Las Vegas Meets the Met, to the Distress of a Lifelong Opera Buff

Abstract: So Barbara Leder did not close her eyes after all. A couple of days before she went to watch “Rigoletto” at the Metropolitan Opera — the “Rat Pack” version set in 1960 by the director Michael Mayer, with a Dean Martin-esque Duke in a dinner jacket — she said it was wrong to reimagine “Rigoletto” in Las Vegas, with the neon frenzy of a casino in the opening scene. The third time she brought it up, her daughter, Marilyn Ruby, said: “Mom, you can always just close your eyes. The music’s the same.” But by skipping the see-no-evil approach, she could say this when the curtain calls were over: “I didn’t especially like the pole dancer. A pole dancer does not belong in ‘Rigoletto.’ ” At least Ms. Leder, an 82-year-old opera lover from Minneapolis, could check off one important item on her wish list: going to the Metropolitan Opera . The tourism industry generates facts and figures about who comes to New York — 56.5 million are expected in 2015, according to the city’s convention and visitors bureau — but no one knows how many visit for the first time. The city does not even try to guess. Ms. Leder was a first-timer only if you disregarded a couple of brief stopovers decades ago, when she saw no operas, went to no museums, saw no sights. She became a regular at Metropolitan Opera Live in HD , the Met’s broadcasts shown in movie theaters, when they began in 2006. The camera work gave her a sense of the Met’s large but finite space. When the singers strolled along a runway called a passerelle around the orchestra pit in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Ms. Leder blanched back home in Minnesota. “I kept thinking they’re going to fall off,” she said. She longed to see the Met’s home for herself, to hear the singing without the intermediaries of broadcasting — the voices that introduced the voices, the cameras that focused on what the director decided to focus on. It was a longing that had begun when she was a girl. “We had radio,” she said by way of explanation. “There was no Internet, no TV. I remember I would lie on the floor in the kitchen and listen to classical music. I always wanted to sing, but I couldn’t hold a note.” Image After "Rigoletto," Ms. Leder was able to go backstage and meet Dimitry Ivashchenko, who played Sparafucile. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times She married at 17, had five children, became a grandmother at 44 and, more recently, acquired a new hip and two new shoulders. And now she was on a tour of the Met, looking at the chandeliers above the grand tier. And the acres of red carpet. And the cantilevered stairway. “I’ve been wanting to come here for years,” she said on the tour this month, after saying things like “amazing” and “it’s lovely.” Sam Neuman, the press director who led the tour, said the Met moved to Lincoln Center in 1966, opening with “Antony and Cleopatra” by Samuel Barber. That opening night is remembered as a fiasco, and while the critic Peter G. Davis wrote in The Times in 2009 that he did not remember it that way, there were apparently some close calls backstage — “Look out for the sphinx!” Later in the performance, the star, the soprano Leontyne Price, was trapped inside a pyramid. Mr. Neuman started down the aisle toward the stage. Ms. Leder looked over the rail into the orchestra pit, and her daughter said, “There’s James Levine’s chair, right there.” Curtain time was a couple of hours away. The tour wound through corridors backstage that Ms. Leder had not imagined — unglamorous passages where the red carpet and chandeliers gave way to nondescript tile and everyday fluorescent ceiling fixtures. On one bright white cinder block wall was a photograph of the Met’s old house in Midtown Manhattan, on the edge of the garment and the theater districts. Mr. Neuman said it was so short on space that the sets had to be stored in the street. They trudged down another corridor and made a couple of turns. “Where are we?” Ms. Leder asked. Mr. Neuman pointed to a door painted with yellow and black stripes. He said it was the entrance for “high-security V.I.P.s or stage animals.” “We call it the horse door,” he added. In operas like “Aida,” the walk-ons include a horse that is brought in from a stable. Beyond the door is a long tunnel to Amsterdam Avenue where the trailer from a stable waits. There was more walking, then another door painted yellow and black, the stage door. Mr. Neuman pushed it open. Ms. Leder stepped through and stood where generations of singers had stood, awaiting their cues. From this back corner, there was no view of the 3,800 seats out front. Scenery was stacked high: orange trees for “The Barber of Seville” alongside the coach from “La Bohème.” Image Ms. Leder, a longtime opera lover from Minneapolis, had always dreamed of visiting the Met someday. Credit Benjamin Norman for The New York Times Mr. Neuman pointed to an elevator he said had as much hauling capacity as an elevator on an aircraft carrier. The Met uses it to load and unload scenery from a basement storage area three levels down. The tour group ended up there after passing the costume department’s washing machines and clambering into a small passenger elevator. The scenery they saw when they stepped out was familiar. “That’s from ‘La Bohème,’” Ms. Ruby said. “I recognize the fence.” Ms. Leder’s four nights in New York included two performances at the Met, and she was awed by the singing. Besides “Rigoletto,” she saw Rossini’s Scottish-themed opera “La Donna del Lago.” And because a friend of a friend knew someone who knew someone, she was taken backstage after “Rigoletto.” She got a hug from a burly guy in a Ralph Lauren shirt — Zeljko Lucic, the baritone who had sung Rigoletto — before the bass Dimitry Ivashchenko emerged from his dressing room. “Oh, the murderer,” Ms. Leder said of Mr. Ivaschenko. “Really deep voice. A little scary.” The tenor Piotr Beczala was no less personable in person than he had been as the casino-owning Duke. “It’s your first time here,” he said, “and it’s my last performance.” Someone pulled out a phone for a photo. Mr. Beczala smiled as the phone made noise like a camera, then chuckled and pointed to a sign on the wall: “Photography prohibited.” Ms. Leder told him how much she had enjoyed his vivid, lucid singing. She did not tell him what she had said a few minutes earlier, on the subject of relocating “Rigoletto” to Las Vegas. “It got better when they got rid of most of the bling,” Ms. Leder said. That happened in Act II, when the scene shifted from the casino to the Duke’s penthouse. Someone who had been listening to her asked if she had anything good to say about Las Vegas, a place she visited twice in the 1960s, the same time frame as the Rat Pack “Rigoletto.” “I don’t care for Las Vegas, let’s put it that way,” she said before rethinking the “what happens here, stays here” slogan: “Keep Las Vegas in Las Vegas.”

Metropolitan Opera
Opera
Rigoletto
Piotr Beczala
Manhattan


The Olympic Events to Watch: Saturday

Abstract: Women’s Soccer: The United States figures to get an early challenge from France in its second preliminary game. The French were in line to face the Americans in the semifinals of last year’s World Cup with six minutes to go in France’s match with Germany. France had a 1-0 lead, but a controversial hand-ball call enabled Germany to tie the score on a penalty kick. Germany then went on to win in a shootout, 5-4, delaying France’s coming-out party. Swimming: The Australians, led by the Campbell sisters, Bronte and Cate, are the overwhelming favorites in the women’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay. The United States could call on Katie Ledecky for a spark, but the Americans have not won the gold since 2000. Men’s Basketball: If you’re the type who can’t look away from train wrecks, you might want to tune in for the United States-China preliminary game. The Chinese have 1,000-to-1 odds of winning the gold. Women’s Field Hockey: The Americans are legitimate medal contenders, and they will get an early measure of themselves when they open against Argentina, ranked No. 2 in the world.

Swimming
Soccer
Field hockey
Basketball
TV
FIFA Women's World Cup
2016 Summer Olympics


New York City Comptroller Finds Fault in Hospitals’ Reporting of Mistakes

Abstract: New York City hospitals are the least reliable in the state at reporting preventable mistakes and adverse incidents for patients like heart attacks, blood clots, hospital infections and medication errors, according to a new report by the office of City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. Though city hospitals accounted for almost half the patients statewide in 2006, they reported about 39 adverse incidents per 10,000 patient discharges, compared with nearly 70 per 10,000 in the northern suburbs and upstate and nearly 64 per 10,000 on Long Island. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center , one of New York City’s major academic medical centers, reported about 20 adverse incidents per 10,000 patient discharges, while a comparable institution outside the city, which was not named, reported about 166 incidents per 10,000, a rate more than eight times higher. Particularly since similar institutions are being compared, the report said, a higher number of incidents does not mean that a hospital provides worse treatment, only that it is more diligent about reporting problems. The lack of accurate reporting makes it virtually impossible for consumers to judge accurately the quality of a hospital or for the hospital to compare itself with its peers and make improvements, the comptroller’s office argues, saying the consequences include longer hospital stays and higher health-care costs. “Without the fullest possible reporting, hospitals cannot identify areas where systematic improvement may be needed,” reads the report, scheduled for public release Tuesday. “Weak enforcement and flagging commitment to a broad-based effort has compromised the whole program.” Lorraine Ryan, special counsel on regulatory affairs for the Greater New York Hospitals Association, questioned the validity of the report, saying the city hospitals have been “deeply committed” to the state’s reporting system, known as the New York Patient Occurrence and Tracking System, since its inception in 1998. “It’s illogical to me that such a disparity exists between them and hospitals outside the five boroughs,” Ms. Ryan said in a statement. “We’ll have to very carefully analyze the data, because this report may have statistical flaws rather than city hospitals having reporting issues.” Myrna Manners, vice president for public affairs of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, said the hospital had a rigorous quality-control mechanism but would work with the state to change it if necessary. The report, which looks at data from 2004 through 2006, with some additional data from 2007, echoes a state Health Department study in 2001 that similarly concluded that New York City underreported adverse incidents, with 6 of the 11 city-run public hospitals among the 25 lowest reporters. The new analysis faulted the state for not being more aggressive in enforcing penalties such as fines against hospitals with lax reporting, and cited “enormous and inexplicable disparities among individual hospitals.” Claudia Hutton, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department, said the reporting system was not the agency’s only way of monitoring patient safety. She said the agency audited hospitals, responded to some 2,300 complaints per year to its hot line, and lobbied for increased fines on hospitals that violate reporting requirements. “Patient safety is of paramount concern to us,” Ms. Hutton said in a statement. A hospital’s size and the type of procedures it performs do not seem to explain the differences in reporting rates. The report does not name individual hospitals, but the comptroller’s office separately released a list of the 12 lowest reporters in the city based on 2006 data. The top three — St. Vincent’s Midtown and Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan, and Mary Immaculate in Jamaica, Queens — have all since closed. The others include some of New York’s biggest and most prestigious hospitals: Lenox Hill, on the Upper East Side (No. 7); Bellevue, the flagship hospital of the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (10); Weill-Cornell (11); and Mount Sinai (12). Within New York City’s 60-plus hospitals, there was great range: 17 reported no heart attacks unrelated to a cardiac procedure while one had more than 40; six hospitals reported 2 blood clots or acute pulmonary embolisms per 10,000 patient discharges while two others had more than 60 per 10,000; one major academic medical center reported 3.6 post-operative infections per 10,000 discharges and a similar hospital had 32 per 10,000. None of these hospitals were named in the report. The comptroller also expressed concern that the New York City data on medication errors appear to run counter to the national trend, citing estimates by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies that at least 400,000 hospital patients are harmed and 7,000 killed by medication errors annually. In contrast, the report said, from 2004 through 2007, city hospitals rarely reported medication errors: 37 that resulted in death, near death or permanent harm to patients, with 22 hospitals, including four very large ones, reporting none. One major category where city, suburban and upstate hospitals had similar reporting rates was in the category of unexpected deaths, which may be more difficult to underreport. From 2004 through 2006, the report said, New York City hospitals filed 2.38 death reports per 10,000 discharges, compared with 2.23 on Long Island and 3.42 north of the city.

Hospitals
New York City
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Thompson William C Jr


Knicks’ Gallinari Likely to Choose Surgery

Abstract: GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Danilo Gallinari’s rookie season, a mix of anticipation and frustration, will probably end in an operating room. After consulting with several specialists, including three in his native Italy,Gallinari said on Tuesday that he was leaning toward surgery to alleviate his back pain. A final decision will be made in the next few days, after Knicks officials and team doctors confer with the specialists. All indications are that Gallinari will choose surgery, an outcome he has worked hard to avoid since injuring his back last July. He missed the first two months of the season while undergoing rigorous therapy, then played 28 games between mid-January and mid-March before deciding to shut himself down. Although he had some nice moments on the court, Gallinari said he was never more than 60 to 70 percent healthy, and was frustrated by the limitations. “We tried everything for eight months, since I got this problem,” he said. The Knicks believe Gallinari was injured when he collided with Robert Traylor in a summer league game. Doctors diagnosed a bulging disk, which has since receded. Team officials believe the lingering pain is being caused by an impinged nerve, which can be resolved by shaving down the bone around the nerve. The recovery time is expected to be two to three months. Doctors have not found any structural problems, or any condition that would affect Gallinari in the future, according to team officials. The Knicks drafted Gallinari, now 20, with the sixth overall pick last June. Although he averaged just 6.1 points, he is already the Knicks’ best shooter, having converted 44.4 percent of his 3-point attempts. He is also a capable slasher and playmaker, and team officials view him as a potential star. “I think there’s no doubt he’s a good player,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He’s a very experienced, smart, savvy, great shooter, better defender than what we thought.” Gallinari said his rookie season, although truncated, “was a real good experience,” concluding, “I found that I’m comfortable in this league.” While some players drafted after Gallinari — notably Eric Gordon of the Clippers and Brook Lopez of the Nets — have had impressive seasons, D’Antoni said fans should reserve judgment for two or three years. “We didn’t pick anybody to win the title this year,” he said. “It could be right that the guys behind him might be better. But we’re putting our money on Gallo.” A FLAP OVER EWING Knicks officials shrugged off Stan Van Gundy’s accusation that the Knicks have cynically used Patrick Ewing for promotional purposes while otherwise ignoring him. “I don’t even know how to answer what Stan said, I really don’t,” Donnie Walsh, the team president, said. “It was so out of left field that I didn’t know what to make of it.” After Orlando’s 106-102 victory on Monday night, Van Gundy, the Magic coach, criticized the Knicks for failing to hire Ewing, an assistant on Van Gundy’s staff. Ewing was one of seven former players who were honored as part of the team’s first legends night. “What’s amazing to me is they honor the guy, I don’t know, every year,” Van Gundy said. “But while they’ve got a lot of ex-players in their organization, they’ve never made any move to try to hire him here. That’s amazing.” Walsh, who created the legends awards, said he was confused by Van Gundy’s statement. “To me, I did it to honor the players that were there, and Patrick was one of them,” Walsh said. “And I think the players received it that way. I think we did the right thing by them.”

Gallinari Danilo
New York Knicks
Basketball


Small Airports Face Fewer Flights and Costlier Tickets

Abstract: Residents of some of America’s smaller cities may face a tough choice in the future: pay increasingly high fares to board a plane close to home or drive farther to a bigger airport with lower ticket prices. While it is difficult to calculate how much fares are rising at places like Mobile, Ala., versus large cities like Miami — the Department of Transportation’s most recent study of rural airfares was published in 1998 — industry executives and analysts agree that smaller markets are generally experiencing bigger price increases. “It’s just the economics of the airplane involved and the demand,” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant with Boyd Group International . “It’s an issue of volume.” Since airlines typically fly turboprops and 50-seat jets on the routes that connect outlying communities to big hubs, the higher cost of fuel and other expenses gets split among fewer passengers. Airlines are retiring these planes because they are unprofitable as oil prices climb. But many small airports do not generate enough traffic to fill larger planes multiple times a day, or attract the low-fare airlines that choose markets with higher volume. And as local residents drive to bigger airports with lower fares, or forgo flying as it gets more expensive, small airports feel the pinch even more. That means communities are fighting to maintain affordable airline service as airlines cut back on flights to money-losing markets.. “There are very few communities that are going to lose access to the rest of the world,” Mr. Boyd said. “It’s just that that access may not be from the local airport.” The country’s network of plentiful regional airports connecting to big hubs was largely built in an era of $30-a-barrel oil. But oil prices are now more than triple that, so maintaining commercial airline service to underperforming airports may be unsustainable. Still, any discussion of shrinking airline service is a political minefield, as illustrated by the recent furor over proposals to reduce the subsidies for the federal Essential Air Service program, which provides $200 million annually to help pay for flights to 154 rural markets. While it is acknowledged by some government officials and lawmakers that residents of many of those communities could drive to other nearby airports, Congress has been reluctant to overhaul the eligibility rules for the program. “Given that there are 535 interested parties on Capitol Hill, I don’t see anyone stepping up and wanting to close an airport in some congressman’s district,” said William S. Swelbar, a research engineer with M.I.T.’s International Center for Air Transportation . He and other analysts said market forces could lead to cuts that politicians and even some airport executives would rather not address. “We’re just operating too many airports,” Mr. Swelbar said, noting that 200 of the roughly 450 airports in the contiguous United States account for 97 percent of demand. “Have we really built a system that makes sense?” But what makes sense from a national policy perspective, or an airline’s balance sheet, has big ramifications for residents of smaller communities that rely on local airport service. Driving two hours or more to catch a flight, factoring in unpredictable weather, traffic and airline delays, can be a major disincentive to fly. The Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce , in a mostly resort community in northern Michigan, collected comments from more than 300 members last summer about the impact of rising airfares and declining service at the local Cherry Capital Airport . According to data compiled by Mr. Boyd, who has been hired as a consultant to the airport, Traverse City has the sixth-highest fares out of the top 175 airports in the United States — tickets cost about 23 cents per mile flown compared with about 16 cents at Newark. Local residents say they are driving to Detroit, Grand Rapids and Flint for cheaper fares, cutting back on school activities that involve flying and skipping nonessential meetings. Businesses and resorts worry about lost revenue from conferences and visitors as tourists opt for more easily accessible destinations. Airport officials and community leaders have met with Senator Carl Levin of Michigan and airline executives to express their concerns. But they also have realistic expectations about the market forces driving higher fares. “The airlines have been responsive, particularly Delta,” said Doug Luciani, president and chief executive of the chamber of commerce, adding that colleagues around the country are facing similar challenges. “There’s been a lot of chatter among the chambers asking, ‘What are you doing in your community about high fares?’” Trebor Banstetter, a Delta spokesman, said the airline was addressing some of the issues raised by Traverse City residents, and regularly worked with cities to make sure airline service was not a barrier to attendance at local conventions and events. At the same time, airports are offering incentives to the airlines to add or maintain service, like reducing landing fees and terminal rents, a longstanding practice that may get more costly as airlines make Darwinian decisions about where they can afford to fly. “Communities are going to have to be innovative, responsive and flexible in order to maintain the tremendous service they’ve enjoyed,” said Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association , whose members operate most of the flights to small cities in the United States. Although he does not expect widespread airport closings, he cited fuel prices and economic headwinds as two factors beyond the control of the airlines — and the communities they serve. “Whatever happens is going to be market-driven,” Mr. Cohen said.

Airports
Prices (Fares Fees and Rates)
Airlines and Airplanes
Traverse City (Mich)


War Veterans Spend Holidays Battling Demons of Combat

Abstract: Their wars were generations apart. Alex Haynes’s was Vietnam, where he was in the Army’s First Cavalry Division. Derek Smith’s was Iraq, as a Marine early on in the conflict. Mr. Haynes, 62, didn’t want to talk about Vietnam except to say through tears, “I did a lot of cruel things over there.” Mr. Smith, 27, wasn’t interested in rehashing his war either, other than to note that he was in Iraq at the start of the fighting, in 2003, with a second tour a year later, in Falluja. Enough said. Falluja was the scene of fierce combat. If their wars were different, their battles are now identical: beating back the dark forces that made their lives go haywire. Believe it or not, this is a Christmas story. It is also not a new story. For whatever reason, some combat veterans are lucky. They manage, once home, to tuck away bad memories and go about their lives. But there are the unfortunate ones, cursed with emotional scars that don’t fade. Their demons have gone by many names across the decades. These days, they are usually labeled post-traumatic stress disorder, which has a close first cousin. It’s called substance abuse. Mr. Smith, reared on Long Island, knows all about it — the growing distance from family and friends, the inability to hold down a job, the aimlessness, the urge to blot out the world with booze, then with pills, then by sniffing heroin, then by shooting it. Mr. Haynes, Bronx-born, paints a similar picture, with tales of drug dealing and jail time thrown in. These two men, so different in age and background, have formed a bond living for the past half-year at Samaritan Village , an addiction-treatment residence on 43rd Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Think of it as a refuge clad in fatigues. Forty-eight men live there, typically for a year at a time. All are combat veterans, double-bunked eight to a room, almost as if they were in boot camp. The focus on veterans started 14 years ago as it became clear that they had special needs, said Carol Davidson, the program’s director. At the start, she was mostly seeing Vietnam veterans. Inevitably, the Iraq and Afghanistan generation began showing up as well — “kids,” Ms. Davidson said, with “a lot that they’re carrying on their soul.” More and more, the ranks of the burdened include women, some of whom have endured sexual assaults while serving their country. In addition to the 43rd Street residence and a 50-bed counterpart for men in Richmond Hill, Queens, Samaritan Village plans to open a third center for veterans, a 25-bed site for women in Ellenville, N.Y. “It may sound corny,” Ms. Davidson said, “but we are responsible for our sons and daughters and brothers and sisters. If we send them off to war, we have to do everything we can to bring them home.” Her program has received a boost from a group called the Veterans Healing Initiative , vetshealing.org . It was formed last year by two business executives in the city, Margaret Stone and James L. Abernathy, who were looking to help veterans battling the double whammy of trauma and drugs. They settled on raising money for programs that do just that. Last month, they awarded their first grants of $70,000 each: to Samaritan Village; to Grace After Fire , an online support service for female veterans; and to the Loyola Recovery Foundation , a detoxification program that works with the Veterans Administration in Albany and in Bath, N.Y. For Mr. Smith, the treatment residence is “the only place where I can discuss combat issues.” To his surprise, he has become a shoulder for Mr. Haynes — an opportunity to climb out of himself and help someone else that “I’ve never experienced before,” he said. You might think the roles would be reversed, given the age gap. Not so. “I’m learning a lot,” Mr. Haynes said. “I’m 62, and I’m finally learning how to be 62, to be an adult.” Maybe they’ll succeed. Maybe not. Relapses are hardly unknown. But that’s a concern for another day. Remember, it’s Christmas. These two will spend it together, they and the rest of the band of brothers trying to make it all the way back home. “This is the first Christmas that I’m really feeling Christmas,” Mr. Haynes said. His shoulder, Mr. Smith, has some regret, though. “I wish I wasn’t here for Christmas,” he said. “I wanted to have my own family for Christmas.” “But that,” he added, “is on pause right now.”

Veterans
Christmas
Samaritan Village
Iraq
Vietnam


Austria Defends Banking Secrecy Rules

Abstract: DUBLIN — Austria will not yield to pressure to follow Luxembourg in dropping its banking secrecy rules, Finance Minister Maria Fekter said Friday, as she sought to portray Britain as one of the European Union’s biggest tax havens. “Great Britain has many money-laundering centers and tax havens in its immediate legal remit,” Ms. Fekter said, pointing to the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands. Those offshore financial centers are under effective British control, though all but Gibraltar remain technically outside of the European Union. In a move that could raise pressure on Austria, Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, said on Friday that the bloc’s 27 leaders would discuss the issue at a meeting next month. “The current economic crisis only helps to stress the urgent need for fair and effective tax systems,” Mr. Van Rompuy said in a statement broadcast on the Internet. Added pressure was placed after Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain announced plans to improve bank transparency in Europe and beyond. Image Removing a deposit box at a bank in Austria, which is resisting moves for more transparency. Credit Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters In an opinion piece on Thursday in Kurier, an Austrian newspaper, Ms. Fekter called on the European Union to demand the same openness in financial matters of Britain as it had of Cyprus as a condition for the latter’s bailout. Ms. Fekter spoke in Dublin on Friday as euro zone finance ministers were beginning two days of meetings in which the subject of combating tax evasion was to be on the agenda. The European tax commissioner, Algirdas Semeta, has said that tax evasion costs European nations about 1 trillion euros, or $1.3 trillion, in lost revenue each year, and cash-poor governments are eager to track down their citizens’ hidden assets. Austria had been sending mixed messages on the topic, with its chancellor, Werner Faymann, suggesting recently that talks were possible. But Ms. Fekter was adamant on Friday, saying: “Austria is sticking to bank secrecy.” On Wednesday, Luxembourg bowed to pressure from its European partners after the collapse of Cyprus’s financial sector and from the United States, which is demanding client data under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, and said it would start sharing banking information with other nations in 2015. Luxembourg’s decision left Austria as the only European Union member state to not share foreign clients’ data with their home governments. Austria transfers to foreign account holders’ home governments the proceeds of a 35 percent withholding tax on interest income earned in Austrian banks, but it does not disclose the clients’ identities. “We fight tax evasion and money laundering,” Ms. Fekter said, but added, the “automatic exchange of information involves a massive interference in people’s privacy rights.”

Austria
Banking and Finance
Great Britain
Europe
EU
Tax shelter
Tax Evasion


Hockey Brawl Is Old Story of Policemen vs. Firemen

Abstract: It is rare these days, but it happens. The tension between the Fire Department and the Police Department erupts in public, leaving an old rivalry newly exposed. The latest episode took place Sunday on Long Island, when an annual charity hockey match between the Bravest and the Finest turned into a melee on ice. Referees tried to separate the players but gave up as shoves became punches, and the hockey came to a halt for 20 minutes. Footage of the brawl, captured on cellphone cameras, was quickly shared online and became international news. It was an especially unwelcome spectacle for the two departments, coming on a day when two police officers responding to a fire in Brooklyn were clinging to life after being rescued by firefighters. Although it is not an official city event, the annual charity game must be approved by the Fire and Police Departments. Neither department would comment about the fight or say whether any of the players would be disciplined. The episode revived memories of a rivalry buried not too deeply in the city’s collective memory. “It’s a professional rivalry, and it goes back decades,” said a retired police detective, Michael Corr. “It was over a turf battle.” That turf battle, several retired police and fire officials said, began in the latter half of the 1980s, when fires decreased drastically in the city, and the Fire Department was assigned to respond to emergencies previously reserved for the Police Department — for example, automobile accidents and building collapses. Robert Louden, a retired police detective who now teaches criminal justice at Georgian Court University in New Jersey, said, “It goes back to the perception that the Police Department was always in charge of everything.” When responsibilities were redrawn, the rivalry was born. “Who’s in charge here? It’s a question of that,” he said. In 1988, Fire Commissioner Joseph F. Bruno, Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward and Mayor Edward I. Koch were drawn into an argument over which department was superior. Mr. Bruno had claimed his department had “the best scuba divers in the city.” The police commissioner responded, “That was a gratuitous and stupid, unnecessary statement.” The mayor had the two shake hands and make up. Many more incidents took place on the city streets in the late 1980s. “You have two agencies who are not happy. You have them showing up to the same scenes. It became a little crazy,” said Louis R. Anemone, who in the late 1990s was the Police Department’s chief of department, the highest-ranking uniformed officer. The feud between the departments cooled a bit after 1990, when Mayor David N. Dinkins introduced a detailed set of protocols standardizing which agency responded to which incidents. But not everyone was happy. “After the protocols, the Fire Department became upset,” said Mr. Anemone. “They never really solved the issue.” There have been encounters scattered over the years since. Large ones — as in 2001, when a group of firefighters was arrested in a scuffle with police officers who blocked them from entering ground zero (all charges were later dropped) — and many small ones: a bar brawl, a dispute over a burning mailbox. In 2003, police officers and firefighters got into a fight while trying to free a burglar who was stuck in the chimney of a Queens restaurant. Now, though, the departments’ competitive spirit comes out mainly in the controlled arena of sports — not just hockey, but also football, baseball, even boxing. Mr. Louden, one of the retired detectives, said, “I would describe it as an almost healthy rivalry.”

Fires
Police
NYPD
Fire Department NYC
Long Island
Ice hockey


Building a Cheaper Catalyst

Abstract: The chemical reactions that help produce margarine, medications, cleaner car exhaust and countless other useful things rely on valuable metals like platinum, rhodium and ruthenium as catalysts. But such metals are rare, expensive and occasionally toxic. For years, scientists have tried to develop methods of catalysis using cheap, common, nonpolluting metals like iron and cobalt. Now, three separate teams of researchers say they have developed catalysts based on cheap metals that can either match or outperform those based on precious metals. The three studies were published in the journal Science . In one study , University of Toronto researchers showed that attaching certain organic molecules to iron, then dissolving it in a solution, created an efficient catalyst for producing alcohols and amines used in perfumes and medications. The chemical industry has traditionally relied on ruthenium, an extremely rare metal, to catalyze such reactions. “It shows that with the right organic molecule attached to it, we can make iron do things that weren’t thought possible before,” said Robert H. Morris, an author of the study. There are likely more iron catalysts to be found, he said, but cautioned that there is “still a ways to go between discovery and application.” Still, all three studies presented different approaches to cheap-metal catalyzing, illustrating that “there is no exclusive single ‘recipe’ for success,” wrote R. Morris Bullock , a chemist with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in an accompanying article .

Chemistry
Chemicals
Research
Science Journal
Metals and Minerals


Alabama Hotel Is Sold Out as Tornado Refuge

Abstract: FAIRFIELD, Ala. — The Comfort Inn here was so close to the storm last week that, as Darlene Mason, the front desk clerk, says, “you could have spit on that tornado when it went down the Interstate.” Except for some missing shingles and a little debris, the hotel looks the same as ever. What has changed is the need for rooms. It is overwhelming. Between homeless evacuees, out-of-state church volunteers, rescue workers and insurance agents, most hotels around this storm-ravaged region are booked solid for days, even weeks. And few hotels have been busier than this Comfort Inn. It is a short drive from Pleasant Grove, McDonald Chapel and the other suburbs west of Birmingham that lost thousands of homes. So when the hotel regained power on Friday morning, the calls started immediately — and never stopped. “Thank you for calling Comfort Inn. How may I help you?” Ms. Mason could recite in her sleep. “No, we don’t. I’m sorry.” That is what she has told people seeking rooms over and over, probably 100 times a day. She has not seen anything like it in her 14 years at the hotel, she said, except maybe after Hurricane Katrina , when evacuees stayed for months. All types have come through the front doors, from buttoned-down disaster contractors to evacuees in their only pair of pants. “Some ain’t got nothing,” said Ms. Mason, 50, who lives in a neighborhood untouched by the storm. “All they’re bringing are their clothes.” It has been a logistical challenge. The Internet is knocked out. Phones are being run by a generator. “The worst is the cable’s down,” she said. “It’s been five days, and we are a hotel. The folks are about to jump on me for some cable TV.” Since her roof collapsed Wednesday, Ann Nance, 52, a clerk at a church nearby, has been living at hotels, eventually moving to the Comfort Inn. Many guests hope that the government will reimburse the cost of the stay. “It’s nice,” Ms. Nance said. “But we don’t know how long we can stay here.” A single room is normally $69.99 per night, but Ms. Mason has been giving discounts to tornado victims. She does not worry about scammers. “We know the ones telling the truth,” she said. “You can see it on their face.”


At Island Empanada in Lake Ronkonkoma, Puerto Rican Flair

Abstract: At the year-old Island Empanada in Lake Ronkonkoma, the 24 varieties on the menu include not only traditional fillings like beef, chicken and cheese, but also creative combinations including shrimp and mango salsa, nacho (refried beans and cheddar cheese) and chorizo potato. “Everything’s done with a little Puerto Rican flair to it,” said Roy Pelaez (pronounced pel-EZ), 51, who, with his wife, Kathleen, 47, owns the colorful 20-seat place, which is brightened by an American flag and posters of Puerto Rican beaches. Mr. Pelaez learned how to make many of the recipes from his mother, Ana, 85, a native of Puerto Rico, including the sofrito sauce (peppers, onions, garlic and several “secret” ingredients) that goes into the beef and chicken empanada fillings, as well as in the side dish of rice and beans. “She does quality control,” he said. Mr. Pelaez, who was born in the Bronx and formerly worked as a district manager for Aramark in facility maintenance, began selling empanadas out of his Ronkonkoma home kitchen in 2010. Island Empanada now sells more than 4,000 empanadas each week, he said. Prices for individual empanadas range from $1.95 to $2.95; they are also sold by the box — any 10 are $19.99 — and lunch specials and family deals are available. The empanadas can be ordered baked instead of fried with an hour’s notice. A suggestion box solicits ideas for new items, many of which come from Mr. Pelaez’s family. His daughter Giselle, 19, invented the Oreo dessert empanada ($2.50), which contains crushed cookies, marshmallow fluff and Hershey’s syrup. And one contribution is not an empanada at all: Grandma’s Flan is a caramelized custard ($3.45) that does Mr. Pelaez’s mother proud. Island Empanada, 601-13 Portion Road, Lake Ronkonkoma; (631) 617-6427; islandempanada.com .

Island Empanada (Lake Ronkonkoma NY Restaurant)


Burkina Faso: Deaths Reported in Clash

Abstract: The governor of the northern region of Burkina Faso says at least 30 people from the Peul ethnic group have been killed and about 1,000 displaced in ethnic clashes on the border with Mali , a nation whose administration has been left in tatters after a coup two months ago. The governor, Boukary Kalil Bara, said Thursday that the clash between the Peul, who are traditionally herders, and the Dogon, who are farmers, erupted two days ago in the village of Sari, nine miles across the border in Malian territory. Under Mali’s recently ousted president, who is a Peul, the herders were allowed to cross Dogon territory on special paths. After his ouster in March, a dispute began over those rights.

Burkina Faso
Mali
Refugees and Displaced Persons
Deaths (Fatalities)
Coups D'Etat and Attempted Coups D'Etat
Immigration and Emigration
Bara Boukary Kalil


New York Schools Struggle With New Rules to Help Students Learning English

Abstract: In a bright classroom at Public School 160 in Borough Park, Brooklyn, three teachers orbited 28 students, 21 of whom were still learning English. One teacher, trained to teach English as a new language, drew pictures to go along with words on a whiteboard: a sweater next to “seamstress,” an apple next to “farm.” A table by the door was littered with work sheets about firefighters and teachers that included words in English, Chinese and Uzbek, along with colorful pictures all the third graders could understand. This is what a classroom for children learning English is supposed to look like according to New York State’s new regulations, which cover everything from how those students are identified to what kinds of teachers they are entitled to. The reality, however, is trailing far behind. “I’m telling you, the whole city is out of compliance,” Evelyn DeJesus, a vice president at the United Federation of Teachers , said in a publication put out by the New York City teachers’ union this year. “It’s like the Wild West out there.” The regulations are a broad effort to improve the academic standing and progress of students learning English, who are far behind their peers. Statewide, only 34 percent of them graduate on time, less than half the rate for those who already speak the language. In New York City, more than 10 percent of students are English language learners. Shamsun Nahar, who came to the city from Bangladesh in 2013, said her elder son was among those who needed the help: An 18-year-old student at a high school in the Bronx, he still has difficulty with English, which has left him socially isolated and could keep him from graduating on time. Image Rows of dual-language books sit in a room in P.S. 160. Parents can take them home to read to their children. Credit Jake Naughton for The New York Times “The whole point of our struggling to be able to come here and raise our family here, to leave everything behind, is primarily because of education,” Ms. Nahar said through a translator at a South Asian organization called DRUM . Yet her son, she said, is “already being left behind.” Among the most significant changes is that schools must now have an English language teacher — like the woman drawing pictures at P.S. 160 — in the classroom for part of each week if even one student is learning English. In the past, students could receive English language instruction outside of the classroom, while spending the rest of their time in a regular class trying to puzzle out the words on their own. Another shift requires schools and districts to create programs in which classes are taught in two languages. These bilingual programs will now be offered to students who are new to the public system, as long as there are enough children in one place who speak the same tongue. But finding teachers who are both bilingual and licensed in relevant areas can be difficult. Take Bengali, for example. It is the fourth most common language among pupils learning English in the city’s public schools. But there are only three bilingual Bengali programs in the schools. “I have been talking to anybody who knows of a teacher who speaks the language so we can recruit,” Milady Baez, a deputy chancellor in the city’s Education Department, said with a hint of desperation. “It is very, very difficult.” Ms. DeJesus, of the teachers’ union, said she thought almost every city school needed to hire one or two teachers, which would put the numbers required in the “thousands.” And the new rules came with very little in the way of resources — $1 million for the entire state, which has left schools scrambling. Angelica Infante-Green, a deputy commissioner at the state’s Education Department , said she did not yet know how many more teachers were needed. Image Margaret Russo, the principal of P.S. 160, said meeting the new state requirements was “a challenge for us.” Credit Jake Naughton for The New York Times “There is a shortage; we do understand there is a shortage,” Ms. Infante-Green said. “This is the first year of the regulation and we’re not looking to sanction anyone this year, but we expect people to be on track,” she continued. “We expect kids to be getting as much of what they’re entitled to as possible.” The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, has started 88 bilingual programs and hopes to offer at least 50 more beginning in fall 2017, Ms. Baez said. The city plans to spend $40 million to meet the new requirements in the next school year. Both city and state education officials said they were working with colleges and education schools to try to recruit more language teachers and, in some cases, paying to get teachers licensed. But the shortage has been building for years. Education officials and family advocates say that as large failing schools were closed and replaced with smaller schools during the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, many bilingual programs disappeared because schools no longer had the number of students necessary to sustain them. Union rules are also a hurdle: If teachers switch licenses to become English language specialists, they lose their seniority, which could make them vulnerable when a school trims its staff. City education and union officials say they are discussing ways to change that. At P.S. 160, more than 1,000 of its 1,400 students are classified as learning English. Most speak one of several Chinese dialects, but a potpourri of other languages are spoken as well, including Uzbek, Russian, Urdu and Arabic. One third grader, whose formal schooling has been inconsistent, speaks Portuguese and Toisanese, a Chinese dialect. Yet P.S. 160 is probably far ahead of many schools because it had been meeting some of the requirements before they came into effect. Teachers of English as a new language were integrated into general education classes, with more than 10 of them already on staff. The school also had a full-time staff member coordinating the English language efforts. Margaret Russo, the school’s principal, said P.S. 160 still had to hire five teachers of English as a new language to comply with the regulations. “We were in a good place when this came down,” Ms. Russo said, “and it was still a challenge for us.”

K-12 Education
English language
NYC Department of Education
Bilingual education
Education Department NYS
NYC
New York


Q. and A.: Roderick MacFarquhar on the Cultural Revolution and China Today

Abstract: The chaos and brutality of the Cultural Revolution, unleashed by Mao Zedong 50 years ago, have received little public examination in China. After the fall of the Gang of Four, the Communist Party and much of the Chinese public chose to move on, as market-oriented policy changes took root. In recent years, however, interest in revisiting this time has grown. Some Chinese have perceived echoes of the Cultural Revolution in the “red culture” campaign in Chongqing under the since-disgraced Bo Xilai or in President Xi Jinping’s anticorruption campaign and have argued that history must be confronted more openly to avoid repeating its mistakes. Roderick MacFarquhar , a scholar of elite Chinese politics at Harvard University, is a leading expert on the Cultural Revolution. He is the author of the trilogy “The Origins of the Cultural Revolution” and, with Michael Schoenhals , of “ Mao’s Last Revolution .” In an interview, he discussed the relevance of that era for contemporary China. Q. How are Chinese leaders dealing with the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution? A. I don’t think the party will be bothered much about the 50th anniversary. If I were Xi Jinping, I would probably say to my colleagues: Just make sure no one celebrates this or marks this. Q. How has the Cultural Revolution shaped the thinking of Xi and other Chinese leaders who came of age then? A. It’s difficult to answer that. Xi Jinping is clearly a very confident and risk-taking leader, but that does not necessarily come from the fact that he participated in the Cultural Revolution. It may come from the fact that he is a princeling, and therefore has a certain self-confidence born of how he was brought up before the Cultural Revolution. I don’t think we could say anything particular about the Cultural Revolution generation either, because what we see in charge at the moment is not the whole generation. It is Xi Jinping. He is a one-man leader. Xi Jinping said that we can’t write off the Mao era, but we don’t know what element of the Mao era he doesn’t want to write off. We know one thing: He does not like the Cultural Revolution’s spontaneity. The one thing he doesn’t want is chaos. Mao had a feeling that he could control things by his Thought. He gave people the umbrella of his Thought and let them do whatever they wanted. He believed they would come to the right conclusion. But post-Mao leaders don’t want this kind of disruption. Q. Some people have drawn comparisons between Xi Jinping’s anticorruption campaign and the Cultural Revolution. A. Xi Jinping knows if he were to actually unleash the chaos that was the Cultural Revolution, he would be out of office very quickly, because no Chinese leader or many Chinese at all would like that to happen. Besides, Xi Jinping is very much a control freak. He wants things to develop in the way he wants them to develop. Chairman Mao was very different. He believed that if you unleash the people, they would do the right thing by following his Thought and it would all be very good. However, there is a strong resemblance with the Cultural Revolution in Xi’s anticorruption drive. Mao tried to make the country revolutionary by unleashing the Red Guards. Xi Jinping tries to make the people good, to purify them, by the anticorruption campaign. Both Mao and Xi wish to change the Chinese people. Q. How is the Cultural Revolution remembered by the broader society? A. No one talks about the Cultural Revolution in China today. People have got far more important things to think about than what happened 50 years ago. They’ve got to find better jobs, earn more money and send their kids to better schools. I know there is a Cultural Revolution museum in Sichuan, and there is a place in Shanghai where you can see Cultural Revolution posters. People have not forgotten the Cultural Revolution completely, but I don’t think it’s on top of their minds. Image Roderick MacFarquhar Credit Michael Forsythe/The New York Times Q. There are leftists in China who argue that certain social policies of that era, like the “people’s communes,” were not entirely without merit. A. You can’t have Mao’s policies for 25 years without having people who feel there is something good about them. The leftists can see everything that turns people off about the Cultural Revolution, but they believe it was a great leftist surge muddied by the violence. They argue that China should get back to leftism, pure and simple, with its schools and communes. For people who are real leftists, even open discussion of the Cultural Revolution wouldn’t change their minds. Q. What are some the biggest misconceptions of the Cultural Revolution? A. Within China, it’s very difficult to tell, because there are so few people who talk about it. In my book [“Mao’s Last Revolution”] I try to show that the Cultural Revolution wasn’t a power struggle. If it were, Chairman Mao would have stopped the Cultural Revolution in February 1967, because it was finished. Liu Shaoqi [China’s president and Mao’s presumed successor] was gone. But the Cultural Revolution was really only starting in 1967, when it spread to the provinces. Mao took advantage of the Cultural Revolution to get rid of people he thought were not revolutionary enough among the leadership. But the fact that he continued the revolution after the leaders were gone showed that he genuinely wished to carry out this crazy idea of making the whole country revolutionary. Q. Do you think there will still be pressure on the party to open up about this period, say, 20 years down the road? A. I believe 20 years down the road the party will have opened up, if the party is still there. It depends on how successful Xi Jinping is in the immediate future. I think it will still matter enormously to the Chinese, for a very simple reason: The essence of the Cultural Revolution is not just that Mao unleashed it and caused the chaos. The essence is that the Chinese, without direct orders, were so cruel to each other. They killed each other, fought each other and tortured each other. Mao did not go down the streets and say: “You are licensed to torture. Go torture.” It just happened. I think what the Cultural Revolution had shown was that the violence, with which the Communist Party had ruled China until that time — the various campaigns, the land reforms, the campaigns against counter-revolutionaries, the Anti-Rightist campaign — all that had been injected into the body politic, so the young people almost absorbed it through their skin. Mao fired the starting gun, and gave them the signal, “It’s O.K. to make revolution, all sorts of things can be done.”

Cultural Revolution
Communist Party of China
Roderick MacFarquhar
Mao Zedong
Xi Jinping
China


Mayor de Blasio Increases New York’s Budget by $1.3 Billion

Abstract: The de Blasio administration announced late on Thursday that it now anticipated spending over $1.3 billion more than it had originally forecast in the current budget, part of an annual recalibration of spending and revenue in New York City that takes place each November. The November financial plan update, as it is known, highlighted other notable changes to account for short-term and longer-term issues: $52 million in new spending for homeless shelters, added since the budget was adopted by the City Council in June ; millions more to offset pension fund underperformance; and a reduction in projected tax revenues, down by $127 million for the 2017 fiscal year. The plan also included $6.5 million in new spending by the Law Department for the hiring of outside lawyers to handle the myriad state and federal investigations that are said to focus on whether Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, or members of his administration traded favorable official actions for donations. At the same time, the city’s already historically high head count grew in the forecast of city budget officials: It is now expected to exceed 300,000 full-time employees by June, not counting the tens of thousands of additional part-time workers on the city payroll. The new $83.5 billion plan does include new savings from city agencies of roughly half a billion dollars, and another $151 million in savings from adjustments to the projected cost of debt service. The savings were amassed through many small changes across the municipal government, including moving away from paper billing, having agencies share more vehicles to reduce the number of unused vehicles in the city’s fleet, and even by better managing how New York deals with dirt. Officials found that the city spent a significant amount of money on storing dirt dug out of the ground during construction projects; now, the city is projecting savings by better matching those projects with others where the dirt is needed, said Carol Kellermann, the president of the independent Citizens Budget Commission, who was briefed on the changes on Thursday morning. But Ms. Kellermann said the biggest issue in the revised numbers was the underperformance of the city’s pension accounts, which required New York to inject another $120 million to cover obligations in the next fiscal year. (At this rate, budget experts said, the city would in a few years be spending about $10 billion of its budget on pension costs.) The Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, celebrated the focus on savings but said in a joint statement with Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, a fellow Democrat who is the finance chairwoman, that they “remained concerned about rising shelter costs and pension obligations.” The plan appeared to reflect an effort by Mr. de Blasio to account for headwinds in the economy and uncertainty in the city’s financial future, budget experts said. That uncertainty has only grown with the election of Donald J. Trump, a Republican; New York City receives billions from the federal government each year. But the increase in overall spending, which includes $1 billion set aside in reserves by the administration, did not appear to come from the city’s own coffers. “Funding from city funds seems to be flat,” said Doug Turetsky, of the city’s Independent Budget Office. “Any increase in the overall budget seems to be driven by state and federal aid.” The budget has grown steadily under Mr. de Blasio, as he has expanded social services, signed contracts with unions, expanded the Police Department and moved to address a steady rise in the number of homeless New Yorkers. “Inherited many problems & is addressing them,” James Parrott, of the nonpartisan Fiscal Policy Institute, wrote on Twitter . “City budget goes up. Would you rather have the problems?”

Budget
Bill de Blasio
NYC
Pensions and Retirement Plans
Homelessness


Window Washing Skills Beyond a Robot’s Reach

Abstract: As a pair of window washers clung to a scaffold dangling outside the 68th floor of 1 World Trade Center on Wednesday, the captivating drama left some below wondering: Why were they up there at all? In an age when a few clicks on a cellphone can solve myriad problems, it seems fair to ask why people are still descending from the roofs of skyscrapers to rub soapy water on glass and wipe it off with a squeegee. Can’t robots take on this simple, repetitive task and relieve humans of the risk of injury, or death, from a plunge to the sidewalk? The simple answer, several experts said, is that washing windows is something that machines still cannot do as well as people can. The more complicated answer is that high-rise buildings are more complicated than they used to be. “Building are starting to look like huge sculptures in the sky,” said Craig S. Caulkins, who consults with building owners on how to maintain their exteriors. “A robot can’t maneuver to get around those curves to get into the facets of the building,” he said Mr. Caulkins, the president of C. S. Caulkins Co. in Irvine, Calif., said “the robots have problems.” Most notably, he said, robotic cleaning systems tend to leave dirt in the corners of the glass walls that are designed to provide panoramic views from high floors. “If you are a fastidious owner wanting clean, clean windows so you can take advantage of that very expensive view that you bought, the last thing you want to see is that gray area around the rim of the window,” Mr. Caulkins said. Indeed, prime examples of that particular shortcoming are the towers of the original World Trade Center; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey equipped those buildings with a mechanical apparatus for cleaning their windows, but it worked so poorly that human window washers had to follow behind to catch the spots the machine missed, said Steven Plate, director of the World Trade Center construction department at the Port Authority. Video Brent Weingard, of Expert Window Cleaners, has battled dirt and grime high above New York City for over 35 years. “It was never effective,” Mr. Plate said in an interview on Thursday. “It basically didn’t clean the building.” One of the men who kept the glass of the twin towers clean was Roko Camaj, whose hazardous duty was the subject of a children’s book “Window Washer: At Work Above the Clouds.” The book, published in 1995, quoted Mr. Camaj saying that “Ten years from now, all window washing will probably be done by a machine.” On that point, Mr. Camaj, who was killed when the towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, was not a prophet. Mr. Caulkins said “there may be several dozen” skyscrapers in the entire country that employ robots to clean their windows. Another reason for the sparse use of robots is that buildings require a lot more maintenance than just window cleaning, Mr. Caulkins said. Equipment is needed to lower people to repair facades and broken windows, like the one that rescue workers had to cut through to rescue the window washers on Wednesday, he said. “At some point you need workers up on the side of that building,” Mr. Caulkins said. If a building requires a mechanism on the roof to lower a platform for that sort of work, the owner is unlikely to invest in a second, mechanized system for cleaning the glass, he said. In all, there are about 700 scaffolds for window washing on buildings in New York City, said Gerard McEneaney, a field representative for about 500 washers who are members of S.E.I.U. Local 32BJ, a union representing building service employees. Mr. McEneaney said he understood why the owners of 1 World Trade Center would employ humans to clean the tapered glass facade. “They want that building sparkling, sparkling clean,” he said. His members are willing to do the work because it pays well: as much $26.89 an hour plus benefits. Many of the window cleaners are immigrants from South America. “They’re fearless guys, fearless workers,” Mr. McEneaney said. Having spent nine years on scaffolds in New York City, he said he knew firsthand how scary an ordeal like the one on Wednesday could be. The first time he descended on a scaffold at 1 Penn Plaza, he said, his end of the platform did not stop when it should have, tilting the scaffold. His partner reacted quickly and lowered his end of the platform to keep it level and avert the need for a rescue, he said. “In a job where you know your life hangs in the balance, you just kind of accept it and rely on your partner and pray that your training has prepared you.”

Window
Robot
Building Service Employees
1 World Trade Center
Accidents and Safety
Buildings


Robben Returns to Lineup, and Dutch Beat Slovakia

Abstract: DURBAN, South Africa — Impressive for extended stretches if not yet entirely convincing, the Netherlands continued doing what matters most on Monday by winning its second-round World Cup match against Slovakia. Depending on which squandered opportunities one chose to emphasize, the final score , 2-1, could have been more lopsided in favor of the Dutch or could have ended up shockingly in favor of Slovakia, the little team that could and did against Italy but could not quite manage to seize the moment from point-blank range against the Dutch. There were, nonetheless, moments to savor. There was the close control exhibited by the Dutch striker Robin van Persie, the positive energy of the Dutch wing Dirk Kuyt and some stirring goalkeeping from Maarten Stekelenburg. There was even the strange but true case of Robert Vittek, the Slovak striker whose French club, Lille, thought so little of him that it exiled him to Turkey on loan last season. Yet Vittek finished his World Cup with a fourth goal, tying him for the tournament lead with Argentina’s star striker Gonzalo Higuaín, who earns his regular paycheck for Real Madrid. But the best trick of all was the work of Arjen Robben, who returned to the Dutch starting lineup for the first time in this Cup and scored even though every member of the Slovak defense was fully aware of the threat he posed and was intent on shutting him down. “We were preparing for the past three days for Robben, for his way of playing, but he’s an absolute genius,” said Vladimir Weiss, Slovakia’s coach. “He really knows what he’s doing, and that’s why he’s played for the clubs for which he’s played.” Weiss added, “When I saw him in the lineup for today’s match, I knew he made the Netherlands 50 percent stronger, and yes, I was correct.” Bert van Marwijk, the Netherlands’ coach, was not prepared to agree with Weiss’s math (he has 10 other starters to keep happy, after all). But van Marwijk knew what had been missing in the Netherlands’ group games, when Robben rested and recovered from a leg injury except for a short shift as a substitute in the last game against Cameroon. Monday was Robben’s full-blown return to the lineup as Rafael van der Vaart took a seat on the bench, Kuyt shifted sides to left wing and Robben reclaimed his spot on the right. That was where Wesley Sneijder set him free in the 18th minute with a long, beautifully struck pass from deep in the Dutch half that curled over most of the Slovak defense. Robben ran toward the ball at what looked very much like full speed. After tracking down Sneijder’s pass, he controlled the ball, and then, with two defenders frantically trying to block his progress and a third keeping close watch, the left-footed Robben did what he does so often for his latest club, Bayern Munich. He cut inside with the ball tight to his foot, surprising Jan Durica and Radoslav Zabavnik, and then, despite the commotion in front of him, blasted a low left-footed shot against the flow of play about 22 yards from goal. It flew past the diving goalkeeper Jan Mucha into just the right spot for the Netherlands: the lower right-hand corner of the net. “I think that’s a big moment, because it’s a long sprint, and I need to be explosive,” Robben said of his initial burst. “I think in general in the game, I was pretty free in this game. I also know I’m not yet at top level. I think that’s normal, because it’s the first game. But I was pretty confident today, and it was a great pass by Wesley. And I waited for the right time to go inside, and the shot was good enough.” Robben was a menace from the first touch as the emphasis of the Dutch attack kept shifting to the right — so much so that Kuyt kept raising his arm higher and higher to remind his teammates that there were other options. After Robben was replaced in the 71st minute, Kuyt set up Sneijder for the second Netherlands goal in the 84th minute by beating Mucha to the ball after a free kick, heading the ball past the goalkeeper, then controlling it and passing to the trailing Sneijder. Vittek scored in the final minute of added time on a penalty kick after Stekelenburg was called for bringing down Martin Jakubko in the box, but it was only a consolation prize. The Slovaks’ real chances to spring a surprise had come earlier. “They could have made an equalizer and we might have even lost, but I think if you look at the whole match, I think we deserved to win by far,” van Marwijk said. After an early opening shot from Erik Jendrisek of Slovakia, the Netherlands maintained firm control of the match until the 67th minute, when Miroslav Stoch cut inside from the wing and fired a powerful right-footed shot that Stekelenburg had to lunge to deflect. Moments later, Stekelenburg stopped Vittek from inside the box. Vittek missed again from close range in the 78th minute, kicking the ball over the crossbar and hunching over in disappointment. Weiss, beside himself on the sideline, could relate. “I think no coach can be happy if he loses and has three high-quality chances,” said Weiss, who was also unhappy with the referee, Alberto Undiano, and added his name to the lengthening list of those in favor of legalizing video review. But Weiss expressed pride over all with Slovakia’s play in its first appearance in the World Cup as an independent nation. The Netherlands has been here many times, though it has yet to win despite all its talent over the decades. The Dutch did succeed Monday in breaking their streak of faltering in the first phase of the knockout round, something they had done in the last World Cup, losing to Portugal, and the 2008 European Championship, losing to Russia. If the Dutch are to truly change their luck, they will have to start by getting past Brazil, a 3-0 winner against Chile on Monday . “I think in the past, everybody said about the Dutch team that they play nice football but never win something,” Robben said. “That’s also something we know and want to improve.”

World Cup 2010 (Soccer)
Soccer
Netherlands
Slovakia


Arizona: $10,000 Fine for Petroglyph Graffiti

Abstract: A federal judge fined a North Carolina man $10,000 on Monday and sentenced him to five years’ probation and 100 hours of community service for scrawling his name into a well-known petroglyph while on a fishing trip on the Colorado River in Arizona last June. Trenton A. Ganey, 29, pleaded guilty to using a rock to scrape his first name into Indian rock art known as the “Descending Sheep panel,” believed to be more than 1,000 years old, the authorities said.

Sentences (Criminal)
Graffiti
North Carolina


With Playoff Berth Secured, Liberty Unload on Shock

Abstract: NEWARK — Citing recent champions who capitalized on the momentum of late-season surges, Liberty Coach John Whisenant says his team is in the right spot to challenge for the W.N.B.A. title. “We expect to be the Giants of the W.N.B.A., or the St. Louis Cardinals, to get in and surprise some folks,” Whisenant said before Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Tulsa Shock. Having clinched a playoff berth Thursday after the Chicago Sky lost to the Atlanta Dream, the Liberty responded to their coach’s rallying cry with their best offensive game of the season, as they defeated the Shock, 91-74. An added boost came before the game when Cappie Pondexter announced to the crowd at the Prudential Center that she would remain with the Liberty for the next three seasons. Pondexter said after the game that she had extended her contract on Friday. “It allows us to make moves and room to get players that we think will fit here in the future going forward to win a championship,” Pondexter said. After scoring a season-high 91 points, the Liberty enter Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Thursday with the kind of momentum Whisenant referred to when he spoke about the reigning Super Bowl and World Series champions. Trailing by 50-40 at the half, the Liberty did not rest their starters and began the third quarter with a 22-2 run. A majority of the points were scored as a result of turnovers caused by the defense, with the Liberty shutting down fast-break opportunities. Leading the defensive charge was Essence Carson, who kept the Liberty offense afloat in the first half with 14 points. “Their point guards are like trying to catch a mosquito in your hand,” Whisenant said after the game. “They’re so quick. I just about played Essence’s wheels off. I hope I didn’t hurt one of her wheels in the end.” Carson, who strained her right hip in the fourth quarter in a collision with Tulsa’s Temeka Johnson, said she felt good after the game and had no doubts that she would be able to play Thursday. The Connecticut Sun, the top seed in the East, play their final game on Sunday when they host the Atlanta Dream. Connecticut holds a 4-1 advantage over the Liberty this season. Whisenant said his team had a tendency to fall asleep and allow the Sun to go on big runs this season, but he was confident that if the Liberty executed on both sides of the ball, as they did in the second half Saturday, they could pull another upset. “If we play right, we can play with them,” he said. Pondexter added: “I’m not thinking about getting down, period. The only thing I’m thinking about is stealing Game 1.” Another positive sign for the Liberty, who went 6-3 during September, was their work on the boards Saturday, as they outrebounded Tulsa, 44-26. The Liberty also shot 50 percent from 3-point range. The Sun are led by Tina Charles, who is averaging 10.5 rebounds a game and could clinch her third consecutive rebounding title Sunday. “Connecticut has whipped us on the boards badly,” Whisenant said. “That’s a critical component for us to have success against them.” Carson, who finished with eight rebounds, agreed, saying the Liberty had to “handle our own on the boards.” “We didn’t get here just because two other teams were worse than us,” Carson said. “We got here because we worked hard and fought hard together and we’re one of the best in the league.”

New York Liberty
Tulsa Shock
Pondexter Cappie
Basketball


Czech Parliament Seeks Way Out of Deadlock

Abstract: PARIS — The lower house of the Czech Parliament will vote next week on whether to dissolve itself and trigger early elections after the new caretaker government lost a vote of confidence, political party officials said Thursday. The failure to endorse the new government in a confidence vote late Wednesday extended the political instability that has undermined the country since a corruption scandal led to the collapse of the previous government, led by Petr Necas, in June. Last month, President Milos Zeman appointed a close ally, Jiri Rusnok, a leftist economist, as prime minister. The new government has shaken up the state administration, replacing 97 people at ministries and state companies, including the Czech railways, one of the state’s largest employers. But the appointment of Mr. Rusnok set off a revolt by rightist parties previously aligned with Mr. Necas. Holding a parliamentary majority, they have accused Mr. Zeman of breaching democratic norms and demanded that their preferred candidate, Miroslava Nemcova, the speaker of Parliament, become prime minister. Parliament has the power to dissolve itself, which would lead to early elections, and analysts said Thursday that a cross-party consensus appeared to be growing that this was the best way out of the crisis. In the 200-seat lower house of Parliament, Mr. Rusnok lost the vote of confidence by 100 to 93. Seven members were not present during the vote. Under the Constitution, Mr. Zeman has a second chance to appoint a prime minister. But he has no constitutional deadline to name a replacement before the next elections, scheduled for next spring, and the Rusnok government can stay on as caretaker. Speaking before the confidence vote, Mr. Zeman said he would keep Mr. Rusnok in place for several weeks even if he lost, pending the conclusion of the corruption investigation that ensnared the previous government. Analysts said the lack of consensus in Czech politics would invariably cripple policy making while also threatening to alienate foreign investors. Protracted disagreement between fiscally conservative parties and Mr. Rusnok, who favors higher taxes and spending, could also undermine the economy, which has been in a recession since 2011. Critics have accused Mr. Zeman, the Czech Republic’s first popularly elected president, of seeking to orchestrate a power grab. Until Mr. Zeman’s election in January, the president was elected by Parliament. Petr Fiala, a former minister of education who turned down a position in the current caretaker government, said it did not have the legitimacy to govern and would further undermine Czechs’ already shaky confidence in politics. “We are witnessing a repeated and deep crisis of the Czech political system,” he said. “People are highly unsatisfied with politics, and this has to change.” Mr. Necas stepped down after the police arrested several people, including his former chief of staff and the current and former chiefs of military intelligence, in the most extensive anticorruption operation since the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The former chief of staff, Jana Nagyova, whom Mr. Necas has since described as his girlfriend, denied any wrongdoing after being charged with abuse of power and bribery. Prosecutors said she ordered a military intelligence agency to spy on Mr. Necas’s wife; they divorced on Tuesday. Ms. Nagyova was also accused of offering posts in state-owned companies to several rebellious lawmakers in return for their agreeing to leave Parliament. Hana de Goeij contributed reporting from Prague.

Czech Republic
Legislature
Milos Zeman
Politics
Prague
Jiri Rusnok
Petr Necas


Saudi Arabia, Squeezed by Low Oil Prices, Cuts Spending to Shrink Deficit

Abstract: Pressured by low oil prices and costly wars in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia announced a sharp reduction in its 2016 budget on Monday to control a worsening deficit, which is steadily draining the kingdom’s financial reserves. The official Saudi news media reported that the Finance Ministry would cut spending, adopt new taxes and reduce price subsidies for fuel, water and power. The cost of some grades of domestic gasoline, among the first to be affected, could rise as much as 50 percent, a potentially unsettling spike in a country where mass transit does not exist and cars are a basic necessity. The Saudi stock market fell 3 percent in early trading on Tuesday, with Saudi Basic Industries, the biggest petrochemical producer, tumbling 8.3 percent. The price of oil, Saudi Arabia’s most important export, has tumbled this year because of reduced global demand and fierce competition by producers — including the Saudis — to keep their share of the market. The market is expected to be increasingly competitive because Iran could soon be free to sell its oil under relaxed international sanctions after Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers. In the summer of 2014, oil exceeded $100 a barrel, but it is now trading well below $40. The falling price has benefited oil-consuming nations while putting severe financial pressure on exporters like Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela. At the same time its revenue has slowed, Saudi Arabia has increased military spending, financing rebels in Syria and intervening in Yemen, where Saudi warplanes have been bombing the insurgent Houthi movement since March. The Saudi kingdom has been spending more than it takes in, and by some estimates it could exhaust its foreign exchange reserves, now roughly $640 billion, by 2020 without deep cuts in spending, a big rise in the price of oil, or a combination of both. The government ran a record deficit of about 367 billion riyals, or roughly $98 billion, in 2015, according to the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel. Under the 2016 budget, the goal is to reduce the deficit to 326 billion riyals, or about $87 billion. The Finance Ministry projected the 2016 budget to be about 840 billion riyals, down from 975 billion riyals this year, Al Arabiya reported . Analysts examining the budget said the Saudis were assuming that a barrel of oil would average about $45 in 2016. But some said even that projection was overly optimistic. “They have less than five years to lose all their foreign currency reserves because of their major financial deficits, cost of military campaign in Yemen and their support to Syrian rebels,” said Luay Al-Khatteeb , a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, who specializes in the political economy of the Persian Gulf countries. “Saudi Arabia must act fast and smart by starting to gradually cut down on their subsidies, reduce superfluous spending on defense and privatize selected state-owned entities to generate cash,” he said.

Saudi Arabia
Oil and Gasoline
Price
International trade
Budget


U.S. and Afghanistan Reach Partnership Agreement

Abstract: KABUL, Afghanistan — After months of negotiations, the United States and Afghanistan completed drafts of a strategic partnership agreement on Sunday that pledges American support for Afghanistan for 10 years after the withdrawal of combat troops at the end of 2014. The agreement, whose text was not released, represents an important moment when the United States begins the transition from being the predominant foreign force in Afghanistan to serving a more traditional role of supportive ally. By broadly redefining the relationship between Afghanistan and the United States, the deal builds on hard-won new understandings the two countries reached in recent weeks on the thorny issues of detainees and Special Operations raids. It covers social and economic development, institution building, regional cooperation and security. The talks to reach the agreement were intense. At times they broke down altogether, primarily because of geopolitical frictions in the region from two powerful neighbors, Iran and Pakistan. Each country opposes long-term American ties with Afghanistan. The American and Afghan negotiators have been working hard in recent days to complete the draft so that it could be signed before a NATO conference in Chicago on May 20. There, decisions are to be made on how much money and support will be provided to the Afghan security forces after 2014 and by whom. Lacking certainty about a long-term American commitment to Afghanistan, some countries were holding back, waiting to see what the United States, the leader in shaping Afghan policy, would do. Western diplomats said Sunday that the allies would now be more willing to make commitments. The agreement — sweeping by design, with few details to bog down negotiators — puts down in writing for the first time the nature of the relationship the United States will have with Afghanistan once the bulk of American troops go home. It is meant to reassure the Afghan people that the United States will not abandon them, to warn the Taliban not to assume that they can wait out the West, and to send a message to Pakistan, which American officials believe has been hedging its bets in the belief that an American departure would leave the Taliban in charge. “This is the proof in the pudding that we intend to be there,” one United States official said Sunday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The agreement came despite a series of setbacks in Afghan-American relations, including the burning of Korans, the massacre of 16 civilians attributed to a lone Army sergeant, and the appearance of grisly photos of American soldiers posing with the body parts of Afghan insurgents. “In the midst of all these meteor strikes, we were able to still sit down across the table and get these documents agreed to,” one NATO official noted. Many Afghans, including some who are ambivalent about the American presence, believe that the country’s survival is tied to having such an agreement with Washington. They say it will make clear to the Taliban and to regional powers that the Americans will not walk away the way they did in the 1990s after the Soviets were pushed out of the country. A loya jirga, or traditional council, convened by President Hamid Karzai last fall strongly urged the government to sign a long-term agreement with the United States. The draft agreement was initialed by Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador to Afghanistan, and Rangin Spanta, the Afghan national security adviser, at a meeting of the Afghan national security council on Sunday. It will now be sent to Mr. Karzai and to the Afghan Parliament for review and approval, and also to President Obama and the White House. It will become final when signed by the two presidents, according to American and Afghan officials. Western diplomats in Kabul said the agreement was an important marker and a positive one, both because it would help persuade other Western countries to continue to support Afghanistan and because it will signal all sides, including the Taliban, that they will not have a free hand to manipulate the country after 2014. “The Iranians don’t like it because it shows the U.S. is going to be here for a long time,” said a European diplomat here who noted that the Taliban would not like it for the same reason. “This is important because they cannot tell their soldiers now just to sit it out and wait for 2014.” The Taliban responded to the draft agreement within minutes, issuing a detailed statement condemning it as a giveaway to the Americans. The goals of the agreement for the Americans, the Taliban statement said, are: “First goal: securing routes to the Central Asian and Caspian oil fields. Second goal: prevention of a movement in favor of a true Islamic government. Third goal: Bringing secularism and liberalism to Afghanistan. Fourth goal: establishing an army hostile to Islam that protects Western interests. Fifth goal: Continuous threats to Islamic countries in the region and the prevention of political and military ties between them and Afghanistan.” In many respects the strategic partnership agreement is more symbolic than substantive. It does not lay out specific dollar amounts of aid or name programs that the Americans will support; the financing must be authorized and appropriated by Congress from year to year. Nor does it lay out specifically what the American military and security presence will be after 2014 or what role it will play. A more detailed security agreement is to come later, perhaps in the next year, Western diplomats said, once it becomes clear how much support European nations will give to the Afghan security forces. Even so, the United States expects to make substantial contributions toward the cost of Afghanistan’s security forces beyond 2014. A total figure for the United States of $2.7 billion a year has been discussed, and it could easily be more; there would most likely be aid for civilian programs as well. That would be a steep reduction from the amount the United States now spends here, which has been $110 billion to $120 billion a year since the “surge” in American troop levels began in 2010, according to the Congressional Research Service. For the partnership to work, the Afghan government must follow through with political reforms, particularly in fighting corruption, said Brian Katulis, a national security expert at the Center for American Progress. “U.S. taxpayers have seen tens of millions of their dollars wasted by a corrupt and ineffective Afghan government over the past decade,” Mr. Katulis said. “Any transition plan needs to demand more responsibility from our Afghan partners.” Officials declined Sunday to release the text of the draft strategic partnership deal or comment on it in detail. “Until the agreement is finalized, we’re not in a position to discuss the elements it contains,” said Gavin Sundwall, the American Embassy spokesman in Kabul. “Our goal is an enduring partnership with Afghanistan that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability and prosperity and that contributes to the shared goal of defeating Al Qaeda and its extremist allies,” he said. “We believe the agreement supports that goal.” The talks on the agreement were delayed repeatedly over the delicate issues of night raids by American troops and the American operation of detention facilities. Ultimately, negotiators agreed to prepare detailed side agreements on those two issues. In March the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding shifting responsibility for all detention facilities in the country to the Afghans, and earlier this month they handed final authority over night raids to Afghan security forces, who are now carrying out all raids unless American assistance is requested. With those two issues resolved, the strategic partnership was completed quickly.

United States Defense and Military Forces


Defensive Coordinator Has the Giants’ Respect

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — When the Giants started the season losing by 45-35 to the Dallas Cowboys and by 35-13 to the Green Bay Packers, there was dismay in sports bars and on talk radio, but not in the locker room. The Giants had given up 80 points in two games, and critics wondered if the defense was disorganized or overwhelmed by the system of its new coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo. He had coached for 26 years, the last three guiding the Philadelphia Eagles’ linebackers, but maybe this job was too much for him. “There was no panic,” defensive end Jason Tuck said Thursday. “He was confident in our abilities, and that trust really hit home. We didn’t panic.” Despite those losses, middle linebacker Antonio Pierce was impressed by Spagnuolo. “Most guys come in and want respect,” Pierce said. “He clearly wanted to earn respect. He took a lot of heat. If I was him and we were 0-2, I would have gone crazy. It was his first year on the job and things were going so badly. Instead, he became a positive reinforcement for us.” There have been enough positive reinforcements as the Giants (12-6) prepare to play the Packers (14-3) in Green Bay on Sunday for the National Football Conference championship and a trip to Super Bowl XLII. To the credit of Spagnuolo and his players, the 0-2 start brought on no whispers and no behind-the-back darts in the locker room. The turning point came the next week when the Giants, down by 17-3 at the half, staged a goal-line stand in the final minute and defeated the Washington Redskins, 24-17. A week later, the Giants recorded 12 sacks in defeating the Eagles, 16-3. The once-porous defense finished the season ranked seventh in the N.F.L. It led the league with 53 sacks. It applied pressure in many ways, with cornerback and safety blitzes almost a way of life, but it was all organized. Players readily give the credit to Spagnuolo. “He’s elevated everybody,” defensive end Michael Strahan said. “He’s made us feel prepared. He’s given us a lot of confidence in ourselves and confidence in what he has called.” Cornerback Sam Madison said he was impressed from the start. “In every game, he’s stood by us,” Madison said. “We didn’t know him and he didn’t know us, but he was always fighting for us.” Cornerback Corey Webster cited other attributes. “He’s really aggressive in play calling,” Webster said, “and he listens to us. He wants feedback. During a game, he’ll say, ‘What do you see out there?’ because sometimes we see things differently.” Linebacker Kawika Mitchell said Spagnuolo’s open mind led to many changes on defense. “We’ve learned how to work together,” Mitchell said. “We know what he expects from us. He knows what kind of weapons he has, and he uses them all well. We’ve gained a lot of experience with each other, and we’ve gotten a lot better. It’s an aggressive defense and the kind you want to have, one that will let you fly around, make plays and use your ability.” All players do not speak so warmly about their coaches, and all coaches do not listen to their players the way Spagnuolo does. In 1992, the second year of Ray Handley’s disastrous two-year run as the Giants’ head coach, he hired Rod Rust as the defensive coordinator, and Rust installed a read-and-react defense. Many of his players, including Lawrence Taylor, Leonard Marshall and Carl Banks, were irate because they had played on the Giants teams that had won two Super Bowls largely because of an attacking defense. There were loud arguments between Rust and his players. From play to play, he would signal for one defense and the players would decide on another. The team finished 6-10, and Handley and Rust were fired. Spagnuolo has a much better relationship with his players. He deflected praise, saying: “When we were 0-2, they never stopped believing. That’s a credit to the position coaches and the players. They didn’t fail.” Neither did Spagnuolo, who may have established himself as a prospective head coach. His players have mixed feelings about the prospect of losing him. “He would be a great head coach,” Webster said. “This may be selfish, but I want him around.”

Football
New York Giants
Spagnuolo Steve


Shareholders Vote With Their Dollars to Have Less of a Say

Abstract: In today’s world of public companies, there are the haves and have-nots of corporate governance. How long can this last? The haves are armed with dual-class structures that give voting control to their founding shareholders or the private equity firm that bought them. These are companies like CBS, Ford Motor, Facebook, Google, News Corporation and Viacom, where the shareholders often have one vote or none per share and the founders 10 votes (The New York Times Company also has dual-class voting). These companies are largely free from challenge by any of their other shareholders, and control is centered with the founders, who have largely unfettered authority to hire and fire the board and the executives. The have-nots lack this dual class structure and instead have no controlling shareholder. Instead, these companies have one vote for each share. In these companies, institutional investors like mutual funds and pension funds wield great control and the ability to influence, if not outright direct, the company’s actions. The difference is stark — the haves can function largely free of worry from challenge. The have-nots are on the run, living in fear of activist hedge funds. And it’s not just the hedge funds. These companies are also buffeted by increasingly vocal institutional investors that pressure the companies to adopt good corporate governance. The problem is that even the shareholders cannot agree on what exactly is good corporate governance, and one result is that companies can be pushed in one direction or another based on the flavor of the month. Debated off and on since the 1980s, this situation exists because of a quirk in the legal rules. Back in the 1980s, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a rule that prevented companies from having anything other than one vote per share of stock. The S.E.C. was responding to a challenge led by General Motors, which wanted to have dual-class stock for a subsidiary, Electronic Data Systems, that it was about to take public. The S.E.C. acted in the name of shareholder democracy. It wanted to prevent a situation in which a powerful shareholder could control the votes in a company without having much economic stake. That might encourage the shareholder to press the company’s directors to cater to that shareholder’s needs rather than do what was best for the company as a whole. For example, in the last three years CBS and Viacom have each paid more than $10 million a year to the 92-year-old chairman of both companies, Sumner Redstone, who owns only 10 percent of each company but controls the votes. Did he get this pay because he earned it or because he had control? Many defend dual-class stock because it may insulate a company from pressure to take short-term actions at the behest of shareholders. It also allows the founders to take a long-term approach and invest in the company in a way that may not produce immediate results. And finally, defenders point out that institutional investors are often conflicted in their desires, and that dual-class stock allows more deliberate consideration of shareholder issues. The S.E.C. rule would have given all companies the same voting structure. But it was struck down by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which held that the S.E.C. did not have the power to require all companies to have the same voting rights. In the decision’s wake, both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq adopted rules that prohibited companies that were already listed from adopting dual-class shares, but that permitted a company to adopt dual-class stock in an initial public offering. The idea was that all shareholders would agree to this structure by buying their shares at the conception of the public company. A great divide thus sprang up: existing companies with one share, one vote and at the mercy of the markets versus companies with dual-class stock. Still, many thought an I.P.O. of a company with dual-class stock would be harder for shareholders to swallow. Few companies adopted the structure. That changed when Google chose to adopt the mechanism, giving control to its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Today, dual-class stock is all the rage, and the majority of initial public offerings have it. It’s not just technology companies like Facebook and Zillow. Shake Shack and Fairway, both decidedly nontech firms, also have a dual-class mechanism. More than 13.5 percent of the 133 companies listing shares on United States exchanges in 2015 have set up a dual-class structure, according to the data provider Dealogic. That compares with 12 percent last year and just 1 percent in 2005. About half the companies choosing the structure were in the technology industry. Some big institutional investors have come out against this trend. Calpers, the California pension fund, has taken the position that it will not invest in I.P.O.s with dual-class stock. And yet, this seems like a finger in the dike. Dual-class initial offerings keep coming as other shareholders keep buying. It’s an odd state of affairs. The same shareholders who repeatedly assert that they care about corporate governance and are for a shareholder voice do not seem to care about that voice at the initial offering stage. Perhaps this says a lot about how much shareholders value their vote, and it may be very little. Certainly institutional investors talk a good game and are increasingly taking steps to influence companies. But when push comes to shove, they seem ready to drop the vote for a good I.P.O. deal. Perhaps the time has come to decide whether dual-class stock makes continued sense and for either all companies or no companies to be able to adopt it. Or perhaps the conversation should include other possible mechanisms that are more accommodating to shareholders. For example, France has adopted a tenure voting structure for its public companies under the so-called Florange law. In companies with tenure voting, shareholders accumulate more votes the longer they hold shares. In France it is two votes after a year, but the number of votes over a period can really be any number. France adopted the law to cement the power of the French state against activists, but tenure voting is an intriguing idea. If votes really do matter, why not reward shareholders for holding shares? And this would result in others besides the founders having a say. Alternatively, why not require a sunset provision on dual-class shares? It might make sense for a founder to have control at the beginning, but years later the founder may not have the same interests or desires at stake. And finally, it may be that certain types of shareholders like index funds should have no vote at all. After all, they have no choice in their ownership. They also hold shares forever. All of this is to say that perhaps it is time that some hard thinking be given to the shareholder vote, how shareholders value that vote and whether empowering founders over shareholders is a good or bad idea. What is best for companies over the long term, and can one-size voting mechanisms fit all? It is better to do it now, thoughtfully, before the have-nots say enough is enough and push for change that may not be as thoughtful. After all, even 3-year olds know that if one sibling has candy, the other must get it, too.