Wildfires Rage in Colorado and New Mexico

Abstract: DENVER — A fast-growing wildfire raged through dry forests and hillside subdivisions in northern Colorado on Monday, charring homes and forcing hundreds of families to evacuate in the latest out-of-control blaze to scorch the parched West. The fire was probably sparked by a lightning strike on Saturday, officials said, and it quickly exploded in size. By Monday, it had burned across nearly 60 square miles in the mountains about 15 miles west of Fort Collins, a college town, destroying more than 100 structures and spewing thick columns of smoke visible from miles away. The remains of a 62-year-old Larimer County woman who had been reported missing were found Monday, The Associated Press reported. In south central New Mexico, hundreds of people were forced to flee an uncontrolled 54-square-mile fire near Ruidoso as it engulfed home after home. In Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico, fire crews were still battling the largest blaze in the state’s history, but officials reported that after burning for nearly a month across 434 square miles, the fire was 37 percent contained. Fire officials said the conflagration in Larimer County, Colo. — named the High Park fire — was the worst fire in the area in two decades. Fueled by whipping winds and dry brush left after an arid winter and during a hot spring, flames jumped across roads, raced up and down hillsides and doubled back on firefighters, burning some areas twice. “These things come together, and you can have a fire like this,” said Reghan Cloudman, a spokeswoman for the joint command fighting the High Park fire. Officials cautioned that they might not have control of the blaze anytime soon, but they said they had not issued any evacuation orders for Fort Collins or its suburbs. Despite the strain created by the string of blazes early in fire season, officials in Colorado said they were flinging resources at the High Park fire. Four hundred firefighters were on the ground by Monday, with 100 more expected to arrive soon. And more than a dozen air tankers and helicopters had been sent toward the blaze. With slim chances for rain in the immediate forecast, fire officials were hoping that calmer winds, lower temperatures and more humid skies would help them halt the growth of the blaze. But they said it was still too dangerous to return to affected communities in Rist Canyon and Poudre Park to assess what had been destroyed and what had survived.

Forest and Brush Fires
Colorado
New Mexico
Fires and Firefighters


East Coast Is Soaked by Gusty Storm

Abstract: Driving rain and gusty winds battered the already soggy East Coast before dawn on Friday morning, flooding subway tracks, expressways and suburban streets in the New York metropolitan area, snarling air travel and causing a rush-hour quagmire that threatened to linger even as the worst of the weather subsided later in the morning. The tropical weather system, which started in the Southeast and drenched most of the East Coast for more than a day, led to four deaths from a highway accident in North Carolina. Its heaviest rains and winds, spurred by the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole, churned northward overnight as gusts reached 53 miles an hour in New York’s northern suburbs by 6 a.m. and charged into the Hudson Valley and New England by midday. After a parched late summer, the first day of October was a ferocious one in the region. Two inches of rain fell in Central Park in 24 hours, following a full month of September when just 3.67 inches fell there . More than 6 inches fell in and around Philadelphia, with Kennett Square in Chester County, Pa., getting almost 10 inches. Darby Creek in Havertown Township flooded, rushing into the parking lot of an apartment complex and engulfing cars. “Some areas saw more rain on Oct. 1 than they normally see for the entire month of October,” said Valerie Meola, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Philadelphia office. “This is not typical.” The deluge was so atypical that just two days ago, David Robinson, the New Jersey state climatologist at Rutgers University, was testifying at a drought hearing in Trenton about whether emergency water restrictions might be needed soon. New Jersey had just completed its driest summer since 1966. Now, officials will probably consider lifting the drought watch, Mr. Robinson said. “This really was tremendously welcome,” he said of the rain. “For the most part, this double-barreled storm behaved itself. You can imagine how much worse the conditions in the Delaware Basin would have been, had it not been so dry.” Areas of New Jersey near the Delaware River received as much as 7 inches of rain, and 9 inches fell in spots across the state line in Pennsylvania. But the rest of New Jersey “escaped with just 2 to 5 inches of rain,” Mr. Robinson said. “Now the big question is, where do we go from here? Is this going to be a persistent pattern or is this a quick aberration?” As the storm moved northeast through New Jersey, the rains flooded streets and made the morning commute on trains and buses a slog. The only significant disruption, though, came around midday when a fallen tree blocked NJ Transit trains west of Summit. Courtney Carroll, a spokeswoman for NJ Transit, said service on the Morris and Essex line was suspended between Summit and Dover, and delayed between Summit and Manhattan. She said it was unclear whether the downed tree would affect the evening rush on Friday. For the rest of its train and bus service, NJ Transit anticipated a “normal evening rush,” Ms. Carroll said. About 2,100 customers of the state’s main utility, PSE&G, were still without power around 1:30 p.m. Most of the outages were in Bergen County, the company Web site said. In Westchester County, N.Y., about 10,000 homes lost power overnight, mostly because tree limbs had fallen on overhead wires, said Chris Olert, a spokesman for Con Edison. At midday, about 1,500 customers still had no power, but Con Edison expected to have all service restored soon, Mr. Olert said. The worst of the storm passed through New York City after 5 a.m. Sections of Manhattan’s West Side subway lines — the 1, 2 and 3 trains — were shut down for close to two hours starting at 5:30 a.m., when water flooded onto the tracks under Broadway between 72nd and 79th streets. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reported that service had resumed by 7:30 a.m. but there were residual delays all morning. Suburban commuter trains on Long Island were delayed by signal outages caused by the wind. Motorists appeared to have a far harder time getting to work than rail commuters. When the flood-prone Grand Central Parkway in Queens was shut down in certain sections, drivers seeking detours on side streets created larger, longer backups. Adam Levine, a public information officer for the New York State Department of Transportation, said that all lanes on the eastbound Grand Central Parkway between the Long Island Expressway and the Van Wyck Expressway remained closed at 10 a.m. because of flooding. Police were diverting traffic onto the Long Island Expressway, clogging that road’s eastbound lanes. Highways that connect to the Grand Central in that area, like the Van Wyck and the Jackie Robinson Parkway, also had closures. Mr. Levine said he was unsure how soon the roads would be drained and able to reopen fully. “The water’s got to get through the system,” he said, adding that the low-lying parkway was not far above groundwater level. Travelers were caught in the thick of the storm at two of the three New York area airports, where LaGuardia reported late in the morning that there were 3-hour delays on arriving flights and 1-hour delays on departures. At John F. Kennedy International, departures were running 90 minutes behind schedule, but at Newark Liberty International Airport — where winds had gusted up to 52 miles an hour between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. — there were no reported delays in late morning. The winds knocked down electric lines in the New York suburbs. Connecticut Light and Power reported that 13,773 customers in its service area were without power on Friday morning. The Long Island Power Authority Web site listed more than 6,000 customers without power.

Weather
Floods
Transit Systems
New York City


People 55 and Older Start Own Businesses in Growing Numbers

Abstract: AFTER 24 years as a marketing manager for Coors, Cinde Dolphin knew what was coming — Miller and Coors had just merged their United States beer operations, and hundreds of jobs were sure to be eliminated. Worried that these youth-oriented companies might lay off an old-timer like her, Ms. Dolphin decided to take a buyout and relax. She sunned on the beaches of New Zealand, went whitewater rafting on the Yampa River in Colorado and saw friends and Broadway shows in New York. But after a few months, she realized that she missed working. So at age 55, she began applying for marketing jobs, confident she would be quickly hired because of her Coors pedigree. “About four months into my job search, I realized I wasn’t getting many callbacks,” she said. A Sacramento resident who has survived three bouts with cancer, Ms. Dolphin is not one to give up easily. She decided on an alternate tack — she would start her own business and thus join the nation’s fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, those age 55 and above. Mining her decades of experience, she created a marketing and public relations firm that helps California winemakers get their message out through Facebook, Twitter and other social media. “I’m having a ball,” she said. “I can set up my own hours and work schedule, and do other things I enjoy.” More than five million Americans age 55 or older run their own businesses or are otherwise self-employed, according to the Small Business Administration. And the number of self-employed people ages 55 to 64 is soaring, the agency says, climbing 52 percent from 2000 to 2007. Like Ms. Dolphin, some use money from a buyout to finance a new company. Some of these entrepreneurs were already retired, but after seeing their 401(k) retirement plans plunge in value, created a business in a quest for extra income. Some had lost their jobs and, after months of searching for work, started a business to make ends meet, perhaps catering, cabinet making or doing photography. But experts on starting a business strike a cautionary note. “The first piece of advice is don’t buy the mythology — all you need is a new idea, that you wander out there, you run your own B.& B., you start your nonprofit and all the birds are singing,” said Marc Freedman, founder of Civic Ventures , a group based in San Francisco. “That’s what you’d think if you pick up some of these money magazines. This is a pretty daunting decision, and it’s also a risky one. “People should start with some realism about what it takes to do this. It’s important to realize that this is a trajectory that can last 10, 15, 20 years. That means take some time to prepare, whether it means going back to school or doing an apprenticeship. There’s no need to succeed at the very first attempt at this. There’s room for readjustment and regrouping.” Ms. Dolphin agreed that starting a business was definitely not a cinch. Complicated contracts and legal matters needed to be worked through, and she needed to get up to speed on Twitter. (At one point, she hired a 20-something Twitter tutor at $25 an hour.) But now she is well on her way to success, having lined up Story Winery and two other wineries as clients. “A business adviser told me, ‘Take a leap of faith, and you’ll see you’re more knowledgeable than you think,’ ” she said. “I think other people can do it, too.” Deborah Russell, director of work force issues at AARP, said one factor driving older Americans to go into business is that because of the downturn, unemployed people age 55 and older have been out of work for 36 weeks on average. “A lot of these people have a lifetime of knowledge, skills and networking they’ve amassed, and it’s very easy to use all of that to start a business,” she said. “At the same time, we caution people not to invest their retirement savings into risky start-ups because if you lose your retirement money, you can end up worse than where you started.” A study by Babson College and Baruch College found that Americans age 55 and above started 18.9 percent of all businesses created in 2008, compared with 10 percent in 2001. The 55-and-overs are playing a larger role in entrepreneurship partly because the number of Americans in that age category is rising rapidly. (The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found only a small increase in the percentage of those older than 55 who are self-employed since 2001, although it found a spurt upward since mid-2008.) One entrepreneur is Bob Mello, 57. He was teaching English at a preparatory school in Bay St. Louis, Miss., when Hurricane Katrina destroyed the school — and his job along with it. Helped by government funds, the mansion where Sydney Pollack filmed “This Property Is Condemned,” released in 1966 (with Natalie Woods and Robert Redford), is being restored, to be used as a theater . Part will be used for plays, and Mr. Mello, pursuing his love of film, will turn part into a 100-seat repertoire movie theater. “It seemed like a thing I’d like to do,” said Mr. Mello, who is doing this for money as well as love. “I wish it was just a hobby,” he said. “Since Katrina, I’ve been substitute teaching and doing odd jobs, just trying to pay the bills.” He is hoping a friend will donate $20,000 worth of projection equipment. “This is pretty small scale, but it’s daunting,” he added. The federal government has numerous programs to help older entrepreneurs. Traditionally, laid-off workers cannot obtain unemployment benefits unless they are looking for a job, but in 10 states, they can continue receiving jobless benefits if they show they are setting up a business instead. The Small Business Administration has a Web site that offers advice and expertise to entrepreneurs age 50 and older. The site says age 50 to 70 is “the perfect time to leverage experience, passions, hobbies and resources to launch or purchase a small business.” Norberto Bogard took advantage of the Small Business Administration’s offerings. A year ago, he lost his job as a reporter for a Spanish-language financial news program that Bloomberg News broadcast in Latin America. His job search yielded just one offer, which would have paid far less than his old job. So he struck out on his own. “It was my dream, just to have my own business,” he said. A devotee of Time Out, the popular culture guide, Mr. Bogard was amazed that nobody had created a Spanish version for New York. So he founded Pie Derecho (Spanish for “right foot”), a free magazine that publishes 10,000 copies a month and relies on advertising for revenue. “I was surprised that nobody was pursuing this particular niche,” he said. “I knocked on the doors of many investors, but nobody wanted to support it, so I used money from my severance package. It was scary.” He took the Small Business Administration’s free courses on starting a business and legal matters for start-ups. And for advice and encouragement, he often turned to a mentor, a small-business owner whom a Hispanic business group had recommended to him. Mr. Bogard expects to break even with his March issue, his seventh month of publication. Mr. Freedman of Civic Ventures observed: “There’s a growing number of people over 50 who are entrepreneurs. That network can be a real source of support and knowledge. That’s no reason to go it alone.” Civic Ventures gave its award for social entrepreneurship to Robert Chambers, who, as a car salesman, grew angry about the unreliable cars and high-interest loans often pushed on used-car buyers. After quitting that job at age 56, he founded a nonprofit company that helps low-income people obtain deals on reliable, fuel-efficient cars. His company, Bonnie CLAC (Car Loans and Counseling), based in Manchester, N.H., has arranged low-interest car purchases for 1,200 people. He sees it as a way of giving back. “I had enough assets to retire, but I got very passionate watching low-income people getting taken advantage of in the car business,” he said. “Being over 55 and the experience I had was important to making this work.” Jeri Sedlar, a consultant on career change and an author of “Don’t Retire, Rewire,” said two types of people start businesses: those who always planned to, and those who cannot find a job. Those who planned to start a business “have a leg up,” she said. “They have an idea what it takes to be an entrepreneur.” The others “want to use their current skills and market those skills to new clients,” she said. But she warned that many of these entrepreneurs stumbled because they did not know how to market themselves or did not have relevant or current skills. “People have to keep up on their skills, keep up with the latest,” she said. “You need to be sure you are really a valuable asset. The entrepreneur of today has to be motivated not just to know their skills and the job, but to be constantly challenging themselves. Every day they have to be reconfirming to their clients, ‘I’m good, I’m on top of things. Age is not a factor. Here I am doing it.’ ” Ms. Sedlar said entrepreneurs needed to create a realistic budget and should not rush to rent space for an office or workshop because that could mean high fixed costs. She recommended testing the waters before plunging in. “You have to try this on,” she said. “You can’t just hold your own counsel. You have to have your own sounding board. It could be your accountant, your banker, your lawyer, your therapist, your trainer. You can’t just talk to yourself.” Marcia Duhart figured that out on her own. During her final years at Merrill Lynch, where she trained people to use computers, she devoted several days off to testing her idea of teaching computer skills to the elderly. When she taught a few classes at East Windsor Senior Center in New Jersey, people flooded in. “People said they’d go to a family reunion and everyone was doing e-mail and they felt out of the loop,” Ms. Duhart said. After retiring from Merrill Lynch in 1998, she founded CyberSenior Services, teaching at senior centers and giving one-on-one classes for $35 to $45 an hour. “My business spread by word of mouth,” she said, adding that some days demand was so great that she left home at 9 a.m. and returned at 7 p.m. “I’ve had students up to 90,” she said. “I’m 67 now, and I have a lot of energy to do this because I do what I love. I love teaching people.” Howard Stone , an author of “Too Young to Retire,” warned that starting a business can be emotionally grueling because it can mean lots of rejection in struggling to get clients and customers. He said new entrepreneurs needed to retain their confidence and know how to present themselves. He warned older entrepreneurs not to go overboard and work 50-hour weeks because that could be exhausting and dispiriting. “We do our best work when we set a balanced lifestyle,” he said. “Instead of saying, I’m semi-retired, say I’m semi-working.”

Entrepreneurship
Small Business
Retirement
Age Chronological
Labor and Jobs


Tension Between Police and Standing Rock Protesters Reaches Boiling Point

Abstract: CANNON BALL, N.D. — For months, tensions had mounted between protesters and law enforcement officials over the fate of an oil pipeline not far from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Late this week, the strained relations boiled over as officers tried to force the protesters out of an area where they had been camping. Scores of officers dressed in riot gear walked in a wide line, sweeping protesters out of the area as face-to-face yelling matches broke out. Several vehicles, including at least one truck, were set ablaze. A standoff unfolded beside a bridge known as the Backwater Bridge, where protesters set fire to wooden boards and signs and held off the line of officers over many hours. By Friday evening, officers said they had arrested at least 142 protesters on charges including engaging in a riot and conspiracy to endanger by fire and explosion. Protesters gathered near the bridge were refusing to leave, the authorities said. Each side complained vehemently about violent tactics by the other. Officers said that protesters had attacked them with firebombs, logs, feces and debris. They acknowledged using pepper spray and beanbag rounds against the protesters, as well as a high-pitched sound device meant to disperse crowds. Image Protesters occupying a bridge north of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Credit Angus Mordant for The New York Times In one case, the officers said, they used a Taser gun after a protester threw pepper in officers’ faces. One woman who was being arrested, the authorities said, had pulled a gun out and fired at a police line. No one was hit by those shots, they said, though two officers had minor injuries after being hit by debris. “It was peaceful, but it’s not now,” Randez Bailey, a resident of Standing Rock, said of the protest. “We are the ones who have to live here. You all get to go back home.” The confrontation has been brewing for months as Energy Transfer Partners tries to finish construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, which is to carry oil 1,170 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. Company officials contend that the pipeline will be a safer way to transfer oil. But Native Americans and environmental activists, many of whom have gathered here, say the $3.7 billion pipeline threatens the region’s water supply and would harm sacred cultural lands and tribal burial grounds. Even as crews here were continuing construction of the pipeline along private lands, all sides were awaiting a review by the Army Corps of Engineers on a crucial stretch of the proposed path, through Army Corps land and under the Missouri River. The issue has sparked concern from environmentalists and politicians on social media. And the intensifying clashes as law enforcement moved in on Thursday drew a renewed flurry of attention from organizations like Amnesty International, which said it was sending observers to monitor law enforcement’s behavior, as well as from celebrities. Image The authorities arrived at the pipeline protest on Friday in military-style vehicles and demanded that the protesters vacate the camp. Credit Angus Mordant for The New York Times Kyle Kirchmeier, the Morton County sheriff, said protesters had been asked to move away from a campsite they had created on private land that is owned by Energy Transfer Partners, but had refused. “It forced our hand,” Sheriff Kirchmeier said. By Thursday morning, he said, the authorities had given up on negotiations with the protesters and moved in to clear the area, where more than 200 people were gathered. The authorities, some of whom arrived in military-style vehicles, demanded over loudspeakers that people leave before they began moving in, searching tent to tent. Protesters were not being asked to evacuate a second, larger camp that they have set up on federal land, a few miles away. The authorities said those who were swept off the private land would be permitted to stay in the second camp. But tribal leaders said the land in question was tribal land, and called on federal authorities to step in and oversee the actions of local law enforcement — particularly given Thursday’s sweep, which brought the total number of protesters arrested since August to 411. “We need our state and federal governments to bring justice and peace to our lands, not the force of armored vehicles,” said Dave Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. “We have repeatedly seen a disproportionate response from law enforcement to water protectors’ nonviolent exercise of their constitutional rights.”

Standing Rock Sioux Reservation
Civil Unrest
Land use
Native Americans
Energy Transfer Partners
North Dakota
Pipelines
Police


In Recall Blitz, G.M. Risks Its Reputation

Abstract: DETROIT — The deeper General Motors digs into its vast portfolio of vehicles, the more safety problems it finds. The announcement on Monday that G.M. would recall another 8.4 million cars and trucks for a range of defects appears to be a direct result of the company’s newfound vigilance to rooting out safety issues. But even as G.M. addresses its safety shortcomings with a beefed-up roster of product investigators, the spiraling number of new recalls — G.M. has surpassed 29 million worldwide this year — is threatening to undermine the company’s reputation for quality. “We’re hitting unprecedented numbers and it’s reasonable for people to start asking, When and where will it end?” said Karl Brauer, an analyst with the research firm Kelley Blue Book. The vast majority of this year’s recalls for G.M. have come after the company admitted in February that it failed for years to address a deadly defect in the Chevrolet Cobalt and other small cars. Yet while G.M. is now issuing recalls almost every week, the unsettling reality is that the company might never have discovered some of the defects without the Cobalt crisis. Image G.M. has recalled more than 29 million vehicles this year, including the Oldsmobile Alero. Credit General Motors Among the vehicles recalled on Monday are 8.2 million cars that have faulty ignition systems that could suddenly cause the vehicles to lose power. That was essentially the problem with 2.6 million recalled Cobalts and other cars linked to 13 deaths and 54 accidents. Defective ignitions have also forced the recalls in June of 3.4 million midsize cars and more than 500,000 Camaros. And the problem is not isolated to G.M. cars. Chrysler on Monday said it, too, would recall 696,000 sport utility vehicles and minivans made between 2007 and 2009 over a concern that the ignition key might turn off the engine. The move came after federal safety regulators said in June that they were conducting a review of all the major automakers for ignition-switch problems. G.M.’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said Monday’s recalls were part of “the most comprehensive safety review in the history of our company.” A company spokesman said the recalls were not being done in any particular order, but rather were ordered as soon as the relevant data was discovered. “When it was clear there was an issue, we acted,” said James Cain, the G.M. spokesman. The Cobalt crisis and G.M.’s subsequent internal investigation shed light on years of lax safety practices. Fifteen employees have been dismissed for their roles in allowing the original ignition defect to go unrepaired for more than a decade, and regulators imposed a $35 million penalty for failing to report the problem in a timely manner. In years past, G.M. usually issued recalls at a comparable rate to its competitors. But the long delay in fixing faulty ignitions in the Cobalt showed that the company avoided action in that case by viewing stalling problems as a customer convenience issue instead of a safety one. Image The Buick Encore, one of the models G.M. recalled on Monday. Credit General Motors Even as she has admitted to incompetence and neglect at the company, Ms. Barra has repeatedly denied assertions by lawmakers and safety advocates that G.M. had a repeated pattern of deliberately ignoring safety issues. But since the Cobalt scandal has unfolded, the company has adopted a far more rigorous assessment process, including assigning a new vice president, Jeff Boyer, to oversee all safety activities within G.M. “We have worked aggressively to identify and address the major outstanding issues that could impact the safety of our customers,” Ms. Barra said. Monday’s safety actions were a microcosm of the deluge of recalls that G.M. had done since the first ignition switch recalls in February. G.M. announced six recalls in total on Monday. Two were for 8.2 million cars with safety problems described as “unintended ignition key rotation.” G.M. said three people had died in those cars but could not tie them to the defect. The vehicles covered included the Chevrolet Malibu, model years 1997-2005; Oldsmobile Intrigue, 1998-2002; Oldsmobile Alero, 1999-2004; Pontiac Grand Am, 1999-2005; Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, 2000-5; Pontiac Grand Prix, 2004-8; Cadillac CTS, 2003-2014; and Cadillac SRX, 2004-6. Mr. Cain said the company would retrofit keys for those models with an insert that has a hole at the end rather than slots on the key. The change will increase the force needed to turn the key, so that it cannot be easily bumped out of position. Some of the keys may be replaced rather than fixed with an insert, Mr. Cain said. G.M. will also modify the small ring in the vehicle that the key fits into. Image A Chevrolet dealership in San Leandro, Calif., in May. The newly recalled cars include models of the Chevrolet Malibu, Monte Carlo and Impala. Credit Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The solution was an echo of a suggested fix to the Cobalt and other small cars in 2006. Aware of the issue at the time, G.M. sent dealers a notice suggesting that they urge customers to put an insert in the keys to make the hole smaller; a total of 474 owners had the fix made. Now, G.M. is taking no such chances. The four other recalls announced on Monday are for a range of problems, but one safety issue in particular, with the Chevrolet Trailblazer, had festered for years. More than 188,000, including the Trailblazer, have a defect that can cause door or window failures, as well as fires. In February 2012, safety regulators opened an investigation into Trailblazers, based on 12 consumer complaints, several of which involved fires. By June 11 of that year, the safety agency had gathered more than 240 related complaints, and 677 related warranty claims had been filed internally at G.M. At first, the automaker issued a “ special coverage ” notice, but, after talks with regulators, converted the program in August 2012 into a regional recall of vehicles from “salt belt” states. Owners of cars from 21 states received a recall notice that described a “defect” that could cause a sudden fire: “It is advised that you park the vehicle outdoors until it has been remedied.” Owners in the remaining states received a notice with softer language, and there was no mention of a defect or a warning to park outside. Instead, it said, “Do not take your vehicle to your G.M. dealer as a result of this letter unless you believe that your vehicle has the condition as described above.” By the following June, after talking with regulators, G.M. decided to recall the cars in all states. And since then, it has learned of 10 “fires or melting incidents” that occurred after the fix was made, so Monday’s recall was issued. The case caught the attention of federal regulators. In an email to G.M., Frank S. Borris II, its top defect investigator, wrote that regulators did not understand the basis upon which the company had decided to do a regional recall. There is a perception in terms of regional recalls, Mr. Borris wrote, that “G.M. is one of, if not the worst offender.”

Automobile safety
GM
Mary Barra
Recalls and Bans


Simon Makes New Offer for Bankrupt Mall Operator

Abstract: The mall operator General Growth Properties said on Monday that it was considering a new takeover offer from the Simon Property Group , although it was currently backing a plan led by Brookfield Asset Management to help it emerge from bankruptcy. The decision by General Growth is the latest complication in a battle of months over its fate. The company’s filing last year was one of the largest ever by a real estate company. General Growth plans to ask a federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday to certify the Brookfield plan as a “stalking horse” bid, meaning that it would be the baseline offer to beat. That plan would leave General Growth independent when it emerges from Chapter 11 protection, with Brookfield and its partners as the company’s largest stakeholders. General Growth said that the proposal remained superior to a similar recapitalization offer by Simon and several other investment firms. “With the revised proposal, we have now secured commitments for all financing needed to emerge from bankruptcy,” Adam Metz, General Growth’s chief executive, said in a statement . Yet General Growth said in a court filing that it was also examining a new “whole company transaction” from Simon. Simon and the Blackstone Group on Sunday proposed paying $18.25 a share in cash and stock for General Growth, according to people briefed on the matter who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The would also pay off the company’s $7 billion in unsecured debt, these people said Simon’s previous offer was valued at about $9 a share and would also have paid off the unsecured debt. But General Growth rejected that bid as inadequate, pushing instead for a more complex recapitalization proposal backed by Brookfield. Under that proposal, General Growth would split into two publicly traded entities: a larger one that would oversee the majority of its holdings and a smaller one that would hold properties the company views as undervalued. Brookfield and its partners — Fairholme Capital Management and Pershing Square Capital Management — plan to invest in the bigger company, General Growth Properties, at $10.50 a share and the smaller one, General Growth Opportunities, at $5 a share. Simon, according to its new plan, would pay $13.25 a share for the former and backstop the latter’s planned $250 million stock sale at $5 a share.

Shopping Centers and Malls
General Growth Properties
Simon Property Group Inc
Housing and Real Estate


New Leader in Vuelta a España

Abstract: Simon Clarke of Australia won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a España, and Joaquim Rodriguez, a Spaniard riding for Katusha, took the red leader’s jersey. Rodriguez took the overall lead, with Chris Froome of Team Sky one second behind. ¶ Tejay van Garderen of Tacoma, Wash., moved to the front in the final 500 uphill yards and claimed the 99.2-mile second stage from Montrose to Mount Crested Butte and the race lead at the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado. (AP)

Vuelta a Espana (Bicycle Race)
Bicycles and Bicycling
Spain
Clarke Simon
Rodriguez Joaquim


Texas Legislative Session Could Be Awkward for Perry

Abstract: Gov. Rick Perry was at the height of his power in 2011 when the most Republican Texas Legislature in modern times enacted deep spending cuts and handed him one victory after another. But after a botched run for the presidency and growing disenchantment among Tea Party activists, Mr. Perry is facing some potentially awkward policy discussions when the Legislature convenes in January, as well as deeper scrutiny of an administration that has endured for 12 years. For starters, fellow Republicans want to ban a provision Mr. Perry has used to “double dip” — taking both his salary and his state pension — a benefit that has increased his earnings by more than $90,000 a year. Representative Jason Isaac, Republican of Dripping Springs, has filed a bill to end the perk, reserved for long-serving elected officials. It would not apply retroactively to the governor. Meanwhile, Tea Party conservatives are upset about all the money going to “corporate welfare,” including tax subsidies and incentive payments that Mr. Perry champions as vital to luring companies to Texas. The governor says the state economy is stronger as a result, but not all Republicans agree. Representative James White, Republican of Hillister, who represents a conservative swath of southeast Texas, said he does not understand why big corporations get tax dollars when his district needs more money for roads and schools. “We are against any type of program that unfairly picks winners and losers,” he said. “I’m not against the governor, I’m just telling you what I’m for.” The Legislature is also poised to look more closely at the grant-awarding practices at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas , overseen in part by Perry appointees. Investigations of the agency have again cast allegations of “crony capitalism” — a tag opponents of Mr. Perry have long hung on him — into the political spotlight. “He’s in a different position — diminished, perhaps, but not done,” said James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin and a Texas Tribune pollster. “He may well have worn out his welcome with the conservative end of the base in Texas.” (The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.) Incoming Senator Larry Taylor, Republican of Friendswood, said the governor still had plenty of strengths, including his veto power and his experience in office. “I’m sure the perception is after his presidential run he’s dropped a notch,” Mr. Taylor said. “He certainly has the opportunity to bring it back up with a good session.” Catherine Frazier, Mr. Perry’s spokeswoman, said the governor would “thoughtfully consider” any reforms that come his way. Mr. Perry rode the Tea Party wave during his 2010 re-election campaign, and in the 2011 session he successfully championed new abortion restrictions, curbs on lawsuits and a voter ID bill. He continues to court the Tea Party, possibly with an eye toward a 2014 re-election bid or another stab at the presidency in 2016. This week, addressing the Northeast Tarrant County Tea Party near Fort Worth, Mr. Perry bashed Washington and cited his support for allowing teachers to carry firearms in the wake of the Connecticut elementary school mass shootings. One of the group’s leaders, Konni Burton, said many Tea Party activists had soured on the longest-serving governor in Texas history. “Most Tea Partiers would like to see Perry move on and elect another governor,” she said. “We don’t really like lifelong legislators.” A Tea Party umbrella group that advises the Legislature supports a proposal to limit statewide officeholders to two consecutive four-year terms. Twelve years ago Friday, Mr. Perry was sworn in as governor. Senator Kevin P. Eltife, Republican of Tyler, is proposing the term limit measure, which would require voter approval. He says it has nothing to do with any statewide incumbents, all of whom are Republicans. The bill exempts people in office now. “I’ve tried to keep personalities out of this,” Mr. Eltife said. “I don’t want to make the current statewide officeholders a target of this legislation.” Mr. Taylor, the incoming senator, dismissed the notion that Mr. Perry is down and out. “I think he’s still in a very good position,” he said.

Perry Rick
Texas
State Legislatures
Law and Legislation
Republican Party
Tea Party Movement


U.S. Olympic Team Fails to Earn Medal in Men’s Gymnastics

Abstract: LONDON — Just over halfway through the Olympic team final of men’s gymnastics, the United States squad did not have to check the scores to know that its night would be a bust. The look on John Orozco ’s face said it all: he was fighting back tears. Orozco, the national champion, had just landed on his rear end on his vault — yet another error in a mistake-laden night that unexpectedly ended with the Americans out of the medals and the top teams confused. China was listed as the winner, at first, with Britain second and Ukraine third. But those results did not last. As the crowd — Princes Harry and William included — whooped and hollered because the British team had just won its first men’s team Olympic medal in 100 years, the judges huddled for about 10 minutes to discuss the outcome. In the end, China remained the champion, with 275.997 points, to win its second consecutive Olympic gold medal and continue its domination of the team event. Japan won the silver medal, moving up from fourth after the judges rejiggered the scores. That knocked Britain to third and Ukraine to fourth, causing boos to rain down on both judges, who looked harried, and the gymnasts, who looked perplexed. One thing that did not change was that the United States team — a favorite to win a medal, and maybe even the gold — was leaving empty-handed. It finished fifth, a distant 6.045 points behind China. “It just didn’t go as planned,” Orozco said. “I don’t really know what happened.” The result of the team final was not what the Japanese team envisioned, either. The Japanese were the favorites to win the team gold medal but fell short by 4.045 points, eking out a second-place finish only after lodging a protest regarding the meet’s last performance. The Japanese had asked judges to review the pommel horse routine of Kohei Uchimura , the three-time world champion and heavy favorite in the all-around event. His original score was 13.466 points after no credit was given for his dismount because it was so poor. The score was raised by 0.700 point after the dismount was counted. His new score, 14.166, was enough to dislodge the Ukrainians from third place. Upon hearing the news, the Ukrainian team looked stunned, as if it had been splashed with ice water. The coach, Yuliy Kuksenkov, was furious, saying his team “probably was not happy.” He said he was particularly upset with the unpredictability of gymnastics judging. “Sometimes, when you think about running 100 meters, it’s 100 meters,” he said. “Sometimes, in gymnastics, 100 meters is 95 meters, sometimes it’s 105 meters.” For the Chinese, the subtleties of subjective scoring were not an issue. Undeterred by their uncharacteristically sloppy performance in qualifying — they finished sixth — they won the final by a landslide. Chen Yibing, the defending world champion on the still rings, again was sublime on the rings, moving smoothly and holding strength positions that put so much stress on his joints. Feng Zhe was so solid on parallel bars that he made it look easy, as if he were a child playing on a jungle gym. On the medals stand, Chen and Feng joined their teammates and sang the Chinese national anthem in unison, a tune they have heard atop the podium many times before. The Chinese men have won three out of the last four Olympic team gold medals. “After getting out from bed this morning, I knew we were going to win it,” Chen said. The British, however, were much less confident. They never expected to win a medal at their home Games — but they had hoped for it. In qualifying, Louis Smith, Britain’s pommel horse expert and the 2008 bronze medalist in the event, burst into tears after dismounting from the horse. He said the pressure to perform was just too great. But on Monday, the British had the crowd behind them. Each time they nailed a tough move or stuck a landing, the fans cheered so loud that they shook the arena. When they were announced as silver medalists — and, later, bronze medalists — the applause was deafening. “Despite that protest and the score change, for us, this is a dream come true,” Smith said. “To get a bronze medal is a miracle.” The Americans, though, had wanted more than a bronze; they had wanted the gold. After qualifying first on Saturday by about 3 points, the United States gymnasts were surer than ever that the gold medal could be theirs. But when the team final came, anxiety crept in. And the team that had been so confident cracked. “I think all of us, when we walked on the floor, felt very nervous,” said Sam Mikulak, the 2011 N.C.A.A. champion in the all-around from Michigan . “It was something I’d never felt in my life.” As the night went on, the Americans watched their dream of winning their first Olympic team gold since 1984 slip from their grasp. On the floor exercise, their first event, Mikulak faltered on his final tumbling pass, putting his hands down on the landing, for a score of 14.6 points. On the pommel horse, the bane of the American men, Danell Leyva fell and scored 13.4. Orozco then literally sat down on the horse during his routine as he called upon every last muscle to finish without toppling to the ground. He scored a dismal 12.733. Orozco is known for his ability to stay calm whether things look brilliant or bleak, but after faltering on the vault, he tried to hold back tears. He said he thought he was responsible for the team’s meltdown because he competed in five events, the most of anyone. “I tried to go up there and not think about it,” he said of the pressure. “I’d like to think it doesn’t get to me, but I guess it does.” Mikulak said the team rallied around Orozco after that, reassuring him that none of his teammates were angry at him for his mistakes. But the team still had two more events, and it rallied, scoring nothing lower than 15.133 on the final two events, the parallel bars and the horizontal bars. Jonathan Horton , the team captain and the only returning Olympian, said he was proud of how the team refused to let itself fall apart completely. To finish his night, he scored a 15.866 on the high bar, the event in which he won an Olympic silver medal four years ago. After his feet hit the ground, he pumped his fist as his team — beleaguered, yet undeterred — smiled and cheered. “I think it’s a young team,” Horton said. “We’re just going to learn from this. We’re going to learn how to deal with high expectations four years from now. I truly believe in my heart that we were the best team out there.” In reality, that team was the Chinese, who stared at their gold medals with such delight that it looked as if they had never won one before. And, in reality, the Japanese and British were good when it counted, too. The British held their medals and stared in disbelief. “It’s just mind-blowing, it’s madness, it just doesn’t feel real,” Sam Oldham of Britain said. “I’m just overwhelmed, honestly.”

2012 Summer Olympics
Danell Leyva
John Orozco
Jonathan Horton
Olympics
US
China
Great Britain
Japan


After Failed Coup, Turkey Enjoys a Rare Period of Unity

Abstract: ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is normally a divisive figure, loved by his base of religious conservatives and loathed by the rest of society. But there he was recently, sipping tea and making easy chitchat with his political rivals, just before joining them in a rally this month on Istanbul’s waterfront to celebrate the failure of an attempted military coup . An odd thing has happened in Turkey. Usually deeply polarized, the two sides are largely united in their opposition to military coups and the movement of Fethullah Gulen , a Muslim cleric who lives in self-exile in Pennsylvania and has been accused by Turkey of orchestrating the failed uprising. The unity was on vivid display at the rally, a sea of red-and-white Turkish flags where at least two million Turks put aside their political differences to express solidarity. “This is the first political rally I’ve attended with members of my extended family who have different political views,” said Huseyin Acikkaya, a parking lot attendant. His in-laws stopped speaking to him after he voted for Mr. Erdogan’s party last year, he said, but all that was forgotten after the coup attempt. Image Mr. Erdogan at a rally this month. He has urged Turks to focus on a common enemy, but Western allies are concerned that a witch-hunt mentality has gripped the nation. Credit Kayhan Ozer/Presidential Press Service, via Associated Press “We came together to save our nation from outside forces, so we are here for the love of our country and flag,” he said. Mr. Erdogan, an Islamist who has run the country for more than a decade, has unabashedly used the aftermath of the mid-July coup to focus the country on a common enemy. His approval rating has shot up to 68 percent, from 47 percent before the failed coup. He has not only toned down his divisive language but also said he would rescind the numerous criminal cases he has pursued against Turks for insulting him, a crime under Turkish law. That has been accompanied by a sweeping purge of suspected followers of Mr. Gulen from the state bureaucracy and other professions. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs, raising concerns among Western allies that a witch-hunt mentality has gripped Turkey and that Mr. Erdogan is moving further down the path of authoritarianism. But in Turkey, the purges are seen differently by society at large and are one more point to rally around, even for those who have been critical of Mr. Erdogan. While the liberals may worry that Mr. Erdogan will go after them once he is done with the Gulenists, and are mindful that Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Gulen were once allies, they are largely supportive of the mass dismissals and arrests. The Arc of a Coup Attempt in Turkey Here is a visual timeline of the country’s violent and chaotic insurrection. Secular and liberal Turks have long been suspicious of Gulenists inside the state bureaucracy, seeing them as enemies of the old secular elite. The Gulenists were also known to oppose efforts by Mr. Erdogan to seek peace with Kurdish militants. “I’m against purges; I’m against witch hunts,” said Akin Unver, a professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. Nevertheless, he said, “the Gulenists ended up annoying everyone here over the last 10 years. That’s why people are very calm about it.” In Washington on Tuesday, Mark C. Toner, a State Department spokesman, confirmed that Turkey had “requested the extradition of Mr. Gulen.” He added, however, that the request “did not relate” to the attempted coup. Mr. Toner said that while he did not have any further information on the request itself, “my understanding is that we were now in the stage where we are considering the merits of the request.” The extradition proceedings will be on the agenda when Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. meets with Mr. Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara, the capital, on Wednesday. Video After July's attempted military coup, the Turkish government is accusing the United States of supporting the military's failed takeover. Ceylan Yeginsu, The New York Times's Istanbul reporter, explains the tension between the countries. Credit Credit Adem Altan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images While some Turks left the recent rally hopeful that the unity would carry into the political arena and result in greater democracy, there are widespread suspicions that Mr. Erdogan, who has long been criticized for his increasingly autocratic bent, will use the rally-around-the-flag moment to consolidate his grip on the state. “Erdogan wants the support of the main opposition C.H.P., and he has reached that in terms of creating an atmosphere that would give his supporters the impression that ‘our chief pulled them to his side,’ ” said Aydin Engin, a Turkish intellectual, using the initials of the Turkish name of the country’s main secular party, the Republican People’s Party. “But I believe he is determined to continue with his own agenda.” Many of Mr. Erdogan’s opponents also fear that once the dust settles, Turkish politics will sink back into their default position of “us” and “them.” “Many of the political problems dividing the country before the coup are still present,” said Simon Waldman, a political sociologist and lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at King’s College London. “It is easier to be united against something such as a coup, which would have benefited very few people in Turkey, than being united in a shared political vision of the future.” Analysts also say that public displays of unity stem in part from fears that those who do not partake will be branded coup plotters or Gulenists. After all, Mr. Erdogan has asked Turks to inform on those they believe are connected to Mr. Gulen, adding to the witch-hunt environment in Turkey as the government continues its crackdown. The Scale of Turkey’s Purge Is Nearly Unprecedented How the Turkish president’s sweeping purge of political opponents would look if Americans were targeted at a similar scale. “Once the opposition parties break free from this paralyzing fear, they can begin to expose how the ruling party, behind a facade of consensus, dictates policies without feeling the need to consult them, or any other stakeholder for that matter,” said Aykan Erdemir, a former member of the Turkish Parliament who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He added, “Erdogan will strengthen his one-man rule and bring the country a step closer to a one-party state.” The pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, the country’s third-biggest political group, was not invited to the rally, and it has not been part of Mr. Erdogan’s fence mending because of its supposed links to Kurdish militants. Members of the party fear that its exclusion from rallies and other peaceful political events will further disenfranchise Kurds and push them toward the extremist Kurdish cause. Before the coup attempt, a string of terrorist attacks by Kurdish and Islamic State militants had demoralized the public. But now, despite a suicide bombing at a wedding on Saturday in southern Turkey, people have heeded Mr. Erdogan’s call to go to public squares and “defend democracy.” “We survived a coup,” Engin Firat, a cafe worker, shouted at the rally. “We are the soldiers and guardians of this nation now. We are stronger than the leaders, politicians and terrorists. We have shown strength as the people, and because of that, there is hope.”

Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Fethullah Gulen
Coups D'Etat


Ford and Canadian Workers in Tentative Deal

Abstract: OTTAWA — The Canadian Auto Workers union reached a tentative contract deal with the Ford Motor Company of Canada on Monday just hours before a midnight strike deadline. And Monday night, after reaching the accord, Ken Lewenza, the president of the union, said the union had extended contract negotiations with General Motors of Canada and Chrysler Canada. He warned, however, that the two automakers would face a strike unless they agreed to the same key terms as Ford . “The gap is still miles apart because we have a tremendous amount of work,” Mr. Lewenza said. “There’s so many issues on the table it would impossible for General Motors and Chrysler’s to respond.” The extension followed the arrival at the negotiations in downtown Toronto of two senior executives from Detroit : Al Iacobelli, the vice president for employee relations at Chrysler, and Cathy Clegg, General Motors’ vice president for labor relations. Mr. Lewenza said the extension was intended to give the companies time to study the tentative agreement reached with Ford. If the union believes they are procrastinating, he said, it will give two automakers 24 hours notice of a strike. “Our patience and anxieties in the workplace only have so much time,” Mr. Lewenza said. While the union gave concessions to Ford on wages and pensions, it said it was still able to uphold its major negotiating principles. Ford agreed to gradually rehire about 600 union members who were laid off from its plants, and it committed to produce a new line of vehicles at its assembly plant in Oakville, Ontario . It is a good deal in these economic times, Mr. Lewenza told a news conference. “It’s far from a carry-over agreement.” Mr. Lewenza emphasized that the union would not budge on its traditional approach of requiring all three Detroit-based companies to accept the same key contract terms, a system known as pattern bargaining. “Pattern bargaining is a concept to make sure that one company isn’t disadvantaged,” Mr. Lewenza said, adding that he would rather avoid a strike. “Our job is to manufacture cars and build components,” he said. “Our job isn’t to go on strike.” Accepting the Ford deal may be particularly difficult for Chrysler. In a statement over the weekend, the company indicated that Ford might not be a suitable model for Chrysler, the smallest employer of the Detroit Three in Canada. Sergio Marchionne , the Chrysler Group’s chief executive, has also repeatedly demanded that the Canadian union adopt a pay system for new hires used in the United States , something not found in the agreement with Ford, or risk having Chrysler leave the country. Chrysler said in a statement on Monday night that it was studying the tentative agreement with Ford. G.M. Canada said it “looks forward to continuing with the constructive dialogue.” .Because the vast majority of Canadian auto production is shipped to the United States, any factory closings would be disruptive for the two automakers at a time of brisk auto sales. Chrysler builds all of its minivans, as well as the Volkswagen Routan , in Windsor, Ontario. Its large rear-wheel-drive cars — the Chrysler 300, the Dodge Charger and the Challenger — come exclusively from a factory outside of Toronto in Brampton, Ontario. G.M.’s plants in Oshawa, Ontario, make the Chevrolet Camaro , the new Cadillac XTS, the Chevrolet Impala and the Buick Regal . Some production of the Chevrolet Equinox , a popular small sport utility model, also comes from Oshawa. Stacey Allerton, the vice president for human resources of Ford Motor Company of Canada, which is based in Oakville, said the four-year agreement, which is subject to ratification by Ford workers, provided a “unique to Canada solution that will improve the competitiveness of the Canadian operations while providing employees the opportunity to earn a good living.” The rise of the Canadian dollar to parity with the United States dollar has eliminated the cost advantage once enjoyed by Canadian plants and made labor costs higher in Canada. General Motors has said that Canada now has the highest costs in the world to assemble cars and trucks. The automakers, and Chrysler in particular, want the Canadian union to adopt a system long established at American plants under which new employees work at a lower wage rate. In Canada, workers start at a lower rate, but gradually move up to the same scale as established employees. Ford agreed to continue with that system after some compromises from the union. New employees will now have to wait 10 years, rather than six, to move to full wages and they will start at 60 percent of the full rate rather than 70 percent as was the case in the last contract. The sides found a similar compromise on the issue of pensions. Like many companies in Canada and in the United States, the automakers had sought to replace the defined-benefit pensions with defined-contribution plans. Defined-benefit pensions guarantee a set payment, while defined-contribution plans guarantee the employer’s payments, leaving the benefits subject to investment decisions and the investment environment. In the tentative agreement with Ford, the union agreed to a hybrid pension that would be a combination of the two systems. That will create some uncertainty about benefits for its members and also increase the amount of pension payments they make. The union’s members started making pension contributions only after signing their last contract in 2009. To make Ford’s costs more predictable, the union has agreed to a series of predetermined, lump-sum payments in place of wage increases based on the rate of inflation. There are no wage increases at all in the contract. Ford will rehire 230 workers shortly by introducing what Mr. Lewenza called a “partial third shift” in Oakville. When a new model arrives in 2014, the company plans to increase employment by about 300 jobs. The remainder of the job recalls will be created by ending outsourcing of some tasks and partial vehicle assemblies.

Jobs
Cars
Ford Motor
GM
Chrysler Group
Labor Unions
Canada
Canadian Auto Workers


Nets Point to a Noncall, but Have Themselves to Blame in a Loss

Abstract: Forty-eight minutes of grinding against the Memphis Grizzlies’ impenetrable defense left the Nets grumbling, gimpy, grumpy and in some cases altogether silent. Some practically sprinted out of Barclays Center late Sunday, unwilling to discuss the ugly particulars of a 76-72 loss. Others could barely walk, or contain their fury. The Nets were frustrated by their own ineptitude and incensed over the officiating, specifically the absence of a foul call after Deron Williams was hammered at the basket by Tony Allen and Zach Randolph with 26 seconds to go, and the game tied at 72-72. Williams came up limping — with a contusion to his left calf — and fuming. “I definitely thought I got fouled,” Williams said. “But they didn’t call it, so I guess I didn’t.” Others chose to avoid the topic altogether, by declining to speak with the news media. Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche walked briskly to the parking garage, accompanied by General Manager Billy King, who told reporters that they would not be talking, lest they draw a fine for criticizing the officials. When Blatche briefly returned to the locker room to retrieve some belongings, he waved off reporters, saying: “You heard what Billy said. I’m following orders.” Apparently, the Nets had decided that silence was the best strategy for dealing with a difficult defeat, their second in a row at home (both with the owner Mikhail D. Prokhorov in the building). Reggie Evans was the only other player to speak. Although the noncall involving Williams surely hurt the Nets (33-24), their own mistakes and missteps were far more costly. They missed 8 of 13 free throws, more than enough to make up the 4-point margin of defeat. They committed 18 turnovers. They shot poorly (.377) all night, including several air balls. Williams, despite chronically sore ankles, was the Nets’ best and at times only offensive weapon, scoring 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting. The other four starters combined for just 22 points and eight field goals. The Nets surely missed Joe Johnson, their second-leading scorer, who rested a sore left heel for the second straight game. The starting job fell to C. J. Watson, who scored a quiet 11 points. MarShon Brooks got an extended run off the bench, but did little with it, scoring 8 points in 32 minutes. Gerald Wallace missed all six of his shots, finishing with zero points for the second time this season. Lopez went 3 for 10 from the field and was benched for the fourth quarter, for the third time in four games, all since making his All-Star Game debut. He finished with 9 points. Image Reggie Evans, left, and the Grizzlies’ Tayshaun Prince fighting for the ball. Credit Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Coach P. J. Carlesimo offered the same rationale for the Lopez benching as he has before — that Blatche was playing too well to pull from the game. Indeed, Blatche sparked the Nets early in the fourth, scoring their first 6 points in an 8-0 run. But he did little the rest of the way. Lopez has taken the benchings in stride, but Carlesimo admitted he was concerned about Lopez’s confidence. “Without question,” Carlesimo said twice. Carlesimo tinkered with the rotation all night, to little positive effect. “Some guys were giving us offense, some guys were giving us defense,” he said. “Some guys weren’t giving us a lot of either, and we were just trying to patch a group together.” Did the Nets miss Johnson’s offense? That seemed clear. The Nets did not crack the 20-point plateau in any of the first three quarters and did not cross the 50-point mark until the final minute of the third (during which they scored 13 points). Wallace might have explained the loss with the infamous phrase he used last month — “Typical Nets basketball” — but he too left without speaking. The Nets led by 72-67 in the fourth, their largest lead of the game, after 5 straight points from Mirza Teletovic. Memphis quickly erased it, tying the game at 72-72 on Mike Conley’s jump shot. Williams took the aggressive route, driving the right side of the lane against Allen and Randolph, but his shot never even grazed the rim as he toppled to the court. “I thought I got fouled up top and down low,” he said. While Williams was still getting up, Teletovic fouled Allen, who made two free throws to give Memphis (37-18) the lead for good, 74-72. The Nets’ last chance to tie the game was snuffed when Williams bounced an errant pass, which Tayshaun Prince intercepted, securing the Grizzlies’ seventh straight victory. Conley hit two free throws to finish the scoring. “It’s frustrating,” Williams said. “But I can’t really control no-calls or calls or anything like that. I can control that I turned the ball over the next play, which is even more frustrating.” REBOUNDS The Nets are taking a cautious approach to Joe Johnson’s sore heel, which of course will be far more critical to their efforts in two months than it is now. They will need his scoring bursts and his clutch shooting in the playoffs. So no one is rushing him back. P. J. Carlesimo said that Johnson was improving, but his status for Tuesday’s game in New Orleans remained uncertain.

Basketball
Brooklyn Nets
Memphis Grizzlies
Joe Johnson


It's a Long Drive From Royals Country to Cardinals Country

Abstract: They are separated by 250 miles: the Royals of Kansas City on the western edge of Missouri, the Cardinals of St. Louis all the way in the east. The Royals, in their blue trim, are back in the postseason for the first time in 29 years — the last time, they beat the Cardinals in the World Series — and for much of that time have been lost souls. The Cardinals, meanwhile, in their distinctive red, have become the Yankees of the Midwest, with 11 World Series titles to their name and so many postseason appearances in recent years that fans elsewhere may be starting to grow a little resentful. So in baseball terms, the distance between these two clubs is a lot larger than what the map shows. Still, the assignment was to drive from one end of the state to the other, to start off amid the euphoria in Kansas City, where the Royals have already surged into the American League Championship Series, and to end up in the been-there-before atmosphere of St. Louis, where the expectations were that the Cardinals would once again find a way to advance deep into the postseason. Blue state, red state. The question was what kinds of baseball sentiments I would encounter along the way. • I started my journey late Monday morning in the parking lot of the Royals’ home field, Kauffman Stadium. The night before, fans had stood there in the rain, cheering and chanting, laughing and crying, after Kansas City swept its division series against the Los Angeles Angels. That’s what happens when you haven’t been in the postseason since 1985 and when even this season’s journey to October took place on a tightrope, with the Royals clinching a wild-card spot only in the final days of the season. Thirty miles out of Kansas City, driving east on Interstate 70, as I was checking in on baseball on sports talk radio, an exit sign caught my eye: Odessa, Mo. Odessa, Tex., remember, was the setting for the hit football book “Friday Night Lights.” So why not check it out? Past the row of shops just off the exit, shortly before 1 p.m., I came across two men grooming a football field. They were Randy Osman and David Larson, groundskeepers for the local school district. Larson was pushing a handcart, painting the field lines; Osman was about to fix the vandalized sprinkler system. “Ornery little kids, man,” Osman said of the culprits. They said they had grown up nearby and were longtime Royals fans. Osman mentioned that one of his neighbors was a Cardinals fan, from St. Louis. But that was O.K., Osman said, because his neighbor didn’t insult the Royals much when they were down. The Cardinals fan was outnumbered around here anyway, he noted. As for Larson, he liked the Royals’ chances to keep going in the postseason. “Detroit’s out of the way,” he said, with a toothy smile. “They could never beat Detroit. That’s the way I look at.” His prediction for the American League Championship Series? “We’ll beat the Orioles four out of seven.” The next stop was somewhat planned. Before I started my trip, I had consulted The New York Times’s map of fan allegiances. Red, of course, represented Cardinals rooters; blue, Royals fans. And Missouri was so predominantly red, it looked as if the blue parts were being shoved into Kansas. Concordia, less than 60 miles from Kansas City, was one of the easternmost towns that still seemed to bleed blue. It was shortly before 2 p.m. Near the end of the shops downtown, a bar had a sign out front offering a special: a royal Reuben, potato “twisters” and a drink. Inside, Rhonda Rudy, the manager, said the sandwich had always been called the royal Reuben — but not, alas, for the Royals. The bar, it turned out, just has a thing for royalty. Its name, after all, is the Palace. Image Concordia, less than 60 miles from Kansas City, is on the eastern edge of Royals territory. Its Central Park includes a small replica of the Statue of Liberty. Credit Steve Hebert for The New York Times Rudy said the bar was usually closed on Sundays but that the management had discussed opening it this past Sunday for Game 3 of the Royals-Angels series — and would have, if the place weren’t so understaffed. “From here on,” she said, “we’ll probably be open on Sundays.” (Although maybe not this Sunday, because there will be no A.L.C.S. game that day.) Back on I-70, I approached Boonville. “Boonville has something to do with Lewis and Clark,” I remembered my colleague, Joe Drape, a Kansas City native and a Royals fan, saying over the phone that morning when I asked for some tips. Just off the highway, I spotted signs for a historical marker and followed them past a water tower and some baseball fields until I got to a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark are believed to have traveled this way in early June 1804. I was alone, except for a couple in a parked car. Patty Waterfield and her fiancé were chatting and enjoying the view. She said she had been born in Kansas City but had moved to Boonville as an infant. Her family used to be Royals fans, she said, but now rooted for the Cardinals. She, however, still pulled for the Royals. And, she noted proudly, 1985 was the year she had graduated from high school. • Columbia is the midway point between Kansas City and St. Louis and is the home of the University of Missouri. On the Times map, it is Cardinals territory. Sure enough, at Booches, a local pub, the bartender wore a Cardinals T-shirt. And while there some Cardinals pictures on the wall, there were none of the Royals. Down the street, the man behind the counter at Shakespeare’s Pizza wore a Cardinals hat, although he noted that he had “seen a lot of brand-new Royals hats lately.” Around the corner, at the Tiger Hotel, the valet said he had grown up in Kansas City. His name was Hunter Schmitt, he was a sophomore, and he said most of his fraternity brothers were Cardinals fans but were also rooting for a 1985 World Series sequel, maybe because they assumed the Cardinals would stomp on the Royals this time. In any case, he added, “we had 20 guys crammed into my room for the game last night.” On the campus, a doctoral student and Kansas City native named John Kennedy was wearing a Royals shirt. He said he had been at Sunday night’s division clincher in Kansas City and planned to attend A.L.C.S. games next week. In the past, he said, Cardinals fans he knew had not lorded it over him, and in recent days, he said, they had been texting him, telling him how happy they were for him and his Royals. (Try that out, Mets and Yankees fans.) And one more thing: “I was born 71 days after they won the ’85 World Series,” Kennedy said of his Royals. “I’ve been waiting for this moment.” Moments later, a young woman in a Cardinals shirt walked by. Her name was Anna Hormberg, and she said she was a senior from St. Louis. She had been at the World Series-clinching games for the Cardinals in 2006 and 2011 and said that Royals fans were, well, harmless. “We’ll see how they are when the games get competitive,” she added. • A while later, as the sun was setting around 6:30 p.m., I spotted a sign for Williamsburg, Mo. Not, for sure, to be confused with the hipster Brooklyn neighborhood. Still, the name beckoned. I pulled onto a gravel road, drove past a row of houses and asked a man walking three dogs if I was in the right place. I was. Maybe 50 people lived here, he said, and no, he didn’t watch baseball. I counted one stop sign, maybe two stores, a community center and a Presbyterian church, where a light was on. I knocked on the door, and a flustered man answered. They were having a budget meeting, he said, and had no time to talk about baseball. “I can just tell you, I’m a Pirates fan, and I’m depressed,” he said. Indeed, Pittsburgh had ended its own long postseason drought a season ago, but this time around it had been trounced in the wild-card game by the San Francisco Giants. So maybe he would be rooting for Kansas City as the postseason progressed. Image By now, it was nearly 8 p.m., and Game 3 of the division series between the Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers would soon be starting in St. Louis. But first, here was Wildwood, a St. Louis suburb where David Freese, a Cardinals World Series hero a few years back, and the slugger Ryan Howard were raised. At the Big Chief Roadhouse, I found Chris Wirkus with his feet on a chair, drinking beer with a friend, waiting for the game to start. How did he like his Cardinals’ chances? “My honest opinion?” Wirkus said. “I don’t care until the N.L.C.S. I enjoy watching the games, but if I had other plans tonight, I would be doing something else.” With what some might consider a little smugness, he added: “We’ve been there so much. It’s about winning the World Series.” For better or worse, Wirkus had the final words in my 250-mile journey, and maybe it was fitting that he did. As unscientific as my little survey was, you couldn’t help detecting the difference between Royals happiness, and gratitude, and Cardinals confidence. By 9 p.m., I was inside Busch Stadium, where the crowd was definitely not as loud as it had been at Kauffman Stadium the night before. Still, when St. Louis took the lead for good, the fans roared, as they did again on Tuesday night when the Cardinals advanced to the N.L.C.S. Blue state, red state. With more to come.

Baseball
Kansas City Royals
St. Louis Cardinals
Missouri


Alex Calderwood, Creator and Face of the Unconventional Ace Hotel Chain, Dies at 47

Abstract: Alex Calderwood, a founder of the Ace Hotel chain, whose quirky vintage interiors influenced the industry and became the backdrop for countless Instagram pictures, died on Thursday in London. He was 47. A spokesman for the hotel chain declined to specify the cause. Mr. Calderwood, whose dress was rigorously casual and who wore his black hair in a chaotic mop, became the face of a brand that has, as The New York Times put it in 2008 , “attracted a growing clientele of artistic types short on cash and egalitarians with money to spare.” Mr. Calderwood was born in Denver on Jan. 28, 1966, and grew up around Seattle, the son of a contractor and a newspaper columnist. He skipped college, became a party promoter and ran a vintage clothing business in Seattle, according to accounts he gave of his career. In the early 1990s, he and a friend risked $12,000 to reinvent the classic barbershop — with tile floors, sturdy barbers’ chairs and walls covered in old posters and snapshots. As the shop, Rudy’s, prospered and expanded to a chain of more than a dozen in the late 1990s, Mr. Calderwood and his partners were offered the lease on a 28-room flophouse in a run-down part of Seattle. “We put a deal together, jumped into the project with both feet, had absolutely no idea what we were doing and through instinct, came up with something fresh,” he told BlackBook magazine in 2009. Image Alex Calderwood Credit Deidre Schoo for The New York Times The then-pioneering blend of reclaimed furniture and touches like street art, turntables in rooms and low prices — $65 for a room with a shared bathroom — that they used in creating the hotel became Mr. Calderwood’s signature, and was widely imitated. He and his partners chose the name Ace because the card is “the high and the low card in the deck,” he said. “We employ that high and low principle in our hotel models.” In designing a hotel, he said in a 2011 interview with The Times , “there’s a lot of the pieces of the puzzle. It is not just an interesting design, it is not just the right choice of typeface, it is not finding the executives or team — it is all these pieces of the puzzle.” By the time of Mr. Calderwood’s death, Ace had become established in Portland, Ore.; New York; Palm Springs, Calif.; and London, with other hotels scheduled to open in Panama and Los Angeles. All arrived complete with buzzword-friendly restaurants and cafes (“farm-to-table,” “nose-to-tail,” “single-source”); in-house music from D.J.’s and bands; and, in some hotels, guitars in the rooms. The people who frequented the Ace Hotel at Broadway and 29th Street in New York, The Times said, thought of it as their club, a place “whose aesthetics and business model are redefining the overlapping worlds of drinking, dining, sleeping and shopping.” Others, however, derided the hotels as a prepackaged pastiche of counterculture. Yet as the chain grew, Mr. Calderwood and his partners separated. One of them, Jack Barron, an architect, said disagreements were not helped by Mr. Calderwood’s drinking. But Mr. Calderwood, in the 2011 interview, said that he had been sober for five months after treatment in a rehabilitation facility. Image Rooms at the hotel have record players, books and a guitar — effects to make guests feel at home. Credit Deidre Schoo for The New York Times “You get to a certain age, and you get to a certain point, where you realize this is just, like, dragging me down,” he added. “It’s not fun anymore. I’m not enjoying it.” He is survived by his parents, Thomas and Kathleen Calderwood of Seattle; two sisters, Donna Roberts and Tahnee Ferry; and a brother, Tim Calderwood. Mr. Calderwood, an aficionado of graphic designers such as Lou Dorfsman and Milton Glaser who was often photographed in jeans, T-shirts and Converse sneakers (he helped design a pair ), did not enjoy the label hipster, frequently applied to his hotels, and to him. He seemed to seek to define himself differently. Hotels were “art projects,” he said, and his business card billed him as a “cultural engineer.” “I’m just a barber and a tattoo pimp,” he told Interview magazine early in his career.

Alex Calderwood
Ace Hotel
Hotels
Obituary


Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Defraud Broadway Producers

Abstract: A former Long Island stockbroker accused of bilking the producers of a planned Broadway musical production of “Rebecca” pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges on Monday, admitting that he had conjured up fictitious overseas investors and a phantom loan as part of a sham effort to rescue the financially troubled show. The fraud — involving a plot federal authorities called “stranger than fiction” — led to the collapse of the production, when the former stockbroker, Mark C. Hotton, after reporting that one of the investors had died from malaria, failed to help secure a promised $1.1 million loan. But Mr. Hotton had created the investor, along with three others, out of whole cloth, complete with addresses in Australia and South Africa and fake e-mail correspondence and agreements suggesting they would provide $4.5 million for the show, a musical adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s psychological thriller. Mr. Hotton, 47, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud before Judge John G. Koeltl in United States District Court in Manhattan. Each wire fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. But the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, was expected to recommend a sentence of between 33 and 41 months in prison, according to an agreement signed by prosecutors and Mr. Hotton. One count stemmed from the “Rebecca” fraud and the other involved a separate scheme to defraud a Connecticut-based real estate company in which he used some of the same ruses he employed to deceive the Broadway producers. The convoluted fraud that derailed “Rebecca” was among the most spectacular scandals in modern Broadway history, and it left the show’s lead producers, Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza, reeling. Mr. Sprecher had already raised several million dollars to mount the musical on Broadway — and had spent much of that money on preproduction costs, as is routine — when Mr. Hotton’s scheme was revealed and the show was indefinitely postponed. In a separate case, Mr. Hotton was also charged by federal prosecutors on Long Island with securing $3.7 million by creating sham invoices and selling that debt at a discount to unsuspecting companies. He is expected to appear in United States District Court in Central Islip before Judge Joanna Seybert on Tuesday afternoon to plead guilty to a single count of money laundering conspiracy in that case. Mr. Hotton’s lawyer, Ira D. London, did not respond to a telephone call and e-mail message seeking comment late on Monday. But in remarks to reporters outside court, he suggested there was more drama yet to come. “Mr. Hotton has asked me to say there is a chapter yet to be written in this saga,” Mr. London said, according to the Associated Press. He declined to elaborate, saying only, “When it will be written you will know.” Mr. Bharara said in a news release announcing the disposition in the “Rebecca” case: “With his guilty plea today, the curtain is finally closing on Mark Hotton’s elaborately staged fraud. Though his lies and deceits were the stuff of fiction, they caused real harm to his victims, and now he faces real consequences as a result — the prospect of jail.” Ronald G. Russo, a lawyer for Mr. Sprecher and Ms. Forlenza, said they were pleased by the outcome of the case. Last fall, Mr. Hotton had continued to deny the fraud in the face of mounting evidence, and pleaded not guilty when he was arrested in October. Mr. Russo said: “The damage he did to ‘Rebecca’ was enormous. However, despite his criminal conduct, Ben Sprecher has every reason to believe that ‘Rebecca’ will open on Broadway next year.” Still determined to bring “Rebecca” to Broadway, Mr. Sprecher has been working for months to try to raise the $4.5 million that Mr. Hotton had claimed to line up for the show, initially expected to cost about $12 million. Salvaging “Rebecca” is important to Mr. Sprecher not only because he believes in the musical’s artistry and commercial potential — his producing company will be liable to “Rebecca” investors to return their money if the production does not open on Broadway in 2014. The guilty plea by Mr. Hotton does not directly influence the chances of “Rebecca” still making it to Broadway, though Mr. Sprecher could conceivably cite Mr. Hotton’s admission of guilt in conversations with investors who are frustrated that the musical remains in limbo. Mr. Sprecher has said that the Broadway production budget for “Rebecca” would now most likely be higher than $12 million.

Mark C Hotton
Fraud
Theater
John G Koeltl


Illinois: Chicago Mayor Weighs Major Property Tax Increase

Abstract: Chicagoans may face a significant tax increase next year as the city, the nation’s third largest, is required to start making larger payments to some of its underfunded pension funds. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who is expected to issue details of his budget plan for 2016 later this month, acknowledged to reporters on Thursday that he was weighing a property tax increase, which has long been expected here. “It’s going to be fair and progressive,” he said. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the mayor was poised to raise property taxes by $500 million. He would need approval from Chicago’s City Council.

Rahm Emanuel
Pensions and Retirement Plans
Chicago
Property tax
Illinois
Budget


Rafael Nadal Reaches Third Round

Abstract: Rafael Nadal rebounded from an early break to beat Marcel Granollers, 6-3, 6-2, advancing to the third round of the Barcelona Open in Spain. The two-time tournament champion Kei Nishikori advanced to the third round by beating Thiemo de Bakker, 6-4, 6-2. ■ The defending champion Angelique Kerber came from behind to defeat Annika Beck, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Karolina Pliskova upset eighth-seeded Lucie Safarova, 7-6 (4) 4-6, 7-5.


With or Without Bailout, Cypriots Lose Trust in Banks

Abstract: NICOSIA, Cyprus — With her wedding day three months away, Despina Charalambous is desperate to gain access to her savings, which have been frozen at the Bank of Cyprus for more than a week. She plans to take out all her money once the banks reopen, even though the new bailout plan for her country supposedly guarantees the safety of her deposits. “I have lost my trust in Bank of Cyprus and banks in general,” Ms. Charalambous, 33, a biologist, said. She was still bitter that just last week the country’s president was ready to skim money even from small savers like her to help secure a 10 billion euro, or $12.9 billion, lifeline to the nation’s outsize banking industry. Multiply Ms. Charalambous’s concerns by tens of thousands of account holders in Cyprus, and it becomes apparent why many people here and abroad have a sneaking suspicion that European leaders, in scrambling to cobble together yet another solution on Sunday night to the Cyprus crisis, have come up with little more than a Band-Aid for what is likely to remain a gnawing wound. Stocks were down broadly in Europe on Monday, after the head of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, suggested that the idea of skimming savers’ accounts to bail out banks could be considered a “template” for other countries. The borrowing costs of the financially shaky Spain and Italy surged upward as the markets digested the Cyprus news — and the broader implications for the euro currency union. While depositors with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts will be untouched, people with more money will take losses in a first for euro zone bailouts. More broadly, this is the first time a euro zone country is planning to block depositors from taking their money out of financial institutions in large amounts and moving it elsewhere. In recent decades, such measures, known as capital controls, have typically been confined to emerging countries, like Argentina, or authoritarian states like Iran. Now Cyprus, a longtime haven for rich people from around the world, is struggling to figure out how to prevent them from going elsewhere. “For the first time, we have capital controls in the euro zone,” said Nicolas Véron, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a policy research group in Brussels, and a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “The next time there is a crisis somewhere else in the world, people will think of what happened in Cyprus and will try to get their money out much faster. These are the new rules of the game.” Even many ordinary savers like Ms. Charalambous will have to wait a little longer for their cash. Despite promises since last week that the country’s banks would reopen on Tuesday, the government late on Monday ordered all of them, including the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank — the nation’s largest financial institutions, with most of the accounts on the island — to stay shut through at least Thursday. And automated cash withdrawals will be limited to 100 euros a day. Under the terms of the bailout, Laiki will be restructured, with its guaranteed deposits transferred to the Bank of Cyprus. Local bankers conceded that the country was ill-prepared to deal with carrying out capital controls. It had not, for example, determined what types of controls to put in place — whether restricting local transfers, or forcibly extending the maturity of term deposits, or even in extreme cases closing bank accounts. Bankers and lawyers still working on the bailout deal on Monday said a decision had not been reached on whether Cypriots with deposits under 100,000 euros would be able to walk into their local branches and transfer their deposits to another, safer bank on the island. “They definitely will not be able to send their money overseas,” said a person involved in the discussions who spoke anonymously because the person was not authorized to speak publicly. “But with regard to transferring them to another local bank, that has not been decided.” Image The president of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, a statement on television. Many people in the country remain concerned about their deposits. Credit Milos Bicanski/Getty Images No wonder Ms. Charalambous is edgy. “You just get the sense that they don’t know what they are doing,” she said. Banking experts say trust, once lost, is not easily regained. In the case of Cyprus, the deep desire by Germany and the International Monetary Fund to make those who took advantage of the system pay a share of Europe’s latest bailout may have long-term consequences not just for Cyprus but across the euro area. “Burden sharing is fine,” said Adrian Blundell-Wignall, the top financial economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and a member of the Financial Stability Board. “But if you make people nervous about their deposits, you are playing with fire.” While analysts hailed Europe’s decision to wind up Laiki Bank by transferring its poorly performing assets to a so-called bad bank and the better-performing ones to the Bank of Cyprus, it was far from clear how Cypriots would regard their largest bank when it did reopen its doors. The Bank of Cyprus reflected the ambition of this small island — like Iceland before it — to become a global financial player by attracting deposits from all over the world. But at its root, wealthy Russians and other foreigners aside, this century-old institution is a local one — handling the short-term deposits, credit cards and working capital needs of Cyprus’s 850,000 citizens with branches on practically every street corner in Nicosia and even in the most remote fishing village. If the concerns voiced by Ms. Charalambous and many other Cypriots over the last 10 days are an indication, the bond of trust between the bank and its clients may already be irreparably damaged. The uncertainty has also wreaked havoc with thousands of businesses of all sizes that had kept large accounts at the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki Bank. “We’re talking about the two biggest banks that supply the financing in this country,” said Vasilis Zertalis, chief executive of Prospectacy, a financial services consulting firm that helps companies set up shop in Cyprus. With the banks’ prolonged closure, Mr. Zertalis said, “many of those companies are going to go out of business right away.” Since last weekend, when President Nicos Anastasiades first floated the idea of confiscating a portion of bank deposits, Mr. Zertalis’s phone has been ringing nonstop with clients looking for a way out. “We’re just trying to keep our clients operational,” he said. On Monday, he was frantically searching for a solution for one of his clients with a half-million-euro overdraft at Laiki — which, like the Bank of Cyprus and other financial institutions here, took large losses on its holdings of Greek debt and lost piles of money lending to businesses, now bankrupt, in Greece. The client, a midsize electronics retailer that imports PlayStations, Xboxes and video games, must pay its suppliers by the end of the month — this Friday — for products it already imported to Cyprus. But the importer will not be able to collect payments from customers until the end of April. Mr. Zertalis has sought financing from abroad, and he has been working to get an extension from his client’s suppliers. “If you deal with a multinational in New York and you are a small player, they don’t care” that Cyprus banks are having a problem, he said. “You’re just an account that’s now become a headache for them.” As the banking sector shrinks, Cyprus’s service-oriented economy will shrink with it. Mr. Zertalis says his e-mail account has been flooded with offers from banks in Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands saying he can open accounts there within an hour should he choose another location to guard his clients’ money. “They are targeting Cyprus,” he said. “We are going to see hard times coming here. This is only the beginning.”

Cyprus
Banking and Finance
Bank of Cyprus
Cyprus Popular Bank Laiki Bank
Euro Crisis
EU
European Central Bank


IBM Is Counting on Its Bet on Watson, and Paying Big Money for It

Abstract: Watson, can you grow into a multibillion-dollar business and become the engine of IBM’s resurgence? IBM is betting its future that the answer is yes. Its campaign to commercialize Watson, the company’s version of artificial intelligence technology, stands out, even during the current A.I. frenzy in the tech industry. IBM has invested billions of dollars in its Watson business unit, created at the start of 2014, which now employs an estimated 10,000 workers. Its big-ticket marketing push includes clever television ads that feature Watson trading quips with famous people like Serena Williams and Bob Dylan. And Watson, after a slow start , has shown its mettle by assisting in daunting tasks like diagnosing cancer. Yet industry experts question how quickly IBM can build a business around Watson. “IBM has pursued big, bespoke moonshot initiatives that can take years and are extremely expensive,” said Tom Austin, a research fellow at Gartner. “It seems like they’re swimming upstream with that.” Adapting Watson technology to industries like health care and manufacturing, IBM insists, was always going to be a long-term commitment — and one that began shortly after Watson beat human champions on the quiz show “Jeopardy!” in 2011. But the years of investment and applied-science projects, IBM executives say, are increasingly turning into moneymaking opportunities in sizable markets. They point to a new Watson offering in genomics as a prime example of the company’s strategy. IBM is collaborating with Quest Diagnostics, the medical laboratory company, to offer gene sequencing and Watson diagnostic analysis , as a cloud service, to oncologists treating cancer patients, starting on Monday. The service will also tap the genomics data and expertise of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Broad Institute. “This is the broad commercialization of Watson in oncology,” said John E. Kelly, a senior vice president who oversees IBM’s research labs and the Watson business. The technology, IBM executives say, has the potential to make precision medicine and tailored therapies available to millions of cancer patients instead of the small number now treated at elite medical centers with genomics expertise. An estimated 14 million Americans are living with cancer. The new genomics service, IBM executives say, is one step in the company’s march to build a so-called ecosystem of corporate partners and software developers that use Watson technology. For a programmer, Watson can provide code that allows a start-up’s software to read and interpret legal documents more easily, for example. For a big company, Watson can provide not just software but also IBM consultants helping a retailer, for example, use the technology to customize marketing and improve customer service. The artificial intelligence marketplace, analysts agree, is primed to grow rapidly. A.I. is also the new arena of high-stakes competition in computing, fueled by big data and innovations in software algorithms. The market — defined as A.I.-related hardware, software and services — will surge from $8 billion this year to $47 billion by 2020, predicts IDC, a research firm. Today, the A.I. business, experts say, resembles the internet in the mid-1990s: a thing on its own that eventually will be built into all kinds of products and services. “That’s where we’re headed — A.I. everywhere,” said Frank Gens, IDC’s chief analyst. All the major technology companies are investing aggressively in A.I. software, including companies beyond IBM like Salesforce, SAP and Oracle that focus on business customers. But consumer internet companies with large cloud computing businesses, analysts say, are most likely to build the equivalent of operating systems for A.I. — the so-called platforms on which most developers write applications. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are the front-runners. Image “Pepper,” a robot by SoftBank Robotics, on display this year. Watson has been tapped to help advance this technology. Credit David Ramos/Getty Images IBM may have a chance to join that group. By 2020, IDC predicts, 60 percent of the A.I. applications will run on the platform of four companies: Amazon, Google, Microsoft and IBM. IBM needs A.I.-fueled growth more than the others. When the company reports its third-quarter financial results on Monday, analysts expect the recent pattern to continue; its new businesses like Watson, data analytics and cloud computing are growing but not fast enough to outpace the erosion in its traditional hardware, software and services lines. Revenue has declined for 17 consecutive quarters. IBM does not report financial results for Watson separately. But the securities research arm of the Swiss bank UBS estimates that Watson may generate $500 million in revenue this year and could grow rapidly in the years ahead, possibly hitting nearly $6 billion by 2020 and almost $17 billion by 2022. IBM has acquired industry expertise and proprietary data sources, in addition to supplying A.I. platform tools and technology. “IBM has taken a very different approach from Google, Amazon and Microsoft,” said Judith Hurwitz, an independent analyst. “It’s leveraging data and the knowledge of experts.” IBM first focused on health care, and that business now accounts for two-thirds of the Watson unit’s employment. Three years ago, IBM experts began working with leading medical centers. And it has spent more than $4 billion buying a handful of companies with vast stores of medical data like billing records, patient histories, and X-ray and M.R.I. images. “A.I. machines are only as smart as the data you give them,” Mr. Kelly noted. Watson’s core strength, dating back to the “Jeopardy!” competition, is its ability to read and interpret words, known as natural-language processing. Once trained, Watson can digest thousands of documents in minutes. At the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Watson was tested on 1,000 cancer diagnoses made by human experts. In 99 percent of them, Watson recommended the same treatment as the oncologists. In 30 percent of the cases, Watson also found a treatment option the human doctors missed. Some treatments were based on research papers that the doctors had not read — more than 160,000 cancer research papers are published a year. Other treatment options might have surfaced in a new clinical trial the oncologists had not yet seen announced on the web. But Watson read it all. “Humans enabled by A.I. is the way to go with genomics,” said Dr. Norman E. Sharpless, head of the school’s cancer center.

Artificial intelligence
IBM
Mergers and Acquisitions
Quest Diagnostics
Cloud computing
Genetics and Heredity