Fiscal Constraints Collide With Guarantee of Lawyers for Indigent

Abstract: OZARK, Mo. — Some public defenders in Missouri say the stressed state budget is interfering with their ability to provide poor defendants with their constitutional right to a lawyer. They say they are so overworked and underfinanced that they have begun trying to reject new cases assigned to them late in the month, when, they say, their workloads are already beyond capacity. Concerns about a deteriorating, overwhelmed public defender system in this country have been around for decades, but they have ballooned recently as state budgets shrink and more defendants qualify for free legal counsel. “This has been a problem in good economic times, and now it’s only worse,” said Jo-Ann Wallace, president and chief executive of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association . “What you have is a situation where the eligible pool of clients is increasing, crime rates are potentially increasing, while the resources often for public defenders are going down.” Missouri’s per capita spending on public defense ranks 49th in the nation (only Mississippi spends less), Ms. Wallace’s group says. State officials say the defenders system, with its 570 employees, is expected to receive more than $34 million this year. The state public defender’s office says a true solution would require 125 more lawyers, 90 more secretaries, 109 more investigators, 130 more legal assistants and more space — all of which would cost about $21 million a year — a seemingly impossible suggestion, given the fiscal climate. In the meantime, they say, fiscal constraints are colliding with the requirement set forth in a 1963 Supreme Court decision, Gideon v. Wainwright, that poor people accused of serious crimes be provided with lawyers paid for by the government. Last week, Jared Blacksher found his case sent to the Missouri Supreme Court — not over the accusations that he had stolen prescription pain pills and a blank check, but over the issue of whether the state’s public defender system is in such dismal shape that it ought not be forced to represent him. The public defender’s office had pleaded with the judge, repeatedly, not to assign it Mr. Blacksher’s case. It was just the latest example of public defenders, charged with representing the poor and indigent, saying they cannot take a case because they have too many already and not enough staff to handle them all. Public defenders in jurisdictions from Florida to Minnesota to Arizona have either sued over their caseloads or refused to take new cases. The judge in the Blacksher case rejected the public defender’s pleas not to be forced to take it. “It flies in the face of our Constitution,” Judge John S. Waters told his Christian County courtroom here last month. “It flies in the face of our culture. It flies in the face of the reason we came over here 300 and some-odd years ago to get out of debtors’ prison.” “I’m not saying the public defenders aren’t overworked,” Judge Waters said, but, “I don’t know how to move his case and how to provide him what the law of the land provides.” But last Friday, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an order temporarily rescinding the assignment of public defenders in Mr. Blacksher’s case, at least until the court can consider legal briefs on the question of the public defenders’ latest demand to refuse cases. Mr. Blacksher’s case, which could now be delayed for several months, has become the center of a debate that long predates it in this state. To some, the signs of stress on the public defender system here have become overwhelming, even frightening: almost all the public defenders’ 35 trial division offices lately carried caseloads that would require more than the total number of staff hours available in a month — in some cases, more than two times the hours available, said Cat Kelly, deputy director for the Missouri State Public Defender System. “Missouri’s public defender system has reached a point where what it provides is often nothing more than the illusion of a lawyer,” an outside report asked for by the Missouri Bar concluded last year. Yet some county prosecutors here are deeply skeptical of the defenders’ complaints. With the state facing $550 million less in general fund revenues than a year ago, they say, defenders are no more burdened than the next department. “They say this every year,” said Ron Cleek, the prosecuting attorney in Christian County, which includes Ozark, adding that he wondered whether some at the defenders offices might “want to think about what time they come in and when they go home.” “We all work hard,” Mr. Cleek said. “They just need to suck it up and get out there and get it done.” Missouri’s state auditor has announced her office will examine the public defender system to determine whether it is, indeed, overburdened. Around the country, the indigent are defended by a hodgepodge of systems and financing sources. In some places, private lawyers are appointed by judges; elsewhere, statewide public defender networks (like Missouri’s) have been created. Other jurisdictions use some combination of methods. The public defenders in Missouri and elsewhere all ultimately pose a larger question: How far can defenders be stretched before they no longer provide poor people with the legal help ensured by Gideon? “Is someone in prison who might have been acquitted if we had had more resources?” Rod Hackathorn, the public defender for a three-county district that includes Ozark, asked the other day. “You don’t know. I’m sure that it’s happened, and I don’t know who it has happened to. And that’s the scariest part of this all.” Mr. Hackathorn’s district is one of two in the state to begin announcing this summer that it was turning down cases, including Mr. Blacksher’s. Nine others are taking steps to do the same. So far, results for poor defendants are murky. In cases involving those not in custody, some judges have sidestepped the entire question, quietly advising defendants to wait for the start of a new month (and a fresh monthly caseload count) — at which point their cases will be assigned to a public defender once more. In more serious cases, like Mr. Blacksher’s, judges have rejected the public defenders’ claims of “unavailability.” Hours after the State Supreme Court’s decision in Mr. Blacksher’s case, Mr. Blacksher, who is charged with burglary and forgery, seemed oblivious to what had happened and mystified by his brush with the debate over public defenders. From the Christian County Jail, where he has been held since July, unable to afford bail, Mr. Blacksher, 22, said he had heard nothing of the delay in his case and was still expecting to be called from his cell for a hearing — which had once been set for last Friday — on its merits. Just a day earlier, he had met with his assistant public defender and had agreed, he said, to plead guilty in exchange for a prison sentence that would most likely run several months. So far as he knew, he said, the public defender was still his lawyer, and his hearing might come any minute.

Legal Aid for the Poor
Public Defenders
States (US)
Missouri
Economic Conditions and Trends


Digital Patient Data Holds Promise and Problems

Abstract: THE United States is embarking this year on a grand experiment in the government-driven adoption of technology — ambitious, costly and potentially far-reaching in impact. The goal is to improve health care and to reduce its long-term expense by moving the doctors and hospitals from ink and paper into the computer age — through a shift to digital patient records. Step back from the details and what emerges is a huge challenge in innovation design. What role should government have? What is the right mix of top-down and bottom-up efforts? Driving change through the system will involve shifts in technology, economic incentives and the culture of health care. “This is a big social project, not just a technical endeavor,” says Dr. David Blumenthal, the Obama administration’s national coordinator for health information technology. This year is when the project really takes off. In the 2009 economic recovery package, the administration and Congress allocated billions — the current estimate is $27 billion — in incentives for doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic records. Now, a new Congress with Republicans looking for budget cuts could take back the money. Legislation has been introduced by Representative Tom Latham, an Iowa Republican, to reclaim unspent stimulus dollars — and money for accelerating the adoption of electronic health records could be a target. Still, steps to encourage adoption of computerized health records have had bipartisan support over the years, though only the Obama administration has pushed for big financing. Most health policy analysts say it is unlikely that the legislation will be overturned. When well designed and wisely used, computerized records have proved valuable in improving care. Doctors have more complete information in treating patients, reducing the chances of medical errors and unneeded tests. But the success stories to date have come mainly from large health care providers, like Kaiser Permanente, the Mayo Clinic and a handful of others. Most physicians are in small practices, lacking the financial and technical support the big groups provide for their doctors. So it is scarcely surprising that less than 30 percent of physicians nationwide now use digital records. Late last year, the administration, working with health professionals and the technology industry, set out a roadmap for what digital records should include and how they should be used, for doctors to qualify for incentive payments, typically up to $44,000. The program begins this year, and the requirements for using the records to report and share health information increase in stages through 2015. After that, penalty payments from Medicare and Medicaid kick in for doctors who don’t meet the use and reporting rules. The initial requirements to qualify for “meaningful use” are minimal, including being able to collect and electronically report basic information, like vaccinations for children or blood glucose levels for diabetes patients. The long-range vision is that computerized patient data is a step toward what health care specialists call a “learning health system.” That means data across populations of patients can be analyzed to find what treatments are most effective or to get early warnings on dangerous drug interactions. “Islands” of such learning networks already exist, notes Charles P. Friedman, chief scientist in the federal health information technology office. By mining its patient data, Kaiser, for example, was first to identify a link between the pain-relief drug Vioxx and a higher risk of heart failure, well before Merck pulled the drug off the market in 2004. Yet the road to a national computer-enabled learning system, specialists agree, promises to be long. A major obstacle is that so many doctors, especially in small practices, are leery of technology they see as needlessly hard to use and time-consuming. “Doctors don’t want to become clerks,” says Dr. Isaac Kohane, a health technology specialist at the Harvard Medical School. And complex technology — designed for big health groups, not small practices — could well increase medical mistakes, specialists say. Such issues, Dr. Blumenthal says, are a reason that the government’s standards, and perhaps even the timetable for adopting electronic health records, will evolve and remain flexible. The government, he adds, is looking closely at safety and usability. Dr. Blumenthal’s office gave the Institute of Medicine a grant of nearly $1 million for a yearlong study of electronic health records and patient safety. And his office is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop a “usability assessment tool” that can be used to evaluate the digital records offered by different companies. Under Dr. Blumenthal, the office has tried to gradually build consensus on policy and technical standards rather than issuing edicts. However, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, an independent group of academic and industry experts, said in a report last December that the time had come for more “top-down design choices,” which it called “an appropriate government role” and one that “requires a more aggressive approach than has been taken in the early stages.” THIS month, the health information technology office announced a step that showed its preferred approach to setting standards, one that borrowed from the Internet model of open-source software development in an initiative called the Direct Project. Many companies and groups contributed to the government-endorsed Internet-based tools for exchanging health data among institutions. Developers wrote code and suggested ideas, and a consensus built around an approach that was selected by the government. The design was inspired by the Web, with its minimal specifications that leave ample room for innovation, says Dr. Douglas Fridsma, head of standards at the health technology office. Without a brisk market in information exchange, the campaign to adopt electronic records cannot really pay off. And more is needed than data-sharing standards and privacy and security protections, Dr. Blumenthal says. The incentives have to change as well. Two hospitals a few miles apart, he notes, do not now view themselves as allies, but as competitors. To a doctor or a hospital, a patient is, among other things, a financial asset — and holding a patient’s information is valuable. Insurers, he suggests, will have to pay for providers to share data or penalize them if they don’t. “Information exchange has to be a business goal, rather than a competitive threat, for this to work,” he says.

Electronic Health Records
Medicine and Health
Federal Aid (US)


U.S. Delegation in India Seeks Deals, Not Outsourcing

Abstract: BANGALORE, India — Nearly two years ago, President Obama rankled many people here when he said that American tax law unfairly benefited companies that created jobs in Bangalore and punished companies that hired in Buffalo. On Tuesday, however, the president’s commerce secretary offered a friendlier message: Let’s do business. In his second stop during a weeklong tour of India, the secretary, Gary Locke , said he wanted to help American companies sell planes, tractors and power equipment to create jobs in the United States while also helping to develop India. “What we seek is really two-way, mutually beneficial trade,” Mr. Locke said in an interview. He added that the trade should create jobs in both the United States and in India. Mr. Locke’s visit is part of a year-old initiative by the Obama administration to double exports by 2015 to bolster a still-struggling American economy. In the case of India, the administration has also cast the effort as a way to improve economic relations with an important ally and one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. The United States is not alone in pursuing such a strategy. Other countries, like China, Russia, France and Britain, have been sending trade missions to India. Acknowledging that many American companies have not looked outward to bolster their businesses, Mr. Locke said in an interview that he hoped to use his “trade mission” to India, and three other countries later this year, to help businesses exploit opportunities abroad. “Only 1 percent of U.S. companies export, and of that 1 percent, 58 percent export to only one country, typically Canada or Mexico,” he said. “And yet 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside the borders of the United States. So, if U.S. companies want to grow and expand, not only do they have to focus on the domestic market, but they have to look at the 95 percent of customers outside.” As part of its charm offensive, the Obama administration recently removed nine Indian aerospace and defense companies from a list of restricted entities that cannot be sold certain technologies that have military uses. Mr. Locke is accompanied by representatives from 24 businesses, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Westinghouse, some of whom are hoping to win business as a result of the change in policy. Trade between the United States and India was growing even before the administration’s recent efforts to focus on this economic relationship. Total trade in goods and services jumped nearly 20 percent, to $54 billion in the first nine months of 2010. Later this week, India will host a biennial air show in Bangalore where American companies will try to win multibillion-dollar contracts from the Indian Air Force and civilian airlines. They will, however, face stiff competition from European and Russian companies. Boeing had hoped to sell in India 10 cargo planes for $5 billion during Mr. Obama’s visit in November, but the deal is still not finished. Last month, however, Boeing’s European rival, Airbus, won a large order from IndiGo, a fast-growing Indian low-cost airline that plans to start flying international routes in August. IndiGo ordered 180 planes that have a list price of $15.6 billion. Deliveries are to start in 2015. Mr. Locke is not the only American official trying to solicit business in India. Individual American states have also sent representatives to coincide with Mr. Locke’s visit. As state governments weigh painful budget cuts and grapple with lingering unemployment, some officials say that increasing exports to India and encouraging investment from its expanding companies is crucial. “We’re not doing it to get ahead, we’re doing it to not be left behind,” said North Carolina’s secretary of commerce, J. Keith Crisco , who was in New Delhi this week with dozens of executives from his state. This is the first trade delegation North Carolina has sent to India, Mr. Crisco said, though the state sent people to China and Brazil last year. “Yes, we are catching up in India,” he said, adding that he expected some announcements of deals related to the trip in coming weeks. New York State has gone even further. It set up an office in New Delhi last year and is organizing a series of investment conferences in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore this spring, aimed at Indian companies who want to expand to the United States or work as partners with a New York company. The office is led by Kaviraj Singh , a Delhi lawyer who has lived and worked in New York. He said he planned to use the office to tie New York businesses “into a network that will make you feel as though you’ve always been here.”

International Trade and World Market
Locke Gary
United States Economy
India
Commerce Department


Knicks to Waive Kurt Thomas to Sign James Singleton

Abstract: CHICAGO — The history of the Knicks’ transformative winning streak cannot be written without Kurt Thomas, although the conclusion to this breakthrough season most certainly will be. The Knicks intend to waive the injured Thomas so they can sign James Singleton, a journeyman forward who had been playing in China. Team officials were still working through some details to get Singleton under contract on Thursday, and it was not clear when the deal would be complete. Thomas has been sidelined for three weeks by a broken right foot, and he has virtually no chance of playing in the postseason. Surgery remains a possibility. With the Knicks desperate for healthy bodies, the decision to waive Thomas became academic. The Knicks are carrying the maximum 15 players, so they have to cut someone to add Singleton. Coach Mike Woodson declined to confirm anything regarding Thomas or Singleton on Thursday, although he alluded to it, saying, “We have to rethink some things based on injuries.” The team is declining comment until the move becomes official. Singleton, 31, was with the team in Chicago on Thursday, but he was not at the morning shootaround. If the deal is completed soon, he could make his debut Friday night, when the Knicks play in Cleveland. Image Injuries to their big men will force the Knicks to waive Kurt Thomas, a move they had hoped to avoid. Credit Rick Bowmer/Associated Press Just a few weeks ago, Woodson insisted he would not waive either of his injured veteran big men, Thomas or Rasheed Wallace, preferring to give them the chance to recover and perhaps contribute in the playoffs. But circumstances have changed in light of recent injuries to Tyson Chandler and Kenyon Martin, and because of Marcus Camby’s foot problems. The Knicks do not have a healthy center at the moment, and few healthy forwards. They will have nine players in uniform Thursday night. “I used my video guy to go through walkthrough today,” Woodson said. Chandler (neck) and Martin (ankle) did not travel with the team and will not play Friday night in Cleveland, either. Woodson said he had no timetable for their return. It is conceivable they will not return until the playoffs, which begin the weekend of April 20-21. Woodson said Chris Copeland would start at center against the Bulls. Singleton is a 6-foot-8, 216-pound forward who has been in and out of the N.B.A. since 2005, playing for three different teams. He was cut by the Washington Wizards before playing a single game this season. The decision to waive the 40-year-old Thomas was a reluctant one, given his stature in the locker room and his critical role in sparking the Knicks’ 13-game winning streak. Thomas, despite an existing stress fracture in his foot, played 27 minutes against the Utah Jazz on March 18, helping the Knicks secure a 90-83 victory that kicked off the streak. The Knicks were missing Chandler and Carmelo Anthony that night, and they were slumping badly, having lost the first four games of a Western Conference trip. Thomas stepped in out of necessity, knowing it might be his last game of the season. He finished with just 6 points and 3 rebounds, but he locked up Utah’s Al Jefferson, and his gritty play set the tone for the night. “To be honest with you, I think that game in Utah that Kurt won for us really turned the ship around for us,” Anthony said Thursday. “For him to go out there and be playing on fractured foot and do the things that he did for that game, help us win that game on the road, he helped us right that ship. It started from that game, it started from his play, and I don’t think he gets enough credit for that.”

Basketball
Knicks
Kurt Thomas
James Singleton
Sports injury


From the Ashes of ’69, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River Is Reborn

Abstract: CLEVELAND — The first time Gene Roberts fell into the Cuyahoga River, he worried he might die. The year was 1963, and the river was still an open sewer for industrial waste. Walking home, Mr. Roberts smelled so bad that his friends ran to stay upwind of him. Recently, Mr. Roberts returned to the river carrying his fly-fishing rod. In 20 minutes, he caught six smallmouth bass. “It’s a miracle,” said Mr. Roberts, 58. “The river has come back to life.” Monday is the 40th anniversary of the Cuyahoga River fire of 1969, when oil-soaked debris floating on the river’s surface was ignited, most likely by sparks from a passing train. The fire was extinguished in 30 minutes and caused just $50,000 in damage. But it became a galvanizing symbol for the environmental movement, one of a handful of disasters that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and to the passage of the Clean Water Act. “The Cuyahoga River fire was a spark plug for environmental reforms around the country,” said Cameron Davis, who was recently appointed to become the special adviser to the E.P.A. on Great Lakes environmental issues. The fire turned Cleveland into “The Mistake by the Lake,” a national punch line that would endure for decades. Meanwhile, the city worked to reclaim its river. Today, the Cuyahoga is home to more than 60 species of fish, said Jim White, executive director of the Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization, a nonprofit group that coordinates cleanup efforts. Beavers, blue herons and bald eagles nest along the river’s banks. Long sections of the Cuyahoga are clean enough that they no longer require aggressive monitoring, regulators said. “We’re very impressed with the progress made in the Cuyahoga,” said John Perrecone, a manager of Great Lakes programs for the E.P.A. Other rivers in industrial cities have experienced similar rebirths, said Matthew Doss, policy director for the Great Lakes Commission, which oversees development and environmental efforts in the region for the United States and Canada. “The Cuyahoga’s progress is notable because of how infamous it was,” Mr. Doss said. “This 40th anniversary gives us an opportunity to celebrate the progress we’ve made nationwide.” The 1969 fire was tiny compared with those that engulfed the Cuyahoga and other rivers that received large amounts of industrial pollutants from the 1800s through the 1950s. One reason it received national attention, including a prominent article in Time magazine, was that the problem of rivers catching fire was mostly solved by then, said Jonathan Adler, an environmental law professor at Case Western Reserve University. The outrage caused by the fire was a symptom of a society starting to leave its industrial identity behind, Professor Adler said. “In the 1930s, when most people in Cleveland worked in factories, a fire on the river was considered just a nuisance,” he said. “By the ’60s, there was a hunger for symbols of humans’ insensitivity to the environment.” The cleanup of the river advanced on many fronts. A year before the fire, Cleveland residents voted to tax themselves an additional $100 million for river restoration. Since then, local industries and the Northwest Ohio Regional Sewer District have spent $3.5 billion to reduce sewage and industrial waste pollution, Mr. White said. The sewer district built miles of subway-tunnel-size tubes beneath the city. The tubes hold excess rainwater until it can be processed by treatment plants, reducing the number of times that plants become overwhelmed and spew sewage into the river. In the next 30 years, Cleveland-area residents will spend about $5 billion more on the wastewater system, said Julius Ciaccia Jr., sewer district director. “This didn’t happen because a bunch of wild-haired hippies protested down the street,” Mr. Perrecone said. “This happened because a lot of citizens up and down the watershed worked hard for 40 years to improve the river.” Local governments removed dams, which trapped pollution and impeded fish migration. In 1974, President Gerald R. Ford created the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, which became a national park in 2000. The park saved miles of the river from suburban development. Problems remain, however. The E.P.A. sued the City of Akron in February for dumping excessive amounts of sewage into the Cuyahoga. Along the last 5 of its 100 miles, the river is enclosed by steel walls and dredged regularly for commercial ships, making it difficult for habitats to recover. “The good news is that we know what the problems are, and we know what the solutions are,” Mr. Davis said. “Now it’s a matter of getting the funding, rolling up our sleeves and doing the work.” On Monday, people who have worked for years to clean the Cuyahoga will celebrate at its banks. “It’s just remarkable,” said Steve Tuckerman, the Cuyahoga River specialist for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. “I never thought I would see in my lifetime, let alone in my career, such an amazing comeback of a river.”

Cleveland (Ohio)
Water Pollution
Clean Water Act
Environment
Environmental Protection Agency
Cuyahoga River


November Factory Orders Higher Than Forecast

Abstract: WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to American factories posted a surprisingly big gain in November, reflecting increased demand in several industries from steel and industrial machinery to computers and chemicals. The advance was double what had been expected and provided further evidence that manufacturers were beginning to pull out of their slump. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that orders rose 1.1 percent in November, much better than the 0.5 percent increase economists had forecast. The increases were widespread outside of autos and aircraft, which posted declines. The report was the latest evidence of a widespread rebound in manufacturing as industries from China to Europe begin to flash recovery signs. The Institute of Supply Management had reported Monday that its crucial gauge of United States factory activity showed manufacturing was expanding in December at the fastest pace in more than three years. The Commerce report on orders showed that demand for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, rose 0.2 percent in November, unchanged from a preliminary estimate the government made two weeks ago. Durable goods orders had fallen by 0.7 percent in October. Orders for nondurable goods rose 1.8 percent in November after an even stronger 2.2 percent rise in October. The strength in November reflected gains in demand for petroleum, chemical products and textiles. In the durable category, orders for commercial aircraft dropped sharply and demand for motor vehicles was also down, but orders increased in a number of other areas, including iron and steel, up 4.6 percent; machinery, up 3.3 percent; and computers and electronics products, which shot up by 12.8 percent. The 1.1 percent rise in total orders in November was the seventh increase in the last eight months and left factory orders at a seasonally adjusted $365.3 billion. Economists are hoping that the fortunes of the manufacturing sector are beginning to rebound as the economy struggles to emerge from the worst recession since the 1930s. The overall economy as measured by the gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the third quarter. That marked the first positive increase in the G.D.P. after four consecutive quarterly declines. Analysts are expecting an even bigger gain in the just-completed October-December quarter, with some of that strength coming from a revival in the fortunes of manufacturers. Further gains are expected in December given that the I.S.M. report showed its index for new orders jumped to the highest level last month in five years. It is hoped that factories will begin rehiring laid-off workers as they ramp up production. And a turnaround in employment could bolster incomes and increase consumer spending, fueling the recovery. The worry among economists has been that the current recovery could falter unless the unemployment rate begins to show sustained improvement.

Factories and Manufacturing
United States Economy


Daniel Murphy Breaks a Record With Another Postseason Homer

Abstract: Daniel Murphy hit another one. In the top of the eighth inning at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night, Murphy blasted home run No. 7 of this postseason. In doing so, Murphy became the first player to homer in six consecutive playoff games, breaking the record of five set by Carlos Beltran of the Houston Astros in 2004. Image Before this October, Murphy averaged a home run every 58 plate appearances. Credit David J. Phillip/Associated Press Murphy’s seven home runs in a single postseason put him in a four-way tie for fourth in baseball history . But those statistics are even more remarkable than they sound. Murphy has socked the homers in only 39 plate appearances. The players tied or ahead of him had 42 to 77 chances. Even more remarkably, Murphy is not really a home run hitter, or at least he has not been until now. He did have his career high in homers this year, but the total was just 14. Most of the other players who top the postseason homer list were sluggers. Tied for first at eight home runs are Barry Bonds with the 2002 San Francisco Giants, Beltran of the 2004 Astros and Nelson Cruz of the 2011 Texas Rangers; their regular-season homers ranged from 29 to 46. Among the players with seven, Troy Glaus of the 2002 Los Angeles Angels had 30 in the regular season, and Jayson Werth of the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies had 36. Perhaps the most comparable player to Murphy is the other player with seven postseason homers, Melvin Upton of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays. He had three homers in the division series against the White Sox and four in the A.L.C.S. against Boston, though he was shut out in the World Series against the Phillies. Upton had hit just nine home runs in 640 regular-season plate appearances that year. But Upton did have a 24-homer season in his past and a 28-homer season in his future. Murphy’s top three home run totals are 14, 13 and 12. Over his career he has needed 58 plate appearances for each homer. For the playoffs, that figure is six. To some, Murphy’s newfound power echoes Gene Tenace, the Oakland Athletics catcher, who created a stir with four home runs in the 1972 World Series, winning the Most Valuable Player Award of the series. Tenace had been a part-time player, never hitting more than seven homers in a season. His subsequent career showed that the display had not been a fluke, as he wound up with five 20-homer seasons and 201 home runs over all. Tenace turned 26 in October 1972 and had never had a shot as a regular starter, so the potential for upside was there. At 30, with six full-time seasons under his belt, it is unlikely that Murphy will suddenly become the next Howard Johnson or even Ed Kranepool. Using the simple Marcel forecasting system, Baseball-Reference expects Murphy to hit 11 home runs next year . But Murphy has earned his place in baseball folklore, no matter where his career goes from here.


The Rev. Gardner C. Taylor on Slavery’s Sacrifices

Abstract: Two years after he retired, the Rev. Gardner C. Taylor returned to his pulpit in Brooklyn with a ringing peroration on the sacrifices America has paid for slavery: “Long before the Civil War, a man named John Chapman said that the institution of slavery was like a sleeping serpent in every moment of this nation’s life. It lay coiled under the table at the constitutional convention. We kept trying to patch it up and gloss it over and fix it with the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas Compromise. Daniel Webster sold out his whole career trying to fix it and could not. “Finally, we went to the great battlefields of our civil conflict, places that resonate in the national reflection: Antietam, Fredericksburg, Manassas, Bull Run, Shiloh Church, Port Hudson, Gettysburg, and on and on. It looked then, having sent the best blood of the nation into a baptism of blood to redeem the nation’s promises, like we would have bought in national blood enough to match the issues of democracy. “Did you know that 600,000 and more men lost their lives in the Civil War? In the state of Mississippi in 1866, one-fifth of the state’s budget was spent on artificial limbs for Civil War veterans. One-fourth of the South’s young white manhood perished. It would seem that would have been enough. But we welched and waffled and fell back after that awful sacrifice. “I look out upon my own African-American community and I wince when I hear those stirring words from James Weldon Johnson: Stony, the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the day when hope unborn had died. “He goes on to say, ‘We have come, treading our way through the blood of the slaughtered.’ A little later that verse says, ‘Have we not come to the place for which our fathers sighed?’ ”

Gardner C Taylor
American Civil War
Slavery


Key N.H.L. Players Put Approval on Head Checks on Fast Track

Abstract: N.H.L. punishment for blind-side checks to the head is becoming increasingly likely. Key members of the union on Wednesday endorsed the league’s move to speed approval for suspensions for such head checks starting immediately, rather than wait for the beginning of next season. After initial procedural objections, the five players on the 10-member N.H.L. competition committee said in a statement that they supported the measure. “We have deliberated and endorsed to the N.H.L.P.A. executive board the league’s proposal to implement supplemental discipline this season for blind-side hits to the head,” said the statement, issued on behalf of Brian Campbell of Chicago, Jeff Halpern of Los Angeles, Ryan Miller of Buffalo, Mathieu Schneider of Phoenix and Jason Spezza of Ottawa. “Our executive board will vote on this recommendation, and we will respond back to the league with a decision in the next 24-48 hours.” The N.H.L.’s deputy commissioner, Bill Daly, said in a statement Wednesday that “the league has agreed to wait until tomorrow before proceeding with implementation.” Separately, support has mounted for Donald Fehr, the former executive director of the powerful baseball players union, to take on the same role with the troubled N.H.L. Players’ Association. The hockey players union has been without an executive director since its interim director, Ian Penny, resigned last October in the aftermath of months of resignations, dismissals and internal strife. The players have long backed a rule banning all hits to the head, something that exists in international hockey and in the Ontario Hockey League, the top developmental league for the N.H.L. This month, the N.H.L. general managers recommended a rule to ban blind-side checks to the head at their meetings in Boca Raton, Fla. If the rule is approved, as it is expected to be, referees will penalize players for such hits. The measure approved by the competition committee and the Board of Governors enables Colin Campbell, the N.H.L. vice president in charge of discipline, to impose suspensions for such hits starting this season. The perception that a rudderless players union is being pushed around by the N.H.L. was furthered by comments Daly made to ESPN.com on Tuesday. “It’s one thing to ‘punt’ on all the more mundane issues surrounding the game until the union has a new executive director and a clear direction,” Daly said in an e-mail message. “We are used to that. But this is different. Someone needs to show leadership, and they need to do it fast." Several players and player agents are hoping Fehr will provide that leadership. Fehr, who stepped down last year after 23 years as executive director of the baseball players union, was in Toronto on Wednesday for the annual union meeting with N.H.L. player agents. Fehr will address the agents Thursday about the work he has done with the N.H.L. union since November , when he began working in an advisory capacity to rewrite its unwieldy constitution and on a search for an executive director. The union is coming out of a long period of disarray that included the dismissal last August of its executive director, Paul Kelly, and the resignation in October of Penny. But some agents say that the relative calm that has prevailed at the union in the last few months is attributable to Fehr’s presence. Fehr has long denied that he is seeking to lead the N.H.L. Players’ Association, but on Wednesday he had no comment, leaving open at least the possibility that he may be willing to listen to a job offer.

Hockey Ice
National Hockey League
Head (Body Part)
Concussions


E.P.A. Uses Wanted List to Hunt Environmental Law Breakers

Abstract: Albania Deleon started a business eight years ago to instruct and certify workers in the safe removal of asbestos. It was a growth industry, and pretty soon her company, Environmental Compliance Training in Methuen, Mass., was the largest in the state. Some might say Ms. Deleon, who was born in the Dominican Republic and is a naturalized citizen, was living the American dream. But not the Environmental Protection Agency , which on Thursday added her to its list of “E.P.A. Fugitives,” people who have been charged with violating environmental laws or regulations. In Ms. Deleon’s case, the environmental agency says that hundreds of the people she certified never received any asbestos training. She was convicted in November of 28 counts of fraud, and became eligible for the wanted list when she failed to appear for a sentencing hearing on March 23. The E.P.A.’s list , complete with mug shots of the fugitives, was established in December to try to draw attention to serious environmental crimes. “We take them seriously, and there are serious consequences,” said Doug Parker, deputy director of the agency’s criminal investigation division. Environmental crimes become more common as regulations grow stronger, Mr. Parker added. “All these crimes are driven by money,” he said. “When a regulatory scheme is developed, it invariably puts a cost on people. People will use criminal means to avoid compliance, either saving a lot of money or, in Ms. Deleon’s case, making a lot of money.” The list includes two men charged with smuggling ozone-destroying coolants, who are believed to have fled to Syria; a man charged in Illinois with building a secret pipeline to funnel pollutants into a tributary of the Mississippi River; and a man, believed to be in Greece, indicted on charges of dumping contaminated grain into the ocean. Also on the list is Mauro Valenzuela, who the environmental agency says illegally had oxygen canisters loaded into the cargo hold of a ValuJet airliner that crashed into the Everglades in 1996, killing 110 people. The canisters are believed to have fed a fire that brought down the plane. Mr. Valenzuela was charged with the illegal transport of hazardous materials, among other things. The agency says his whereabouts are unknown. Mr. Parker said E.P.A. officials started thinking about establishing the list of fugitives after the capture, in Mexico in March 2008, of a man who the agency says walked away from a federal prison in Oregon. The list’s “Captured/Surrendered” category says the man, David A. Phillips, was serving time in connection with a series of offenses that began with violations of the Clean Water Act in Phillipsburg, Mont. Ms. Deleon, 39, who lived in Salem, N.H., was the 21st person — and the first woman — put on the list. According to the United States attorney’s office in Massachusetts, which prosecuted the case, Ms. Deleon was convicted of selling fraudulent training certificates to hundreds of people, some of whom she later hired for asbestos removal work through her temp agency, Methuen Staffing. Under federal and Massachusetts law, people working in asbestos abatement must complete a 32-hour training session and pass an examination. The government accused Ms. Deleon of having would-be workers sign answer sheets that had already been completed and graded. Then, it said, she sent them out to work at job sites in New England. The prosecutor’s office said many of the people Ms. Deleon trained and hired “were illegal aliens who wished to skip the four-day-long course so that they would not forgo a week’s pay.” It said she paid many of them “under the table,” without reporting their earnings to the Internal Revenue Service or workers’ compensation authorities. The environmental agency said the company closed in 2007. Mr. Parker said it remained to be seen how many fugitives would be captured because of tips from people who had seen the list, but he said the new Web page had received “a tremendous number of hits.” He said that the E.P.A. had 180 agents “fully authorized with arrest powers, carrying firearms” around the country, but that it usually worked with state, local and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as the Coast Guard, the Homeland Security Department and Interpol. When people are wanted by the agency, Mr. Parker said, information goes into criminal justice databases in the United States and abroad. The environmental agency asks people who think they have spotted one of the fugitives to complete a brief online form, notify the local police or, if they are abroad, tell the nearest United States Embassy.

Environmental Protection Agency
Crime and Criminals
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry
Environment
Valenzuela Mauro
Deleon Albania
Hazardous and Toxic Substances


Markets Edge Down as Consumer Confidence Stays Low

Abstract: A disappointing report on consumer confidence and a more sober read on the economy pulled stocks down on Tuesday from 13-month highs. Major indexes posted modest losses in light trading as drops in financial and industrial stocks were tempered by gains in health care companies. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17 points the day after it jumped by 133. Stocks pulled away from their lows of the day after the Federal Reserve released minutes from its latest rate-setting meeting, where it pledged to keep rates low for the foreseeable future and said inflation remained at bay. The Fed raised its expectations for economic growth during the second half of this year, but said unemployment would remain high. Before the report, shares had been falling after the government revised its calculation of third-quarter economic growth down to 2.8 percent, from its original estimate of 3.5 percent, the latest sign that the recovery is likely to be slow. Meanwhile, the Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 49.5 in November from a revised reading of 48.7 in October. While better than expected, the report showed that consumers remained gloomy heading into the holiday season. A reading above 90 means the economy is on solid footing. “It’s all about the daily data,” said Howard Ward, chief investment officer of the Gamco Growth Fund. “Today’s was uninspiring.” Mr. Ward said a warning from China’s central bank that commercial banks there should control their lending also weighed on the market, financial stocks in particular. The comments raised concerns about growth in one of the biggest trade partners of the United States. The market’s modest moves came after a big rally on Monday carried the Dow Jones industrials up to their highest level in just over a year. A weakening dollar and an upbeat report on housing lured investors back into stocks after a three-day losing streak. The Dow fell 17.24 points, or 0.2 percent, to 10,433.71. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 0.59 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,105.65, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.83 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,169.18. The dollar’s weakness has been a big driver behind higher stock prices this year. Investors have been taking advantage of interest rates at record lows to invest in assets other than cash that can earn them better returns. As the end of the year approaches, however, safe haven assets like the dollar and Treasury bonds have become more appealing as investors seek to safeguard some of the big gains in the stock market this year. A report of the fourth consecutive month of improving house prices in September did little to shore up investor confidence. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index rose 0.3 percent in September from the previous month. A slightly stronger dollar put pressure on the shares of commodities and materials producing companies. Among health care stocks, Medtronic rose more than 7 percent after it reported a 59 percent increase in its quarterly profit and raised its full-year outlook. Shares gained $2.94 to $43.25. Bond prices rose after a strong auction of five-year notes. The Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note rose 12/32, to 100 19/32, and the yield fell to 3.30 percent, from 3.35 percent late Monday. Following are the results of Tuesday’s Treasury auction of four-week bills and five-year notes:


Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Resign D.N.C. Post

Abstract: Follow along with our coverage of the Democratic National Covention . PHILADELPHIA —Democrats arrived at their nominating convention on Sunday under a cloud of discord as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, abruptly said she was resigning after a trove of leaked emails showed party officials conspiring to sabotage the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The revelation, along with sizable pro-Sanders protests here in the streets to greet arriving delegates, threatened to undermine the delicate healing process that followed the contentious fight between Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton. And it raised the prospect that a convention that was intended to showcase the Democratic Party’s optimism and unity, in contrast to the Republicans, could be marred by dissension and disorder. The day also veered extraordinarily into allegations, not easily dismissed, that Russia had a hand in the leaks that helped bring down the head of an American political party. Despite those concerns, Democrats are hoping that focusing on Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, will galvanize the party to rally around Mrs. Clinton, and on Sunday those efforts received a major boost when Michael R. Bloomberg, the former Republican and independent mayor of New York, said he would endorse her . In her resignation statement, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, a representative from Florida, said she would continue to fight for Mrs. Clinton from the sidelines. “I know that electing Hillary Clinton as our next president is critical for America’s future,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “I look forward to serving as a surrogate for her campaign in Florida and across the country to ensure her victory.” She added, “Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention.” Donna Brazile, a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, will be the interim chairwoman through the election, the committee said. Ms. Wasserman Schultz has faced a flurry of negative stories during her five-year tenure as the committee’s chairwoman, with critics charging that she was more focused on promoting her career than on the party, but she had resisted calls to quit. Latest Election Polls 2016 Get the latest national and state polls on the presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump. Ms. Wasserman Schultz announced her resignation after a private meeting with advisers and senior aides to Mrs. Clinton at a hotel here a day before the party’s convention was set to begin. She had faced growing calls for her resignation over the weekend. “In politics, you need to not only know when to draw your sword, but also when to fall on it,” said James Carville, a longtime friend and adviser to the Clintons. The breach of the Democratic committee’s emails, made public on Friday by WikiLeaks , offered undeniable evidence of what Mr. Sanders’s supporters had complained about for much of the senator’s contentious primary contest with Mrs. Clinton: that the party was effectively an arm of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. The messages showed members of the committee’s communications team musing about pushing the narrative that the Sanders campaign was inept and trying to raise questions publicly about whether he was an atheist. Mr. Sanders said the situation was an “outrage” on Sunday before the resignation was announced, and called for Ms. Wasserman Schultz to step down. Afterward, he said it was the right decision. “The party leadership must also always remain impartial in the presidential nominating process, something which did not occur in the 2016 race,” he said in a statement. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign aides ignored questions as they quickly left a hotel a few minutes after the resignation was announced. Ms. Brazile emerged soon after the Clinton aides had left and said in a brief interview that Ms. Wasserman Schultz had called her Sunday afternoon and asked her to come to the hotel where the Florida delegation was staying. Convention organizers had expressed nervousness on Sunday about the specter of Ms. Wasserman Schultz appearing onstage at all during the four-day convention. They were worried that what they intended to be a well-choreographed event, which officials hoped would contrast with the sometimes chaotic Republican National Convention, could be marred by Mr. Sanders’s backers booing and heckling her. Ms. Wasserman Schultz recognized the magnitude of the problem on Saturday and initially planned to offer an apology, one of her advisers said. But it became clear to her on Sunday that contrition was insufficient. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign handled the situation delicately, not wanting the chairwoman to feel intense pressure and dig in. The Clinton aides told Ms. Wasserman Schultz the choice to resign was hers to make, but they gently warned her that she would face jeers from Mr. Sanders’s supporters this week in the convention hall, said the adviser to Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who requested anonymity to discuss private deliberations. Image A supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont assembled an effigy of him on Sunday in Philadelphia as demonstrators called for the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Credit Mark Makela for The New York Times The nudge was enough to force Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s hand. The Clinton campaign also suggested on Sunday that Russia had been responsible for the leak as part of an effort to help Mr. Trump, who has made flattering comments about President Vladimir V. Putin. The convention will feature a host of prominent attendees, and Monday will be headlined by speeches by Mr. Sanders and Michelle Obama, the first lady. President Obama and former President Bill Clinton will address the delegates later in the week, bringing the kind of presidential firepower that the Republican convention could not muster because of opposition to Mr. Trump. The unexpected decision by Mr. Bloomberg to endorse Mrs. Clinton reflected his increasing dismay about the rise of Mr. Trump. Mr. Sanders’s supporters were elated by Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s decision, which they said had been long overdue. “Thank God for WikiLeaks,” said Dan O’Neal, a delegate from Arizona who was wearing a “Bernie for President” T-shirt. “The party was stacked from the beginning with Debbie in charge.” Benjamin T. Jealous, a frequent surrogate for Mr. Sanders and a former president of the N.A.A.C.P., said on Sunday in Philadelphia that the move “allows us to heal and move on.” But many of Mr. Sanders’s backers were not ready to let go, and their frustration could be seen on the streets here. A large, boisterous crowd of his supporters, chanting “hell, no, D.N.C., we won’t vote for Hillary,” marched toward the site of the Democratic National Convention on Sunday afternoon. The crowd of more than 1,000 people from as far as Seattle and Florida was much larger than any of the protest marches last week in Cleveland during the Republican convention. Further angering some members of the party’s left was Mrs. Clinton’s selection of Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, a move that was widely heralded by establishment Democrats but that provoked some backlash on Sunday from members of the party who believed he was not sufficiently liberal. After the announcement on Friday that Mr. Kaine was joining the ticket, some die-hard supporters of Mr. Sanders complained that the choice of a centrist Democrat was evidence that Mrs. Clinton had merely been paying lip service to the party’s progressive wing. Many were hoping that she would select Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts or Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio if Mr. Sanders were not the choice. Norman Solomon, a delegate for Mr. Sanders who coordinates the Bernie Delegates Network, said that 90 percent of his delegates had found Mr. Kaine to be an “unacceptable” choice for vice president. Mr. Solomon’s group arrived early in Philadelphia to make its displeasure known. “Secretary Clinton must know that her choice of Kaine can only inflame rather than soothe her relations with the huge constituency of Bernie supporters,” he said. Mr. Sanders was conspicuously quiet after the pick was announced before breaking his silence on Sunday in a CNN interview. While he spoke highly of Mr. Kaine, he made clear that they had big policy differences. “Are his political views different than mine? Yes, they are,” Mr. Sanders said. “He is more conservative than I am.” Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s decision to resign could help tamp down open dissent by Sanders delegates at the convention. Immediately after her announcement, top party leaders praised her work in an effort to show solidarity on the eve of the four-day event. “I am grateful to Debbie for getting the Democratic Party to this year’s historic convention in Philadelphia, and I know that this week’s events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership,” Mrs. Clinton said. Mr. Obama said in a statement, “For the last eight years, Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has had my back.” As Democrats digested the news, Republicans gloated. The Republican National Committee sent out headlines that depicted the Democratic Party in disarray. Mr. Trump, who spent much of the day egging on supporters of Mr. Sanders to revolt after the selection of Mr. Kaine, bragged on Twitter that he had always known Ms. Wasserman Schultz was “overrated.” “The Dems Convention is cracking up, and Bernie is exhausted, no energy left!” Mr. Trump wrote. The fallout from the resignation could jeopardize Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s seat in Congress, as she faces Tim Canova, a law professor who supports Mr. Sanders, in a primary election next month.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz
2016 Presidential Election
Democratic National Convention,DNC
DNC
Hillary Clinton
Bernard Sanders,Bernie Sanders
Classified Information
WikiLeaks
Russia


Deal to Continue Afghanistan Night Raids Is Near

Abstract: KABUL, Afghanistan — After years of insisting that American forces end covert nighttime raids on Afghan homes, President Hamid Karzai ’s government was close to completing a deal that would give the Afghan authorities legal oversight of the raids, while allowing American forces to retain a guiding role in conducting them, officials from both countries said Tuesday. The night raids’ deep unpopularity with the Afghan public has long put Mr. Karzai at odds with his American backers, who say the operations are among the most effective tools they have to combat the Taliban . An agreement on the raids, after months of sometimes contentious negotiations, would allow Kabul and Washington to move toward completion of a broader pact that lays out the strategic relationship between the two countries after the official end of the NATO combat mission here in 2014. Afghan and American officials hope to have that broader agreement concluded in time for a NATO summit meeting planned for May in Chicago. The deal that is nearing completion would give Afghan military forces a lead role in all the raids — officials say they already take part in most of them — and would also bring the operations under Afghan legal jurisdiction by requiring a court warrant within 48 hours of a raid in order to continue detention of any suspects, according to American and Afghan officials close to the negotiations. Most of the officials commented on the condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been concluded. At the same time, it would include a series of face-saving compromises to allow American forces to retain the freedom of action that commanders believe is necessary for the operations to remain effective. The raids would still rely heavily on American intelligence, and most would include American or allied forces for the foreseeable future, the officials said. “We are very close to signing” an agreement on the raids, said Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for Mr. Karzai. He said an agreement could come before the end of the week, and that it would “make sure that all nighttime raids are conducted fully in accordance with the laws of Afghanistan.” As late as Tuesday afternoon, the two sides thought they had reached agreement, and Afghan and American officials were making preparations for a signing ceremony on Wednesday. But the plans were put on hold on Tuesday evening after a last-minute dispute over whether the Afghans or Americans would hold people detained in the raids after a warrant was granted, the officials said. American officials have pushed to retain custody of the detainees for a limited time so they could be interrogated, the officials said. The interrogations are an important source of intelligence that American officials said they were not yet ready to give up. Neither Afghan nor American officials would say how long the Americans wanted to keep the detainees. It also was not clear where American forces would hold them, since the United States agreed last month to hand over its main prison here to Afghan authorities within six months. An agreement on night raids, coming on the heels of the prison deal, would go a long way toward restoring trust that has broken down between the two governments after a string of recent crises, including the killing of Afghan civilians by an American soldier on March 16. That rampage prompted Mr. Karzai to renew his longstanding calls for an end to night raids, which he has argued violate Afghan culture and values. While American officials have insisted that the killings were part of an isolated criminal act under cover of darkness, not a night raid, the distinction is not shared by most Afghans, including Mr. Karzai. He has portrayed it as the latest in a long string of episodes where coalition forces have killed innocent Afghans. But Afghan and American officials said Tuesday that Mr. Karzai understood the importance of preserving the ability of Afghan and American forces to conduct the raids. Coalition forces have come to increasingly rely on them in recent years, as they seek to kill or capture midlevel insurgents and, in the process, separate foot soldiers from the Taliban’s top leadership. Finding a way to continue the raids is also considered essential for the post-2014 plan that is shaping up. The plan, in essence, envisions the United States’ leaving behind a small force that would focus on counterterrorism. For that kind of mission to work, the force would probably need to be able to carry out night raids.

Afghanistan War (2001- )
Karzai Hamid
United States International Relations
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Taliban
Politics and Government
Defense and Military Forces


Bush Speaks in Defense of Markets

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Bush delivered an impassioned defense of free-market capitalism on Thursday, on the eve of an international summit meeting where he is expected to get a tongue-lashing from foreign leaders who view the United States and his administration as responsible for worldwide financial misery. In a defiant declaration in his waning days as president, Mr. Bush traveled to Wall Street — ground zero for a financial crisis that has spread around the globe — to declare that the American system is still “the engine of social mobility” and deliver an apparent warning to the world’s leaders, and the incoming Obama administration , not to draw the wrong lessons. Mr. Bush suggested those making arguments for ambitious new forms of regulation — he did not name them, but they include his French counterpart, President Nicolas Sarkozy — were sorely mistaken. “The crisis was not a failure of the free-market system, and the answer is not to try to reinvent that system,” Mr. Bush said, in a 24-minute speech at Federal Hall in downtown Manhattan. He added: “Free-market capitalism is far more than an economic theory. It is the engine of social mobility, the highway to the American dream.” The president made few references to the stream of bad news that has battered his administration: rising unemployment, increasing home foreclosures and sinking consumer confidence. Rather, the speech, coming from a leader who is overseeing a huge government intervention in the financial markets, was an attempt to put him front and center in advance of the summit meeting, and to frame the debate on his terms. When leaders of foreign powers arrive in the capital Friday for the emergency meeting of 19 nations and the European Union, the president will have to contend with other heads of government who have their own agendas, and who will remain on the international stage after he is gone. Mr. Bush may also find himself in the shadow of President-elect Barack Obama, who is not even at the session. “He’s going to be much more the host and much less the chairman than he realizes,” Adam S. Posen, who advises foreign governments on economic coordination, said of Mr. Bush. “He’s going to be providing the snacks and the venue and making sure everybody’s comfortable, but he is not going to be driving the agenda; that’s the reality. The agenda-setting is with Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy and Hu Jintao.” While Mr. Obama has declined to attend the meeting, he is dispatching two high-powered emissaries — Madeleine K. Albright, who was Bill Clinton’s secretary of state, and Jim Leach, a Republican former congressman from Iowa — to conduct unofficial meetings on the sidelines of the summit talk with any foreign officials who might want them. For Mr. Bush it is another reminder that his days as “the decider” are soon to be over — and a signal that for all the fanfare surrounding the international meeting, it may wind up being more symbolism than substance. With just two months left in office, Mr. Bush can hardly negotiate on behalf of the United States when neither he nor his foreign counterparts know if Mr. Obama will live up to the commitments he makes. “I don’t think there’s any question that a lame duck president conducting an international summit of this kind is a risky endeavor,” said Leon E. Panetta, a former chief of staff to Mr. Clinton who has advised Mr. Obama’s transition team. “They can’t cut a deal anymore — all they can really do is lay out some principles — so let’s face it. In the end, this isn’t really George Bush’s game anymore. It’s Barack Obama’s.” Then again, financial crises do not run in tandem with American political cycles; the White House says that the meeting, envisioned as the first in a series that will continue once Mr. Obama is in office, is necessary and appropriate, and that the situation is too urgent to wait. The goal, Bush advisers say, is to forge an international consensus on the root causes of the crisis and lay the foundation for regulatory changes to prevent a similar crisis in the future. But any discussion of root causes could easily turn into finger-pointing at Mr. Bush and his administration; the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, has been quite outspoken in saying the United States is to blame. And as Mr. Bush’s speech in New York demonstrated, the president is trying hard to push back against the idea, advanced by Mr. Sarkozy and others, that a much stronger international regulatory regime is necessary. “We must recognize that government intervention is not a cure-all,” Mr. Bush said, adding, “History has shown that the greater threat to economic prosperity is not too little government involvement in the market, but too much.” In defending the American model of capitalism, Mr. Bush pointed out that some European countries, which claimed to have more rigorous regulation than the United States, had “problems almost identical to our own,” and in some cases, suffered far worse repercussions because their banks were even more overstretched. The White House also appears to be trying to use the Group of 20 conference to resist Mr. Obama’s proposal for aid to American automakers, and to prod Mr. Obama and other Congressional Democrats into approving a long-stalled free trade pact with Colombia. Dan Price, an international economics adviser to Mr. Bush who is the so-called sherpa, or liaison to foreign governments, for the meeting, said this week that Mr. Bush would use the gathering as “an opportunity to urge his fellow leaders not to turn inward or stifle markets.” He added pointedly, “Protectionist rhetoric about walling off markets or companies does not help stabilize markets, but in fact leads to greater uncertainty.” The summit meeting, which will open Friday night with a dinner in the State Dining Room of the White House and continue on Saturday with a working session at the National Building Museum here, was Mr. Sarkozy’s idea. But from the start, Mr. Bush sought to take control. Mr. Sarkozy suggested convening the session in New York; the White House insisted on Washington, giving Mr. Bush the home advantage. Mr. Sarkozy wanted the participants limited to the so-called Group of 8 economic powers. Mr. Bush insisted on an expanded list, the Group of 20, which includes developing nations like China and India — a smart move, Mr. Posen said. “That’s a real legacy issue,” Mr. Posen said. “He will go down in history books as the first American president to include those kinds of countries on an equal footing in an international economic negotiation.” But many experts say they do not expect much to come of the meeting, in part because it was hastily convened. The session has been called Bretton Woods II, a reference to the 1944 international conference in New Hampshire that remade the global financial system after the Great Depression and toward the end of World War II. But that conference was years in the planning; this one was put together in less than a month. “The problem is not simply that Bush is a lame duck; it’s not simply that he can’t commit his successor,” said Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s also that there is not yet a consensus among the governments about what to do.”

Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry
Bush George W
Group of Twenty


Exxon Mobil Taps Darren Woods to Replace Rex Tillerson

Abstract: HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil wasted no time in announcing on Wednesday that Darren W. Woods, the company president, would succeed Rex W. Tillerson as chairman and chief executive now that Mr. Tillerson has been nominated to head the State Department. Mr. Woods, who is already something of a globe-trotting good-will ambassador for Exxon Mobil, has long been considered the heir apparent and is unlikely to shift the company in a radically new direction. The board promoted him to president last December as the company prepared for Mr. Tillerson’s scheduled retirement next March. The timetable was accelerated this week when President-elect Donald J. Trump tapped Mr. Tillerson to become secretary of state. Mr. Woods formally takes over on Jan. 1. As head of the biggest United States oil company, he can be expected to be a major spokesman for the industry as the Trump administration considers an overhaul of energy and environmental policy. And at age 51, Mr. Woods will be in a position to lead the company for many years, given Exxon Mobil’s mandatory retirement age of 65 for the top job. Mr. Woods is known for his congenial manner. The company sends him far and wide to cut ribbons on new projects and otherwise pave the way for deal making. Like Mr. Tillerson, Mr. Woods is a trained engineer. But he comes from the company’s chemical and refining businesses — unlike past Exxon Mobil heads who worked their way up the exploration and production side of the company. His ascension is in part a recognition by Exxon Mobil’s board that chemicals and refining have become particularly important profit centers at a time when oil and gas prices have been slumping. Mr. Woods is also known as a quick study who has delved into the drilling side of the business, which continues to dominate Exxon Mobil even though the company has had trouble in recent years finding additional reserves to replace depleting oil and gas fields. Image Darren W. Woods, Exxon Mobil’s president, succeeds Rex W. Tillerson as chief executive. As Exxon struggles to find new growth, Mr. Woods may be forced to find companies and already-productive assets to buy. “I expect Darren will have to make a massive acquisition over the next few years,” said Fadel Gheit, a senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Company. “You need an asset that will generate earnings and cash flow.” Mr. Woods takes over the company at a difficult time. Standard & Poor’s recently stripped Exxon Mobil of its top credit rating for the first time since the Great Depression. It has suffered, like the rest of the industry, from the collapse of oil and gas prices over the last two years. Under Mr. Tillerson, Exxon Mobil has forged close ties with Russia in oil and gas exploration and development — relationships certain to draw scrutiny during the nominee’s confirmation hearings. Although much of the company’s projected future production is in Russia, Exxon Mobil’s activities there have been frozen since 2014 under United States sanctions against the Kremlin for its intervention in Ukraine. But trouble looms elsewhere, too. In October, Exxon Mobil conceded that 3.6 billion barrels of it Canadian oil sands reserves and 1 billion barrels of other North American reserves may have to be written down because they are currently not profitable to produce. In the meantime, several state attorneys general are investigating whether the company deceived the public about climate change for decades. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission is also investigating Exxon Mobil’s bookkeeping on reserves; many climate and energy experts say that fossil fuel companies will be required to leave much of their reserves in the ground because of climate change. Mr. Woods can be expected to forcefully argue that the company has done nothing wrong and has accepted the science of climate change. A native of Wichita, Kan., Mr. Woods earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M and a master’s in business administration from Northwestern University. He joined Exxon Mobil in 1992 and has served both domestically and abroad. He was president of the Exxon Mobil Refining and Supply Company for two years before being named senior vice president for the corporation and a member of its management committee in 2014. “This change in leadership is consistent with the board of directors’ succession plan developed years in advance,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday, “and demonstrates the strength of the management development system.”

Oil and Gasoline
Exxon Mobil
Darren Woods
Rex W Tillerson
Appointments and Executive Changes
State Department
Donald Trump
US Politics
US Foreign Policy


Treason Charge for Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Is Dropped

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG — A judge in Zimbabwe on Friday withdrew treason charges against Tendai Biti, a senior leader of the political opposition and an important negotiator in talks with President Robert Mugabe ’s government, just a week before the opposition and Mr. Mugabe’s party are expected to form a jointly run government. The magistrate made her ruling after Mr. Biti’s lawyer, Lewis Uriri, told her about a taped conversation he had last week with the prosecutor, Tawanda Zvekare, who accused Mr. Biti of stalling the formation of a coalition government and declared “we are going to fix him,” according to a transcript of the conversation provided by Mr. Uriri to the court and to a reporter. Mr. Zvekare could not immediately be reached for comment on the transcript. The opposition has seen the magistrate, Olivia Mariga, as sympathetic to Mr. Mugabe’s government. It was not clear if her decision was itself politically motivated and a sign that Mr. Mugabe has decided to ease the pressure on the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change. Civic leaders and even Mr. Mugabe’s former minister of information had dismissed the treason charges against Mr. Biti, a fiery lawyer, former student leader and member of Parliament, as a fabrication meant to squeeze one of the opposition’s most important strategists. Mr. Uriri said in an interview that he believed Mr. Mugabe’s government sought to gain leverage over Mr. Biti, the opposition party’s secretary general, to win concessions in talks on the formation of a coalition government with ZANU-PF, Mr. Mugabe’s party. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, is to become prime minister next week in a government in which Mr. Mugabe will remain president, an awkward pairing of deeply mistrustful rivals. Mr. Tsvangirai outpolled Mr. Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, in elections last March, but withdrew from a discredited runoff after thousands of his supporters were attacked by state security agents. The so-called inclusive government is supposed to lead eventually to new, credible elections and the installation of a legitimate representative government. When Mr. Biti emerged from court on Friday, he told reporters in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, that he was happy to be a free man. “We are going to finish this job that we started of removing the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe,” he said. Mr. Biti, who was badly beaten by the police last March, is known to have strongly resisted going into the government with Mr. Mugabe, whose agents are believed to have abducted dozens of human rights activists and opposition supporters since October, when Mr. Mugabe agreed to share power with Mr. Tsvangirai. In interviews over the past year, Mr. Biti has noted with regret that Mr. Mugabe never credited the opposition with being loyal Zimbabweans, but instead has used the state media to paint them as tools for the West. Mr. Biti was charged in June 2008 with treason, punishable with death by hanging, just weeks before the runoff election. The state alleged that he was the author of a document that advocated the overthrow of the government. Mr. Biti’s lawyers replied that the document was fraudulent — a copied document of unknown provenance, with a forged signature and printed on stationery that listed an e-mail address he had never used. The document identified the opposition party spokesman, Nelson Chamisa, as Anthony Chamisa — an error the lawyers said was inconceivable if Mr. Biti had actually written it. And lawyers for Mr. Biti, who is known for his prose, commented in court papers that anyone would recognize that the writing in the document was “an insult to the applicant’s command of the English language.” When Mr. Biti’s lawyer, Mr. Uriri, last week met with the prosecutor, Mr. Zvekare, he taped their exchange. When the prosecutor accused Mr. Biti of delaying the formation of a new government, Mr. Uriri responded, “That is not the issue here, we are talking law, not politics,” according to the transcript he provided. “Yes, but we are going to fix him,” Mr. Zvekare replied. “Zvekare, do you realize I have an obligation to tell him, and to bring it to the attention of the court?” Mr. Uriri told the prosecutor. “I was just joking with a learned friend,” the prosecutor assured him. “This is between the two of us. You don’t have to tell him.” But Mr. Uriri not only told Mr. Biti, he also told the court. He said the magistrate commented disapprovingly on the prosecutor’s statements in deciding to withdraw the treason charge on Friday.


Businessman Tied to Fund-Raising Offer to Blagojevich

Abstract: CHICAGO — An Illinois businessman caught up in the federal investigation of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich offered to raise money for the governor on behalf of Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr. , investigators say. But state and federal records show that the businessman, Raghuveer Nayak, has also been a financial supporter of other politicians, including President-elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain of Arizona. Mr. Nayak and his wife, Anita, have donated nearly $17,000 to Mr. Obama’s campaigns since 2003, state campaign records show, and friends and associates say Mr. Nayak raised thousands more in the Indian-American community here for Mr. Obama in his 2004 Senate race. They also say that one of Mr. Obama’s close friends, Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer, showed Mr. Nayak’s teenage son around New Hampshire at the time of the presidential primary early this year. As a representative of an Indian-American business community that has been gaining influence here and elsewhere, Mr. Nayak has taken a bipartisan approach to his donations nationally. He and his wife contributed $6,600 this year to the presidential campaign of Mr. McCain and $6,000 to the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. He also donated $2,000 to President Bush’s campaign in 2004. But Mr. Nayak, who became wealthy running pharmacies and then surgical centers in Illinois and Indiana, has lavished most of his giving on Mr. Blagojevich and other Illinois political leaders, including Mr. Jackson and some rivals of the governor who are now pressing him to resign. In all, Mr. Nayak has given more than $200,000 to the governor’s campaigns and at least $22,000 to those of Mr. Jackson. Mr. Blagojevich was arrested last week, accused of seeking to profit from the awarding of state contracts and the appointment of a replacement for Mr. Obama in the Senate. Among the activities federal investigators have said they are looking into is whether Mr. Nayak sought to raise $1 million for Mr. Blagojevich in exchange for the governor’s appointing Mr. Jackson to the Senate seat. Mr. Nayak has not returned telephone calls seeking comment; Mr. Jackson has said he never authorized anyone to try to strike a deal with Mr. Blagojevich over the seat. A lawyer for the governor has said he committed no wrongdoing. Friends describe Mr. Nayak, 54, as a fairly unassuming man who wanted to help the Indian-American community gain more influence and say he is distraught by the latest turn of events. His surgical centers are meant to offer a cheaper alternative to hospital procedures, and critics have suggested he might have used his political connections in securing locations for some of them. State records show he also once owned part of a drug-testing laboratory that had millions of dollars in state public aid contracts. Cindi Canary, the director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a nonprofit group, said that to some degree Mr. Nayak provided an example of how many politicians had pursued the growing ranks of immigrant businessmen as a source of campaign cash. “You see this where you have some segments of the immigrant population that have had some success,” Ms. Canary said. “As they get more assimilated, they try to figure out how to get their concerns heard. But there’s also a certain amount of opportunism by the political establishment to bring their wallets to the table.” Mr. Nayak’s name first surfaced in the Blagojevich investigation last week, when The Chicago Tribune reported that the governor appeared at an Oct. 31 luncheon at which Mr. Nayak and another Indian-American leader told those in attendance that they needed to raise $1 million to support Mr. Jackson’s bid for the Senate. Mr. Nayak then helped to hold a fund-raising event for Mr. Blagojevich on Dec. 6, and both the governor and Mr. Jackson’s brother, Jonathan, were there. The disclosures closely paralleled a sequence of events laid out in the criminal complaint against Mr. Blagojevich, which quoted him as saying in wire-tapped conversations that he was giving greater consideration to a Senate candidate — since identified as Mr. Jackson — whose supporters had offered to raise substantial campaign financing for the governor. While Mr. Blagojevich and Mr. Jackson are not personally close, Mr. Nayak is one of the few people who have been a major fund-raiser for both. Mr. Nayak has also been a supporter of Operation PUSH, the community group run by Mr. Jackson’s father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Mr. Nayak accompanied the elder Mr. Jackson on a trip to India this year. Mr. Nayak has also made political donations to Pat Quinn, the Illinois lieutenant governor, who would become governor if Mr. Blagojevich resigns, and the state’s attorney general, Lisa Madigan, who is leading the fight to oust Mr. Blagojevich. Mr. Nayak’s surgical company also gave $12,000 to Mr. Giannoulias’s campaign for state treasurer. Mr. Giannoulias and Mr. Obama play basketball together, and a spokesman for Mr. Obama confirmed Sunday that Mr. Giannoulias had shown Mr. Nayak’s son, who was a high school volunteer for Mr. Obama during the presidential race, around New Hampshire in January. By then, others say, Mr. Nayak and other Indian-American leaders were vacillating between whether they wanted Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton to win the Democratic nomination. And in the general election, Mr. Nayak and his wife hedged their bets with their donations to Mr. McCain.

Blagojevich Rod R
Jackson Jesse L Jr
Obama Barack
Campaign Finance
Politics and Government
Nayak Raghuveer
Appointments and Executive Changes
Ethics


G.A.O. to Investigate Actions of Madoff Victims’ Trustee

Abstract: The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, will evaluate the actions of the trustee for the victims of Bernard L. Madoff ’s fraud; the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which appointed the trustee; and the Securities and Exchange Commission, in the liquidation of Madoff’s firm. The request to the G.A.O. was made last month by four members of Congress, including Representative Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican, who are concerned with the clawback lawsuits filed by the trustee, Irving H. Picard , who is seeking profits from those investors deemed “net winners” to compensate Madoff’s victims. The congressmen wrote that Picard’s clawback suits against “innocent investors” generated outcomes that were in “direct conflict with the S.E.C.’s mission to protect investors.” The G.A.O.’s decision to start a review was first reported by The Daily News. Nikki Clowers, director of financial management and community investment for the G.A.O., said in an e-mail, “Our first step will be to determine the objectives, scope and methodology for this review.” Amanda Remus, a spokeswoman for Picard, said in a statement, “We will provide our full cooperation in conjunction with any inquiry by the G.A.O.” The congressmen asked the G.A.O. to look at several issues, including the S.I.P.C.’s selection of Picard, as well as his compensation agreement; the legal and investigative costs of the Madoff liquidation; and why Picard used a formula that looked at investors who took out more from their account than they invested with Madoff as potential targets of lawsuits, instead of examining the final statements from their accounts. The Mets ’ owners, Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz, are being sued by Picard for $1 billion, including $300 million in fictitious profits.

Picard Irving H
Suits and Litigation
Madoff Bernard L
New York Mets
Securities Investor Protection Corp
Wilpon Fred
Ponzi and Pyramid Schemes


Watson’s Experience With Wind Pays Off

Abstract: SOUTHPORT, England — Tom Watson demonstrated once again just how important experience and golf course savvy are when confronted with British Open conditions that mystified many younger golfers on Thursday. The 58-year-old Watson, a five-time Open champion, managed his way around Royal Birkdale during the blustery early morning segment of the day and shot a four-over-par 74 that left him just five off the pace set by the leaders Rocco Mediate, Graeme McDowell and Robert Allenby. “I have plenty of experience on Open championship courses,” said Watson, who won at Carnoustie in 1975, the first time he played an Open. “But in conditions like this, you have to judge the wind right. I did that today. If you don’t do that and you hit some bad shots, your swing goes off and you’re timing goes off and that’s it.” That has rarely happened to Watson, who has played in 30 Opens, has a 72.37 stroke average, and has finished in the top three six times, the top five seven times and the top 10 nine times. Watson said Thursday’s conditions reminded him of the 1980 Open at Muirfield, where he opened with a round of 68 and won the championship. Watson was asked about memories and replied that he did not have many and that the one thing he wanted to do was par the last hole, which he did. “Just now, I’m still playing competitive golf and doing the best I can,” he said. “I’ll save the memories for later.” SOLID ROUND FOR DUVAL David Duval is still struggling to find the form he had seven years ago when he was the No. 1 player in the world after winning the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham. This year on the PGA Tour, he has made one cut in 12 events, missing the cut in 10 and withdrawing from one, and is ranked lower than 1,000th. But he opened with a 72 that put him in a tie for 17th and in good position for the weekend. If he makes the cut, it will be just his third in the Open since the 2001 victory. “I just feel like now I’m playing well, I’m hitting the ball solid,” Duval said. “I’d like to play more over the next six to eight weeks.” POSITIVE NUMBERS Attendance figures for this Open compare favorably with those from the 1998 Birkdale Open, back when Tigermania was in full flower. The total attendance for practice days this year were 40,500, compared with 37,000 in 1998. Thursday’s attendance was 36,500, compared with 36,000 in 1998. In another barometer, bookmakers across Britain report far more wagering on this year’s Open than last year’s. The reason most often cited is that Woods’s absence has prompted more people to place a win wager on long shots than they do when he is in the field. Figures from the association overseeing legal gambling in Britain are that £35 million (about $70 million) will be wagered on the Open at Birkdale this year compared with the £24 million bet last year. DOOR OPENS FOR SLOCUM When Toru Taniguchi of Japan withdrew from the British Open with a back injury, Heath Slocum was ready. Surprised, but ready. Slocum, a 34-year-old American, had traveled to Royal Birkdale on Saturday night from the United States as the first alternate. But over the next four days, no player pulled out of the Open to make room for him. The most likely candidate appeared to be the defending champion Padraig Harrington, the Irishman who has been troubled by an injured wrist. But Harrington was on the first tee early on Thursday morning and shot a 74. Slocum was informed by the organizers of Taniguchi’s withdrawal at 9:15 a.m. local time. About 30 minutes later after an accelerated warm-up session, he was teeing off for his first British Open with his fellow American John Daly and the Englishman Richard Finch. Slocum was four shots off the lead after shooting 73 on this stormy, trying day. “Just growing up and watching the golf course, the weather, and I tee it up,” he said. “It was about exactly how I imagined it could be. I mean, it rained sideways. I was really, really cold. “I didn’t pack appropriately. I did have my rain gear and I had some golf balls. I was actually just so happy to be playing.” CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

British Open (Golf)
Watson Tom
Duval David
Golf


Co-Pilot of AirAsia Plane Was at Controls Just Before Crash

Abstract: JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian investigators said Thursday that the co-pilot of AirAsia Flight 8501 was at the controls when the plane made its final radio transmission to ground control before plunging minutes later into the Java Sea, killing all 162 people aboard. The investigators, who have just completed a preliminary report on the crash based on the plane’s so-called black boxes, told journalists that the captain was “monitoring the flight” on Dec. 28 from his place in the cockpit’s left seat. The Airbus A320-200, flying at 32,000 feet, rapidly ascended an additional 5,000 feet in just 30 seconds — extremely unusual for a commercial aircraft — and then fell into the sea, said Ertata Lananggalih, senior air safety investigator for Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee. The plane, which had disappeared from radar at 24,000 feet, “fell slowly and hit the water in about three minutes,” Mr. Ertata said. However, he said, “there is no conclusion” that the accident was a result of the captain not being at the controls just before the plane ran into trouble. Image Tatang Kurniadi, chairman of the Indonesian transportation safety committee, with a model plane of AirAsia Flight 8501 during a news conference on Thursday in Jakarta. Credit Dita Alangkara/Associated Press Tatang Kurniadi, chairman of the transportation safety committee, said “it was impossible” that the captain would not have immediately joined the co-pilot at the controls when the plane actually ran into trouble. “Both were in control,” he said. First Officer Rémi Emmanuel Plesel , a French national who was born on the Caribbean island of Martinique, had significantly fewer flight hours than the aircraft’s Indonesian captain, Iriyanto, who had only one name. During a packed and at times testy news conference at the committee’s central Jakarta offices, reporters repeatedly questioned whether the French co-pilot was controlling the plane as it got into trouble. There has been speculation that the co-pilot’s inexperience relative to that of the captain had contributed to the crash. “We are never talking ‘wrong and right,’ ” Mr. Tatang said after the news conference. “We just want to find out, with the system, whether there’s one malfunction which we have to improve.” The transportation safety committee has sent its preliminary report, required within 30 days, to the International Civil Aviation Organization. Where AirAsia Flight 8501 Was Lost and Debris Found Maps of the flight path, air traffic near the plane when it disappeared and where debris was found. But Indonesian investigators said the preliminary report would not be released to the news media or the public, and they refused on Thursday to discuss specifics about the crash. Among the key questions still unanswered are whether the plane stalled before it fell — as has been widely speculated — and whether the final sounds heard in the cockpit were warning signals. Shortly before air traffic controllers in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, lost contact with Flight 8501, the plane’s pilots advised that they were turning west and requested permission to increase their altitude to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet, to avoid a storm cloud. The air traffic controllers cleared the plane to increase to an altitude of only 34,000 feet. The final time the pilots’ voices were heard on the cockpit voice recorder was four minutes later, the investigators said. Flight 8501 crashed less than an hour after taking off from the Indonesian city of Surabaya, bound for Singapore. Search teams have recovered 70 bodies in the Java Sea, most of which have been identified by forensic experts working in Surabaya and returned to families for burial. But 92 people remain unaccounted for. On Tuesday, Indonesia’s armed forces halted search operations for victims and abandoned further attempts to raise the aircraft’s heavily damaged fuselage, which is lying off the southern coast of Borneo Island at a depth of around 100 feet. The country’s civilian National Search and Rescue Agency said on Tuesday that it would continue searching for victims until Feb. 6, but at a decreased tempo, given that the military, including navy divers, had conducted the bulk of the operations.


A Review of Mavi Grill and Deli, in Mount Sinai

Abstract: Mavi Grill and Deli, a Turkish newcomer to Mount Sinai, is surprising, first for its location in a mostly residential area, and then for its setting, not the more typical storefront but an airy, spacious, converted house. Floors are shiny, pale wood. Walls are painted robin’s-egg blue and sand. Tables have glass tops, with a shelf beneath the glass where decorative platters in shades of blue act as centerpieces of sorts. Geometric prints, also in blue, dot the walls. There is a fireplace with fat candles on the mantel. Mavi, which opened in March, is owned by Tuncay Kola, who is Turkish, and his wife, Lauren Iaria-Kola, who grew up in Miller Place. Mr. Kola is also one of the two chefs. Image Sigara borek, or phyllo pastry cigars filled with feta, and Greek salad. Credit Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times The restaurant serves huge portions at reasonable prices, but the food had its ups and downs. All entrees came with a choice of salad or one of two soups. The shepherd salad, redolent with chopped parsley, was fresh and appealing. Even better was the feta-laced Greek salad, with a lively lemon olive-oil dressing. The Caesar was far from classic, with no croutons, but it had lots of flavor. Flavorful was also the word for the soothing lemon chicken orzo soup. Appetizers are not needed, but the sigara borek was a good one, a crisp phyllo pastry cigar filled with feta cheese and parsley. The spinach pie got mixed reviews: The tasty filling was sparked by fresh dill, but the phyllo dough was soggy. The baba ghanouj, too, was a disappointment, lacking its characteristic smoky eggplant flavor. Most entrees were reminiscent of the combination plates loaded with rice and beans served at many Mexican restaurants. At Mavi, the staples were piles of bulgur and rice pilaf, with smaller mounds of sautéed mixed vegetables and shaved raw onion. The meat of one’s choice was piled on top. Our favorite was the lamb shish kebab with its tender, marinated chunks of meat, still rosy at the center. A serving of four lamb chops did not fare as well; they were wide but thin, and wound up overcooked and dry. Image Baklava. Credit Kathy Kmonicek for The New York Times The gyro meat, mixed in house, consists of beef bolstered by lamb and veal. The tasty meat was a hit on the gyro plate and also was part of the iskender kebab, which consisted of sliced gyro meat over fried squares of pita with yogurt and tomato sauces. I would have liked it better with less of the intensely flavored tomato sauce. The kofte plate of tasty grilled lamb patties delivered a spicy kick. One appetizer that we ordered as an entree was pan-fried eggplant, which included a small Greek salad on the plate. The dish was stewlike with lots of tomatoes, onions and peppers; the eggplant melted into the mix and was a minor player, a disappointment for eggplant lovers. The homemade desserts were splendid. The rice pudding, a huge portion large enough for two, was rich and creamy. The baklava with pistachios in honey syrup was also a winner, as was the somewhat less sweet kadayif, shredded phyllo with walnuts. Cheesecake, made elsewhere, is also listed on the menu, but on two separate nights servers steered us away from it. When we ordered it despite their warnings, it turned out not to be available. There were other service glitches, especially on a busy Saturday night. We had to ask for plates for shared appetizers and desserts, dishes were served in a staccato manner and entrees arrived before appetizers were cleared. Still, servers were very nice, and those smiles made up for a lot. Service on a Tuesday was much smoother. Mavi is a worthy addition to the Mount Sinai dining scene. Its good looks, generous portions and reasonable prices should draw crowds. They just have to forgive frantic service on busy nights and pick and choose wisely from the menu.

Mavi Grill and Deli Mount Sinai NY Restaurant