G.M. Is Said to Consider Filing in August for Offering

Abstract: General Motors is aiming to file an initial public offering of stock in mid-August, taking its biggest step yet toward repaying the federal government, people briefed on the matter said on Friday. The company, which emerged from bankruptcy last July, is also seeking a $5 billion credit line, these people said, cautioning that the specific terms and the amounts that various banks would contribute had yet to be determined. A mid-August filing would put G.M. on track to go public by the end of the year, a timeline the company has already hinted is its goal. The carmaker has selected Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase as the lead underwriters for the offering, people briefed on the matter said previously. The Treasury Department has hired the investment bank Lazard as an adviser. “I can’t have a date, but I think this is a good year to do it if we can get everything done,” Edward E. Whitacre Jr., G.M.’s chief executive, told reporters in Texas on Thursday, according to Reuters. “I think it’s a great year.” G.M. and the federal government have sought to stage an offering as soon as is practical, though both have said that the company will ultimately determine when to go public. Through its sponsorship of the automaker’s quick bankruptcy last summer — including more than $50 billion in loans — the Treasury Department holds an approximately 61 percent stake in the company. The government would like to reduce its stake significantly to become a minority shareholder, and G.M. also wishes to raise money, possibly creating one of the biggest offerings in recent years. The company has declined to comment on the possible valuation. The final details will depend in part on market conditions, and the recent whipsaws in the market have made a big offering somewhat risky. “Our stakeholders obviously will want it to be successful, so we’ll do our best to project the best timing for that,” said Noreen Pratscher, a G.M. spokeswoman. Rebecca Lindland, an automotive analyst with the research firm IHS Automotive, said access to additional credit was important to make sure G.M. could weather any bumps in the economic recovery or its own turnaround. She added that the Ford Motor Company’s decision to borrow $23 billion in 2006 allowed it to avoid bankruptcy. “We’ve seen that cash is not always easy to get, and there’s a level of weakness that everyone’s sort of feeling in the economy,” Ms. Lindland said. “It’s a good idea just to have it in their back pocket if they need it. I see it as a little bit of an insurance policy for them.” Ms. Pratscher declined to comment on any talks with lenders. “Securing a credit revolver is a prudent thing to do,” she said. On Thursday, automakers reported that new-vehicle sales in the United States fell 10 percent from May, raising concerns about how well the market was recovering. G.M.’s sales were 12 percent higher than a year ago, but 13 percent lower than the previous month. Still, G.M. officials say the company is making great progress. Its four active brands in the United States — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC — sold 12 percent more vehicles in the first half of 2010 than the company did with eight brands in the first half of 2009. Mr. Whitacre told analysts at a gathering this week that the prebankruptcy G.M. was “overly complicated” and “hamstrung by a tendency to overanalyze and overthink even the smallest decisions.” G.M.’s ability to perform today is in large part the result of changing that culture, he said. At the same event, Christopher P. Liddell, G.M.’s chief financial officer, laid out goals of eliminating the company’s debt and returning to a “strong investment grade” credit rating. He said G.M. could make money — and did to the tune of $865 million in the first quarter, its first profit since 2007 — at lower volumes because its operations are so much more efficient now. “It’s a fundamentally different company in terms of its break-even point,” Mr. Liddell said. “What’s new about the new G.M.? Really everything.”

General Motors
Initial Public Offerings
Automobiles


An Ex-Inmate’s Lost Decade Under the Rockefeller Drug Laws

Abstract: THE last time Louis Carrasquillo was arrested, on Sutphin Boulevard in South Jamaica, Queens, he was 45 years old. It was 1995, and he had been getting high for 35 years; he started sniffing glue when he was 10, and was injecting heroin by 13. He had been arrested before, and spent time in state prison in the 1980s for the criminal sale of a controlled substance, though he said he sold drugs only when he needed money to support his habit. On that day, he was selling again, holding six $10 bags of crack cocaine. Mr. Carrasquillo sold two of the bags to an undercover police officer. He went to trial and was convicted, and, for the $20 deal, a judge gave him 12 1/2 to 25 years. So began one man’s experience with the Rockefeller drug laws, the statutes requiring long sentences for nonviolent and even first-time offenders, which made New York’s policy among the toughest in the country. The laws took effect in 1973 and were eased somewhat in 2004 and 2005, around the time, coincidentally, that Mr. Carrasquillo was finally getting clean after nine years of heroin use behind prison walls.  There is talk of ending the laws. The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, is a vocal advocate of changing them, as is Governor Paterson. In February, a state commission recommended allowing judges more leeway to sentence offenders to treatment programs. In one sense, this prospect comes too late for Mr. Carrasquillo, who was released from prison last April, having served his 12 1/2 years. But he will be watching keenly what happens in Albany, he said in a recent interview, and he thinks that his experiences may be instructive. Mr. Carrasquillo was speaking from Samaritan Village, a residential drug treatment center in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, where he lives. He checked into the center the day after he left prison. He has been doing so well, administrators say, that he is training to be a substance abuse counselor, at a Samaritan Village branch in Midtown. Dressed in black corduroys, a gray button-down shirt and white Reeboks, and looking for all the world like a retiree, Mr. Carrasquillo, a 59-year-old Brooklyn native, made no excuses for the person he was for most of his life. Though he sometimes held onto jobs — the longest as a truck driver — he admits that he was an addict, a thief and a batterer of women. “I was uncaring, selfish, self-centered, mean, spiteful,” he said. “That was me.” Of the heroin, he added: “It just made me an animal. I didn’t care about anything. My own family, I didn’t care about. All I cared about was to get those drugs.” Yet there is another truth: Prison did not help. It did not help him stop using drugs — they were readily available on the inside, he said — and it did not make him a better person. In fact, he said, it made him and many other inmates worse. His cellmates included a double murderer and a man who had been arrested for possession of more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine. (Both were serving 25 years to life, roughly double Mr. Carrasquillo’s sentence for selling $20 worth of crack.)  “It’s not a deterrent, because they come out bitter, angry, confused, and they just go back where they left off,” he said of prison. “There, you’re so busy thinking about survival that you don’t have time to make changes in yourself.” What finally enabled him to leave the drugs behind was the ability that he found in treatment to speak openly and fearlessly, first in a tiny addiction program he entered near the end of his sentence, and later at Samaritan Village, where he considers the other residents a second family. Mr. Carrasquillo said he was thinking about getting treatment in the days before he was arrested. Whether that would have happened is unknown. The only certainty is what happened next: a lost decade behind bars and, much later, in treatment programs, a measure of peace. Before, he said, heroin was his closest companion. Now he can be around for his parents, and he can help other addicts. And at long last, he has a life of his own. He has been clean since April 4, 2005, and that is still a source of wonder. “Today it’s 10:30, and I didn’t get high,” Mr. Carrasquillo said. “That’s a miracle.”

Red Hook (NYC)
Environment
Ships and Shipping
Roads and Traffic
Cruises


Promise of New Subways Has West Siders Excited and East Siders Skeptical

Abstract: Someday, there will be light at the end of the tunnels. On two sides of Manhattan, snaking skeletons of underground rails are finally being built or extended, promising to connect two areas to New York City’s transportation grid. On the East Side, the wait has seemed endless. The Second Avenue line has been staggering and stalling since 1929, when the city first decided it should be built. On the Far West Side, the promise is much newer: It was only with the commercial and residential rezoning of Hudson Yards in 2005, and of the adjacent western railyard in 2009, that the decision was made to roll the No. 7 train toward the Hudson River. Since then, silver mirrored giants, flashy developments and hip restaurants and stores have sprung up in anticipation of the extension of the train from Times Square to 34th Street and 11th Avenue . “I used to buy my produce at Duane Reade,” said Justin Champa, who moved to 11th Avenue two years ago, and was eating dinner at Choza Taqueria in Gotham West Market on a recent night. Now, there are three gourmet grocery stores within walking distance of his apartment. Image Alice McCarney owns Alice Hair, a salon on Second Avenue between 69th and 70th Streets that was blocked by construction for four years. “You don’t know about the Second Avenue cough?” she said. “I don’t have it because my lungs are already polluted.” Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times “People always ask me, ‘Why would you ever live there?’ ” he said. “My go-to line is, ‘The Lincoln Tunnel is beautiful this time of year.’ ” Mr. Champa said he came to the area for the value and the amenities offered by the newly built skyscraper he lives in. “It’s nice to be here in a transitional period,” he said. “There’s a lot of great new stuff coming in, but it’s not too crowded yet.” But on the East Side, the Second Avenue subway has been so long-promised that it seemed near-mythical to residents and business owners. Construction finally began in 2007, wreaking havoc in the neighborhood. Residents have been evicted, storefronts have been shuttered and the “Second Avenue cough” has set in. “You don’t know about the Second Avenue cough ?” said Alice McCarney, who owns Alice Hair, a salon on Second Avenue between 69th and 70th Streets. “I don’t have it because my lungs are already polluted,” she said with a laugh, “but loads of other people had it because of all the dust.” But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rejects the idea that such a construction-related malady exists. A spokesman, Adam Lisberg, said the agency had “scrupulously enforced air quality standards on Second Avenue subway construction and used state-of-the-art scrubber technology to limit the impact on the surrounding community.” Image A detour for pedestrians around a construction site on Second Avenue. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times “We have continuously monitored air quality on the project and posted the results weekly on our website, showing that we not only exceed air quality standards, but also strive to minimize the impact of construction,” Mr. Lisberg continued. Ms. McCarney opened her salon 12 years ago, when no one thought the subway would ever be built. Her storefront was blocked by construction for four years, she said, with smokestacks and other construction materials blocking her awning — and any natural light — until this past January. She said her business would not have survived if she had not already had a loyal clientele. “I didn’t sign up for any of the construction,” she said in her salon recently, “but I did dress up as a Second Avenue construction worker for Halloween last year.” And though the blasting in Phase 1, from 96th to 63rd Street, is now finished, she still has complaints: “What’s the subway going to bring me? I won’t be able to survive if there’s a subway escalator right next to my store,” she said, explaining that the rents would be too high. She is planning to relocate her business when her lease is up in 2017. Most of the businesses on her block were evicted to make room for construction, she said. “The neighborhood has really gone downhill, but now the rents are going up,” she added. Phase 1 service is scheduled to begin in December 2016, said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the transportation authority. Although rents largely dropped in the area during construction, they are expected to jump within the next two years, said Jordan Skurnik, a real estate broker who works extensively in the area. For now, he said, buyers can take advantage of lower prices, but sellers need to be “sensitive with their pricing” in the interim. Trudy Gordon owns an apartment on Second Avenue, which she has rented to the same tenant for the past five years. Now, her tenant is moving out and she cannot find a new one, she said. “There’s a huge crane in front of my building, which is not too attractive,” she said, “and my broker told me everybody is asking about the noise and the subway.” Image Light poles at a construction site on Second Avenue. The first phase is scheduled to open by December 2016. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times Ms. Gordon lives in Florida, and bought the apartment as an investment. She said that she took about a $700 loss on the apartment every month, but that she wanted to hold onto it until the subway was finished, hoping she could make a profit. Others have found ways to take advantage of the low rent. Ruairi Curtin opened his fifth bar, the Penrose, on Second Avenue in June 2012. “We opened during construction, so we’ve never had our storefront facing the street,” he said. “It can only get better from here.” “The construction definitely gave us a lot of bargaining chips with the landlord,” Mr. Curtin said. “We were completely aware of what we were coming into and there was little risk — the neighborhood was underserved for somewhere like this.” With a spacious bar, exposed brick and vintage trunks for décor, and a pickle-juice martini on the menu, the Penrose is designed to attract the young professionals Mr. Curtin already sees flocking to the area, lured as he was by the low rent and opportunity. Image Lauren Wiener, Alexander James and their 4-month-old, Charlie, in the backyard garden outside their Hell's Kitchen apartment. “I never thought I’d end up in this part of town,” Mr. James said, “but I love living here.” Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times But three other restaurants on the block have closed in the last year, Mr. Curtin said, their papered-over windows part of the aftermath of years of the construction underground. Schaller & Weber, a German butcher shop on 86th Street that opened in 1937, is another survivor, a relic of Yorkville’s Teutonic past. “We’ve lost 20 percent of our business every year for the last three years,” said Chris Cunningham, the manager, but he added, “As soon as that construction stuff outside comes down, people will come back in. “Six months after it comes down, people will say, ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad.’ We’re optimists.” Mr. Ortiz said the transportation authority did not provide financial support to businesses affected by construction but tried “to mitigate the impact on businesses and residents alike.” On 11th Avenue the mood is sunnier. To extend the No. 7 line, the transportation authority bored a new tunnel from 26th Street and 11th Avenue to Times Square, where the 7 line now ends. Except for digging at those two locations, the only aboveground construction was at 34th Street and 11th Avenue, right underneath Hudson Yards. Image Construction on the Far West Side of Manhattan. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times Because the area was not a commercial or residential zone until recently, there was no one to be displaced or disrupted at the 34th Street location, said Mr. Ortiz. The authority had planned to build a station at 41st Street and 10th Avenue, but dropped it because of budgeting constraints. On 42nd Street and 10th Avenue facing west, four new luxury towers rise above an area that used to be called Hell’s Kitchen, where low-slung industrial buildings, parking garages and warehouses stood. The developments are rising in anticipation of Hudson Yards, the planned complex on 34th Street and 11th Avenue, which will bring several apartment buildings, a gourmet supermarket, shops and office space. Eight different vendors offer menu items like ramen noodles and Blue Bottle coffee at Gotham West Market , an open food court on the ground floor of a tower at 600 11th Avenue, between 44th and 45th Streets. Employees at Gotham West Market say the food hall, which is less than a year old, is almost always busy, and a lot of local residents are there around dinner time — although not so much in winter, when the river winds whip down the avenue. Lauren Wiener and her husband, Alexander James, who moved to the Far West Side in 2008, were having dinner there recently: “oysters on the cheap” for her, ramen for him. “I never thought I’d end up in this part of town,” Mr. James said, “but I love living here.” They chose it because Ms. Wiener was working at Columbia University and Mr. James was working in the financial district. “We were trying to split the difference,” he said. Their property value has climbed, they said, and the area as a whole has gotten more expensive than it was when they moved in. Part of that is because of the promised subway line, scheduled to open in 2015. But Ms. Wiener and Mr. James said they probably would not use it. “We aren’t oriented in that direction, so it doesn’t make a big difference for us,” he said. “We mostly just ride the A train.”

Subway
Second Avenue Subway
MTA
NYC
Hudson Yards,West Side Railyards
Rent
Second Ave Manhattan


For Mexican Workers, a Long Walk Home

Abstract: AFTER a long night of busing tables at a Manhattan restaurant and a train ride across much of two boroughs, the compact, baby-faced Mexican immigrant climbed the steps of the Kingsbridge Road subway station in the West Bronx and began walking the last few blocks home. It was around 1 a.m. When he turned onto East 196th Street from the Grand Concourse, he realized that two teenage boys were 30 feet behind him. They spoke in Spanish, his mother tongue, but in an accent that echoed the Caribbean, not his homeland. Suddenly they began to run toward him. “Stop or we’ll kill you!” one of them yelled in English. The Mexican, who is 38, ran, too; he had heard enough about a recent rash of muggings of his Mexican neighbors in the Fordham and Bedford Park areas, including an account of one man beaten so badly he was hospitalized. When he turned around for an instant, he saw the gun. But he didn’t stop; screaming for help, he kept going. His cry for help scared off his aggressors. The man’s story was one of many told last Sunday at Our Lady of Refuge Church on Briggs Avenue. About 30 Mexicans had gathered to talk about the robberies and the widespread feeling that because most of them are undocumented workers who are known to carry cash rather than paychecks, they have become favorite prey — virtual walking A.T.M.’s. “They’re picked out as targets,” said Msgr. John Jenik of Our Lady of Refuge, who ran the meeting. No fewer than 11 members of his congregation took turns describing how they were robbed, some more than once. The muggings took place in the past year, but the rate of attacks has quickened, with half a dozen or so in the last few weeks. Most of the victims were held up at gunpoint by teenagers on East 196th Street, between the Grand Concourse and Marion Avenue, which has become a kind of gantlet. Only a few victims called the police. “It’s because they feel they have no rights,” said Reinaldo Morales, a local resident who was mugged a few years ago and said he attended the meeting to show solidarity with the victims. The police acknowledge that there has been an uptick in crime but see the situation differently. “Although there’s been a recent increase in robberies,” said Inspector Edward Mullen, a spokesman for the New York Police Department, “there is no specific trend or pattern.” Still, the commanding officer of the department’s central robbery unit, Inspector James Shea, met with Father Jenik on Friday to discuss the situation. Meanwhile, the Mexicans are trying to protect themselves as best they can. One man is taking a taxi home at night from his subway station. A 19-year-old from Oaxaca has asked his employer at a Bronx fast-food restaurant to pay him incrementally, so his wages can’t all be stolen at once. The man who escaped the muggers has arranged for his wife and two children to meet him at the subway station, so they can walk home together. Another resident chose a more permanent solution. According to Monsignor Jenik, that man, who was mugged and badly beaten last November, was admitted to a hospital, where he was further threatened by his attackers. When he was discharged, the man moved out of the neighborhood.

Robberies and Thefts
Muggings
Bronx (NYC)
Immigration and Refugees


Digital Music Group Plans to Merge With the Orchard

Abstract: The Orchard, a digital music company that has built a business distributing albums from independent labels to online stores like iTunes, plans to announce today that it will merge with Digital Music Group. The combined company will continue to trade publicly under the Digital Music Group’s Nasdaq listing, but it will be controlled by the Orchard and do business under that name. The Orchard, which is owned by Dimensional Associates, the private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, makes deals to acquire digital distribution rights from labels, then takes a percentage of sales. Digital Music Group makes similar deals, but that company also controls the online rights to some classic television shows like “My Favorite Martian” and owns some recordings outright. Many of the labels that both companies deal with are small — Digital Music Group distributes music for the labels Kill Rock Stars and Barsuk, for example — but the idea is that those sales will add up. “This company has been uniquely designed entirely around the exploitation of digital music rights,” said Greg Scholl, president and chief executive of the Orchard, who will continue to lead the company. “We’ll have more songs for sale so we’ll be a bigger partner for the retailers we supply and we’ll have more leverage in the market.” Potentially, that means that it could deal with online retailers on more favorable terms. The merger will also give the Orchard a foothold in the online video distribution business, as well as the ability to raise money in the public markets. To complete the merger, Digital Music Group will issue new shares to the owners of the Orchard. No cash will trade hands, but the Orchard will be left with 60 percent control of the combined company. Digital Music Group went public in February 2006 at $8.50 a share, but the stock has fallen sharply since. It closed yesterday at $3.99 a share.

Digital Music Group Incorporated
Recordings and Downloads (Audio)
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures


A Season’s Worth of Cheap Thrills

Abstract: By its very nature, the vocation of the Weekend Miser entails a certain myopia, a laserlike focus on discrete three-day periods. To kick off the new year, let’s switch things up, shall we, with a more seasonal view of free or nearly free things to do in New York City: a Winter Miser, if you will. A Guitar-Led Quintet Jump right in this weekend at BAMcafé, where the Mary Halvorson Quintet takes the bandstand on Saturday night. One of the city’s most acclaimed young guitar players , Ms. Halvorson will lead a band made up of her regular rhythm section — the bassist John Hébert and the drummer Ches Smith — along with the trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson and the saxophonist Jon Irabagon. Admission is free; get there early for happy hour, from 6 to 8 p.m. (Saturday at 9 p.m.; 30 Lafayette Avenue at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn; 718-636-4100; bam.org.) Short Films, Israeli Style The Film Society of Lincoln Center will present the 23rd annual New York Jewish Film Festival in the middle of the month, and while there are many worthy gems at less-than-multiplex prices, the Miser would point you to the free screening of “New Israeli Shorts,” four summer-themed films from 2012 in Hebrew with English subtitles, on Jan. 18, at the Film Center’s intimate indoor Amphitheater. Tickets will be distributed first come first served, starting one hour before the 6:30 p.m. showtime. (Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center; 212-875-5367; filmlinc.com.) City Dreams and Dr. King As New York turns a page politically with a new team in City Hall, WNYC will celebrate the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at 3 p.m. on Jan. 19 at the Apollo Theater with “ Dreams for NYC Inspired by MLK ,” a panel discussion focused on the city’s future, moderated by Brian Lehrer and with a live performance by Vernon Reid. Admission is free, but reservations, via the Apollo website, are required. (253 West 125th Street, at Frederick Douglass Boulevard; apollotheater.org, wnyc.org.) Pictures of War Onstage The stark photography of Eugene Richards comes chillingly alive at the Brooklyn Museum on Jan. 25, when Mr. Richards directs actors in a dramatic presentation of several stories told in his recent book of photo essays, “ War Is Personal .” The event, presented in conjunction with the exhibition “ War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath ,” starts at 2 p.m. and is included with museum admission, a suggested $12 for adults and $8 for students with ID and adults 62 and older. (200 Eastern Parkway, at Washington Avenue, Prospect Heights; 718-638-5000; brooklynmuseum.org.) Year of the Horse Many New Yorkers will gravitate toward Chinatown for the Lunar New Year, when a parade and festival starting at 1 p.m. on Feb. 2 will ring in the Year of the Horse. On the weekends before and after, the New York Chinese Cultural Center, for the 27th consecutive year, will take the party to cultural institutions across the city, with a program focusing on traditional dance and offering craft workshops for all ages. The event is included with museum admissions, except at Snug Harbor in Staten Island, where admission is $10. (Jan. 25, at 2 p.m., Bronx Museum, 1040 Grand Concourse, at East 165th Street, 718-681-6000, bronxmuseum.org; Jan. 26, at 1 p.m., Queens Museum, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, 718-592-9700, queensmuseum.org; Feb. 8, at 1 p.m., Metropolitan Museum of Art, 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org; Feb. 9, at 2 p.m., Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 1000 Richmond Terrace, 718-448-2500, snug-harbor.org.) A Super Bowl Festival This year the New York area plays host to Super Bowl XLVIII, which will take place across the Hudson River at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J. With the cheapest seats still going for well into the hundreds of dollars, the Miser’s attendance is doubtful, but you might catch him on Super Bowl Boulevard , a free N.F.L.-sponsored street festival in Times Square that runs from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 and will include autograph sessions, live performances and a toboggan run. (Noon to 10 p.m.; Broadway from 34th Street to 47th Street; nfl.com/superbowl.) Watching the Seals Of course grinding it out on the gridiron, despite its popularity, isn’t everyone’s idea of a sporting life and far from the only reason to be outdoors this time of year. The Urban Park Rangers offer programs throughout the winter, but the Miser has an eye on their seal-watching expedition , at Orchard Beach Nature Center at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx on Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. The tour is free; binoculars are recommended. (Park Road at City Island Road; 718-319-7258; nycgovparks.org.) ‘Fiddle Sermons’ Talking about music is like dancing about architecture, the saw goes, and if it means anything at all, that meaning just might be revealed in the “ fiddle sermons ” to be given by the artist and Bread and Puppet Theater founder Peter Schumann at the Queens Museum. Sort of a postmodern medieval minstrel, Mr. Schumann delivers the “news” to his own musical accompaniment. In keeping with tradition, the audience will be served bread freshly baked by Mr. Schumann on the premises. Performance and snack are included with museum admission, and presented in conjunction with “Peter Schumann: The Shatterer,” a retrospective of his work. (Jan. 11, Feb. 15 and March 15, 4 p.m.; Queens Museum, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, 718-592-9700, queensmuseum.org.) Coney Island Conjurers Anyone with an unseasonal hankering to hit the beach during these colder months should consider a ride out to Coney Island on Sunday afternoons, where at 2 p.m. the outfit responsible for the inimitable Mermaid Parade presents the “Magic at Coney!” series, a vintage magic and variety show featuring a phalanx of conjurers, hypnotists and escape artists, among others. It plays weekly at Sideshows by the Seashore through April 13. Admission is $12; $8 for children under 12. (1208 Surf Avenue, at West 12th Street, Coney Island, Brooklyn; coneyisland.com.)

Mary Halvorson Quintet
The arts
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Music


As Francis Starts Over, Knicks Seem a Good Fit

Abstract: The staid look was familiar to anyone who had followed the circuitous career of Steve Francis. Nearly seven years ago, Francis walked across a stage at the MCI Center in Washington and entered his N.B.A. career with a blank expression. No smile, no fist pump, no twinkle in the eye. Francis had been drafted by the Vancouver Grizzlies, and he did not hide his disappointment. Seven nights ago, Francis sat at a table at Madison Square Garden, making his first appearance as a Knick after a trade with Orlando. Everything -- the team, the time, the circumstances -- was different. Only the expression seemed the same. No smile, no twinkle. It was a strange first impression, and given the sorry state of the Knicks, it caused some understandable consternation: Did Francis want to be here? Or would this be merely another brief and unhappy stop on his rambling N.B.A. path? "I was fatigued," Francis explained, waving off any doubts. The news conference was, in fact, the endpoint of what Francis called "not the worst two weeks of my life, but it was the most draining time." His relationship with the Magic had soured. Trade speculation had Francis landing in Denver, Minneapolis, Los Angeles or New York. He had a fiancée and a 6-month-old daughter to consider. Then came a whirlwind day in which Francis attended a morning meeting with the Magic in East Rutherford, N.J., spent three hours on the phone getting updates from his agent, Jeff Fried, and, finally, made the trek through the Lincoln Tunnel and headed straight to his news conference. "There was a lot that happened within the 12-13 hours before I was traded," he said. The intrigue, the mixed feelings, the multiple destinations and the exhaustion made for a nice microcosm of Francis's career. He is starting over, again. The Knicks are Francis's fourth N.B.A. team, including one he never played for, the Grizzlies. From high school through college, he played for six different schools. That makes 10 new beginnings in 13 years, enough to make anyone road weary. So here is the truth, Francis said: He is not only happy to be with the Knicks, despite their ghastly record, but he also wants to be with them for the long haul. Fried called the Knicks "our first preference by far" when the trade became inevitable. Indeed, Francis said he felt it was partly the rough edges that made the Knicks attractive to him. Francis is owed $62.5 million over next four years, not counting this year. "I know it probably sounds crazy," he said. "I'm a guy, I have scars as far as the things I've been through in my career. Just like Coach Brown, just like Isiah Thomas, just like Stephon Marbury, just like a lot of players on our team." It was a surprising explanation. But then, nothing in Francis's life has been easy or predictable. He grew up in Takoma Park, Md., with little money and no father. Francis was reared by his mother, Brenda Wilson, who died of cancer in 1995, and by his grandmother, Mabel Wilson. His mother's death left him so disconsolate, he gave up basketball for two years. It was the first of many detours in his jagged career path. Francis led two junior colleges -- San Jacinto (Tex.) in 1997 and Allegany (Md.) in 1998 -- to undefeated seasons and berths in the national junior college tournament. By the time he signed with Maryland in 1998, he was entering his sixth program in six years. He led the Terrapins to 28 victories and a Round of 16 berth in 1999. "He was very unselfish," Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. "I think he averaged 13 shots a game, and he could have taken 20 a game with his individual skills." N.B.A. scouts were not sure how to classify Francis -- as a shoot-first point guard or as an undersized shooting guard -- but his gifts were clear. He had a 43-inch vertical leap, the instincts of a running back and the fearlessness of a street fighter. Francis's first move as a pro was a crossover dribble. Taken No. 2 over all in the draft, by the Vancouver Grizzlies, Francis demanded to be traded. Two months later, Francis joined the Houston Rockets in an 11-player deal. He was criticized on both sides of the border as a pouting prima donna, an image he has fought ever since. "He rubbed me the wrong way when he came into the league and demanded that Vancouver trade him," Scottie Pippen, the former Bulls star, told NBA.com after the trade last week. Francis said, "There are situations that happened, things you have to mature from." In five seasons with Houston, his teams won 34, 45, 28, 43 and 45 games. He teamed with Cuttino Mobley in a frenetic, high-scoring backcourt that ranked among the best statistically in the league. For four seasons under Coach Rudy Tomjanovich, Francis was given free rein. But everything changed when the easygoing, player-friendly Tomjanovich was replaced by the controlling and uptight Jeff Van Gundy. Van Gundy helped guide Francis to his lone playoff appearance (a 4-1 series loss to the Los Angeles Lakers), but Francis was gone two months later, traded to Orlando in a package for Tracy McGrady. "Jeff wanted to trade him a soon as Jeff took the job," said Knicks forward Maurice Taylor, who played for four and a half seasons with the Rockets. "Jeff ran a type of system that he didn't really want most of the scoring to come from his point guard." Under Van Gundy, Francis averaged a career-low 16.6 points a game, down from 21 the previous two seasons. Francis seethed. He said he saw the experience differently now. "I've matured so much," he said. He once felt the need to be his team's top scorer, but now Francis said he was comfortable playing a more complementary role. Referring to Van Gundy, he said, "It took me a year or two to realize that he was just trying to help his team get better and help me get better." Yet there was another bad ending in Orlando. On Jan. 11, Francis defied Coach Brian Hill, refusing to re-enter the game in the final minutes of a blowout loss to Seattle. He was suspended for two games, prompting the trade talks that culminated with last week's deal. "He was eager to get out of the situation he was in," Mobley, now with the Clippers, said by phone. So Francis, who bounced through a half-dozen schools, who forced his way out of Canada and who was kicked out of Houston, was on the move again. "I still have time left in my career that I can help this team win games and get to places that they haven't been in a long time," Francis said. "One of my goals is to leave the Garden with my jersey hanging from the rafters. When I got traded, I went into the gym and I was looking up at the history, the legacy of that arena. Now that I'm one of them, I'm thinking what can I do to get myself up there, what can I do to help my team get one of those banners."

NEW YORK KNICKS
NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS
FRANCIS STEVE
BASKETBALL


Why Your Facebook Friends Are Checking In to Standing Rock

Abstract: If you’re seeing a wave of Facebook friends suddenly checking in to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Cannon Ball, N.D., online, it’s probably not because they’ve decided to travel to the site of tense protests between the police and activists against the Dakota Access oil pipeline. Supporters of the protesters appear to be falsely checking in out of solidarity online — in hopes of confusing law enforcement officials they believe are trying to track protesters who are actually at the reservation. What’s going on at Standing Rock? Protests have been boiling over in a long standoff with the police over the fate of an oil pipeline under construction near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. On Friday, the police said they arrested more than 142 people and used beanbags and pepper spray to disperse the crowds. Company officials say the pipeline will be a safer way to transfer oil 1,170 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. But activists say the construction of the pipeline will harm sacred cultural lands and local water supplies. Activists call themselves Water Protectors and are busy raising money online that is intended to help them operate an encampment near the protest area. Who started the Facebook protest? It’s not clear. But activist pages, including Stand Against Dakota Access Pipeline — No DAPL, have shared some version of a message that is all over Facebook: “The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps. Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check in at SR to overwhelm and confuse them.” Is the check-in movement distracting law enforcement? No, according to the authorities. “The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is not and does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location. This claim/rumor is absolutely false,” the department wrote on its Facebook page on Monday. It’s not unheard-of, however, for the police to rely on social media to locate and track the movements of suspects, but it looks like this particular movement was started without an understanding of how the authorities would gather data — or if they were doing this at all. Are there precedents for this? Checking in to protests has been a favorite pastime of online observers who can’t be where the protest is but want to spread the word. Perhaps the most notable example is the so-called Twitter Revolution during protests of Iran’s 2009 presidential elections. People changed their Twitter avatars to a green overlay and switched their locations to Tehran in hopes of confusing law enforcement officials trying to track down activists and bloggers. These efforts don’t always work to organize on-the-ground protests , but that’s beside the point. With very little effort, online activists can use social media to bring more publicity to a cause, the latest example being the Standing Rock check-ins you may be seeing on your Facebook feed.

Standing Rock Sioux Reservation
Civil Unrest
Pipelines
Facebook


Argentina Rallies Against Croatia to Win First Davis Cup Title

Abstract: Argentina won its first Davis Cup title on Sunday when Federico Delbonis beat Ivo Karlovic in straight sets to complete a stunning 3-2 comeback win over Croatia. It was Argentina’s fifth appearance in the final. Delbonis dropped to the ground after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory in Zagreb, Croatia. His teammates fell into one another’s arms and danced around the huge Davis Cup trophy. Fans, including the soccer great Diego Maradona, chanted and waved Argentine flags. Delbonis went up a break in the first two sets and added two more in the third when Karlovic sent a forehand wide for the victory. Argentina became only the third team to come back from trailing, 2-1, in the final since the current format was introduced in 1981. “This is fabulous,” Delbonis said. “We somewhat felt we could do it despite trailing after the doubles.” Earlier, Juan Martín del Potro rallied to beat Marin Cilic, 6-7 (4), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3, despite sustaining a finger injury in the fifth set when he was trying to catch a ball. “Delpo showed his huge heart after turning around the match that looked lost,” the Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic said. “Federico played a perfect match under huge pressure. I’m really proud to be part of this fantastic team.” PRO FOOTBALL Ottawa Wins Grey Cup in Overtime Upset Henry Burris threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Ernest Jackson in overtime and the Ottawa Redblacks won the Grey Cup by beating the Calgary Stampeders, 39-33, in Toronto. The Redblacks won their first Canadian Football League title and gave the city of Ottawa its 10th title. Calgary was favored by double digits after finishing the regular season 15-2-1, but it had to erase a 20-point deficit to force overtime. After a successful onside kick, Rene Paredes hit a field goal with 10 seconds left in regulation. Burris, 41, won the game M.V.P. for the second time, completing 35 of 46 passes for 461 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns. PRO BASKETBALL Nets’ Losing Streak Reaches Seven Games DeMarcus Cousins had 37 points and 11 rebounds, and Rudy Gay added 22 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists as the visiting Sacramento Kings beat the Nets, 122-105. Sean Kilpatrick scored 22 points and Brook Lopez had 17 for the Nets, who have lost seven straight games. The Nets went on a 14-2 run in the fourth quarter to cut their deficit to 99-93, but the Kings responded with a 16-0 run. COLLEGE BASKETBALL Gonzaga Holds Off a Charging Iowa State No. 11 Gonzaga nearly blew an 18-point second-half lead before beating No. 21 Iowa State, 73-71, in the AdvoCare Invitational championship game in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. “I definitely think we got a little tentative in the second half, and you can’t do that, especially when you’re playing such a good team,” said Nigel Williams-Goss, who led Gonzaga with 18 points. “They’re just not going to go away without a fight.” Iowa State scored 15 straight points early in the second half to pull to within 58-55. Deonte Burton, who scored a game-high 29 points, had 11 points in that stretch. A TOP-FIVE BATTLE Alaina Coates, A’ja Wilson and Allisha Gray each scored 17 points as No. 3 South Carolina routed No. 4 Louisville, 83-59, in the Basketball Hall of Fame women’s challenge in Springfield, Mass. Mariya Moore scored 17 and Asia Durr 13 for the Cardinals. COLLEGE FOOTBALL Clemson Players Deny Using Racial Slur Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney said he spoke with his players about South Carolina linebacker Bryson Allen-Williams’s contention that a Clemson offensive lineman used a racial slur before Saturday night’s 56-7 victory. Allen-Williams said afterward that he could not identify the Clemson player. When Swinney heard Allen-Williams’s comments, he questioned his players, and all told him the claim was false. “I believe my guys,” Swinney said. “That’s all there is to say about it.” AROUND THE N.C.A.A. Nevada fired Coach Brian Polian, who had a 23-27 record in four seasons after replacing the Hall of Fame coach Chris Ault. Florida Atlantic fired Coach Charlie Partridge after the team finished 3-9 in each of his three seasons. San Jose State fired Coach Ron Caragher after four seasons in which the Spartans never broke .500. HOCKEY Coyotes Keep Streak Against Oilers Alive It has been more than 30 years since one team has dominated another to the degree that the Arizona Coyotes have the Edmonton Oilers. Jamie McGinn broke a tie with 3 minutes 44 seconds left as the visiting Coyotes beat the Oilers, 2-1, improving to 21-0-4 in the last 25 meetings between the teams. It is the longest such stretch since the Philadelphia Flyers went 32 games in a row without a regulation loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

Tennis
Federico Delbonis
Ivo Karlovic
Davis Cup
Argentina
Croatia


Britain Says No Inquiry in 1971 Killings of Belfast Catholics

Abstract: The government said Tuesday that it would not order a fact-finding inquiry into the 1971 killing of 10 Belfast Catholics by British troops during a three-day street confrontation, a decision that infuriated relatives of the dead. The relatives have lobbied for an investigation like the one into 1972’s Bloody Sunday. The secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers, said Britain did not believe an investigation “would provide answers which are not already in the public domain or covered by existing legal processes.” Briege Voyle, the daughter of a woman killed in the shooting, vowed to keep pushing for a public investigation, saying, “We will fight for this until we die.”

Great Britain
Belfast
Theresa Villiers
Northern Ireland


Army to Use Webcasts From Iraq for Recruiting

Abstract: FOR the last two years, the Army has presented itself to potential recruits as the way to become “Army strong.” Beginning on Tuesday, Veterans Day , the Army will seek to make its pitch stronger by making the campaign more relevant to the desired audience of Americans ages 17 to 24. One new feature on a redesigned version of the Army Web site ( goarmy.com ) called “Straight From Iraq” states, “Now you can find out what it’s really like to be deployed in the Middle East from the men and women stationed there.” “Soldiers are ready to take your questions,” says a section of the site devoted to a webcast series. The feature represents the first time that visitors can ask questions of soldiers deployed overseas as well as the first time the Iraq war has been referred to so directly and prominently on the Web site. The goal is to provide those considering the Army — along with parents and others who influence their decisions — with “verifiable information about what being a soldier is really like, what combat is really like,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commanding general of the Army Accessions Command in Fort Monroe, Va., which is overseeing recruitment. The changes in the “Army strong” campaign place more emphasis on the Internet, event marketing and other methods that connect with young Americans on a closer, more personal level. To help pay for the new media features, cutbacks are being made in areas like the Army’s sponsorships of professional rodeos. The changes include an additional theme for the campaign, “Strength like no other,” which will appear along with “Army strong”; a focus on the skills that recruits can learn in the Army, to make a stronger case about how serving can bring personal and career success later in life; and new information about becoming an officer. “The campaign has been successful conveying the benefits of ‘Army strong,’ the physical, emotional and mental benefits,” said Ed Walters, chief marketing officer for the Army at the Pentagon. “We wanted to more clearly articulate that,” he added, through efforts like sharing with civilians the video clips of “real soldiers’ stories.”  The “Army strong” campaign is produced by nine agencies, eight of them part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of Companies. The Army ad budget from 2006 through 2011 is estimated at $1.35 billion. The Army has met its recruiting goals for the first two fiscal years during which the “Army strong” campaign has appeared. Critics of the military’s practices contend that bonuses being awarded to recruits as well as less stringent entry standards have also helped meet the goals. “We love the ‘Army strong’ campaign because it resonates with youth,” General Freakley said, and it “says in a nutshell who our soldiers are, that it is a strength they get by serving.” “This is a progression, an evolution,” he added, referring to the new phase of the campaign. In addition to the new content on goarmy.com, there will be new TV commercials, meant to help drive traffic to the Web site. The first ones compare the Army to a company, a team and a school by showing young men and women in settings like an office building, a gym and a campus. The scenes shift into scenes of soldiers performing military tasks like marching and saluting the flag. In the gym commercial, young athletes are seen working out, then stacking sandbags. “There is a team like no other team in the world,” says the narrator, the actor Gary Sinise, who took over the narration work for the campaign last year from the actor Josh Charles. “When they raise their flag in victory, you will know what these men and women are fighting for,” Mr. Sinise says, “and you will feel fortunate to be counted among them.” In the office commercial, young workers in business attire suddenly start climbing walls. “This company is filled with dreamers,” Mr. Sinise says, “but they also have courage, strength and honor, and when they leave this company it will be with a thousand opportunities and the respect of millions.” The intent is “to show the Army in a way you haven’t thought about it,” said Craig Markus, executive creative director at McCann Erickson Worldwide in New York, one of the McCann Worldgroup agencies working on the campaign. “Obviously, the buzzword right now is ‘relevance,’ ” he added, “and we’re trying to talk to people in a way that’s relevant to them at the moment.” Coincidentally, it turns out the campaign was developed months before the start of the steep economic downturn. The growing unemployment rate could benefit the Army because young men and women may enlist rather than search fruitlessly for work. “History will tell you that’s true,” Mr. Markus said, “but I’m not going to predict what may happen.” The other McCann Worldgroup agencies working on the campaign are: Casanova Pendrill, for ads aimed at Hispanics; the IW Group, for ads aimed at Asian-Americans; Momentum, for event marketing and sponsorships; MRM Worldwide, for the Web site, digital marketing and direct marketing; NAS Recruitment, for medical recruiting; Universal McCann, for media planning and buying; and Weber Shandwick, for public relations. Another agency, Carol H. Williams Advertising, is creating ads aimed at African-American recruits.  Other changes the Army is making include reworking the content of the Virtual Army Experience, a traveling interactive exhibit with games and other displays that is intended for an audience as young as 13. There have been complaints that the exhibit is inappropriate because it makes combat seem to be fun. “If we show the Army fighting, people say it’s violent,” General Freakley said. “If we don’t, people say it’s not truthful.” The new content for the exhibit will concentrate on the peaceful purposes the Army can serve, he added, like providing humanitarian aid. The new elements of the “Army strong” campaign aimed at so-called influencers like parents are scheduled to start in January. Such ads have been part of the campaign since it began in 2006.

Draft and Recruitment (Military)
Iraq War (2003- )
Advertising and Marketing
United States Army
Iraq
Universal McCann


Closing of Carnegie Deli Amid Con Ed Investigation Disappoints Diners

Abstract: On Tuesday morning, inspectors from Consolidated Edison are scheduled to show New York City investigators what they brought back from the Carnegie Deli near Central Park. It is not a $30 pastrami and corned beef sandwich named after Woody Allen; nor is it an $8 giant knish. It is a Y-shaped piece of plumbing that Con Edison says the restaurant, famous for its massive piles of sliced meat on rye, used to misappropriate natural gas for six years until it was abruptly shut down on Friday. The curtaining of the Carnegie disappointed a stream of hungry would-be customers on Monday, many of them tourists who went out of their way to test their tolerance for protein. It was the second case in a month in which a Manhattan deli was put out of business, at least temporarily, after utility inspectors found evidence of tampering with a gas line. The discoveries have come amid heightened fears about the hazards of gas pipes since a March 26 explosion destroyed three buildings on Second Avenue in the East Village and killed two men. In the week after the blast, inspectors found an illegal gas hookup to the nearby Stage Restaurant , which closed after getting an eviction notice . Image The closed Carnegie, which is famous for its massive piles of sliced meat on rye. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Last week, the city’s Investigation Department began a coordinated effort with Con Ed, the Buildings Department and the Manhattan district attorney’s office to locate illegal natural-gas hookups that were potentially hazardous, a law enforcement official said on Monday. That effort was a reaction to the blast in the East Village, which law enforcement officials have said they believe was caused by a gas leak that resulted from attempts to siphon gas intended for a ground-floor restaurant to fuel stoves and water-heaters in apartments above it. But when Con Edison workers found evidence of the siphoning in the building that stood at 121 Second Avenue in Manhattan, the gas had been drawn off after being measured by the utility’s meter, so there was no allegation of “theft of service” from the utility. At the Carnegie Deli, however, Con Edison said about half of the gas that the utility was delivering to the building was being diverted before the meter and, therefore, not showing up on the deli’s bills. After determining that the diversion had lasted six years, Con Edison demanded that the deli pay $40,050, the estimated cost to deliver all that unmeasured gas, said Bob McGee, a spokesman for the utility. He said the deli’s owner “cut us a check on the spot.” Mr. McGee added that the deli buys the gas that Con Edison delivers from a different company and would have to settle up with that company separately. Image Lunch at the Carnegie was supposed to be a highlight of Robert Peter’s trip to the city with his mother from their home in Millbrook, N.Y. "My friend took me here when we were on a field trip,” Robert, 11, said on Monday. “And I loved it.” Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times The closing of the Carnegie Deli was widely reported last weekend. Chris Giglio, a spokesman for the owners of the deli, said: “The current management is outraged over this situation and will do everything possible to find out exactly what happened. The Carnegie Deli will reopen as soon as possible, and we thank our employees and patrons for their patience and consideration.” Con Edison workers stumbled onto the siphoning setup at the Carnegie Deli last week, after they responded to a report of a gas odor outside the restaurant. But a law enforcement official, who insisted an anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said that the follow-up investigation was an example of the more cooperative approach the utility and city officials were taking. On Friday, the Buildings Department issued an order to halt all work on the gas pipes at 854 Seventh Avenue, a five-story apartment building near 55th Street that houses the deli. That work, requiring a permit, would have to resume before Con Edison would restore gas to the deli or the apartments above it, Mr. McGee said. Until then, the sidewalk outside the deli on Seventh Avenue is likely to continue to feature a recurring scene: A taxi pulls up; tourists, eager to attempt superhuman feats of eating, make for the door; smiles melt like Swiss cheese on a Reuben. Image For Nick Athanasatos, owner of Premier Deli Cafe on Seventh Avenue, the closing of Carnegie Deli next door represented a great pastrami opportunity. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times Inside the small doorway, an employee loudly told those who wanted to double-check that the deli was, in fact, closed. Anyone who stayed too long was reprimanded with the ringing of a bell. Lunch at the Carnegie was supposed to be a highlight of 11-year-old Robert Peter’s trip to the city with his mother from their home in Millbrook, N.Y. “My friend took me here when we were on a field trip,” he said on Monday. “And I loved it.” But instead of perusing a menu filled with dishes named for celebrities, some of whom were once regular customers, Robert and his mother were stuck reading a message that explained that the deli was closed for repairs. Over the weekend, Ron Mitchell, who works nearby, watched the events that led to the deli’s closing unfold. On Wednesday, gas trucks were there, he said, inspecting the street outside. The next two days, Con Ed and the Fire Department. By Saturday, the deli was empty. “Even this morning, I’ve seen both regulars and tourists come up and show the same frustration,” he said on Monday. “No one wants to see Carnegie closed.” Except perhaps Nick Athanasatos, the owner of the Premier Deli Cafe next door. On Monday, he posted a sign on his window that read, “Special today! Pastrami & corn beef, $14.95.” On Day 3 of life without the Carnegie Deli, he felt it was wise to advertise that he, too, offered the meats that drew so many people to the block. “Of course we’ve had more people today,” Mr. Athanasatos said. “Carnegie’s closed. But we have the best pastrami, aside from Carnegie.” He ran to the back, and held two large racks of the cured meat aloft like trophies for everyone to see. “Who needs Carnegie when you have this?” he asked.

Restaurant
Con Edison
Natural gas
NYC
Explosions
Closings
Delicatessen
Carnegie Deli


Fight for Bed Supremacy Spreads to the Skies

Abstract: AFTER years of a cease-fire, the hotel bedding wars are resuming, and now airstrikes are even being called in. I’ve deployed ridiculously martial language there only to underscore a point about hotel bedding, which had been a mundane and boring business among old-line mattress makers until 1999, when Westin Hotels introduced a new mattress and bedding accessories branded as the Heavenly Bed, which was developed by Simmons, the big mattress manufacturer. Whereupon a couple of remarkable things happened that truly did constitute a big pillow fight, or even a marketing war. First, seeing the overnight (sorry) success of the Heavenly Bed, other hotel companies rushed to develop their own branded high-end bedding, whether made by Simmons or by competitors like Serta or Sealy, which markets hotel-branded bedding through its Global Hospitality Collection, and others. As hotel companies began buying luxury beds for their properties and selling them through their own catalogs and online sites, the overall retail bedding industry underwent a revolution. Travelers, and especially a new wave of female business travelers after 1999, came home and decided that their own beds simply didn’t measure up to the ones they were finding in hotels. After the Heavenly Bed introduction, hotels in every top category “understood that they couldn’t have a bed in the room that was crummier than the one the customer had at home,” said Steve Tipton, the vice president of Simmons Hospitality, the mattress company’s hotel unit. At the same time, hotel-branded mattresses started to be sold in retail outlets like department stores, and high-end mattresses and other bedding in general had become such a market standard that overall sales soared, to about $6.8 billion last year. “The consumer connection between the bed and the hotel is a big deal” in the overall mattress business, Mr. Tipton said. Image Credit Chi Birmingham By 2006, when one hotel company, Hilton, had already invested $1 billion in new bedding since 1999, the hotel mattress race subsided. But now it’s back on. As hotels recover from the recession and begin investing again in improvements, Simmons recently introduced a line of hotel bedding called Recharge Beautyrest, positioned to sell upgraded bedding featuring foams that regulate mattress temperature. And even some airlines are now heralding the virtues of high-end mattresses and bedding in international first-class and business-class cabins, where lie-flat beds have become the industry standard. For example, Delta Air Lines recently began promoting a new “Westin Heavenly In-Flight bedding product” for its BusinessElite cabins on international flights and on domestic flights between Kennedy Airport in New York and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as between Atlanta and Honolulu. Singapore Airlines advertises private suites featuring luxurious double beds in first-class cabins of its A380s, and Lufthansa Technik, the maintenance and upgrade unit of the big German airline, is marketing its own Flexidreamer bed (“for a heavenly sleep”), first developed for luxury private jets and now available for first-class cabins on commercial airplanes. While such sumptuous comforts are most definitely not available in the airlines’ increasingly cramped and austere coach cabins, the evolution of luxury bedding into premium cabins on commercial planes reflects what the hotel business learned well over the last 23 years. As Delta’s announcement of the new high-end bedding for its BusinessElite cabins put it, “In recent surveys, customers have told us that the most important part of the in-flight experience is sleep.” In the hotel business, a good night’s sleep on high-quality bedding is increasingly a top marketing point. For example, Crowne Plaza hotels, a brand of the IHG hotel group, is emphasizing bedding improvements as part of its multiyear initiative to refurbish quality standards at its hotels in nearly 60 countries. Incidentally, one of the most interesting aspects of the whole hotel bed-wars phenomenon to me has been the impact on the home-bedding market. For most people, buying a home mattress was always an unpleasant chore, “right up there with used cars,” said Mr. Tipton at Simmons. But hotels in effect became real-time showrooms for mattresses. No more plopping down uneasily on a mattress at a department store in a futile attempt to try it out. At a hotel, you use the mattress the way you’d use one at home. Then you can purchase that bedding from the hotel company, or from a retail store that sells lines of mattresses branded with whichever hotel they are found in. “It really takes a lot of the unpleasantness out of trying a mattress out,” Mr. Tipton said.

Hotels
Mattress
Travel,Tourism
Airlines,airplanes
Bed
Business travel


State's Chief Judge Calls for Changes in Way Judges Are Elected

Abstract: ALBANY, Feb. 6 - The state's chief judge, Judith S. Kaye, called on Monday for broad changes in how the state elects its judges, in an effort to give the public more control of the process. "It is no understatement that public confidence in the judicial branch is at stake," she said in her annual State of the Judiciary address, adding that the deficiencies in the current system "must be dealt with by our Legislature." Her proposals were based on a new report on judicial selection by a special commission led by John D. Feerick, a professor and former dean of the Fordham University School of Law. The findings were particularly timely because last month, a federal judge, citing the undue control of party leaders over the process, ruled that New York's system of electing judges was unconstitutional. Mr. Feerick's report opposed the notion of having direct primaries for judges, unless public funds were made available for candidates. Instead, the report suggested a number of changes to the current system of special judicial nominating conventions, including new procedures for selecting delegates as well as reducing the number of signatures required by nominees. Judge Kaye said she believed the recommendations would satisfy the call from the federal court for a reform of the judicial selection process. Judge Kaye also called for the state to assume oversight and management of public defenders around the state, saying that the current system of letting localities pay and oversee court-appointed lawyers had failed badly. And, with state judges not having had a pay increase in seven years, she renewed her perennial call for higher judicial pay. This year, perhaps to bolster support, she called for raises in all three branches of government, proposing a new system by which judges, legislators and members of the executive branch would receive annual cost-of-living adjustments.

NEW YORK STATE
KAYE JUDITH S
JUDGES
COURTS
ELECTIONS


Theo Walcott Trying to Emulate Thierry Henry

Abstract: LONDON — For Thierry Henry , it must seem like his youth passing before him. On leave from the New York Red Bulls, where he is seeing out the last of his playing time, Henry is back at his first love, Arsenal . He trains there to stay healthy during the break in the American season. He watches from the stands, nattily dressed in tartan, applauding Theo Walcott, a player hoping to evolve into King Henry II for the London team. The resemblance is growing. When Thierry H. was in his pomp, wearing the red shirt with the white No.14, he displayed almost feline speed of movement with impeccable ball skills. He was a winger turned into a predator of marvelous goals. When the time was ripe, after Henry turned 23 years old, the coach, Arsène Wenger, encouraged the shy young man to drift in from the wings to terrorize defenders in central positions. The rest is history: 228 goals scored over the span of eight seasons for Arsenal. Goals of stealth, imagination, technique and, above all, of astonishing speed that defenders could not live with. On the last Saturday of 2012, Walcott, the apprentice wearing No.14, scored a hat trick. Each of his goals was spectacular, and each different. For the first, he darted in from the left, saw where Newcastle United’s goalie, Tim Krul, was positioned, and stroked the ball around the keeper with precision that took it a fraction inside the base of the far post. But this was a contest typical of Christmas week in England. Results of 4-3 were commonplace. Manchester United won by that score, against poor Newcastle, last Wednesday. Manchester City won by that amount at Norwich on Saturday. Aston Villa, a team of callow youth and inexperience, had a harrowing week, losing 8-0 at Chelsea, 4-0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur, and 3-0 to Wigan Athletic. The problem is compounded by the glut of fixtures, the time spent on the road and the lack of coaching time in between. If there is a fault line or a crises of confidence, the coach is powerless to work it through. In Newcastle’s case, the manager Alan Pardew faced successive games on a sapping field at Manchester United and a pristine field at Arsenal, both entailing hour upon hour of bus travel and overnight hotel stops. Pardew’s team, on a run of 8 losses in 10 games, arrived already weakened, by injuries to defenders. Attack was attempted remedy. To score three at Manchester, and three at Arsenal, yet lose, was vainglorious. Arsenal proved even worse because, after three times coming from a goal down to equalize, Newcastle eventually ran out of steam and was thrashed 7-3 — the most devastating score in almost 120 years of these two clubs facing each another. “It was manic,” Walcott said at the end. “The game was so open, and that played into our hands.” Indeed so. Arsenal’s strength is the counterattack, and with Newcastle’s back line so stretched, this was a game tailor-made for such tactics. The best of the 10 goals was Walcott’s third. He advanced from the left. He jinked, he danced, he dodged between three defenders, stretching their sinews and their minds. One of them bundled him over, and it would have been a penalty had Walcott stayed down. But he got up from his knees more quickly than the referee might blow his whistle, and, in the blink of an eye, Walcott flicked the ball over the advancing goalkeeper. A magic goal, conjured out of thin air. An Henry-esque goal by a player who has been asking to play central striker for more than a year. The news media, full these days of former players or failed coaches, have been criticizing Arsenal — and Wenger — throughout this season for not giving Walcott free rein. The chorus of experts is that Arsenal either lets Walcott play where he pleases, or he will become the latest Arsenal player to find a club that will give him that freedom. The memory of Cesc Fàbregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and others leaving Arsenal in their prime has damaged Wenger’s team-building — and Arsenal’s credibility — year after year. Walcott is the last of a coterie of coveted young Englishmen whom Arsenal must either sign on new, extended contracts or lose. “Sign him up! Sign him up!” bayed the crowd after the game Saturday, as Walcott took a lap of honor, holding the match ball that a hat-trick hero gets to keep. “We are working on it” is the message that both Wenger and Walcott give when they are pressed, at virtually every postgame interview, to say when or if a new deal will be signed. The clock is ticking, because Walcott’s current contract expires at the end of this season. Central to the discussion is not simply money, though Arsenal is more parsimonious with its cash than, say, Chelsea, the Manchesters, or even Tottenham and Liverpool. The crux is that Walcott keeps expressing the desire to step into a central role, now that Henry has gone Stateside and van Persie has moved to Manchester United. All in good time, is Wenger’s response. “Thierry was 23 when I decided to move him to the middle,” Wenger says, smiling at his inquisitors. “I like the signs that I see with Theo. He is, you know, 23. It is an interesting challenge that I think he can take on.” “On the wing, you need a shorter technique, whereas through the middle you have to learn a lot, to go right or go left. I always said Theo would one day play through the middle, and it grew in his brain.” It will not be lost on Wenger that Walcott’s finest moment on Saturday was a toss-up between his final goal, and a classic piece of wing play when he cut in from the right and curled in a fabulous cross for Olivier Giroud, a classic center forward, to head another for Arsenal. The studio couch experts think they know better. But the coach, working daily with his players, probably knows best. “I think he loves the club and the club loves him,” Wenger said after the game, “and the reciprocity in love is the most difficult to find. “Theo has learned a lot because he is an intelligent player. And because he is intelligent, he will continue to improve,” Wenger continued. “You know the intensity of my desire is exactly the same as it was before the game. My desire is to extend his contract, he belongs here and hopefully we can do it.”

Soccer
English Premier League
Arsenal (Soccer Team)
Henry Thierry


Billy Hamilton Sets Record for Steals With 147

Abstract: PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Billy Hamilton, a Cincinnati Reds prospect, set the minor league record for stolen bases in a season, swiping four Tuesday night to give him 147. Hamilton stole second and third twice each, but Pensacola lost to Montgomery, 4-2, in the first game of a doubleheader in the Class AA Southern League. He broke Vince Coleman’s record for steals in a minor league season, 145, set in 1983 with Macon in the Class A South Atlantic League. Hamilton swiped 104 bases for Class A Bakersfield before being promoted. A 21-year-old shortstop, he has been caught stealing 33 times this season. The major league record was set by Rickey Henderson, with 130 in 1982.

Minor Leagues
Baseball
Hamilton Billy
Cincinnati Reds
Records and Achievements


Walcott Criticizes Calls to Reverse School Reforms

Abstract: Warning that the fate of New York City education was “hanging in the balance,” Dennis M. Walcott, the schools chancellor, suggested on Saturday that the school system was at risk of falling into disarray in the hands of a new mayor. Mr. Walcott, in his latest salvo against the Democrats running for mayor, said city schools had reached a “new day” and that efforts to chip away at Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s 11-year reform effort were misguided. “Halting the momentum of this extraordinary transformation would be a tragedy,” Mr. Walcott told an audience of more than 1,100 school administrators gathered for a conference at Brooklyn Technical High School. The Democratic candidates for mayor have promised to reverse some of Mr. Bloomberg’s signature policies, including closing low-performing schools and providing space to charter schools. Those promises have caused distress in City Hall, though the Republican candidates have generally embraced the approach of Mr. Bloomberg, who leaves office at the end of the year. Mr. Walcott’s speech seemed intended to be a rallying cry before a friendly crowd, but the response was muted. While his calls for preserving the authority of principals and eradicating nepotism were met with applause, some principals seemed uninterested in his message. Laughter broke out in some corners after Mr. Walcott explained that he was not looking to be a kingmaker. “I don’t like to involve myself in politics,” he said. Renel Piton, the principal of Brooklyn Lab School, said he shared Mr. Walcott’s concern about the candidates for mayor and did not want them to “gut reform for the sake of gutting.” Still, he said he was surprised the chancellor chose to use a speech at an academic conference to weigh in on a political battle. Image Dennis M. Walcott, the schools chancellor, spoke at a conference on Saturday. Credit Michael Appleton for The New York Times “We need to focus on what’s going on in schools,” Mr. Piton said. “I don’t come on a Saturday to listen to their views on the candidates.” Brian DeVale, principal of Public School 257 in Brooklyn, applauded when Mr. Walcott began discussing the old way of running schools, before the State Legislature handed the mayor authority over the school system in 2002. Mr. DeVale, an opponent of mayoral control, said he thought Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Walcott were too authoritarian in their approach. “I sat and listened to a political lecture from an administration I have no interest in,” Mr. DeVale, who is a union representative, said after the speech. John C. Liu, the city comptroller and a Democratic contender for mayor, said he was puzzled by Mr. Walcott’s suggestion that the candidates were pandering to the teachers’ union. “Candidates respond to complaints and concerns about the status quo,” Mr. Liu said in a telephone interview. “Candidates don’t manufacture concern.” Even the Department of Education’s chief academic officer, Shael Polakow-Suransky, waded into the political fray, urging principals to support efforts to overhaul the school system. Mr. Polakow-Suransky said he was so distraught by the attacks on the campaign trail that he called the chancellor of the Washington school system, Kaya Henderson, for advice. In response, according to Mr. Polakow-Suransky, Ms. Henderson offered a variation on an African proverb: “The elephants are going to be fighting, but don’t forget to tend the grass.”

Dennis M Walcott
Mayoral races
K-12 Education
NYC Department of Education
Reform
Mike Bloomberg
NYC


In New Three-Stage Races, Nascar Will Award Points Before Finish Line

Abstract: Nascar is drastically changing its format for the coming season, cutting every race into three stages in an attempt to make every lap matter. The top 10 drivers at the end of Stage 1 and Stage 2 will be awarded points on a 10-through-1 scale. The third stage of the race will be for the overall victory, and a win will be worth 40 points. The rest of the field will be scored on a 35-to 2-scale, with Positions 36 to 40 receiving 1 point. “There are no off weeks; every race matters,” said Denny Hamlin, one of the many drivers who helped devise the new format. “Not only that, every lap of every race matters.” All points accumulated throughout the 26-race regular season will be applied to the 10-race playoff, which will no longer be called the Chase. The new format begins with the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 26. SOCCER Dortmund Prevails in Race to Sign Teenager Borussia Dortmund signed the 17-year-old star Alexander Isak of Sweden in the face of intense competition from Real Madrid and other top European clubs. Image Fans of Algeria during a 2-2 draw with Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations in Franceville, Gabon. Credit Khaled Desouki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Isak, who has been called the next Zlatan Ibrahimovic, signed for a reported $10.7 million. Dortmund, a Bundesliga club, also bolstered its reputation for unearthing young stars by extending the contract of Christian Pulisic, 18, until 2020. Isak this month became Sweden’s youngest international goal scorer at 17 years 113 days. He scored 10 goals in his debut season at AIK, a Swedish club, in 2016. “Alexander Isak is a hugely talented striker who many top clubs in Europe wanted to sign,” the Borussia sporting director Michael Zorc said. PRO BASKETBALL Heat End the Warriors’ Winning Streak Dion Waiters made a 3-pointer with six-tenths of a second left to finish his 33-point effort, and the host Miami Heat beat Golden State, 105-102, to end the Warriors’ seven-game winning streak. The Heat wasted a 10-point lead in the final four minutes, and the Warriors’ Kevin Durant tied the game on a dunk with 11.7 seconds left. But with no timeouts left, Waiters walked the ball up the court and drilled the winning shot over Klay Thompson. Stephen Curry missed a 3-pointer as time ran out. AROUND THE N.B.A. Terrence Jones filled in for the injured All-Star Anthony Davis, scoring a season-high 36 points and pulling down 11 rebounds as the host New Orleans Pelicans beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 124-122. The Cavaliers’ Kyrie Irving scored 35 of his 49 points in the second half, but Cleveland lost for the fifth time in seven games. Patty Mills scored 20 points, and the San Antonio Spurs rolled to a 112-86 victory over the Nets at Barclays Center while playing without the All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard and three other regulars. The Nets announced before the game that guard Jeremy Lin would miss at least three more weeks because of a hamstring injury that has sidelined him most of the season. COLLEGE BASKETBALL North Carolina State Stuns No. 17 Duke The freshman Dennis Smith Jr. scored a season-high 32 points to help host North Carolina State rally from a 12-point deficit late in the first half and stun No. 17 Duke, 84-82. Abdul-Malik Abu added 19 points for the Wolfpack (14-7, 3-5 Atlantic Coast Conference), who earned the program’s first win at Duke’s famously hostile Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995. North Carolina State shot 55 percent after halftime, with Smith dominating the Blue Devils (15-5, 3-4) and finishing 10 of 18 from the floor with six assists. Luke Kennard led Duke with 20 points. HOCKEY Capitals Stay Hot and Extend Point Streak Defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored twice and the host Washington Capitals beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 6-1, extending their point streak to 14 games. Orlov doubled his goal output for the season, and Justin Williams, Evgeny Kuznetsov, T. J. Oshie and Lars Eller also scored for the Capitals, who have not lost in regulation since Dec. 27. Washington scored on six of its 25 shots against Cam Ward and handed Carolina its fourth consecutive loss. Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby made 25 saves for his 23rd victory of the season. The Capitals allowed the first goal for the first time in 11 games but bounced back with six unanswered goals. The Capitals, who have the best record in the N.H.L. at 32-9-6, have scored 44 goals in their last eight games.


N.C.A.A. Extends Tennessee’s Probation

Abstract: The N.C.A.A. extended Tennessee’s probation by two years as part of additional penalties handed down after a ruling that a former assistant football coach, Willie Mack Garza, provided impermissible travel and lodging to a former prospect. This extends a probationary period that started in August 2011 and now runs through Aug. 23, 2015.

Football (College)
National Collegiate Athletic Assn


China Stocks Extend Loss, Falling 8.3%

Abstract: SHANGHAI, June 4 — China’s stock markets tumbled again on Monday, worsening one of the biggest sell-offs in years after the government’s move last week to impose a higher tax on stock trades. There was little effect on markets outside China. Shares in Tokyo and Hong Kong closed up. Stock prices in Europe were modestly lower and in New York a little higher. But in China, stocks have fallen by a total of about 15 percent in the four sessions since the government announced last Wednesday that it would triple the stock-trading stamp tax, to 0.3 percent from 0.1 percent. Monday’s drop of 8.3 percent in the benchmark index, raised the fear of a wave of panic selling in China’s financial markets after an extraordinary bull run in which share prices have climbed by more than 300 percent in the last two years. Indeed, after the authorities in Beijing announced the new transaction fees last week, they have grown increasingly concerned that investors may become too pessimistic. And so front-page editorials were published in Chinese financial newspapers calling on investors to act calmly in the wake of the decision, which the editorials argued was intended to promote a healthier development of the stock market. “Investors should be rational and understand the policy,” The China Securities Journal, one of the government-guided papers, said in its editorial. But markets, as the Chinese are discovering, are not always rational. Indeed, for months officials have been warning investors about the risks of a sharp downturn, trying to calm the markets with official statements. So far, the downturns have been brief. But the most recent trajectories of the country’s two main stock markets have been unsettling. On Monday, the Shanghai Stock Exchange index plunged 330.34 points, to close at 3,670.40. The other major index, for the Shenzhen exchange, fell 7.9 percent, to 1,039.90. [The sell-off continued Tuesday morning with shares in Shanghai down almost 6 percent just before midday.] Monday’s decline, after notable drops two of three days last week, represented one of the largest share price declines in more than a decade and was nearly comparable to the drop late in February, when the Shanghai composite lost 8.8 percent on a single day. That plunge, which came after a huge run-up in prices, touched off a wave of selling around the world, including New York. The biggest concern this time seems to be how the gyrating stock market may affect ordinary Chinese. For much of this year, the stock market has been a great concern for the government because of reports that retirees, students and factory workers were plowing much of their savings into stocks, threatening to create a speculative bubble that could end in a damaging and politically explosive crash. Many experts have been warning that stock prices are rising much too fast and that stock valuations are far above historical or global norms. Analysts say the government wants to cool the market, but hopes to do so in an orderly way. “This is somewhat expected,” said Frank Song, director of the Center for China Financial Research at the University of Hong Kong. “Last week’s policy change is a strong signal that the government will no longer tolerate this rising bubble.” But many individual investors have been betting on the market’s reaching ever new highs because of an influx of just-opened stock accounts, often as many as 400,000 on a single day. A lot of Chinese have indicated belief that the government would not do anything drastic to shake up the stock market before 2008, when Beijing is to play host at the Summer Olympics, out of a fear that a plunge could lead to public protests and even social unrest. Just before the finance ministry’s announcement on the trading tax early last Wednesday, officials said there were no plans to increase it. But then they reversed course. Shares tumbled 6.5 percent on Wednesday, then bounced back slightly on Thursday before falling again Friday. The reopening of the market after the weekend was a kind of black Monday here, with a further downturn in prices that reversed weeks of huge gains. Few analysts are forecasting a full-scale bear market, but many experts have been warning of more government measures and the end of the boom. And there are fears among both government officials and private analysts that a severe downturn in prices can lead to a further rout that would wreak havoc with the finances of ordinary Chinese. Indeed, when the government imposed higher transaction fees on stock trades, investors vented their anger online, and there were reports that several government Web sites, including a finance ministry site, had been hacked into and taken down for a time.


Yankees Start Their Wooing of Cliff Lee

Abstract: The Yankees called the agent for pitcher Cliff Lee shortly after free agency began at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, telling the agent that signing Lee was one of their top priorities this off-season, an official in baseball briefed on the matter said. The conversation was considered the team’s first step in trying to sign Lee, a 32-year-old left-hander, and the Yankees did not make a formal offer, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to jeopardize his access to such information. Although members of the Texas Rangers’ front office have been outspoken about how hard they will fight to re-sign Lee, the Rangers do not have the deep pockets of the Yankees, who once again appear willing to pay a premium for one of the top pitchers in baseball. Working to the Yankees’ advantage is that Lee is a close friend of their ace, C. C. Sabathia. The two played together for the Cleveland Indians. And Lee is represented by Darek Braunecker, the agent for Yankees pitcher A. J. Burnett. But Lee’s wife, Kristen, told USA Today that she was upset by the behavior of fans at Yankee Stadium during the American League Championship Series. The beginning of free agency also means that the veterans Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera are free to talk to other teams, although they seem likely to re-sign. The Yankees will probably talk to the agents for Jeter and Rivera this week about new contracts.

Lee Cliff
New York Yankees
Baseball
Free Agents (Sports)


Growing, Japan’s Economy Shows Signs of Improvement

Abstract: TOKYO — Japan ’s economy rebounded in the latest quarter for the first time in a year, signaling the possible end of the country’s deepest recession since World War II and brightening prospects for a widespread global recovery. Japan’s economy, the world’s second-largest, plunged into recession in the wake of the global financial crisis last year. Exports, its mainstay, at one point fell to half their precrisis levels. But a turnaround in exports and a vast fiscal stimulus program helped produce a 0.9 percent economic expansion in the three months that ended June 30, government figures showed on Monday, equivalent to annualized growth of 3.7 percent. The expansion was in line with the 0.9 percent growth forecast that was the average of 10 economists surveyed last week. A 1.2 percent growth in public demand helped offset a 1.3 percent fall in demand from the private sector, the data showed. Overall domestic demand fell 0.7 percent from the previous quarter. “The results were very positive,” said Takuji Aida, senior economist at UBS Securities Japan. “It’s true Japan would not have achieved growth without government stimulus. Still, the data shows that inventory adjustment is all but over, and we can expect growth going forward.” The Japanese economy’s resurgence after four consecutive quarters of contraction — including an 11.7 percent fall in annualized terms in the previous quarter — adds to a slowly improving picture of the world economy. (The growth rate for the previous quarter was revised upward Monday from 14.2 percent.) Last week, the German and French economies showed unexpected growth. The Federal Reserve said last week that the United States, the world’s biggest economy, appeared to be “leveling out.” China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea have reported rebounds as the effects of stimulus efforts across the globe take effect. Recovery in these critical overseas markets whittled down inventories and released some pent-up demand, bolstering Japan’s exports of cars and electronics. Exports grew 6.3 percent from the previous quarter, while imports fell 5.1 percent. At home, new tax breaks and incentives to help sales of energy-efficient cars and household appliances, coupled with lower gas prices and a rebound in share prices, spurred consumer spending. Prime Minister Taro Aso has pledged 25 trillion yen (about $263 billion) in stimulus money, including a cash handout plan and more public spending on programs like quake-proofing the country’s public schools, to revive the economy. Investors have shown recent optimism in Japan’s economy; shares in Tokyo recently rallied to their highest levels since early October. But the Nikkei 225 average dipped 1.5 percent in early trading Monday after the numbers were announced, after weak consumer sentiment data in the United States sent Wall Street lower on Friday. Still, the outlook for Japan remains unclear, and some analysts question whether the economy can sustain this recovery after stimulus measures at home and elsewhere run their course. Falling employment and wages are also expected to weigh on consumer spending for some time. Japan’s jobless rate hit a six-year high of 5.4 percent, and wages showed a record drop in June on an annual basis, dragging down consumer spending. Weak demand, coupled with falling oil prices, have put downward pressure on prices here, raising fears of prolonged and damaging deflation . “With the factors driving the current rebound being temporary in nature, a self-sustaining recovery is still not in sight,” Ryutaro Kono, Tokyo-based economist for BNP Paribas, told clients in a report published before Monday’s numbers. The latest growth recoups only a small fraction of the 8.8 percent the Japanese economy has lost since peaking in early 2008, Mr. Kono said. Private capital investment and real estate values also remain weak, economists say. Although production activity has increased with the turnaround in exports, “we have yet to see ‘active production’ backed by capital investment,” Kyohei Morita, chief economist for Japan at Barclays Capital, wrote in a note. Though exports and industrial production are recovering, their levels remain well off their peak, saddling companies with excess capacity and employment, Mr. Morita said. The Bank of Japan struck a similarly cautious note over prospects for a sustained recovery in a recent report. While the bank said the Japanese economy had stopped deteriorating, it warned that employment and wages would stay low for some time, hurting consumer spending. Despite this quarter’s growth, the bank predicts that Japan’s economy will contract 3.4 percent in the year to March 2010. The latest uptick is unlikely to enhance the standing of Mr. Aso’s Liberal Democratic Party ahead of national elections this month, when many expect the party to lose its grip on power for only the second time in over half a century. Voter surveys show that the Democratic Party, Japan’s main opposition party, which vows to put more money in the hands of consumers, is favored to beat the Liberal Democrats in the Aug. 30 balloting. Support has soared for the Democrats and their ambitious election platform, which includes cash allowances to families with children, free tuition and lower gasoline taxes. But some economists warn the Democrats’ plans will add to Japan’s growing debt, which already surpasses 180 percent of its gross domestic product. Others say that Japan needs deeper structural reforms to raise productivity, especially in the face of a shrinking population. An overhaul of the tax and social insurance systems are also priorities for Japan. Unless Japan can maintain robust growth into next year, the country will have suffered another “Lost Decade” of economic growth, after limping through much of the 1990s with little growth, Yutaka Harada, chief economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research, wrote in a recent note. “Ten years after our Lost Decade, we’re finding ourselves in the midst of a second Lost Decade,” Mr. Harada said.

Japan
Economic Conditions and Trends
International Trade and World Market
Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Recession and Depression


The Dissonant Undertones of M.I.A.

Abstract: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — To many Americans, Maya Arulpragasam , known as M.I.A., is the very pregnant rapper who gyrated across the stage at Sunday’s Grammy Awards. Yet in Sri Lanka, where she spent her childhood years, M.I.A. remains virtually unknown. And some who do know her work say she is an apologist for the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels fighting in the country’s long-running civil war. M.I.A. — who has been nominated for an Oscar for the song she co-wrote for the hit film “Slumdog Millionaire” — has branded herself through music videos and interviews as the voice of the country’s Tamil minority. In the video for her song “ Bird Flu ,” for instance, children dance in front of what looks like the rebels’ logo: a roaring tiger. “Being the only Tamil in the Western media, I have a really great opportunity to sort of bring forward what’s going on in Sri Lanka,” she said in an interview on the PBS program “Tavis Smiley” last month. “There’s a genocide going on.” But her political views rankle some people at a time when most Sri Lankans are clutching to the hope that the rebels, branded by the United States and European nations as a terrorist group, are on the verge of military defeat by government troops. “Frankly, she’s very lucky to get away with supporting, even indirectly, perhaps the most ruthless terrorist outfit in the world,” said Suresh Jayawickrama, a songwriter based in Colombo. Mr. Jayawickrama is from the country’s majority Sinhalese ethnic group, and his reaction is similar to that of many Sri Lankans who know M.I.A.’s music. But he also said that M.I.A. deserved credit for her artistry and the fame she had achieved. “She really should have a little more recognition in this country,” he said. Despite decades of conflict, music has remained largely free of political messages or overtones in Sri Lanka, perhaps because audiences are seeking entertainment and escape from the daily reminders of civil war. “Compared to other countries, people don’t write many songs here about what is going on politically,” said Dillain Joseph, a singer who is of mixed Sinhalese and Tamil parentage. Meanwhile, M.I.A.’s claims that the government is carrying out a genocide against Tamils place her on the outer fringe of opinion about the conflict. Although the government has brutalized and killed Tamil civilians over the past 25 years, human rights organizations spread the blame around, estimating that 70,000 people on both sides have been killed in the fighting. “This is a conflict in which both sides have terrible human rights records,” said Yolanda Foster, a specialist on Sri Lanka with Amnesty International in London . “The Tamil Tigers have a long history of child recruitment, hostage taking, forcing civilians to the front lines. It’s complicated to assign blame.” M.I.A. was born in Britain but moved to Sri Lanka when she was 6 months old so that her father, an engineer and a leader in the Tamil separatist movement, could help fight for an independent Tamil homeland. Her childhood took her across northern Sri Lanka, wracked by insurgency, to India and back to Britain, where her mother and siblings settled into a public housing project outside London. Her father remained in Sri Lanka. She now calls New York home. Sri Lankans who have seen her videos say they interpret some parts as showing support for the Tigers, or at the very least glorifying their cause. But for those not familiar with the conflict, they might come across as generic third-world scenes. “I kind of want to leave it ambiguous for my fans,” she said in the PBS interview, referring to the lyrics of her song “Paper Planes,” which was nominated for record of the year at the Grammys but did not win. “Paper Planes,” which compares international drug dealing with selling records, drew a reaction from DeLon, a Sinhalese rapper based in Los Angeles , who made a video remix in which he interspersed images of people being blown up by Tamil Tiger bombs and subtitles about M.I.A. being a terrorist. M.I.A. responded that she did not support terrorism. Despite those tensions, which played out largely on the Internet and abroad, musicians in Sri Lanka say the music scene has remained ethnically diverse, with members of the country’s numerous ethnic groups and religions often forming bands together. “There’s a lot of mixing and matching going on,” said Rienzie Pereira, a guitar player. “It’s basically like sports. No matter what ethnic group you are from, people can play cricket together.”

M I A
Tamil Tigers
Sri Lanka
Rap
Music
Grammys