present threat of animal epidemics, why not modernize the system for identifying livestock? Why not keep computer records of movements so that when a cow is discovered with bovine tuberculosis or mad cow disease , its prior contacts can be swiftly traced? The disease source and the herds needing to be quarantined can be determined faster, officials said. “Now, when there’s an outbreak, we can’t trace prior movements quickly, and we end up testing a lot more animals than necessary,” said Neil Hammerschmidt, director of the identification program for the federal Agriculture Department. “We want to put in place the infrastructure prior an outbreak.” Mr. Platt expresses his opposition in more measured terms than many. Web sites analyze every official statement with suspicion, and angry farmers have packed the “listening sessions” held around the country this spring by the Obama administration’s new agriculture secretary. Rumors have swirled, and farmers are asking whether the government will really require tags on every baby chick and catfish fingerling or a computer report when a pet pony trots onto a neighbor’s land. Underlying the opposition is the fragile economics of ranches and small farms, which are already disappearing. The extra cost of radio tags, scanners and filing reports when animals change premises would be crushing, some smaller producers say. “My main beef is that these proposed rules were developed by people sitting in their offices with no real knowledge of animal husbandry and small farms,” said Genell Pridgen, an owner of Rainbow Meadow Farms in Snow Hill, N.C., which rotates sheep, cattle, pigs, turkeys and chickens among three properties and sells directly to consumers and co-ops. “I feel these regulations are draconian,” Ms. Pridgen said, “and that lobbyists from corporate mega-agribusiness designed this program to destroy traditional small sustainable agriculture.” Paul Hamby, owner of Hamby Dairy Supply in Maysville, Mo., and a vocal opponent of the plan, said, “It is very much an economic and class warfare issue.” “Fifty years ago,” Mr. Hamby said, “hundreds of thousands of farms raised hogs, and now very few players have control of the market. I believe one of the reasons for this plan is to consolidate the cattle industry.” The notion of centralized data banks, even for animals, has also set off alarms among libertarians, drawing former supporters of the Ron Paul presidential campaign like Mr. Hamby into the fray. One group has issued a bumper sticker that reads, “Tracking cattle now, tracking you soon.” Among all the different types of livestock, cattle have the most pressing need for improved records, said Mr. Hammerschmidt, who added that some opponents were misinformed. “It’s never been our intent to implant chickens, especially chicks,” he said. “People out there are saying that they have to microchip every chicken, and if that chicken crosses the road they’ll have to report that event to the government. That has really stirred the pot.” Nor do officials want every small producer to buy a $1,000 scanner, Mr. Hammerschmidt said. “The tag could be read at the market or feedlot, where they are more likely to have a reader,” he said, suggesting looser monitoring than many ranchers fear. Mr. Hammerschmidt pointed out that Michigan and Wisconsin, to strengthen the fight against bovine tuberculosis, now require radio tags for cattle. But he emphasized that the federal government had not mandated the tags, instead hoping it could prod states and individuals to join in. “At the end of the day,” he said, “we need the ability to trace an animal where there’s a disease issue.” Mr. Platt, the rancher, said he believed that the authorities already had ample information to pounce on diseases. Though he is one of the larger independent ranchers, the business is precarious, Mr. Platt said, sustained by land trades and sales. “Any new expense will mean a loss for us,” he said. Mr. Platt watched with pride as one of his adult sons worked a cutting horse in a timeless ritual, hiving off calves from the herd in the branding corral. “We do this because we just enjoy it,” he said.

Livestock Diseases
Ranches
Computer Chips


Iran: Hearing Is Held in Reporter’s Trial

Abstract: An Iranian revolutionary court convened the second hearing on Monday in the espionage trial of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent, who was arrested and imprisoned nearly a year ago. Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency reported briefly on the second hearing, which was closed to the public; it said that a third hearing was planned but that a date had not been announced. The secretive prosecution of Mr. Rezaian, 39, a California native who holds dual citizenship in Iran and the United States, has become an increasingly contentious point between the two countries, along with the imprisonment of at least two other Americans in Iran and the disappearance of another eight years ago. Mr. Rezaian’s brother, Ali Rezaian, said the Iranian defense lawyer for Mr. Rezaian, Leila Ahsan, was filing a complaint against the Mehr News Agency, a semiofficial news service in Iran that had reported what it said were details from the first hearing on May 26, in violation of a court-ordered ban.

Jason Rezaian
Iran
Washington Post
Political prisoner
Freedom of the press
News media,journalism
US


De Blasio Presents $82.1 Billion Budget

Abstract: Mayor Bill de Blasio presented his proposed budget for New York City on Thursday mostly devoid of new broad liberal initiatives that have been the hallmark of his tenure, underscoring a recognition that the city may be headed for an economic downturn. The $82.1 billion proposed budget, up a modest 0.5 percent from last year, is almost willfully boring. In a financial summary released Thursday afternoon, the mayor’s office described its fiscal proposal as a “responsible budget” that “protects fiscal health through reserves.” “Boring is good sometimes,” Mr. de Blasio said during a budget briefing at City Hall, warning the economy could go from bad to worse quickly. He added the city does not always need to have “splashy new things.” Far from austere, the proposed budget does include more than $700 million in additional spending on city initiatives since last year, a jump that reflected money to pay for myriad programs that the mayor had previously announced, including money to expand access to mental health services and combat homelessness. The funds earmarked for pet projects included $62 million to improve and expand mental health care in the city, an area that Chirlane McCray, the mayor’s wife, is very invested in. Funds have also been set aside to fight issues related to homelessness, a problem that has plagued the mayor, and more than $40 million to combat AIDS. The budget proposal was nonetheless a departure from previous years, when causes at the heart of the mayor’s agenda took center stage, notably the city’s prekindergarten program. It also included some cuts in that agenda, including an afternoon summer school program that city officials said cost $24 million. They said additional savings were realized by downsizing office space, or, in the case of the Transportation Department, switching from painting new bus lanes with red paint to using red asphalt. In that respect, the proposed budget may dampen criticism that the mayor, who is midway through his term, has been spending too much on liberal causes, especially as the city prepares for what appear to be harder economic times on the horizon. It could also help in projecting a more nuts-and-bolts image of the mayor, who despite a recent bump in his approval ratings , is still battling a perception that he is more focused on pushing his agenda rather than running the city. The 47-page summary released on Thursday included seven pages on the prospect of an economic downturn, including two pages that sounded almost apocalyptic. They bore the same heading, “Impact of Recession,” and one page warned of city revenues plummeting and greater demands on city services. There are other possible hurdles, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislators. New York City relies on the state for funds, and budget negotiations have only just begun in Albany. While the governor’s proposed budget earmarked billions of dollars in spending to help combat homelessness, it also called on the city to increase its contribution to the City University of New York system and to Medicaid costs. This move alone could cost New York City more than $500 million. This cost shifting prompted another conflict between the mayor and the governor, who have long had a strained relationship. The mayor quickly vowed to fight the proposed cuts, after which Mr. Cuomo seemed to shift his position , saying his budget changes, in fact, “won’t cost New York City a penny.” The mayor, who is scheduled to travel to Albany next week to discuss the city’s financial needs with lawmakers, said on Thursday that he planned to hold the governor to that. “I am taking the governor at his word and I will hold him to that word,” he said. The mayor is also facing a unanticipated obligation: The city’s actuary has predicted municipal employees will live longer, forcing the city to increase its contribution to its five pension systems by roughly $600 million annually. Still, the city did find additional money for a number of projects. Mr. de Blasio, who continues to struggle with white voters , included $47 million from the city’s separate capital budget to help pay for a new ferryboat for Staten Island and $5.3 million to increase security resources in city parks. The budget presentation was just an opening offer from the mayor. It must be negotiated with the City Council, which is expected to vote on it in June. The city’s fiscal year begins July 1. At this point last year, Mr. de Blasio’s proposal did not include one of the biggest elements of the final city budget: an expansion of the Police Department by nearly 1,300 officers. Unlike last year’s proposed budget, this year’s plan includes only modest spending on new Police Department initiatives, including $3 million for an expansion of the ShotSpotter technology to all five boroughs. Already in use in some high-crime precincts, the technology detects gunshots that would otherwise go unreported. The city is increasing the number of traffic agents, adding 327 at a cost of $12.1 million, according to details provided by the mayor’s office, “that will improve traffic flow.” The administration did seek to highlight what it sees as the city’s continued economic success under Mr. de Blasio’s leadership — pointing to job growth, a rise in tourism and a flood of new residents. Mr. de Blasio’s presentation also took up the “two cities” theme of his 2013 election campaign, and touched on areas that had not prospered with the rest of the city’s economy. For instance, it highlighted average private wages, outside of the financial industry, that remain below their 2007 peak, and noted income growth among top earners that far outpaces those at the bottom. “Too many hard-working New Yorkers are struggling, even as we have economic growth,” Mr. de Blasio said. “Too many people are struggling to make ends meet.”


Ford Tries to Save the Lincoln

Abstract: Ford Motor , alone among America’s Big Three automakers, staved off bankruptcy and survived the financial crisis. Its sales, profit and stock price have surged. Now it faces what may be an even tougher challenge: Can it save its faltering Lincoln brand? Lincoln sales peaked in 1990 at over 200,000 vehicles. By last year, sales of Lincoln, Ford ’s luxury nameplate, had fallen to 85,643. Lincoln has lost ground to the perennial leaders Mercedes , BMW and Lexus , as well as to a resurgent Audi and a Detroit rival, Cadillac . It’s even losing customers to Ford’s own brands, as the revamped Taurus and critically praised new Ford Fusion offer an array of traditional luxury features. To reinvent Lincoln, Ford has focused on design to an unusual, perhaps unprecedented, degree. It lured a 40-year-old designer, Max Wolff, from Cadillac and has accorded him the star treatment more commonly associated with fashion designers on the Paris and Milan runways. At the unveiling of the much-anticipated new Lincoln MKZ in Manhattan ’s trendy Chelsea neighborhood last week, an energetic Mr. Wolff jumped onto the stage wearing a modish suit, dark shirt, no tie, and what looked like several days’ growth of facial hair. He exuded a rakish charm enhanced by his Australian accent. “This position is unique,” Mr. Wolff told me when I caught up with him and Ford’s global marketing vice president, Jim Farley, at this week’s New York International Auto Show , where a gleaming “ruby red” Lincoln MKZ was on display a few feet away. “I was hired to reinvent a storied brand,” Mr. Wolff said. “I had a blank canvas. Jim hired me to be a provocateur. A chance like this probably comes along only once in a lifetime.” Lincoln is indeed storied within design circles. When Ford recently acquired a rare Continental Mark II from 1956 , Mr. Wolff had the car moved to the new Lincoln design studio in Dearborn, where it served as inspiration for a new generation of Lincoln designers. In 1956, Lincoln sold the Mark II for a then-exorbitant $10,000, about the same price as a Rolls-Royce and twice that of a Cadillac. Fewer than 3,000 were built. A model once owned by Elvis Presley sold at a charity auction in 1999 for $250,000. The most iconic Lincoln design may be the 1961 model , considered the masterwork of the legendary designer Elwood Engel, which was seared into the American consciousness as the car in which John F. Kennedy was riding when he was shot in Dallas . It shared with the Mark II an elegant simplicity that was a sharp departure from Detroit’s recent taste for flamboyant tail fins. The 1961 Continental has attracted a cult following and has been featured in numerous films as well as the opening credits of the HBO series “Entourage.” “I look at the 1961 Continental and I see beautiful proportions, great details, elegant restraint, with just the right amount of chrome,” Mr. Wolff said. “In that sense, there are some similarities. If you look at the MKZ, you’ll see some of the same craftsmanship and detail, but it’s very simple. There’s not a bit of added surface language. It’s refined and elegant. But we’re not reimagining the past. It’s not a retro look. We wanted to break the mold. It’s provocative for Lincoln, and we believe it will change people’s perceptions.” That may be just as well, since the Lincoln design legacy is hardly untarnished. Like many American models, Lincoln’s designs starting in the 1970s featured ever more bloated, kitschy elements, like white vinyl roofs, nonopening oval “opera” windows, and fake spare tire covers, all heavily etched in chrome. The mid-’70s Lincoln Versailles was little more than a tricked-out Ford Granada . “Lincoln made amazing cars in the 1950s and early 1960s, and they absolutely lost their minds in the early 1970s,” Gadi Amit, president of New Deal Design in San Francisco , told me this week. Mr. Amit’s firm has won over 70 design awards and specializes in technology, but he said he’s a car buff and originally wanted to be a car designer. “That was a national disaster, and it wasn’t just Lincoln. Detroit is practically a ghost town, and a lot of the reason is a lot of really bad decisions about design management were made throughout the ’70s, ’80s and even into the ’90s.” With just 5.5 percent of the luxury car market and an aging customer base (average age: 65), Lincoln needs to attract buyers from other brands. While Mr. Wolff may have had a free hand, he was guided by copious amounts of consumer research. “Cadillac and BMW have a very aggressive look that basically says, ‘Get out of my way,’ ” Mr. Wolff said. “We wanted to define our unique space in the luxury market.” “We found that our potential customers in an idealized state think of themselves as magicians,” Mr. Farley continued. “They can flow effortlessly from a social to a business environment, from big cities to adventure travel. The image that came to mind was a stingray : powerful but graceful.” Mr. Farley is leading the Lincoln reinvention and earlier in his career helped Toyota introduce its Lexus luxury brand in the United States . If there’s another brand Lincoln would like to emulate, it’s Audi, Volkswagen ’s luxury brand, which came back from a near-death experience after a 1986 “60 Minutes” exposé on unintended acceleration. Although Audi was subsequently exonerated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , annual sales barely topped 10,000 by 1991. Audi sales were just under 75,000 annually in 1985. After a comeback led in part by sophisticated design that helped separate Audi from its more prosaic Volkswagen cousins, Audi sold nearly 12,000 cars in March alone. Ironically, Cadillac decided to radically redesign its Cadillac line after Lincoln surpassed it in sales for the first time in 1998. Its distinctive knife-edge styling was introduced with the marketing theme “art and science.” Mr. Wolff was among the Cadillac designers who took the concept and refined it, especially on exteriors of more recent models like the CTS Coupe. Cadillac sales went from about 120,000 a year in the late ’90s to a peak of over 230,000 in 2006. Though buffeted by the financial crisis, sales were up 10.5 percent in 2011, to just under 200,000, and Cadillac had a 10.2 percent share of the luxury car market. As Audi does with Volkswagen, the new Lincolns share platforms and other technical elements with Ford brand vehicles. Yet Audi has managed to differentiate its brand. Mr. Farley said he would interview Audi buyers about their buying decision while he was at Lexus. They told him they wanted something different, and didn’t see themselves like other car buyers. “They appreciated a mix of art and technology. They wanted to set themselves apart. I heard that a lot,” Mr. Farley said. That’s why the MKZ — and the six newly designed Lincoln models that will follow it by 2015 — are meant to look different from their predecessors. “We wanted to break the mold,” Mr. Wolff said. The roof of the MKZ, which features a 15.2-square-foot glass panel, “is unique,” he said. “The center console is unique.” The redesigned front grill is meant to conjure images of “an eagle’s wings.” Has the new Lincoln achieved its creators’ ambitious goals? The MKZ doesn’t go on sale until this fall, but early reviews have been positive. “Things are finally starting to move in the right direction” (Motor Trend); and Lincoln has achieved a “striking, elegant design” (Automobile). “I have to say that finally, they got the front fascia right,” Mr. Amit told me. “The split grill is very effective with a stylish logo between the panels. Everything flows together very nicely. It’s very elegant, very refined. But at the end of the day, we’ll have to see. It’s not really bold. Compare it to Cadillac. Cadillac used a bold design language to reinvigorate the brand. It was not refined. But it did stop you and make you look. It had power. You knew something new was going on with Cadillac. I’m not sure Lincoln is doing enough of that. I’d say it’s a little too elegant. It’s a little timid, and maybe too ‘nice.’ ” Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley automotive analyst, and some of his colleagues saw the new MKZ at the auto show this week. “The car is stunning,” Mr. Jonas told me. “Even the display was beautiful. I mention that because it shows Ford’s commitment to the brand. I won’t even guess how many millions that cost. You have to hand it to them: they’re really going for it. But it’s risky. This is a radical repositioning of the brand. They’re going for a younger, more sophisticated, more tech-savvy customer. The previous MKZ was a great car. It was perfectly capable. It just didn’t work. There’s no guarantee.” Mr. Farley said failure wasn’t an option, and there was no plan B. “We’re all in on this,” he said. I asked Mr. Wolff if he felt any pressure. “Pressure?” He laughed. “Pressure comes with this job. There’s always pressure. But I’d like to say I feel more excitement and enthusiasm. We worked really hard, and I think the work speaks for itself.”


Brees Shines in Return as Saints Outlast the Cowboys

Abstract: Drew Brees hit C. J. Spiller with a short pass that the running back turned into an 80-yard touchdown — the 400th of the Saints quarterback’s career — on the second play of overtime, and host New Orleans won in N.F.L. Week 4 , 26-20, against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night. Brees, who missed New Orleans’s previous game because of a bruised rotator cuff in his right (throwing) shoulder, completed 32 of 39 passes for 279 yards in his return. Mark Ingram gained 126 yards from scrimmage on a combination of runs and short passes, and Khiry Robinson had a 1-yard touchdown run for New Orleans (1-3). Joseph Randle scored the lone touchdown for Dallas (2-2) on a 1-yard run in the first half. The winning score enlivened a Superdome crowd stunned by Saints kicker Zach Hocker’s 30-yard miss on a field-goal attempt in the final seconds of regulation. RAMS 24, CARDINALS 22 Todd Gurley rushed for all but two of his 146 yards in the second half, and visiting St. Louis (2-2) held on to hand Arizona its first loss of the season. Gurley, the Rams’ first-round draft pick, saw his most extensive action as a pro, and his 52-yard run set up what proved to be the game-winning touchdown. Nick Foles threw for three touchdowns, two after turnovers by Arizona (3-1), and St. Louis’s defense held the Cardinals to field goals on four of five trips inside the red zone. Arizona had a third-and-2 at the Rams’ 43-yard line in the final minutes, but Carson Palmer overthrew receivers on consecutive plays to turn the ball over on downs. The Rams are 2-0 against the N.F.C. West. PACKERS 17, 49ERS 3 Aaron Rodgers threw for 224 yards and a touchdown and ran 17 yards to set up a key second-half score, and the Green Bay Packers knocked off San Francisco in Santa Clara, Calif., for its first 4-0 start in four years. Richard Rodgers caught a 9-yard touchdown pass for the Packers on the game’s opening drive before Aaron Rodgers got his team going in the second half after a slow start to halt a four-game losing streak to the 49ers (1-3), which included two playoff losses. Clay Matthews added his own flair to the game. When he sacked Colin Kaepernick in the third quarter, he kissed his right biceps — Kaepernick style — to punctuate the play, one of Green Bay’s six sacks. BRONCOS 23, VIKINGS 20 Brandon McManus kicked a 39-yard field goal with 1 minute 51 seconds left, and Denver’s defense had seven sacks, as the host Broncos (4-0) edged Minnesota (2-2). Von Miller smothered the loose ball after T. J. Ward’s strip sack of Teddy Bridgewater in the closing seconds, sealing the win for Denver, which got a 72-yard touchdown run from Ronnie Hillman. Peyton Manning has led his teams to a 4-0 start seven times, the most in N.F.L. history. Next up at four is Fran Tarkenton. Manning also joined Brett Favre as the only quarterbacks to win 100 home starts in the league. It was not a great day for Manning, who was picked off twice by the Vikings. Adrian Peterson ran for a 48-yard touchdown to pull Minnesota to 20-17 and cap a 97-yard drive with 10 minutes left. REDSKINS 23, EAGLES 20 Kirk Cousins threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon with 26 seconds left to rally host Washington (2-2) to a win over Philadelphia (1-3). Starting at their own 10 with a little more than six minutes remaining, Washington drove 90 yards on 15 plays to take the lead for good in a back-and-forth game. Cousins finished 31 for 46 for 290 yards, the touchdown and, most important, no turnovers. He did fumble a snap in the first half at Philadelphia’s 1 but recovered it himself and plunged forward for a touchdown, with the help of a big push from the rookie running back Matt Jones. Sam Bradford threw three second-half touchdown passes for the Eagles, but their new kicker, Caleb Sturgis, missed an extra-point attempt and a 33-yard field-goal attempt. PANTHERS 37, BUCCANEERS 23 Cam Newton tossed a pair of touchdown passes to Ted Ginn Jr. to key a victory that kept visiting Carolina unbeaten in a win over Tampa Bay (1-3). Newton threw touchdown passes of 6 and 12 yards to Ginn. He had a modest day, statistically, with 124 yards passing and 51 rushing, but Newton, a fifth-year pro, did not throw any interceptions and had just one turnover for the Panthers (4-0) on a day when play was affected, at times, by heavy rain. Image St. Louis receiver Tavon Austin scoring on a 12-yard pass from Nick Foles to give the Rams a 24-15 lead with 8 minutes 16 seconds to play. Credit Matt Kartozian/USA Today Sports, via Reuters BEARS 22, RAIDERS 20 Coach John Fox earned his first win for Chicago. Oakland (2-2) grabbed the lead on a field goal by Sebastian Janikowski with a little more than two minutes remaining that was set up by an interception by Charles Woodson deep in Raiders territory. The host Bears (1-3) then drove from their own 20-yard line to the Raiders’ 32 before Robbie Gould nailed the game winner in the closing seconds. BENGALS 36, CHIEFS 21 Andy Dalton added to his streak of impressive games and big plays, keeping the Bengals unbeaten with a win in Cincinnati. Dalton threw a 55-yard touchdown pass on the run — the type of throw he has rarely made in the past — and the Bengals defeated Kansas City (1-3). Cincinnati (4-0) matched its third-best start in franchise history, two wins short of the team record. Dalton completed 17 of 24 passes for 321 yards, with the long touchdown pass to Brandon Tate during a scramble. COLTS 16, JAGUARS 13 Adam Vinatieri celebrated his own throwback game in Indianapolis. Vinatieri kicked three field goals for the Colts (2-2), including a 27-yard game winner in overtime, to beat Jacksonville (1-3). Vinatieri broke Mike Vanderjagt’s team scoring record and became the first player in league history to top 1,000 points with two different teams. Jaguars kicker Jason Myers could have won it in regulation with a 53-yarder, but he pushed it wide right. He had another chance to win it in overtime, but that one went wide left from 48 yards. CHARGERS 30, BROWNS 27 Given a second chance because of a penalty, the rookie Josh Lambo kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired, propelling San Diego (2-2) past visiting Cleveland (1-3) and ending a two-game skid. Lambo was wide right on a 39-yard attempt with two seconds left, but the Browns’ Tramon Williams was offside. Lambo then hit his third field goal of the game. The Browns had tied it at 27 on Josh McCown’s 1-yard pass to Gary Barnidge with 2:09 to play that was followed by a 2-point conversion pass to Taylor Gabriel. Philip Rivers was 23 of 38 for 358 yards and three touchdowns for the Chargers. McCown was 32 of 41 for 356 yards and two scores for the Browns.

Football
New Orleans Saints
Packers
Broncos
Redskins
Carolina Panthers
Bengals
Colts
Dallas Cowboys
Rams


Rutgers Trounces No. 23 South Florida, 31-0

Abstract: Instead of getting even with Rutgers, No. 23 South Florida did not even get on the scoreboard for the first time in a regular-season game in its 13-year history. Tom Savage threw for two touchdowns, and host Rutgers forced four turnovers, blocked a punt and had seven sacks in embarrassing the error-prone Bulls, 31-0, in a nationally televised game on Thursday night. The victory was the fourth straight for Rutgers (7-2, 2-2 Big East) over South Florida (6-3, 2-3), and this one made the Scarlet Knights bowl eligible for the fifth straight season. The only other time South Florida was shut out was by 14-0 in the Meineke Bowl in 2005 by North Carolina State. Savage threw for touchdowns of 25 yards to Mohamed Sanu and 26 yards to Tim Brown. Joe Martinek ran for 128 yards, including a 37-yard score. San San Te kicked field goals of 36, 26 and 49 yards. South Florida thought the Scarlet Knights ran up the score last season in a 49-16 win. Coach Jim Leavitt had been discussing the Rutgers game since training camp opened. But on the second play, cornerback Jerome Murphy was penalized for hitting Brown out of bounds. Rutgers went 80 yards on that drive, capped by Savage’s touchdown pass to Sanu. In the first half, South Florida fell behind by 13-0 after B. J. Daniels threw two interceptions and lost a fumble, Faron Hornes muffed a punt and Rutgers’ Devin McCourty blocked a punt. Rutgers broke the game open when Savage (15 of 30 for 194 yards) connected with Brown on a touchdown midway through the third quarter. Sanu stretched the lead to 21-0 on a 2-point conversion out of a wildcat formation. Daniels completed 7 of 17 passes for 129 yards. The Bulls had only 7 first downs and 159 yards in total offense, including 30 rushing. NO. ILLNOIS 26, BALL STATE 20 Northern Illinois quarterback Chandler Harnish threw for a touchdown in his first appearance in nearly a month in the Mid-American Conference game at DeKalb, Ill. The Huskies (7-3, 5-1 MAC West) won their fourth straight, and the Cardinals (1-9, 1-5) dropped their sixth game by 7 or fewer points.

College Athletics
Football
Syracuse University
Jones Art
Knees
Sports Medicine


Villanova Rediscovers 3-Point Touch, and St. John’s Loses Way

Abstract: Eighth-ranked Villanova found the separation it needed to avoid an upset against St. John’s in the final six and a half minutes of a 74-67 victory Saturday at Madison Square Garden. The Wildcats have built their success on playing a solid all-around game, and have been exceptionally hot lately from beyond the 3-point line. But with the Red Storm locking down the Wildcats’ long-distance attack, Villanova needed to become aggressive. Ryan Arcidiacono led the charge that started the 10-1 Wildcats’ run that turned the game around when he grabbed a defensive rebound and took off up court for what appeared would be a layup. But he slowed his dribble and found Kris Jenkins wide open for a 3-pointer, to give Villanova a 58-56 lead with 6 minutes 17 second left. “I know my game, and I know they are a great shot-blocking team,” said Arcidiacono, who had 13 points and 3 assists. “I just said to myself, ‘Am I going to get this punched or am I just going to pull it out and just get a good possession out of it?’ I know Chris is a great shooter.” After two free throws by JayVaughn Pinkston, Arcidiacono stripped guard D’Angelo Harrison of the ball and found Darrun Hilliard for another 3-pointer. Pinkston, who played at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High in Brooklyn, helped create the shot for Hilliard by attracting three defenders in the lane. “I’m really proud of Jay,” Wildcats Coach Jay Wright said. “We put a lot of pressure on him when teams do that, to be a decision maker, not just a scorer. That’s tough to do when you have people double-teaming you.” Suddenly, Villanova’s lead was 63-56. Villanova had made a combined 26 3-pointers in its previous two wins over Seton Hall and Providence. But the Red Storm had stayed in the game by holding the Wildcats to 2-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half. Pinkston led the Wildcats (15-1, 4-0 Big East) with 15 points and 10 rebounds. St. John’s, looking for its first conference win, controlled the tempo for most of the game as guards Rysheed Jordan (12 points) and Harrison (22 points) scored on driving layups to help the Red Storm open a 56-55 lead with 7:43 to go. Neither team scored again until Jenkins’s 3-pointer at 6:17. Guard Jakarr Sampson said turnovers ultimately did in the Red Storm. “We don’t have many turnovers, but our turnovers occur at the wrong time, like at the end of the game,” Sampson said of St. John’s eight turnovers leading to 14 Villanova points. “We need to clean that up.” St. John’s (9-6, 0-3) was without Sampson, one of its better playmakers, for much of the second half when he committed his fourth foul with 12 minutes remaining. The teams traded plenty of hard fouls. It was an advantage for Villanova, which was 31 of 40 from the foul line. St. John’s made 19 of its 24 free throws. The Red Storm were in need of a marquee victory. Entering Saturday, St. John’s had performed well at times against superior teams — Wisconsin, Syracuse and Xavier — yet had fallen short each time. The Red Storm had a week to dwell on their embarrassing 77-60 loss at Georgetown, where everything went wrong in the first half and they scored a season-low 16 points. Coach Steve Lavin had said how much the Red Storm needed to avoid an 0-3 start in Big East play. Still, those three games were against some of the best teams in the conference, and the schedule ahead does not appear to be as daunting, with a game at DePaul before home games with Providence, Dartmouth and Seton Hall. “We have definitely played as tough a schedule as anyone in the Big East,” Lavin said. “I think things will balance themselves out. What we have to really focus on is improving as a team.”

College basketball
Villanova
St John's
Madison Square Garden


Mets Try to Lift Public Relations

Abstract: The Mets on Friday hired Harold Kaufman, a former longtime N.B.A. executive, to expand their public relations efforts off the field. Kaufman, who spent nearly two decades as a vice president of communications for the Charlotte and New Orleans Hornets, was named the Mets’ executive director of communications. “There are so many opportunities to ramp up coverage,” said David Newman, the Mets’ senior vice president of marketing and communications. “It’s about opportunities, not issues. It’s about looking forward, not backward.” He said that Kaufman will help bring the Mets exposure in “fashion, food, entertainment and lifestyle — things that target different audiences in addition to the sports audience.” Kaufman, who was hired after a national search, comes to the Mets at a still-difficult time that has been leavened a bit by the optimism over their corps of young pitchers and a small uptick in attendance at Citi Field. Still, the team appears headed to a sixth consecutive losing season, and fans remain frustrated at the Mets’ middle-market player payroll of less than $90 million — an enduring impact of the fraud by Bernard L. Madoff that devastated the finances of the Mets’ owners. Kaufman’s job will not be to publicize the team on the field; that remains the domain of Jay Horwitz, the team’s vice president for media relations. Kaufman will work with Horwitz and report to Newman. RICHARD SANDOMIR


If ‘Million Second Quiz’ Succeeds, NBC Gets the Grand Prize

Abstract: Pop quiz: what does broadcast television need right now? Ask NBC, and the answer will be “The Million Second Quiz,” a groundbreaking competition that will start on Monday night and end 10 days later — the online component is 10 consecutive 24-hour days — with the presentation of what the network calls the biggest guaranteed pot of money in game show history. Whether that’s the right or wrong answer will be determined when the ratings start to come in. At a time when shrinking network audiences are the norm, the “Quiz” is already winning attention for the scale of its ambitions, as symbolized by the three-story arena that has taken shape in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan, where the game will be played. In keeping with the million-second theme, it has the appearance of a gigantic hourglass; its sheer size almost says, “AMC and Netflix and YouTube can’t do this!” After its debut on Monday, “Quiz” will be broadcast on NBC for an hour a night, every night, until Sept. 19, with one break for “Sunday Night Football.” In some ways, it is a throwback to a long-ago era when families would gather around the television set for big prime-time game shows. According to NBC, there hasn’t been a live game show scheduled in prime time since the 1960s. Back then, though, viewers could only shout answers at the TV. Now, they can play along at home with an app. And when the game is not being played on TV, it will continue as a live, continuous stream on NBC.com. Contestants, some of whom will be picked to compete on the basis of their Internet play, will take turns sitting in the “money chair,” where every second spent answering trivia questions is worth $10. Correct answers help them reach Winners Row, an area on the set where the five best players will live and sleep (and keep answering questions, lest they be kicked out of the top five) until the million seconds are up. “This is the Olympics of quiz,” said Stephen Lambert, the British television producer who offered the idea to Paul Telegdy, NBC’s president of alternative and late-night programming. In the pitch, Mr. Lambert described the game “almost like a tennis match between two contestants.” After all, nothing attracts more viewers to broadcast television than big sporting events. That’s partly why the “Quiz” will try to look and feel like such an event, with its open-air setting. Image Ryan Seacrest Credit Sarah Shatz/NBC Since the quiz show isn’t taped like, say, “Jeopardy,” some questions will be about the day’s news. “You might be asked, ‘President Obama signed what into law this morning?’ ” said the executive producer, David Hurwitz. Other questions will be asked by celebrities — inevitably, NBC celebrities. (“If there’s a question about the weather, who better to ask it than Al Roker?” Mr. Telegdy said.) On the final night, the final contestants on Winners Row will vie for a grand prize that could theoretically top out at $10 million, though it’s likely to be closer to $5 million. Executives at NBC haven’t actually said this, but they clearly want the “Quiz” to be nothing short of a national event — the kind of big-ticket, must-see spectacle that turns up less and less often on the broadcast networks. To that end, the executives have hired Ryan Seacrest to host and have spent tens of millions of dollars to promote the game show this summer. They say that even some of their typical rivals might be caught rooting for it: Mr. Telegdy said a “competitive éminence grise from elsewhere in TV land” — he wouldn’t name the person — had sent him a well-wishing e-mail that said bluntly, “We all need this right now.” The producers are aware that comparisons to the blockbuster ABC show “ Who Wants to be a Millionaire ” are probably inevitable (though there is no phone-a-friend option on this show). “Millionaire,” hosted by Regis Philbin, wowed the television industry when it drew 10, 20 and sometimes even 30 million viewers in 1999 and 2000. It continues to chug along in syndication, now with Cedric the Entertainer as the host. One difference is that “Millionaire” was already a proven hit in Britain when it arrived in the United States; “Million Second Quiz” will start stateside first. If successful, it will spread around the world. In a telephone interview, Mr. Telegdy said that “the line will probably go dead, and a robot will eject me from my seat” if he uttered a specific ratings prediction. But his noncommittal answer was telling in and of itself: the goal, he said, is to “get people talking about NBC.” Once upon a time, that network didn’t have to try hard to achieve that; now it does. So its parent company, Comcast, is having all of its various properties support “Quiz” through ads, guest appearances, reports on newscasts and the like — a strategy that it calls “symphony” and that was previously applied to the singing competition “The Voice.” Mr. Seacrest, who is best known for hosting Fox’s “American Idol” and who also has a wide-ranging contract with NBC, said that after he heard the initial pitch from Mr. Lambert and Mr. Telegdy, the NBCUniversal chief executive, Steve Burke, called him to reiterate how important the “Quiz” was going to be. Mr. Burke also did so in an e-mail to every employee of the company on Wednesday. “There is already a lot of great buzz, and we think there is a chance ‘The Million Second Quiz’ could really break through,” Mr. Burke wrote. NBC is hopeful that starting “Quiz” slightly ahead of the fall television season — which doesn’t officially get under way until Sept. 23 — will benefit both the game show and the new series that the network will introduce later. The logic works like this: there is relatively little competition next week, giving “Quiz” a better shot at being sampled by the public; if the show catches on, then all of NBC’s ads for new series like “The Blacklist” and “The Michael J. Fox Show” will be seen by many more people, and giving away $5 million or $10 million will feel like money well spent.


Ireland: Cardinal Who Didn’t Report Abuse Won’t Quit

Abstract: Cardinal Sean Brady, left, the leader of Ireland ’s Roman Catholics, said Monday that he would not resign, despite admitting that he helped the church get evidence against a child-molesting priest but never told the police about it. He said that as a priest in 1975, he interviewed two children who said they had been abused by the Rev. Brendan Smyth, who was eventually accused of molesting and raping scores of children in Ireland, Britain and the United States. Both children were required to sign oaths promising not to tell anyone outside the church of their accusations, Cardinal Brady said. He said that church officials had not notified the police because of “a culture of silence about this, a culture of secrecy.”

Ireland
Smyth Brendan
Brady Sean
Child Abuse and Neglect
Priests
Cardinals (Roman Catholic Prelates)


Underwood Wins First Match

Abstract: Quanitta Underwood, who is considered one of the United States’ best hopes for a medal when women’s boxing makes its Olympic debut at the London Games, won her first-round bout at the national qualifying tournament in Spokane, Wash. Fighting in the 132-pound division, Underwood won in a decision over Bertha Aracil, 22-12. ¶ The Baylor junior Brittney Griner is among 21 finalists for the United States women’s basketball team that will compete at the London Olympics. (AP)

Underwood Quanitta
Boxing
Olympic Games (2012)


Heavy-Equipment Sales Lift Earnings at G.E.

Abstract: The General Electric Company , benefiting from spending sprees by governments in emerging nations, is getting robust orders for aircraft engines, power generators and other pieces of heavy equipment. A result, G.E. said yesterday, is that net earnings from continuing operations rose 7.1 percent in the third quarter, despite depressed margins in some equipment businesses and continuing problems in health care and some areas of finance. “The technology we provide, the services we offer, all of it is driving unprecedented demand in our global infrastructure business,” said Keith S. Sherin, G.E.’s chief financial officer. G.E.’s revenue was $42.5 billion in the quarter, up 12 percent from last year. Its income from continuing operations was $5.1 billion, or 50 cents a share. G.E.’s net income for the quarter, which includes results from discontinued operations like its consumer lending business in Japan, was $5.5 billion, up 14 percent. “They’re exiting businesses when they don’t see growth, they’re investing in technology when they do,” said Noel M. Tichy, a professor at the University of Michigan Business School who frequently writes about G.E. “That strategy is finally paying off.” Investors are not so sure. G.E.’s results were in line with analysts’ expectations, and 14 of the 17 analysts that report their recommendations to Thomson Financial kept their buy or strong buy recommendations on the company. But shareholders seemed disappointed nonetheless. G.E. shares, which have been steadily rising since August, tumbled 57 cents yesterday, closing at $41.03. Analysts disagreed on whether G.E. was truly thriving, or just masking problems in many areas with strength in a few. “One real surprise was how well they navigated through credit markets in such turmoil,” said Deane M. Dray, an analyst at Goldman Sachs. David Bleustein, who follows G.E. for UBS Investment Research, was far less heartened. “They could have knocked the ball out of the park this quarter, given the strength in wind turbines, in energy, in oil and gas and aircraft engines,” he said. “But issues cropped up that just sapped the upside.” Indeed, many analysts noted that while the numbers came out as expected, the path to them was tortuous and confusing. G.E. reported $100 million in unexpected product development costs in aviation and took another $100 million hit in its domestic consumer credit businesses — both numbers that may have been offset by lower taxes. It reported that its Triple A credit rating was giving it a leg up in the tumultuous credit market, but that GE Money was still tackling delinquencies in the United States. It said infrastructure orders were up but infrastructure margins were down. It announced that as part of its cooperation with an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, it had rethought its practice of booking some equipment revenue when a product was shipped, even though it reimburses customers when a product is damaged in transit. “The tax rate was confusing, there were write-offs and charges, it just wasn’t the clean G.E. quarter that the investment community was looking for,” said Daniel J. Rosenblatt, an analyst with Marble Harbor Investment Counsel, which owns G.E. shares. Mr. Sherin of G.E. readily conceded that the company gave investors a lot to digest. “We had a lot of moving parts this quarter, and people have to absorb it all,” he said. Some analysts even questioned some of G.E.’s premises for future growth. For example, commercial finance has been one of G.E.’s fast-growing businesses, and Mr. Sherin predicted that as the credit markets grow ever more risk-averse, G.E.’s Triple A rating will lead to even more robust growth. Richard Tortoriello, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, doubts that. He downgraded G.E. to buy from strong buy yesterday. “I think one impact of the subprime credit crisis will be reduced demand in the global credit market,” he said. “Yes, I’m expecting good growth, maybe 12 to 13 percent a year, but not the fabulous 17 percent to 22 percent annual growth we’d been seeing.” Still, G.E. did have a fair amount of good news to report. Jeffrey R. Immelt , its chief executive, has long promised to deliver 8 percent organic sales growth — and he did just that this quarter. And he said G.E. was on track to post earnings per share of $2.19 to $2.22 for the year. Moreover, while G.E.’s margins on engines and turbines are meager, each unit it sells brings the prospect of sales of high-margin parts and maintenance contracts. NBC Universal continued its turnaround, with profits up 9 percent. Health care remained troubled, with profits down on slightly increased sales. G.E. did not predict it would bounce back next year, “but it won’t get worse,” Mr. Immelt promised analysts. But perhaps most important, G.E. expects infrastructure orders to keep rising, as emerging nations continue to build highways and railways and fleets of jets. “We are still in the early innings of the big infrastructure build,” Mr. Immelt said. “It’s going to be a real boomer.”

General Electric Co
Company Reports
Stocks and Bonds
Immelt Jeffrey R


Gay Catholic Groups Want Pope Francis to Do More Than Apologize

Abstract: ROME — Leaders of gay Catholic groups on Monday praised Pope Francis for saying that all Christians and the Roman Catholic Church owed an apology to gays for previous mistreatment, even as the groups called on the church to take more concrete steps to repudiate past teachings and condemn anti-gay violence. Streaking across the sky on Sunday night in his papal airliner, returning from a visit to Armenia, Francis also visibly winced, momentarily overcome with emotion, when a journalist, Cindy Wooden, mentioned the recent attack at an Orlando gay nightclub and noted that Christians are sometimes blamed for stigmatizing homosexuals. Francis did not directly address the Orlando killings. But he endorsed a comment of one of his top advisers who, soon after the Orlando attack, said that the church had marginalized gay people and should apologize. The pope said the church “must” not only apologize to a gay person it offended, “but we must apologize to the poor, to women who have been exploited, to children forced into labor.” Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a leading organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics, said the pope’s remarks represented a powerful statement, if not enough. “For a pope to acknowledge that the church has done so much damage to gay people, and that we deserve an apology, is an unprecedented act of humility,” she said in a telephone interview. “But a statement of remorse is only as good as the change in behavior that follows.” Francis’s outreach toward gays has been part of his broader effort to welcome people who have felt marginalized by the church. He made global headlines early in his papacy when he signaled a new openness toward gays when he famously uttered, “ Who am I to judge? ” Francis’ words raised hopes among some gay Catholics and others that he might make significant changes inside the church itself. Some advocates even wondered if he might loosen the church’s prohibition of same-sex marriage as part of his broader move to make the church more welcoming to unconventional families. But Francis has steadfastly opposed same-sex marriage. His much-awaited document on family life, “Amoris Laetitia,” called on the church to welcome gay people but flatly closed the door on same-sex marriage. “He’s not liberal,” said the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit priest who is close to the pope. Instead, Father Spadaro said Francis sought to avoid categorizing people and wanted a welcoming environment devoid of discrimination. “Of course,” he added, “he wants a church of open doors.” In a statement, Ryan Hoffman, co-executive director of Call to Action, a Catholic group, praised Francis’ remarks but also called on Catholic officials to “reform teachings and practices that refer to gay people as ‘objectively disordered’ and ‘intrinsically evil.’ ” “It’s time Francis’ wise words translate into just action,” Mr. Hoffman said. Ms. Duddy-Burke pointed to cases of the firing of gay employees of Catholic schools in the United States after they married in civil ceremonies. She also noted that bishops around the world often played leading roles in campaigns against gay rights. “We need the church to understand the reality of our lives,” she said. “And where church teaching and practice has caused so much trouble.” Popes have a tradition of apologizing for past sins of the church. In 2000, Pope John Paul II issued a sweeping apology for the church’s errors over the previous 2,000 years. Francis himself offered a striking apology during his 2015 trip to South America, when he asked for forgiveness for the church’s complicity in the brutality of the era of Spanish colonialism. “There are a lot of people at the Vatican who don’t like the church ever admitting we ever did anything wrong,” said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior analyst for The National Catholic Reporter. “With gays, it is especially important because they are still subject to persecution and discrimination all over the world, and even in the United States.”

Gay and Lesbian LGBT
Christianity
Pope Francis
Catholic Church
Apologies


China Mourns Graduate Student Lu Lingzi After Boston Bombing

Abstract: HONG KONG — Grief over a Chinese student who was killed in the Boston Marathon bombing rippled across her home country on Wednesday as Internet sites and news reports described and celebrated a young woman whose ambitions for a career in finance were cut harshly short. Boston University and the Chinese Consulate General in New York have said the victim was a graduate student at the college, but the consulate said her family asked that no personal details be disclosed. A classmate, a Chinese university official and a state-run newspaper in her home city have said she was Lu Lingzi, who accompanied a friend to watch the marathon near where the blasts shook the streets. Even without government confirmation that Ms. Lu was one of three people killed in the explosion on Monday, Chinese Internet sites filled with mournful messages about a woman whose aspirations took her from a rust-belt hometown, Shenyang, to Beijing and then the United States. Her account on Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service used by tens of millions of people in China, attracted more than 10,000 messages, mostly of condolence, in the hours after the Chinese news media reported her death. “You are in heaven now, where there are no bombs,” said one message. Ms. Lu, 23, had become interested in Christianity, said a fellow Chinese student at Boston University, Lu Meixu, who is not related but is also from Shenyang. Image Lu Lingzi, 23, in Boston in an undated photo by a friend. Credit Meixu Lu, via Associated Press Ms. Lu’s own final message on Weibo was posted on Monday. It showed a picture of a bowl of Chinese fried bread and said, “My wonderful breakfast.” Ms. Lu, shown on her Weibo page as a petite woman with thick shoulder-length hair, said there that she enjoyed food, music and finance. Other Facebook photos showed her at Toah Nipi, a Christian retreat center in southern New Hampshire. Although China’s and the United States’ perceptions of each other are often overshadowed by political rancor, Ms. Lu’s death gave a melancholy face to the attraction that America and its colleges exert over many young Chinese. More than 194,000 Chinese students were enrolled in American colleges and universities in the 2011-12 academic year, far exceeding any other foreign country, according to the Institute of International Education. And Boston, with its many colleges and the cachet of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has long been a magnet for them. News of the death of one Chinese student and the injury of another prompted comment from China’s top leader, President Xi Jinping, whose own daughter has studied at Harvard. Mr. Xi said he was “extremely concerned” and he passed on messages of comfort to the two students’ families, as well as the injured student, the official news agency Xinhua reported. The Chinese government has never publicly confirmed that Mr. Xi’s daughter was studying at Harvard, and it is unclear whether she is still enrolled there. Ms. Lu, whose résumé lists a succession of academic achievements and internships with financial firms, appeared to be among the many hoping that an American degree would pave the way to a prestigious job in finance or business. She went to high school in Shenyang, a cradle of state-driven industrialization in northeast China that fell on hard times in the 1990s, and then studied international trade at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and statistics at Boston University, according to her résumé on LinkedIn, a social networking Web site. But Ms. Lu shared more prosaic pleasures and worries with other Chinese students studying in Boston. Image Joy Liu, a student at Boston University, left a message on Wednesday at a campus memorial: "From Boston and Beijing with love. R.I.P." Credit Katherine Taylor for The New York Times “She said she wanted to have a boyfriend as soon as possible, because her family was worried that if she couldn’t find a boyfriend they would have to help,” said Lu Meixu, her friend also studying at Boston University. “She hoped she could meet ‘the one’ as soon as possible.” Ming Chen, a 23-year-old graduate student in computer science, met Ms. Lu when they were still in China, preparing to come to Boston to study. “She was optimistic, outgoing, and really hard-working,” said Mr. Chen. The two shared a love of the rock band Nirvana, he said, adding that she used the group’s line “smells like teen spirit” in her profile on QQ, a popular instant-messaging service in China. Ms. Lu’s fellow students realized she was missing after the marathon, and members of a Chinese student group fanned out across the city, sending students to hospitals looking for her. By Tuesday night, many students had seen Chinese news media reports saying that Ms. Lu was dead. “I still can’t believe it. We just finished class, and no one is sitting at her desk,” said one of Ms. Lu’s classmates, who was clad in black as a symbol of mourning. She asked not to be identified because Boston University had not yet confirmed Ms. Lu’s identity, which it later did . “We’re all statistics students,” continued the classmate. “The probability of this happening is so low.”

China
Boston Marathon Bombings
Boston
Lu Lingzi


Island Fixer-Upper, Near the Madding Crowd

Abstract: VENICE — A short boat ride from the elegant tourist horde that is Venice, Poveglia Island could be considered the anti-Venice. There are no souvenir shops, no gondolas and no people. A brick bell tower rises from a jumble of abandoned buildings. The overgrown gardens have been untended for decades. Poveglia might be a forgotten place in the Venetian Lagoon if not for a more recent feature: a digital For Sale sign. Now the island is entangled in two very different Italian problems, one national and one local. Italy’s public debt is so great that the government has put a list of properties, including Poveglia, on the auction block. And Venice’s tourism industry is so booming that many residents complain that ordinary life is becoming less and less tenable, which has turned the online auction for the island into a cause célèbre. Fearing that Poveglia could be developed into a luxury resort for rich visitors, a group of Venetians is proposing that the island should instead be a refuge from the onslaught of tourists, where anyone can go to enjoy the gardens, learn to sail or just to have a picnic. “What kind of Venice do we have in mind for the 21st century?” asked Lorenzo Pesola, an architect and a leader of the local group , whose motto is “Poveglia for Everyone.” Image The interior of a derelict building on Poveglia. Credit Marco Di Lauro for The New York Times “We have to find some sort of balance between those who want to see it for the first time and those who don’t want to see it for the last time.” The auction is being managed under the auspices of the Italian economy ministry. Properties across the country are up for sale, though the process is complicated and Italy has not moved swiftly to sell its cultural assets, often a contentious move. In the case of Poveglia, the government is selling a 99-year lease on the surface of the island, while maintaining ownership. The stakes escalated last Wednesday when the first phase of the bidding process was made public. Two bids qualified, one from an anonymous corporate investor, the other from donations collected by Friends of Poveglia. So far, the citizens’ group is decidedly in second place: It bid 160,000 euros, or about $220,000, compared with 513,000 euros — $705,000 — by the corporate investor. Venice is sustained by tourism, even as the relentless growth of the industry is regarded as a rising threat to the city’s environment and stability. Five years ago, when the population in the city center had dwindled to less than 60,000 —after topping 108,000 people in 1971 — local activists staged a mock funeral, floating a coffin in a gondola down the Grand Canal. (They later opened it up to reveal bottles of Spumante.) The number of tourists coming to Venice now surpasses 20 million a year. Cruise ships deliver thousands of visitors on many days, with the huge boats looming over the narrow canals of the ancient city. And a handful of islands in the surrounding lagoon are being developed as luxury hotels or condominiums accessible only to wealthy guests or owners. Local resistance has steadily coalesced. One contested project involves plans to build an amusement park on an island that once housed the city’s landfill. The developer, Alberto Zamperla, whose company helped redevelop amusement rides in Coney Island, says his project will provide jobs while celebrating the history and culture of Venice. Critics say it is another step toward the city’s Disneyfication. Image Patrizia Veclani and Lorenzo Pesola are with a group that wants to keep “Poveglia for Everyone” and is raising money to try to buy it as a refuge from tourism. “What kind of Venice do we have in mind for the 21st century?” Mr. Pesola asked. Credit Marco Di Lauro for The New York Times “Sometimes when I talk with people, I have the impression that I am before an inquisition or tribunal,” said Mr. Zamperla, who is still awaiting zoning approval. But public frustration seems to have galvanized most over the fate of Poveglia, which is about two miles from St. Mark’s Square and the heart of Venice. The island has remained fairly obscure; some accounts hold that plague victims were buried there centuries ago, though local historians say no such evidence exists. If so, that would be fairly typical for many of the islands in the lagoon. A few sensationalistic accounts have described Poveglia as a “haunted” island, though many ordinary Venetians know it as a place where they once spent languorous weekends to escape the city. “I came out here when I was young,” said Patrizia Veclani, who is now part of the Friends of Poveglia campaign. “We used to dive in the water and have barbecues. When we were teenagers, we came out with our boyfriends.” When the government announced the auction, citizens began a donation drive as the issue drew attention in the local news media. Organizers say they have been stunned by the outpouring of donations, including from many people outside the city sympathetic to their goals. On a recent rainy afternoon on the island of Giudecca, part of Venice, volunteers were collecting donations at La Palanca, a restaurant. Those who donated at least 99 euros would be listed as a “part owner” of the island if the group wins the auction. Antonio Cirillo, an elementary-school teacher who has worked in Venice for 12 years, offered 100 euros. “I like being part of anything that is doing something for the people who actually live here,” he said. “People who choose to live here make an emotional choice. It is something you do with your heart.” Pier Paolo Baretta, a native Venetian who is an undersecretary in the economy ministry, said he had been impressed by the fervor of the local campaign — and even acknowledged sympathizing with the cause. “This is a case study to reflect on what a public asset actually means,” Mr. Baretta said, adding that he thought the campaign over Poveglia had been an important moment for a city struggling to achieve a balance between quality of life and tourism revenue. “Personally, as a Venetian,” he said, “I’m very happy with what we are seeing now. If I were not in government, I would support the association.” The next phase of the auction process will be on Tuesday, when the two remaining bidders can compete and raise their offers. Mr. Pesola, the leader of the citizens’ group, said more donations had been coming in, but he questioned whether it could ultimately post the highest bid. He hopes the government might intervene to help. The group’s plans are still developing for the island, which comprises three parts separated by narrow canals, including a small, octagonal naval fortification built centuries ago. Mr. Pesola estimated it would cost several million euros to restore the buildings and the gardens. The group is looking for partners and has been talking with, among others, a local sailing school that is interested in teaching traditional Venetian seamanship. “Two weeks ago, everyone thought this was a utopian passion for a lost cause,” Mr. Pesola said. “But no one does anymore.”

Italy
Venice
Poveglia Italy
Travel,Tourism


In Gettys’ Exclusive Preschool, It’s Tough to Fly from Gilded Cage

Abstract: Elizabeth Lesly Stevens writes a column for The Bay Citizen. For the past 14 years, Ann and Gordon Getty have run an invitation-only, free preschool for the offspring of some of San Francisco’s most powerful families, including their own grandchildren. Families cannot apply for admission. They are chosen, in sort of a toddler’s version of being tapped for Skull and Bones at Yale. The Playgroup, as it is known to those in the know, typically has had about two dozen pupils — including the grandchildren of Peter Magowan, the former managing general partner of the Giants, and other scions of inherited fortunes — who learn and play in the Gettys’ Pacific Heights residential complex. It has no Web site or sign over the door. And although it has been operating since 1997, it has no license and had never been inspected by the San Francisco Fire Department until last week. While the school’s director said it was exempt in the past from the state’s stringent licensing requirements for preschools or child-care programs, current regulations indicate otherwise. A lawyer for the Getty family said in an e-mail on Thursday that it was a “private recreation group,” not a school. He acknowledged that the Playgroup did not currently qualify for an exemption from licensing, and said that his clients were working with the state to remedy the situation. Inside the well-appointed confines of the school — amid the classrooms decorated with room-size hand-hooked rugs depicting scenes of American history, the kitchen, where Gordon Getty occasionally pads around in his bathrobe and where a chef trained at Chez Panisse prepares organic, multicourse lunches for the teachers and children — all is not as wonderful as it might appear. Staff turnover has been substantial in recent years, and actions by the Playgroup’s forceful director, Lonna Corder, have caused some parents considerable anxiety. But Playgroup families, despite their own power and privilege, are loathe to raise questions, for fear of offending the hospitable and formidable Gettys and possibly antagonizing a preschool director who can play a powerful role in children’s winning admission to private elementary schools. Ms. Corder, a glamorous woman in her mid-40s who hails from the East Bay, has run the school since its founding. She reports directly to Ann Getty, and the Playgroup, which has had as many as seven full-time teachers working under Ms. Corder, has no board or parents association. Parents say Ms. Corder has taken it upon herself to diagnose developmental problems in some of the children, although she has no medical training or certification as a therapist. (She holds a bachelor’s degree in child psychology from St. Mary’s College and a Montessori teaching certificate.) Five parents and teachers shared accounts of Ms. Corder’s informing parents that their children had autism or some other developmental disorder. Daniel Coury, medical director for the Autism Speaks autism treatment network and a developmental pediatrician, said it was “inappropriate” for a preschool teacher to tell parents that their children have these disorders. “This is a serious diagnosis, devastating, because you are being told your child has a lifelong problem,” Dr. Coury said. At one parent conference in October 2008, Ms. Corder abruptly told a 3-year-old’s parents that their son had Asperger’s syndrome and would probably never ride a bike or form close friendships, the boy’s mother said. Shocked and sobbing, the mother went directly to Dr. Cyril Ramer, her son’s pediatrician, who assured her that her son did not have Asperger’s. The boy “is not even marginally abnormal,” Dr. Ramer said in an interview. Dr. Ramer advised the mother to press Ms. Corder for written evaluations and for her credentials to make such a diagnosis, which the mother did. The following day, Ms. Corder e-mailed the mother that she should “find another preschool” for her son. Ms. Corder maintains that educators often make tough recommendations, but in an e-mail to The Bay Citizen she took issue with the term “diagnosis” when describing her actions. In one of her e-mails to the boy’s mother, however, she wrote she was confident that the boy’s behavior “looks like behavior I have seen before in children eventually Asperger’s.” A few months later, two Playgroup teachers wrote letters to Mrs. Getty to express their concerns about Ms. Corder, but they never received a response. Nor did Mrs. Getty — who runs the school as “a gift to the community,” according to a former teacher — respond when the 3-year-old boy’s parent spoke to her with similar worries. Mrs. Getty did not reply to messages left with her office. Of course, finding another preschool would seem to be a simple solution for those who are unhappy with the Playgroup. But in the rarefied world of the city’s ultra-rich, even this is not as simple as it seems. The glamour, cachet and enviable facilities attract parents to the Playgroup, but for some it seems to have become a gilt trap. The mother of another boy who said Ms. Corder had incorrectly told her he was autistic said, “Nothing is actually ever free.”

Children and Youth
Education (Pre-School)
Private and Sectarian Schools
San Francisco (Calif)
Admissions Standards


Yankees Shut Out by Blue Jays for Second Day in Row

Abstract: Of the three hits that Masahiro Tanaka allowed in six innings Sunday, two were home runs. The damage was minimal, but it supplied the Toronto Blue Jays with just enough offense to send the Yankees off winless in this important three-game series between teams jockeying for supremacy in the American League East. A week ago, the Yankees commanded a six-game lead over Baltimore and Toronto, but their edge over the Blue Jays has been whittled to just one and a half. The surging Blue Jays have won eight in a row, including Sunday’s 2-0 victory, their second shutout in two days. Toronto is eight games above .500 and is brimming with confidence. “This is definitely the time of the year when you want to start playing your best baseball,” Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson said. “I think you’ve seen that in the last two weeks or so.” The Yankees, in contrast, have suddenly stumbled into an ice-cold offensive depression, without a run in their last 26 innings, and just four in the last five games. It was the first time they had been shut out in two consecutive games since 1999, and the scoreless streak is the team’s longest since 1991. The team had scored 90 runs across the previous 10 games, making these recent struggles almost bewildering. Before the game, Manager Joe Girardi noted that the Yankees had faced several hard-throwing pitchers interrupted by two knuckleballers, a mix that he said could jolt a hitter’s timing. However, after his team was stymied by Marco Estrada — whose velocity hovered around 90 miles an hour but who changed speeds effectively — he had little to offer as explanation. “Every offense is going to go through this,” Girardi said. “We have a good offense; we just struggled this weekend, for whatever reason.” For much of the season, the Yankees have been catalyzed by the top four hitters in their lineup, and when those players go 0 for 14, as they did Sunday, it is hard to recover. Estrada worked with a good get-ahead curveball and a devastating changeup that kept hitters off balance. The Yankees were held to just three hits in back-to-back games, something that had not occurred in 23 years. “If they’re not getting on, I can’t do much,” Girardi said. “We had three hits today.” Tanaka was excellent for much of the time, walking none and striking out five on an idyllic afternoon. But the Blue Jays went ahead early on home runs by Donaldson in the first inning and Jose Bautista in the fourth. Each player homered twice in the series, which was Toronto’s first sweep of at least three games against the Yankees since 2003. After Bautista’s homer, Tanaka retired eight in a row, but Girardi chose not to have him start the seventh inning, sending in Adam Warren to relieve him after only 80 pitches. Tanaka said through an interpreter that he was not surprised to be lifted but that he felt fresh enough to continue. Girardi said that it was the first time Tanaka had pitched on regular rest in some time and that he did not want to push him. Warren allowed all three batters he faced to reach safely, loading the bases. Justin Wilson entered and struck out two hitters before getting Kevin Pillar to pop out to end the danger. The Yankees truly threatened in only the seventh, as Estrada began to tire. Carlos Beltran walked and Chase Headley sliced a single to left, knocking Estrada from the game with one out. LaTroy Hawkins — a former Yankee whom the Blue Jays acquired last month from the Colorado Rockies — retired Didi Gregorius and Stephen Drew to end the inning. Roberto Osuna pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his 10th save. “I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen today,” Estrada said. “With our lineup, who knows what’s going to happen? We have days where we can score a lot of runs, and there’s days like today where we only get two because the other guy threw a pretty good game. Getting ahead early means a lot.” The Blue Jays upgraded their rotation, adding David Price, and their bullpen, getting Hawkins and Mark Lowe, at the trade deadline. Since the All-Star break, Toronto’s E.R.A. is 2.37, the best in the A.L. Never in franchise history had the Blue Jays posted consecutive shutouts against the Yankees. In the home team’s clubhouse, there was little hint of frustration or alarm. The Yankees maintained that atop the division they were still in better position than in previous years, when they have had to chase other teams. The offense will return, they said. And so will Toronto — in September, when the stakes are even higher. “You have to have some perspective,” Alex Rodriguez said. “There’s no time to panic for us. We’re having a very good season so far. We’re in first place for a reason. We like our team; we trust our team. We’ll take a day off tomorrow and come back and play good baseball.”


Energy Auditors Offer Advice, Without a Sales Pitch

Abstract: Some energy auditors can be like auto mechanics: They both have incentives to find problems so that they can get paid to fix them. Leaky windows? No problem, we can weatherize them. Ancient air-conditioners? We can sell you the latest Energy Star models. By contrast, L & S Energy Services, a 19-employee firm in Clifton Park, N.Y., 15 miles north of Albany, provides only advice, no strings attached. Since 2003, the company has conducted about 1,200 audits for small businesses under a program run by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. It has also provided energy consulting to some 30 apartment buildings comprising 3,500 units, as well as universities, hospitals and office buildings. In total, about $1 million, or 60 percent, of its annual revenue comes from the authority, known as Nyserda, which collects it from utility customers throughout the state in the form of the little-noticed System Benefits Charge on each month’s bill. “We try not to farm out a recommendation because of the conflict of interest,” said Ronald Slosberg, the company’s vice president. “We point them to Nyserda, where there are additional loan programs.” L & S is one of four companies statewide that have auditing contracts with Nyserda to provide these soft-sell services to car dealers, churches, machine shops, pizzerias, restaurants, shoe stores and a host of other operations that have less than $75,000 in annual electric costs. Over the past two years, L & S has done about 700 of these audits across the upstate region. Audits cost up to $400, but the businesses can get a refund from Nyserda if they buy the energy-efficient equipment that L & S suggests, from outside electricians, plumbers and others. While small business owners are eager to lower energy costs, Mr. Slosberg said, they can be reluctant to pay for new equipment, even when rebates are included. Restaurants are especially reluctant: fast food outlets often leave such decisions to a distant corporate office, while local owners can often be short of cash. “They’ll typically buy something at auction to save money, even if it’s less efficient,” Mr. Slosberg said. Many companies seeking an energy audit find L & S through Nyserda’s Web site, or through agency employees who make presentations at community meetings. The company, founded in 1985 as Landsberg Engineering P.C. — the L to Mr. Slosberg’s S — also verifies whether businesses that received Nyserda rebates for buying energy-efficient air-conditioners, lights or compressors have installed what they promised to install and have saved what they expected to save. “Nyserda can’t handle this in-house,” Mr. Slosberg said. “They have 200 people and there are thousands of projects.” KEN BELSON

Energy Efficiency
Small Business
New York State


As Prices Rise, Some See $2 Gas

Abstract: HOUSTON — The five-month slide in gasoline prices has come to an abrupt halt, with gasoline rising by several cents in recent days amid indicators that the national average could jump to $2 a gallon or higher this spring. A broad shift in the psychology of the oil market seems to be under way. Oil prices are up more than 40 percent since they bottomed out just below $33 a barrel on Dec. 19. The reversal, after months of declines, suggests that production cuts by the OPEC cartel may be having an effect, along with growing tensions in the Middle East and the sentiment by traders that the precipitous drop in prices went too far. For six days in a row, drivers have been paying a few more cents a gallon than they did before Christmas. The change has been almost imperceptible for drivers who remember prices soaring above $4 a gallon last summer. But if the price of gasoline continues rising, it may become another headache for consumers worried about their jobs and the dropping value of their homes and investments. Oil prices are up about 25 percent in the last week alone, in part because of the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Rising oil prices have helped push the wholesale price of gasoline up by 40 percent since Dec. 24, leading to predictions by energy experts that retail gasoline prices will spike by as much as 25 percent in coming weeks. “A lot of people are talking about dollar-a-gallon gasoline, when the wholesale market seems to be pointing to $2 a gallon,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. As of Monday, regular gasoline was selling for $1.67 a gallon, on average, up from a recent low of $1.62 on Dec. 30. The decline in gasoline prices has offered badly needed relief to consumers. A driver buying 50 gallons of gasoline a month has been saving $2 a day compared to a year ago, and $4 a day compared to the price peak in July. For the national economy as a whole, the savings came to around $1 billion a day, according to the Oil Price Information Service. Among the big winners have been businesses like shipping companies with large transportation costs, commuters who drive long distances to work and consumers with moderate incomes who spend a relatively high percentage of their paychecks on fuel. The summer’s high prices prompted Americans to cut their driving, and the drastic downturn of the economy this fall led to the huge decline in oil prices. But with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cutting production, and with refineries trimming their output of gasoline, supply and demand may be coming back into balance. Refineries have cut the number of barrels of crude oil they processed weekly to 14.5 million during December, from 15.4 million, according to the Energy Department. The tighter supplies are putting pressure on retail prices. Analysts say the decline in gasoline use may have bottomed out, barring a further big downturn in the economy. MasterCard’s SpendingPulse data service, which measures both cash and credit card sales of gasoline, had shown volume declines as sharp as 9 percent during some weeks in the fall. But that number has narrowed considerably as prices have fallen, and one recent week even showed a slight increase in gasoline sales compared to the same week the year before. “There will be a real spike in gasoline prices coming in the next four to six weeks,” predicted Chris Ruppel, an energy analyst at Execution, a brokerage and research firm. “We are witnessing a sea change in energy market sentiment as Americans appear to be returning to some of their old driving habits just as geopolitical risk is once again a factor in crude prices.” Oil prices jumped more than 5 percent on Monday alone to close at $48.81 in New York trading, as fighting continued in the Gaza Strip and Iran’s OPEC representative said the cartel would hold a special meeting in February. The cartel decided last month to cut output by 2.2 million barrels, on top of earlier cutbacks. The AAA auto club reported that the average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline on Monday was $1.67, up nearly a penny and a half from the day before. That still compares favorably to the national average of $3.10 a gallon a year ago and the record high national average price of $4.11 last July 17. In contrast to gasoline, diesel prices have not yet bottomed out. A gallon cost $2.40 on Monday, down a fraction of a penny from the day before. Mr. Kloza said he thought gasoline prices probably hit a bottom last month. He said gasoline prices in California, which frequently leads the rest of the nation in gasoline price swings, bottomed the first week of December and had been rising since. While gasoline prices felt like a great weight to many consumers on the way up, they have not been an economic cure-all on the way down. “In comparison with between roughly a 40 percent drop in the stock market and a 20 percent drop in home values, the drop in gasoline prices is just a drop in the bucket,” said Adam J. Robinson, director of commodities at Armored Wolf L.L.C., a hedge fund. Mr. Robinson said he was unconvinced that oil and gasoline prices would go back up for long. “I think it is too soon to call a bottom in oil or gasoline because demand is falling faster than OPEC is cutting,” he said.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries