A Police Confrontation Comes Slowly Into Focus

Abstract: WHITE PLAINS — The off-duty police officer was sitting in his parked car when he saw two men fighting on a downtown street. He stepped out of the car and tried to break up the confrontation, then rushed inside the county government building nearby to ask for help. Within seconds, he returned to the street, chasing one of the men, who was running away. The officer caught up to the man. They struggled. The man reached for the officer’s gun, a 9-millimeter Glock pistol, wresting it from the officer’s hand. The gun went off. This sequence of events, culled from court documents and interviews with law enforcement officials involved in the investigation, provides the most reliable account to date of what happened outside the Westchester County Department of Social Services offices on Court Street just before 5 p.m. on Friday. Four Westchester County Police officers — two assigned to the Social Services building and two assigned to another county building, the Michaelian Office Building, across the street — converged on the scene. At least one of them fired at the off-duty officer. Witnesses told investigators that they had heard 10 shots. Minutes later, when paramedics arrived, the off-duty officer, Christopher A. Ridley, 23, was pronounced dead. Many questions remain, including how many of the officers fired their weapons, how many shots were fired and how many of the bullets struck Officer Ridley, who had patrolled the city of Mount Vernon for two years. The police in White Plains, who are investigating the shooting, have interviewed more than 40 witnesses, but have publicly released little information about what happened that afternoon. While some community and religious leaders debate whether race might have played a role in the death of Officer Ridley, who was black, another issue has emerged: the procedures that govern off-duty officers’ actions. Legal experts, former police officers and police instructors say that while officers are trained to intervene in violent crimes when off duty, they have to yield to the uniformed officers who respond to the scene. In the New York Police Department’s patrol guide, the guidelines are clear. The off-duty officers must remain motionless, even at the risk of allowing a suspect to escape, and they must obey all orders from the officers in uniform. “The confronted officer has a responsibility not to turn his body to the uniformed officers, especially if he’s holding a firearm,” said Eugene O’Donnell, a professor of police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who is a former police officer and prosecutor in New York City. “But the on-duty officers are also told to show restraint and to challenge someone who is armed from the rear, which presumably would give them time to see how this person will react and determine who they are,” Professor O’Donnell said. “Of course, that’s easier said than done.” There are 43 police departments in Westchester County. All of their recruits — including those who are recruited as county police officers and who patrol county parks, parkways and buildings — receive basic training in the same place: the Westchester County Police Academy, which is overseen by the county commissioner of public safety, Thomas Belfiore. Mr. Belfiore worked for 20 years at the New York Police Department, and at one point served as commanding officer of its police academy. He declined to be interviewed for this article. But an official close to him, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly for the commissioner, said that the practices Mr. Belfiore has implemented in Westchester are “very similar” to those he put forth when he revamped the training curriculum in New York City. In the confrontation that led to Officer Ridley’s death, a homeless man, identified as Anthony Jacobs, set upon a 58-year-old Bronx man who was on his way home, punching and kicking him so hard that he broke the man’s wrists and two of his ribs, requiring him to be hospitalized, according to court documents. It was unclear what prompted the assault on the man, whose name was not released. It was Mr. Jacobs, 39, with whom Officer Ridley was struggling when his gun went off and at least one of the county officers —Detective Robin Martin and Officers Jose Calero, Christian Gutierrez and Frank Oliveri — fired his weapon. Mr. Jacobs was arraigned on Monday on charges of second-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon. No plea or bail request was entered on his behalf. Daniel Jackson, deputy commissioner of public safety in White Plains, declined on Tuesday to say whether the gun in Officer Ridley’s possession was his service weapon or whether he had been carrying his police shield and had identified himself to the county officer he approached in the county building to ask for help. Mr. Jackson said the county officers had not been interviewed by White Plains investigators. Mr. Jackson added, “As to who fired or the number of shots fired, we are awaiting the results of the ballistics examination.” Professor O’Donnell said that off-duty and plainclothes officers were generally instructed to carry their shields in the pocket opposite their shooting hand — a place that is “easy to reach and that would not require the officer to make any movement with his gun when he is asked for identification.” On Tuesday, Officer Ridley’s relatives gathered at City Hall in Mount Vernon for a ceremony marking the officer’s promotion to detective. His cousin, Danielle Scholar, read a statement from the family saying that the officer’s promotion proved “that Christopher acted properly and above and beyond the call of duty” when he tried to break up the dispute on last Friday. The county officers, meanwhile, remained on leave and were to be assigned to administrative duties once they returned to work, Commissioner Belfiore has said. Brian Jarvis, the training chairman for the Police Chiefs’ Association of Orange County and the chief of the Town of Chester Police Department, said that officers, regardless of whether they were off duty or in uniform, should use their weapons “only when they perceive their lives are in danger or when somebody else’s life is in danger.” He added: “You can sit back the next day and say, he should have done this, he should have done that, but what we have to remember is that these officers are acting on a split-second decision. And all they have to fall back on is their training and their common sense.”

Police
Ridley Christopher A
Firearms
Accidents and Safety
White Plains (NY)


Colombia’s 52-Year War Is Ending. Now Comes the Hard Part.

Abstract: Image Willington, second from right, reunited with his family for the first time in years at a FARC conference. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times It was a five-decade war — and it ended with a party on Colombia’s southern plains. In late September, Colombia’s main rebel group — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC — gathered for a last time before a peace agreement ending its 52-year insurgency . Rebel fighters and commanders trudged in from across Colombia for the event, a prelude to laying down arms and joining Colombian society. Image Rebels brought guns and other military gear — and a guitar — to the gathering. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times The war exacted a heavy toll . At least 220,000 people were killed and five million were displaced. As rebel groups around Latin America were defeated or entered politics, the rebels continued to persist in the jungle, financed by the cocaine trade. As the 21st century began, the rebels had created a 1960s Communist time capsule of sorts where rebels were taught Marxism under the banner of Che Guevara. Image The FARC flag waves in the wind during the conference. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times The turning point came in the early 2000s, when the government stepped up its attacks against rebels. Many of the rebel leaders were apprehended and rank-and-file soldiers defected, weakening the group. After four years of peace negotiations in Havana, the rebels and the government announced in August that they had a deal. Image Rebel fighters arrived in a truck for the gathering. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times With the war over, the rebel fighters must now decide how to reintegrate into Colombian society. Some are preparing to run for office. Others simply are planning to head home to towns and villages that some of them have not visited for years, where they will seek a start as farmers or tradespeople. Image A rebel fighter helped erect tents for the 1,500 people who attended the gathering. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times The treaty marks the end of the road for the rebels, many of whom have been in the jungles so long that a life outside of hammocks and tents is almost unimaginable. Beyond creating an insurgency, the rebels forged a lifestyle in the mountains replete with mobile kitchens and movable campsites. Image A mobile kitchen operated by the rebels. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times The reintegration of the rebels into Colombian society is perhaps the most urgent task for its leaders. Many experts warn that if the government does not find opportunities for the former guerrilla fighters, they will become easy recruits for paramilitary groups eager to fight for a piece of the drug trade. Image Shirley, a young rebel fighter, with her Kalashnikov rifle. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times It also remains unclear how popular their leadership — pictured here at the conference’s closing ceremony — will be in Colombian politics. While the group is guaranteed at least 10 seats in Congress starting in 2018, it is reviled by many Colombians who remember the bloodiest days of the war. Image The closing ceremony of the conference, where the rebels ratified the peace agreement. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times The gathering offered the rebels a taste of what life outside the jungle would be like. Not only will the rebels be wearing civilian clothes when they disarm, but they will also have the chance to marry. The FARC forbade marriage for its fighters, saying they were wed only to the revolution. Image Rebels danced at a party at the end of the conference. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times Now, the ball is in the court of the Colombian people. On Sunday, the country will hold a referendum to ratify the agreement. Many prominent voices have mounted opposition to the measure, including Colombia’s last president, Álvaro Uribe. However, polls show the referendum passing by a wide margin. Image A fighter on a motorcycle at the conference. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times If that happens, Colombians will enter an era that many have wanted. And for the first time in decades, the Americas will be free of war. Image The moon over the conference encampment. Credit Federico Rios Escobar for The New York Times


Singapore: Nation’s First Prime Minister Is Hospitalized

Abstract: Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, has been hospitalized for severe pneumonia, the prime minister’s office said Saturday. Mr. Lee, 91, was admitted to Singapore General Hospital on Feb. 5, the office said in a statement. His condition has stabilized and he remains on mechanical ventilation in the hospital’s intensive care unit, the statement said. A founding member of the governing People’s Action Party, which transformed Singapore from a slow port city to a bustling metropolis, Mr. Lee became prime minister in 1959 and held power for 31 years. One of his sons, Lee Hsien Loong, is the current prime minister.

Singapore
Lee Kuan Yew
People's Action Party Singapore


With 8 Years to Move, Trailer Park Residents Aren’t Biting at Cash Offer

Abstract: VERPLANCK THERE is a trailer park here that shares a peninsula on the Hudson River with the Indian Point nuclear plant, and while the Town of Cortlandt has not been able to do much about the plant’s disquieting presence, it is well on its way to getting rid of the trailer park. In eight years, residents of the 37 trailers that are parked alongside a glorious expanse of river, with million-dollar views they enjoy for a relative song, will have to move out. Indeed, the town (Verplanck is a hamlet in Cortlandt) wants them out sooner. It owns the land and recently announced carrots of $6,500 apiece to prod the mostly blue-collar and elderly residents to forsake their homes. Many residents, though, see the carrots as sticks. That’s because the town will reduce the offer by $1,000 each year the residents hesitate, until the offer dwindles to zero. The town wants to convert the 26-acre Riveredge Trailer Park into an actual park, sans trailers, for all its citizens to enjoy. But it takes just a short visit to realize that there are people whose lives will be upended. Take Toni Canestra. A onetime occupational therapist at the nearby veterans’ hospital and never married, she is 89 years old. With a body bent, hobbled and shrunk from her prime, she is still able to harvest the tomatoes she planted and staked in the spring in a narrow garden alongside her trailer. She has lived in the 10-foot-wide trailer, and a lateral addition almost as broad, for 30 years, buying it for $14,000 after she had to put her mother, with whom she shared a house, into a nursing home. Miss Canestra spent much of her life’s free time bowling, and when a visitor dropped in the other day she was wearing a sky-blue “Have a Barrel of Fun” sweat shirt from a 1991 tournament in Niagara Falls. Bowling was not her only avocation. “I used to dance, but my feet don’t work anymore,” she said. She has turned the trailer into a tidy home larger than many Manhattan studios. Wood-paneled, it is packed with photographs of her more than 20 nieces, nephews and their children as well as glass figurines and Christmas ornaments. Out her window, she can see two apple trees that she says produce “fairly good apples” and whose shade provides a picnic spot for neighboring families. She likes the fact that without climbing down flights of stairs she can step out of her trailer and within 200 feet listen to the dark Hudson water lapping at her feet and gaze at seagulls and hawks circling overhead. “I love my place here,” she said, with a smile that often glints merrily. “I got the view. I see every boat that goes up and down the river. It’s just peaceful.” Now Miss Canestra must contemplate the possibility that she will need to move, probably into an assisted living setting, though she adds pluckily: “I may not be here in eight years. If I’m still here, then I’ll decide.” It is a fair bet that many Westchester residents would be surprised to learn that in their tidy county — where the median home price exceeds $650,000 — there are trailer parks. There are two smaller ones as well, and all three are nestled in the craggy northwest corner of the county, which until recent decades retained hardscrabble rural edges like emery mines. While most of the 70 residents at Riveredge own their trailers, the land underneath was owned from 1950 onward by James Martin, a Connecticut-based seaplane enthusiast who liked being patron of the colony and rejected offers of $5 million from condo developers. According to Linda D. Puglisi, the longtime Cortlandt supervisor, Mr. Martin decided in 1994 to donate the land to the town for parkland but wanted to protect residents and signed an agreement, endorsed by the homeowners association, that residents could remain for 10 years after his death. He died two years ago, so the clock will tick for another eight years. The town feels it offered a fair deal in 1994, effectively giving trailer residents 22 years to find alternate dwellings. But the residents feel they still face the same challenge: finding homes that can match the deals that have allowed low-income people like them to abide in Westchester. Many residents pay less than $200 a month in maintenance fees to rent their land. Only 3 of the 37 trailer owners have taken the town’s offer. People like Ron Bassett, an eight-year resident, do praise the town for giving them so many years to figure out their futures, but there are lingering resentments. “It seems like they’re trying to bully people out by dropping the price each year,” said Mr. Bassett, 54, an exterminator who is on disability and for many years was part of a nostalgia spinoff of the rock ’n’ roll group the Crests. “Sixty-five hundred dollars is not enough to get you a couple of months’ rent.” “They’re going to have to sweeten the pot,” said his neighbor, Tom Underwood, 55, a carpenter. “Where do you go for $6,500?” Miss Canestra, who pays $70 in maintenance, knows similar space without river views would surely rent for more than $1,000, but that is not money that comes easily, and there are other drawbacks. “I’d be cooped up in an apartment,” she said. “I’m not confined here. I’ve got open space.”


Federal Court in Brooklyn Evacuated in a Bomb Scare

Abstract: To the woman who found a knapsack outside the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on Thursday, taking it to the courthouse’s lost and found office might have seemed like a simple act of courtesy. But to courthouse officials, the unattended bag was potentially dangerous. When they put it through a scanning machine around noon, they saw a laptop computer with wires protruding from it, prompting them to declare a security alert that required the building’s evacuation. Within minutes, judges, lawyers and clerks at the United States District Court left the building, on Cadman Plaza East in Downtown Brooklyn. The Police Department’s bomb squad and several fire trucks arrived. It was a false alarm: a contractor working in the building had left the bag behind. Still, the episode reflected tense times. Security breaches and worries over unattended bags are nothing new in law enforcement. But because of the tension after the attempted bombing of a plane en route to Detroit last month, Thursday’s errant bag received greater scrutiny than usual. Many law-enforcement officials fear that such scares will occur all too frequently if the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his co-defendants is held at the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan. The scare occurred a day after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that he hoped the government would hold the trial elsewhere . And it appeared to give momentum to groups trying to have the trial moved out of the city. Julie Menin, the chairwoman of Community Board 1, which represents the neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan closest to the courthouse, said the scare was “even more fodder” for arguments against having the trial in Manhattan. Community Board 1 passed a resolution last week asking the federal government to consider alternative sites in the northern suburbs or farther upstate, away from the city and the nation’s financial center. “It’s just another example of the barrage that the neighborhood will be adversely affected on a daily basis,” Ms. Menin said of the response in Brooklyn. In Brooklyn, the disruption came suddenly. Justine A. Harris and Kannan Sundaram, both defense lawyers, were visiting a client in a basement holding pen when a federal officer walked in, removed the client and told the lawyers that everyone would have to leave the building. “I assumed it was nothing because I always assume it is nothing,” Mr. Sundaram said. Daveena Boyd, who works in a ground-floor concession stand inside the courthouse, said guards came and told her that they were closing the lobby. “They didn’t say why,” she said. “I thought maybe somebody had come into the building the wrong way.” Court officers ushered a swelling crowd through a door onto Adams Street. The crowd gathered across the street from the courthouse on Cadman Plaza. Officers then directed them farther back into a park. The building was shut down for about an hour and a half, according to Eugene J. Corcoran, the United States Marshal for the Eastern District of New York. In the afternoon, the courthouse was largely quiet, but proceedings had resumed in at least one courtroom. “It was a routine evacuation,” Mr. Corcoran said.


Keystone XL Pipeline Tradeoff Is Suggested

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama’s first major environmental decision of his second term could be to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, profoundly disappointing environmental advocates who have made the project a symbolic test of the president’s seriousness on climate change. But could some kind of deal be in the offing — a major climate policy announcement on, for example, power plant regulation or renewable energy incentives — to ease the sting of the pipeline approval? White House and State Department officials insist a pipeline ruling will be made strictly on whether the 1,700-mile project is in the economic, environmental and security interests of the United States. They say the pipeline is not a fundamental piece of the nation’s climate policy nor is it a political bargaining chip to trade for other measures. Administration officials have described the pipeline as a relatively simple permit application on an infrastructure project to transport oil from Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast. But to many environmentalists, including some of the president’s most active campaign supporters, the issue has huge symbolic and political importance. For that reason, the approaching decision — expected some time this summer or early fall — offers the president a rare opportunity to set the parameters of the energy debate for the rest of his term and cement his legacy as the first president to seriously address climate change. “Presidents don’t get many opportunities to make big dramatic announcements,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former energy adviser in the Clinton White House and now a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. “If and when he announces approval of Keystone, he has a once-in-a-term teachable moment on climate.” Mr. Bledsoe suggested that the president use the opportunity to announce a new regime of regulation for existing coal-fired power plants, which account for a third of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Others suggest Mr. Obama could tie the decision to a renewed push on a national clean energy standard, requiring that a set proportion of the nation’s electricity be produced from carbon-free sources by a given year. One former administration official even suggested an interesting formula — 18 percent by 2018. In 2011, renewable power — solar, wind and hydro — produced 13 percent of America’s electricity. There are a number of problems with such proposals, however. First, pipeline opponents say there is no possible deal that could compensate for the environmental damage created by the construction of the pipeline and expanded development of the Canadian oil sands. They have described the pipeline as a fuse to one of the biggest carbon bombs on the planet, and said that extracting and burning all the oil in the Alberta oil sands would mean the game was over for global climate. “Approving the pipeline would be a deep self-inflicted wound on the Obama administration, greater than anything else he has done,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club and a leader of the antipipeline movement. “This was not inherited from the Bush administration and it can’t be passed off to his successor. It really is Obama’s alone. Whatever damage the decision would do to the environmental movement pales in comparison to the damage it would do to his own legacy.” Mr. Brune and other environmental advocates say that Mr. Obama should veto the pipeline and pursue climate-friendly policies for their own sakes, not as part of some political deal. The danger to the climate of continuing on the current path demands strong steps like curbing coal-fired power and supporting renewable alternatives, he said. “It’s hard to argue we should be developing new fossil fuel sources,” said Mr. Brune, who was arrested outside the White House at a Keystone protest earlier this year, “but particularly such a carbon-intensive source as the Canadian tar sands.” There are other difficulties. Last year the Environmental Protection Agency proposed limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, effectively foreclosing construction of any new coal-burning facilities. But just last month the E.P.A. delayed the proposed rule, saying it needed to respond to public and industry concerns. It is unlikely the administration will take on the far more contentious and costly project of curbing greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants until the new plant rule is completed, or at least much further along than it is now. This week, Gina McCarthy, who is awaiting confirmation as the new E.P.A. administrator, told Senate Republicans in a written submission that the agency “is not currently developing any existing-source G.H.G. regulations.” G.H.G. is shorthand for greenhouse gas. A clean energy standard, also known as a renewable portfolio standard, also presents problems. About 30 states already have such rules in place, with different targets and timelines. To impose such a regimen nationally, however, requires Congressional action, which is unlikely. A clean energy proposal last year from former Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, went nowhere and there is even less enthusiasm in the current Congress. “The president can’t do a clean energy standard on his own,” said Robert Dillon, spokesman for Senator Lisa Murkowski, the senior Republican from Alaska on the Energy and Natural Resources committee. “He can’t just order utilities to buy a certain amount of renewable energy.” He asked, “Is the goal to make energy cleaner? Or just to subsidize certain favored sectors of the renewable energy industry like wind and solar?” Another possibility could be for Mr. Obama to extract promises from Canada to make development and transport of the oil less harmful to the environment. But Canadian officials bristle at such suggestions, saying Alberta has had a carbon tax in place since 2007 (although it is quite small) and that some of the proceeds are diverted to development of alternative energy. They also say overall carbon emissions from oil sands mining have dropped 26 percent a barrel since 1990 and will fall further. And Canada’s overall greenhouse gas reduction target — 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 — is the same as that of the United States. “None of the environmental initiatives we have put in place were done to get the pipeline approved,” Alison Redford, the premier of Alberta, said in a recent visit to Washington to lobby for Keystone. “Anything we do has not and will not be done based on a quid pro quo.”

Greenhouse gas
Keystone Pipeline
Barack Obama
Climate Change
Global Warming


Peacekeepers Accused of Sexual Abuse in Central African Republic

Abstract: GENEVA — The United Nations reported on Friday “extremely disturbing” new accusations of sexual abuse by European peacekeepers in the Central African Republic , adding to a long-running scandal that has reverberated at the highest levels of the world body. The United Nations human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, called for further investigation of reports that members of a European Union peacekeeping contingent had raped two girls and had paid two others for sex. The girls were 14 to 16 at the time. The acts took place in 2014 and 2015 and involved troops from Georgia and another European country, the girls told investigators. The other country has not been publicly identified. In addition, United Nations human rights officials reported that a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl said they had been paid by French peacekeepers for oral sex and that they knew of other children who had been repeatedly abused by French troops. “These are extremely serious accusations,” Mr. al-Hussein said, “and it is crucial that these cases are thoroughly and urgently investigated.” The latest cases, uncovered by investigators in early January, add to concerns about the failure of the United Nations to curb what Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, called the “constant horror story of allegations” that have dogged international peacekeeping troops. Image Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the human rights office, center, discussed in Geneva on Friday the reports of sexual abuse in the Central African Republic. Credit Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “Far too many of these crimes continue to go unpunished, with the perpetrators enjoying full impunity,” Mr. al-Hussein said in a statement. “This simply encourages further violations,” he added, emphasizing the obligation of nations to investigate and prosecute abuse and to ensure that victims receive redress. Mr. al-Hussein said that he had discussed the latest accusations with the French, Georgian and European Union authorities, and that he was “heartened” by their initial responses. He added, however, that there was no doubt that all foreign military forces, regardless of whether they serve under the United Nations umbrella, “must employ much stronger and more effective actions to prevent further abuse and exploitation.” “What is abundantly clear in the Central African Republic is that it has been rampant,” Mr. Colville said, noting that around 10 international peacekeeping contingents had now been implicated in cases of sexual abuse. “For whatever reason, not enough is being done to stop this happening. The message doesn’t seem to have got through.” The European Union said in a statement that it took the accusations “very seriously” and that it had sent an expert to the human rights office to discuss a response. It added that the bloc had a policy of zero tolerance for sexual abuse or criminal conduct, but that responsibility for any investigation, disciplinary or criminal action rested with the home countries of the accused. United Nations investigators suspect that French peacekeepers abused boys in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, in 2014. The French authorities are now investigating the cases, but there have been no convictions to date, Mr. Colville said. The United Nations response to those reports was criticized by an independent panel appointed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon , which said in a report last month that officials had “turned a blind eye to the criminal actions of individual troops” and had failed to protect or aid child victims of sexual abuse. Instead, the report found, the United Nations human rights office had focused on the conduct of a senior staff member who leaked to the French authorities an internal report that did not redact the names of victims. The staff member was exonerated.

Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al Hussein,Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein


Events in New Jersey for Sept. 21-27, 2014

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in New Jersey. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to njtowns@nytimes.com. Comedy HASBROUCK HEIGHTS Bananas Comedy Club Ralphie May. Through Sept. 21. $35. Bananas Comedy Club, 283 Route 17 South. 201-727-1090; bananascomedyclub.com. NEWARK Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center Lewis Black. Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. $44.65 to $84.75. Prudential Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center Street. njpac.org; 888-466-5722. Film NEW BRUNSWICK Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Jersey International Film Festival, new foreign films, American independent features, experimental and short subjects, classic revivals and documentaries. Through Oct. 5. $8 to $10. Rutgers University-New Brunswick, 71 Hamilton Street. njfilmfest.com; 848-932-8482. For Children CAMDEN Adventure Aquarium “Hippo Haven,” with Button and Genny, Nile hippos. Continuing. $18.95 and $25.95; children under 2, free. Adventure Aquarium, 1 Riverside Drive. adventureaquarium.com; 856-365-3300. ENGLEWOOD Bergen Performing Arts Center The Wiggles, music. Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. $35 to $75. Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 North Van Brunt Street. bergenpac.org; 201-227-1030. NEW BRUNSWICK State Theater Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” Sept. 26 at 8 p.m.; Sept. 27 at 2 and 8 p.m. $35 to $75. State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue. 732-246-7469; statetheatrenj.org. NEWARK Prudential Center Sesame Street Live “Let’s Dance!” Sept. 21 at 1 and 4:30 p.m. $35.90 to $74.70. Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette Street. prucenter.com; 800-653-8000. RED BANK Count Basie Theater Kidz Bop. Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. $25 to $50. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. 732-842-9000; countbasietheatre.org. TRENTON New Jersey State Museum “Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Live!” planetarium shows, programs, hands-on workshops and a Traditions of India dance performance. Sept. 27, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street. 609-292-6464; statemuseum.nj.gov. Music and Dance MORRISTOWN Mayo Performing Arts Center Asia, rock. Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. $39 to $69. Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South Street. 973-539-8008; mayoarts.org. NEW BRUNSWICK Boyd Park “Hub City Sounds Summer Series,” ’80s electronic dance music party, Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. Kids Day at the Park, featuring a children’s ballet and theater, Sept. 27 at 3 p.m. Both are free. 732-729-0320; newbrunswickarts.org. NEW BRUNSWICK State Theater Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle, singer-songwriters. Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. $35 to $65. State Theater, 15 Livingston Avenue. 732-246-7469; statetheatrenj.org. PLAINSBORO Princeton Alliance Church Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra Concert, “Movies and Musicals,” Paul Reilly, baritone, two songs from “Les Misérables,” and Kevin Cheng-Chih Tsai, concertmaster, “Danse Macabre” by Saint-Saëns. Sept. 28, 7 p.m. $15 to $225. Princeton Alliance Church, 20 Schalks Crossing Road. 609-790-9559; bravuraphil.org. PRINCETON Richardson Auditorium The Emerson String Quartet, works by Haydn, Beethoven and Ravel, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. Preconcert talk by Prof. Scott Burnham at 7 p.m. $5 to $45. Richardson Auditorium, in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus. princeton.edu/richaud; 609-258-2800. RED BANK Count Basie Theater David Grisman Sextet. Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. $25 to $49.50. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. 732-842-9000; countbasietheatre.org. SOUTH ORANGE South Orange Performing Arts Center The Manhattan Transfer: Living Room Sessions, vocal group. Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. $43 to $98. South Orange Performing Arts Center, 1 Sopac Way. 973-313-2787; sopacnow.org. Outdoors AUGUSTA Sussex County Fairgrounds 44th Annual Peters Valley Fine Craft Fair, over 150 artists, artist demonstrations, food, live music and art activities for children. Sept. 27 and 28. $9 and $12. Sussex County Fairgrounds, 37 Plains Road. 973-948-5500; petersvalley.org. MONTCLAIR Academy Square “Montclair Country Fest,” the Larry Tobias Band, face-painting, games for kids, line dancing, a D.J. and food trucks. Sept. 28, 2 to 4 p.m. Free. Academy Square, 33 Plymouth Street. homecorp.org; 973-744-4141. Image MADISON Anthony Marble as John Faustus, left, and Jordan Coughtry as Hamlet in “Wittenberg,” a drama by David Davalos, at the F. M. Kirby Shakespeare Theater, Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue, through Oct. 8. Tickets are $32 to $62. For further information: 973-408-5600; shakespearenj.org. Credit Jerry Dalia/The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey PATERSON Lambert Castle The sixth annual Passaic County History Fair. Historical organizations, museums and genealogical groups. Presentations from local historians, and appearances by authors on Passaic County history. Sept. 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. Lambert Castle, 3 Valley Road. 973-247-0085, Ext 201; lambertcastle.org. Spoken Word EWING Mayo Concert Hall Brown Bag Series: discussion with Frank Migliorelli, director of Digital Experience at the New York Public Library. Oct. 3, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Free. Mayo Concert Hall, 2000 Pennington Road. 800-595-4849; tcnjcenterforthearts.pages.tcnj.edu. HIGHLAND PARK Highland Park Public Library Alicia Suskin Ostriker, poet and critic, is featured reader at the Friends of the Library Poetry Night Series. Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Highland Park Public Library, 31 North 5th Avenue. 732-572-2750; hpplnj.org. MORRISTOWN Various Locations Morristown Festival of Books, discussions, book sales, signings and presentations by 21 authors, including Ishmael Beah, author of “A Long Way Gone,” and Jane O’Connor of the “Fancy Nancy” children’s book series. Sept. 26 and 27, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For Friday’s keynote event, featuring William Cohan, author of “The Price of Silence,” tickets are $20; everything else is free. Various locations. 973-539-8008; www.morristownfestivalofbooks.org. PATERSON Lambert Castle Michael Gabriele, author of “Manufacturing Roadside Landmarks: The Story of Paterson’s Silk City Diners.” Sept. 21 at 2 p.m. $5; free for members. Lambert Castle, 3 Valley Road. 973-247-0085; ext. 201; lambertcastle.org. SCOTCH PLAINS Scotch Hills Country Club “Women Healers in the Civil War,” illustrated talk by Dr. Sandra Moss. Sept. 23, 8 to 10 p.m. Free. Scotch Hills Country Club, Plainfield Avenue and Jerusalem Road. historicalsocietyspfnj.org; 908-232-9489. Theater CAPE MAY Cape May Stage “Other Desert Cities,” by Jon Robin Baitz. Sept. 24 through Oct. 31. $15 to $35. Cape May Stage, the Robert Shackleton Playhouse, 405 Lafayette Street. capemaystage.com; 609-770-8311. CAPE MAY East Lynne Theater Company, the First Presbyterian Church of Cape May “Within the Law,” crime drama by Bayard Veiller. Through Oct. 12. $15 to $30; Age 12 and under free. East Lynne Theater Company, the First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes Street. 609-884-5898; eastlynnetheater.org. DOVER Dover Little Theater “Arsenic and Old Lace,” comedy by Joseph Kesserling. Through Oct. 4. $17. Dover Little Theater, Elliott Street. doverlittletheatre.org; 973-328-9202. HAMMONTON Eagle Theater “The Civil War: The Musical,” by Frank Wildhorn. Through Oct. 11. $28.50 and $38.50. Eagle Theater, 208 Vine Street. 609-704-5012; theeagletheatre.com. MADISON F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theater, Drew University “Wittenberg,” drama by David Davalos. Through Oct. 8. $32 to $62. F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theater, Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue. shakespearenj.org; 973-408-5600. MILLBURN Paper Mill Playhouse “Can-Can,” musical by Cole Porter. Oct. 1 through 26. $36 to $91. Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive. papermill.org; 973-376-4343. MORRIS TOWNSHIP Bickford Theater “Sophie Tucker: Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” by Richard Hopkins, Jack Fournier and Kathy Halenda. Oct. 2 through 19. $20 to $45. Bickford Theater, 6 Normandy Heights Road. morrismuseum.org; 973-971-3706. ORADELL Bergen County Players, Little Firehouse Theater “The Drowsy Chaperone,” book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. Through Oct. 11. $24. Bergen County Players, Little Firehouse Theater, 298 Kinderkamack Road. bcplayers.org; 201-261-4200. PRINCETON McCarter Theater Center “Antony and Cleopatra,” by William Shakespeare, starring Nicole Ari Parker as Cleopatra. Through Oct. 5. $25 to $87.50. McCarter Theater Center, 91 University Place, mccarter.org; 609-258-2787. RAHWAY Hamilton Stage “To Kill a Mockingbird,” based on the Harper Lee novel, adapted by Christopher Sergel. Through Oct. 5. $15 and $25. Hamilton Stage, 360 Hamilton Street. 732-499-8226; ucpac.org. RED BANK Count Basie Theater “The Sound of Music,” music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Sept. 21 at 3 p.m. $22 to $32. Count Basie Theater, 99 Monmouth Street. 732-842-9000; countbasietheatre.org. SOMERSET “A Streetcar Named Desire,” by Tennessee Williams. Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Through Sept. 28. $16 and $18. Villagers Theater, 475 DeMott Lane. villagerstheatre.com; 732-873-2710. UNION Premiere Stages at Kean University “Janice Underwater,” by Tom Matthew Wolfe; winner of the 2014 Premiere Stages Play Festival. Through Sept. 21. $15 to $30. Premiere Stages at Kean University, 1000 Morris Ave. 908-737-7469; kean.edu/premierestages. Museums and Galleries ASBURY PARK Heaven Gallery “Five New Artists,” paintings, prints and photographs. Through Oct. 26. Free. Heaven Gallery, 721 Cookman Avenue. 732-774-4799. Image MORRISTOWN “Speedwell Village and Iron Works” (c. 1855), oil on canvas by Edward Kranich, is in “Made in New Jersey: A Celebration of Decorative and Fine Arts,” an exhibition at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, 45 Macculloch Avenue, on display through Oct. 30. Admission is $6 to $8; children 6 to 12, $4; members and 5 and under, free. For further information: maccullochhall.org; 973-538-2404. Credit Collection of Macculloch Hall Historical Museum ASBURY PARK Parlor Gallery “In Her Appearance,” group show. Through Oct. 6. Wednesdays through Thursdays, noon to 7 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 9 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 7 p.m. Parlor Gallery, 717 Cookman Avenue. parlor-gallery.com; 732-869-0606. BEDMINSTER The Center for Contemporary Art “You’re U.S.: At Home With America,” multimedia exhibition of 30 profiles. Through Oct. 25. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Center for Contemporary Art, 2020 Burnt Mills Road. 908-234-2345; ccabedminster.org. BERNARDSVILLE Bernardsville Public Library “Something’s in My Eye,” photography by Arthur Krasinsky. Through Sept. 30. Bernardsville Public Library, 1 Anderson Hill Road. 908-766-0118. CAPE MAY Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery Demonstrations at Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery, Eva Shelley, glass artist, using a blow torch. Sept. 27 through Oct. 4. Free. Stained and fused glass by Diane Flanegan. Through Sept. 30. Cape May Artists’ Cooperative Gallery, 122 Sunset Boulevard. capemayartistcoop.com; 609-435-5253. CLIFTON Clifton Arts Center “Louis Bouché Part II: The Modern Artists Era,” oil paintings and murals. Through Oct. 25. $3. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 1 to 4 p.m. Clifton Arts Center, 900 Clifton Avenue. 973-472-5499; cliftonnj.org/notices/f737fa02. CLINTON Hunterdon Art Museum Fall art exhibitions: “A Clay Bestiary,” animal ceramics; “Giovanna Cecchetti: The Consciousness of Infinite Goodness,” paintings and works on paper; “Warren Muller,” a study on objects and luminescence; and “Members Exhibition 2014.” Sept. 27 through Jan. 4. Donation: $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hunterdon Art Museum, 7 Lower Center Street. 908-735-8415; hunterdonartmuseum.org. ENGLEWOOD One River Gallery “Two River 2014,” group show of contemporary Brooklyn artists. Through Nov. 1. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. One River Gallery, 49 North Dean Street. onerivergallery.com; 201-266-5244. EWING The College of New Jersey 2014 Alumni Art Exhibition. Through Oct. 9. Tuesdays through Thursdays, noon to 7 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 3 p.m. The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Road. 609-771-2633; tcnj.edu/artgallery. FREEHOLD Monmouth County Historical Association Museum and Library “Farm: Agriculture in Monmouth County 1600-2013.” Through Dec. 31. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monmouth County Historical Association Museum and Library, 70 Court Street. monmouthhistory.org; 732-462-1466. GALLOWAY Stockton College Art Gallery “Alan Cohen: Boundaries,” photographs from his “Lines of Authority” series; and “Going Solo & Tandem,” works by Marilyn Keating and Debra Sachs. Through Nov. 9. Mondays through Saturdays, noon to 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Stockton College Art Gallery, 101 Vera King Farris Drive. ; 609-652-4214; stockton.edu/artgallery. GLASSBORO Rowan University Art Gallery “Mel Chin: Disparate Acts,” works questioning the objectivity, reliability, and integrity of information, facts, and data when compromised and corrupted by a political, social, or cultural agenda. Through Nov. 1. Free. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Rowan University Art Gallery, 201 Mullica Hill Road. 856-256-4521; rowan.edu/artgallery. HACKENSACK Edward Williams Gallery “9/11 Paintings” by Ken Kaminski. Through Sept. 26. Mondays through Fridays, 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Edward Williams Gallery, 150 Kotte Place. fdu.edu; 201-692- 2449. HALEDON American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark “Border Angels,” photographs by Pamela Calore and Sara Gurli. Through Dec. 31. $5 suggested donation. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 1 to 4 p.m., or by appointment. American Labor Museum/Botto House National Landmark, 83 Norwood Street. labormuseum.net; 973-595-7953. HOBOKEN Hoboken Historical Museum “Hoboken, Ellis Island and the Immigrant Experience, 1892-1924.” Through Dec. 23. $2. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 2 to 7 p.m.; Friday 1 to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. Hoboken Historical Museum, 1301 Hudson Street. 201-656-2240; hobokenmuseum.org. LAMBERTVILLE The Artists’ Gallery “Flight/Patterns,” paintings by Beatrice Bork and drawings by Jennifer Cadoff. Through Oct. 5. Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays until 9 p.m. The Artists’ Gallery, 18 Bridge Street. 609-397-4588; lambertvillearts.com. LINCROFT Monmouth Museum “Who’s Your Mama: Visions of Our Mentors,” works from the National Association of Women Artists, Sept. 21 through Nov. 2. Reception: Sept. 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. $7; free for museum members. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Monmouth Museum, 765 Newman Springs Road. 732-747-2266; monmouthmuseum.org. MADISON Drew University “Waver,” wall installations by Katie Bell. Through Oct. 3. Free. Korn Gallery, Drew University, 36 Madison Avenue. 973-408-3758; drew.edu/korngallery. MADISON Museum of Early Trades and Crafts “The American Revolution in New Jersey: Where the Battlefront Meets the Homefront.” Through Feb. 13, 2015. $3 to $13; members, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Museum of Early Trades and Crafts, 9 Main Street. metc.org; 973-377-2982. MONTCLAIR Montclair Art Museum “From Heart to Hand: African-American Quilts from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts,” quilts primarily from West Alabama. Sept. 21 through Jan. 4. “Sanford Biggers: Danpatsu,” single-channel video on outdoor monitors examines issues of cultural difference and identity. Sept. 21 through Jan. 4. “100 Works for 100 Years: A Centennial Celebration,” art from the collection. Sept. 21 Through Nov. 9. “Spencer Finch: Yellow” site-specific installation commissioned in honor of the centennial. Continuing. “Robert Barry: Diptych, Window-Wallpiece for the Montclair Art Museum,” allusive words in a site-specific installation. Sept. 21 through Jan. 4. $10 and $12; members and children under 12 free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Montclair Art Museum, 3 South Mountain Avenue. 973-746-5555; montclairartmuseum.org. MORRISTOWN Atrium Gallery Fall/Winter Exhibit, group show. Through Jan. 7. Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Atrium Gallery, 10 Court Street. 973-540-0615; artintheatrium.org. Image HOBOKEN The comedian Christian Finnegan will be at Willie McBride’s, 616 Grand Street, on Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. as part of the Hoboken Comedy Festival, which runs through Oct. 5 at various locations. Tickets are $20. For information: hobokenfestival.com ; 201-898-0772. Credit Lucas Jackson/Reuters MORRISTOWN Haggerty Education Center, Frelinghuysen Arboretum “Sightseeing,” photographs by Michal Barka. Oct. 1 through 31. Haggerty Education Center, Frelinghuysen Arboretum, 353 East Hanover Avenue. 973-326-7603; arboretumfriends.org. MORRISTOWN Macculloch Hall Historical Museum “Made in New Jersey: A Celebration of Decorative and Fine Arts.” Through Oct. 30. $6 to $8; age 6 to 12, $4; 5 and under, free. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Macculloch Hall Historical Museum, 45 Macculloch Avenue. 973-538-2404; maccullochhall.org. MORRISTOWN Morris Museum “Legacy in Clay: Contemporary American Indian Pottery.” Through Sept. 28. “Portrait of an Athlete: Special Olympics of New Jersey and United States Paralympics.” Through Nov. 16. $7 to $10. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road. 973-971-3700; morrismuseum.org. MOUNT HOLLY ABstract EXpressions Contemporary Art Gallery Twice Abstracted: Photographs by Adel Gorgy and Paintings by Robert Bloomberg. Through Nov. 28. Fridays, 1 to 7 p.m. and Saturdays, noon to 7 p.m. ABstract EXpressions Contemporary Art Gallery, 70 High Street. abstractexpressionsgallery.com; 609-267-7513. NEW BRUNSWICK Museum of American Hungarian Foundation “Eva Zeisel: Life, Design and Beauty,” modern industrial design. Through Sept. 30. “40th Anniversary of Rubik’s Cube,” from the collection of Andre Farkas. Through Jan. 31, 2015. $5. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Museum of American Hungarian Foundation, 300 Somerset Street. 732-846-5777; ahfoundation.org. NEW BRUNSWICK Rutgers University, Douglass Library “Momentum: Women/Art/Technology,” works by Grimanesa Amorós, artist-in-residence. Through Nov. 7. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Rutgers University, Douglass Library, 8 Chapel Drive. 732-932-3726; iwa.rutgers.edu. NEW BRUNSWICK Zimmerli Art Museum “Sports and Recreation in France, 1840-1900,” works on paper. Through Jan. 11. “Odessa’s Second Avant-Garde: City and Myth,” trends in art from the 1960s to the 1980s. Through Oct. 19. “Bugs & Frogs & Toads! Oh My!” Children’s book illustrations by Nancy Winslow Parker. Through June 2015. “A Place in America: Celebrating the Legacy of Ralph and Barbara Voorhees,” prints and drawings of America’s landscape made from 1880 to 1940. Through Feb. 8. Free to $6. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton Street. 848-932-7237; zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu. NEWARK The Newark Museum “City of Silver and Gold From Tiffany to Cartier.” Through 2015. “Gone Fishin’: Aquatic Imagery in Asian Art,” folding screens, hanging scrolls, ceramics and sculpture. Through March 1. $7 and $12; members, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. The Newark Museum, 49 Washington Street. 973-596-6550; newarkmuseum.org. OCEAN CITY Ocean City Arts Center Paintings of Manhattan and Brooklyn by John Lloyd. Through Sept. 30. Free. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 1735 Simpson Avenue. oceancityartscenter.org; 609-399-7628. PATERSON Lambert Castle “Pancakes, Patties and Pies: The History of the Silk City Diner Company of Paterson.” Through Oct. 6. Admission, $3 to $5. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Lambert Castle, 3 Valley Road. 973-247-0085, ext. 201; lambertcastle.org. PRINCETON Morven Museum and Garden “Hail Specimen of Female Art! New Jersey Schoolgirl Needlework, 1726-1860.” Oct. 3 through March 29. $5 and $6. Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Morven Museum and Garden, 55 Stockton Street. 609-924-8144; morven.org. PRINCETON Princeton University Art Museum “Lee Bontecou: Drawn Worlds,” drawings. Through Sept. 21. “Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting From the Collection of Preston H. Haskell.” Through Oct. 5. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Princeton University campus. artmuseum.princeton.edu; 609-258-3788. PRINCETON Princeton University Library “Nova Caesarea: A Cartographic Record of the Garden State, 1666-1888,” maps and atlases of New Jersey counties. Through Jan. 25. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Firestone Library and Museum, Princeton University, 1 Washington Road. 609-258-1470; library.princeton.edu. SOUTH ORANGE Meadowland Park IN-SITE; the Intersection of Art and Architecture, self-guided, outdoor exhibition of over 20 sculptures from 16 artists throughout Meadowland Park along the River Walkway and into the business district of South Orange. Sept. 21 through Oct. 21. Reception: Sept.21, 3 p.m. Free. Meadowland Park, North Ridgewood Road. 201-207-1876; pierrofoundation.org. OUTH ORANGE The Baird “Thou Art Mom,” group exhibition of artwork made by mothers. Through Oct. 18. Fridays through Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. The Baird, 5 Mead Street. 973-378-7754; southorange.org/TheBaird. SUMMIT Visual Arts Center of New Jersey “Doppler Shift,” international group show. Sept. 28 through Jan. 18. Reception: Sept. 28, 1 to 4 p.m. Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, 68 Elm Street. 908-273-9121; artcenternj.org. TRENTON Mala Polska “Reflections of Poland,” paintings and carved reliefs by Ewa Zeller and Jerzy Chojnowski, Polish artists,. Through Nov. 10. Daily, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mala Polska, 1046 Brunswick Avenue. 609-937-2880. TRENTON New Jersey State Museum “Aljira at 30: Dream and Reality,” examining the Aljira Art Center’s role in the state and region. Through Sept. 28. Suggested admission, $5. “Drawn to Dinosaurs: Hadrosaurus Foulkii,” with a 25-foot cast of a dinosaur and a life-size illustration. Through Dec. 31. “ New Jersey on Display: World’s Fairs and the Garden State,” stories of pioneering entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison who promoted their products at world’s fairs. Through Jan. 4, 2015. Suggested admission, $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. New Jersey State Museum, 205 West State Street. statemuseum.nj.gov; 609-292-6464. UNION CITY William V. Musto Cultural Center “Same Difference,” group show. Through Oct. 19. Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. William V. Musto Cultural Center, 420 15th Street. 732-232-6097; unioncitymuseum.org. WEST LONG BRANCH Pollak Gallery, Monmouth University “Glory Bound. Photographs by Barry Schneier.” Through Sept. 30. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pollak Gallery, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue. monmouth.edu/arts; 732-571-3400.


Matsuzaka Back on the Mound, but Shaky in His Return

Abstract: BOSTON — Daisuke Matsuzaka has compared his life as a pitcher to the life of a tuna. The fish keeps swimming to obtain oxygen or it would not be able to breathe and would die. Matsuzaka says he has to keep throwing until he retires. At least he did not say that he must keep throwing or he would die. For Matsuzaka, the best approach to being a successful pitcher is being a busy pitcher. That is why Matsuzaka throws more often than anyone on the Boston Red Sox . He wants to be busy. Matsuzaka was very busy in March, when he helped Japan win its second straight World Baseball Classic title. But Matsuzaka, who was named the most valuable player in both Classics, almost certainly pushed himself too hard too soon this season. He went 3-0 with a 2.45 earned run average for Japan, but he floundered in his first two starts for the Red Sox before a strained right shoulder put him on the disabled list April 15. Matsuzaka was out for five and a half weeks before returning Friday to start against the Mets. “I pushed it aside,” Manager Terry Francona said of the likelihood that Matsuzaka’s injury was related to his pitching in the W.B.C. “I don’t know about making peace.” In Matsuzaka’s first start in 38 days, he lasted his typical five innings and showed decent velocity, but he was gone at the end of a 5-3 loss at Fenway Park. Matsuzaka gave up three runs in a 35-pitch third inning, when shortstop Julio Lugo’s sluggishness in trying to turn a double play allowed the Mets to add two crucial two-out runs. Besides the prolonged third, in which Matsuzaka said he was a “little bit short on luck,” the only other hit the Mets had off Matsuzaka was Gary Sheffield’s homer in the second. Matsuzaka is too stubborn to be as consistently economical with his repertory as Johan Santana, who pitched seven sturdy innings for the victory. But the Red Sox realize what they have in Matsuzaka, a talented pitcher who can be entertaining and perplexing. “That was encouraging,” Francona said. “That doesn’t get you a win. But, long term, that looks good.” Francona did not hide his annoyance toward the World Baseball Classic, which he says he feels contributed to Matsuzaka’s absence. Because Commissioner Bud Selig engineered the creation of the W.B.C. and has promised to admonish team executives who do not embrace the event, it can be a sensitive subject. But Francona repeated his exasperation over how Matsuzaka’s shoulder problems appear to have begun while he was with a team other than the Red Sox. Francona called it “pretty cool” that Matsuzaka cared so deeply about pitching for Japan, but he would probably prefer it if all of his players were anti-Matsuzakas regarding the W.B.C. “It’s a cool idea, but there’s a big but,” Francona said. “We’re getting ready for a long season and our expectations are high. And we try to be so careful in getting our pitchers ready.” Boston may never find a way to get around Matsuzaka’s passion for representing his country. He has said that he would like to compete in the next W.B.C. in four years. Matsuzaka is still a hero in Japan. The Red Sox spoke about embracing Matsuzaka’s Japanese fans when they invested $103.1 million to sign him in December 2006, so they cannot expect him to ignore his roots. “I don’t know that I want to just place blame on a tournament or a country,” Francona said. “Let’s not start something like that.” Matsuzaka was 18-3 with a 2.90 E.R.A. last season, finishing fourth in the Cy Young Award voting. Matsuzaka led the American League with 94 walks, but he also led the major leagues by holding opponents to a .211 batting average. Matsuzaka worked 167 2/3 innings in 29 starts, less than six innings per start. Even when Matsuzaka is pitching effectively, Francona has learned not to be surprised if he strikes out three straight batters in one inning and walks three straight in the next. Matsuzaka is stubborn and wants batters to swing at specific pitches. If batters are patient, Matsuzaka does not easily give in. That approach can lead to extended counts and truncated outings. “He likes pitching on a big stage,” Francona said. “He just loses the plate from time to time.” Since joining the Red Sox, Matsuzaka has contributed to a World Series title in 2007 and has settled in behind Josh Beckett and Jon Lester as their No. 3 starter. He was touted as one of the best pitchers in the world when he arrived in Boston. He has been very good, but not remarkable. Although Francona was excited to have a very good pitcher back, he was still annoyed that Matsuzaka had missed time. “Do I sound like I made peace?” Francona asked. “Probably not.”

Boston Red Sox
Matsuzaka Daisuke
Baseball


Patrick J. Hillery, Who Helped Point Ireland to Peace, Dies at 84

Abstract: Patrick J. Hillery, a physician-turned-politician who served 14 years as Ireland ’s president after a long ministerial career that won him admiration for his handling of the volatile issue of British rule in Northern Ireland , died Saturday in Dublin. He was 84. A government announcement said his death followed a short illness, but gave no other details. Mr. Hillery also had a role in negotiating Ireland’s entry into the European Economic Community in 1973. His two terms as president, from 1976 to 1990, ended before the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which set terms for an end to violence in Northern Ireland. But he acted at crucial moments as an emollient influence on the republic’s policies toward the north, and set a tone that helped pave the way for eventual peace His approach, especially as Ireland’s foreign minister, combined moments of confrontation with Britain over its policies toward the Roman Catholic minority in Northern Ireland with a similarly steadfast attitude toward hard-line nationalists within his own Fianna Fail party, which has dominated Irish politics for long periods since the 1922 agreement that created separate governments in Dublin and Belfast. He became foreign minister in 1969, just as a new era of sectarian violence began in Northern Ireland. He stirred antagonism in London with his protests against the failure of the Protestant-dominated police in Northern Ireland to protect Catholic areas and rights protesters. Snubbed in London, he took his case to the United Nations, proposing unsuccessfully that the task of keeping peace be handed to a joint British and Irish military force or to a United Nations peacekeeping force. After the first British Army house searches in the north provoked further Catholic protests, he brushed aside diplomatic protocol to make an unannounced visit to the Catholic stronghold in the Falls Road area of Belfast, further infuriating the British. After 13 civilians were killed by British troops in the “Bloody Sunday” shooting in Londonderry in 1972, Mr. Hillery took his case to Washington. “I believe the British government have gone mad,” he told an American television interviewer at the time. He predicted that Britain’s “lunatic course” in sending troops to the north could lead to war between Britain and Ireland. But those and other incidents masked a determination to steer a course toward peace. Years after he made his Falls Road visit, he said he had made the trip to pre-empt hard-liners in the Dublin cabinet who were planning to go to Belfast and encourage the armed resistance against British rule that was led by the Irish Republican Army . He also opposed demands among Fianna Fail hard-liners for an early withdrawal of British troops. “Northern Ireland is an armed state,” he said. “There are over 100,000 guns in private hands, and this problem must be solved before withdrawal.” Patrick John Hillery was born on May 2, 1923, on the west coast of County Clare; his father was a doctor. After earning a medical degree at University College Dublin, he lived briefly in Canada before winning an election in 1951 to the Dail, the Irish Parliament, as a running mate of Eamon de Valera, who led the Irish struggle for independence. He was education minister from 1959 to 1966, promoting comprehensive schools outside the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church that have been credited with helping Ireland produce the educated work force that contributed to the economic boom of the last 20 years. After Ireland joined Europe, he was appointed as Ireland’s representative on the European Commission; as the official in charge of social policy, he promoted the rights of migrant workers and defended equal pay for women. Reluctantly, he ran unopposed for the Irish presidency after the incumbent, Cearbhall O Dalaigh, resigned over a bitter dispute with the defense minister. Mr. Hillery adopted an insistently nonpartisan stance, retreating from public view and spending much of his time playing golf. He is survived by his wife, Mary Beatrice, known as Maeve, and a son, John, who is also a doctor. A daughter, Vivienne, died before him. He made no secret that he found the job of a figurehead frustrating. “Children used to ask me if it was nice to be president, and you would have to say ‘yes,’ ” he said after leaving office. “You know, you couldn’t disappoint them.”

Ireland
Politics and Government
Deaths (Obituaries)
Northern Ireland
Hillery Patrick J.
Irish Republican Army


Skakel Gets New Trial in ’75 Killing of Teenager in Connecticut

Abstract: A Connecticut judge on Wednesday ordered a new trial for Michael C. Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy who was convicted in 2002 of bludgeoning a neighbor with a golf club in 1975, saying his original lawyer had not represented him effectively. The decision was another turn in a high-profile case that drew television crews and celebrity crime writers like Dominick Dunne. Judge Thomas A. Bishop set aside the murder conviction of Mr. Skakel, 53, who was sentenced to 20 years to life for killing the neighbor, Martha Moxley, when they were both teenagers in Greenwich. The 136-page decision amounted to a review of the trial and an attack on the way Michael Sherman, the lawyer who represented Mr. Skakel before he was convicted, had handled his defense. Image Michael C. Skakel Credit Pool photo by Jason Rearick Judge Bishop said Mr. Sherman had been “in a myriad of ways ineffective” as Mr. Skakel’s lawyer. “The defense of a serious felony prosecution requires attention to detail, an energetic investigation and a coherent plan of defense” that is capably executed, the judge wrote. “Trial counsel’s failures in each of these areas of representation were significant and, ultimately, fatal to a constitutionally adequate defense. As a consequence of trial counsel’s failures as stated, the state procured a judgment of conviction that lacks reliability.” Mr. Skakel’s current lawyer, Hubert J. Santos, said he was thrilled with the decision. “Pleased is an understatement,” he said, adding that he would file a motion on Thursday to have Mr. Skakel freed on bail. Mr. Skakel has served 11 years of his sentence. Last year, a parole board rejected his application to be released. Image Martha Moxley at age 15. The state’s attorney handling the case, John C. Smriga, told The Associated Press that prosecutors would appeal Judge Bishop’s ruling. Calls to Mr. Sherman on Wednesday were not returned. He has defended his representation of Mr. Skakel and told The Hartford Courant in April that he hoped Judge Bishop would rule in Mr. Skakel’s favor. “I don’t have mixed emotions about this,” Mr. Sherman said then. “I want him out of jail. That’s the priority.” The victim’s brother, John Moxley, said he found the decision frustrating, coming after previous appeals had been rejected. Image Judge Thomas A. Bishop during Mr. Skakel's appeal trial in April. Credit Pool photo by Jason Rearick “It’s just amazing that you have all these appeals, the appellate courts, all these different very sophisticated judges, and then, you know, a judge in a sleepy little town way upstate in Connecticut completely upsets the apple cart,” he said. “But we’ll get through this. There’s no question that Michael’s guilty.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and cousin of Mr. Skakel’s who helped develop new evidence after Mr. Skakel was convicted, said he was happy with the decision. “A first-year law student from any of my classes would have done a better job than Mickey Sherman, who’s a very likable guy but was clearly interested — his ambition was to be a television lawyer and he thought this trial was going to be his ticket to that career,” he said. “He told a bar association meeting that he intended to have a lot of fun at that trial.” “Michael had an airtight alibi and five witnesses,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Anybody who couldn’t win that case should not be admitted to the bar.” Image Michael Sherman, Mr. Skakel's former defense lawyer, during the appeal trial in April. Credit Pool photo by Jason Rearick In seeking a new trial, Mr. Skakel and his lawyers claimed that Mr. Sherman failed to provide adequate representation. Among other things, Mr. Skakel accused Mr. Sherman of failing to pursue an alibi defense; failing to rebut the testimony of two schoolmates who maintained that Mr. Skakel had admitted to the murder; and failing to prepare an effective closing argument, a lapse Judge Bishop called “both inadequate and improper.” “His argument was, in the main, an unfocused running commentary on the state’s evidence,” the judge wrote, adding that Mr. Sherman had failed to mention the notion of reasonable doubt. “Attorney Sherman’s argument did not provide the jury with any template for decision making,” the judge noted. The judge said that Mr. Sherman had billed more than $1.2 million for representing Mr. Skakel. Mr. Sherman pleaded guilty in 2010 to failing to pay two years’ worth of federal income taxes totaling more than $420,000 and served a year and a day in a minimum-security prison camp in upstate New York. Judge Bishop also faulted Mr. Sherman’s handling of the jury selection phase of Mr. Skakel’s trial. The judge said that Mr. Sherman “unreasonably chose a juror who was not simply a police officer but one who was friendly with Detective Lunney, a lead investigator for the Greenwich police and a principal state’s witness.” Mr. Skakel was not arrested until he was in his late 30s, a quarter of a century after the murder. He was convicted after a three-week trial that brought a number of unpleasant details to light, including his drinking and his drug use — and his claim, on the night of the murder, that he had climbed a tree and masturbated while trying to look into Ms. Moxley’s bedroom. She was struck with a 6-iron from a set that had belonged to Mr. Skakel’s mother. She was hit with so much force that the head of the club broke apart. Mr. Sherman had argued that Mr. Skakel was miles away, at a cousin’s home, watching “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” on television.

Michael Skakel
Murders
Martha Moxley
Connecticut
Decisions and Verdicts
Thomas A Bishop
Mickey Sherman


Joseph Rosenmiller, Nontraditional Philanthropist, Dies at 87

Abstract: Joseph Rosenmiller, who earned a fortune building a chain of radio stations and then donated tens of millions to promote causes that he felt traditional philanthropies largely ignored, like voting rights and the empowerment of domestic workers, died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 87. The cause was pneumonia, his son David said. His immune system had been weakened by leukemia. Unable to get a job as a social worker, Mr. Rosenmiller and his college classmate Peter Bordes bought a small AM radio station in Southbridge, Mass., in 1956 with an inheritance Mr. Rosenmiller had received from his mother, plus borrowed funds. From there, he and his partner bought small radio stations across the South and then in big markets like Boston, Los Angeles, Detroit and Philadelphia. They developed a widely copied format they called magic radio, a rotation of light pop that was more Loggins & Messina and less Led Zeppelin. Advertisers liked it. The company, Greater Media , also invested early and profitably in cable television. But while business was booming, Mr. Rosenmiller’s wife of 11 years, the former Frances Agate, died of breast cancer at 41 in 1967. He never remarried. Feeling that he needed to do something more significant with his life, his son said, he worked for the New York City mayor’s office of volunteers under Mayor John V. Lindsay at night and then founded a nonprofit, Volunteer Opportunities, to match volunteers with needy organizations. “That simple little action gave me a great sense of gratification,” he said in a video about his family made by his son John in 2010, “that was very much greater than how I was spending 90 percent of my time at the station.” In 1994 he sold his share of Greater Media, and in 1996 gave a grant to endow the Solidago Foundation , making gifts that eventually totaled about $40 million. He ran the foundation for several years before turning it over to his son David. Shelley Zimbalist, the foundation’s managing director, said community groups it had financed agitated successfully to stop Chevron from expanding an oil processing plant in Northern California, to get a domestic workers’ bill of rights enacted in New York State in 2010, and to establish ranked-choice voting in Alameda County, Calif., which includes Berkeley and Oakland. Ranked-choice voting allows voters to cast ballots for their top three choices and rank them by preference. Advocates say it increases voter participation and empowers minorities. Joseph Lewis Rosenmiller Jr. was born on Feb. 17, 1925, in York, Pa., to Joseph Rosenmiller and the former Dorothy Shipley. Mr. Rosenmiller told his sons that being a reconnaissance officer behind enemy lines in France and Austria in World War II had opened his eyes to social inequalities, as did his years after the war at Yale and then at Columbia University, where he did graduate study in social work. Besides his two sons, he is survived by a half-brother, Fred. In his later years Mr. Rosenmiller received a lot of help from home health aides and others who cared for him, and the foundation became active in efforts to improve working conditions of such workers everywhere. “It was like him to see in the personal the greater picture,” David Rosenmiller said.

Rosenmiller Joseph
Philanthropy
Deaths (Obituaries)


China Protests India Leader’s Visit to Disputed Border Area

Abstract: HONG KONG — China summoned India’s ambassador in Beijing to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to a border area claimed by both countries, a reminder that the world’s two most populous countries have yet to resolve vast territorial disputes that have simmered for more than half a century. On Friday, Mr. Modi visited Arunachal Pradesh, a state in eastern India that borders Tibet to the north, where he opened a new railroad line. A large portion of the Austria-size state is claimed by China, and the two sides fought a border war over the area in 1962. China viewed Mr. Modi’s visit as an unnecessary provocation, lodging a diplomatic complaint on Friday. On Saturday, the Chinese deputy foreign minister, Liu Zhenmin, called in Ambassador Ashok Kantha, telling the ambassador that the visit “harmed China’s territorial integrity and rights” and “went against the consensus both sides had of properly handling the border issue,” the official Xinhua News Agency reported . The dispute has its origins a century ago, when British colonial administrators, negotiating with Tibetan officials, set the border between British India and a then-autonomous Tibet at the so-called McMahon Line in the Himalayan mountains. China, which regained control of Tibet in 1950, claims its border lies well to the south of that line. The diplomatic row over Mr. Modi’s visit comes a month after President Obama visited India. He and Mr. Modi found common ground in their unease at China’s increasing assertiveness in territorial issues that has come with its rise as an economic power. Mr. Modi wanted to get relations off to a good start with China when he became prime minister last year. But he was infuriated that even as President Xi Jinping of China was visiting India last September, Chinese troops confronted Indian forces in another disputed border area on the other side of the Himalayan range. Despite the territorial disputes, China has put great effort into developing its ties with India, whose economy offers a huge market for Chinese companies, from telecommunications equipment makers to builders of coal-fired power stations. Mr. Liu, in his remarks to Mr. Kantha, said China “hopes India cherishes the good momentum of the development of bilateral relations.” Mr. Modi, leader of a right-of-center party that has long advocated a forceful defense of India’s territorial claims, is scheduled to visit Beijing in May.

China
Narendra Modi
Xi Jinping
Arunachal Pradesh India
India


Georgia’s Hope Scholarships Threatened

Abstract: ATHENS, Ga. — Students here at the University of Georgia have a name for some of the fancy cars parked in the lots around campus. They call them Hopemobiles. But there may soon be fewer of them. The cars are gifts from parents who find themselves with extra cash because their children decided to take advantage of a cherished state perk — the Hope scholarship. The largest merit-based college scholarship program in the United States it offers any Georgia high school student with a B-average four years of free college tuition. But the Hope scholarship program is about to be cut by a new governor and Legislature facing staggering financial troubles. The lingering effects of the recession and the end of federal stimulus funds have sunk many states into a fiscal quagmire. The seriousness of the problem, and a growing concern over how much worse it might become, have many states struggling to find ways to trim services or raise revenues. In Georgia, that means taking a slice out of the Hope scholarship. When it was begun in 1993, the program was covered easily by Georgia’s state lottery. Politicians enjoyed how happy it made middle-class constituents. Educators praised the way it improved SAT scores and lifted Georgia from the backwaters of higher education. It was considered so innovative that 15 states copied it. And while the lottery-based scholarship programs in states like Tennessee are dipping into reserves to cover the costs, none have fiscal woes as big as Georgia’s. Part of it is the program’s popularity. A majority of freshmen in Georgia have grades good enough to qualify for Hope, which covers tuition, some books and fees — but not housing costs — at any Georgia university or technical school. And even though as many as two-thirds of Hope students let their college grades slip so much that they no longer qualify — “I’ve lost Hope,” they joke when it happens — Georgia still gives away more financial aid per student than any other state. Since the program started, 1.3 million Georgia students have received a total of $5.6 billion in educational support. The program offers as much as $6,000 a year for some students. But the program has become so popular it cannot sustain itself. Lottery sales, which by law can pay for only the Hope scholarship and a free prekindergarten program, will be short $243 million this fiscal year and as much as $317 million the next, according to state budget estimates. Last year, lawmakers had to pull millions of dollars from the state’s reserve fund just to cover the cost. But this year, there is nowhere to turn. Like the other states that are facing the worst fiscal crisis in recent memory, Georgia heads into its legislative session next week staring at a budget deficit of as much as $2 billion. And that is after billions of dollars in cuts over the past two years that have reduced the state’s spending power to $17.9 billion for fiscal year 2011. But trim the program that for years has paid to educate the children of the most reliable voters in the state? “Undoubtedly, this is, in every sense of the word, a very strongly ingrained entitlement for a certain segment of voters, and politicians are indeed reluctant to touch it,” said Christopher Cornwell, a professor of economics at the University of Georgia, who has studied the effect of the Hope scholarship on the state, including an analysis of the positive impact the scholarship has had on car sales. Politicians are hoping for mercy as they begin this month to make decisions that will surely have the parents of college-bound students scrambling to find new ways to pay for tuition. “We trust and we hope the people in the state of Georgia understand the position we’re in,” said State Representative Len Walker, a Republican who leads the House Higher Education Committee. They do and they don’t. Cathy Ottley, a part-time office manager, and her husband, a management consultant, are raising three children in Marietta, north of Atlanta . One is a sophomore at the University of Georgia, courtesy of the Hope scholarship. A daughter who is a high school senior had her heart set on the University of North Carolina but has come to see an in-state college as the practical way to go. And then there is the youngest, a high school freshman with a promising future in athletics. Without the scholarship, Ms. Ottley said, college for her children would be a stretch at best. “This just gives you options,” she said. “I don’t have peace about kids just starting out at 22 with $200,000 in debt for their education.” Mr. Walker said no one was talking about cutting the program completely. “It appears at this point that it will not be a 100 percent scholarship. It might be 90 percent. It might 80 percent,” he said. But the cost of books and fees will most certainly be eliminated. Other options include raising the required grade-point average, which would cut the number of students who qualify, or giving more to exceptional students and less to merely above-average performers. “That would make it so much harder,” said Myisha Price, a junior at Clayton State University in Atlanta, who relies on the scholarship and also works. “I don’t go to clubs. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke and I don’t party and it’s already hard.” Another idea is to work economic need into the equation, though that idea does not have much support, both lawmakers and educators said. The most likely plan, and one that Governor-elect Nathan Deal , a Republican, has indicated he supports, would be to create a flat rate for each student, regardless of the tuition bill. At a cafeteria table here this week, a group of Hope recipients defended the program and debated a range of ideas to keep Hope alive, including raising taxes . Allie McCullen, who is majoring in English and women’s studies, is in her fourth year at Georgia. She is the only child of a single mother who in 2006 lost her job in the mortgage industry. Ms. McCullen pieces together her living expenses and extra book costs through a small grant and two jobs. “If I didn’t have it, I might not be able to attend at all,” she said. “Or I would just be in such severe debt that I might not ever be able to get out of it.” If the scholarship ends or gets cut drastically, it could send the most promising students out of state and even end the era of new cars for incoming freshman. Lauren Rice drives a Hopemobile (though, she concedes, it is only a Honda Civic ). Her parents told her she could go to college anywhere. She was considering Auburn in Alabama . But her parents offered her what she called “the car incentive.” That, plus the daunting out-of-state tuition helped her select the University of Georgia. But without Hope, Ms. Rice’s decision might have been different. “If you’re going to have a bill in-state anyway,” she said, “then what does it matter?”

Georgia
College
Scholarships
Tuition payments
Budget


Nathan Quinones, 79, Dies; Led New York Schools

Abstract: Nathan Quinones, who as the chancellor of the New York City school system in the mid-1980s pushed to reduce dropout rates and institute tougher achievement standards but who resigned six months before the end of his term in the face of public pressure, died Sunday in Manhasset, N.Y. He was 79. The cause was a stroke, his daughter Adria Quinones said. Mr. Quinones had been a language teacher, principal and administrator for 27 years in the city school system when he became chancellor in 1984. He succeeded Anthony J. Alvarado, who resigned because of financial irregularities after serving one year. Mr. Quinones served three and a half years. Under Mr. Quinones, test scores somewhat improved, overcrowding in classrooms eased and, by some measures, the dropout rate fell. He started a program to teach students about racism and established, in Lower Manhattan, the Harvey Milk High School, which was intended to be sensitive to the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. He closed a junior high school in the Bronx for unacceptable attendance and achievements. Mr. Quinones (pronounced key-NYO-nas) announced his resignation in August 1987, effective Jan. 1, 1988, six months before his contract expired. Early in his tenure, he was criticized as politically clumsy in lobbying for bigger school budgets. Later, business leaders complained that high school graduates were not well educated for the workplace. Many criticized Mr. Quinones as not being sufficiently adroit at working with the Board of Education, which oversaw education in the city then, and as ineffective in slicing through the school bureaucracy. (The schools are now controlled by the mayor.) During her campaign for mayor in 1985, the City Council president, Carol Bellamy, demanded his ouster, saying Mr. Quinones had “consistently failed to provide the leadership or sound management we need.” Mayor Edward I. Koch contended that Mr. Quinones’s low-key manner had hurt him politically. “I think we’re losing a first-rate chancellor,” Mr. Koch said in an interview with The New York Times in 1987. “He has a very sedate kind of style. He’s not a pushy guy. But he’s a very courageous man, and he is very intelligent, very experienced. I think he was on the right track. I only regret that others were not supportive of him.” Mr. Quinones was born in East Harlem on Oct. 12, 1930, to Puerto Rican parents who had to rely on public assistance in the 1940s. While attending City College, where he majored in classical and romance languages, he worked six nights a week at a hospital. He graduated in 1953. After serving in the Army in Korea, he got a master’s degree from Columbia University. Mr. Quinones joined the school system as a foreign-language teacher in 1957 and was assistant principal in charge of foreign languages at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Queens when he was named principal of South Bronx High School in 1977. Frank J. Macchiarola, the chancellor before Mr. Alvarado, appointed him chief of the city’s high schools, ahead of many more experienced principals. In addition to his daughter, Adria, Mr. Quinones is survived by his wife, the former Romana Martinez; two other daughters, Daria Quinones and Cyra Borsy; and three grandchildren. In an interview with Newsday in 1988, Mr. Quinones said he felt so relieved when he resigned that he found himself singing as he walked down the street. “I felt like a little bird,” he said. “I was amused. I never sing.”

Education and Schools
Board of Education (NYC)
Deaths (Obituaries)
Quinones Nathan


Investors in Europe See a Glass Half Full and Rising

Abstract: THE skies above Europe are getting much brighter. Or at least investors seem to believe they are. A survey of investor sentiment in the euro zone this month moved into positive territory for the first time since the summer of 2011. European stocks have been rising for more than a year, with bank stocks leading the way. The yields on Spanish and Italian government bonds — which were more than five percentage points higher than German bonds’ last summer — now have spreads half that level. It was last summer that the European Central Bank took steps to get needed cash into the hands of banks, ending the immediate fears of a collapse of the euro zone. But much remains to be done. The German elections next weekend have delayed a lot of decisions. The widespread assumption is that Angela Merkel will remain chancellor, but it is not clear if the current coalition with the Free Democrats will be able to survive. If not, she may have to turn to the opposition Social Democrats and try to form a grand coalition. There is also wide speculation about the health of European banks. In the summer of 2012, the European Central Bank took steps to provide low-cost loans to banks to buy bonds issued by their own governments, and some did, particularly in Italy and Spain. When there are new stress tests next year — conducted for the first time in the same way in all countries across the euro zone — some analysts fear that banks may be forced to hold more capital if they have such bonds. Conceivably, such a requirement may lead the banks to sell such bonds, driving prices down and yields up and damaging the confidence that has been growing. But none of that has so far held back investor enthusiasm. An index of European bank stocks, shown in the accompanying chart, is up by almost half since the end of 2011, although it remains more than 60 percent below its 2007 peak. The Sentix measure of investor confidence in the euro countries climbed into positive territory this month for the first time since 2011, and it did so largely because of optimism for the future. The measure is based on questions asked of investors, and it now finds institutional investors more confident than retail investors. Sentiment regarding current conditions has risen, but it is still negative, according to the survey. But when investors were asked about conditions six months from now, the level of optimism has risen to the highest level since the spring of 2006, well before the recession. It may be noted that all this enthusiasm has come despite continuing declines in gross domestic product in many countries in the zone, and despite high levels of unemployment. To some extent, it no doubt both reflects the improvements in the stock and bond markets and is a cause of them. Does all this show foolish complacency? Or does it reflect an awareness that the worst is over for the peripheral countries in the euro zone, with recovery on the horizon? By next summer, we may have the answer.

Unemployment
European Central Bank
Europe
Euro Crisis


Alibaba Searching for New Revenue Sources

Abstract: Alibaba is benefiting from China’s shift toward a consumer economy. The e-commerce group’s earnings in the last three months of 2015 offer another insight into China’s economy as well. Both the company and the country need to find new ways to grow. Revenue surged 32 percent year-on-year to $5.3 billion in the quarter, beating expectations. Transactions on Alibaba’s online marketplaces grew 23 percent, the slowest expansion in more than three years. But the $175 billion company’s “take rate” — how much, as a share of transaction value, the company captures from advertising fees and commissions – increased to 3 percent at the end of 2015, compared to 2.7 percent in the same period in 2014. Advertisers and sellers are paying more to Alibaba even as volume growth declines. The company, founded by Jack Ma, is benefiting as Chinese consumers get richer. China’s gross domestic product expanded 6.9 percent in 2015, the slowest pace in 25 years. Growth in property investment, a major driver of the economy, dropped to an unimpressive 1 percent – a seven-year low. The country’s retail sales of consumer goods were up 10.7 percent, though. Add the continuing trend from bricks-and-mortar to online retailing, and that’s positive for Alibaba’s top-line growth story. As with China’s economy, however, Alibaba’s sheer size makes growth harder to come by. After years of expanding at a breakneck pace, the e-commerce group commands 80 percent of its market and is now making a push for rural shoppers. Mr. Ma and his colleagues are also seeking new sources of revenue in areas like food delivery and cloud computing. Revenue for the latter accounted for just 2 percent of the company’s total, but it more than doubled to $126 million in the three months to December. Shares of Alibaba have fallen more than 15 percent since the start of the year. Rivals like JD.com and Baidu have experienced worse slumps. Alibaba’s fortunes may increasingly decouple from China’s macroeconomy, but that gives investors an even more challenging task trying to look into the company’s future.


In Mayoral Bid, New York City Comptroller Is Ahead in Spending

Abstract: As New York City’s chief accountant, Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. has issued a flurry of recent audits scolding city agencies for overspending. And this week he warned that the city must tighten its belt to address gaping budget deficits over the next few years. But an examination of Mr. Thompson’s own campaign spending suggests he has had problems exercising restraint closer to home. Mr. Thompson, who is expected to run for mayor in 2009, has spent more on political consultants — about $600,000 since 2006 — than his presumed rivals have spent on their entire campaigns during that period. And he has racked up large bills for fund-raisers at expensive locations like the Bath Club in Miami and the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Manhattan. Mr. Thompson, in fact, has spent campaign money at more than twice the rate of his likely competitors over the last two and a half years, according to the latest campaign finance filings. With roughly 15 months before the election, Mr. Thompson has used $1 million, or slightly more than 20 percent, of what he has raised. By contrast, Representative Anthony D. Weiner has spent $501,000, about 10 percent of his contributions, while City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn has paid out $286,000, or 9 percent of her funds, those filings show. Mr. Thompson’s spending rate could leave the candidate with significantly less money than his opponents as the campaign enters its most expensive phase next year, when candidates typically flood the city with advertisements. Mr. Thompson, in an interview, acknowledged that his campaign’s expenses were high and said he “has taken steps to bring the costs down.” He said the campaign was now focused on fund-raising at inexpensive locations in the city. “It’s no longer in hotels and restaurants. We are doing a lot in people’s homes, offices, apartments,” he said, adding, “We have reduced that cost.” Mr. Thompson, who as comptroller is the city’s financial watchdog, said he was not worried about running out of money. “We are all confident we will have a sufficient amount of money to get a vision out and get our story out to the public,” he said. Dick Dadey, the executive director of Citizens Union, a government watchdog group, said that “for someone who already holds citywide office, spending 21 percent of what you have raised seems pretty high.” Mayoral candidates typically rely on a handful of consultants, but Mr. Thompson has recruited seven of them. The campaign paid more than $170,000 to Suri Kasirer, a lobbyist and fund-raiser; more than $160,000 to Marla Klinger, another fund-raiser; some $140,000 to Monique Renaud, an expert in campaign finance regulations; and $40,000 to Andrew Grossman, a political strategist. (Andrea Cukier, who tutors Mr. Thompson in Spanish, was also listed as consultant, and she received at least $5,500.) For about a year, Mr. Thompson employed both Ms. Kasirer and Ms. Klinger as fund-raisers, for a combined monthly fee of more than $14,000. Mr. Thompson conceded there was “perhaps a bit of redundancy,” but said he believed he had the appropriate number of consultants. Asked about Mr. Thompson’s rate of spending, Ms. Kasirer said that the comptroller began raising — and spending — money earlier than his rivals. “Bill started earlier so he’s been at it longer,” she said, “and he’s already built his fund-raising infrastructure so future costs will be lower.” She added: “At the end of the day all the competitive candidates will pretty much have similar expenditure rates.” Ms. Kasirer said she stopped raising money for Mr. Thompson in late 2007, after working for him for six years, because her company, Kasirer Consulting, is focusing on its primary business, lobbying. Several political strategists, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of offending a potential client, said that Mr. Thompson’s rate of spending might make sense if his fund-raising significantly outpaced that of his rivals. So far, it has not; as of July 11, the end of the most recent reporting period, Mr. Thompson had raised $4.8 million, compared with Mr. Weiner’s $5 million and Ms. Quinn’s $3.1 million. During the last six months, Mr. Thompson raised less than Ms. Quinn or Mr. Weiner and spent a greater percentage of his contributions than either (40 percent, compared with 18 percent for Ms. Quinn and 15 percent for Mr. Weiner). In addition to the consultants, some of Mr. Thompson’s spending can be traced to out-of-town fund-raising. Since 2006, he has traveled to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale and Miami to raise money, records show. In Miami, for example, the campaign spent $5,000 on a fund-raiser, held in January, at the Bath Club, a Mediterranean-style waterfront retreat. The campaign raised money in Los Angeles, but spent more than $9,000 — on hotels, car services and food — including $3,307 at the InterContinental Hotel in November and December. Mr. Thompson has also spent heavily in New York, including $14,500 at the Waldorf-Astoria, for example. He has leaned more on donors who live outside New York City than his competitors. According to the city’s Campaign Finance Board, 66.5 percent of his contributions are from such donors, compared with 41.3 percent for Mr. Weiner and 34.9 percent for Ms. Quinn. “It indicates that there is support around the country as well as around New York City,” Mr. Thompson said. Like most candidates for mayor, Mr. Thompson, a Democrat from Brooklyn, is expected to participate in the city’s campaign finance program, which provides one of the nation’s most generous formulas for matching contributions with public funds. But that program frowns upon contributions from nonresidents. Under the program, the city will match most individual contributions up to $175 by a ratio of six to one — but the donor must be a city resident. That means many of Mr. Thompson’s contributions will not be eligible for matching public funds. Mr. Thompson said that “while you raise money from around the country and it is not rewarded with a match, it is still substantial dollars.” He said he wanted to complete his out-of-town fund-raising early in the campaign. “As you get closer to an election, you would like to spend all your time inside New York,” he said.

Thompson William C Jr
Elections
Finances
Budgets and Budgeting
New York City