Lights Slowly Come Back in a Storm-Crippled Park

Abstract: Along the Hudson River in the West Village, temporary lights mounted on minigenerators illuminated determined bicyclists and the occasional dog walker who were out despite a persistent rain one recent afternoon. The lights, the sort used for nighttime highway construction, are a reminder of the lingering scars from Hurricane Sandy on the city’s streetscape. More than a year after the storm sent several feet of water coursing over Hudson River Park, most of the power has been restored, but about 5 percent of the lights are still dark. “We built everything to the 100-year flood plain, and then we had a 1,000-year storm, so everything ended up being seven feet too low,” said Madelyn Wils, president of the Hudson River Park Trust , the public benefit corporation that manages the park. The park, which stretches from Chambers Street to 59th Street, had other damage from the storm, including upturned paving stones on a number of piers. But the biggest blow was to the electrical system. The damage estimate now stands at $31 million, three times the initial assessment , and the majority of that went to restoring power. The salt water was especially cruel to the electrical infrastructure, Ms. Wils said. The corrosive effects of the salt damaged or destroyed a substation and several transformers, as well as 10 miles of cables. In addition, the salt water ruined mechanical equipment that runs on electricity, including boilers, elevators, water pumps and play fountains. Because the trust is a government agency, park officials had to follow guidelines for putting work out to bid. “That takes more time,” Ms. Wils said. “We’ve had over 100 contracts.” Not only did the trust have to address all the damage; it also had to consider the next monster storm. “Every piece of equipment has been raised above the new flood plain, which is 13.5 feet, or put into waterproof boxes,” Ms. Wils said. And all at a time when the park has been facing financial difficulties from its dilapidated piers. As the repair work has proceeded, the park has been plagued by sporadic new disruptions. Along the esplanade in the West Village, for instance, park users currently encounter a few street lamps inside the park that are dark, then a couple that are working, then another few that are out. Electrical contractors have grappled with 1,000 different splices in the cable. Sometimes, the first attempt to repair damage is unsuccessful, requiring replacement of the cable. As a result, the esplanade and piers north of Christopher Street are scattered with temporary lights, which are meant to fill in the remaining dark gaps. Other areas of the park that still rely on the portable lights include three tennis courts and a basketball court in TriBeCa and parts of Pier 84 at the end of West 44th Street. For the most part, park visitors do not seem to mind. Lloyd Princeton, 44, was walking his shiba inu, Keiko, in the park near Christopher Street on Wednesday in a cold rain. The generator-powered lights were annoying, he said, but at least they allowed the park to stay open after nightfall. From last fall — when Hurricane Sandy struck — until Memorial Day, the park had closed every day at dusk. “If you look up into the lights, they are blinding,” said Mr. Princeton, an agent who represents architects and designers. “But it’s better than being dark. And people lost their homes in Sandy. That’s important. This is not important.” Ms. Wils said that she hoped to have the remaining esplanade and pier lights repaired by the end of the year. Then there are the miles of small blue accent lights resembling lighthouses, located every 50 feet or so on top of the esplanade’s railings, many of which are also out. That repair work, which is considered a lower priority since the lights are decorative, will not be completed until February, she said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state will cover at least 90 percent of the $31 million expense of fixing the storm damage. The trust has fielded only few complaints about the chronic power problems. “We had one call from a resident who said the temporary lights were shining in their apartment, so we fixed that,” Ms. Wils said. But trust officials and residents alike are grateful for one thing: So far this year, the city seems to have dodged a major storm. “I just held my breath on that one,” Ms. Wils said. “We needed a break.”

Hurricane Sandy
Flood
Blackouts
Hudson River Park Manhattan
Hudson River
West Village Manhattan
Hudson River Park Trust
Infrastructure,public works


Ali Harzi, Lone Suspect Held in Benghazi Attack, Is Freed in Tunisia

Abstract: CAIRO — The only known suspect jailed in connection with the deadly attack on the United States diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, was freed on Tuesday by the Tunisian authorities who had held him. His lawyer said he was released for lack of evidence. The release dramatized the negligible progress in any investigation into the attack, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans on Sept. 11 last year. The feebleness of Libya’s transitional government since the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has stymied any progress, despite what Benghazi residents describe as an abundance of leads. The man released Tuesday, Ali Harzi, 28, was detained in October at an airport in Turkey and was deported to his home country on suspicion of involvement in the attack. F.B.I. agents investigating the Benghazi attack and another on the United States Embassy in Tunis reportedly questioned Mr. Harzi in December, but it is not known if the questioning yielded relevant information. According to The Associated Press, Mr. Harzi’s lawyer, Anwar Oued-Ali, said his client’s release amounted to “correcting an irregular situation” because no evidence had been presented to substantiate any connection. The attack was filmed by surveillance cameras and observed by large crowds. Several Libyan and American guards who tried to defend the mission and saw the attackers survived. And several Libyan witnesses have identified at least one local Islamist militant seen leading the attack , Ahmed Abu Khattala, to journalists and American law enforcement agents. But Mr. Abu Khattala remains at large in Benghazi. This week, in fact, he survived a vigilante assassination attempt; a car bomb reportedly killed the would-be assassin. Libya’s interim government has not disclosed the names of any other suspects or anyone else investigators might have held or even questioned in connection with the attack. And the Benghazi militias that provide the main law enforcement in the city have so far declined to take any action against Mr. Abu Khattala or the Islamist group most widely linked to the attack, Ansar al-Shariah, citing insufficient evidence. An F.B.I. spokeswoman in Washington declined to comment Tuesday. The F.B.I. has identified several suspects it believes were behind the attacks but has struggled with its investigation amid the reluctance of the Libyan government, whose forces are lightly armed, to move against heavily armed extremists. The investigation has also been hampered by the tenuous security situation in Benghazi. Since the attacks, American investigators have led the investigation from Tripoli, the Libyan capital — more than 500 miles from Benghazi — and have returned to the city only a few times. Egyptian authorities in Cairo have said they detained a militant reported to have links to the Benghazi attacks, but United States officials have played down that connection and suggested that the Egyptians had many causes to arrest the militant.

Benghazi Attack 2012
Libya
Tunisia
Diplomats Embassies and Consulates
J Christopher Stevens
Ali Awni al-Harzi


Forget Barefoot; New Trendsetter in Running Shoes Is Cushioning

Abstract: Athletes who spent the past few years embracing or scorning barefoot running can now consider whether increasingly popular “maximalist” shoes — with their chunky, heavily cushioned soles — are the sport’s new wonder product. Some dismiss the shoes as gimmicky, or just silly-looking. Others, including injury-prone joggers and Olympians, are apostolic converts. Leo Manzano, an Olympic medalist in the 1,500 meters, runs in the most popular maximalist shoe brand, Hoka One One , which has double the cushioning of standard running shoes. Plagued by plantar fasciitis, an inflammation in his foot, Manzano said the condition disappeared just a week after he tried the shoes last March. In July, he became the fifth fastest American in the 1,500. Manzano is now sponsored by Hoka, which has been accruing a roster of competitive distance runners. “They’re not your normal shoe, but I actually think they’re better than normal,” Manzano, 30, said. “When I first saw them, because they’re so big, I thought they’d be heavy. But they’re incredibly light. My legs felt really fresh after a long run in them. It’s like running on a cloud.” Hoka One One’s initial customers were ultrarunners, who felt the extra cushioning helped protect their legs from the shock of running up to 200-mile races. But the brand is gaining a following with more recreational athletes. Last year it sold more than 550,000 pairs, which cost $130 to $170 each, and its $48 million in sales were up 350 percent from 2013. Founded in 2009 by French athletes and based in the Bay Area, the company was acquired in 2012 by Deckers Brands, which also owns UGG Australia and Teva. Solutions for injury prevention, on the extremes of the athletic footwear spectrum, have reached panacea-like proportions in recent years. The rise of maximalism counters the fall of minimalism, particularly the barefoot running movement. Boosted by terms like “proprioception” (feel for the road) and the best-selling book “Born to Run,” which argued that the human body was naturally built for running without corrective footwear, American sales of minimalist shoes peaked at $400 million in 2012. They have been declining since. The most visible minimalist shoe was the Vibram FiveFinger , which looked like gloves for your feet. But in May, Vibram agreed to settle a lawsuit that alleged the company made false claims about the health benefits of its footwear. Despite the heavy supply of potential solutions, demand for injury prevention remains high. “People are frustrated, and we’re told so often there’s a magic shoe that will stop our injuries,” said Jay Dicharry, a biomechanist in Bend, Ore., and author of “Anatomy for Runners.” “But that’s just not true.” Rich Mendelowitz, a longtime runner from Arlington, Va., started wearing Hokas while training to qualify for the Boston Marathon last year at age 55. “I’ve had more comments on these shoes than I’ve had hot meals since wearing them,” he said. “But as a relatively older runner, staying injury-free is particularly important to me. I’m convinced that these are the shoes that will extend your running life.” Mindful of the Vibram lawsuit, Hoka has been careful not to make any evidence-based health claims, and few studies exist on the effectiveness of extreme cushioning. One prominent University of Colorado study in 2012 found that the benefits of cushioning underfoot were finite: 10 millimeters of cushioning on a treadmill saved energy, while 20 millimeters of cushioning did not. Image The Stinson Lite model from Hoka One One, whose initial customers were ultrarunners who felt extra cushioning helped protect their legs from the shock of running long races. Credit Hoka One One Lauren Fleshman, a national champion in the 5,000 meters, likened the maximalist upswing to past footwear phenomena, now rejected as passé. “To me, maximalist shoes fall right in the line of every other shoe trend,” she said. “There’s some good reasoning, but we don’t know enough about how it affects the body longer term, and we won’t know until everyone has been using it a while and all the other research comes out about how it destroys your body or whatever, and then there’s a lawsuit, and then there’s a campaign about how to use the technology properly, and then in the midst of all this confusion the next trend takes off. There is no shoe savior coming for us.” Dicharry, the biomechanist, suggested that extreme shoes like the Hokas might be best used in moderation. “Some people have a road bike, a commuter bike and a mountain bike, and they all have their purpose,” Dicharry said. “Maximalism is the new fat-tire bike of running shoes.” Despite his devotion to Hokas, Manzano said he still ran short distances barefoot to keep his feet strong. Jonathan Beverly, the shoe editor for Runners World, said maximalist shoes like the Hoka incorporated many of the qualities that made minimalism popular, while also mitigating the impact of running on hard surfaces. “The benefit of the big sole is actually similar to what the minimal movement did; with both types of shoes you have to keep your body and your center of gravity above your feet,” Beverly said. “So you’re running with the same posture as you would if you were barefoot, but with all this cushioning.” A move toward extra cushioning extends beyond the Hokas to more mainstream brands. Sales of one of Brooks’s most cushioned shoes, Glycerin, increased 29 percent in 2014, and the company also added a new higher-cushioned shoe last year. “When we were doing the research behind lightweight shoes, 70 to 80 percent of runners we surveyed felt that cushioning was the attribute they most wanted,” said Carson Caprara, a senior product manager for Brooks Running. “Our goal is not to make it look like you’re wearing something crazy different. It looks for the most part like a regular running shoe, but it’s done differently. It’s designed to make you feel like you’re not hitting the ground.” Dicharry said maximalist shoes were not necessarily suited for running fast. “They could be good for easy runs,” he said. “But when you’re doing a speed workout, you want to go back to firmer footwear that helps your body explode off the ground.” Manzano felt that the higher cushioning of his Hokas suited his higher mileage. “I run 70-80 miles a week, which is extreme, and I was suffering from extreme issues,” he said. “So I need extreme support.” Ultimately, most runners may need to resort to more traditional solutions. “Of course what’s on your feet is important,” Dicharry said. “But there is a lot of evidence to show that people who spend more time improving their bodies as opposed to shopping for shoes are the ones who are going to run better.”


In E-Books, It’s an Army vs. Google

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — Whenever it can, Google likes to have programmers solve its problems. But now it faces a dispute that even its ranks of lawyers and lobbyists are finding hard to smooth over. A broad array of authors, academics, librarians and public interest groups are fighting the company’s plan to create a huge digital library and bookstore. Their complaints reached the ears of regulators at the Justice Department, which last month helped derail the plan by asking a court to reject the class-action settlement that spawned it. That request led to a last-minute decision by Google and its partners, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, to redraft the agreement. A federal court hearing in New York on Wednesday will shed light on their progress. Some analysts say the broad-based opposition to Google’s lofty plans was unprecedented and a harbinger of the intense scrutiny the company’s ambitious agenda will face. “This was the first issue through which Google’s power became clearly articulated to the public,” said Siva Vaidhyanathan, associate professor of media studies and law at the University of Virginia. “All sorts of people — writers, researchers, librarians, academics and readers — really feel they have a stake in the world of books.” Google expressed confidence that a new agreement that could win court approval might be ready within weeks. “I don’t think we need a lot of time,” said David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer. This is not the first time Google’s ambitions have collided with the Justice Department. Last year, after advertisers and competitors argued that a planned ad deal with Yahoo would harm competition, the department said it would try to block the partnership in court. Google chose to abandon the deal rather than fight. This time, the department’s lawyers heard from Google rivals like Microsoft. But they also heard complaints from a much broader group, many of whom shared the same fear: that the deal would allow Google, the 800-pound gorilla of digital information, to bulk up even more and lock out competitors in the nascent digital book market. In a recent order, the judge who will have to approve or reject the settlement remarked on the number and breadth of objections the court had received. “Clearly, fair concerns have been raised,” wrote Judge Denny Chin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The Justice Department told the court that it hoped the parties would be able to modify the agreement to address antitrust, copyright and class-action problems, while preserving some of its benefits. Some experts say that even if a modified deal is approved, the dispute portends the kind of suspicion that Google’s plans will likely face. “Google will have continuous challenges to major initiatives around consumer choice, security and trust, privacy,” said David Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “This will never stop. It will be a question of how well Google builds coalitions and lays the groundwork before they establish a fait accompli in a particular area.” Google’s plan emerged from a sweeping settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed by authors and publishers in 2005 over the company’s effort to digitize books from major libraries. Google and its allies hailed the agreement as a public good: millions of out-of-print books would become widely available, unlocking vast swaths of human knowledge, while giving authors new ways to earn money from digital copies of their works. While Google’s corporate rivals fanned the flames of opposition, much of the resistance to the deal began in the confines of academia and spread gradually. In the end, more than 350 individuals, companies, nonprofit groups, academics, library associations, overseas publishers, states and even foreign governments lodged complaints in court against the agreement, in whole or in part. They outnumbered the filings in support of the deal by about 10 to 1. Many scholars initially sided with Google in 2004 when its scanning project, originally designed to create a kind of universal card catalog, drew lawsuits from the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers. But the settlement transformed Google’s plan into something far more ambitious. Online users of Google’s digital library and store would get free access to 20 percent of any book and be able to pay to read the rest. Every library in America would be able to offer free, full access to Google’s library at one terminal. And universities would be able to purchase access to the entire collection. Revenue would be split among Google, authors and publishers. Even before the agreement was signed last October, however, opposition began to brew. Harvard University, which along with a few other libraries had been invited to participate in some of the negotiations, withdrew. A few months later, Robert Darnton, head of the university’s library system, wrote an impassioned attack on the deal in The New York Review of Books. Around the same time, Pamela Samuelson, a respected Internet law and copyright expert at the University of California, Berkeley, convened a meeting of concerned scholars who began spreading the word at universities. At a conference at Columbia Law School in March, the outlines of the opposition began to emerge. Critics said the deal would grant Google quasi-exclusive rights to commercialize millions of orphan works, books whose rights holders are unknown or cannot be found. That would make it hard to compete with, potentially leaving Google free to raise prices. Others said the deal turned copyright law on its head by letting Google profit from millions of books unless authors objected. Librarians grew concerned that Google wouldn’t adequately protect their patrons’ privacy. Gail Steinbeck, the daughter-in-law of John Steinbeck, received notice of the settlement shortly before a May deadline for authors to opt out. She thought most authors would not understand it. “When I saw this come through, just a few weeks before the deadline, I flipped out,” said Ms. Steinbeck, who along with her husband has been involved in a legal fight over the rights to some of John Steinbeck’s works. Ms. Steinbeck quickly sent a letter to several influential authors laying out her fears. “It would be a shame to have to go back to Congress and/or the courts in a few years to ask them to split up a monopoly, when we have the chance to stop it in its tracks right now,” she wrote. As a result, a group of authors that included the musician Arlo Guthrie asked the court for a four-month extension, which was granted. The delay proved crucial, as it gave time for opponents to get organized, leading to a veritable deluge of last-minute filings. Lawrence Lessig, an Internet scholar and professor at Harvard Law School, said Google’s belief that its actions and motives were misunderstood reminded him of a frustration that permeated Microsoft in the 1990s. “I’ve seen these big powerful companies filled with people who drank the Kool-Aid,” said Professor Lessig, who initially supported Google’s scanning but later came to oppose the settlement. “I really get the sense in which these people feel they are doing good. But I am always surprised by their failure to recognize how they will be perceived outside.” Mr. Drummond said Google anticipated that a deal so sweeping would generate criticism. He said support for it was far broader than the opposition, noting that the guild and the publishers association represented a large portion of the American book industry. “The benefits far outweigh any of these criticisms that are being made, many of which are quite theoretical,” Mr. Drummond said. “We have a good process now for taking into account some of the objections.” He added: “The fact that there are some critics doesn’t mean you should be paralyzed and not do something that provides value.”

Google Book Search
Google Inc
Justice Department
Authors Guild
Assn of American Publishers
Books and Literature
Computers and the Internet


Financial Crisis Spreads to Emerging Nations

Abstract: SEOUL, South Korea — As the global financial crisis has unfolded, many South Koreans feel they are reliving a nightmare. South Korean stock markets and currency have dropped more than 30 percent since last summer as foreign investors have fled in droves. Rating agencies have raised concerns about the health of the nation’s banks. The problems are a chilling echo of a decade ago, when the Korean currency and economy collapsed during the Asian financial crisis. They are also a microcosm of the challenges many emerging markets are facing in the current turmoil, underscoring the vulnerability of even larger developing economies like South Korea to sudden tremors in global finance. Once again, the Asian economic powerhouse appears threatened by an international financial contagion that began elsewhere. Last time, it started with the Thai baht. This time, the crisis began on Wall Street and has already claimed less wealthy countries like Iceland and Ukraine. Many South Koreans complain that their economy is vulnerable to Western market panic and destabilization because it is more transparent and open to foreign capital than those of neighboring Japan and China, who have so far survived the credit crisis unscathed. “We are collateral damage in a crisis that is not our doing,” said Park Yung-chul, a professor of international finance at Korea University in Seoul. “We live in an unfair world.” They are not the only ones. Emerging markets around the globe have come under simultaneous pressure from the financial tsunami that started in the United States mortgage market. South Korea’s vulnerability is an indication that the global financial crisis has reached a new level. Unlike Iceland, South Korea is a major industrial power, whose $960 billion economy was the 13th-largest in the world last year Economists have been hoping that demand from South Korea and Asian neighbors like China and India could replace some of the lost global demand from slowdowns in the United States and Europe. The biggest concern is that the global credit crisis could cripple South Korea’s banks, which rely more heavily on overseas borrowing than China’s or Japan’s. As global credit markets have dried up, South Korean banks have scrambled to find dollars to repay maturing foreign-currency loans. Woori Bank, one of South Korea’s largest lenders, suddenly found itself unable to borrow dollars after last month’s collapse of Lehman, a bank executive said. Dealers in the bank’s trading room made frantic calls to big foreign banks seeking fresh loans, only to be told bluntly “no,” said Jung Hyun-jin, an executive vice president in the bank’s financing market business unit. Worse, foreign banks refused to roll over many existing loans, forcing Woori to repay them as they came due, also in dollars. With the bank using as much as $280 million of precious foreign currency a week, Woori has stayed liquid thanks to dollar loans from the government, which has pumped tens of billions into banks, Mr. Jung said. Recently, the crunch has begun to ease slightly, with some European banks like Deutsche Bank once again lending dollars to Woori, he said. “International banks, because of their own problems, won’t lend to us,” Mr. Jung said. “We don’t face a solvency problem. We face a liquidity problem.” Last Sunday, the government responded by pledging more than $100 billion in loan guarantees and an infusion of $30 billion in American dollars to prop up the Korean banking system. The government said the additional liquidity should help Korean banks repay or roll over the banks’ $80 billion in foreign currency loans that will come due by June 2009. “The money will buy us breathing room,” said Lee Dong-gull, president of the Korea Institute of Finance, a banking industry research center, speaking of Sunday’s move. “But there will not be a fundamental solution until we can find new sources of foreign currency funding.” The long-term fear is of the effects of a global slowdown on South Korea’s exports, and a trade deficit — the first since the Asian financial crisis. Some economists fear the deficit could also drain South Korea’s formidable foreign currency reserves. Foreign investors have been leaving South Korea since subprime problems first hit last year. In the first six months of this year, net foreign direct investment in South Korea turned negative for the first time since 1980, when such figures started being kept, as foreign investors withdrew a net $886 million, according to the Bank of Korea. Many blame South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, for failing to send a strong signal of government support for banks earlier in the crisis. Earlier this month, Mr. Lee called for South Koreans to reduce energy consumption and exchange their dollars for won, prompting some loyal citizens to line up at banks with dollars in hand, but reinforcing the image abroad that Seoul was unable to come up with a more effective response. One nightmare scenario has been the image of South Korea once again seeking outside help, as it did in 1998 when the International Monetary Fund led a bailout of the country. But with signs now emerging that the month-long global crunch may finally be easing, many economists are confident the country will pull through on its own power. Indeed, economists said the nation’s banks are much better able to weather a recession than they were in 1998. They say the real problem is that developing economies do not have the same access to emergency sources of foreign currency funding that the United States and a few developed countries have, and are thus left unfairly to the mercies of global financial markets. “We thought that sitting on a quarter of a trillion dollars in reserves would be enough to make us okay,” said Dr. Park of Korea University. “Boy, were we wrong.”

Currency
International Trade and World Market
US Dollar (Currency)
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Economic Conditions and Trends
Foreign Investments
South Korea


Mets’ Johan Santana Probably Out for the Season

Abstract: PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Johan Santana will be making $25.5 million in the sixth and final year of his enormous contract with the Mets. But it is highly unlikely that he will throw a pitch for the club this season and it is unclear if he will pitch again in the major leagues. Instead, the 34-year-old Santana, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, will probably spend the season rehabilitating a new tear in his pitching shoulder, which Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson disclosed in a conference call Thursday evening. The injury, a recurrence of the issue that led him to miss all of the 2011 season, adds an unhappy final chapter to his time with the Mets. The team acquired him in a trade with the Minnesota Twins in the winter of 2008, signed him to a $137.5 million contract — the remainder of which Alderson said was not insured — and then watched as physical ailments began to cut into his effectiveness after a strong first season in Queens. To some degree, the announcement was not a big surprise because Santana had reported weakness in his pitching shoulder since arriving at spring training. He had not pitched in a single exhibition game and, under the best-case picture, was not expected to pitch in the regular season until late April or late May. Now it appears he will not pitch at all. “I’m not a doctor nor am I a medical historian,” Alderson said in the conference call, “but these injuries are very difficult to recover from after one surgery, and I don’t know the history of recovering from a second.” Alderson said Santana had flown to New York on Wednesday to consult with Dr. David Altchek, the Mets’ team physician, who performed a magnetic resonance imaging exam on Santana’s left shoulder and concluded that he had retorn the anterior capsule. Alderson said that Altchek, at the request of Santana’s agent, Peter Greenberg, then reviewed the M.R.I. with two prominent sports orthopedists — Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Lewis Yocum — and that both had agreed with Altchek’s assessment. Alderson said Santana would remain in New York over the weekend as he decided his next step. “A second surgery is a strong possibility,” Alderson said. Santana had hoped to represent Venezuela in March in the World Baseball Classic but encountered a succession of negative developments once he reported to camp. At one point, in early March, Alderson even questioned if Santana had reported to camp in proper shape. The comment did not sit well with Santana, who, perhaps unwisely, threw a bullpen session to try to prove a point. Alderson spent part of Thursday’s conference call trying to clarify how everything had deteriorated so quickly. Image The Mets' Johan Santana had reported weakness in his pitching shoulder ever since reporting to spring training and had not pitched in a single exhibition game. Credit Bill Kostroun/Associated Press “We don’t know when it happened or how it happened,” he said, “but we do know that at some point the symptoms worsened.” Asked if the bullpen session might have contributed to the new diagnosis, Alderson said, “We just don’t have facts.” The disclosure is more of a blow to Santana, who had been thought of as a potential Hall of Famer, than it is to the Mets, who did not have great ambitions for the 2013 season and were not counting on Santana to propel them into the postseason. The Mets are looking to turn things around in 2014, with a core of young players that was clearly not going to include Santana. If he does not pitch again for the Mets, Santana will be remembered for two games. The most recent came last June, when he pitched the first no-hitter in the team’s history. But it was a bittersweet accomplishment because he was forced to throw 134 pitches to get through nine innings, substantially more than the Mets wanted him to throw at that point in the wake of his first shoulder surgery. After that game, Manager Terry Collins expressed misgivings about what harm might have been done, and his instincts might have been correct. In the 10 games he started after the no-hitter, Santana had an earned run average of 8.28, and he was eventually shut down for the season. Santana’s other standout effort came in the next-to-last game of the 2008 season, his first in New York, when the Mets were in the process of collapsing for the second September in a row. Against the Marlins, with his team reeling, Santana pitched a three-hit, 2-0 shutout. The victory temporarily drew the Mets even in the wild-card standings, although they proceeded to lose the next day, finishing out of the postseason. It turned out that Santana pitched the game against the Marlins with a torn meniscus in his left knee. That injury was easily repaired. His damaged shoulder, however, is a different story. The Mets have one more vacancy to address in a starting rotation that now leans heavily on two young pitchers: Jon Niese and Matt Harvey. Dillon Gee still has to prove he is capable after having surgery last season for a blood clot in his pitching shoulder, and Shaun Marcum, acquired in the off-season, is sidelined with a neck ailment. “We’ll just have to see,” said Alderson, which is about all he could say at the end of one more sobering day for his team.


Argentina: Stiff Sentences for 10 in Retrial of Human Trafficking Case

Abstract: A court handed down sentences of 10 to 22 years in prison on Tuesday to 10 defendants accused of kidnapping and forcing into prostitution a young woman whose disappearance raised global awareness about human trafficking. The search for the woman, Marita Veron, continues, but after two trials, her mother, Susana Trimarco, said she was satisfied with the verdict. She said she and others had “achieved a bit of justice for Marita and for all the girls.” The court heard the case after a new trial was ordered. All the defendants had been found not guilty in the first trial. Two brothers, Jose and Gonzalo Gomez, received 22 years each for kidnapping Ms. Veron. The others received lesser sentences. All but one are being jailed pending appeals.


Yum Brands Sets Plan for Transition at Taco Bell

Abstract: Yum Brands said on Tuesday that an insider, Brian Niccol, would take the helm of Taco Bell, its thriving Mexican fast-food chain. Mr. Niccol will replace Greg Creed, Taco Bell’s current chief executive, next year, when Mr. Creed will become chief executive of Yum. “He is a dynamic leader who genuinely cares about this brand, its people and the culture of the organization,” Mr. Creed said in a statement. “He has a proven track record and the necessary vision to deliver our growth objectives.” Most recently, Mr. Niccol oversaw the introduction of a breakfast menu at Taco Bell that has quickly become known for using real men named Ronald McDonald to promote it, a not-so-subtle jab at McDonald’s and its clown spokesman. Image Greg Creed, Taco Bell’s current chief, will take over its parent company, Yum Brands. Credit Lori Shepler/Reuters The chain is already adding another menu item to its breakfast lineup, a morning version of its Quesarito: a cheesy quesadilla wrapped burrito-style around scrambled eggs to which sausage, bacon or steak can be added. In an interview with Nation’s Restaurant News, a trade publication, Mr. Niccol said the Quesarito, tested in Oklahoma City in a version with meat, cheese and rice, was “a killer product.” Mr. Creed’s move was announced earlier this month. He will be replacing David C. Novak, whose tenure of more than a decade as Yum’s chief executive saw the company grow explosively. Mr. Creed oversaw the introduction of the Doritos Locos Tacos, in the largest product introduction in the company’s history, and inaugurated the Cantina Bell menu of healthier options in partnership with the chef Lorena Garcia. He inherits the company as KFC, another Yum property, is still working to regain momentum it lost in China, where concerns over bird flu put a dent in sales. The fried chicken chain’s United States business also has stumbled, surpassed this year by Chick-fil-A. The company also is experimenting with new, upscale chicken and Mexican restaurants, as well as the use of technology to improve sales and service.

Taco Bell
Yum Brands
Brian Niccol
Appointments and Executive Changes
Greg Creed


Maryland: Councilman Recants Threat to Sue Newspaper

Abstract: An elected county official who threatened to sue a newspaper for publishing his name dropped that threat Wednesday after his angry Facebook post generated an avalanche of mocking messages on social media. Kirby Delauter, a Republican Frederick County councilman, achieved Internet notoriety on Tuesday after telling a Frederick News-Post reporter in a Facebook post: “Use my name again unauthorized and you’ll be paying for an attorney.” Mr. Delauter said on Wednesday that his threat “was wrong and inappropriate.” His Facebook post resulted in a sarcastic editorial response from the newspaper, with the headline: “Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter.”

Kirby Delauter
Frederick MD
Social Media
Newspaper
News media,journalism


Group of Players Plans Removal of Upshaw

Abstract: Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover has proposed a plan to replace the N.F.L. union chief Gene Upshaw by next spring, when the union will most likely be engaged in critical negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. Stover, in an e-mail message sent to the union’s executive board and the player representatives, and obtained by ESPN, cited a conference call with other player representatives last week, saying he was not the only one who felt the time was right for change. “I feel that the board must begin to prepare for a change in leadership immediately,” Stover said in the e-mail message. “I believe we have the proper environment with our teammates and leadership within the board to execute the process of this selection.” Upshaw’s contract runs through 2010. Although he has been the target of criticism by retired and disabled players, Stover’s proposal probably faces an uphill battle. Upshaw has the support of many players because of his success in negotiating the union’s most recent contract extension. Owners agreed to give the players 60 percent of revenue two years ago, and are so unhappy with the deal that they are expected to opt out of it in November. That would trigger another round of negotiations. And next March, when Stover proposes to have a new executive director in place, could be a critical juncture, because it would be the start of what would be the final uncapped season under the current contract. If no new deal is negotiated, the 2010 season would be played without a salary cap. “Matt Stover’s letter does not reflect the view of the entire executive committee or the board of player representatives,” Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae, the newly elected president of the players union, said in a statement. “The board is in the process of preparing for the possibility of a work stoppage and understands the importance of having Gene, with his experience and history, lead the direction of the N.F.L.P.A.” Upshaw did not return a phone message and e-mail messages seeking comment. In a statement released through the Ravens, Stover expressed regret that his e-mail message had been made public. “I’m going to respect the process of our union leadership, executive committee and players reps,” the statement said. “I choose to handle this matter privately. It was certainly not my intention for my private e-mail to a select group to become public.”


Lassie as Salesdog: One More Trip to the Well

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — Maybe it was the three publicists in tow. Maybe her hairdo was wilting under the hot television lights. Maybe a dog, even a showbiz one, was just not meant to be a meteorologist. Whatever the reason, Lassie seemed unfocused as the cameras rolled last month at KTTV, the Fox affiliate here. Booked to help give the weather report, she woofed off cue and let loose a torrent of drool. “I’m not sure,” a Fox anchor said as the segment ended, “but I think Lassie is annoyed.” No matter. The publicists cooed their approval, deciding that the appearance had done its job: Lassie had inched a bit closer to a comeback. “Good work, gorgeous,” said one of the public relations people, Ame Van Iden, giving her client a pat on the snout. How does Hollywood teach an old dog new tricks? Pay attention, Toto, because DreamWorks Animation, which gained control of the faded Lassie brand in 2012, has unleashed the comeback campaign to end all comeback campaigns. Initially flummoxed about what to do with a treasured but outdated symbol of Americana, the studio is now convinced that a simple collie can still resonate in a Grumpy Cat world. Image “Lassie is much bigger in person,” Ryan Seacrest said when the dog appeared on his radio show. Credit Sadao Turner/Ryan Seacrest Enterprises Studios typically revive old characters with new movies. But DreamWorks Animation dismissed that idea, aware that Lassie’s rural escapades would have little relevance for viewers now keen on explosions, aliens and superheroes. Instead, the studio decided that the best hope for making money from Lassie was to make her a merchandising star, and it turned to a suitably old-fashioned tactic to prepare an onslaught of products next year: the publicity stunt. And so Lassie’s calendar this summer has been filled with coast-to-coast appearances. Vanity Fair recently agreed to do a story about Lassie’s beauty regimen. (“She’s like the Kate Middleton of animals, all poise and perfect hair,” the publication said.) The collie’s new publicists brought her to People magazine to make a video ; Lassie helped select cover photos and sat patiently while accessories editors draped her with jewelry. “Unlike everyone else in Hollywood, Lassie is much bigger in person,” Ryan Seacrest told listeners when the dog stopped by his radio show. Slick promotion is a Hollywood specialty, of course, even for hard-to-sell products (like bad films). But DreamWorks Animation has a lot riding on the furry back of this 76-year-old character. The studio, which has lost money for the last two quarters, is scrambling to expand into merchandising to make itself less dependent on volatile movie releases. Experts say that in success, Lassie could generate tens of millions in added revenue. “Our ambitions are global,” said Michael R. Francis, DreamWorks Animation’s chief brand officer, “dog food, dog accessories, dog grooming, dog beds, dog training,” targeted mainly at adults. None of these planned Lassie products are available right now, but the studio says deals for all of them are in the works. Image Lassie appeared with Maria Quiban on KTTV in Los Angeles. Credit KTTV Resuscitating the character is such a priority that even Jeffrey Katzenberg, the studio’s chief executive, is working the phones. He called Harvey Weinstein and persuaded him to put Lassie on a coming episode of “ Project Runway .” Mr. Katzenberg has also pitched the dog for a guest spot on “The Amazing Race.” “There is nothing Lassie can’t do,” he said. (Well, except certain things unbecoming to a V.I.P. One tip: Do not ask Lassie to fetch.) The character — based on a real pet collie, Toots — first appeared in 1938 in The Saturday Evening Post, or in dog time, 532 years ago. The movie “Lassie Come Home” arrived in 1943. A 1954 CBS series, “Lassie,” became the third-longest-running prime-time drama in history at 19 seasons, behind “Gunsmoke” and “Law & Order.” But Lassie has been in rough shape lately. Before arriving at DreamWorks Animation as part of a $155 million character library acquisition , the brand was tossed around and had two other owners in a dozen years. The 2006 film “Lassie” took in only $652,163 in North America. Unsure of how best to freshen the musty franchise, the studio commissioned market research, which to its delight found that Lassie retained an 83 percent “brand awareness” among Americans; words like “loyal,” “hero” and “heartwarming” were most often associated with the character. Image Style editors at People used Lassie to decide which accessories to feature in the magazine during the collie’s “internship” there. Credit People.com “We realized that Lassie has an authenticity that makes her a merchandising holy grail,” Mr. Francis said. He should know: Before joining DreamWorks Animation in 2013, Mr. Francis was in charge of marketing for Target, where he was responsible for creating Bullseye , the retailer’s white bull terrier-cum-salesdog. There are no plans for a new Lassie movie or TV series. Mr. Francis said the brand studies convinced him that such endeavors were not needed. Filmed entertainment is also expensive, and the character would have to be updated, though perhaps not to the point of wearing a cape. “I would love to believe that modern children would sit down and watch lovely Lassie frolic with Timmy in the meadow,” said Jeanine Basinger, a film historian. “But I fear they would get awfully bored unless she turned into a superdog that blows things up, and that would be sacrilege.” “Lassie was always a bit of an acting lightweight anyway,” Ms. Basinger added. The current Lassie is the 10th in a family line. Trademarks require four white feet and a white blaze up the nose, and makeup is never used, although Max Factor did make a toupee for a balding 1960s-era Lassie. (The dog also suffers from gender confusion; for size reasons, among others, “she” is always played by a rather manly collie. Ahem.) Charities are an important part of the bid to bring back Lassie. DreamWorks Animation asked the Best Friends Animal Society and Save the Children to name Lassie an animal ambassador. Julie Castle, chief marketing officer for Best Friends, a group that advocates no-kill animal shelters, signed up immediately. Image Lassie at a tornado safety rally held in Moore, Okla., in May. Credit Brett Deering/Global Assignment by Getty Images “Lassie is a national treasure,” Ms. Castle said. Save the Children, focused on youngsters in disaster zones and developing countries, was more cautious. Would children even recognize Lassie? Erin Bradshaw, a senior director, said reservations evaporated when the dog appeared at Oklahoma tornado safety rallies in May. “They knew her right away,” Ms. Bradshaw said. “I was as surprised as anybody.” Each stunt is carefully vetted. Should the studio have Lassie catch a ball at a Dodgers game? No, too risky. The appearance on KTTV’s “Good Day L.A.” was meticulously planned. A week before the live broadcast, Ms. Van Iden, the publicist, emailed the show’s talent booker. “Things Lassie can do,” she wrote in all capital letters. Item one: “She can sit in a chair.” A shot from the dressing room was another option. “She could be lying/sitting on the couch, either looking like she’s napping or sitting alertly,” Ms. Van Iden wrote. When Lassie arrived, the KTTV weather forecaster, Maria Quiban, suggested some ad-libbing. But the publicists nixed that idea. “Oh, fine, we’ll stick with the talking points,” Ms. Quiban said. “You celebrities are all alike.”

DreamWorks Animation SKG
Dog
advertising,marketing
Animated Films


Tigers Make Last Mistake as the Twins Edge Closer

Abstract: DETROIT — Justin Verlander ascended the four dugout steps and ran to the mound before each inning Tuesday night. He was eager to pitch, eager to help the Detroit Tigers feel confident again. Not only was Verlander the first Tiger on the field, he was also the most important Tiger on the field. With one effective performance, Verlander relaxed a fragile team and calmed a concerned city. He squeezed through a sticky situation in the eighth inning and powered the Tigers to a 6-5 win in the second game of a day-night doubleheader at Comerica Park. For now, the Tigers can exhale. If Verlander had faltered and allowed the resilient Twins to sneak past the Tigers, the teams would have been tied for first place in the American League Central. Instead, the Tigers, who lost the opener, 3-2 in 10 innings, ended the day the way they had started it: clinging to a two-game lead. For the Tigers, winning one game was a relief. As much as they are trying to outlast the Twins, they are also trying to run out the schedule while hanging on to first place. Both teams have five games left. The team that wins the division will play the Yankees in the division series. In the eighth inning of the nightcap, Manager Jim Leyland marched to the mound with the potential tying run on second base and two outs. Since Verlander had thrown 125 pitches, the presumption was that Leyland would remove him. But he told Verlander, “Go get ’em,” and left. Verlander retired Michael Cuddyer to preserve the one-run lead. It was the biggest out of the Tigers’ season. “He’s our horse,” Leyland said. “He had to be out there.” Verlander fluctuated between glancing at Leyland and the bullpen because he was unsure if he would be replaced. Before Verlander uttered a word, Leyland gave a pep talk and bolted. The fans roared because Verlander did not budge. “That meant a whole lot,” Verlander said. “Obviously, this series, this year, means a lot to this city. It all kind of came together right there. They knew the situation. They’re very knowledgeable fans, they’re great fans. They got me a little fired up.” After Detroit lost the first game, the loudest sounds in the clubhouse were of forks clicking against plates of food. Leyland said he planned to smoke cigarettes and watch television between games, not offer any inspiring words. “I tell them to go to Wendy’s, do whatever they want,” Leyland said. “Say a prayer? Have a meeting? It’s September. There’s five days to go.” All Leyland really had to tell his players was to follow Verlander’s lead. Let our best pitcher guide us, fellas, Leyland could have said between drags on a cigarette. That was what the Tigers needed and it was what Verlander supplied. “This is what baseball is all about,” Verlander said. “We’re here at the end of September. We’re in the driver’s seat a little bit. The Twins are playing catchup, not the other way around. We’re where we want to be.” The Yankees had scouts here monitoring the Twins and the Tigers. When the scouts file their report on Verlander, it will be intimidating: He challenges hitters with a fastball that reached 99 miles per hour. He has a knee-buckling curveball that he will throw at any time and a nifty changeup. He is aggressive, and he is fearless. And, by the way, he could be extra dangerous pitching twice in a five-game series. Still, after the Tigers used Miguel Cabrera’s solo homer, a two-run double by Magglio Ordonez and a two-run single by Brandon Inge to snatch a 5-0 lead off Brian Duensing, the Twins rallied against Verlander. The Twins scored two runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth. Verlander retired Cuddyer to end both threats. He struck out eight, walked none and allowed four runs in eight innings. Curtis Granderson’s homer in the eighth boosted Detroit’s lead to 6-4. It was a vital run because Granderson misplayed a ball in center field to help the Twins score a run in the ninth. The undermanned Twins are the epitome of a small-ball team. They bunt, they hit-and-run, and they try to manufacture runs because they are not laden with talent. But that strategy burned the Twins when they botched an attempted squeeze play in the ninth inning of the first game. One inning later, the Tigers outdid the bungling Twins. Detroit reliever Brandon Lyon threw two wild pitches that led to the go-ahead run and enabled Minnesota to scoot to a 3-2 victory. Afterward, Joe Mauer, the Twins’ catcher, said the pressure had shifted to the Tigers. But Verlander, who was sleeping at home when the first game began, dumped it back on the Twins. Lyon’s wild pitches allowed Denard Span to go from first to third. Orlando Cabrera singled to give the Twins a 2-1 lead, and Delmon Young’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1. Granderson homered off Joe Nathan in the bottom of the 10th, but the Tigers fell one run short. As exasperated as the Tigers and their fans were after the loss, Verlander relaxed everyone — a city and a team — a few hours later.


Brief Relief, but No Cure for Carmakers From Clunker Plan

Abstract: DETROIT — The government’s cash-for-clunkers program provided a short-term bonanza for automakers but will not have a lasting effect on an industry mired in its worst sales slump in 25 years. While the program helped sell an estimated 700,000 new cars in less than five weeks, one analyst suggested that only about 200,000 of those were additional sales that would not have been made otherwise. Analysts expect the traffic in showrooms to slow considerably once the program ends on Monday. By Friday, some auto dealers were already suspending the promotion or saying they would do so this weekend because of backlogs and related problems processing the last-minute surge from consumers. The demand from the program instantly revved up industry sales to their highest levels since last fall. Even after tallying the benefits, though, car companies will sell fewer than 11 million new vehicles this year in the United States, a major decline from the 16 million sold in 2007. Automakers are under no illusion that recent traffic portends a sustained recovery for their business any time soon. “We are going into the next couple of months with our eyes wide open,” said George Pipas, chief market analyst for the Ford Motor Company. “Our view is that we will come down off this sales pace pretty quickly.” The popularity of the clunker program caught government officials, manufacturers and dealers by surprise. Initial funding of $1 billion was exhausted just days after the program kicked off in late July, prompting the Obama administration to hastily add another $2 billion. “This was a sweet little spurt of sales, but it’s hard to imagine it will have any lasting impact,” said Rebecca Lindland of the research firm IHS Global Insight. Ms. Lindland said the clunker initiative will make a miserable sales year a trifle better. Her firm had been predicting sales of 9.8 million new cars this year, but recently increased its forecast to 10.3 million. Some of the sales, she said, were simply pulled forward by the extraordinary deals offered by the program. “We are taking out a few hundred thousand vehicles that we expected would sell next year,” she said. “It may even pull forward some sales from 2011 and 2012.” Given the dismal state of auto sales before the program, the Obama administration is calling the cash-for-clunker program an unqualified success. On Thursday, the transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, pronounced the program a “lifeline to the automobile industry” and “the best economic news story in America.” But the program was essentially a huge, government-subsidized sales promotion. Consumers were given up to $4,500 to trade in older, gas-guzzling models and buy newer, more fuel-efficient models. The auto companies could not afford to offer that kind of sales incentive on their own. General Motors and Chrysler, both of which are subsisting on government loans, would have been particularly hard-pressed to finance such an expensive program. Carmakers have stirred up demand in the past with creative deals like zero-percent financing and employee discounts for the general public. Those programs also bolster demand, but it falls off substantially when the deals end. “Any time we get one of these big surges in demand, it’s usually followed by a period when sales are not so strong,” said Mr. Pipas. There do appear to be some positive, residual effects from the cash-for-clunker program. The vehicles that consumers chose to buy under the program were some of the most fuel-efficient models on the market. Cars like the Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Toyota Prius were scooped up quickly, an encouraging sign given that most automakers are planning to bring more small cars out soon. Also, some consumers who had been primarily used-car buyers entered the new-car market. Ms. Lindland said that at least 200,000 of the program’s participants would probably not have bought a new model any time soon without the government assistance. About 15 percent of the cars replaced gas-guzzlers driven by people aged 16 to 22, according to the firm CNW Marketing Research. “That’s important, because enticing younger consumers into showrooms is essential for growth,” said Art Spinella, CNW’s president. The program did test the government’s abilities to process the rush of deals, and car dealers may have to wait weeks before being reimbursed for many of the transactions. One big chain of dealerships, Group 1 Automotive, stopped selling vehicles through the program at several of its showrooms on Friday because of paperwork backlogs. “The system, for all intents and purposes, crashed,” said Peter DeLongchamps, a vice president of Houston-based Group 1. Other dealers have expressed concern about financial problems resulting from the long wait for government checks. In Atlanta, a salesman at World Toyota said the dealership stopped making sales on Thursday because of worries about getting reimbursed. But showrooms are expected to be mobbed this weekend by consumers hoping to take advantage of the program before it expires at 8 p.m. Monday. “If nothing else, the summer hasn’t been quite so much of a downer,” said Ms. Lindland. “This has been the one bright spot in a year that has been shockingly bad.”

Automobiles
Car Allowance Rebate System
United States Economy
Transportation Department
Rebates


New York Dockworkers Take Wry View of Waterfront Commission Scandal

Abstract: For those who work on the New York waterfront, ministering to the big ships that plow into the harbor, a certain unflattering image accompanies the job. The equation that tends to define the spicy character of the place is simple: the waterfront = corruption. The latest scandal to wash over the docks, though, prompted not embarrassment or anger, but a kind of jovial gratitude from many dockworkers. As word spread about a blistering report charging pervasive lawlessness inside the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor , the watchdog charged with rooting out mob-driven corruption on the piers, the dockworkers couldn’t help but, well, chuckle. Finally, it wasn’t about them. The supposedly good guys were getting the treatment. Under leaden gray skies at the Red Hook Marine Terminal in Brooklyn, dockworkers loading cargo containers onto a ship bound for Central America were having a good, gruff time with the development. “I find it funny,” said Nick Angilletta, 31, a longshoreman who works in ships’ holds and has spent six years on the docks. “It’s absolutely funny.” As to what would lead the agency to become corrupt, he said: “I think they learned and then they decided to do it themselves. It’s like it rubbed off on them.” Red Hook is fabled dockworker territory, not necessarily for inspirational reasons. The mob violence and union corruption that long defined the piers were part of the underpinnings of the classic 1954 movie “On the Waterfront.” Mr. Angilletta said he would not know about any of that shady gangster stuff. “You hear the stories,” he said. “You don’t know. I don’t know of any fancy guys coming here with fancy loafers. We come to work dirty and leave dirty.” Phil Felice, 62, a superintendent who has been on the docks for 35 years, said of the report on the commission, “When I saw it on the news, I said to my wife, ‘Look at this, isn’t that a joke!’ ” The way he and other dockworkers saw it, maybe, just maybe, this would soften some of the smug feelings about the longshoremen and redirect them toward the regulators. Or, then again, maybe it would just compound things. Because if you work the waterfront, you live under suspicious eyes. “You can be the straightest guy in the world and as soon as you say to someone you meet that you work on the waterfront, they look at you funny,” Mr. Felice said. “When I was raising my kids, I’d go to a hockey game and the parents start talking about what they do and I’d say I work on the waterfront and they’d back away. You’d get a look like ‘Uh-oh.’ At one point, I would lie and say I’m in the import-export business.” Sal Lubrano, 39, a foreman, was barking orders as longshoremen loaded containers with the big gantry cranes. When the walkie-talkie stopped chirping, he said: “It’s kind of ironic, to tell the truth. It was always the workers that got the bad name. If the Waterfront Commission was doing what they say they were doing, that’s ridiculous.” He didn’t feel compelled to gloat. “It’s a shame,” he said. “Bad stuff about the waterfront depresses you after a while. Let me do what I have to do to raise my family.” He adores the waterfront. He lives six blocks away. “My father, grandfather, uncle all were longshoremen,” he said. “My father raised four kids off the industry. It’s not a job that everyone wants. We work in the snow and the sleet. I’ve always said the post office doesn’t have anything on the waterfront.” The Waterfront Commission is not beloved among dockworkers. They spoke of how their complaints to the commission would enter black holes. They spoke of arrogant inspectors who strutted around the piers, checking licenses for no good reason, making the longshoremen feel small. So few of the longshoremen felt pity when they learned that investigators concluded that the commission employed patronage in hiring spectacularly unqualified candidates as detectives, hid a convicted felon’s ownership of a company that operated on the waterfront, misused federal antiterrorism grants and stopped doing background checks on longshoremen and stevedoring companies. Conoka Brown, a driver on the docks for more than nine years, and Juan Velasquez, 38, a checker with eight years, ate their lunch inside one of the beat-up sheds where workers take breaks. “I feel good,” Ms. Brown said about the uncovering of the commission scandal. “I thought they were corrupt.” She does not like commission detectives. She said they would come around and ask to see her badge when they already knew who she was. “Then they’d always pull their jacket back to make sure you saw their gun,” she said. “I do find it amusing,” said Mr. Velasquez. “Sooner or later they were going to get caught. I wasn’t surprised. Anyone who has worked down here for more than one day is not surprised.” Nicky Vitale, 36, who goes by Slic, is a laborer in the warehouse. He let the news run through his mind and simmer a moment. Then he had an idea that to him explained how regulators could go astray: “When you dig into something and see’s there’s money there, then you take it. Who’s anyone going to turn to if you’re the ones in charge? When you put a fat kid in a candy store, they’re going to eat. They’re going to pig out.” You think this way on the waterfront. How can you not? All the old-timers know stories. They usually have bad endings. It’s the waterfront.” Keith Simmons, 41, a driver, said the mess made him angry. “Come on, now they’ll need to find an agency to oversee the overseers,” he said. He said this kind of attention was important; you have to have the waterfront. “Things you take for granted, like bananas in the supermarket,” he said. “Well, they come through the waterfront.” Across the harbor on the New Jersey docks, longshoremen were feeling chipper. They didn’t much care for the commission, either. Robert Dickey, 49, an equipment operator at Global Terminal in Bayonne, who wore a T-shirt that read “Troublemaker,” said the news gave him “immense pleasure.” Eric Hayden, 40, who works at the Port Newark Container Terminal, summed it up: “As you can see with the state of affairs in New Jersey, this stuff is prevalent.” In Red Hook, the ship was loaded. Rain spattered down. Most of the dockworkers were done. They could leave the waterfront.


Sunni Tribesmen Say ISIS Exacts Brutal Revenge

Abstract: Islamic State militants have been exacting harsh revenge against an Iraqi Sunni tribe that fought for months to keep the jihadists at bay, capturing and summarily executing scores of its members, tribal leaders and local officials said Thursday. The death toll among the tribe, the Albu Nimr, remains unclear; one account put it at more than 200 based on mass grave sites, though that could not be independently verified. But the reports mesh with the Islamic State’s pattern of methodical slaughter as it has consolidated its territorial grabs in Syria and Iraq. The killings also came amid meetings between Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Sunni tribal leaders to discuss how to enlist more tribes in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. American and Iraqi officials have said that it is vital to get more Iraqi Sunnis to cooperate with the government, after widespread hostility to the previous Shiite-led administration led many Sunnis to welcome the Islamic State’s advance in Iraq. But plans to formally incorporate Sunni tribes into the fight have been slow to develop, and many tribes that have resisted the Islamic State have faced brutal retribution from the militants. Members of the Albu Nimr tribe fought for months to keep the Islamic State from entering their area, near the Anbar Province town of Hit, about 90 miles west of Baghdad, according to tribal leaders. But with no support coming from outside, resupply was difficult, and tribal fighters and police officers were badly outgunned by the Islamic State, which captured many heavy weapons from armories in Syria and Iraq. The jihadists finally conquered Hit this month , and have since expanded their control of nearby areas. Each time the Islamic State seized an area, residents said, its fighters made a point of hunting down police officers or members of the Iraqi Army who had helped in the fight. Iraqi Army Retakes Government Complex in Central Ramadi Efforts to stem the rise of the Islamic State. “Anyone who was in the state, in the government or the security forces, is their enemy,” said Jalal al-Gaood, a tribal leader and businessman based in Jordan. If those targeted by the group had already fled, the jihadists would blow up their homes. “That sends a message to everyone else that this is what is coming for you,” Mr. Gaood said. One tribe member, Sabah al-Haditheh, said the Albu Nimr had called for military help and arms support from the government in Baghdad but had received nothing. “We put the responsibility on the government because they didn’t respond,” he said. “We were fighting ISIS with rifles, and it was fighting us with heavy machine guns.” A spokesman for Mr. Abadi’s office, Rafid Jaboori, said he could not comment on whether the tribe had asked for support. But he said that Mr. Abadi had met with Sunni tribal leaders several times in the past 10 days to discuss how they could be integrated into the fight against the Islamic State. “People are of course horrified at what happened,” Mr. Jaboori said. “But the easiest thing is to blame the government.” More than 40 members of the Albu Nimr were lined up and executed with gunshots to the head in Hit on Wednesday alone, according to Naem al-Gaood, a tribal sheikh related to Jalal al-Gaood. Video A look at how governments around the world have been dealing with citizens turning jihadists. Credit Credit Reuters In a photo circulated online by Islamic State supporters and said to show the aftermath, dead bodies with deep head wounds lie in line, slumped on a curb. Reports emerged on Thursday of mass graves near Hit and elsewhere in Anbar Province that held the bodies of dozens of other members of the tribe, but photos of the bodies were not released and the reports could not be independently confirmed. Across the border in Syria, Islamic State fighters bragged of executing hundreds of members of the Shueitat tribe this year after it had tried to fight them. And Human Rights Watch said in a report Thursday that the Islamic State had systematically executed about 600 captives after taking over a prison near Mosul in June. The jihadists divided the prisoners by sect and gunned down the mostly Shiite prisoners as they knelt alongside a ravine, the New York-based organization said in the report, which was based on survivor testimonies. Also in June, the Islamic State carried out a similar mass killing of captured soldiers at a palace complex in Tikrit where Saddam Hussein once lived. The barbarity, size and multinational composition of the Islamic State and affiliated groups have increasingly alarmed counterterrorism officials around the world and have become a growing concern at the United Nations. On Thursday, a special Security Council committee that monitors sanctions on designated terrorist groups said in a report that roughly 15,000 fighters from more than 80 countries, including the United States and European Union members, had entered Syria and Iraq in recent months, echoing numbers reported by American intelligence officials last month . The threat is amplified, the report said, by “the very substantial resources now available” to the Islamic State and its “arsenal of modern military hardware.” The report reinforced fears that many of these fighters could return home and create havoc. “Even discounting those who have been killed and those who have returned,” the report said, “this is a problem on an unprecedented scale.”

Iraq
ISIS,ISIL,Islamic State
Sunnis
Haider al-Abadi
Human Rights Watch


Climate Change Protesters Tangle With Police at Wall St.

Abstract: About 100 climate change protesters were arrested on Monday as hundreds marched through the streets of Lower Manhattan, at one point clashing with the police as they tried to push through barricades sealing off Wall Street. Those protesters, some linking arms, had marched two blocks north on Broadway from Bowling Green just after 3:30 p.m. At Wall Street the group turned right, and some marchers began dismantling metal barricades that separated the street and the sidewalk. Police officers rushed to replace the barricades, and the marchers surged forward. For the next 15 minutes a furious shoving match took place as protesters tried to push the barricades over and the police pushed the barricades back into the marchers. Image Many of the demonstrators dressed in blue to symbolize a wave of water — water that could engulf the low-lying streets near the New York Stock Exchange, as it did during Hurricane Sandy. Credit Christian Hansen for The New York Times A few officers punched the hands of marchers gripping the barricades. Then, a burst of pepper spray sent many of the demonstrators reeling backward. The police said three protesters had been arrested by 7 p.m. The bulk of the arrests took place over the next couple of hours, as several dozen protesters ignored orders to disperse and sat in the middle of Broadway. Officers surrounded them as others on the sidewalk chanted, “We believe that we will win.” Then officers began arresting those in the street and leading them away. There were no reports of injuries, the police said. The participants had begun marching late Monday morning from Battery Park to Wall Street to protest the role they say investments in companies with practices that damage the environment play in encouraging climate change. Streaming out of the park, protesters made a sharp turn onto Broadway, and marched north between idling buses and trucks, chanting, “The people are rising, no more compromising.” They stopped just north of Bowling Green, blocking Broadway up to Morris Street. There, they sat down, unfurled a huge banner denouncing capitalism and held a series of meetings as marching bands played. Among those blocking Broadway was Gabriele Romeri from Ossining, N.Y., who said she thought that moneyed interests were creating energy policies at the expense of the public good. Image The police arrested a protester dressed in a polar bear costume. About 100 climate change protesters were arrested on Monday. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times “I think that it is important for the sake of democracy that the people stand up,” she said. “Business is basically running the government.” Many of the demonstrators dressed in blue to symbolize a wave of water — water that could engulf the low-lying streets near the New York Stock Exchange, as the storm surge from the East River and New York Harbor did during Hurricane Sandy. The event, called Flood Wall Street, was planned over months as a sharper and more rebellious corollary to the large-scale climate change march that organizers said drew more than 300,000 people to Midtown on Sunday. The activities on Monday were organized without official permission from the city, and many people taking part said they were willing to be arrested to show their conviction that the economic system encourages investment that is damaging to the environment. Among them was Yates McKee, an art critic from Inwood in Upper Manhattan. “We’re highlighting capitalism as the target,” Mr. McKee said. “Capitalism equals climate chaos.” As the protesters took to the roadways on Monday, blocking vehicles while chanting, dancing and holding meetings, the police appeared to take a restrained role, containing the roving group instead of confronting it directly.

Climate Change
Global Warming
Civil Unrest
Financial District Manhattan
NYPD
Police


Honduran Leader Backs Return of President

Abstract: TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The head of Honduras’s de facto government, Roberto Micheletti , has expressed support for a compromise that would allow the ousted president of his country to return to power, according to officials in the de facto government and diplomats from the region. But the nation is so polarized over the possible return that Mr. Micheletti is reaching out to other regional leaders for help in building support for such a deal, especially among the country’s elite, the officials said. Mr. Micheletti has repeatedly refused to consider the reinstatement of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya. But on Wednesday, the officials said, Mr. Micheletti called President Óscar Arias of Costa Rica, who has tried to mediate a diplomatic solution to the Honduran political crisis, to express his support for a plan Mr. Arias presented. The 12-point plan, known as the San José Accord, would allow Mr. Zelaya to return as president, although with significantly limited powers. The officials said Mr. Micheletti warned President Arias that he had not been able to persuade other parts of the Honduran government, or the leaders of the Honduran business community, to go along with the proposal. So he asked Mr. Arias to consider sending a prominent international political figure to help him stem the fierce opposition. Mr. Micheletti confirmed Wednesday night in a statement that he had asked Mr. Arias to send an international envoy. One of those whom officials mentioned as a possibility was Enrique V. Iglesias, a former president of the Inter-American Development Bank. “Today is an important day,” said one of the officials who spoke about Mr. Micheletti’s call to Mr. Arias. “President Arias essentially has Mr. Micheletti calling to say he thinks the San José Accord is a good framework, but that to make the accord work, he needs help building political support inside the country.” Another official who confirmed the call echoed that sentiment, saying, “This is good news.” The officials requested anonymity because of the delicacy of the negotiations. The call from Mr. Micheletti came one day after the United States increased pressure on the de facto Honduran government by withdrawing diplomatic visas from four high-level officials, and as members of the Honduran Congress began their own examination of Mr. Arias’s proposal. The call was the clearest signal yet that Mr. Micheletti might not be primarily responsible for the stalemate. Diplomats close to the negotiations said there was broad opposition to Mr. Zelaya’s return, led by some of the most powerful political and business leaders in Honduras. Those leaders have felt misunderstood — some would say betrayed — by the international community’s condemnation of last month’s ouster of Mr. Zelaya, whom they accuse of illegally trying to change the Constitution to extend his time in power. Honduran lawmakers and the Supreme Court have said that it was a mistake for the military to have forced Mr. Zelaya into exile, but that the accusations against him are valid. And they argue that the only way he should be allowed back is to face trial. According to Mr. Arias’s proposal, Mr. Zelaya would be allowed to finish his term, which ends in January, although elections would be moved up by one month. Mr. Zelaya would also be exempt from prosecution until after leaving office. None of those points seemed acceptable to members of the Honduran Congress who were huddled all Wednesday to consider the Arias proposal. “Impunity should not exist in this country,” said Congressman Antonio C. Rivera. “No one is above the law.”

Zelaya Rosales Jose Manuel
Coups D'Etat and Attempted Coups D'Etat
Micheletti Roberto
Arias Oscar
Politics and Government
International Relations
Honduras
Costa Rica
Iglesias Enrique V.


Preparing to End Her Life, While Protecting Another

Abstract: BRADFORD, England MULTIPLE sclerosis came into Debbie Purdy’s life about the same time as her husband, a Cuban jazz violinist named Omar Puente. “He didn’t speak English, and I didn’t speak Spanish,” she recalled. “What we had was jazz, and a dictionary.” When she received her diagnosis, one of her first thoughts was: “How do you say ‘ multiple sclerosis ’ in Spanish?” That was 1995. Somehow, the couple have adjusted together to the changes in Ms. Purdy’s deteriorating body. They have adjusted as she has gone from walking with a cane to using a manual wheelchair to using an electric one. They have traded water glasses for plastic cups, installed a panic button at home in case she falls and put up a hoist to help her get in and out of bed. But there may be a limit to the Purdy-Puente partnership, so close it feels almost symbiotic. The possibility exists that Ms. Purdy, 45, will get so sick that she no longer wants to live. Should that happen, she says, she plans to travel to an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland and drink a lethal cocktail of drugs. As things now stand, she would have to go without her husband, she says, because helping someone die — even, say, by pushing a wheelchair onto the airplane — is illegal in Britain . It is her choice alone, Ms. Purdy said. “Omar’s being prepared to go to jail because he loves me and respects my choices is the same reason I wouldn’t want him to go to jail: because I love him,” she said. “I’m not even prepared to let him be interviewed by the police.” Ms. Purdy has taken her private struggle and turned herself into the latest public face of an anguished, longstanding debate about assisted suicide in Britain. She has sued the government in an effort to force officials to provide assurance that if Mr. Puente did help her die in Switzerland, he would not be prosecuted. Last week, her latest appeal failed when three Court of Appeal judges ruled that although they sympathized with Ms. Purdy, only Parliament could change the law. She is now considering whether to pursue the case further in the courts or to lobby for a new law. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland. In recent years, about 90 Britons have killed themselves in the clinic, which is in Zurich. So far, no one back home has been prosecuted for helping them, but that does not mean it will not happen. “Many have faced police questioning and agonizing months waiting for the final decision not to prosecute,” said Ms. Purdy’s lawyer, Saimo Chahal. Ms. Purdy explained her thinking in a recent conversation in her and Mr. Puente’s tiny house on a sloping street here in Bradford, a down-at-the-heels industrial northern city. If Ms. Purdy had not been in a wheelchair, if her hands had not been shaking, if she had not been speaking matter-of-factly about things like loss of bladder control , the painful swelling in her feet and how hard it was for her to brush her teeth, it would have been difficult to believe that she was ill at all. She is that joyful. SHE talked about her happiness that Barack Obama is president. She talked about how strangers actually welcome the chance to help her, because it makes them feel they have done something noble. She talked about the adventurous life she once led. Ms. Purdy grew up in Brixton, south London, with a father who was a peripatetic inventor and a mother who stayed home to look after her and her four siblings. She went to the University of Birmingham but left when she realized how lucrative her part-time job, selling ads for the Yellow Pages, was. And thus began an era of impetuous traveling to unlikely places, like Oslo and Houston, and then talking her way into unlikely jobs, like dancing in a club in Japan, running a road-safety project for 8- to-12-year-olds in Hong Kong and working as a music journalist and travel brochure writer in Singapore, where she and Mr. Puente met. She does not want to talk about death, but the fact is always there. She has primary progressive, rather than relaxing-remitting, multiple sclerosis, meaning that her condition is inexorably worsening. Sometimes she chokes when she swallows. She has not been upstairs in her own house in two years. She needs help cooking, cleaning and shopping. Mr. Puente, 47, who teaches and travels the world playing music, was away but spoke by telephone later. “Debbie was the woman I chose to be my wife,” he said. “I’ve seen the whole process, from when she was a very strong woman with a wonderful big bottom and strong legs, to using a walking stick to a wheelchair. She is still articulate and enthusiastic and full of life. She doesn’t want to die.” He does not want her to die either, and especially not alone. But, he added: “I love that woman and I don’t want her to suffer badly. Apart from everything else, she wants to control her life and make her own decisions.” Mr. Puente is a big bear of a man, and he has a jazz musician’s sense of improvisation and possibility, a way of grasping happiness in the present. He often tells Ms. Purdy that, as her husband, it is his job to make sure her life is not unbearable. Fifteen years ago, she lost control of her bowels for the first time. “I wanted to die,” she recalled. “I was in floods of tears and Omar sat down and said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and he laughed. And I said, ‘How can you laugh at me?’ And he said: ‘It’s your choice, either I’ll cry with you or laugh at you.’ ” Not long ago, a team of nurses came in to install the hoist that helps Ms. Purdy in and out of bed. “He was laughing,” Ms. Purdy said. “The nurses threw him out of the room when we were trying it out, because he was acting like it was a sex toy.” BUT when you have a progressive disease, time moves in the wrong direction. If Ms. Purdy exhausts her options and cannot get the assurance she needs from the government, she is prepared to go to Switzerland alone, she said. But she would have to do it while she is still physically able, which would be long before she is ready to die, she said. She has worked out all the logistics, including how to get the $6,000 the trip would cost. That does not mean she will do it; she just wants the choice. “I don’t want to kill myself,” she said. “I don’t want to go to Switzerland and end my life early. But this is a security blanket.” She thinks often about what she can withstand. At what point does a life slip from manageable to untenable? “When I was 20 and jumping out of airplanes, I thought being in a wheelchair would be unbearable,” Ms. Purdy said. “But it’s not. I thought asking people for help would be horrible and unbearable. “But what I consider dignity has changed, and what I consider unbearable and horrible has changed,” she said. “Having a stranger pick me up off my bathroom floor, that’s not undignified. What is undignified is having a stranger say that I have no control over my own life.”

Euthanasia
Assisted Suicide
Law and Legislation
Multiple Sclerosis
Death and Dying
Purdy Debbie
Switzerland
Great Britain


Man Discharges Gun at Waldorf Wedding Reception, Injuring 5

Abstract: An unidentified man attending a wedding reception at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan on Saturday accidentally discharged a firearm and injured five people, including one woman who was struck in the head, the police said. Four people were rushed to hospitals, but their injuries were not severe, the police said. Emergency medical crews went to the hotel at Park Avenue and 50th Street shortly before 7:30 p.m. and took two people to Bellevue Hospital Center with “minor injuries,” a spokesman for the Fire Department said. Two more were taken to Mt. Sinai St. Luke’s, also with “minor injuries,” and one person refused medical attention at the scene, the spokesman said. Deputy Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan detectives, said a wedding guest accidentally discharged a firearm in the lobby area of the Waldorf Astoria at around 7:30 p.m. Officials said a bullet ricocheted off the floor and struck one person. Three others were struck by debris such as glass, marble and tile. Image Deputy Chief William Aubry, the commander of Manhattan detectives, at a news conference Saturday night. Credit Tina Fineberg for The New York Times The reception was being held in the hotel’s East Terrace, a marbled-floor space that was closed to hotel guests at the time of the shooting. On Saturday night, rows of police tape were strung behind a velvet rope and around a table crowned with a large, ornate spray of white flowers. A trio of wedding musicians in black formal wear, two anxious women and an ashen man, dragged their instruments across the sidewalk and past the police line. “I don’t know what happened,” said the man, who declined to give his name. “I really don’t know.” The Waldorf Astoria did not return email or phone messages seeking comment. Three people were being questioned in relation to the episode at the Midtown North Precinct, Chief Aubry said. The police said they were reviewing video footage of the incident from hotel security cameras.

Waldorf Astoria New York
Midtown Area Manhattan
Guns


Mack Brown Says Recruiting at Texas Is Proper

Abstract: In the wake of losing a top recruit to Oklahoma, Texas Coach Mack Brown on Monday denied any knowledge of recruiting improprieties, according to a blog on the Web site of The Dallas Morning News. Jamarkus McFarland, a defensive tackle from Lufkin, Tex., chose Oklahoma over the Longhorns on Christmas Day. Both universities wooed him, as did Louisiana State and Southern California. McFarland’s heated recruitment involved parties and other inducements. But Brown said Texas had committed no wrongdoing. “We encourage the N.C.A.A. to check out every player we’re recruiting every year,” Brown said. “We call them and ask them to. We welcome them there.” (NYT)

McFarland Jamarkus
Draft and Recruitment (Sports)
University of Texas at Austin
College Athletics


Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez Faces Recall Vote

Abstract: MIAMI — Mayor Carlos Alvarez of Miami-Dade County faces a recall vote on Tuesday that has tapped into the frustration of an area still reeling from a decimated housing market and stubbornly high unemployment. The effort was spearheaded by a billionaire auto dealer and Miami philanthropist, Norman Braman, who used more than $1 million of his own money to gather signatures. Mr. Braman’s consultants collected 114,000 signatures; 95,000 of them were certified for the recall. “This whole election is a referendum for change,” said Mr. Braman, who emphasized that residents were fed up with incompetent elected officials in the county. “If Alvarez is removed, it shows that people want change.” An anti-tax advocate, Mr. Braman began the petition drive soon after Mr. Alvarez proposed raising property taxes for 40 percent of Miami-Dade homeowners last summer to plug a large budget deficit, a result of plunging property values. The Miami-Dade County Commission approved the budget. At the same time, unionized county employees whose wages had been frozen were due for a raise under a prior agreement and to have some of their benefits reinstated. But the criticism reached beyond agreements with unions and property tax increases. The once-popular mayor, who was first elected in 2004, gave hefty raises to top aides in 2009, at the height of the recession, and also used a government car allowance to help pay for a BMW. “No one ever challenged these things here,” Mr. Braman said, explaining his decision to move forward with the recall. “That’s why he did it and the commission did it. It’s impossible to challenge things here.” The campaign against the mayor was strong, and early voting has been heavy. If he is recalled, commissioners would have 30 days from the election’s certification to appoint a new mayor or to hold a special election. The next scheduled election is in 2012. Mayor Alvarez, who seemed surprised by the intensity of the effort and the voter anger that followed, has accused Mr. Braman of misconstruing his record to settle old scores. Victoria Mallette, the mayor’s communications director, said that in the past four years the mayor had managed to close more than $1 billion in budget gaps while preserving an array of services. He has also received major concessions from unionized employees, including wage and benefits freezes. And she emphasized that 60 percent of property owners would see no property tax rate increase at a time when deficits were ballooning. “There is a level of misplaced anger in the community, and that is why we’re asking them to get informed on the issues and to understand,” Ms. Mallette said. “The government has reduced spending. We have shrunk the size of government and preserved services. Employees have made sacrifices.” If successful, the recall would be the second largest in terms of population, behind only the removal of Gov. Gray Davis of California in 2003.

Miami (Fla)
Alvarez Carlos
Recall Elections
Braman Norman
Elections
Politics and Government
Property Taxes
Mayors


For George Steel, Sundays Are for High Notes and Tacky Tacos

Abstract: For much of the past year, Sunday was just another tough workday for George Steel , 45, the general manager and artistic director of the New York City Opera , which recently moved out of Lincoln Center and underwent bitter negotiations with its unions, reaching a settlement last month. This Sunday is a workday of a different order for Mr. Steel: opening day, a matinee, of Rufus Wainwright’s “ Prima Donna ” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of several locations for the company’s current season. Mr. Steel, who lives in TriBeCa, spends his free Sundays with his wife, Sarah Fels, a once and perhaps future product designer, and their two children, Anna, 6, and Alexander, 3. JOHN LELAND UP EARLY I try to sleep late, but in middle age I find that means 6:30 or 7. During the week I get up at 5:30. I don’t have much luck sleeping later than 7. SOFT START Generally we have quiet, unstructured time in the morning until breakfast. Usually, either Sarah will make pancakes or I’ll make waffles. My anniversary present for my wife was a waffle iron, but I use it more than her. We don’t have TV in the morning. RAISING THE VOLUME We make a little music after breakfast. I’ll play the piano, or Sarah will play the cello. We found some wonderful folk song arrangements by Pete Seeger’s stepmother, Ruth Crawford Seeger, or we’ll play goofy stuff like the “Tennessee Waltz” or “Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair,” by Stephen Foster. Both kids are fascinated by the piano as a noisemaking contraption. WORDS AND PICTURES Sometimes we’ll have reading after breakfast. I’m an obsessive acquirer of children’s books, mostly older. It’s a thrill to discover these great illustrators, like Leonard Weisgard , Feodor Rojankovsky or Harold Jones , the English illustrator who did “Lavender’s Blue.” LUNCH WITH A WIZARD A popular outing is Chinatown. The goal is usually lunch, someplace fun. There’s a place we love called Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles , where you can see the man in the kitchen pulling noodles. He’s an absolute wizard — the most astonishing thing you’ve ever seen. And the food is wonderful. I like Chinatown because there’s always plenty to discover, especially with the new year and the Year of the Dragon. It’s such an intimate connection with something real. And the culinary landscape is always changing. By the way, Chinese bakeries have superb coffee, and only 75 cents a cup. I yearn for it all week. BIKE BREAK After lunch it’s time to do something serious. These days that usually means bicycle riding. Anna recently got off her training wheels. Usually we’ll go to the West Side bike path, or City Hall Park. When we go to City Hall Park, the parents are running; the kids are on bikes. Even in the slightly chilly weather, it’s great to get out and run a little bit. ODDS AND ENDS Usually I’ll have leftover errands to run. My barber is closed on Sundays, but we’ll buy sneakers, or go grocery shopping. Manhattan Fruit Exchange in the Chelsea Market is one of my favorites. RETRO CHOW If I’m lucky I get to stay home for dinner. If the kids are feeling adventurous, we’ll make bad ’70s tacos, which I love. It was my favorite meal as a kid, and I still love them, with the rubber yellow cheese. It’s a miraculous marriage of fried corn and cumin. That’s the secret energy source at the heart of a bad ’70s taco. SCORES AND A MOVIE Bedtime for the kids is about 7:30, with at least a half-hour of reading. After the kids go to bed, I look over scores. I might look at which version of an opera to do, or look at parts and think about what singer would be right. Then my wife and I will try to watch a movie we rented. Usually it takes three or four sittings. BOOK BEFORE BED We go to bed around 9:30 or 10:30. I usually fall asleep watching the movie; then I always read before bed. I’m reading about a guy kayaking in the Meadowlands, by Robert Sullivan . I bought Sarah the new translation of “War and Peace.” I don’t usually get very far. I read a few pages and I’m ready for sleep.

Steel George
TriBeCa (NYC)
New York City Opera
Music