Knicks Build Big Lead Before a Tired Team Nearly Lulls Them Into a Loss

Abstract: Hours removed from playing what Coach Sam Mitchell described as their worst game of the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves arrived in New York on Wednesday at 2:30 a.m. Mitchell thought that fatigue might be a factor in his team’s game against the Knicks that night at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks were in no position to commit random acts of kindness against a ragtag opponent. They ran out to a big lead and survived a lackluster second half on their way to a 107-102 victory. It made little difference to them that their win came against a tired, undermanned team. “We just continue to reinforce the message that the score doesn’t really matter at the end of the day,” Coach Derek Fisher said. “It’s how you’re playing possession to possession. What decisions are you making? Are you still taking good shots?” The game was a mixed bag for the Knicks (12-14), who led by 20 at halftime before they nearly let it all slip away. The Timberwolves (9-16) cut the lead to 3 with 11.4 seconds left when Karl-Anthony Towns converted a 3-point play after he was fouled by Kristaps Porzingis. Forced to foul, the Timberwolves sent Arron Afflalo to the line, and he made four straight free throws in the closing moments. Minnesota was finally out of answers. Carmelo Anthony assembled a terrific all-around game in the win, finishing with 20 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists, and Afflalo scored a game-high 29 points. “There comes a time where you kind of have to do something different,” Anthony said of his role as chief facilitator. “Especially on this team, there are some nights where I need to score a lot of points, and some nights it’s not. I just try to make a concerted effort at doing that.” Towns, a first-year center who grew up in Piscataway, N.J., finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds in his first N.B.A. appearance at the Garden. Unlike the Timberwolves, who were stuck with dreaded back-to-back games — they lost at home to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday — the Knicks were coming off a lengthy break. Their previous game was on Saturday, when they salvaged some good feelings from an otherwise bleak three-game trip with a win over the Portland Trail Blazers . After the Knicks returned home, Fisher gave his players a day off, but then they practiced — and practiced hard, Fisher said. “We needed to work,” he said. “It’s pretty much that simple. To try to develop the energy and the intensity and the mind-set to play in games, you need to practice those things.” The team’s recent trip was a disaster for Porzingis, who averaged 5.7 points and 4.3 rebounds and shot 24 percent from the field. After going scoreless against Portland, Porzingis acknowledged that he was tired. Fisher said that Porzingis would need to push through it. “He may not have his legs back from the last two days of practice, honestly,” Fisher said before Wednesday’s game. “It’s all part of a season.” Against Minnesota, Porzingis made his first field-goal attempt, a 3-pointer, and blocked three shots in the first quarter. He even swatted an attempt by Towns at the rim. Porzingis had seven blocks in all, but otherwise he labored, finishing with 11 points and 6 rebounds and shooting 4 of 14. The Knicks pushed the tempo during a key stretch of the second quarter. Their approach had an effect on the Timberwolves, who did not look fresh. The Knicks scored 11 unanswered points to go ahead by 42-34. Afflalo had a layup and a 3-pointer during the run, and Anthony later made a step-back jumper to give the Knicks a 60-40 lead at halftime. But they struggled in the third quarter, cracking the door for Minnesota. Towns connected on two 3-pointers, and Zach LaVine (19 points) soared for a dunk that cut the lead to 8. In the fourth, Afflalo emerged once again, converting a 3-point play for a 13-point lead. But the Timberwolves refused to go away until the end. Minnesota, after showing so much early-season promise, has lost four straight. Before the game, Mitchell said he had considered making lineup changes. But his team was short-handed, so he did not have much room for creativity. Kevin Martin missed the game with a wrist injury, and Kevin Garnett rested. Mitchell made sure, more than once, to remind everyone within earshot that his team’s top three scorers — Andrew Wiggins, Towns and LaVine — were 20 years old. As for Porzingis, he seems to be part of a ballyhooed matchup every time he takes the court. On Wednesday, he faced Towns, a fellow lottery pick in this year’s draft, for the first time. “He’s talented and proved it again,” Towns said. “I can’t wait to play against him for the next 20-plus years.”

Basketball
Carmelo Anthony
Karl-Anthony Towns
Knicks
Timberwolves


Campaign Ad Uses a Sleight of Lines

Abstract: James Warren is a columnist for the Chicago News Cooperative When cable television’s “Hardball” stopped at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the host, Chris Matthews , didn’t figure that he’d be playing a role in a melancholy, mudslinging local campaign. But before his “college tour” arrived at U.I.C. on Wednesday, he could be found on a political advertisement that suggested he was knocking Alexi Giannoulias , the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate — and also Mr. Matthews’s upbeat first guest on an outdoor set encircled by boisterous students on a sparkling fall day. The TV ad bashes Mr. Giannoulias and is the handiwork of Crossroads GPS, a nonprofit set up so it doesn’t need to disclose its donors. It’s affiliated with Karl Rove , the Republican strategist, and has raised huge sums to boost Republicans. The ad uses footage of Mr. Matthews on his show declaring, “Giannoulias told voters he left his family’s troubled bank in 2005, but he told the I.R.S. he was still working there in 2006. That enabled him to take a $2.7 million tax deduction.” The problem is that the ad omits the first part of Mr. Matthews’s on-air declaration: “The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Illinois Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias told voters he left his family’s troubled bank back in 2005 ...” And it doesn’t include Mr. Matthews’s recitation of the candidate’s response, namely that there’s no contradiction or suggestion he took an undeserved tax break. Mr. Matthews is a sharp observer of politics and no naïf about campaigns. But, as he told me, he finds that “secret money” is a problem; that self-financing, wealthy candidates unfairly threaten “reasonably effective officials” at all levels; and that the conservative constitutional view of money as speech is unconvincing. When it came to the anti-Giannoulias ad, he wasn’t happy. NBC lawyers complained to Crossroads but have yet to hear a response. The name “ Mark Kirk ” is not mentioned, but the ad is meant to boost the Republican congressman’s candidacy. Given his chronicled résumé-padding, it may be fitting that he benefits from such selective editing. • Cash in some frequent-flier miles and head to Mesa, Ariz., for a sun-filled election tussle with Chicago resonance. The Nov. 2 ballot will ask whether Mesa should spend $84 million for a new Cubs spring training stadium and related facilities. The Cubs have spent more than $100,000 there, via a political action committee. While Mesa voters have been favorable toward recent spending issues, and the business establishment backs the team, the general voter mood is no different here than elsewhere. A close vote is expected. • A man who has melded hard work, power and invisibility is now not quite so invisible. State Representative Michael J. Madigan, the House Democratic leader, is the target of several billboards in the Chicago area created by Republicans, including one on the Tri-State Tollway. There’s a photo of a baby and this message: “Mom’s Eyes — Dad’s Nose. Speaker Mike Madigan’s Debt. Every Child in Illinois is Born Owing $10,000. They Deserve Better.” Mr. Madigan has long been low-profile and news media-averse. But Capitol Fax reported that he has done polling and sent five separate mailings to constituents in his safe Chicago district. That bespeaks an anxiety-driven caution. Rich Miller, the blogger who writes Capitol Fax, asked a pollster to throw in a question about Mr. Madigan. His unfavorable rating, the poll claimed, was nearly three times more than his favorable rating. If his camouflage is unraveling, it’s probably owed to rancorous relations with fellow Democrat and then Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, as well as the state’s California-like budget mess for which he bears ample responsibility. There is also the news media criticism, led by The Chicago Tribune, of Mr. Madigan as a public official and as a private lawyer specializing in real estate tax appeals. State Representative Tom Cross, the House Republican leader, suggested that more extensive news media coverage of the Legislature downstate means fewer folks up north may know of Mr. Madigan. And since Mr. Madigan is “arguably the most powerful man in Illinois government,” said Mr. Cross, he felt justified in making him the involuntary star of the billboards. • A candidate can’t be expected to embrace everybody who supports him. But those backers can still leave a voter wondering where a candidate really stands. Robert Dold, a Republican who’s running for Mr. Kirk’s north suburban congressional seat, publicly asserts he’s pro-abortion rights, but he keeps being endorsed by anti-abortion groups, the most recent being the Illinois Family Institute. The key abortion question on its candidate questionnaire relates to proposed federal legislation to require that providers speak vividly to mothers. The proposed script for doctors includes the line, “There is substantial evidence that the process of being killed in an abortion will cause the unborn child pain, even though you receive a pain-reducing drug or drugs.” Mr. Kirk said that he’s against the proposal. Mr. Dold, the self-proclaimed Kirk Redux moderate, said that he’s for it.

Matthews Chris
Kirk Mark Steven
Giannoulias Alexi
Illinois
Crossroads GPS
Rove Karl
Political Advertising
United States Politics and Government
Elections


Canseco Swaps Publishers for His Sequel to ‘Juiced’

Abstract: A little more than two months before he expects to have his second book in stores, José Canseco is switching publishers for “Vindicated,” his promised sequel to the incendiary best seller “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ’Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big.” Canseco has also switched collaborators. He is now working with Pablo F. Fenjves, a former National Enquirer writer who was the ghost writer of “If I Did It,” the book in which O. J. Simpson hypothesized about how he would have murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA, was scheduled to publish “Vindicated” on opening day this spring but withdrew from the project Tuesday. “By mutual agreement with José Canseco, we have decided not to publish his book ‘Vindicated,’ ” Craig Burke, a spokesman for Berkley, said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. “After much consideration, we have agreed to part ways due to editorial delays that made it impossible to maintain our original publishing schedule.” Berkley grew concerned after Don Yaeger, a former Sports Illustrated associate editor who was originally set to work with Canseco on the book, pulled out of the project a few weeks ago. When Fenjves came on board and delivered part of a manuscript, editors said they did not believe they could turn it around in time for publication to coincide with the start of the baseball season. Another person with knowledge of the book deal said the publisher had questions about its news value. Bret Saxon, Canseco’s book agent, said that he had secured another publisher and that the book would come out in time for opening day. He declined to name the publisher, but said the book was completed. Saxon said Canseco was “naming some new names and some huge ones.” He added that the book would pick up where “Juiced” left off in 2005. That book, published by Regan Books, now defunct, told how Canseco relied on steroids and how he took performance-enhancing drugs with former teammates, among them Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire. “Juiced” drew widespread rebuttals, with McGwire denying steroid use and Giambi calling the book delusional. Of the new book, Saxon said, “It’s a first-person account of the steroid story from when his book was leaked to the Miami press and we had to rush up publication, and how that unleashed a media storm.” Saxon added that “Vindicated” also discussed George J. Mitchell’s report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. The book “goes through the things that are good and bad about Mitchell,” Saxon said.

Books and Literature
Canseco Jose
National Enquirer
Penguin Group
Steroids
Drug Abuse and Traffic
Baseball


Events in Westchester

Abstract: Film CHAPPAQUA Chappaqua Library “Under Our Skin,” documentary, directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson. Followed by discussion with Dr. Daniel Cameron, internist and epidemiologist. Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Chappaqua Library, 195 South Greeley Avenue. (914) 238-4779; chappaqualibrary.org . MAMARONECK Emelin Theater “Gotta Dance,” documentary, directed by Dori Berinstein. Followed by question-and-answer session . with the director and dancers in the film. Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. $15. Emelin Theater, 153 Library Lane. emelin.org ; (914) 698-0098. NEW ROCHELLE New Rochelle Public Library “XXY,” Argentine film directed by Lucia Puenzo, followed by bilingual discussion with Yvette Nieves, a professor, and Chris Poggiali, a librarian and screenwriter. Monday at 7 p.m. Free. New Rochelle Public Library, 1 Library Plaza. (914) 632-7878; nrpl.org . OSSINING Ossining Public Library “Munyurangabo,” drama, directed by Lee Isaac Chung. July 29 at 7 p.m. Free. Ossining Public Library, 53 Croton Avenue. (914) 941-2416; ossininglibrary.org . PLEASANTVILLE Jacob Burns Film Center “Enlighten Up!” Documentary, directed by Kate Churchill. Part of “The Meditative Life 2009” film series. Through Thursday. $6 to $10. Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road. burnsfilmcenter.org ; (914) 747-5555. For Children BREWSTER Southeast Museum Paper-mMaking workshop, using natural fibers and recycled material to make paper. Ages 5 and up. July 25 at 10:30 a.m. $5. Reservations required. Southeast Museum, 67 Main Street. southeastmuseum .org; (845) 279-7500. CHAPPAQUA Chappaqua Library “The Tale of Despereaux,” film. Ages 6 and up. July 27, 6 to 9 p.m. Free. Call to register. Chappaqua Library, 195 South Greeley Avenue. www.chappaqualibrary.org; (914) 238-4779. KATONAH Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts “Family Concert: Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ “ two concerts for different age groups. All ages welcome with an adult. July 25 at 4: p.m. $10 to $25. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road. caramoor.com ; (914) 232-1252. KATONAH Katonah Village Library Chess instruction. Ages 6 and up. Mondays, through July 27. 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Free. Katonah Village Library, 26 Bedford Road. (914) 232-3508; katonahlibrary.org . MOUNT KISCO Mount Kisco Public Library “BubbleMania,” visual comedy, with big-band swing music and bubbles. Ages 5 and up. July 28 at 4 p.m. Free. Mount Kisco Public Library, 100 East Main Street. (914) 666-8041; mountkiscolibrary.org . SCARSDALE Greenburgh Nature Center “Mad Scientist at Work,” interactive experiments with Travis Brady, museum curator. Ages 6 and up. July 19 at 2 p.m. $2 and $8. “StoryWalk,” walk in the woods with a naturalist and a children’s story read aloud. Ages 4 and up. July 26 at 2 p.m. Free. Greenburgh Nature Center, 99 Dromore Road. (914) 723-3470; greenburghnaturecenter.org . Museums and Galleries BEACON Beacon Artists Union (bau) “Temptation,” paintings by Michael Gaydos. Through Aug. 2. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m. Beacon Artists Union (bau), 161 Main Street. beaconartistunion.com ; (845) 440-7584. BEACON Gallery 506 “Silk Screen Party,” bring a material of your choice and have an original image from the gallery’s collection screened on it. July 25, 4 to 9 p.m. $5. Gallery 506, 506 Main Street. ape2ape.com/gallery506 . BEACON Go North: A Space for Contemporary Art “Terminal Daydream,” collages by Jonathan Allen. Through July 26. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Go North: A Space for Contemporary Art, 469 Main Street. gonorthgallery.com ; (845) 242-1951. COLD SPRING Putnam County Historical Society “George Pope Morris: Defining American Culture,” exhibition about the 19th-century journalist and publisher. Through Aug. 23. Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Putnam County Historical Society, 63 Chestnut Street. pchs-fsm.org hyphen is cq; (845) 265-4010. CROTON-ON-HUDSON Croton Free Library Tim Robinson, digital collages. Through Aug. 31. Hours: Mondays, 1 to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Croton Free Library, 171 Cleveland Drive. crotonfreelibrary.org ; (914) 271-6612. GARRISON Boscobel House and Garden “Home on the Hudson: Women and Men Painting Landscapes: 1825-1875.” Through Sept. 7. Wednesdays through Mondays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Boscobel House and Garden, 1601 Route 9D. boscobel.org ; (845) 265-3638. GARRISON Garrison Art Center “Current Without,” outdoor sculpture. Through Sept. 8. Daily, noon to 5 p.m. Garrison Art Center, 23 Garrison’s Landing. (845) 424-3960; garrisonartcenter.org . HARRISON Harrison Public Library Donna Faranda, prints. Through July 30. Hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Harrison Public Library, Bruce Avenue. (914) 835-0324; harrisonpl.org . HUDSON Nicole Fiacco Gallery Ruth Leonard, drawings and paintings. Through Aug. 15. Hours: Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, noon to 6 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Nicole Fiacco Gallery, 336 Warren Street. (518) 828-5090; nicolefiaccogallery.com . IRVINGTON Irvington Public Library “Fossils to Futures: Salvaged Mixed Media and Surrealistic Paintings,” by Debra Friedkin. Through July 29. Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Irvington Public Library, 12 South Astor Street. irvingtonlibrary.org ; (914) 591-7840. KATONAH John Jay Homestead Historic Site “John Jay and the Treaty of Paris,” exhibition commemorating the 225th anniversary of the signing of the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War. Through Sept. 1. $7; seniors and students, $5; children under 12, free. John Jay Homestead Historic Site, 400 Route 22. (914) 232-5651; johnjayhomestead.org . KATONAH Katonah Museum of Art “Roy Lichtenstein: Brushstroke Nude.” “Chakaia Booker: Cross Over Effects.” “Dress Codes: Clothing as Metaphor,” costumes. All through Oct. 4. $3 and $5; members and children, free. Hours: Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street. (914) 232-9555; katonahmuseum.org . MONTROSE Hendrick Hudson Free Library “Every Picture Tells a Story,” paintings by Karen Plude. Through July 30. Hours: Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Hendrick Hudson Free Library, 185 Kings Ferry Road. henhudfreelibrary.org ; (914) 739-5654. MOUNT VERNON St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site “Chief Executives on the Village Green: St. Paul’s and the Presidents,” prints, documents, artifacts, sounds and texts explore connections between five presidents and St. Paul’s. Through Jan. 1. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. St. Paul’s Church National Historic Site, 897 South Columbus Avenue. (914) 667-4116; nps.gov /sapa. NEW PALTZ Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at SUNY New Paltz “Hudson Valley Artists: Ecotones and Transition Zones.” Through Sept. 6. “The Hudson River to Niagara Falls: 19th-Century American Landscape Paintings from the New-York Historical Society.” Through Dec. 13. “Panorama of the Hudson River: Greg Miller.” Through Dec. 13. Wednesdays through Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at SUNY New Paltz. (845) 257-3844; newpaltz.edu/museum . NORTH SALEM Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden “Zen Stitches,” quilts. “Where a Buddha Walked,” photographs from India, China and Japan. “Akio Ohmori’s World,” sculptures. All through Sept. 19. $5, adults; $4, seniors; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden, 28 Deveau Road. (914) 669-5033; hammondmuseum.org . Peekskill Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art “Origins,” mutimedia group show. Through July 26. $2 to $5; members, free. Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street. (914) 788-0100; hvcca.com . PLEASANTVILLE Mount Pleasant Public Library Katie Berry Feucht, Chinese brush paintings. Through Aug. 21. Hours: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mount Pleasant Public Library, 350 Bedford Road. mountpleasantlibrary.org ; (914) 769-0548. POUGHKEEPSIE Mill Street Loft “Every 71 Seconds: Memories of Alzheimer’s,” photographs by Michele Muir. Through July 31. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mill Street Loft, 45 Pershing Avenue. millstreetloft.org ; (845) 471-7477. POUGHKEEPSIE Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center “Catching Light,” European and American watercolors from the 18th through 20th centuries. Through July 26. Hours: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 124 Raymond Avenue. (845) 437-5632; fllac.vassar.edu . PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art “E-Cyclorama,” a large cylindrical panoramic painting by Sanford Wurmfeld. Through July 19. “William Wegman: Little Red Riding Hood,” photographs. Through July 19. “Reframing American Art,” group exhibition featuring work from the 1940s and 1950s. Through Dec. 31. “Outdoor Sculpture From the Permanent Collection,” modern and contemporary art throughout the Purchase College campus. Through Dec. 31. “African Art and Culture: Selections From the Collection.” Ongoing. All exhibitions $3 and $5. Hours: Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Neuberger Museum of Art, 735 Anderson Hill Road. neuberger.org ;(914) 251-6100; RIVERDALE Hebrew Home at Riverdale “Joseph Squillante/Icons of the Hudson: Portrait of a River,” photography. Through Sept. 13. Daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hebrew Home at Riverdale, 5901 Palisade Avenue. (718) 581-1596; hebrewhome.org . RYE Jay Heritage Center “A Legacy of Sailing: Residents of the Jay Estate and Yachting in New York, 1843-1966,” historical artifacts exhibit, part of the Hudson Fulton Quadricentennial celebration. Through Sept. 21. Jay Heritage Center, 210 Boston Post Road. (914) 698-9275. WHITE PLAINS “David Hayes in White Plains,” 30-year retrospective with 62 sculptures in public and private spaces throughout the city. Through Dec. 1. White Plains. davidhayes.com . WHITE PLAINS Arts Exchange “Rubbish: Art and the Ecosystem,” exhibition by Westchester artists using recycled materials to comment on environmental concerns. Through Aug. 29. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Arts Exchange, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue. (914) 428-4220; westarts.com . WOODSTOCK Galerie B.M.G. “Female Fairytale,” photographs by Leah Macdonald. Through Aug. 3. Hours: Fridays through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Galerie BMG, 12 Tannery Brook Road. galeriebmg.com ; (845) 679-0027. Music and Dance ARMONK North Castle Public Library Charlie Lagond and friends, jazz. July 27 at 7 p.m. Free. North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Road. (914) 273-3887; northcastlelibrary.org . KATONAH Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Paquito D’Rivera, Cuban jazz. July 19 at 4:30 p.m. $19 to $49. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road. (914) 232-1252; caramoor.com. LARCHMONT Watercolor Cafe Marc Black, folk. Tuesday at 8 p.m. $10. Les Kurtz, jazz. Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Free. Alan Eicher Trio, jazz. Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Free. Wali Ali and The Tamborine Band, jazz. Friday at 9 p.m. Free. Watercolor Cafe, 2094 Boston Post Road. watercolorcafe.net ; (914) 834-2213. MOUNT VERNON City Hall Plaza “Mount Vernon Summer Breeze Concerts,” outdoor jazz. Through Aug. 18. Free. City Hall Plaza, 1 Roosevelt Square. (914) 631-1000; jazzforumarts.org . NEW ROCHELLE Hudson Park “Summer Sounds Concert Series,” featuring big band, country, jazz, opera and rhythm and blues. Presented by the New Rochelle Council on the Arts and the New Rochelle Department of Parks and Recreation. Through Aug. 26. Free. Hudson Park, Hudson Park Road. newrochellearts.org ; (914) 654-8356. NEW ROCHELLE Ossie Davis Theater “International Music and Dance: A Middle Eastern Performance,” with Aszmara Sherry, Oriental dance specialist, and Haig Manoukian, Souren Baronian and Mal Stein, Armenian musicians. Tuesday at 7 p.m. Free. Ossie Davis Theater, 1 Library Plaza. (914) 632-7878; newrochellearts.org. OSSINING Ossining Eagles Hall The Pine Leaf Boys, Cajun dance. July 19, 5 to 9:30 p.m. $20. Ossining Eagles Hall, 7 Old Albany Post Road.; somebodyscreamny.org ; (914) 960-9057. PIERMONT The Turning Point Sierra Hull, bluegrass. July 19 at 4 p.m. $20. Tony Furtado, rock. July 19 at 7 p.m. $15. The Turning Point, 468 Piermont Avenue. (845) 359-1089; turningpointcafe.com . POUGHKEEPSIE Vassar College “An Afternoon of Soft Summer Jazz,” with Brian Mann and Iain Mann. Aug. 2 at 3 p.m. Free. Vassar College, (845) 437-5584; vassar.edu . PURCHASE Manhattanville College Creative Arts Center “Summit Music Festival,” classical works. Friday through Aug. 12. $20 and $25. Manhattanville College Creative Arts Center, 2900 Purchase Street. (914) 747-2020; summitmusicfestival.org . TARRYTOWN Tarrytown Music Hall Robert Cray Band, blues. July 19 at 7 p.m. $42 to $70. “Tap Kids,” performances by over 60 young American tap dancers. July 25 at 7:30 p.m. $25 to $30. Raul Malo, country. July 26 at 7 p.m. $32 to $48. Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main Street. tarrytownmusichall.org ; (877) 840-0457. WHITE PLAINS Music Conservatory of Westchester “Summer Sing: Vivaldi and Fauré,” interactive performance, with Mark Bailey, conductor. Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. “Summer Sing: Beloved Opera Choruses,” interactive opera performance with The Taconic Opera and Dan Montez, director. July 28 at 7:30 p.m. $10; students, $8. Music Conservatory of Westchester, 216 Central Avenue. (914) 761-3900; westchesterchoralsociety.org . Outdoors CROTON-ON-HUDSON Croton Point Nature Center “Moths in Black,” seminar on observing, attracting and identifying moths. Friday at 7:30 p.m. “Life in a Flash,” hunt for dragonflies and butterflies with Paul Keim, naturalist. Please bring binoculars. July 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Both are free. Croton Point Nature Center, Croton Point Park. (914) 862-5927; westchestergov.com/parks . OSSINING Teatown Lake Reservation “King of the Meadow,” discuss and catch butterflies. Nets provided. July 25 . Free. Teatown Lake Reservation, 1600 Spring Valley Road. (914) 762-2912; teatown.org . RYE Marshlands Conservancy “Zillions of Crabs,” look for and learn about Asian shore crabs and other crustaceans of the area. July 26 at 10 a.m. Free. Marshlands Conservancy, 220 Boston Post Road. (914) 835-4466. Spoken Word PEEKSKILL Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art “The Rewards and Challenges of Working with Artists Who Use Ephemeral Materials,” lecture with Sean Kelly, gallerist. July 26, 4 to 6 p.m. Free to $5. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street. (914) 788-0100; hvcca.com. PLEASANTVILLE Mount Pleasant Public Library “Astronomy for Everyone: Size and Scale of the Universe,” lecture and telescope viewing, with Kevin Manning, astrophysicist. Tuesday at 7 p.m. “College Admissions: It Takes A Family,” informational seminar with Steven Roy Goodman, educational consultant. July 27 at 7 p.m. Both are free. Mount Pleasant Public Library, 350 Bedford Road. mountpleasantlibrary.org; (914) 769-0548. Theater ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts “The Oresteia: ‘Agamemnon,’ ‘Choephori’ and ‘The Eumenides,’ ” by Aeschylus. Through Aug. 1. $36 and $45. Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, 30 Campus Road. fishercenter.bard.edu ; (845) 758-7900. ELLENVILLE Shadowland Theater “Gutenberg!” Musical by Scott Brown and Anthony King. Through Aug. 9. $24 and $26. Shadowland Theater, 157 Canal Street. shadowlandtheatre.org ; (845) 647-5511. ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” musical comedy by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts. Through Aug. 2. $60 to $73. Westchester Broadway Theater, 75 Clearbrook Road. broadwaytheatre.com ; (914) 592-2222. GARRISON Boscobel House and Garden “Much Ado About Nothing,” through Sept. 4. “Pericles,” through Sept. 5. “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),” through Sept. 6. All are $29 to $46 and presented by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Boscobel House and Garden, 1601 Route 9D. hvshakespeare.org ; (845) 265-9575. POUGHKEEPSIE Powerhouse Theater “The Burnt Part Boys,” musical by Mariana Elder, Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen. Through July 26. $35. “Tina Girlstar,” musical comedy by Anton Dudley, Charlie Sohne and Brian Feinstein. Tuesday through Aug. 1. $25. Powerhouse Theater, 124 Raymond Avenue. (845) 437-5907; powerhouse.vassar.edu . STONY POINT Penguin Repertory Company “The Wonder Bread Years,” new comedy by Pat Hazell. Through July 19. $16 to $32. Penguin Repertory Company, 7 Crickettown Road. (845) 786-2873; penguinrep.org. YORKTOWN HEIGHTS Yorktown Stage “Footloose,” musical by Tom Snow, Dean Pitchford and Kenny Loggins. July 25 through Aug. 2. $19 to $25. Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce Street. (914) 962-0606; yorktownstage.org .

Art
Theater
Music
Culture
Westchester County (NY)


Obama Delivers Tough-Love Message to End Kenya Trip

Abstract: NAIROBI, Kenya — At one point during his weekend in Kenya , President Obama acknowledged the delicate nature of deciding which of his vast array of half cousins and stepaunts should be invited to dinner. “The people of Kenya,” he said wryly, “will be familiar with the need to manage family politics sometimes.” Over the course of two days here, Mr. Obama tried to manage the broader family politics of his father’s land, a country that considers him one of its own, even as it has played a singular role in his own life and career. Bathed in adulation, he nonetheless delivered a tough-love message before leaving on Sunday, challenging Kenya to tackle corruption, sexism and division. For the first African-American president returning to his ancestral home, a moment unlike any before in the history of either country, the visit was powerful and yet, at times, strangely impersonal. At some moments, Mr. Obama seemed genuinely moved by the experience, and he reflected on the country’s impact on him. At other times, he talked dispassionately about policy issues, sounding much like he does in plenty of other countries. He made it clear that he resented the security bubble that prevented him from visiting his father’s village or even just strolling down the streets of the capital, Nairobi, as he did as a young man. Kenyans clearly craved his attention, desperate in many cases to see him, talk with him or touch him, but they were largely kept at a distance. In the end, he has experienced more frenzied receptions in other countries, such as Ghana, his first stop in Africa as president in 2009, when his motorcade was swarmed by thousands of people. Mr. Obama, who arrived Friday evening, saw the first large-scale crowds of this trip on Sunday morning when his helicopter touched down at Kenyatta University. Thousands of students and others lined the streets, waving, cheering, taking photographs and in some cases wearing T-shirts with messages welcoming him. Image President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya with President Obama on Sunday at the end of the two-day trip. Mr. Obama said the country needed to overcome ethnic divisions and end discrimination. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times When his motorcade left the campus to head down a highway past ramshackle communities far from the polished buildings of downtown, he passed thousands more waiting along the road, in their case mostly silent, as if holding vigil. At Safaricom Indoor Arena, where he delivered a speech to 4,500 people, the crowd chanted, “Obama! Obama! Obama!” and the public address system played a song with the refrain, “I’m coming home.” When he went to shake hands after the speech, the only time he did that with everyday Kenyans, the crowd surged forward, pushing barriers several feet closer to him. “Don’t push, don’t push,” Mr. Obama implored, before making a quick exit after just a few minutes on the rope line. He had more of a sustained conversation later in the day with a group of 75 selected representatives of nongovernmental organizations. But it was a heavily scripted event, in which predetermined Kenyans were given the floor and each delivered a speech on his or her area of interest. Mr. Obama’s responses were sober and typically professorial. “Part of the challenge that I’ve had during the course of my presidency is that given the demands of the job and the bubble, I can’t come here and just go upcountry and visit for a week and meet everybody,” he lamented earlier in the trip. “I’m more restricted, ironically, as president of the United States than I will be as a private citizen.” In a country fighting the Shabab, a Qaeda affiliate that has carried out repeated deadly attacks on Kenyan soil, security was a serious concern, enough so that Joseph P. Clancy, the director of the Secret Service, personally accompanied Mr. Obama and Kenyan authorities shut down vital roads. Seemingly much of Nairobi stayed away for the first day. Mr. Obama hoped to connect with Kenyans at the arena, where he was introduced by his half sister, Auma Obama, who runs a foundation here and hosted him for his first visit to the country nearly three decades ago. Noting a common Kenyan saying — “don’t get lost” — she said that he is not lost now, “nor was he lost when he first came to Kenya. I’ll tell you that because he was with me. He fit right in.” “He’s not just our familia,” she added. “He gets us. He gets us.” Mr. Obama tried to show that with a few words of Swahili. “Habari Zenu!” he called out to the crowd, meaning, “How are you?” He recalled that first trip as a young man and how he arrived at the airport, where an airline official helping him fill out a form recognized his last name and asked if he was related to his father. “That was the first time that my name meant something,” he said. Recounting stories he also told in his memoir, Mr. Obama noted that during that visit, Auma’s car broke down repeatedly. “We’d be on the highway, we’d have to call the juakali — he’d bring us tools,” he said, referring to a serviceman. “We’d be sitting there, waiting. And I slept on a cot in her apartment. Instead of eating at fancy banquets with the president, we were drinking tea and eating ugali and sukumawiki,” or maize flour and greens. In making his personal connection, Mr. Obama then used it to gently push for progress. He noted that his grandfather had served as a cook for the British Army when Kenya was a colony, and that his father had gone to America to seek an education. “In many ways, their lives offered snapshots of Kenya’s history, but they also told us something about future,” he said. “They show the enormous barriers to progress that so many Kenyans faced just one or two generations ago.” Image President Obama greets the crowd after a speech in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times To continue that progress, he said, Kenya needs to confront “the dark corners” of its past and wage a sustained campaign against corruption, expand its democracy, overcome ethnic division, protect human rights and work to end discrimination against women and girls. “Kenya is at a crossroads,” he said, “a moment filled with peril but also enormous promise.” Even as he held forth, he delicately navigated the sensitivities of his Kenyan hosts. He made the point that for democracy to thrive, “there also has to be space for citizens to exercise their rights,” without suggesting that Kenya had been closing that space or naming the human rights groups that have been targeted. He did not note that the arena where he spoke is part of a sports complex used just last year to round up Somalis for summary arrest and deportation. Instead, he acknowledged the United States’ own struggles, citing the recent shootings of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., and the dispute over flying the Confederate battle flag. “What makes America exceptional is not the fact that we’re perfect,” he said. “It’s the fact that we struggle to improve. We’re self-critical.” Mr. Obama said Kenya’s future lay with itself. Repeating a message he espoused during his first presidential trip to Africa in 2009, he emphasized that “the future of Africa is up to Africans,” and that they should not look “to the outside for salvation.” But he vowed that the United States would help. “I’m here as a friend who wants Kenya to succeed,” he said. By Sunday afternoon, as Mr. Obama arrived at the airport to head to his next stop in Ethiopia, hundreds of people gathered to see him off, including several groups of dancers in colorful outfits, ululating and banging drums. As he headed from his helicopter to Air Force One , Mr. Obama paused as if tempted to go over and greet them, as he does with crowds at almost any airport in the United States and many overseas. But evidently he thought better of it. He waved and smiled at them instead and headed up the stairs of his plane to depart for the last time as president.

Kenya
Barack Obama
President of the United States
Speeches
Corruption
Discrimination
Women and Girls
US Foreign Policy


Tight N.B.A. Scoring Race Comes Down to James and Durant

Abstract: In the waning days of a breakout season, Kevin Durant will be confronted with thorny decisions. Shoot or pass. Lead or defer. Attack or hang back. His mentor will not be there to guide him. But he knows exactly what he would say. “Young fella,” George Gervin said, thinking out loud, “you better get it while you can.” Translation: Shoot. Drive. Score. As much as possible. Do not hesitate. Do it now. Do it for posterity. Seize the N.B.A. scoring title, because it is there. “This is history we’re talking about,” Gervin said. Durant, the 21-year-old wunderkind for the Oklahoma City Thunder, is locked in a fantastically tight scoring race with LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers . After Friday’s games, they were separated by 0.3 points per game, with Durant averaging 30.01 to James’s 29.71. It is one of the closest races in N.B.A. history. Fortunately for Durant, he has a direct line to a uniquely qualified expert. In 1978, Gervin claimed the scoring title over David Thompson by 0.07 points per game — the smallest margin in league history. It came down to the final day, with Thompson scoring 73 points in the afternoon to take the lead, and Gervin firing back with 63 points that night to reclaim it. Gervin, playing for the San Antonio Spurs, finished with a 27.22-point average. Thompson, of the Denver Nuggets, finished at 27.15. The 57-year-old Gervin met Durant through the N.B.A.’s mentoring program, and they have become close. Whatever else Durant accomplishes, Gervin said, the scoring title should be on his list. “I’m glad to be in the record books,” Gervin said. “And I would hope that Kevin Durant would have an opportunity to be there.” The scoring title would be a nice start for Durant’s superstar résumé. He would be the youngest scoring champion, replacing Max Zaslofsky, who was 22 years 105 days old when he won the title in 1948. James won his first and only scoring title in 2008, averaging 30 points at age 23. Circumstances seem to favor Durant, or at least give him control of the race. The Cavaliers, having clinched the N.B.A.’s best record, are resting the banged-up James as much as possible. He was inactive for their last two games. He might not play in Cleveland’s final two games either, which could rob the scoring race of its drama. Durant, who scored 35 points in a win over Phoenix on Friday, has three games left and no time to rest. Oklahoma City (49-30) is battling with Portland and San Antonio for sixth place in the Western Conference and a misstep could drop the Thunder to eighth, setting up a daunting first-round matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. So Durant is likely to keep pushing through the final buzzer next Wednesday. “The pressure’s kind of like the playoffs,” said Durant, who will be making his postseason debut. “But it’s fun.” There has not been a scoring race this close since 1999, when Allen Iverson (26.75 points) edged Shaquille O’Neal (26.31) by a margin of 0.44 points per game. The James-Durant race is so tight that a single game can flip the board. On Tuesday, Durant scored 45 points and went from being down by 0.2 to leading by 0.2. It is a riveting affair for scoreboard watchers, though perhaps not for the participants. Durant flatly dismissed the scoring title as unimportant. “It’s cool for the fans to get involved in it,” Durant said, “but as a player you can’t get worried about the scoring race.” It has become impolitic for players to outwardly covet a scoring title. Scoring binges are equated with selfishness, and playing for personal glory makes one a target on talk shows and blogs. Perhaps that is why the scoring title goes unnoticed most years. Players hardly talk about it. The news media mostly ignores it. In baseball, a sport defined by individual achievements, the batting title and home run races are a major topic. In basketball, the statistical races are an afterthought. The N.B.A. has news conferences and flashy trophies for its most improved player and its sixth man of the year, but it sends unremarkable plaques to the scoring champion and eight other statistical leaders. Yet it was not always this way. “Being the N.B.A. scoring leader, especially back in the ’70s and ’80s when we played, it was a big deal,” Gervin said. “Personally, I wanted it. Yeah, I wanted it.” As Gervin recalled it, he had held the lead for most of the 1977-78 season. Thompson made a late run and was within striking distance by the Nuggets’ final game, against the Detroit Pistons. “I didn’t realize how close I was,” Thompson said. “The guys on the team wanted me to go out and give it a shot.” So did Coach Larry Brown, who in a pregame meeting urged the Nuggets to get Thompson the ball. He scored an N.B.A.-record 32 points in the first quarter, made 20 of his first 21 shots and had 53 points by halftime. The Pistons swarmed him in the second half, holding him to 20 points. But it was enough to push him just ahead of Gervin. “I remember on the floor M. L. Carr said to me, ‘D. T., I think you got it,’ ” Thompson said. “But that was not to be the case.” Hours later, the Spurs took the court against the New Orleans Jazz. Coach Doug Moe gathered his players and said, “We need to help Ice reclaim the title.” Gervin, known as Iceman, knew exactly how many points he needed: 58. He missed several shots early but had 33 points in the second quarter, breaking the record Thompson had set earlier in the day. He had 53 points at halftime. When Gervin reached 59 in the third quarter, Moe called him to bench and said, “Ice, I think you got him.” Gervin asked to return in order to score a few more points, “just in case they miscalculated.” He checked out for good with 63 points, a feat he achieved in just 33 minutes. At the time, that was enough. Now, Gervin says, he wishes he had stayed in the game longer. “Maybe I could have got 80,” he said wistfully. So Durant can maintain his virtuous tone and say the scoring title does not matter, that victories are more important, and no one will argue. No one, perhaps, except his mentor. “Being an old man, talking to a young man, I would say get it while you can,” Gervin said, “because you may not have that opportunity to do it again.” Gervin had not yet delivered that message directly. “I’m going to text him, though,” he said.

Basketball
Durant Kevin
James LeBron
Awards Decorations and Honors
Oklahoma City Thunder
Cleveland Cavaliers
Gervin George
Thompson David


Lennar Reverses Loss in 2nd Quarter

Abstract: MIAMI (AP) — The Lennar Corporation , the home builder, reversed a year-earlier loss in its most recent quarter, but revenue in the period was hurt by the expiration of a federal tax credit for home buyers, the company said Thursday. Low mortgage interest rates and home buyer tax credits helped support sales and home orders for Lennar and other builders this spring. But the tax credits ended in April, pulling sales that would normally have taken place in May or June ahead to March and April. “During the second quarter, we continued to see a housing market that was trying to stabilize,” the chief executive, Stuart A. Miller, said in a statement. “As expected, this stabilization process was impacted by the expiration of the federal home buyer tax credit at the end of April.” New orders of homes fell 10 percent from 2009, with the entire decline coming in May. Lennar said net income totaled $39.7 million, or 21 cents a share, reversing a loss of $125.2 million, or 76 cents a share, a year earlier. Results were helped by an income tax benefit of $11 million. Revenue in the period, which ended May 31 and was the second quarter of Lennar’s fiscal year, fell 9 percent, to $814.5 million from $891.9 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected Lennar to break even on about $835.5 million in revenue. The report came a day after the Commerce Department said sales of new homes collapsed in May, sinking 33 percent to the lowest level on record. Mr. Miller said he expects housing demand to improve in the second half of the year. “The tax credit expiration accelerated sales activity to the pre-May period and it may take a couple of months for demand to rebuild,” Mr. Miller said. The federal tax credits amounted to $8,000 for first-time home buyers and up to $6,500 for current homeowners.

Lennar Corp
Sales
Housing and Real Estate
Tax Credits


Expectations Rise for Bailout of Portugal

Abstract: PARIS — Portugal ’s credit rating was downgraded and its borrowing costs hit record-high levels Thursday, a day after the collapse of the government in Lisbon raised expectations that the country would be forced to seek an international bailout. Portugal’s prime minister, José Sócrates, offered his resignation late Wednesday after his minority Socialist government failed to win parliamentary backing for another package of austerity measures. Over the past year, Lisbon had already implemented three rounds of spending cuts and tax increases, apparently without persuading investors that it could clean up public finances. Portugal needs to borrow about €10 billion, or $14 billion, in April and June to refinance existing debt. A political vacuum now only adds to the chances that the government will have to seek financial support from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund — as Greece and Ireland have already done. Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of E.U. leaders in Brussels, Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg who also presides over meetings of euro zone finance ministers, estimated Thursday that an aid package for Portugal would probably reach around €75 billion, in line with what analysts have predicted. That would provide Portugal with a financing cushion for several years, depending on how much would be required for recapitalizing banks. During an interview with France 24 television, however, Mr. Juncker also insisted that Portugal’s woes should not be compared to those of Spain, a much larger euro economy that has also been in investors’ line of fire over the past year because of its budget shortfall. “It would be absurd for financial markets to target Spain were Portugal to apply for a bailout,” Mr. Juncker said. In fact, investor concerns Thursday appeared to be focused on Portugal. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Portuguese government bond rose to 7.7 percent, the highest level since the inception of the euro, before falling back slightly. The Philippines currently has cheaper borrowing costs for bonds of the same duration. Meanwhile, the yields on the bonds of other euro zone members like Germany, France, Italy and Spain were stable. “The markets agree that the fundamentals are in Spain’s favor but the situation is not without risks,” said Luís Cabral, an economics professor at IESE, a Spanish business school. Portugal’s debt rating was downgraded two steps by Fitch Ratings and placed on review for a possible further cut. The rejection of austerity measures has “significantly increased the chances of Portugal requiring multilateral support in the near term,” it said. The Portuguese government had argued that a further austerity package was needed to cut its budget deficit from an estimated 7.3 percent of gross domestic product last year to 4.6 percent this year. Instead, Eurostat, the E.U. statistics office, suggested that Portugal’s 2010 deficit needed to be revised slightly upward to take into account debt held by state-owned companies. Analysts said that they anticipated an upward revision of both the 2010 debt and deficit figures. A further challenge for Portugal is that its banks, which have been shut out of the markets over the past year, need to raise additional money by the end of April to comply with stricter capital requirements. For Spanish banks, meanwhile, their combined exposure of €77 billion to Portugal is by far the largest among European institutions. Weighed down by bad loans to the property market, Spanish banks are also struggling to raise additional funding. Moody’s Investors Service added pressure Thursday by downgrading the credit ratings on 30 Spanish banks. Moody’s left untouched the ratings of the country’s three largest banks. With a rescue of Portugal seen now by most analysts as almost inevitable, the debate shifted Thursday to its likely timing — and whether any bailout would precede the formation of a new government in Lisbon following an expected general election in about two months. “They need to move sooner rather than later,” said David Schnautz, an interest rate strategist in London for Commerzbank. “They probably have the cash buffers to make it through April, but not June.” Mr. Schnautz said it was not clear exactly how much cash remained in the Portuguese Treasury, “but they can’t let it run down to the last €200 million or so without new lending agreements,” he said. Given that, he said, investors would expect to see some form of funding deal in place by late May. On top of two benchmark government bonds expiring April 15 and June 15, Lisbon has €2.3 billion in shorter-dated bills expiring in July. It will also need to raise additional funds to cover domestic liabilities like social security, but has yet to formally schedule its next bond auctions. After receiving the resignation of Mr. Sócrates, President Aníbal Cavaco da Silva is due to start talks with all political parties on Friday, with a possible view to agreeing to a grand coalition among Portugal’s main parties rather than calling a general election. Given the antagonism that the recent dispute has generated, however, analysts said that a snap election was the most likely outcome of the talks. “Without a radical change like the removal of Mr. Sócrates as party leader, nobody will want to strike a deal,” said Rui Ramos, a political analyst and history professor at Lisbon University. In the meantime, the departing administration will retain full powers — although with limited room to initiate policy. The president must spend some days following constitutional procedures before fixing an election date at least 55 days away. The vacuum creates a political headache at the European level as well. Some analysts said the Union’s leaders would be reluctant to allow the activation of the temporary funding mechanism, known as the European Financial Stability Facility, until a new government is formed in Lisbon with clear parliamentary backing. Further complicating matters, unanimous support is required to provide aid for Portugal. But the current Finnish government has signaled that it does not have the parliamentary backing to support an expansion of the E.F.S.F. A general election is scheduled there for April 17. “In the near term, we suspect bond yields will keep pushing higher if only because uncertainty will prevail, and a number of investors will likely be forced or willing to reduce their positions further,” said Giuseppe Maraffino, an analyst at Barclays Capital in London. He said that as with Greece and Ireland, a near-term default remained unlikely. But he added that a number of questions would remain unanswered for some time. Which political parties have the mandate to access the E.F.S.F? How committed will the new authorities in Lisbon be to fiscal consolidation? And does the Treasury have enough cash to meet the upcoming debt repayments? In Britain, the chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said Thursday that unlike some other European countries in financial straits, Britain had a credible plan to help keep its borrowing costs down. “The European situation is unstable, as you can see with what is happening in Portugal, and this is because of debts and deficits,” he told Sky News television. Although Britain has a higher budget deficit than Portugal “we manage to keep our interest rates right down to those closer to Germany’s because we have got a credible plan.” But China said Thursday that although it still saw risks from euro-zone debt, it will keep supporting European governments. A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing, Jiang Yu, was quoted by Reuters as saying that China wanted to keep promoting “comprehensive, strategic” relations with Portugal after the government in Lisbon collapsed. Raphael Minder reported from Basel, Switzerland.

European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )
Portugal


BT Group to Cut 10,000 Jobs, Mostly Outside Contractors

Abstract: LONDON — Britain’s biggest phone company, the BT Group , said Thursday that it would cut 10,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its work force, before the end of March to reduce costs after second-quarter earnings declined despite rising sales. BT’s global services unit, which supplies companies and government with Internet, telephone and security services, reported a 36 percent drop in earnings in the quarter through September. Shares, which have declined 55 percent this year, jumped 8.6 percent on Thursday in London. “Profits in BT Global Services are simply not good enough and we are taking decisive action to put matters right,” Ian Livingston, who took over as chief executive in June, said in a statement. “What we have to do now is translate revenue growth into better profitability.” Most of the job cuts will come from workers not directly employed by BT like contractors, subcontractors and offshore workers, the company said. Mr. Livingston said he hoped to keep job cuts among workers directly employed by BT at a minimum by not filling positions after people retire or leave. BT is struggling to replace revenue lost to competitors at its traditional telephone and Internet business by attracting new corporate customers to its global services business. The company also appointed Hanif Lalani, its chief financial officer, as chief executive of its global services unit as it seeks to revive growth there. He succeeds François Barrault, who stepped down last month. BT said the performance of its global services business was “disappointing” because efforts to lower costs were not as effective as anticipated and attracting the more profitable projects in Britain became more difficult. The company plans to reduce costs by up to £800 million ($1.2 billion), before the end of the fiscal year in March and expects earnings to “show a small decline.” “BT is facing the industrywide problem that traditional communication is increasingly becoming a part of I.T., where margins are just not as high,” an analyst at IDC in Munich, Dan Bieler, said. BT’s earnings fell 1.3 percent, to £1.43 billion in the second quarter from £1.45 billion in the period a year ago. Revenue increased 4 percent, to £5.3 billion. BT’s retail business, where earnings rose 9 percent, to £421 million, was its best performing unit. A BT rival, Virgin Media, said this week that it would cut 15 percent of its work force by 2012.


How Caris LeVert, a Rookie With the Brooklyn Nets, Spends His Sundays

Abstract: Like most young transplants to New York, Caris LeVert is alternately stunned and captivated by his new city. The difference is that Mr. LeVert, 22, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, takes it all in from his 45th-floor apartment in Downtown Brooklyn. Last June, Mr. LeVert, a star basketball player at Michigan, was selected by the Indiana Pacers as a first-round pick in the N.B.A. draft; two weeks later, he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets. Mr. LeVert sat out the beginning of the season with a foot injury and did not suit up until December; since then, he has averaged 4.3 points and 15.4 minutes a game in his first 13 games. The Nets have a busy schedule, but whenever Mr. LeVert has downtime, he likes to explore his new hometown. PROTOCOL I’m a rookie basketball player, so a lot of my life revolves around the team. If the team is at home, and we don’t have a game that night, I get up and go straight to our training facility, down in Sunset Park. Until recently, I was putting in part-time practices because of my foot, but I also have to do a lot of rehab with our trainers and doctors. So I’m usually the first one there and the last one out. Fortunately, the Nets have cooks and dietitians on site, so I can get a good breakfast. I like the usual stuff, bacon, eggs, fruit, toast. Image A trip to the West Fourth Street Courts, also called the Cage, in Greenwich Village. Mr. LeVert sometimes stops to talk to players in pickup basketball games. Credit Kevin Hagen for The New York Times PLAYGROUND GAMES My apartment looks west over Lower Manhattan down to Governors Island, and then north toward Queens and the Bronx. Before I moved here, I’d only been to New York a few times, usually for basketball tournaments, so I didn’t exactly have time to get out. Now I can explore a bit. I just found the Cage, in the West Village, which is famous for pickup basketball games. Sometimes I just stop by places like that, talk to guys on the court. I love how basketball can be this really competitive thing, but also it can be a couple of friends shooting hoops on the playground. WOW FACTOR When I have a few hours, I like to go check out a part of the city I’ve never seen. I’d heard great things about the High Line. I guess I’m not the first person to say, “Oh, wow, that’s cool,” but it’s still a great idea: a park in the sky. Image Making a fashion statement in Nike Air More UpTempos. Credit Kevin Hagen for The New York Times STYLE POINTERS I’m big into fashion, so I try to stop in SoHo or the meatpacking district occasionally. There are so many options, I try to not even focus on specific brands when shopping in the city. One of the things I love the most about New York is the heightened sense of fashion. In college, you just threw on some sweats and headed out. Here, every time you step out the door you’re making a statement. One thing I do like is Flight Club , the shoe store on Broadway. I’m a huge fan of Air Jordans. FAN IN A SPORTS TOWN I grew up wanting to play football; I didn’t start playing basketball until high school. I still love watching it. If I can, I’ll find a sports bar or somewhere to watch a game — drinking lemonade, of course. I love that New York is an all-around sports town. Image An avid sports fan in a sports town, Mr. LeVert watched a football game at a Manhattan restaurant. Credit Kevin Hagen for The New York Times SEAFOOD SPOTS My mom is a retired teacher, so she comes to visit a lot. She loves to go out and see the city. We go out to dinner; we go shopping together. She loves seafood, and New York has way better seafood options than central Ohio, so we take advantage of that. TEAM CENTRAL If there’s no game, and we don’t have to travel, I usually come back home and relax. I hear when the Nets first moved to Brooklyn, most of the players still lived in New Jersey. But now pretty much the entire team lives in Brooklyn. Isaiah Whitehead was born and raised out here. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Chris McCullough, Joe Harris, Jeremy Lin, Justin Hamilton, Trevor Booker and Luis Scola all live here. TYPICAL 20-SOMETHINGS Our guys love Brooklyn, the culture and vibe really match well with our personal styles and team dynamic. Sometimes we go out to a charity event or a press gig, but otherwise, they’ll come over — we’ll order food and play Madden football, or watch TV. I guess I’m not all that different from all the other 22-year-olds who just moved to New York, in that way.

Basketball
Brooklyn Nets
Caris LeVert
Brooklyn


Officials Cite Error With Gloves in Spanish Case of Ebola

Abstract: MADRID — Spanish health officials began to explain Wednesday how an auxiliary nurse became the first Ebola case in Western Europe, saying that it was likely she became infected when she touched her face with the gloves she had worn while tending to a Spanish missionary with Ebola at a Madrid hospital. The explanation came after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain defended his government’s handling of the case, telling Parliament on Wednesday that he was confident the country could contain the virus and pledging “total transparency” about how the authorities handled the case, which has alarmed Spaniards who are concerned that the disease had been allowed to reach their shores. Video Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain addressed his country’s Congress on the Ebola threat, as health authorities have confirmed that two others suspected of having the virus have tested negative. Credit Credit Andrea Comas/Reuters A Spanish health official said the auxiliary nurse, identified as María Teresa Romero Ramos, who was found to have Ebola on Monday, had told him that she might have touched her face while still wearing her gloves after she removed her protective suit during her first visit to the room of the missionary, Manuel García Vieo, who died on Sept. 25. Germán Ramírez, an official from the tropical disease unit at La Paz, a Madrid hospital linked to the Carlos III Hospital where the nurse is being treated, told reporters that he spoke to the nurse on three occasions. If her account is correct, the contagion, “may not have been an error, but rather an accident,” Mr. Ramirez said. The hospital’s deputy director, Yolanda Fuentes, said that it was not uncommon for accidental contact like that to go unnoticed and that Ms. Romero had not mentioned it until she was interviewed again by medical experts on Wednesday. “I think the error was the removal of the suit,” Ms. Romero told El País, a Spanish newspaper , by telephone from her isolation unit of Carlos III Hospital, where the missionary was treated. “I can see the moment it may have happened, but I’m not sure about it.” The government is facing criticism not only over the events that led to the auxiliary nurse’s infection but also over why, after she informed a medical center on Sept. 30 that she felt feverish, it then took nearly a week for her to be tested for Ebola. “What I am asking is that we let the professionals work,” Mr. Rajoy said. “What we have to do is be vigilant but stay calm.” Ms. Romero said she felt “a little better” since being hospitalized on Monday. She has been a health care worker for 15 years, according to Spanish news reports, which variously gave her age as 40 or 44. Her husband separately told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo that his wife had mostly stayed at home after going on vacation the day after Mr. Viejo, the missionary, died. During that vacation period, however, the nurse also sat for a public exam to improve her qualifications, alongside many other candidates. Her husband has shown no signs of having the disease but has also been kept in quarantine. The couple’s dog, Excalibur, was euthanized on Wednesday as a precautionary measure even as animal rights activists against the move surrounded the couple’s home. Mr. Rajoy said that Spain had “one of the best” health care systems in the world and that any criticism of the handling of the case should not spiral into a broader political crisis. Some opposition lawmakers have been calling since Monday for Health Minister Ana Mato to resign. Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Socialists, the main opposition party, told Mr. Rajoy that his government “should not cover up information.” Concerning Ms. Mato’s response, Mr. Sánchez said that “it’s more than clear that your health minister, when she has spoken, has triggered more uncertainty and more anguish among public opinion.” On Wednesday, the Spanish authorities continued their efforts to draw up a full list of people who might have had contact with the nurse. So far, about 50 people are being monitored for possible symptoms of Ebola. They include several staff members at a hospital in Alcorcón, on the outskirts of Madrid, where the nurse lives and where she was initially treated on Monday before she tested positive for Ebola and was transferred to Carlos III Hospital. Spain’s government has chosen Carlos III Hospital to handle Ebola patients. The case is worrisome because Spain is expected to have the rigorous infection controls needed to fight the spread of Ebola.

Ebola
Spain
Maria Teresa Romero Ramos
Nursing
Madrid
Carlos III hospital


Yankees Know Risks of Splurging on Japanese Aces

Abstract: Friday is the seventh anniversary of one of Brian Cashman’s more disastrous moments in his long run as general manager of the Yankees. On Dec. 27, 2006, Cashman signed off on a five-year, $20 million contract for the Japanese left-hander Kei Igawa, a pitcher who, in the seasons that followed, went on to win two games for the Yankees while spending most of his time out of sight and out of mind in the minor leagues. But Cashman and the Yankees threw away a lot more than $20 million. Even before they could agree to a free-agent contract with Igawa, the Yankees had to win the blind bidding for his negotiating rights, which they did with a bid of $26,000,194, the last three digits representing the number of strikeouts Igawa had compiled in the 2006 season for the Hanshin Tigers. It was a nice touch at the time but now stands as one more sarcastic footnote to the embarrassment that Igawa became in the Bronx. Now, seven years later, it is worth recalling that episode as the Yankees, and any number of other major league teams, get ready to jump into the free-agent sweepstakes for Masahiro Tanaka, the 25-year-old ace of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, who compiled a hard-to-believe 24-0 record in the 2013 season and then led his team to the Japan Series championship. Under Japanese rules, Tanaka had not yet arrived at free agency, and Rakuten understandably did not want him to leave. And that reluctance only grew after recent revisions to the posting-fee system and the establishment of a $20 million ceiling on the sum a major league team must pay a Japanese club like Rakuten in order to negotiate with a player like Tanaka. Nevertheless, on Wednesday in Japan, Rakuten did relent. The team president, Yozo Tachibana, said Tanaka’s outstanding contributions to the club had earned him the right to depart if he wished. And the Yankees, in dire need of starting pitchers, may be at the front of a line of major league teams trying to snare Tanaka with a multiyear deal that could approach $100 million. Image Masahiro Tanaka could land a deal worth nearly $100 million in the major leagues. Credit Uncredited/Kyodo News, via Associated Press As Cashman bargains with whoever emerges as the American agent for Tanaka, the question will be whether he will flash back to Igawa and wonder if it is at all possible that Tanaka, if he ends up in pinstripes, might also turn out to be a big, and expensive, disappointment. Baseball is, after all, an inexact science, and the guesswork is only magnified when players are switching countries, using a different ball, trying to communicate in a foreign language. When the Yankees moved in to sign Igawa, they saw a 27-year-old pitcher who had led Japan’s Central League in strikeouts three times and who might have slipped some from his standout 2003 season, when he was the league’s most valuable player, but still had a reassuring 14-9 record in 2006 with a 2.97 earned run average. None of that translated to the United States. But the Igawa misjudgment — and some baseball people in the United States were skeptical of him from the start — is not the only cautionary tale lurking in the background as the Tanaka bargaining takes shape. Daisuke Matsuzaka of Japan became a major leaguer just weeks ahead of Igawa but to far more fanfare, signing a six-year, $52 million contract with the Boston Red Sox after they won the rights to negotiate with him with a bid of $51,111,111. In the end, Matsuzaka hardly lived up to his reputation. In his first season in Boston, when he was 27, he went 15-12 with a 4.40 E.R.A. and helped the Red Sox win a championship. In 2008, he was 18-3 with a 2.90 E.R.A. But from then on, there was too much ineffectiveness, too many arm problems (including Tommy John surgery) and too much frustration. In the last three seasons combined, for Boston and then the Mets, he started all of 25 games and had only seven victories. He is currently a free agent. And then there is Yu Darvish, who starred for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan and then, at age 25, joined the Texas Rangers for 2012 after they won the rights to him with a $51.7 million posting fee, which was followed by a six-year, $60 million contract. Image Yozo Tachibana, president of Masahiro Tanaka’s current team, has agreed to let him go. Credit Kyodo News, via Associated Press As a Ranger, Darvish has been solid, and at times dominating, with a combined two-season record of 29-18 with a 3.34 E.R.A. In 2013, he led baseball with 277 strikeouts. So what about Tanaka? In 2011, Darvish had his best season in Japan — going 18-6 with a 1.44 E.R.A. — but was beaten out for the award that goes to the country’s best pitcher by none other than Tanaka, who went 19-5 with a 1.27 E.R.A. Then came Tanaka’s 24-0 run. A major league scout who has often watched Tanaka pitch said Tanaka could throw a fastball between 90 and 97 miles per hour and had an above-average slider and an average curveball and changeup. His signature pitch is a split-finger fastball. The scout, who did not want to be identified discussing a pitcher who is not on his own team, said that Tanaka, like Detroit’s Justin Verlander, could throw a little harder in a crucial spot late in a game or snap off a particularly devastating splitter. For a team like the Yankees, all of that sounds great. More disconcerting is the fact that less than two months ago, Tanaka threw 160 pitches in a complete-game loss in Game 6 of the Japan Series and followed that up with 15 more pitches in a Game 7 save. Still, that alarming volume of pitches should not keep the Yankees and other clubs from battling it out to sign him — and hoping that, just as in Japan, he is not only as good as Darvish, but better. But there are no guarantees.

Baseball
Yankees
Masahiro Tanaka
Kei Igawa
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles
Yu Darvish


Agents Work to Avoid a Pay Cut for Pettitte

Abstract: Before the Yankees ended their disappointing 2008 season, Andy Pettitte toured the new Yankee Stadium. While he was in the spacious clubhouse, he picked out the locker that he said he wanted to use in 2009. Whether or not Pettitte will ever hang a pinstriped uniform in that locker is still uncertain. The pitching-needy Yankees want to re-sign Pettitte, and Pettitte reiterated Wednesday that he wanted to return, but the two sides are at a stalemate over his salary. “I mean, to tell you the truth, like I’ve told you all a hundred times, I’ve made it loud and clear where I’d like to play at,” Pettitte, 36, said in a telephone interview. “I’m just basically sitting here letting my agents do their job really.” What Randy and Alan Hendricks, Pettitte’s agents, are trying to do is to make sure their client avoids a pay cut. Pettitte made $16 million last season, one of the highest salaries in the major leagues for a pitcher, and his agents have stressed that he wants the same salary. The Yankees have offered Pettitte $10 million, and they seemingly have no immediate plans to improve their offer. “We’d like to have him back,” General Manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday. “It’s come to the arena of trying to achieve common ground on money, which is easier said than done.” Pettitte battled shoulder problems last season and ended up 14-14 with a 4.54 earned run average, including a 2-7 mark to finish the year. The Yankees believe Pettitte, who pitched a team-high 204 innings, can still be an effective starter, but they consider a $16 million investment in him to be too expensive. When Pettitte was asked about possibly accepting a pay cut to come back, he dodged the topic. “Again, for me to even talk about anything right now, it does no good,” Pettitte said. “I really don’t even want to talk about it or anything, as far as what that has to do with me and all that. I’m just letting Randy and Alan and the Yankees work things out. I’m basically just trying to enjoy my off-season with my family, and that’s it.” By declining to offer Pettitte salary arbitration Monday, the Yankees did not risk having him accept it and earn at least $16 million next season. One major league executive, whose team is also pursuing starters, said he would be surprised if Pettitte received any offers close to $16 million a season. If the Yankees re-sign Pettitte, he will join Chien-Ming Wang and Joba Chamberlain in their rotation. Adding Pettitte may give Cashman some leverage in pursuing other free agents like C. C. Sabathia, A. J. Burnett and Derek Lowe. The Yankees are handling Pettitte similarly to the way they dealt with Mike Mussina, who retired last month, in 2006. After Mussina went 15-7 in the final year of a six-year, $88.5 million deal, the Yankees declined to exercise his $17 million option. But both sides wanted the relationship to continue, which resulted in Mussina’s taking a reduced salary with a two-year, $23 million deal. Pettitte told the Yankees he was exercising his one-year, $16 million option in December 2007. Ten days later, Brian McNamee, Pettitte’s former trainer, was quoted in the Mitchell report saying that Pettitte had used human growth hormone. Pettitte, who did not tell the Yankees of the possibility he would be mentioned in the report, acknowledged that he had used H.G.H. Pettitte has spoken to Joe Torre, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and his former manager with the Yankees, but that might have been a ploy to get the Yankees to try to offer him arbitration. Pettitte declined to discuss the Dodgers or Torre. While he was hesitant to discuss himself, he has addressed the Yankees’ $140 million pursuit of Sabathia. “Anywhere I go, that’s all anybody wants to talk about,” Pettitte said. As Pettitte’s agents negotiate with the Yankees, the Yankees realize that he has repeatedly said that they are his first choice. When Pettitte was presented with the possibility that the Yankees could re-sign him during next week’s winter meetings, he said: “I hope so. That would be great.”


Pro-Beijing Lawmaker Urges Hong Kong Leader to Consider Quitting

Abstract: HONG KONG — A Hong Kong lawmaker from a pro-business party that supports Beijing said Friday that the city’s chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, should consider resigning. It was the first time that a prominent member of the city’s business elite had openly called for Mr. Leung to step down after almost four weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations. James Tien, the leader of the conservative Liberal Party, said in an interview with Commercial Radio Hong Kong that under Mr. Leung, the government’s relations with the city’s legislature had deteriorated. Mr. Leung’s leadership has been poor, and he should consider asking the central government in Beijing if he can resign, Mr. Tien said. Mr. Leung took office in 2012 for a five-year term. Mr. Tien has a reputation for being a rebel among conservatives. In 2003, he withdrew the Liberal Party’s support for a government-backed security bill, leading to its defeat. Opposition lawmakers have been calling for Mr. Leung to step down for weeks, criticizing him for being overly subservient to Beijing, and protesters are demanding fully open elections for chief executive. Mr. Tien could not be reached for comment to elaborate on his position. Mr. Leung, 60, stepped into even more controversy this week when he said in an interview with Western news media that allowing lower-income people equal representation in elections would lead to a “numbers game” that would skew “politics and policies” toward favoring that group. Pro-democracy groups that have been staging the protests plan to conduct a referendum on Sunday aimed at gauging support for how the protest movement can best negotiate with the central government in Beijing. The pro-democracy advocates are staging the protests after the national legislature in Beijing, which oversees changes to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, set rules for the 2017 election for chief executive that critics said excluded candidates not approved by Beijing. On Friday, one of Mr. Leung’s predecessors as chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, called on protesters to end their demonstrations, saying that they had already gone on one month and that the movement was spinning out of control, The South China Morning Post reported.

Leung Chun-ying
C.Y. Leung
Hong Kong
James Tien
China
Appointments and Executive Changes
Civil Unrest
Beijing


Yankees Trade Brian McCann to the Astros

Abstract: Continuing their transformation into a younger and financially leaner team, the Yankees traded Brian McCann and cash on Thursday to the Houston Astros for two raw pitching prospects, Albert Abreu and Jorge Guzman. With the trade, the Yankees shed $23 million of McCann’s contract over the next two years, while paving the way for Gary Sanchez to be the everyday catcher after his short but impressive turn with the team last season. “Getting the additional money to play with on our end gives us a lot of choices in the trade and free agent market,” Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said. “Does it mean we’re absolutely going to do something? No. It doesn’t mean we have to reallocate it immediately, but we’re going to be open to doing so.” McCann, 32, had become expendable and expensive as a backup catcher and part-time designated hitter for the Yankees next season, but in Houston he will have the opportunity to catch more. In Houston, McCann can play for a potentially contending team, with the chance to be a larger part of the everyday lineup. The Astros could use McCann as their primary catcher and an occasional designated hitter, with the right-handed power hitter Evan Gattis, who was Houston’s main designated hitter last season, as his backup behind the plate. “I want to catch every day,” McCann said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday night. “I still feel like I have a lot of good years left behind the plate. In New York, I was going to catch once a week and D.H. against righties.” Because of his full no-trade clause, McCann had to approve the trade, which was bittersweet for him because he had hoped to finish his career in New York when he signed a five-year, $85 million deal before the 2014 season. As the Yankees’ youth movement began this summer by releasing Alex Rodriguez and trading away players such as Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran, Cashman entertained the idea of also trading McCann. Nothing materialized. But as Cashman received more interest in McCann than first expected early this offseason, he spoke with McCann’s agent, B.B. Abbott, about what attributes McCann might want in a future home. Abbott said that Houston was on “an extremely short list” that he and McCann did not share with Cashman. When Cashman came to Abbott and McCann about a trade proposal to Houston on Thursday, they agreed. “To Cash’s credit, he did what was right by the Yankees, but also considered the player and person that Brian McCann is,” Abbott said in a telephone interview on Thursday night. The Yankees, who missed the playoffs last season, can now rely more heavily on Sanchez, who finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting after a season in which he hit .299 with 20 home runs in only 53 games. With McCann gone, the Yankees have more possibilities for the designated hitter spot, including pursuing free agents. “We’re going to continue to pursue pitching as well as offense now,” said Cashman Thursday night at a charity event at the Covenant House in Manhattan. The Yankees’ reloading of young talent continued with the addition of Abreu, 21, who had a 3.72 E.R.A. at Class A last season and was ranked the Astros’ No. 7 prospect by MLB.com. Guzman, 20, reached rookie level in 2016 and had a 4.05 E.R.A. over all. Both have been profiled as right-handed starters with strikeout capabilities thanks to fastballs that reach speeds in the high 90s. McCann was owed $34 million over the next two seasons, but the Yankees will pay only $5.5 million of his $17 million yearly salary. The Astros will pay the rest. The Astros emerged as an obvious landing spot for McCann this winter when their primary catcher, Jason Castro, who hit .210 with 11 home runs last season, became a free agent after the season. McCann hit .242 with 20 home runs, 58 R.B.I. and .748 O.P.S. over 130 games this season, his strikeout rate rising and contact rate declining with age. With the emergence of Sanchez, McCann was relegated to designated hitter and backup catcher over the final two months of the season. McCann called Sanchez the best player in baseball during those final two months of the season, and ceded his job to him gracefully. “It ended up being a perfect fit,” McCann said of the Astros. In Houston, McCann has the possibility of a financial bonus. His $15 million team option for 2019 becomes a player option if he logs at least 1,000 plate appearances from 2017 to 2018, starts at least 90 games at catcher in 2018, and does not end that season on the disabled list.

Baseball
Sports Trades
Astros
Brian McCann
Albert Abreu
Jorge Guzman
Yankees


Prostitution Charge Dropped in Case an Albany Journalist Called Retaliation

Abstract: ALBANY — In March 2012, just blocks from the State Capitol, several law enforcement officers stormed into a second-floor spa and arrested a woman, accusing her of soliciting money for sexual acts. An invasive strip search was done, thousands of dollars were seized and the woman, Min Liu, was soon charged with prostitution. But it was the woman’s employer at the Green Garden Asian Spa who provoked the uproar: Bin Cheng, the wife of J. Robert Port, who was the investigations editor at The Times Union of Albany. Almost as soon as Ms. Liu was arrested, Mr. Port accused the police of targeting his wife’s business in retaliation for a series of articles he had shepherded into the newspaper that called into question the tactics and practices of an Albany County sheriff’s drug unit. “I already knew that this unit was investigating my wife,” said Mr. Port, 59, who is also a former adjunct journalism professor at Columbia University. “I knew they were watching her.” Ms. Cheng, 46, was not at the spa during the raid, nor was she ever charged with any crime, but the implication that she was involved in nefarious activities hovered over Mr. Port’s family, he said. “This went on for three years, a cloud over a person’s head and a cloud hanging over my wife’s business,” he said, reiterating that he believed the arrest was related to “the work I was doing with the Albany Times Union investigating local police.” A city court judge in Albany last month dismissed the charge, a misdemeanor, against Ms. Liu, after county prosecutors concluded that the case should be dropped “in the interest of justice.” The order, by Judge Gary F. Stiglmeier, outlined the reasons for the dismissal, including the lack of witnesses “or other evidence of the defendant’s guilt,” other than the testimony of the city detective who alleged the crime. That detective, Scott D. Gavigan, had been working with the unit Mr. Port had helped investigate, and was in the spa with Ms. Liu at the time of the sting. Ms. Liu’s lawyer, Kevin A. Luibrand, hailed the decision, which was made on July 28, as long overdue and said that his client — a 56-year-old Chinese immigrant and grandmother with no previous criminal record — had endured a cavity search during the arrest, and “continued to experience significant distress as a result of the charges,” including hindering her ability to find work. In his legal filings and an interview last week, Mr. Luibrand said there was no case against his client: No “buy money” for the alleged sexual acts was found, nor had Detective Gavigan produced a recording of the transaction he asserted had occurred. Mr. Luibrand also said the police had at one point falsely suggested drug activity was taking place at the spa. “The overkill on this case was profound,” he said. Both Mr. Luibrand and Mr. Port said they believed that the Albany police had arrested Ms. Liu, who always asserted her innocence, because they mistook her for Mr. Port’s wife. “They didn’t know one Chinese woman from another,” Mr. Port said. Steven A. Smith Jr., a spokesman for the Albany Police Department, had no comment on the particulars of the case, but suggested that it would approach such cases differently. “If we had to take on one of these operations in the future,” he said, “we would certainly weigh out our investigatory options before making our decisions.” A spokeswoman for David Soares, the Albany County district attorney, said the decision to support the dismissal came after evaluating the evidence and finding “significant proof problems.” The drug unit that Mr. Port and Brendan J. Lyons, a reporter, investigated was disbanded around the same time as the raid at the Green Garden, according to Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple. The raid also prompted an internal review . Sheriff Apple’s office did not respond to requests for comment about the Green Garden case, the drug unit or the findings of that internal investigation. Mr. Luibrand said Ms. Liu, who lives in Flushing, Queens, did not speak English fluently but was a longtime aesthetician and was pleased that her name had been cleared. “She’s thrilled by it, she’s happy,” he said. Mr. Port, who left The Times Union in 2013, said on Wednesday that his wife, who declined to be interviewed, also felt relieved. He said that her business had expanded to four spas in the capital region, with eight employees total. Still, while he and Ms. Cheng have tried to move on, Mr. Port said that the case had left him with even more questions about law enforcement behavior. “I think police need to behave themselves,” he said. “And police need to be policed.”

Police Brutality,Police Misconduct,Police Shootings


Midwest Air Cutting 40% of Workers

Abstract: MILWAUKEE (AP) — Midwest Airlines said on Monday that it would reduce its work force by 1,200 people as it grounds its 12 MD-80s. The cuts represent about 40 percent of current staff at Midwest and its Skyway subsidiary. Besides the MD-80s, which it is flying until this fall, Midwest also flies 25 Boeing 717s. “In order to successfully restructure, there is no way to avoid deep and painful reductions to our current work force,” Timothy E. Hoeksema, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. The company said it would begin notifying affected employees Monday, with most jobs ended by mid-September. The job cuts will include union pilots and flight attendants, said Michael Brophy, a spokesman for the Midwest Air Group, which is based in Oak Creek, Wis. Mr. Brophy also said Midwest was continuing talks with unions for pilots and flight attendants to reach deals on concessions to reduce the airline’s costs. The Texas-based private equity firm TPG Capital completed its roughly $450 million acquisition of Midwest Air Group in January, paying 53 percent of the purchase price. Northwest Airlines owns the rest.

Midwest Air Group Incorporated
Layoffs and Job Reductions
Airlines and Airplanes
Labor


Serbs Losing Fervor for European Union Accession

Abstract: PETROVAC NA MLAVI, Serbia — Looking eerily like the Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a stout and stern-faced Ivica Dacic roused supporters crowded in a sports arena here this past week, promising to protect Serbs from the ravages of capitalism and warning that violence against Serbs in Kosovo was tantamount to an assault on Belgrade. “This may be a small town but the red color lives on here,” Mr. Dacic, the leader of the Socialist Party, said Wednesday, alluding to the town’s proud working-class roots. “We speak Serbian so the whole world can understand you.” The audience of teens, retirees and coal miners roared approvingly. A loudspeaker blared the nationalist lyrics: “All you heroes, get ready for battle!” As Serbs prepare to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections here Sunday, the charismatic Mr. Dacic, 46, who croons Frank Sinatra tunes and has invoked Barack Obama, Vladimir V. Putin and former President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia as his role models, has gained wide support by mixing patriotism, pragmatism and an appeal to social justice. In response to visceral public anger against the country’s crony politics, he has cannily upgraded Mr. Milosevic’s former slogan, “No one is allowed to beat you” to “No one is allowed to lie to you.” Mr. Dacic, a tough-talking interior minister in the current coalition government of the country’s pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, is expected to be kingmaker in elections Sunday, and a possible next prime minister. Neither of the top two leading parties, Mr. Tadic’s Democrats or the Progressive Party of Tomislav Nikolic, a former ultranationalist funeral parlor chief who has refashioned himself as pro-European, will likely be able to form a government without him. The latest polls show them neck-in-neck in the presidential race, which is expected to go to a run-off on May 20. Mr. Dacic’s soaring popularity, analysts say, reflects widespread disenchantment with the current government of Mr. Tadic, a George Clooney look-a-like and darling of Brussels and Washington who has successfully shepherded the country toward the European Union during his eight years as president. Nevertheless, he has come under intensifying criticism at home for Serbia’s weak economy, 24 percent unemployment rate, accusations of corruption and patronage, and an authoritarian stranglehold over the media the likes of which critics say the country has not experienced since Mr. Milosevic’s times. Mr. Dacic, a former spokesman for Mr. Milosevic, has sought to transform his former mentor’s party into a mainstream social democratic party, firmly abandoning its old warmongering ideology, if not its old appeals to Serbian pride. He insisted in an interview that he was not the reincarnation of the former ruler. “We can never return to that era,” he said. As evidence, he advocated Serbia’s E.U. membership and strong relations with the United States. But he also warned that Serbia could turn toward Russia if the bloc insisted that Belgrade recognize Kosovo as a condition of joining. In another salvo unlikely to be greeted warmly in Brussels or Washington, he suggested that partitioning Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, could be a solution for solving divisions there. NATO said Friday that its peacekeeping force would seek to maintain the uneasy peace in the Serb-dominated North of Kosovo, where Serbs, who do not recognize Kosovo’s authority, plan to vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has agreed to oversee parliamentary and presidential elections in Kosovo but not local elections, which some Serbs have vowed to hold and which Kosovo has warned it will use force to curtail. The elections come at a seminal moment for Serbia. Thirteen years after NATO bombed Belgrade to halt the killing of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the poor Balkan country was invited to become a candidate for E.U. membership in March. The move marked a final end to more than two decades as a pariah nation following the bloody break-up of the former Yugoslavia. The accession of Serbia and the Balkan states to the European Union is seen by the West as the best means to overcome the ethnic enmities that provoked the Balkan wars of the 1990s that left at least 125,000 people dead. In order clinch its E.U. candidacy status, Serbia stepped up cooperation on tracking down war-crime suspects, including handing over Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general accused of war crimes, to The Hague last year. In February it signed an agreement to improve contacts with Kosovo, a condition to it attaining candidacy status and a bitter medicine for many Serbs. But for all the jubilation at finally getting an invitation to the European club, many Serbs say they feel hopeless. In a recent poll by Ipsos, a marketing research firm, 64 percent of Serbs said the country was on the wrong track, citing unemployment and corruption as their chief concerns. While 73 percent of Serbs favored E.U. membership in 2009, today that number has dropped to 50 percent. With the financial crisis roiling Europe, the European Union is suffering from expansion exhaustion and analysts say it will likely take at least 10 years before Serbia will join the bloc. Many Serbs say they are fed up with waiting. Moreover, with an average monthly wage here of about €400, or $525, Serbs complain that their hard-fought progress toward Europe, including being granted visa-free travel across the bloc in December 2009, is meaningless, since they cannot afford a plane ticket. Srecko Skeljic, 33, a pro-European blogger and social media activist, said that four years ago, he proudly voted for Mr. Tadic’s Democrats, determined for Serbia to finally put the past behind it. Today, he says he is so disappointed by economic doldrums and endemic graft that he plans to draw a sad face on his ballot and throw it into the Sava River. Up to a 100,000 Serbs — or 4 percent of voters — have indicated they will spoil their ballots on election day, according to the Center for Free Elections and Democracy, a research group that monitors the elections. “Forced to choose between a corrupted Democratic Party and an army of darkness,” Mr. Skeljic said, referring to the other political parties contesting the election, “I would rather vote for no one.” On a positive note, many analysts credit Mr. Tadic, who has apologized to victims of Serbian atrocities during the Balkan wars, for helping to facilitate reconciliation in the region. In a sign of the historic reckoning under way, 20 years after the start of the war in Bosnia, a new thriller about the valiant hunt for accused Serbian war criminals, including Mr. Mladic — still a hero to many here — is plastered on billboards with its title, Ustanicka Street, the location of Serbia’s war-crimes court. But there are also less optimistic signs. The Belgrade opening of Angelina Jolie’s recent film, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” chronicling the horrors committed by Serbs in Bosnia, was boycotted and vilified by many Serbs. Only a handful of people showed up and several walked out, midway through, according to Serb media reports. Ms. Jolie did not attend. As in much of the rest of Europe, analysts say that Serbia’s struggling economy is the main driver behind its current malaise. Growth is flat and forecast to grow by just 0.5 percent this year. Since October 2009, 250,000 jobs have been lost. One of the biggest beneficiaries of voter discontent could be Mr. Dacic. He said in an interview that after the election, he would first hold coalition talks with Mr. Tadic’s Democrats, making it likely that Mr. Tadic will be able to mobilize enough support to hold on to power. But Mr. Tadic could also turn to Mr. Nikolic, a populist, who abandoned the far-right Radical party in 2008 and whose Progressive Party could win the most votes. Either way, Mr. Dacic was clearly giddy with the idea of breaking the status quo. “Both Tadic and Nikolic say don’t vote for small parties but in the end both of them will have to come to me,” he said. “Nothing will ever be the same again.”

Serbia
Elections
Dacic Ivica
Tadic Boris
European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )