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A stolen Etruscan vessel will be returned to Italy thanks in part to the efforts of a hunter of looted antiquities.
Last month, Christos Tsirogiannis, a Greek-born researcher who has spent more than a decade poring over auction and antiquities catalogs trying to identify stolen Greek and Roman artifacts, spotted an Etruscan amphora for sale at a Midtown Manhattan gallery.
Mr. Tsirogiannis, of the Scottish Center for Crime and Justice Research in Glasgow, combed through an archive of 13,000 photos and documents seized in 2002 from an Italian antiquities dealer, Gianfranco Becchina, who was convicted in 2011 of trafficking in looted objects. He spotted several photos of the very same vase.
As he has done several times in recent years, Mr. Tsirogiannis contacted the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which seized the dual-handled vessel, featuring a nude satyr and draped youth, from the Royal-Athena Galleries. It dates from 470 B.C. and is valued at $250,000.
The item was forfeited willingly, officials said, and on Thursday it was formally returned to the Italian consul general in New York, Francesco Genuardi, who said it would be displayed at the consulate before being housed permanently at the Polo Museale del Lazio in Italy.
“When looters overrun historic sites, mine sacred spaces for prized relics, and peddle stolen property for top dollar, they do so with the implicit endorsement of all those who knowingly trade in stolen antiquities,” the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said during a ceremony.
On Feb. 10, Mr. Vance’s office said, it returned an ancient marble sarcophagus fragment dating to 200 A.D., and depicting a battle between Greek and Trojan warriors, that was stolen from Greece in 1988. That item was also seized from the Royal-Athena Galleries, based on information provided by Mr. Tsirogiannis.
Since 2014, Mr. Vance’s office says it has repatriated five coins dating to 515 B.C. to Greece; a second-century Buddhist sculpture valued at more than $1 million to Pakistan; and two bronze statues and four carved artifacts dating to the 10th and 11th centuries A.D., valued at several millions of dollars, to India. | 2017-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A stolen Etruscan vessel will be returned to Italy thanks in part to the efforts of a hunter of looted antiquities.
Last month, Christos Tsirogiannis, a Greek-born researcher who has spent more than a decade poring over auction and antiquities catalogs trying to identify stolen Greek and Roman artifacts, spotted an Etruscan amphora for sale at a Midtown Manhattan gallery.
Mr. Tsirogiannis, of the Scottish Center for Crime and Justice Research in Glasgow, combed through an archive of 13,000 photos and documents seized in 2002 from an Italian antiquities dealer, Gianfranco Becchina, who was convicted in 2011 of trafficking in looted objects. He spotted several photos of the very same vase.
As he has done several times in recent years, Mr. Tsirogiannis contacted the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which seized the dual-handled vessel, featuring a nude satyr and draped youth | , from the Royal-Athena Galleries. It dates from 470 B.C. and is valued at $250,000.
The item was forfeited willingly, officials said, and on Thursday it was formally returned to the Italian consul general in New York, Francesco Genuardi, who said it would be displayed at the consulate before being housed permanently at the Polo Museale del Lazio in Italy.
“When looters overrun historic sites, mine sacred spaces for prized relics, and peddle stolen property for top dollar, they do so with the implicit endorsement of all those who knowingly trade in stolen antiquities,” the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said during a ceremony.
On Feb. 10, Mr. Vance’s office said, it returned an ancient marble sarcophagus fragment dating to 200 A.D., and depicting a battle between Greek and Trojan warriors, that was stolen from Greece in 1988. That item was also seized from the Royal-Athena Galleries |
A storied actor, he starred opposite Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve and worked with many of the giants of European filmmaking.
Michel Piccoli, an actor whose quiet intensity and mature sensuality made him a fixture of French cinema for more than a half-century, died on May 12, it was announced on Monday. He was 94.
The cause was a stroke, according to his wife, Ludivine Clerc, who confirmed his death in a short statement issued on her behalf by Gilles Jacob, former president of the Cannes Film Festival.
A veteran of the French stage, Mr. Piccoli also had more than 40 feature films and television movies on his résumé. He was in his late 30s when he starred in Jean-Luc Godard’s acclaimed drama “Contempt” (“Le Mépris”) in 1963, playing Brigitte Bardot’s unhappy husband, a screenwriter who sells out his talent and loses his wife to an American producer.
French audiences had largely discovered Mr. Piccoli a year earlier, in “Le Doulos,” a gangster film noir in which his character is shot dead. American cineastes came to know him from the films of the great European directors, particularly Luis Buñuel.
His work with Mr. Buñuel included “Belle de Jour” (1967), in which Mr. Piccoli played a sinister, lecherous aristocrat who encourages a bored young Catherine Deneuve to go into prostitution and become a gangster’s lover by day while remaining the prim housewife of a handsome, young physician by night.
Mr. Piccoli also collaborated with Mr. Buñuel on “Diary of a Chambermaid” (1964), “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972) and “The Phantom of Liberty” (1974).
Across his long career he worked with directors like Claude Chabrol, Jacques Demy, Costa-Gavras, Alain Resnais and Agnès Varda. “La Grande Bouffe” (“The Big Feast,” 1973), directed by Marco Ferreri, was probably one of Mr. Piccoli’s best-known films to American moviegoers. The movie was a satire about four men determined to eat themselves to death during an orgiastic villa weekend.
In addition to Ms. Bardot and Ms. Deneuve, Mr. Piccoli’s list of co-stars included Anouk Aimée, Stéphane Audran, Leslie Caron, Jeanne Moreau, Natasha Parry, Dominique Sanda and Romy Schneider.
He occasionally appeared in American films, albeit in projects in which he played characters with French accents. He was a Soviet spy in France who commits suicide in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Topaz” (1969), and an opera-loving croupier in Louis Malle’s “Atlantic City” (1980).
“The urbane Michel Piccoli appears in a tiny role that he turns into a memorable cameo, that of a casino manager who, on the side, runs the croupier school,” Vincent Canby wrote in his review in The New York Times.
Mr. Piccoli’s career barely slowed in later life. Even as the likes of Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo — French actors a decade younger than he — began to work less, Mr. Piccoli seemed to pick up his pace. He appeared in three films and a mini-series in 2012, when he was 86, and he was named best actor at the 2012 David di Donatello awards, the Italian equivalent of the Oscars, for his performance in Nanni Moretti’s “We Have a Pope” (“Habemus Papam”), in which he portrayed a cardinal reluctant to accept the ultimate promotion.
That award joined his numerous film festival honors, including best actor awards at Cannes for “Salto nel Vuoto” (“Leap Into the Void,” 1980), in which he played a judge inconvenienced by his mentally disturbed sister; and at Berlin for “Une Étrange Affaire” (“Strange Affair,” 1981), for his role as a department store manager who leads an employee astray. He also received a 1997 best film award at Venice for “Alors Voilà,” a black comedy about a dysfunctional family, which he wrote with Thomas Cheysson and directed.
Mr. Piccoli was nominated four times for the César Award, the French equivalent of the Oscars, for his performances in “Strange Affair”; “Dangerous Moves” (1984), the story of an aging chess master; “May Fools” (1990), about a widowed vineyard manager at the time of the Paris student riots; and “La Belle Noiseuse” (1991), playing a painter with a creative block, in which he stars alongside Emmanuelle Béart.
Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli was born on Dec. 27, 1925, in Paris into a musical family. His mother, Marcelle (Expert-Bezançon) Piccoli, was a French pianist, and his father, Henri Piccoli, was an Italian violinist. Michel Piccoli attended high school at the Collège Sainte-Barbe in Paris.
In the decade after World War II, he made a stage career for himself as an actor and manager, primarily with Théâtre Babylone and with the Reynauld-Barrault company. In the same period, he made his film acting debut, as a villager in “Sortilèges” (1945), a horror-crime drama. But it was four years until he made his second film, “Le Point du Jour” (“The Mark of the Day”), in which he had a small role. And he was still primarily a stage actor when he appeared as a wealthy farmer in a 1957 French film version of “The Crucible” (“Les Sorcières de Salem”), starring Yves Montand and Simone Signoret.
His final film appearances were in “Lines of Wellington,” a 2012 French-Portuguese production that starred John Malkovich as the Duke of Wellington, and “Le Goût des Myrtilles” (“The Taste of Blueberries”), a drama about an older couple in a fantasy world, released in 2014.
Whenever he could break away from his heavy film schedule, Mr. Piccoli retreated to his house on the Île de Ré, an island off the west coast of France, where he enjoyed bicycling down country roads.
He married three times and divorced twice. He and his first wife, the actress Eléonore Hirt, married in 1954 and had a daughter. His second wife was the singer and actress Juliette Gréco; the marriage lasted from 1966 to 1977. He married Ms. Clerc in 1980. In addition to her, survivors include a son, Inor; and two daughters, Anne-Cordélia and Missia.
“I like extremely discreet actors, who thus open up the imagination,” Mr. Piccoli said in a 2005 interview with the French film journal Cahiers du Cinéma, praising the midcentury American movie star Robert Mitchum as well as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Jonathan Kandell contributed reporting. | 2020-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A storied actor, he starred opposite Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve and worked with many of the giants of European filmmaking.
Michel Piccoli, an actor whose quiet intensity and mature sensuality made him a fixture of French cinema for more than a half-century, died on May 12, it was announced on Monday. He was 94.
The cause was a stroke, according to his wife, Ludivine Clerc, who confirmed his death in a short statement issued on her behalf by Gilles Jacob, former president of the Cannes Film Festival.
A veteran of the French stage, Mr. Piccoli also had more than 40 feature films and television movies on his résumé. He was in his late 30s when he starred in Jean-Luc Godard’s acclaimed drama “Contempt” (“Le Mépris”) in 1963, playing Brigitte Bardot’s unhappy husband, a screenwriter who sells out his talent and loses | his wife to an American producer.
French audiences had largely discovered Mr. Piccoli a year earlier, in “Le Doulos,” a gangster film noir in which his character is shot dead. American cineastes came to know him from the films of the great European directors, particularly Luis Buñuel.
His work with Mr. Buñuel included “Belle de Jour” (1967), in which Mr. Piccoli played a sinister, lecherous aristocrat who encourages a bored young Catherine Deneuve to go into prostitution and become a gangster’s lover by day while remaining the prim housewife of a handsome, young physician by night.
Mr. Piccoli also collaborated with Mr. Buñuel on “Diary of a Chambermaid” (1964), “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (1972) and “The Phantom of Liberty” (1974).
Across his long career he worked with directors like Claude Chabrol, Jacques |
A strong start to the year for property sales in Manhattan was erased by the coronavirus outbreak.
New York State’s stay-at-home order, and similar restrictions elsewhere, had effectively banned open houses and in-person property showings, and “most people are not going to make a big purchase without seeing it,” said Frederick Warburg Peters, the chief executive of Warburg Realty. Depending on the duration of the outbreak, he said, the number of new contracts in New York could drop by more than 70 percent in the second quarter, compared with the same period last year.
The number of sales in Manhattan in the first quarter actually jumped 13.5 percent, compared with the same period last year, to 2,407 from 2,121, according to data from the brokerage firm Douglas Elliman.
This was only the second time in two and a half years that sales have risen compared with the same period the previous year, said Mr. Miller, the author of the report.
The median sales price was $1,060,000, down just 1.4 percent from the same time last year, suggesting the market was close to turning the corner, as previous price declines had been higher. The average listing discount was 7.2 percent, the highest it had been since 2012, which suggested that sellers were finally getting serious about negotiating, Mr. Miller said.
There were 1,231 contracts signed in February, the most for that month in a decade, and a sign that buying would continue to be robust, said Garrett Derderian, the managing director of market analysis at CORE, another brokerage firm.
But in March, after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates close to zero, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York issued a stay-at-home order in response to the virus, early indicators suggest that momentum has ground to a halt.
Contracts and closings can lag the reality of the market by several weeks or months as paperwork makes its way through the system, but there are already some signals of decline.
At the end of March, there were 5,801 active listings for sale in Manhattan, down 15.3 percent from the same period last year, said Noah Rosenblatt, the chief executive and founder of UrbanDigs, a real estate data company. And 1,159 listings were taken off the market, compared with just 417 the same time last year.
One of the biggest obstacles for the real estate market will be trying to sell apartments under virtual lockdown. Real estate agents in New York had been deemed nonessential workers, so in-person showings were effectively banned, although new guidance from the Cuomo will now allow showings and some back-office real estate functions to continue. And few apartment buildings are allowing visitors or move-ins. Even if buyers agree to purchase a home sight unseen, many of the steps toward closing remain stubbornly analog, in spite of efforts to incorporate video calls and other technology into the process.
The luxury market, which is in a yearslong price correction, could be further affected. Last week, only two properties in Manhattan went into contract at $4 million or more, the lowest weekly sales rate since August 2009, during the last recession, said Donna Olshan, the president of Olshan Realty. In the last week of March 2019, 21 contracts at or above that price were signed.
“Anything left on the market now, the price is just a suggestion,” she said, noting that sellers already in contract, as well as new buyers, are pushing for more aggressive price cuts.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008, sale prices fell 25 to 35 percent, said Mr. Miller. It’s unclear where prices will end up, but they have been sliding since the market peaked around 2015, he said.
The market’s resurgence, before the coronavirus outbreak, was hard won. In 2018, new caps on state, local and property tax deductions disproportionately affected high-price markets like New York, and a series of tax changes in 2019, including increased transfer taxes for luxury apartments, further stalled the market. New tenant-friendly rent laws passed last summer, the possibility of new taxes on pieds-à-terre and growing fears of a recession were cause for more belt-tightening, agents said.
Much of the impact will depend on how quickly the city recovers from the pandemic, with some agents hoping that pent-up demand from months of lockdown will carry into the fall and winter, which are typically slower sales seasons.
With much of the city cooped up indoors for at least the next several weeks, there is some hope of buyer demand surging when the mandate is lifted, Ms. Ramirez said.
| 2020-04 | <|begin_of_text|>A strong start to the year for property sales in Manhattan was erased by the coronavirus outbreak.
New York State’s stay-at-home order, and similar restrictions elsewhere, had effectively banned open houses and in-person property showings, and “most people are not going to make a big purchase without seeing it,” said Frederick Warburg Peters, the chief executive of Warburg Realty. Depending on the duration of the outbreak, he said, the number of new contracts in New York could drop by more than 70 percent in the second quarter, compared with the same period last year.
The number of sales in Manhattan in the first quarter actually jumped 13.5 percent, compared with the same period last year, to 2,407 from 2,121, according to data from the brokerage firm Douglas Elliman.
This was only the second time in two and a half years that sales have risen compared with the same period the previous year, said Mr. Miller, the author of the report.
The | median sales price was $1,060,000, down just 1.4 percent from the same time last year, suggesting the market was close to turning the corner, as previous price declines had been higher. The average listing discount was 7.2 percent, the highest it had been since 2012, which suggested that sellers were finally getting serious about negotiating, Mr. Miller said.
There were 1,231 contracts signed in February, the most for that month in a decade, and a sign that buying would continue to be robust, said Garrett Derderian, the managing director of market analysis at CORE, another brokerage firm.
But in March, after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates close to zero, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York issued a stay-at-home order in response to the virus, early indicators suggest that momentum has ground to a halt.
Contracts and closings can lag the reality of the market by several weeks or months as paperwork makes its way through |
A strong winter storm struck Colorado and other parts of the central United States on Wednesday, sending hurricane-force winds and heavy snow across the region, meteorologists said.
The fierce winter weather, part of which classified as a “bomb cyclone,” pummeled Denver and other areas in Colorado, and rapidly intensified throughout the day as it pushed east and north, the National Weather Service said.
Heavy rains turned to snow, blizzard conditions and high winds and affected parts of the country from the Central Rockies across the Plains, and from the Mississippi Valley into the upper Great Lakes, including Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota.
In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis declared a state of emergency, making more resources available to react to the storm. Winds reached a high of 94 miles per hour, and some areas saw up to four feet of snow. Visibility reached near zero, and travel plans were disrupted throughout the state. Schools were closed on Wednesday in Denver, Littleton and several other cities.
At least one person has been killed as a result of the storm. Cpl. Daniel Groves of the Colorado State Patrol, 52, was hit by a car on I-76, about 50 miles from Denver. While helping a driver whose car slid off the roadway, the corporal was hit by another man who had lost control of his car, the State Patrol said. He was taken to Platte Valley Medical Center and died shortly afterward.
Dodge City, Kan., broke a record for low atmosphere pressure that had stood for more than a century, according to Vanessa Pearce, a meteorologist with The National Weather Service in Kansas.
The storm was expected to make its way through Kansas, Nebraska and move northeastward toward Iowa, the Weather Service said.
In Colorado, the storm qualified as a “bomb cyclone,” also known as a winter hurricane, according to the National Weather Service.
A storm may become a “bomb” depending on how fast the atmospheric pressure falls; drops in atmospheric pressure are a characteristic of all storms. Barometric pressure must fall by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours for a storm to be called a bomb cyclone.
“In terms of the sheer power of the system, I think it is one of the strongest ones we have ever seen in this part of the country,” he added.
The bomb cyclone’s snow and intense winds will create problems associated with blowing gusts of snow and huge drifts, Dr. Schumacher said.
The storm was expected to weaken by midnight according to the National Weather Service.
People living in the affected areas were likely to have prepared for the storm because forecasts about its approach have circulated for several days, he said.
The Denver airport said it was bracing for several inches of snow and strong winds. Airlines including Southwest, Frontier and United have canceled flights, and more cancellations and delays were possible, the airport said in a statement on Twitter. By Wednesday afternoon local time, more than 1,300 flights had been canceled, according to FlightAware.
“Travelers across the Colorado mountains and eastern plains should consider canceling travel plans today, as conditions will deteriorate quickly during the late morning or early afternoon,” it added.
By midday on Wednesday, parts of Kansas were feeling the fringes of the storm system with a high wind warning, or gusts of up to 70 m.p.h., in the western part of the state, the National Weather Service said.
| 2019-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A strong winter storm struck Colorado and other parts of the central United States on Wednesday, sending hurricane-force winds and heavy snow across the region, meteorologists said.
The fierce winter weather, part of which classified as a “bomb cyclone,” pummeled Denver and other areas in Colorado, and rapidly intensified throughout the day as it pushed east and north, the National Weather Service said.
Heavy rains turned to snow, blizzard conditions and high winds and affected parts of the country from the Central Rockies across the Plains, and from the Mississippi Valley into the upper Great Lakes, including Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota.
In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis declared a state of emergency, making more resources available to react to the storm. Winds reached a high of 94 miles per hour, and some areas saw up to four feet of snow. Visibility reached near zero, and travel plans were disrupted throughout the state. Schools were closed on Wednesday in Denver, Littleton and several other cities | .
At least one person has been killed as a result of the storm. Cpl. Daniel Groves of the Colorado State Patrol, 52, was hit by a car on I-76, about 50 miles from Denver. While helping a driver whose car slid off the roadway, the corporal was hit by another man who had lost control of his car, the State Patrol said. He was taken to Platte Valley Medical Center and died shortly afterward.
Dodge City, Kan., broke a record for low atmosphere pressure that had stood for more than a century, according to Vanessa Pearce, a meteorologist with The National Weather Service in Kansas.
The storm was expected to make its way through Kansas, Nebraska and move northeastward toward Iowa, the Weather Service said.
In Colorado, the storm qualified as a “bomb cyclone,” also known as a winter hurricane, according to the National Weather Service.
A storm may become a “bomb” depending on how fast the atmospheric pressure falls; drops |
A student at the University of Central Florida shared videos of sexual encounters he had with his girlfriend in a secret Facebook group for his fraternity brothers without her permission, the woman alleges in a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
Kathryn Novak, a student in Arizona, said she learned in March that her intimate photos and videos had been shared in a secret Facebook group when she saw someone’s text message to her long-distance boyfriend that mentioned a sexual video. Her boyfriend, Brandon Simpson, did not deny sharing the video in the Facebook group named “Dog Pound” in October, according to the lawsuit.
“The fact that you had a basically frat-boy atmosphere, both literally and figuratively, that was centered on the exploitation of women without their knowledge or consent is outrageous,” he said.
The lawsuit names as defendants Mr. Simpson, Delta Sigma Phi, the fraternity, and four other fraternity brothers who were said to have viewed the video.
Mr. Simpson declined to speak with a reporter when reached by phone on Thursday. Efforts to reach the other fraternity brothers were not immediately successful.
In a statement, Delta Sigma Phi said that it had suspended its chapter at the University of Central Florida.
“While we cannot comment on specific allegations made in the lawsuit, these claims are disturbing and antithetical to our organization’s values and mission,” the fraternity said.
“Although U.C.F. is not a party to the suit, we are gathering information,” it said.
Mr. Simpson and Ms. Novak were in a long-distance relationship from October 2017 to February 2018, seeing each other a few times per month, according to the lawsuit. While the sexual encounters were consensual, and Ms. Novak had sent her boyfriend intimate photos and videos, she had not given him permission to share her images, the lawsuit said. At least one sexual video was recorded without her knowledge, Mr. Avenatti said.
She was nude with her face identifiable in one video, which Mr. Simpson sent to five fraternity brothers and later showed to others during a house meeting, according to the lawsuit. The video was seen by more than 200 people, none of whom suggested Mr. Simpson delete it, according to the lawsuit.
The images were shared to the Facebook group, which Mr. Avenatti said contained images and videos of sexual activities with “many” other women.
Social media has become an additional problem for fraternities, already under fire for deadly hazing and underage drinking practices.
In 2015, Penn State suspended its Kappa Delta Rho chapter for three years after discovering it had operated a similar private Facebook page. The page included images of nude, unconscious women, in addition to photos of drugs, hazing and underage drinking.
Last week, Syracuse University suspended 15 fraternity brothers who participated in videos described by the school’s chancellor as racist and anti-Semitic. Syracuse suspended the fraternity in April.
On Wednesday, Ryan Burke, a former Penn State fraternity member, pleaded guilty to several misdemeanor charges related to the death of Timothy Piazza, who was 19 when he died after a binge-drinking hazing ritual in February 2017. Twenty-five other defendants have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial. | 2018-06 | <|begin_of_text|>A student at the University of Central Florida shared videos of sexual encounters he had with his girlfriend in a secret Facebook group for his fraternity brothers without her permission, the woman alleges in a lawsuit filed on Thursday.
Kathryn Novak, a student in Arizona, said she learned in March that her intimate photos and videos had been shared in a secret Facebook group when she saw someone’s text message to her long-distance boyfriend that mentioned a sexual video. Her boyfriend, Brandon Simpson, did not deny sharing the video in the Facebook group named “Dog Pound” in October, according to the lawsuit.
“The fact that you had a basically frat-boy atmosphere, both literally and figuratively, that was centered on the exploitation of women without their knowledge or consent is outrageous,” he said.
The lawsuit names as defendants Mr. Simpson, Delta Sigma Phi, the fraternity, and four other fraternity brothers who were said to have viewed the video.
Mr. Simpson declined to speak with a reporter when reached by phone on Thursday | . Efforts to reach the other fraternity brothers were not immediately successful.
In a statement, Delta Sigma Phi said that it had suspended its chapter at the University of Central Florida.
“While we cannot comment on specific allegations made in the lawsuit, these claims are disturbing and antithetical to our organization’s values and mission,” the fraternity said.
“Although U.C.F. is not a party to the suit, we are gathering information,” it said.
Mr. Simpson and Ms. Novak were in a long-distance relationship from October 2017 to February 2018, seeing each other a few times per month, according to the lawsuit. While the sexual encounters were consensual, and Ms. Novak had sent her boyfriend intimate photos and videos, she had not given him permission to share her images, the lawsuit said. At least one sexual video was recorded without her knowledge, Mr. Avenatti said.
She was nude with her face identifiable in one video, which Mr. Simpson sent |
A student at the University of Hartford in Connecticut was charged with criminal mischief and expelled from school after boasting about having contaminated her roommate’s toothbrush, face lotion and other belongings in an effort to drive her from the room.
“After one and a half months spitting in her coconut oil, putting moldy clam dip in her lotions, rubbing used tampons on her backpack, putting her toothbrush places where the sun doesn’t shine, and so much more, I can finally say goodbye to Jamaican Barbie,” said the post, which has since been deleted. Ms. Brochu is white; Ms. Rowe is black.
Lt. Michael Perruccio of the West Hartford Police Department said that the police began investigating the report on Oct. 18 and that Ms. Brochu turned herself in on Saturday.
On Wednesday, the police department said it would be requesting that Ms. Brochu be charged with intimidation based on bigotry or bias, a felony. The university announced that she was no longer a student there.
Ms. Rowe, a freshman at the university, described her roommate’s behavior in a Facebook video on Monday, and accused the school of attempting to keep the episode quiet.
She said that the revelations, posted on Instagram as she was moving out, had helped explain why she had been sick early in the school year, suffering from extreme throat pain that eventually made it difficult to sleep or speak.
Ms. Rowe said that she and Ms. Brochu had been placed together randomly and that their relationship had been tense.
“I moved out because I felt like I was unwanted in my own room,” she said.
As she was in the process of moving, Ms. Rowe said, other residents approached her about several posts Ms. Brochu had made on social media. They included pictures of bloodstains on Ms. Rowe’s backpack and videos of Ms. Rowe eating, with comments suggesting that the utensils she was using had been contaminated.
Ms. Brochu had already been charged by the time Ms. Rowe posted the video. But Ms. Rowe expressed frustration that it had taken so long for Ms. Brochu to be punished.
She said that school authorities had told her if she spoke out about the situation, she could be removed from her campus residence. And she said that race had been a factor in the school’s response, speculating that if she were white and Ms. Brochu were black, the investigation would have been more urgent.
“If the race roles were reversed, I feel like this would have gone down a different route,” she said.
The university’s undergraduate student body is 15 percent African-American, according to statistics posted on its website.
Ms. Rowe did not respond to emails requesting further comment on Wednesday.
Her video catapulted her experience into the news, with the hashtag #justiceforjazzy — based on the name she uses on Facebook — being used to spread her story.
In a statement posted online Tuesday, Mr. Woodward called Ms. Brochu’s behavior “reprehensible” and said that he was confident that the university had pursued the matter seriously.
Mr. Woodward followed up on Wednesday with the statement announcing Ms. Brochu’s expulsion. That statement clarified the timeline, saying that the school’s public safety department became involved on Oct. 17 and that the case was turned over to the local authorities early the next day.
Molly Polk, a spokeswoman for the university, said that the school had followed its standard procedures, immediately referring the case to the police. She said that Mr. Woodward had not been accusing Ms. Rowe of spreading misinformation in his initial statement, and that he was instead referencing the almost instantaneous reaction to the video among people on social media.
| 2017-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A student at the University of Hartford in Connecticut was charged with criminal mischief and expelled from school after boasting about having contaminated her roommate’s toothbrush, face lotion and other belongings in an effort to drive her from the room.
“After one and a half months spitting in her coconut oil, putting moldy clam dip in her lotions, rubbing used tampons on her backpack, putting her toothbrush places where the sun doesn’t shine, and so much more, I can finally say goodbye to Jamaican Barbie,” said the post, which has since been deleted. Ms. Brochu is white; Ms. Rowe is black.
Lt. Michael Perruccio of the West Hartford Police Department said that the police began investigating the report on Oct. 18 and that Ms. Brochu turned herself in on Saturday.
On Wednesday, the police department said it would be requesting that Ms. Brochu be charged with intimidation based on bigotry or bias, a felony. The university announced that she was no | longer a student there.
Ms. Rowe, a freshman at the university, described her roommate’s behavior in a Facebook video on Monday, and accused the school of attempting to keep the episode quiet.
She said that the revelations, posted on Instagram as she was moving out, had helped explain why she had been sick early in the school year, suffering from extreme throat pain that eventually made it difficult to sleep or speak.
Ms. Rowe said that she and Ms. Brochu had been placed together randomly and that their relationship had been tense.
“I moved out because I felt like I was unwanted in my own room,” she said.
As she was in the process of moving, Ms. Rowe said, other residents approached her about several posts Ms. Brochu had made on social media. They included pictures of bloodstains on Ms. Rowe’s backpack and videos of Ms. Rowe eating, with comments suggesting that the utensils she was using had been contaminated.
Ms. Brochu had already been charged by |
A study examined a popular approach that coordinated care for the most expensive patients, and found that the project did not reduce hospital admissions.
In the quest to reduce health care spending in the United States, the idea held incredible promise: By addressing the medical and social needs of the most expensive patients, you could keep them out of the hospital.
These individuals, frequently struggling with addiction or homelessness, have extremely complicated medical conditions. By finding them and connecting them to the right doctors and social services, dozens of costly hospital stays could be avoided. The idea has been adopted in numerous communities around the country.
Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, a family physician in New Jersey, founded the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers in 2002. He created teams of nurses, social workers and others to coordinate the care of people he saw cycle in and out of the hospital. Dr. Brenner, who was profiled in a 2011 New Yorker piece, “The Hot Spotters,” and who won a MacArthur Foundation fellowship — known as a “genius” grant — in 2013, became the program’s chief evangelist.
But a new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the Camden program did not result in fewer hospital readmissions in the six months after a patient left the hospital. While the program appeared to lower readmissions by nearly 40 percent, the same kind of patients who received regular care saw a nearly identical decline in hospital stays.
“We’re disappointed by the results,” said Kathleen Noonan, the chief executive of the Camden Coalition. Finding effective ways to help these patients, known as super-utilizers, “is very, very hard work,” she said.
Several years ago, the small nonprofit began working with M.I.T.’s J-PAL North American Group to devise a way to test whether the coalition’s efforts were effective. “We could have coasted on the publicity we were getting,” Dr. Brenner said, but he wanted to make sure the intervention was having a real impact.
The surprising lack of results offers a cautionary tale about how difficult it is to improve patients’ care and reduce costs. Few efforts that have taken place undergo rigorous study, allowing proponents of a variety of programs, like wellness and disease management, to claim they benefit patients and save money without evidence. The coalition is advising communities like Memphis to help develop programs that may be more targeted and therefore show improvements.
The study, which involved 800 patients, compared hospital admissions for patients whose care was coordinated by the Camden Coalition with those whose care was not. These patients had at least two chronic conditions. The study took five years, enrolling its first patients in June 2014.
The researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial. While the patients had fewer hospital stays, the decline in admissions was the result of a phenomenon known as regression to the mean, said Amy Finkelstein, an economist at M.I.T. who led the study. Patients with extremely high medical costs tend to see their expenses naturally decline over time, becoming closer to the average.
Such regression is “the Achilles’ heel of a lot of health research,” said Amitabh Chandra, a health economist at Harvard University, who said most studies were based on observing patients and seeing how they did before and after an intervention. The patient in the hospital will be cured of pneumonia, regardless of what else happened.
“All the observational studies will find huge effects,” he said.
When Dr. Brenner, now an executive with UnitedHealth Group, started the Camden Coalition, the answer seemed more straightforward. Camden was one of the nation’s poorest cities, and by identifying those patients who were in and out of the hospital, he saw firsthand how chaotic and disjointed their care was. Many were being prescribed too many medications, and they were often simply too overwhelmed to figure out how to navigate the system.
The concept took off. “Hot spotting has enjoyed tremendous, widespread appeal,” said Mary D. Naylor, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing who is leading similar efforts to reduce hospitalizations among Medicare patients. Her program has shown promising results in randomized studies.
In retrospect, assigning a team to coordinate the care of the sickest patients, with no quick access to housing or treatment programs for substance abuse, “made it seem like an impossible task,” Dr. Naylor said. Camden’s program targets patients with the most serious social and medical challenges. One individual struggled with addiction for decades and was incarcerated for much of his life. When he was released, he would bounce from hospitals to treatment programs. After developing a wide range of medical problems, he was hospitalized for pneumonia when he was brought into the program.
These patients may need help well before they become super-utilizers, Dr. Naylor said, and the program could be more effective if it were able to find patients who were most likely to benefit from the coalition’s efforts. “I’m hopeful we learn a lot from this,” she said.
Her initiative focused on a narrower set of patients, whose care after hospitalization was overseen by a skilled nurse. She is now trying to get the approach adopted more broadly.
The Camden Coalition underestimated how few resources were available to help the patients it identified, Dr. Brenner said. “Care coordination is necessary but insufficient to fix the health care of these patients,” he said. The patients served by the coalition had much greater needs than those of Dr. Naylor’s program, he said.
Putting a patient with numerous chronic conditions in touch with a primary care doctor for 15 minutes or finding someone a treatment program while that person was still living on the streets or in a shelter is not enough to make a significant difference, Dr. Brenner said. “We’re coordinating to nowhere, essentially,” he said.
Housing, for example, may play a more important role, he said, pointing to one patient who stopped cycling in and out of the hospital after getting housing. At United, Dr. Brenner is leading an experiment to providing housing to high-cost patients.
The doctors seeing these patients were not always equipped to handle their complicated needs, Ms. Noonan of the Camden Coalition said, adding that the program has also evolved to try to address critical needs like housing. It has also recently teamed up with lawyers to try to prevent patients from getting evicted or losing their benefits.
“Our primary care offices are doing the best they can, but they are inundated,” Ms. Noonan said.
The study’s researchers offered several possible reasons for the program’s lack of success, including a lack of follow-up home visits or doctor’s appointments or insufficient resources. “We don’t know why from the data,” Dr. Finkelstein said.
The study’s design did not allow them to assess whether some types of patients — older patients, say — did benefit from the program, she said. The coalition is examining whether there might be benefits other than hospital readmissions, like a reduction in emergency room visits.
“We have to keep figuring out what is going to work,” Ms. Noonan said.
It is important not to give up, said Dr. Brenner, who likened these efforts to those of cancer researchers trying to find the right treatment for individuals with a certain genetic makeup. “It took us 50 years to figure out cancer,” he said. | 2020-01 | <|begin_of_text|>A study examined a popular approach that coordinated care for the most expensive patients, and found that the project did not reduce hospital admissions.
In the quest to reduce health care spending in the United States, the idea held incredible promise: By addressing the medical and social needs of the most expensive patients, you could keep them out of the hospital.
These individuals, frequently struggling with addiction or homelessness, have extremely complicated medical conditions. By finding them and connecting them to the right doctors and social services, dozens of costly hospital stays could be avoided. The idea has been adopted in numerous communities around the country.
Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, a family physician in New Jersey, founded the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers in 2002. He created teams of nurses, social workers and others to coordinate the care of people he saw cycle in and out of the hospital. Dr. Brenner, who was profiled in a 2011 New Yorker piece, “The Hot Spotters,” and who won a Mac | Arthur Foundation fellowship — known as a “genius” grant — in 2013, became the program’s chief evangelist.
But a new study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that the Camden program did not result in fewer hospital readmissions in the six months after a patient left the hospital. While the program appeared to lower readmissions by nearly 40 percent, the same kind of patients who received regular care saw a nearly identical decline in hospital stays.
“We’re disappointed by the results,” said Kathleen Noonan, the chief executive of the Camden Coalition. Finding effective ways to help these patients, known as super-utilizers, “is very, very hard work,” she said.
Several years ago, the small nonprofit began working with M.I.T.’s J-PAL North American Group to devise a way to test whether the coalition’s efforts were effective. “We could have coasted on the publicity we were getting,” Dr. Brenner said, but he wanted to |
A study for the city of San Antonio predicted that the 2018 Final Four would bring nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in spending to the city, a talking point sure to be raised as debate continues over a proposed Texas law seen by some as discriminatory to transgender people.
A similar law in North Carolina prompted the N.C.A.A. and the N.B.A. to pull events from that state.
According to a memo obtained Friday by The New York Times and verified by a spokeswoman for the local organizing committee, next year’s Final Four would lead to $135 million in direct spending and a total economic impact, accounting for money spent by tens of thousands of visitors at other businesses, of $234 million.
The study, conducted by the chief economist of the Sabér Research Institute, projected state tax revenue of $9.5 million and municipal tax revenue of $4.4 million stemming from the event.
Earlier this month, Texas officials, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, proposed legislation that would require transgender people to use bathrooms in government buildings and public schools and universities based on their “biological sex,” overriding any local rules to the contrary (potentially including a nondiscrimination ordinance that, the committee spokeswoman noted, San Antonio has). The proposal is known as Senate Bill 6.
The N.C.A.A. has not commented on the Texas bill.
The bill strikes many observers as similar to the North Carolina law that prompted the N.C.A.A. to move championship events out of the state, including games in the early rounds of the Division I men’s basketball tournament. The N.B.A. moved its All-Star Game, and the Atlantic Coast Conference moved its football championship game in response to the law.
Many of North Carolina’s business interests opposed the law, citing economic downsides. The Texas Association of Business has also opposed the bill, in addition to several groups that represent lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
The Texas bill appears to have an exemption for venues “privately leased to an outside entity,” which could include a situation such as Houston’s NRG Stadium, which is set to host the Super Bowl early next month (likely before the bill would actually be made law), or the Alamodome come March 2018.
It is not clear how such an exemption would affect hotels or restaurants accounted for in the economic impact report. It is also unclear how the N.C.A.A. would assess it. Currently the association quizzes prospective host sites over their abilities to cultivate nondiscriminatory atmospheres. | 2017-01 | <|begin_of_text|>A study for the city of San Antonio predicted that the 2018 Final Four would bring nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in spending to the city, a talking point sure to be raised as debate continues over a proposed Texas law seen by some as discriminatory to transgender people.
A similar law in North Carolina prompted the N.C.A.A. and the N.B.A. to pull events from that state.
According to a memo obtained Friday by The New York Times and verified by a spokeswoman for the local organizing committee, next year’s Final Four would lead to $135 million in direct spending and a total economic impact, accounting for money spent by tens of thousands of visitors at other businesses, of $234 million.
The study, conducted by the chief economist of the Sabér Research Institute, projected state tax revenue of $9.5 million and municipal tax revenue of $4.4 million stemming from the event.
Earlier this month, Texas officials, led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a | Republican, proposed legislation that would require transgender people to use bathrooms in government buildings and public schools and universities based on their “biological sex,” overriding any local rules to the contrary (potentially including a nondiscrimination ordinance that, the committee spokeswoman noted, San Antonio has). The proposal is known as Senate Bill 6.
The N.C.A.A. has not commented on the Texas bill.
The bill strikes many observers as similar to the North Carolina law that prompted the N.C.A.A. to move championship events out of the state, including games in the early rounds of the Division I men’s basketball tournament. The N.B.A. moved its All-Star Game, and the Atlantic Coast Conference moved its football championship game in response to the law.
Many of North Carolina’s business interests opposed the law, citing economic downsides. The Texas Association of Business has also opposed the bill, in addition to several groups that represent lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
The Texas bill appears to have an exemption |
A study of 48 young I.C.U. patients in U.S. hospitals found that two died. Eighteen of the children were put on ventilators.
As concern grows over the potential for children to become seriously ill from the coronavirus, a new study paints the most detailed picture yet of American children who were treated in intensive care units throughout the United States as the pandemic was taking hold in the country.
None of the children in the study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, were stricken by the new mysterious inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus that can cause life-threatening cardiac issues in children. They suffered from the virus’s primary line of attack: the severe respiratory problems that have afflicted tens of thousands of American adults.
The vast majority of the patients — 40 children, including the two who died — had pre-existing medical conditions. Nearly half of those patients had complex developmental disorders like cerebral palsy or lifelong technology-dependent treatments like tracheostomies or feeding tubes, children “who have trouble walking, talking, eating, breathing,” Dr. Shekerdemian said. Other pre-existing health issues included cancer and suppressed immune systems from organ transplants or immunological conditions.
Perhaps because it was so early in the pandemic, none of the children in the study displayed the newly identified pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which experts believe may be a latent condition that develops weeks after the initial coronavirus infection and assaults a child’s circulatory system with inflammation rather than directly attacking the lungs. Over the weekend, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York reported that three children in the state have died of that illness, and last week the journal Lancet reported a death in England.
The new study also suggests that, at least at this point in the pandemic, “nobody knows what the appropriate treatment is for these very sick children,” said Dr. Nigel Curtis, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Melbourne, who was not involved in the research.
Hospitals used many methods of breathing support, as well as unproven medications like hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir and tociluzimab to treat the children. Other approaches included inhaled nitric oxide and blood plasma.
“They get a variety of different treatments in a very nonsystematic way because, of course, quite understandably, these intensive care doctors are going to do their best by these children and so they’re going to try different potential therapies,” said Dr. Curtis, who is also head of infectious diseases at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne.
The study was conducted by members of an international collaborative of more than 300 pediatric intensive care and infectious disease specialists formed to study coronavirus in children and make recommendations.
Forty-six hospitals agreed to participate in the study, which included patients with confirmed coronavirus infections who were admitted to pediatric I.C.U.s in North America between March 14 and April 3, said Dr. Shekerdemian, who is also vice chair of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. But only 16 of them had cases during that span, and only 14 reported data in time for publication, she said.
The 14 hospitals were all in the United States, and reflected the trajectory of the early pandemic, concentrated on the East Coast, with scattered cases in Texas and elsewhere. Young people up to age 21 were included, but all but three patients were 18 or younger, Dr. Shekerdemian said.
Given the small number of cases, it’s hard to know how representative the results are. For example, while studies on children in China and an early report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that infants and preschool-aged children were at highest risk, fewer than a third of the pediatric I.C.U. patients in the new study were that young. The two children who died were 12 and 17.
Dr. De Luca, who is chief of the division of pediatrics and neonatal critical care at Paris Saclay University Hospitals, said it made sense that older children with developmental disorders and other complex long-term problems would be more vulnerable than infants or toddlers to a virus like Covid-19.
“As they get older, they have lower immunity, they don’t move much, and their weakening muscles affect their respiratory condition,” he said.
Fourteen of the patients in the study had only mild or moderate coronavirus symptoms, and it’s possible that because of the previous fragile state of their health they were admitted to I.C.U.s as a precaution, experts said. Another was asymptomatic but was already in the I.C.U. for other reasons.
Still, 33 young people became severely or critically ill. And of the 18 who required ventilators, six needed additional respiratory interventions, including one child who needed a last-resort heart-lung bypass machine. Thirty patients experienced lung failure, and at least 11 also had failure of one or more other organs, such as the heart, kidneys or liver, Dr. Shekerdemian said. Two had neurological symptoms, primarily seizures.
The children’s cases were followed through April 10. At that point, 15 remained hospitalized, but most were no longer severely or critically ill, the study said. Four were on ventilators then, one of whom was also on the heart-lung bypass machine. Those four remain hospitalized now, with two still on ventilators, Dr. Shekerdemian said.
The small number of patients treated by the hospitals in the study echoes C.D.C. figures so far, which report that 2 percent of confirmed American coronavirus cases have been in children under 18. That’s similar to data in China and higher than rates reported in Italy and Spain. As of May 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 10 deaths in children 14 and younger and 48 deaths between the ages of 15 and 24.
But the actual prevalence and effects of coronavirus in children remain unknown, and last week, the National Institutes of Health announced it was starting a large study to learn more.
Scientists are also studying why most children seem less affected than adults, a question that could help them learn more about how the virus works in general. Theories include that cells lining the blood vessels and heart change as we age or that children’s lung cells express lower levels of proteins that help the virus enter the cells and replicate.
| 2020-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A study of 48 young I.C.U. patients in U.S. hospitals found that two died. Eighteen of the children were put on ventilators.
As concern grows over the potential for children to become seriously ill from the coronavirus, a new study paints the most detailed picture yet of American children who were treated in intensive care units throughout the United States as the pandemic was taking hold in the country.
None of the children in the study, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, were stricken by the new mysterious inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus that can cause life-threatening cardiac issues in children. They suffered from the virus’s primary line of attack: the severe respiratory problems that have afflicted tens of thousands of American adults.
The vast majority of the patients — 40 children, including the two who died — had pre-existing medical conditions. Nearly half of those patients had complex developmental disorders like cerebral palsy or lifelong technology-dependent treatments like tracheostomies or feeding tubes, children “ | who have trouble walking, talking, eating, breathing,” Dr. Shekerdemian said. Other pre-existing health issues included cancer and suppressed immune systems from organ transplants or immunological conditions.
Perhaps because it was so early in the pandemic, none of the children in the study displayed the newly identified pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, which experts believe may be a latent condition that develops weeks after the initial coronavirus infection and assaults a child’s circulatory system with inflammation rather than directly attacking the lungs. Over the weekend, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York reported that three children in the state have died of that illness, and last week the journal Lancet reported a death in England.
The new study also suggests that, at least at this point in the pandemic, “nobody knows what the appropriate treatment is for these very sick children,” said Dr. Nigel Curtis, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Melbourne, who was not involved in the research.
Hospitals used many |
A study of fossil meteorites suggests that a distant asteroid collision once sent Earth into an ice age.
Extraterrestrial events — the collision of faraway black holes, a comet slamming into Jupiter — evoke wonder on Earth but rarely a sense of local urgency. By and large, what happens in outer space stays in outer space.
A study published Wednesday in Science Advances offered a compelling exception to that rule. A team of researchers led by Birger Schmitz, a nuclear physicist at Lund University in Sweden, found that a distant, ancient asteroid collision generated enough dust to cause an ice age long ago on Earth. The study lends new insight to ongoing efforts to address climate change.
Earth is frequently exposed to extraterrestrial matter; 40,000 tons of the stuff settle on the planet every year, enough to fill 1,000 tractor-trailers. But 466 million years ago, a 93-mile-wide asteroid collided with an unknown, fast-moving object between Mars and Jupiter. The crash increased the amount of dust arriving on Earth for the next two million years by a factor of 10,000. Dr. Schmitz, Dr. Heck and their team found that the dust triggered cooling in Earth’s atmosphere that led to an ice age.
In sufficient amounts, extraterrestrial dust can cool Earth by blocking the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface. Because the dust from the asteroid collision accumulated gradually, the planet cooled gradually, allowing plants and animal species to adapt as sea levels dropped and temperatures declined by as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Our study is the first time it has been shown that asteroid dust actually helps cool Earth to a dramatic extent,” Dr. Schmitz said.
The first was found in a Swedish limestone quarry in 1952, but it was shelved by an unsuspecting paleontologist and wasn’t properly identified for another 27 years. In 1979, when a mineralogist realized the extraterrestrial origins of the rock, he prompted a systematic search for more in Swedish quarries. Researchers found 130 meteorites over the next two decades.
Of these, Dr. Schmitz and his team determined that 129 derived from the same asteroid breakup. The meteorites were analyzed to determine their chemical composition, and their level of cosmic ray exposure was measured to confirm their outer-space origins and pin down when they arrived on Earth.
By tracing the increase in the meteorites of certain isotopes, the researchers were able to determine that extraterrestrial dust began to reach Earth about 50,000 years after the asteroid collision. A worldwide ice age began roughly 10,000 years later, during the Ordovician Period.
When the team started its research, they hypothesized that the collision might have increased dust levels by a hundredfold. The chemical analysis soon revealed that the dust levels had risen far more, by a factor of 10,000, an increase sufficient to markedly alter Earth’s climate.
Dr. Schmitz and his team believe their findings shed light on a mechanism that could eventually be used to counteract global warming. In their paper, they propose that an asteroid could be captured and brought to one of the Lagrange points between the sun and Earth — an unstable zone where the gravitational pull of each is equal — allowing it to produce dust that blocks sunlight. They are not the first scientists to suggest using extraterrestrial dust for global cooling.
| 2019-09 | <|begin_of_text|>A study of fossil meteorites suggests that a distant asteroid collision once sent Earth into an ice age.
Extraterrestrial events — the collision of faraway black holes, a comet slamming into Jupiter — evoke wonder on Earth but rarely a sense of local urgency. By and large, what happens in outer space stays in outer space.
A study published Wednesday in Science Advances offered a compelling exception to that rule. A team of researchers led by Birger Schmitz, a nuclear physicist at Lund University in Sweden, found that a distant, ancient asteroid collision generated enough dust to cause an ice age long ago on Earth. The study lends new insight to ongoing efforts to address climate change.
Earth is frequently exposed to extraterrestrial matter; 40,000 tons of the stuff settle on the planet every year, enough to fill 1,000 tractor-trailers. But 466 million years ago, a 93-mile-wide asteroid collided with an unknown, fast-moving object between Mars and Jupiter. | The crash increased the amount of dust arriving on Earth for the next two million years by a factor of 10,000. Dr. Schmitz, Dr. Heck and their team found that the dust triggered cooling in Earth’s atmosphere that led to an ice age.
In sufficient amounts, extraterrestrial dust can cool Earth by blocking the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface. Because the dust from the asteroid collision accumulated gradually, the planet cooled gradually, allowing plants and animal species to adapt as sea levels dropped and temperatures declined by as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Our study is the first time it has been shown that asteroid dust actually helps cool Earth to a dramatic extent,” Dr. Schmitz said.
The first was found in a Swedish limestone quarry in 1952, but it was shelved by an unsuspecting paleontologist and wasn’t properly identified for another 27 years. In 1979, when a mineralogist realized the extraterrestrial origins of the rock |
A study published on Friday appears to confirm what news reports suggested long ago: President Trump’s campaign rallies were associated with a rise in violence when they came to town.
A city that hosted a Trump rally saw an average of 2.3 more assaults reported on the day of the event than on a typical day, according to the study, led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the journal Epidemiology. The authors found no corresponding link between assaults and rallies for Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
“It appeared to be a phenomenon that’s unique to Donald Trump’s rally,” said Christopher Morrison, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and the lead author of the study.
New York Times reporters have covered Donald J. Trump's rallies for more than a year. His supporters at these events often express their views in angry and provocative ways. Here are some examples.
It may come as little surprise that the rallies were associated with increased violence, as the often volcanic clashes between Mr. Trump’s supporters and opponents were widely covered at the time.
In March 2016 alone, a Trump rally in Chicago was called off after violent clashes broke out, while an anti-Trump protester was punched at a rally in North Carolina and another was punched and kicked at a rally in Arizona. The following month, several Trump supporters were assaulted at a California rally.
Mr. Trump himself repeatedly seemed to endorse attacks on his detractors, too.
“Maybe he should have been roughed up,” he said of one protester who was reportedly punched and kicked in November 2015. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya,” he said of another a few months later. He even offered to pay legal fees for his supporters if they became too aggressive.
The supporters also often aimed offensive and violent rhetoric at Mrs. Clinton, suggesting she be killed.
To determine whether those words and news reports corresponded with an actual shift in violence, the researchers compiled a list of 31 Trump rallies and 38 Clinton rallies held in cities with assault data available online.
They compared the number of assaults reported on the day of the rally to the number reported on the corresponding day of the week, for each of the four weeks before and after the event.
On a typical day, cities saw an average of 19.4 assaults, they found. On the day of a Trump rally, that number rose to 21.7.
The pattern held even when the researchers controlled for the influence of factors like population size, data sources and the day used for the comparison.
There were some limitations to the findings, the authors noted. They may not apply to the rallies or cities that weren’t studied, and a greater police presence during the rallies may have made it more likely for an assault to be reported. | 2018-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A study published on Friday appears to confirm what news reports suggested long ago: President Trump’s campaign rallies were associated with a rise in violence when they came to town.
A city that hosted a Trump rally saw an average of 2.3 more assaults reported on the day of the event than on a typical day, according to the study, led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the journal Epidemiology. The authors found no corresponding link between assaults and rallies for Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
“It appeared to be a phenomenon that’s unique to Donald Trump’s rally,” said Christopher Morrison, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and the lead author of the study.
New York Times reporters have covered Donald J. Trump's rallies for more than a year. His supporters at these events often express their views in angry and provocative ways. Here are some examples.
It may come as little surprise that the rallies were associated with increased violence, as the often volcanic | clashes between Mr. Trump’s supporters and opponents were widely covered at the time.
In March 2016 alone, a Trump rally in Chicago was called off after violent clashes broke out, while an anti-Trump protester was punched at a rally in North Carolina and another was punched and kicked at a rally in Arizona. The following month, several Trump supporters were assaulted at a California rally.
Mr. Trump himself repeatedly seemed to endorse attacks on his detractors, too.
“Maybe he should have been roughed up,” he said of one protester who was reportedly punched and kicked in November 2015. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell ya,” he said of another a few months later. He even offered to pay legal fees for his supporters if they became too aggressive.
The supporters also often aimed offensive and violent rhetoric at Mrs. Clinton, suggesting she be killed.
To determine whether those words and news reports corresponded with an actual shift in violence, the researchers compiled a |
A study shows that three out of four U.S. workers ages 50 to 62 didn’t have an employer-provided retirement plan and health insurance — which will be a big blow to their income later.
When the retirement expert Alicia H. Munnell finished gathering data for a study on American workers ages 50 to 62 in jobs without benefits, she was stunned.
“When I looked at the results I thought, ‘This can’t be right,’” Dr. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, said. The study, published in October and titled “How Do Older Workers Use Nontraditional Jobs?,” found that three-quarters of American workers in that age group had positions that fall into the center’s “nontraditional” category — meaning, those without employer-provided retirement plans and health insurance.
What may be less surprising is the effect these jobs can have on retirement. Depending on how much time workers spent in a job without benefits from ages 50 to 62, they can expect their retirement income to be as much as 26 percent lower than that of people who spent their 50s and early 60s in positions with full benefit packages, according to the center’s findings. It was the first time the center had looked at nontraditional workers in this age group.
Ms. Jacobs is a freelance writer for various outlets, including The Dallas Morning News. Since the coronavirus hit, she has been especially busy.
Ms. Jacobs, 60, started freelancing in 1989. Since 2015, she has freelanced full time. From 2006 until 2013, she was a staff writer at The United Methodist Reporter, a newspaper that shut down. It was the only job that offered her health and retirement benefits since she started writing professionally.
Other Texas organizations she writes for, including a theology school and a seminary, don’t extend benefits to freelancers. And that’s OK with Ms. Jacobs. Her husband, Steve Lavine, owned a market research company and retired comfortably five years ago. When they married in 2009, they combined living expenses, allowing her to increase her retirement savings and buy private health insurance. Mr. Lavine is on Medicare.
She also knows that other workers her age have reason to feel not so fortunate. Ms. Jacobs chose her nontraditional jobs for their flexibility. Freelancing allowed her to work from home when her children, now 27 and 30, were growing up.
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Other workers, like James P. Shelley, felt forced to take nontraditional work in their later years.
Since his 20s, Mr. Shelley had worked as an executive at Southern California health information management companies. He was fired from one firm in his 30s for not meeting sales quotas. A second company let him go in 2005 because it could no longer afford his salary. For decades, he provided his wife and children, now 31 and 29, with health insurance through his employers and made small contributions to company retirement savings plans. Since starting his own business, he has gone without health insurance. His savings have dwindled to zero.
Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Shelley have made careers of their nontraditional jobs, meaning both have spent the bulk of their later earning years forgoing benefits. According to the Boston center’s study, that lands them among the group of future retirees likely to see the highest rate of lost income: Their peers are apt to be 26 percent richer because they won’t have pulled from their own pockets to pay for health coverage or have interrupted the accrual of money in their 401(k)’s or pensions.
Making a career of these jobs also puts them among the majority of workers in those positions, who stay put rather than using them as stopgaps between jobs with benefits or bridges to retirement. Workers who bounced among mostly traditional jobs, with stints at nontraditional jobs in between, had about 6 percent less retirement income, the study found.
“Some people do use these jobs to tide them over between one traditional job and another,” Dr. Munnell said; those workers make up only about 25 percent. Fifty-four percent of the 4,174 respondents in the center’s study stay in their no-benefits jobs for years. Among them are people whose lack of a high school diploma prevents them from securing traditional jobs. Others are in Ms. Jacobs’s position, with a spouse to fall back on.
A January report from the institute found that 40 percent of Americans over 60 draw income from Social Security alone, while only 7 percent pay their bills through a combination of Social Security, a defined-benefit pension and a contribution plan such as a 401(k).
That may be because only about half of U.S. workplaces offer their employees retirement plans, Mr. Doonan said. “Access has been a challenge,” he said.
Yet that access may make the biggest difference when it comes to closing the gap between traditional and nontraditional workers’ retirement income.
The lowest-paid workers may be the most reluctant to try to save for retirement. “There’s a lot of demands on a limited income,” Dr. Munnell said.
Workers like Mr. Shelley, whose business, like the hiring market, has ground down because of the coronavirus, know they are vulnerable. “I believe I have more than 20 years ahead of me, and that I’ll be doing this until the day I die,” he said.
He said he planned to move to a more affordable city when his wife retired and hopes his health holds out, at least until he qualifies for Medicare. “It’s only the catastrophic stuff, like a cancer diagnosis, that I worry about,” Mr. Shelley said.
Dr. Munnell wishes that he and other nontraditional workers were in a position to fret less.
| 2020-04 | <|begin_of_text|>A study shows that three out of four U.S. workers ages 50 to 62 didn’t have an employer-provided retirement plan and health insurance — which will be a big blow to their income later.
When the retirement expert Alicia H. Munnell finished gathering data for a study on American workers ages 50 to 62 in jobs without benefits, she was stunned.
“When I looked at the results I thought, ‘This can’t be right,’” Dr. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, said. The study, published in October and titled “How Do Older Workers Use Nontraditional Jobs?,” found that three-quarters of American workers in that age group had positions that fall into the center’s “nontraditional” category — meaning, those without employer-provided retirement plans and health insurance.
What may be less surprising is the effect these jobs can have on retirement. Depending on how much time workers spent in a job without benefits from ages 50 | to 62, they can expect their retirement income to be as much as 26 percent lower than that of people who spent their 50s and early 60s in positions with full benefit packages, according to the center’s findings. It was the first time the center had looked at nontraditional workers in this age group.
Ms. Jacobs is a freelance writer for various outlets, including The Dallas Morning News. Since the coronavirus hit, she has been especially busy.
Ms. Jacobs, 60, started freelancing in 1989. Since 2015, she has freelanced full time. From 2006 until 2013, she was a staff writer at The United Methodist Reporter, a newspaper that shut down. It was the only job that offered her health and retirement benefits since she started writing professionally.
Other Texas organizations she writes for, including a theology school and a seminary, don’t extend benefits to freelancers. And that’s OK with Ms. Jacobs. Her husband |
A stunt that went wrong on the set of the TV show “L.A.’s Finest” last week, leaving two producers injured, is the latest in a string of incidents that have drawn renewed attention to the dangers of stunt work. It came just days after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited a subsidiary of CBS for a stunt-related injury, and after a lawsuit was filed by the widow of a man who worked as a stunt double.
The “L.A.’s Finest” accident, which occurred Thursday on the set of the drama series, involved a stunt with a vehicle. “The vehicle’s trajectory led to a collision with set pieces in the safe viewing area,” said Philip Sokoloski, a spokesman for FilmLA, the official film office for the City and County of Los Angeles. The show is produced by Sony Pictures Television and is set to premiere this spring on Spectrum as the cable provider’s first original series.
The two producers who were injured were transported to two different hospitals in the area for treatment, Sokoloski said. He said that filming scheduled for Feb. 22 had been postponed.
The Sony Pictures Television president, Jeff Frost, and co-presidents Chris Parnell and Jason Clodfelter, said in a statement: “Our hearts go out to our SPT family members who were injured and we pray for a full recovery.” The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Cal/OSHA, confirmed that it was investigating the accident.
Stunt work is a sometimes dangerous and physically difficult subset of the entertainment industry. In a report in The New York Times in 2017, some stuntmen and women described a macho culture and a “gung-ho mentality.” Safety concerns have been raised for decades, especially after the death of an actor and two children in a helicopter crash on the set of “Twilight Zone: The Movie” in 1982, but there has been little success in efforts toward regulation. Fatalities are uncommon, although in 2017, a stuntwoman died on the set of “Deadpool 2” and a stuntman died on the set of “The Walking Dead.” Data about injuries on sets are sketchy and unreliable, as are most workplace safety statistics, which largely rely on information self-reported by employers.
But recent regulatory action brought some safety issues to light again: Last week, OSHA cited Eye Productions Inc., a division of CBS, for “failing to protect employees from hazards” in August 2018. A man was injured on the set of “MacGyver” while performing a stunt on a moving vehicle traveling at 18 miles per hour; OSHA said he did not have “adequate head protection.” The proposed penalty is $9,472.
A representative for CBS declined to comment on the citation and the fine.
Also last week, the widow of the former football player and stunt double Darryl Hammond filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles that named the Walt Disney Company, Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures as defendants, along with the Arena Football League. The suit claims that while filming movies including “The Longest Yard” and “Invincible,” Hammond, who died in 2017, suffered traumatic head injuries that exposed him to neurodegenerative diseases. It alleges negligence, wrongful death and breach of contract, among other things. Representatives for Disney and Paramount did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit; a spokeswoman for Sony Pictures Entertainment, of which Columbia Pictures is a subsidiary, declined to comment. | 2019-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A stunt that went wrong on the set of the TV show “L.A.’s Finest” last week, leaving two producers injured, is the latest in a string of incidents that have drawn renewed attention to the dangers of stunt work. It came just days after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited a subsidiary of CBS for a stunt-related injury, and after a lawsuit was filed by the widow of a man who worked as a stunt double.
The “L.A.’s Finest” accident, which occurred Thursday on the set of the drama series, involved a stunt with a vehicle. “The vehicle’s trajectory led to a collision with set pieces in the safe viewing area,” said Philip Sokoloski, a spokesman for FilmLA, the official film office for the City and County of Los Angeles. The show is produced by Sony Pictures Television and is set to premiere this spring on Spectrum as the cable provider’s first original series.
The two producers who were injured were transported to two different hospitals | in the area for treatment, Sokoloski said. He said that filming scheduled for Feb. 22 had been postponed.
The Sony Pictures Television president, Jeff Frost, and co-presidents Chris Parnell and Jason Clodfelter, said in a statement: “Our hearts go out to our SPT family members who were injured and we pray for a full recovery.” The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Cal/OSHA, confirmed that it was investigating the accident.
Stunt work is a sometimes dangerous and physically difficult subset of the entertainment industry. In a report in The New York Times in 2017, some stuntmen and women described a macho culture and a “gung-ho mentality.” Safety concerns have been raised for decades, especially after the death of an actor and two children in a helicopter crash on the set of “Twilight Zone: The Movie” in 1982, but there has been little success in efforts toward regulation. Fatalities are uncommon |
A suicide attack Tuesday night at Istanbul Ataturk Airport killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200. Here’s what travelers should know about the terrorist threat in Turkey, including updates on flights and areas to avoid.
Is the Threat Ongoing?
Yes. The United States Department of State updated its existing travel warning regarding Turkey on June 27, one day before the attack, warning tourists of increased threats throughout the country, and that many attacks have taken place in recent months.
“Foreign and U.S. tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations,” the State Department stated.
On June 7, Kurdish militants set off a car bomb near a central tourist district in Istanbul that killed 11 people.
In January, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district that killed 10 foreign tourists.
In total, there have been 14 terrorist attacks in Turkey since June of last year.
An explosion near a courthouse in Izmir was the latest in a series of deadly attacks in Turkey.
What Parts of Turkey Are Most Dangerous?
The State Department is advising caution throughout the country, but there is a particular emphasis on southeastern Turkey, especially near the Syrian border.
Britain’s Foreign Office advises against all travel within six miles of the Syrian border, and all but essential travel to the remaining areas of Sirnak, Mardin, Sanlurfa, Gaziantep, Kilis and Hatay provinces.
No matter the region, the State Department advises staying away from large crowds and popular tourist destinations, political gatherings and rallies and to monitor local media.
Can I Fly Through Istanbul?
Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Europe’s third busiest airport, has reopened, but airlines are suggesting travelers check with them regarding possible delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration has also lifted its ban on flights between Istanbul and the United States.
Turkish Airlines is allowing passengers booked on its flights to or from either Ataturk or Sabiha Gokcen airports from Tuesday through July 5 to rebook or reroute their flights without penalties until July 31. Refunds were also being offered for unused tickets. Passengers should also allow for extra time prior to check-in and boarding.
But other airlines have canceled flights. Air France canceled all but one of its Wednesday flights to and from Istanbul Ataturk Airport, but planned to operate its normal schedule on Thursday. It also was offering to let passengers postpone their trip until July 12 at no extra cost in the same ticketed cabin. After that date, passengers who no longer wish to travel can get a nonrefundable voucher valid for a year on Air France or KLM or Hop.
British Airways canceled its Wednesday flights to Istanbul and offered what it called “a more flexible rebooking policy” for ticketholders heading to or from Istanbul through Sunday, allowing them to rebook for a later date or apply their ticket cost to an alternative destination.
Delta, which stopped service to the airport last month because of security concerns, is offering a travel waiver through its Joint Venture partners to help those affected change their travel plans.
Does More Security at Airports Make Us Safer or Just Move the Targets?
After the attack on Turkey’s largest airport, comparing airport security around the world.
While there was an increased police presence at Ataturk Airport on Wednesday, other areas of the city had already seen an expanded police presence following the earlier attacks.
Security measures at Ataturk were already considered stronger than at many other airports, as travelers must go through two security screenings and there is a vehicle checkpoint near the international terminal, though only suspicious vehicles are stopped. Tuesday’s attackers arrived in a taxi, according to Turkey’s prime minister, Binali Yildirim.
The attacks inside the airport took place before a security screening could happen. According to Turkish government officials, the police fired on two attackers at the entryway to Ataturk’s international terminal in an attempt to stop them from reaching the security checkpoint. The two attackers then blew themselves up. A third attacker detonated explosives in the parking lot.
Elsewhere in the city, some events have been canceled, but not all because of security concerns.
A concert by the Eurovision-winning Sertab Erener at the Zorlu Center was canceled on Wednesday night out of respect for the victims of the attack. The Jockey Club of Turkey also canceled horse races for the day. Some smaller galleries postponed openings, but major art centers like the Sabanci Museum and Istanbul Modern remained open.
Are Travelers Avoiding Turkey?
Not surprisingly, the continuing violence has hurt the country’s once thriving tourism industry.
According to Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the number of visiting tourists in May dropped 34.7 percent to 2.48 million, compared with the previous year. It was the biggest decline in 22 years, according to Trading Economics. May also marked the 10th consecutive month of declining tourist arrivals.
The State Department’s website will have the latest information regarding the travel warning to Turkey.
You can contact the United States Embassy in Ankara at 90-312-455-5555, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul at 90-212-335-9000; and the U.S. Consulate in Adana at 90-322-455-4100. | 2016-06 | <|begin_of_text|>A suicide attack Tuesday night at Istanbul Ataturk Airport killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200. Here’s what travelers should know about the terrorist threat in Turkey, including updates on flights and areas to avoid.
Is the Threat Ongoing?
Yes. The United States Department of State updated its existing travel warning regarding Turkey on June 27, one day before the attack, warning tourists of increased threats throughout the country, and that many attacks have taken place in recent months.
“Foreign and U.S. tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations,” the State Department stated.
On June 7, Kurdish militants set off a car bomb near a central tourist district in Istanbul that killed 11 people.
In January, ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district that killed 10 foreign tourists.
In total, there have been 14 terrorist attacks in Turkey since June of last year.
An explosion near a courthouse in Izmir was the latest in | a series of deadly attacks in Turkey.
What Parts of Turkey Are Most Dangerous?
The State Department is advising caution throughout the country, but there is a particular emphasis on southeastern Turkey, especially near the Syrian border.
Britain’s Foreign Office advises against all travel within six miles of the Syrian border, and all but essential travel to the remaining areas of Sirnak, Mardin, Sanlurfa, Gaziantep, Kilis and Hatay provinces.
No matter the region, the State Department advises staying away from large crowds and popular tourist destinations, political gatherings and rallies and to monitor local media.
Can I Fly Through Istanbul?
Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Europe’s third busiest airport, has reopened, but airlines are suggesting travelers check with them regarding possible delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration has also lifted its ban on flights between Istanbul and the United States.
Turkish Airlines is allowing passengers booked on its flights to or from either Ataturk or Sabiha Gokcen airports from Tuesday through July |
A summer stage binge reminded one young journalist of the power of great storytelling, and that cheap tickets are out there if you know where to look.
I saw 30.
In 10 weeks as an editing intern, I mainlined more plays, musicals, ballets and cabaret performances than many people see in their entire lives.
In between fine-tuning stories for the White House correspondent Maggie Haberman or the New York Yankees beat writer James Wagner, I spent my nights nestled in Broadway theaters.
I watched an 83-year-old Glenda Jackson unleash the guttural growls of a death metal singer as King Lear. I saw the Hogwarts recruits of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” stagger across the stage, wands aloft, as though dragged by a cat skidding across a just-waxed floor.
A day after the death of the original “Phantom of the Opera” director Hal Prince, I witnessed Sierra Boggess deliver a rendition of “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again” at Feinstein’s/54 Below, a performance so raw that it nearly broke my heart (and hers, it looked like).
For the record, I am not rich. I’m about to start the final year of my master’s degree in English at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, with a year’s worth of apartment rent and tuition to match. And while my Times internship was paid, I certainly wasn’t making Bill Gates money.
But I never spent more than $70 for a show this summer — with two exceptions, for “Cursed Child” and “Phantom,” my favorite musical. And most of my tickets cost $40 or less.
I lined up at box offices first thing in the morning — a few times after getting home after 1 a.m. from night shifts — for rush tickets, which are steeply discounted seats sold at the theater the morning of a performance. I bought standing-room tickets for “Chicago” and “Come From Away.” I saw all the free shows I could (looking at you, Shakespeare in the Park).
I won four lotteries for discounted (often front-row) seats — but never for “Hamilton,” despite 80 tries.
For 10 weeks, I made a game out of trying to cram in as many shows as possible while putting The Times first. But theatergoing grew more challenging when I started working nights. Fortunately, I had a theater-loving boss, who even rearranged my final week’s schedule so I could see the “Phantom of the Opera” matinee.
But why? I’m not an aspiring actress. I didn’t do high-school theater. I couldn’t have told you who Audra McDonald was four years ago, much less what she was famous for. To be honest, I’d have been hard-pressed to tell you the difference between a play and a musical.
But a two-month study abroad trip to London in 2016 catapulted me into the world of the West End, and I’ve attended more than 150 shows in Indianapolis, and now New York, in the three years since.
What gripped me then, and now, is the storytelling. As a journalist, my goal is to write immersively; to leave you so absorbed in a story that you forget you’re reading words on a page.
A standout theatrical production accomplishes the same. In the title role of “Dear Evan Hansen,” Andrew Barth Feldman made me forget where I was, who I was, that I was anything other than part of the world onstage — the mark of truly magical theater. I’m pretty sure I didn’t draw breath the entire first act.
A highlight of my stage binge was attending “The Black Clown,” a music-theater adaptation of Langston Hughes’s 1931 poem, with Mr. Brantley, The Times’s co-chief theater critic. I watched him take a few, mostly illegible, notes in a miniature composition notebook from Staples, then write a review that read as though he’d had the script in hand and a recording of the production saved in his Netflix library to replay scenes at will.
It was an affirmation penned almost entirely from memory, one that dripped with both passionate appreciation and meticulous detail. I was astounded.
Of course, not every show I saw this summer won me over.
I wasn’t a fan of the Tony darling “The Ferryman.” And I found the unconvincing fight choreography and clichéd plot of “Be More Chill” exasperating, which was especially disappointing given my expectations after listening to George Salazar’s “Michael in the Bathroom” on the cast recording for months.
Going to so many shows in such a short period of time underscored the reality that while the majority of Broadway productions are good and worth seeing, the truly great shows are rare, and the atrocious ones even rarer.
A show may have stellar actors, but a slog of a script, or moving orchestrations paired with cheesy lyrics. The best Broadway shows are a marriage of form and performance, of a tightly coiled plot that unfolds at exactly the right pace and actors who render you unable to view them in any light except the one they embody onstage.
“We think you’re going to be pretty bored when you return to Indy,” my mom texted me at the end of July.
But that’s not to say I don’t need to come back to New York. Jesse Green, The Times’s other chief theater critic, has invited me to attend a show with him when I return. And I still need to see the Rockettes.
| 2019-08 | <|begin_of_text|>A summer stage binge reminded one young journalist of the power of great storytelling, and that cheap tickets are out there if you know where to look.
I saw 30.
In 10 weeks as an editing intern, I mainlined more plays, musicals, ballets and cabaret performances than many people see in their entire lives.
In between fine-tuning stories for the White House correspondent Maggie Haberman or the New York Yankees beat writer James Wagner, I spent my nights nestled in Broadway theaters.
I watched an 83-year-old Glenda Jackson unleash the guttural growls of a death metal singer as King Lear. I saw the Hogwarts recruits of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” stagger across the stage, wands aloft, as though dragged by a cat skidding across a just-waxed floor.
A day after the death of the original “Phantom of the Opera” director Hal Prince, I witnessed Sierra Boggess deliver a rendition of “Wishing You | Were Somehow Here Again” at Feinstein’s/54 Below, a performance so raw that it nearly broke my heart (and hers, it looked like).
For the record, I am not rich. I’m about to start the final year of my master’s degree in English at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, with a year’s worth of apartment rent and tuition to match. And while my Times internship was paid, I certainly wasn’t making Bill Gates money.
But I never spent more than $70 for a show this summer — with two exceptions, for “Cursed Child” and “Phantom,” my favorite musical. And most of my tickets cost $40 or less.
I lined up at box offices first thing in the morning — a few times after getting home after 1 a.m. from night shifts — for rush tickets, which are steeply discounted seats sold at the theater the morning of a performance. I bought standing-room tickets for “Chicago” and “Come From Away.” |
A supervised exercise program that gets young children running and playing for an hour before school could make them happier and healthier, while also jibing with the needs and schedules of parents and school officials, according to a new study involving two dozen elementary and middle schools.
The results also caution, however, that the benefits may depend on how often children actually participate.
Physical activity among children in most of the developed world has been on a steep decline for decades. National exercise guidelines in the United States recommend that children and adolescents engage in at least an hour of exercise every day. But by most estimates, barely 20 percent of young people are that active, and many scarcely exercise at all. Meanwhile, rates of obesity among children as young as 2 hover at around 17 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Understandably, many concerned experts have suggested a variety of physical-activity interventions, from more sports programs to the use of “active” video games that allow children to move without relinquishing their screens and joysticks.
But many of these initiatives are expensive, logistically complex, time consuming or otherwise impractical.
So in 2009, a group of mothers in Massachusetts organized a simple, before-school activity program in their local grade school. They opted for the before-school start because they hoped to add to the total amount of time their kids spent moving and not displace existing physical education classes or after-school sports. It also struck many of the working parents as convenient and, apparently, did not lead to bitter complaints from their children about early rising times.
Today, the program has gained a formal curriculum, a name and acronym, Build Our Kids’ Success (BOKS), along with corporate underwriting from the shoe manufacturer Reebok. (The similarity of the nomenclature is intentional.) It also has become one of the world’s most widely disseminated, free, school-based exercise programs. According to a BOKS spokeswoman, it is used at more than 3,000 schools worldwide.
But popularity is no guarantee of efficacy. So researchers at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, some of whom have children enrolled in a BOKS program, began to wonder about the measurable impacts of the exercise.
They also were aware that a number of school districts in Massachusetts had plans to allow BOKS at their elementary and middle schools during the 2015 or 2016 school years and, for the new study, which was published this week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, asked if they could piggyback their research onto the start of those programs. Principals at 24 schools agreed. The schools included students from a broad spectrum of incomes.
The researchers then asked those families planning to participate in BOKS, which is always voluntary, if they and their children would join a study.
Several hundred students in kindergarten through eighth grade and their parents consented. Other children, who would not be joining the exercise program, agreed to serve as a control group.
The researchers measured everyone’s heights, weights, body mass indexes and, through brief psychological surveys, general happiness, vigor and other signs of well-being.
For 12 weeks, the students then played and ran during before-school exercise. At some schools, the program was offered three times a week, at others twice.
Afterward, the researchers returned and repeated the testing.
At this point, those students who had exercised before school three times per week had almost all improved their B.M.I.s and fewer qualified as obese. (Many had gained weight as children should while they are growing.) They also reported feeling deeper social connections to their friends and school and a greater happiness and satisfaction with life.
Those students who had exercised twice a week also said they felt happier and more energetic. But the researchers found no reductions in their body mass.
The students in the control group had the same B.M.I.s or higher and had no changes to their feelings of well-being.
But the benefits are most noticeable if children exercise “at least three times a week,” she says.
This study was short-term, though, and looked only at a few, narrow physical and emotional impacts. Dr. Taveras and her colleagues hope soon to track the program’s impacts, if any, on academics and on aerobic fitness.
Perhaps most important, the study was not randomized. It involved self-selected students and families who chose to join. The results, in theory, would apply only to the kinds of children who will get up early and run and hop and skip and squeal for an hour before school.
But, Dr. Taveras says, those should be all children.
She believes that programs such as the one in this study might help to re-instill some of our children’s instinctual pleasure in motion, she says.
| 2018-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A supervised exercise program that gets young children running and playing for an hour before school could make them happier and healthier, while also jibing with the needs and schedules of parents and school officials, according to a new study involving two dozen elementary and middle schools.
The results also caution, however, that the benefits may depend on how often children actually participate.
Physical activity among children in most of the developed world has been on a steep decline for decades. National exercise guidelines in the United States recommend that children and adolescents engage in at least an hour of exercise every day. But by most estimates, barely 20 percent of young people are that active, and many scarcely exercise at all. Meanwhile, rates of obesity among children as young as 2 hover at around 17 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Understandably, many concerned experts have suggested a variety of physical-activity interventions, from more sports programs to the use of “active” video games that allow children to | move without relinquishing their screens and joysticks.
But many of these initiatives are expensive, logistically complex, time consuming or otherwise impractical.
So in 2009, a group of mothers in Massachusetts organized a simple, before-school activity program in their local grade school. They opted for the before-school start because they hoped to add to the total amount of time their kids spent moving and not displace existing physical education classes or after-school sports. It also struck many of the working parents as convenient and, apparently, did not lead to bitter complaints from their children about early rising times.
Today, the program has gained a formal curriculum, a name and acronym, Build Our Kids’ Success (BOKS), along with corporate underwriting from the shoe manufacturer Reebok. (The similarity of the nomenclature is intentional.) It also has become one of the world’s most widely disseminated, free, school-based exercise programs. According to a BOKS spokeswoman, it is used |
A supply shock is not a problem our usual economic tools are particularly good at solving. But it’s the one we face.
It looks more and more likely that the novel form of coronavirus will do meaningful economic damage to the United States. Stock and bond prices already suggest that the outbreak could halt the longest expansion on record and even send the nation into recession.
The risks loom larger because this particular crisis is ill suited to the usual tools the government has to stabilize the economy. If a recession happens, it will probably be a result of this poor fit between the economic effects of the potential pandemic and the mechanisms the government uses to try to keep the economy growing.
If a potential coronavirus downturn were a fire, the recession-fighters would be like a fire brigade low on supplies, fighting among themselves, and probably lacking the right chemicals to quench the flames anyway.
A recession, defined as a significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months, hasn’t occurred in the United States in more than 10 years. If one happens, it will mean higher unemployment and lower incomes. And it would be a different kind of downturn from most of the recent ones.
The core of the economic problem emerging from coronavirus is a “supply shock,” meaning a reduction in the economy’s capacity to make things. Companies in China that have shut down because their workers are quarantined are not making goods. That could eventually mean shortages of certain items for which there are few sources of elsewhere in the world.
Multinational companies typically operate complex supply chains, with lean inventories and essential merchandise that often arrives just in the nick of time. That means American companies that rely heavily on Chinese suppliers might begin facing shortages of key goods in the weeks ahead, said Nada Sanders, professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University.
“I believe we’re going to have a massive shortage of goods,” she said. “Two weeks ago I told people this was coming. The big problem was economists don’t understand how global supply chains work, how intertwined and interconnected they are.” It is an issue she said would particularly affect pharmaceuticals and electronics.
Macroeconomic policies can’t really do anything about supply shocks like those. But it’s possible that supply shocks can bleed into demand shocks, and there economic policy can help.
Tara Sinclair, who studies business cycles at George Washington University, compares it to a grocery store. A store with no goods on the shelves has a supply problem, while a store with full shelves but no customers has a demand problem. And it is generally easier to boost short-term demand than short-term supply.
But supply problems can bleed into demand problems, and vice versa.
In parts of Italy, for example, where outbreaks of the virus have disrupted daily life, tourism is slowing and restaurants and stores are reportedly empty as people seek to avoid exposure. That could result in waiters and store clerks who endure a drop in income, which could in turn feed back into less demand for all sorts of products, and a weaker economy.
Similarly, businesses might go bankrupt if the financial markets freeze up and they cannot get access to credit, meaning otherwise sound businesses end up laying off employees or closing down.
The role for economic policy, in that sense, wouldn’t be to solve the supply shock, but to try to prevent that initial supply shock from triggering a demand shock.
So, for example, the government could offer widespread tax breaks, or direct payments to unemployed workers. The Fed, with interest rate cuts, can help ensure financing keeps flowing. Those actions might in turn give consumers and businesses the space to figure out how to operate despite the problems they face.
But this is not the only challenge. If coronavirus were to spread widely in the United States, and officials decided to impose widespread quarantines, the economic impact is hard for economists to model. What happens to a service economy if people can’t safely travel, go shopping, or even go to work?
The answer is no one really knows. The closest comparison may be the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when air travel was temporarily suspended. But that didn’t keep the vast majority of Americans from going to work.
And in those more dire scenarios, it’s anybody’s guess how things might shake out.
In other words, it would be best if the public health efforts to contain the spread of the virus are effective enough that we don’t have to ask very much of the economic firefighters. | 2020-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A supply shock is not a problem our usual economic tools are particularly good at solving. But it’s the one we face.
It looks more and more likely that the novel form of coronavirus will do meaningful economic damage to the United States. Stock and bond prices already suggest that the outbreak could halt the longest expansion on record and even send the nation into recession.
The risks loom larger because this particular crisis is ill suited to the usual tools the government has to stabilize the economy. If a recession happens, it will probably be a result of this poor fit between the economic effects of the potential pandemic and the mechanisms the government uses to try to keep the economy growing.
If a potential coronavirus downturn were a fire, the recession-fighters would be like a fire brigade low on supplies, fighting among themselves, and probably lacking the right chemicals to quench the flames anyway.
A recession, defined as a significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months, hasn’t occurred in the United States in | more than 10 years. If one happens, it will mean higher unemployment and lower incomes. And it would be a different kind of downturn from most of the recent ones.
The core of the economic problem emerging from coronavirus is a “supply shock,” meaning a reduction in the economy’s capacity to make things. Companies in China that have shut down because their workers are quarantined are not making goods. That could eventually mean shortages of certain items for which there are few sources of elsewhere in the world.
Multinational companies typically operate complex supply chains, with lean inventories and essential merchandise that often arrives just in the nick of time. That means American companies that rely heavily on Chinese suppliers might begin facing shortages of key goods in the weeks ahead, said Nada Sanders, professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University.
“I believe we’re going to have a massive shortage of goods,” she said. “Two weeks ago I told people this was coming. The big problem was economists don’t understand |
A surge in American airstrikes over the last four months of 2018 pushed the annual death toll of suspected Shabab fighters in Somalia to the third record high in three years. Last year, the strikes killed 326 people in 47 disclosed attacks, Defense Department data show.
And so far this year, the intensity is on a pace to eclipse the 2018 record. During January and February, the United States Africa Command reported killing 225 people in 24 strikes in Somalia. Double-digit death tolls are becoming routine, including a bloody five-day stretch in late February in which the military disclosed that it had killed 35, 20 and 26 people in three separate attacks.
Africa Command maintains that its death toll includes only Shabab militants, even though the extremist group claims regularly that civilians are also killed. The Times could not independently verify the number of civilians killed. The rise in airstrikes has also exacerbated a humanitarian crisis in the country, according to United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations working in the region, as civilians are displaced by conflict and extreme weather.
The United States has escalated its airstrike campaign against Qaeda-backed Shabab militants in Somalia during the Trump administration.
Note: An exact death toll is not available for each airstrike.
Source: FDD's Long War Journal’s analysis of Defense Department releases.
Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, the head of Africa Command, said planned cutbacks elsewhere would not affect what the military is doing in Somalia.
The Shabab formally pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2012. But long before that, they fought Western-backed governments in Mogadishu as the group sought to impose its extremist interpretation of Islam across Somalia. In defending the fragile government, the United States has largely relied on proxy forces, including about 20,000 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda, Kenya and other East African nations.
The United States estimates that the Shabab have about 5,000 to 7,000 fighters in Somalia, but the group’s ranks are fluid. A State Department official, citing interviews from Shabab deserters, said that the number of hard-core ideologues may be as few as 500.
The Shabab have proved resilient against the American airstrikes, and continue to carry out regular bombings in East Africa.
The Shabab leadership views the outposts “as an irritant, masses to go after it, but fails,” Maj. Gen. Gregg Olson, the Africa Command’s director of operations, said in an interview.
The drawdown of American military operations elsewhere in the world — including in Syria and, to a lesser immediate extent, Afghanistan — also has most likely freed up more drones and other gunships for use over Somalia, several former United States officials said.
| 2019-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A surge in American airstrikes over the last four months of 2018 pushed the annual death toll of suspected Shabab fighters in Somalia to the third record high in three years. Last year, the strikes killed 326 people in 47 disclosed attacks, Defense Department data show.
And so far this year, the intensity is on a pace to eclipse the 2018 record. During January and February, the United States Africa Command reported killing 225 people in 24 strikes in Somalia. Double-digit death tolls are becoming routine, including a bloody five-day stretch in late February in which the military disclosed that it had killed 35, 20 and 26 people in three separate attacks.
Africa Command maintains that its death toll includes only Shabab militants, even though the extremist group claims regularly that civilians are also killed. The Times could not independently verify the number of civilians killed. The rise in airstrikes has also exacerbated a humanitarian crisis in the country, according to United Nations agencies and n | ongovernmental organizations working in the region, as civilians are displaced by conflict and extreme weather.
The United States has escalated its airstrike campaign against Qaeda-backed Shabab militants in Somalia during the Trump administration.
Note: An exact death toll is not available for each airstrike.
Source: FDD's Long War Journal’s analysis of Defense Department releases.
Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, the head of Africa Command, said planned cutbacks elsewhere would not affect what the military is doing in Somalia.
The Shabab formally pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in 2012. But long before that, they fought Western-backed governments in Mogadishu as the group sought to impose its extremist interpretation of Islam across Somalia. In defending the fragile government, the United States has largely relied on proxy forces, including about 20,000 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda, Kenya and other East African nations.
The United States estimates that the Shabab have about 5,000 to 7 |
A surge in new infections coincided with an increase in testing capacity in New York State, and Connecticut delayed its primary.
A jump in testing yields a spike in new cases.
Surge in cases creates urgent need for medical gear, mayor says.
About half of those infected in New York City are under 50.
New Jersey Transit trims service amid huge drop in ridership.
Three more correction officers test positive, officials say.
A few days ago, New York State was testing only a few hundred people a day for coronavirus.
From Wednesday night to Thursday morning, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said, the state processed the tests of 7,584 people.
The testing has increased as dozens of private laboratories in the state received authorization to test for the virus. Two government-run labs had shouldered most of New York’s testing until recently.
The huge increase in testing capacity and the quickening spread of the virus yielded sobering news: more than 2,200 newly discovered cases in New York State. The case count in the state has more than quadrupled since Monday.
The total as of Thursday afternoon was more than 5,200 cases statewide, up from about 3,000 cases on Wednesday. There were more than 750 people hospitalized statewide. At least 29 people had died of the virus in New York State.
Mr. Cuomo has said the virus has spread so widely that the increase in the number of confirmed cases reflected New York’s added testing capacity more than anything else.
The addition of three drive-through testing centers has helped expand that capacity. The first opened last Friday in New Rochelle, the state’s original virus hot spot. A second opened on Tuesday at Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, and a third opened on Staten Island on Thursday.
In New Jersey, the governor’s office said on Thursday that another 318 people had tested positive, raising the state’s total to 742. Nine people had died in New Jersey, up from five on Wednesday. Three of the nine deaths were associated with long-term health care facilities, which have been closed to visitors, the state’s health commissioner said.
In Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont said on Thursday that the state had recorded its second coronavirus-related death and had added 63 confirmed virus cases since Wednesday, bringing its total to 159.
Of the Thursday total, 1,030 of the cases were in Brooklyn, 980 were in Queens, 976 were in Manhattan, 436 were in the Bronx and 165 were on Staten Island. On Tuesday afternoon, there were 157 cases in Brooklyn.
As the number of cases rises, hospitals in the city are on pace to run out of crucial medical equipment, including face masks and gloves, in the next few weeks if new supplies do not arrive soon, Mr. de Blasio said on Thursday.
Among the needs, the mayor said, are three million N95 masks, 50 million surgical masks and 15,000 ventilators. New York State only has about 3,000 ventilators, one for each intensive-care hospital room.
Health care workers will need another 45 million of each of the following: surgical gowns, coveralls, gloves, regular face masks and face shields, the mayor said.
In making the call for the supplies, Mr. de Blasio again asked President Trump to deploy the military as part of the effort to see that city has the equipment necessary to save lives. “We need these in great numbers,” the mayor said.
As of Wednesday evening, more than 500 coronavirus patients were hospitalized in New York City, 169 of them in intensive care units, according to city officials, who announced on Thursday the city was expanding its testing capacity.
“If we’re going to curb this epidemic, we need fast and expansive testing for those most at risk for serious illness,” Mr. de Blasio said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the city health department released information about who has tested positive for the virus. About half of those people were between the ages of 18 and 49.
The city’s data aligned with recent information from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which on Wednesday said that nearly 40 percent of people hospitalized with the virus were 20 to 54.
Fifty-eight percent of those who tested positive in the city were men, and 42 percent were women, according to data from the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
With so many commuters confined to their homes instead commuting to work, New Jersey Transit said on Thursday that it would switch to a weekend schedule, with a few modifications, beginning Friday.
The abrupt announcement came after the agency’s chief executive, Kevin J. Corbett, sent a letter to New Jersey’s congressional delegation asking for $1.25 billion in federal aid to offset lost revenue and increased costs caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates New York City’s subway and buses and two commuter railroads, said this week that it was seeking a $4 billion federal bailout for similar reasons.
Mr. Corbett said New Jersey Transit had experienced a “dramatic 88 percent reduction in systemwide ridership” since March 9. He said revenue had fallen in line with ridership and that the agency expected “this precipitous drop to continue” as fewer riders to buy monthly passes.
New Jersey Transit’s schedule changes apply only to the agency’s trains and affect all lines except for the Atlantic City Rail Line, and do not affect buses or light-rail systems.
On weekdays, eight daily runs will be added to the usual weekend schedule on the Morris and Essex line between Dover and Hoboken. Service on the Gladstone branch will be unchanged.
The city’s Department of Correction confirmed on Thursday that two correction officers and a captain had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The announcement came a day after an inmate, a man in his 30s, at the Rikers Island jail complex tested positive, as did a correction officer who was assigned to a security checkpoint there. Eight other inmates who were in contact with the man and had shown symptoms of the virus have been placed in isolation at a Rikers hospital unit.
The mayor’s office is trying to identify Rikers inmates who could be released early in hopes of stemming the virus’s spread among the roughly 5,400 people in the city’s custody. Mr. de Blasio said on Wednesday that inmates with underlying health conditions could be eligible.
On Thursday, the mayor said that the city had identified 40 inmates who could be released, pending the approval of other criminal justice authorities.
Outside the city’s jail system, three employees at facilities in the New York City area that house people detained by federal immigration authorities tested positive for the virus, officials said on Thursday.
The cases included a member of the medical staff at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey, which is managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and a staff member at the Mercy First facility on Long Island, where minors in the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s custody are held.
In addition, a correction officer at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey, which has a contract with the immigration enforcement agency, tested positive, county officials said.
The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the guard had not interacted with detainees. But one detainee, speaking through his wife, said the guard had recently helped move a unit from dormitory-style quarters to cells to increase social distancing.
More cases among public workers and those receiving city services.
Among other public sector employees, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on Thursday that 23 of its workers had tested positive for the virus. Nineteen are with the New York City Transit Authority, which operates the subway and buses; the others work for the Long Island Rail Road.
And the New York Police Department said that 20 employees had tested positive for the virus. Some officers and the city’s largest police union recently accused the department of failing to properly outfit officers with protective equipment, including gloves and masks.
Elsewhere, seven people living in New York City’s primary shelter system have tested positive for the virus. They lived in seven different shelters, which remain open and have been cleaned, officials said.
Three single adults were being treated in hospitals. A woman in her 50s who was the first person in the shelter system to test positive was released from the hospital and was in an isolated location, officials said.
Cuomo orders businesses to keep 75 percent of workers home.
With the virus continuing to surge and the economic fallout crippling New York State, Mr. Cuomo on Thursday ordered most businesses to keep at least 75 percent of their workers at home, up from the 50 percent announced on Wednesday.
Among the essential industries that are exempt from the rule are food, health care and pharmacies, banks, warehousing and shipping, and media.
The governor also announced an order waiving mortgage payments for three months for homeowners facing virus-related financial hardship.
“If you are not working, if you are working only part time, we are going to have the banks and financial institutions waive mortgage payments for 90 days,” Mr. Cuomo said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York provided an update as cases continue to rise in the state.
We said we are fighting a war on two fronts. We’re fighting the virus and we’re fighting fear, and they are two totally different situations that you have to deal with. In many ways the fear is more dangerous than the virus. I had a conversation last night with a businessperson from New York City who I know who was panicked that New York City was going to be locked down, that there were going to be roadblocks, that there were going to be mandatory quarantine, he was going to be imprisoned in his house. I said, you know, where did you hear that? “Well that’s what they say, that’s what I’m hearing, they’re saying.” And I would say, look, I would know, right, because I would have to authorize those actions legally. It’s not going to happen. “Well I hear it is going to happen.” I said but I know, but I would have to do it, and I’m telling you, I’m not doing it.
Mr. Cuomo also sought to clarify his stance on a potential shelter-in-place measure, which Mr. de Blasio has said might be imminent in New York City.
The issue has spawned a semantic debate: The governor has said he supports the framework of a shelter-in-place order in California’s Bay Area, which still allows people to exercise and go out to buy groceries or medicine, but he rejects the term itself.
A family grapples with a wrenching question.
Joseph Trinity, pictured here in the 1950s.
Joseph Trinity’s family members were there one day, and then they were not, for the same reason much of the world is trying to suppress the human desire to be with one another: the coronavirus.
Mr. Trinity had found himself in a New Jersey rehabilitation facility that, like most health care institutions across the country, had declared a no-visitor policy to stem contagion. But he is 92, and in fragile health; family sustains him.
Several times a day, he would call his daughter, Mary Trinity, to ask in a faint, slightly garbled voice where everyone was — and to beg her to please, please, get him out of there.
Mr. Trinity was caught in a moment. And he wasn’t alone.
The federal government and various health care associations have issued strongly restrictive guidelines to prohibit family members and other nonessential personnel from visiting nursing homes, rehab centers and other facilities with older, vulnerable residents.
Mr. Trinity’s children faced a heartbreaking dilemma. Should their father remain in the care of professionals who were much better equipped to handle his myriad needs? Or was he at greater risk of contracting the virus by remaining in an institution?
And given the prevailing threat and the open-endedness of restrictions, was it possible they would never see him again?
Dan Barry, Jonah Engel Bromwich, Annie Correal, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Alan Feuer, Michael Gold, Christina Goldbaum, Matthew Haag, Patrick McGeehan, Jesse McKinley, Andy Newman, Azi Paybarah, Jan Ransom, Ed Shanahan, Liam Stack, Nikita Stewart, Tracey Tully and Ali Watkins contributed reporting. | 2020-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A surge in new infections coincided with an increase in testing capacity in New York State, and Connecticut delayed its primary.
A jump in testing yields a spike in new cases.
Surge in cases creates urgent need for medical gear, mayor says.
About half of those infected in New York City are under 50.
New Jersey Transit trims service amid huge drop in ridership.
Three more correction officers test positive, officials say.
A few days ago, New York State was testing only a few hundred people a day for coronavirus.
From Wednesday night to Thursday morning, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said, the state processed the tests of 7,584 people.
The testing has increased as dozens of private laboratories in the state received authorization to test for the virus. Two government-run labs had shouldered most of New York’s testing until recently.
The huge increase in testing capacity and the quickening spread of the virus yielded sobering news: more than 2,200 newly discovered cases in New | York State. The case count in the state has more than quadrupled since Monday.
The total as of Thursday afternoon was more than 5,200 cases statewide, up from about 3,000 cases on Wednesday. There were more than 750 people hospitalized statewide. At least 29 people had died of the virus in New York State.
Mr. Cuomo has said the virus has spread so widely that the increase in the number of confirmed cases reflected New York’s added testing capacity more than anything else.
The addition of three drive-through testing centers has helped expand that capacity. The first opened last Friday in New Rochelle, the state’s original virus hot spot. A second opened on Tuesday at Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, and a third opened on Staten Island on Thursday.
In New Jersey, the governor’s office said on Thursday that another 318 people had tested positive, raising the state’s total to 742. Nine people had died in New Jersey, up from five on Wednesday |
A surge in searches for the definition of an old-school pronoun signals a new, nonbinary meaning.
Merriam-Webster announced the pronoun “they” as its word of the year on Tuesday, marking the rise of the use of the venerable plural pronoun to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.
The public’s interest in words is often driven by major news events, said Peter Sokolowski, an editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster. Other words that generated high year-over-year comparisons this year — “quid pro quo” and “impeachment” — are tied to political headlines.
But a surge of searches for the meaning of a utilitarian word like “they” is less common. It is likely to reflect both curiosity and confusion about the growing use of the pronoun for nonbinary individuals.
But for nonbinary individuals who identify as a gender other than male or female, being referred to as “he” or “she” is inaccurate. Over a third of Americans in their teens and early 20s know someone who uses gender-neutral pronouns, according to a Pew Research survey conducted last fall. That is double the number of those in their 40s, and triple those in their 50s and 60s.
Efforts to destigmatize other gender identities have sparked the disclosure of pronouns on social media profiles and email signatures. Some state and city governments have recently added an “X” option for nonbinary genders on state identification documents, which used to be limited to the options “M” and “F.” And amid efforts this year in at least six states to make the practice law, state legislators have been grappling with the singular “they,” The New York Times reported.
Merriam-Webster added the singular “they” for a person with a nonbinary gender as a definition of the word in its dictionary, noting that the use of the singular “they” to refer to nonbinary individuals is increasingly common in published, edited text, as well as on social media.
I knew certain things about … the person I was interviewing … They had adopted their gender-neutral name a few years ago, when they began to consciously identify as nonbinary — that is, neither male nor female. They were in their late 20s, working as an event planner, applying to graduate school.
On Tuesday, Merriam-Webster cited several 2019 news events to explain the curiosity that appears to have driven searches for “they.” During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Representative Pramila Jayapal noted that “they” is her child’s pronoun; the singer Sam Smith announced that their pronouns are “they” and “them”; and the American Psychological Association recommended that singular “they” be used in academic writing to refer to a person whose gender is unknown or who uses it.
| 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A surge in searches for the definition of an old-school pronoun signals a new, nonbinary meaning.
Merriam-Webster announced the pronoun “they” as its word of the year on Tuesday, marking the rise of the use of the venerable plural pronoun to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.
The public’s interest in words is often driven by major news events, said Peter Sokolowski, an editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster. Other words that generated high year-over-year comparisons this year — “quid pro quo” and “impeachment” — are tied to political headlines.
But a surge of searches for the meaning of a utilitarian word like “they” is less common. It is likely to reflect both curiosity and confusion about the growing use of the pronoun for nonbinary individuals.
But for nonbinary individuals who identify as a gender other than male or female, being referred to as “he” or “ | she” is inaccurate. Over a third of Americans in their teens and early 20s know someone who uses gender-neutral pronouns, according to a Pew Research survey conducted last fall. That is double the number of those in their 40s, and triple those in their 50s and 60s.
Efforts to destigmatize other gender identities have sparked the disclosure of pronouns on social media profiles and email signatures. Some state and city governments have recently added an “X” option for nonbinary genders on state identification documents, which used to be limited to the options “M” and “F.” And amid efforts this year in at least six states to make the practice law, state legislators have been grappling with the singular “they,” The New York Times reported.
Merriam-Webster added the singular “they” for a person with a nonbinary gender as a definition of the word in its dictionary, noting that the use of the singular “they” to refer to |
A surprising number of the conveniences of modern life were invented when someone stumbled upon a discovery or capitalized on an accident: the microwave oven, safety glass, smoke detectors, artificial sweeteners, X-ray imaging. Many blockbuster drugs of the 20th century emerged because a lab worker picked up on the “wrong” information.
While researching breakthroughs like these, I began to wonder whether we can train ourselves to become more serendipitous. How do we cultivate the art of finding what we’re not seeking?
Today we think of serendipity as something like dumb luck. But its original meaning was very different.
In 1754, a belle-lettrist named Horace Walpole retreated to a desk in his gaudy castle in Twickenham, in southwest London, and penned a letter. Walpole had been entranced by a Persian fairy tale about three princes from the Isle of Serendip who possess superpowers of observation. In his letter, Walpole suggested that this old tale contained a crucial idea about human genius: “As their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.” And he proposed a new word — “serendipity” — to describe this princely talent for detective work. At its birth, serendipity meant a skill rather than a random stroke of good fortune.
Dr. Erdelez agrees with that definition. She sees serendipity as something people do. In the mid-1990s, she began a study of about 100 people to find out how they created their own serendipity, or failed to do so.
Her qualitative data — from surveys and interviews — showed that the subjects fell into three distinct groups. Some she called “non-encounterers”; they saw through a tight focus, a kind of chink hole, and they tended to stick to their to-do lists when searching for information rather than wandering off into the margins. Other people were “occasional encounterers,” who stumbled into moments of serendipity now and then. Most interesting were the “super-encounterers,” who reported that happy surprises popped up wherever they looked. The super-encounterers loved to spend an afternoon hunting through, say, a Victorian journal on cattle breeding, in part, because they counted on finding treasures in the oddest places. In fact, they were so addicted to prospecting that they would find information for friends and colleagues.
You become a super-encounterer, according to Dr. Erdelez, in part because you believe that you are one — it helps to assume that you possess special powers of perception, like an invisible set of antennas, that will lead you to clues.
A few months ago, I was having a drink in Cambridge, Mass., with a friend, a talented journalist who was piecing together a portrait of a secretive Wall Street wizard. “But I haven’t found the real story yet; I’m still gathering string,” my friend told me, invoking an old newsroom term to describe the first stage of reporting, when you’re looking for something that you can’t yet name. Later that night, as I walked home from the bar, I realized “gathering string” is just another way of talking about super-encountering. After all, “string” is the stuff that accumulates in a journalist’s pocket. It’s the note you jot down in your car after the interview, the knickknack you notice on someone’s shelf, or the anomaly that jumps out at you in Appendix B of an otherwise boring research study.
As I navigated the brick sidewalk, passing under the pinkish glow of a streetlight, I thought about how string was probably hiding all around me. A major story might lurk behind the Harvard zoology museum ahead or in the plane soaring above. String is everywhere for the taking, if you have the talent to take it.
The term “serendipiter” breathed new life into Walpole’s word, turning serendipity into a protagonist and a practitioner. After all, those ants at the top of the Empire State Building didn’t find themselves; Mr. Talese had to notice them, which was no easy matter. Similarly, Dr. Erdelez came up with the term super-encounterer to give us a way to talk about the people rather than just the discoveries. Without such words, we tend to become dazzled by the happy accident itself, to think of it as something that exists independent of an observer.
We can slip into a twisted logic in which we half-believe the penicillin picked Alexander Fleming to be its emissary, or that the moons of Jupiter wanted to be seen by Galileo. But discoveries are products of the human mind.
So how many big ideas emerge from spills, crashes, failed experiments and blind stabs? One survey of patent holders (the PatVal study of European inventors, published in 2005) found that an incredible 50 percent of patents resulted from what could be described as a serendipitous process. Thousands of survey respondents reported that their idea evolved when they were working on an unrelated project — and often when they weren’t even trying to invent anything. This is why we need to know far more about the habits that transform a mistake into a breakthrough.
Is this pattern-finding ability similar to the artistic skill of a painter like Georgia O’Keeffe? Is it related to the string-gathering prowess of Gay Talese? We still know so little about creative observation that it’s impossible to answer such questions.
That’s why we need to develop a new, interdisciplinary field — call it serendipity studies — that can help us create a taxonomy of discoveries in the chemistry lab, the newsroom, the forest, the classroom, the particle accelerator and the hospital. By observing and documenting the many different “species” of super-encounterers, we might begin to understand their minds.
What could these researchers discover if they came together for one big conversation?
Of course, even if we do organize the study of serendipity, it will always be a whimsical undertaking, given that the phenomenon is difficult to define, amazingly variable and hard to capture in data. The clues will no doubt emerge where we least expect them, perhaps in the fungi clinging to the walls of parking garages or the mating habits of bird-watchers. The journey will be maddening, but the potential insights could be profound: One day we might be able to stumble upon new and better ways of getting lost. | 2016-01 | <|begin_of_text|>A surprising number of the conveniences of modern life were invented when someone stumbled upon a discovery or capitalized on an accident: the microwave oven, safety glass, smoke detectors, artificial sweeteners, X-ray imaging. Many blockbuster drugs of the 20th century emerged because a lab worker picked up on the “wrong” information.
While researching breakthroughs like these, I began to wonder whether we can train ourselves to become more serendipitous. How do we cultivate the art of finding what we’re not seeking?
Today we think of serendipity as something like dumb luck. But its original meaning was very different.
In 1754, a belle-lettrist named Horace Walpole retreated to a desk in his gaudy castle in Twickenham, in southwest London, and penned a letter. Walpole had been entranced by a Persian fairy tale about three princes from the Isle of Serendip who possess superpowers of observation. In his letter, Walpole | suggested that this old tale contained a crucial idea about human genius: “As their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.” And he proposed a new word — “serendipity” — to describe this princely talent for detective work. At its birth, serendipity meant a skill rather than a random stroke of good fortune.
Dr. Erdelez agrees with that definition. She sees serendipity as something people do. In the mid-1990s, she began a study of about 100 people to find out how they created their own serendipity, or failed to do so.
Her qualitative data — from surveys and interviews — showed that the subjects fell into three distinct groups. Some she called “non-encounterers”; they saw through a tight focus, a kind of chink hole, and they tended to stick to their to-do lists when searching for |
A surprisingly specific genetic portrait of the ancestor of all living things has been generated by scientists who say that the likeness sheds considerable light on the mystery of how life first emerged on Earth.
This venerable ancestor was a single-cell, bacterium-like organism. But it has a grand name, or at least an acronym. It is known as Luca, the Last Universal Common Ancestor, and is estimated to have lived some four billion years ago, when Earth was a mere 560 million years old.
The new finding sharpens the debate between those who believe life began in some extreme environment, such as in deep sea vents or the flanks of volcanoes, and others who favor more normal settings, such as the “warm little pond” proposed by Darwin.
The nature of the earliest ancestor of all living things has long been uncertain because the three great domains of life seemed to have no common point of origin. The domains are those of the bacteria, the archaea and the eukaryotes. Archaea are bacteria-like organisms but with a different metabolism, and the eukaryotes include all plants and animals.
Specialists have recently come to believe that the bacteria and archaea were the two earliest domains, with the eukaryotes emerging later. That opened the way for a group of evolutionary biologists, led by William F. Martin of Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, to try to discern the nature of the organism from which the bacterial and archaeal domains emerged.
Their starting point was the known protein-coding genes of bacteria and archaea. Some six million such genes have accumulated over the last 20 years in DNA databanks as scientists with the new decoding machines have deposited gene sequences from thousands of microbes.
Genes that do the same thing in a human and a mouse are generally related by common descent from an ancestral gene in the first mammal. So by comparing their sequence of DNA letters, genes can be arranged in evolutionary family trees, a property that enabled Dr. Martin and his colleagues to assign the six million genes to a much smaller number of gene families. Of these, only 355 met their criteria for having probably originated in Luca, the joint ancestor of bacteria and archaea.
Deep sea vents are surrounded by exotic life-forms and, with their extreme chemistry, have long seemed places where life might have originated. The 355 genes ascribable to Luca include some that metabolize hydrogen as a source of energy as well as a gene for an enzyme called reverse gyrase, found only in microbes that live at extremely high temperatures, Dr. Martin and colleagues reported Monday in Nature Microbiology.
Dr. Martin’s portrait of Luca seems likely to be widely admired. But he has taken a further step that has provoked considerable controversy. He argues that Luca is very close to the origin of life itself. The organism is missing so many genes necessary for life that it must still have been relying on chemical components from its environment. Hence it was only “half alive,” he writes.
The fact that Luca depended on hydrogen and metals favors a deep sea vent environment for the origin of life, Dr. Martin concludes, rather than the land environment posited in a leading rival theory proposed by the chemist John Sutherland of the University of Cambridge in England.
Others believe that the Luca that Dr. Martin describes was already a highly sophisticated organism that had evolved far beyond the origin of life, meaning the formation of living systems from the chemicals present on the early Earth.
Luca and the origin of life are “events separated by a vast distance of evolutionary innovation,” said Jack Szostak of Massachusetts General Hospital, who has studied how the first cell membranes might have evolved.
Dr. Sutherland and others have no quarrel with Luca’s being traced back to deep sea vents. But that does not mean life originated there, they say. Life could have originated anywhere and later been confined to a deep sea environment because of some catastrophic event like the Late Heavy Bombardment, which occurred 4 billion to 3.8 billion years ago. This was a rain of meteorites that crashed into Earth with such force that the oceans were boiled off into an incandescent mist.
Life is so complex it seems to need many millions of years to evolve. Yet evidence for the earliest life dates to 3.8 billion years ago, as if it emerged almost the minute the bombardment ceased. A refuge in the deep ocean during the bombardment would allow a longer period in which life could have evolved. But chemists like Dr. Sutherland say they are uneasy about getting prebiotic chemistry to work in an ocean, which powerfully dilutes chemical components before they can assemble into the complex molecules of life.
Dr. Sutherland, working from basic principles of chemistry, has found that ultraviolet light from the sun is an essential energy source to get the right reactions underway, and therefore that land-based pools, not the ocean, are the most likely environment in which life began.
| 2016-07 | <|begin_of_text|>A surprisingly specific genetic portrait of the ancestor of all living things has been generated by scientists who say that the likeness sheds considerable light on the mystery of how life first emerged on Earth.
This venerable ancestor was a single-cell, bacterium-like organism. But it has a grand name, or at least an acronym. It is known as Luca, the Last Universal Common Ancestor, and is estimated to have lived some four billion years ago, when Earth was a mere 560 million years old.
The new finding sharpens the debate between those who believe life began in some extreme environment, such as in deep sea vents or the flanks of volcanoes, and others who favor more normal settings, such as the “warm little pond” proposed by Darwin.
The nature of the earliest ancestor of all living things has long been uncertain because the three great domains of life seemed to have no common point of origin. The domains are those of the bacteria, the archaea and the eukaryotes. | Archaea are bacteria-like organisms but with a different metabolism, and the eukaryotes include all plants and animals.
Specialists have recently come to believe that the bacteria and archaea were the two earliest domains, with the eukaryotes emerging later. That opened the way for a group of evolutionary biologists, led by William F. Martin of Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, to try to discern the nature of the organism from which the bacterial and archaeal domains emerged.
Their starting point was the known protein-coding genes of bacteria and archaea. Some six million such genes have accumulated over the last 20 years in DNA databanks as scientists with the new decoding machines have deposited gene sequences from thousands of microbes.
Genes that do the same thing in a human and a mouse are generally related by common descent from an ancestral gene in the first mammal. So by comparing their sequence of DNA letters, genes can be arranged in evolutionary family trees, a property that |
A surveillance video shows the altercation between a homeless man and Cordell Fitts, a supervising sergeant at the Bellevue men’s homeless shelter. Video from the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan.
The skirmish started with an exchange of words and a man swinging at an officer in the lobby of a men’s homeless shelter in Manhattan.
Soon, the man was being subdued by several uniformed officers working for the city’s Department of Homeless Services, according to security video of the incident.
And that’s when things got out of control, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
While officers held the man down, Cordell Fitts, who was working as a supervising sergeant with the city’s Department of Homeless Services, kicked and stomped the man’s head more than 10 times, prosecutors said.
Sergeant Fitts punched him two more times in the head after officers attempted to place the homeless man in handcuffs, prosecutors said. Sergeant Fitts, 34, was charged with deprivation of the victim’s civil rights and filing a false report about the incident.
He was released on bond after a court appearance on Thursday. His attorney, Julia L. Gatto, declined to comment.
Video of the beating, which federal prosecutors made public on Thursday, raised some of the same questions — how marginalized and poor people are treated in city facilities — as did an incident in December when the police yanked a 1-year-old baby from the arms of his mother, Jazmine Headley, as she was being arrested at a public benefits office in Brooklyn. Cellphone footage of that incident went viral on social media.
The assault at the 30th Street shelter, identified by prosecutors as the Bellevue men’s shelter, occurred on March 6, 2017, prosecutors said. They did not say why it took two years to charge Sergeant Fitts.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday, the victim, who prosecutors did not name, was in the shelter’s lobby interacting with several officers and a security guard. At one point, the victim and Sergeant Fitts exchanged words and Sergeant Fitts gestured toward an exit area of the shelter, the complaint said.
Sergeant Fitts then reached toward the victim, putting his hands on the man’s chest. The man responded by swinging at Sergeant Fitts with what appeared to be closed fists, the complaint said.
Although the report “purports to have been drafted” by another officer, language in it was drafted by Sergeant Fitts, who instructed another officer to sign it, prosecutors charged.
The officer who signed the report has said that he did not hear the victim make the comment about his medication and also did not see a knife fall to the ground, the complaint said.
Prosecutors said Sergeant Fitts joined the homeless services agency as a police officer in 2012 and worked there until about March 2018.
“Fitts’s alleged conduct not only betrayed his duty as an officer to protect those under his charge, but also violated the law,” Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said.
Prosecutors did not describe any injuries the man may have suffered or say what has happened to him in the two years since the incident. The government said only that he was previously a resident of the homeless agency’s facilities. The video shows that the man was ultimately brought to his feet and escorted out of the lobby. | 2019-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A surveillance video shows the altercation between a homeless man and Cordell Fitts, a supervising sergeant at the Bellevue men’s homeless shelter. Video from the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan.
The skirmish started with an exchange of words and a man swinging at an officer in the lobby of a men’s homeless shelter in Manhattan.
Soon, the man was being subdued by several uniformed officers working for the city’s Department of Homeless Services, according to security video of the incident.
And that’s when things got out of control, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
While officers held the man down, Cordell Fitts, who was working as a supervising sergeant with the city’s Department of Homeless Services, kicked and stomped the man’s head more than 10 times, prosecutors said.
Sergeant Fitts punched him two more times in the head after officers attempted to place the homeless man in handcuffs, prosecutors said. Sergeant Fitts, | 34, was charged with deprivation of the victim’s civil rights and filing a false report about the incident.
He was released on bond after a court appearance on Thursday. His attorney, Julia L. Gatto, declined to comment.
Video of the beating, which federal prosecutors made public on Thursday, raised some of the same questions — how marginalized and poor people are treated in city facilities — as did an incident in December when the police yanked a 1-year-old baby from the arms of his mother, Jazmine Headley, as she was being arrested at a public benefits office in Brooklyn. Cellphone footage of that incident went viral on social media.
The assault at the 30th Street shelter, identified by prosecutors as the Bellevue men’s shelter, occurred on March 6, 2017, prosecutors said. They did not say why it took two years to charge Sergeant Fitts.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday, the victim, who prosecutors did not name |
A suspect in the deadly attack on a kosher market in Jersey City was connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites, which has been labeled a hate group.
In a news conference a day after the attacks, Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, said that Mr. Anderson had expressed hate in messages on Facebook. The mayor did not elaborate.
There are several Hebrew Israelite offshoots in the New York region. Mathath Lawya, a founder of the Apostles of New Jerusalem, a prominent New Jersey congregation, disavowed the pair’s actions.
Ms. Graham’s beliefs are as yet unclear. Her brother, Frederick Graham, said he was not aware of links to the movement on her part.
A neighbor of Ms. Graham’s in a tidy housing development in Elizabeth, N.J., said she was nice and polite when she moved there in 2011.
The neighbor said he could hear Mr. Anderson shouting at night that his religion was the only true religion, while others — specifically Catholicism and Judaism — were false. Soon, he said, Ms. Graham joined in the chants.
Ash Yasharahla, who lives in New York City and is part of a Hebrew Israelite congregation known as I Am Israel (No Division), called Mr. Anderson’s and Ms. Graham’s actions “wicked,” adding that the movement’s aggressive street preaching should not be conflated with a call to violence.
It reflects anger, he said, at what he described as the systemic oppression of minorities.
In January, a video of a confrontation involving students from Covington Catholic High School in northern Kentucky at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington went viral. It appeared to show the students yelling at a Native American activist.
The students later said they had been responding to a group of Hebrew Israelites, and further video footage showed the group had begun screaming invective at them and the activist.
Mr. Yasharahla lamented that his community seemed to only make headlines when it was swept up in negative events. “What that couple did,” he said, “is not the determining factor of who we are."
Michael Gold, Edgar Sandoval, Nate Schweber, Tracey Tully and Ali Watkins contributed reporting. | 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A suspect in the deadly attack on a kosher market in Jersey City was connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites, which has been labeled a hate group.
In a news conference a day after the attacks, Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, said that Mr. Anderson had expressed hate in messages on Facebook. The mayor did not elaborate.
There are several Hebrew Israelite offshoots in the New York region. Mathath Lawya, a founder of the Apostles of New Jerusalem, a prominent New Jersey congregation, disavowed the pair’s actions.
Ms. Graham’s beliefs are as yet unclear. Her brother, Frederick Graham, said he was not aware of links to the movement on her part.
A neighbor of Ms. Graham’s in a tidy housing development in Elizabeth, N.J., said she was nice and polite when she moved there in 2011.
The neighbor said he could hear Mr. Anderson shouting at night that his religion was the only true religion, while others | — specifically Catholicism and Judaism — were false. Soon, he said, Ms. Graham joined in the chants.
Ash Yasharahla, who lives in New York City and is part of a Hebrew Israelite congregation known as I Am Israel (No Division), called Mr. Anderson’s and Ms. Graham’s actions “wicked,” adding that the movement’s aggressive street preaching should not be conflated with a call to violence.
It reflects anger, he said, at what he described as the systemic oppression of minorities.
In January, a video of a confrontation involving students from Covington Catholic High School in northern Kentucky at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington went viral. It appeared to show the students yelling at a Native American activist.
The students later said they had been responding to a group of Hebrew Israelites, and further video footage showed the group had begun screaming invective at them and the activist.
Mr. Yasharahla lamented that his community seemed to only make headlines when it was swept |
A suspect in the deadly attack on a kosher market in Jersey City was connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites, which has been labeled a hate group.
The Black Hebrew Israelites are known for their inflammatory sidewalk ministers who employ provocation as a form of gospel, preaching a theology that says the chosen ones are black, Native American and Hispanic people.
Now, it has emerged that one of the two suspects in Tuesday’s attack on a kosher market in Jersey City that ended with the death of six people, including a police officer, appears to have been connected to the group, a law enforcement official said.
That suspect, David N. Anderson, 47, was killed inside the JC Kosher Supermarket, along with the second suspect, Francine Graham, 50, officials said. Mr. Anderson, the law enforcement official said, had posted anti-Semitic and anti-police screeds on internet forums in the past.
A manifesto-style document was found in the van that the assailants abandoned in the parking lot of the supermarket. But the official said it was rambling and gave no clear motivation for the attack.
The belief system of Black Hebrew Israelites, a sect that is not associated with mainstream Judaism, varies among the dozens of groups into which the century-old theology has splintered over the years.
Broadly speaking, followers reject the notion of race, and instead believe that the 12 tribes of Israel defined in the Old Testament are different ethnic groups, or nations, and that whites are not among them.
In a news conference a day after the attacks, Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, said that Mr. Anderson had expressed hate in messages on Facebook. The mayor did not elaborate.
There are several Hebrew Israelite offshoots in the New York region. Mathath Lawya, a founder of the Apostles of New Jerusalem, a prominent New Jersey congregation, disavowed the pair’s actions.
Ms. Graham’s beliefs are as yet unclear. Her brother, Frederick Graham, said he was not aware of links to the movement on her part.
A neighbor of Ms. Graham’s in a tidy housing development in Elizabeth, N.J., said she was nice and polite when she moved there in 2011.
The neighbor said he could hear Mr. Anderson shouting at night that his religion was the only true religion, while others — specifically Catholicism and Judaism — were false. Soon, he said, Ms. Graham joined in the chants.
Ash Yasharahla, who lives in New York City and is part of a Hebrew Israelite congregation known as I Am Israel (No Division), called Mr. Anderson’s and Ms. Graham’s actions “wicked,” adding that the movement’s aggressive street preaching should not be conflated with a call to violence.
It reflects anger, he said, at what he described as the systemic oppression of minorities.
In January, a video of a confrontation involving students from Covington Catholic High School in northern Kentucky at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington went viral. It appeared to show the students yelling at a Native American activist.
The students later said they had been responding to a group of Hebrew Israelites, and further video footage showed the group had begun screaming invective at them and the activist.
Mr. Yasharahla lamented that his community seemed to only make headlines when it was swept up in negative events. “What that couple did,” he said, “is not the determining factor of who we are."
Michael Gold, Edgar Sandoval, Nate Schweber, Tracey Tully and Ali Watkins contributed reporting. | 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A suspect in the deadly attack on a kosher market in Jersey City was connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites, which has been labeled a hate group.
The Black Hebrew Israelites are known for their inflammatory sidewalk ministers who employ provocation as a form of gospel, preaching a theology that says the chosen ones are black, Native American and Hispanic people.
Now, it has emerged that one of the two suspects in Tuesday’s attack on a kosher market in Jersey City that ended with the death of six people, including a police officer, appears to have been connected to the group, a law enforcement official said.
That suspect, David N. Anderson, 47, was killed inside the JC Kosher Supermarket, along with the second suspect, Francine Graham, 50, officials said. Mr. Anderson, the law enforcement official said, had posted anti-Semitic and anti-police screeds on internet forums in the past.
A manifesto-style document was found in the van that the assailants abandoned in | the parking lot of the supermarket. But the official said it was rambling and gave no clear motivation for the attack.
The belief system of Black Hebrew Israelites, a sect that is not associated with mainstream Judaism, varies among the dozens of groups into which the century-old theology has splintered over the years.
Broadly speaking, followers reject the notion of race, and instead believe that the 12 tribes of Israel defined in the Old Testament are different ethnic groups, or nations, and that whites are not among them.
In a news conference a day after the attacks, Steven Fulop, the mayor of Jersey City, said that Mr. Anderson had expressed hate in messages on Facebook. The mayor did not elaborate.
There are several Hebrew Israelite offshoots in the New York region. Mathath Lawya, a founder of the Apostles of New Jerusalem, a prominent New Jersey congregation, disavowed the pair’s actions.
Ms. Graham’s beliefs are as yet unclear. Her brother |
A suspect in the shooting, who had a history of conflict with the newspaper, has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A man armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades stormed into the newsroom of a community newspaper chain in Maryland’s capital on Thursday afternoon, killing five staff members, injuring two others and prompting law enforcement agencies across the country to provide protection at the headquarters of media organizations.
The suspect, Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was taken into custody at the scene and was charged on Friday morning with five counts of first-degree murder. He had a long history of conflict with the Capital Gazette, which produces a number of local newspapers along Maryland’s shore, suing journalists there for defamation and waging a social media campaign against them.
A bail hearing for Mr. Ramos was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday in Annapolis, according to Maryland court records, which did not list a lawyer for him but said Mr. Ramos was eligible to be represented by a public defender.
The chilling attack was covered in real time by some of the journalists who found themselves under siege. A message saying “please help us” with the address of the office building was tweeted from the account of Anthony Messenger, a summer intern. A crime reporter, Phil Davis, described how the gunman “shot through the glass door to the office” before opening fire on employees.
“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” Mr. Davis wrote.
For a country that has grown numb to mass shootings, this was a new front. Schools have become a frequent target, with college students on down to kindergartners falling victim. A movie theater was shot up. Churches, too. But this was a rare attack on a news organization, one of the oldest in America, which dates its roots back to the 1700s and boasts on its website that it once fought the stamp tax that helped give rise to the American Revolution.
The gunman was silent as he stalked the newsroom, stopping once to reload as journalists huddled in fear under their desks, Mr. Davis said in a telephone interview. Once the police arrived, staff members put their hands in the air and shouted, “We’re not him,” Mr. Davis recalled. The gunman was hiding under a desk as the police moved in. He did not exchange gunfire with officers when he was taken in.
After his arrest, Mr. Ramos refused to cooperate with the authorities or provide his name. He was identified using facial recognition technology, said a law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak on the record.
In July 2012, Mr. Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit in Maryland’s Prince George’s County Circuit Court against Capital Gazette Communications, its then editor and publisher and a former reporter, claiming that his reputation had been damaged after the newspaper published a story the prior year about Mr. Ramos’s guilty plea in a harassment case. Three months later, he filed a fuller complaint alleging invasion of privacy.
The lawsuit was later dismissed with prejudice by Judge Maureen M. Lamasney after a March 2013 hearing, in which she asked Mr. Ramos to identify anything that was falsely reported in the July 2011 article and to cite examples about how he had been harmed. He was unable to do so, according to a partial transcript of the hearing published in an appellate court decision two years later.
Mr. Ramos represented himself and, according to the appellate decision that later affirmed the dismissal, showed no understanding of defamation law.
The harassment continued for nearly a year. He pleaded guilty in July 2011 to harassment and was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation and ordered to attend counseling.
According to the article, Mr. Ramos had no prior criminal history. He had a degree in computer engineering and at the time had worked for six years for the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Thursday’s shooting prompted law enforcement officials throughout the country to protect media organizations. As the day proceeded, however, investigators were looking into whether the attack was an isolated grudge.
Late Thursday night, the dead were identified as Gerald Fischman, 61, the newsroom’s editorial page editor; Rob Hiaasen, 59, an editor and features columnist; John McNamara, 56, a sports reporter and editor for the local weekly papers; Wendi Winters, 65, a local news reporter and community columnist; and Rebecca Smith, a sales assistant.
In a telephone interview on Thursday, the writer Carl Hiaasen confirmed that his brother, Rob, had been one of those killed in the newsroom.
“He was dedicated to journalism. He spent his whole life as a journalist,” he said.
Past and present employees of the newspaper chain were struggling to understand what could have prompted such an attack.
The Capital Gazette has a long history. The Capital, founded as an afternoon paper in 1884, is “the ultimate local newspaper,” said Steve Gunn, a former editor. It merged with The Gazette, which has an even older pedigree.
Owned by a local family until 1968, the paper underwent a period of expansion after being purchased by Philip Merrill, a former American diplomat and NATO official, who served as its publisher until his death by suicide in 2006.
Mr. Merrill pushed national news off the front page, instead building the paper into a local force. City council meetings and features on local heroes were staples. But it also strove to hold local institutions accountable, winning national attention in 1991 for a series of stories on hazing and sexual harassment at the Naval Academy.
The paper was a training ground for reporters who had little experience — or zero experience, but a lot of attitude, Mr. Marquardt said. Many went on to work at larger news organizations, including The New York Times.
At its height, the company employed some 250 people and operated its own printing press, Mr. Marquardt said. In more recent years, the news staff has shrunk. A staff member said on Twitter on Thursday afternoon that it now stands at about 20, with a few more on the advertising staff.
After it was purchased by the Baltimore Sun Media Group in 2014, the company moved to an office building, across from a local mall, which was the site of Thursday’s shooting.
Shortly before 6 p.m., at least three helicopters were still circling, and lines of silent police cars, with lights flashing, blocked off the main roads leading up to the newsroom at 888 Bestgate Road. Yellow police tape flapped in the wind, keeping people and journalists away from the area.
Even as the authorities continued to pore over the newsroom for clues, the Capital Gazette announced Thursday that it would be publishing an edition on Friday.
Shortly after 9 p.m., several tired reporters and a photographer from the Capital Gazette were filing stories and photographs from their laptops, set up in the back of a silver pickup truck in the parking lot of the Westfield Annapolis Mall, across the street from their newsroom.
E. B. Furgurson III, a reporter, stood in a blue shirt and khaki pants with his colleagues. He had decided to go get lunch around the time the shooting happened, so he was not in the building at the time.
His colleague Joshua McKerrow, a photographer, said he was going to pick his daughter up for her birthday when he was called about the shooting. He rushed back. He had a hard time finishing sentences.
| 2018-06 | <|begin_of_text|>A suspect in the shooting, who had a history of conflict with the newspaper, has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A man armed with a shotgun and smoke grenades stormed into the newsroom of a community newspaper chain in Maryland’s capital on Thursday afternoon, killing five staff members, injuring two others and prompting law enforcement agencies across the country to provide protection at the headquarters of media organizations.
The suspect, Jarrod W. Ramos, 38, was taken into custody at the scene and was charged on Friday morning with five counts of first-degree murder. He had a long history of conflict with the Capital Gazette, which produces a number of local newspapers along Maryland’s shore, suing journalists there for defamation and waging a social media campaign against them.
A bail hearing for Mr. Ramos was scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday in Annapolis, according to Maryland court records, which did not list a lawyer for him but said | Mr. Ramos was eligible to be represented by a public defender.
The chilling attack was covered in real time by some of the journalists who found themselves under siege. A message saying “please help us” with the address of the office building was tweeted from the account of Anthony Messenger, a summer intern. A crime reporter, Phil Davis, described how the gunman “shot through the glass door to the office” before opening fire on employees.
“There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you’re under your desk and then hear the gunman reload,” Mr. Davis wrote.
For a country that has grown numb to mass shootings, this was a new front. Schools have become a frequent target, with college students on down to kindergartners falling victim. A movie theater was shot up. Churches, too. But this was a rare attack on a news organization, one of the oldest in America, which dates its roots back to the 1700s and boasts on its website that it |
A suspect was captured on video running naked through Keeling, Va., and choking a man shortly before the police arrested him.
A brother-in-law of a minor league baseball player killed three of their relatives in Keeling, Va., on Tuesday, setting off a manhunt that ended when the suspect ran naked through the streets before he was arrested, according to the authorities and court records.
The victims were the wife, child and mother-in-law of Blake Bivens, a 24-year-old pitcher with the Tampa Bay Rays organization, according to the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. The Rays tweeted in support of Mr. Bivens on Tuesday night. “Our hearts are broken for Blake,” the team said.
The suspect, Matthew Bernard, 18, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, the sheriff’s office said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The victims were Emily Marie Bivens, 25; Cullen Bivens, her son, who was 14 months old; and her mother, Joan Bernard, 62, according to the sheriff’s office, which also confirmed that Mr. Bernard, the suspect, is the brother of Ms. Bivens.
Officials said that they were still trying to determine a motive and that autopsy results would not be available for several days.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Sheriff Mike Taylor of Pittsylvania County said his office received a call around 8 a.m. from a person who believed that someone in the neighborhood had been shot.
On Tuesday morning, public safety officials warned Keeling residents to be on the lookout for a man they identified as Matthew Bernard. “He is armed with a rifle and considered very dangerous,” Pittsylvania County’s public safety department said on Facebook.
Sheriff Taylor said that local schools were temporarily locked down and about 100 officers from multiple agencies responded on Tuesday. The arrest took place around noon.
Our Baseball Life, a resource for baseball families, said that Ms. Bivens had designed the first item sold in its shop. “She was always looking for ways to serve our community,” the organization said in a statement.
WSET, a local news outlet, captured the end of the manhunt on video. The suspect could be seen running naked in a residential area, sometimes toward law enforcement officials, who appeared to try to subdue him with pepper spray, and sometimes away from them.
At one point, he could be seen running into the parking lot of the Keeling Baptist Church and trying to choke a bystander.
The bystander, Loyd Gauldin, 75, said in an interview on Wednesday that he is a member of the church and a groundskeeper there. On Tuesday afternoon, he was keeping the building open so law enforcement officials could have access to it.
He said his wife had called to tell him that a man was running around the neighborhood with no clothes on. Mr. Gauldin said he was trying to get in his car to get away when, suddenly, he saw the naked young man running toward him. Then the man’s hands were on Mr. Gauldin’s neck.
Mr. Gauldin said he was not injured, though some of the pepper spray that officials had used on the suspect was transferred onto him during the tussle.
After a law enforcement officer intervened with a baton, the suspect fled to the edge of a wooded area, where officials eventually surrounded him.
| 2019-08 | <|begin_of_text|>A suspect was captured on video running naked through Keeling, Va., and choking a man shortly before the police arrested him.
A brother-in-law of a minor league baseball player killed three of their relatives in Keeling, Va., on Tuesday, setting off a manhunt that ended when the suspect ran naked through the streets before he was arrested, according to the authorities and court records.
The victims were the wife, child and mother-in-law of Blake Bivens, a 24-year-old pitcher with the Tampa Bay Rays organization, according to the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. The Rays tweeted in support of Mr. Bivens on Tuesday night. “Our hearts are broken for Blake,” the team said.
The suspect, Matthew Bernard, 18, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, the sheriff’s office said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.
The victims were Emily Marie Bivens, 25; Cullen Bivens, her son, who | was 14 months old; and her mother, Joan Bernard, 62, according to the sheriff’s office, which also confirmed that Mr. Bernard, the suspect, is the brother of Ms. Bivens.
Officials said that they were still trying to determine a motive and that autopsy results would not be available for several days.
In a news conference on Tuesday, Sheriff Mike Taylor of Pittsylvania County said his office received a call around 8 a.m. from a person who believed that someone in the neighborhood had been shot.
On Tuesday morning, public safety officials warned Keeling residents to be on the lookout for a man they identified as Matthew Bernard. “He is armed with a rifle and considered very dangerous,” Pittsylvania County’s public safety department said on Facebook.
Sheriff Taylor said that local schools were temporarily locked down and about 100 officers from multiple agencies responded on Tuesday. The arrest took place around noon.
Our Baseball Life, a resource for baseball families, said that Ms. B |
A suspicious device resembling a pipe bomb was sent to CNN and addressed to Barack Obama’s ex-C.I.A. director John Brennan. Here’s what we know about it.
And before dawn on Thursday, investigators discovered that another package had been sent to Robert De Niro, the actor and filmmaker who has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.
At least 14 explosive packages have been discovered since Monday. Here are where they were found and who they were addressed to.
The package arrived at the building in Tribeca in Lower Manhattan that houses Mr. De Niro’s production company and restaurant. It was similar to those discovered a day earlier and was also believed to contain an explosive device, officials said.
On Wednesday, in the center of Manhattan, the Time Warner Center, an elegant office and shopping complex, was evacuated because of a pipe bomb sent to CNN, which has its New York offices there. It was addressed to John O. Brennan, a critic of Mr. Trump who served as Mr. Obama’s C.I.A. director.
None of the devices harmed anyone, and it was not immediately clear whether any of them could have. One law enforcement official said investigators were examining the possibility that they were hoax devices that were constructed to look like bombs but would not have exploded.
Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Soros and CNN have all figured prominently in right-wing political attacks — many of which have been led by Mr. Trump. He has often referred to major news organizations as “the enemy of the people” and has shown contempt for CNN.
But Jeff Zucker, the CNN worldwide president, accused Mr. Trump of demonizing journalists.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the explosive devices that were sent to CNN’s offices, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the liberal donor George Soros were an act of terrorism.
What we saw here today was an effort to terrorize. This clearly is an act of terror, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence. I want to make very clear that the people of New York City will not be intimidated. That we are going to go about our lives undeterred because the very concept of terrorism is to change us, and we will not allow that to happen. Unfortunately, this atmosphere of hatred is contributing to the choices people are making to turn to violence — there’s no question about it. And the way to stop that is to turn back the other way, to bring down the temperature, to end any messages about the use of violence against people we disagree with. And that has to start at the top.
The devices were being sent to the F.B.I. lab in Quantico, Va., where they would be analyzed.
President Trump called the series of explosive devices that were sent to prominent Democratic politicians “despicable acts,” and said that an investigation was underway.
As we speak, the packages are being inspected by top explosive experts and a major federal investigation is now underway. The full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation and bring those responsible for these despicable acts to justice. We will spare no resources or expense in this effort. And I just want to tell you that in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message: that acts or threats of political violence, of any kind, have no place in the United States of America.
On Wednesday afternoon, New York City’s police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said that the CNN bomb was “a live explosive device” and that it would be rendered harmless and sent to the F.B.I. to be analyzed. The package that contained the device also included white powder that the police were testing to determine if it was toxic, he said.
In fact, bombmakers generally avoid attaching visible clocks to their devices to keep from tipping off their targets about when the bombs are set to explode.
| 2018-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A suspicious device resembling a pipe bomb was sent to CNN and addressed to Barack Obama’s ex-C.I.A. director John Brennan. Here’s what we know about it.
And before dawn on Thursday, investigators discovered that another package had been sent to Robert De Niro, the actor and filmmaker who has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.
At least 14 explosive packages have been discovered since Monday. Here are where they were found and who they were addressed to.
The package arrived at the building in Tribeca in Lower Manhattan that houses Mr. De Niro’s production company and restaurant. It was similar to those discovered a day earlier and was also believed to contain an explosive device, officials said.
On Wednesday, in the center of Manhattan, the Time Warner Center, an elegant office and shopping complex, was evacuated because of a pipe bomb sent to CNN, which has its New York offices there. It was addressed to John O. Brennan, a critic of Mr. Trump who served as Mr | . Obama’s C.I.A. director.
None of the devices harmed anyone, and it was not immediately clear whether any of them could have. One law enforcement official said investigators were examining the possibility that they were hoax devices that were constructed to look like bombs but would not have exploded.
Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Soros and CNN have all figured prominently in right-wing political attacks — many of which have been led by Mr. Trump. He has often referred to major news organizations as “the enemy of the people” and has shown contempt for CNN.
But Jeff Zucker, the CNN worldwide president, accused Mr. Trump of demonizing journalists.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the explosive devices that were sent to CNN’s offices, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the liberal donor George Soros were an act of terrorism.
What we saw here today was an effort to terrorize. This clearly is an act of terror, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through |
A suspicious device resembling a pipe bomb was sent to CNN and addressed to Barack Obama’s ex-C.I.A. director John Brennan. Here’s what we know about it.
And before dawn on Thursday, investigators discovered that another package had been sent to Robert De Niro, the actor and filmmaker who has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.
The package arrived at the building in Tribeca in Lower Manhattan that houses Mr. De Niro’s production company and restaurant. It was similar to those discovered a day earlier and was also believed to contain an explosive device, officials said.
On Wednesday, in the center of Manhattan, the Time Warner Center, an elegant office and shopping complex, was evacuated because of a pipe bomb sent to CNN, which has its New York offices there. It was addressed to John O. Brennan, a critic of Mr. Trump who served as Mr. Obama’s C.I.A. director.
None of the devices harmed anyone, and it was not immediately clear whether any of them could have. One law enforcement official said investigators were examining the possibility that they were hoax devices that were constructed to look like bombs but would not have exploded.
Coming less than two weeks before the midterm elections, the discovery of the pipe bombs reverberated across a country already on edge, stirring anew questions about whether political discourse had grown too vitriolic.
Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Soros and CNN have all figured prominently in right-wing political attacks — many of which have been led by Mr. Trump. He has often referred to major news organizations as “the enemy of the people” and has shown contempt for CNN.
He continued in the same vein later Wednesday at a rally in Wisconsin, encouraging “all sides to come together in peace and harmony,” before taking aim at the news media.
An X-ray of one of the pipe bombs, none of which harmed anyone.
“The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks,” Mr. Trump said.
But Jeff Zucker, the CNN worldwide president, accused Mr. Trump of demonizing journalists.
“The president, and especially the White House press secretary, should understand their words matter,” Mr. Zucker said.
An X-ray of a device. Bomb technicians would seek to determine where the bombs’ components were purchased or the bombs were made, authorities said.
All the devices were packed in envelopes lined with Bubble Wrap and bearing return addresses with the name of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida congresswoman who was once chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, the F.B.I. said. The mailing labels were computer-printed, and six first-class stamps were affixed to all of the envelopes.
A fifth device sent to Mr. Obama’s attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., was apparently incorrectly addressed, and because Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s name was on the return address, it was ultimately delivered to her district office in Florida, the F.B.I. said.
Another package, addressed to Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, was intercepted at a congressional mail facility, Ms. Waters said in a statement. In recent months, Mr. Trump and Ms. Waters have often ridiculed each other.
Later, yet another package addressed to Ms. Waters was discovered at a mail facility near downtown Los Angeles, according to a law enforcement official. The discovery forced the evacuation of the facility.
The device that went to CNN’s offices arrived by courier, a law enforcement official said. However, it still had half-a-dozen first-class postage stamps on it. Investigators believe the bomb delivered to Mr. Soros’s home was dropped off in his mailbox.
The device sent to Mrs. Clinton was found late Tuesday by a Secret Service employee who screens mail for her, a statement from the Secret Service said.
A security guard at the Clinton Foundation’s Midtown Manhattan offices said the package was addressed to Mrs. Clinton’s home in Westchester County, north of New York City, not her offices.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the explosive devices that were sent to CNN’s offices, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the liberal donor George Soros were an act of terrorism.
What we saw here today was an effort to terrorize. This clearly is an act of terror, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence. I want to make very clear that the people of New York City will not be intimidated. That we are going to go about our lives undeterred because the very concept of terrorism is to change us, and we will not allow that to happen. Unfortunately, this atmosphere of hatred is contributing to the choices people are making to turn to violence — there’s no question about it. And the way to stop that is to turn back the other way, to bring down the temperature, to end any messages about the use of violence against people we disagree with. And that has to start at the top.
The package addressed to Mr. Obama was intercepted early Wednesday by Secret Service personnel in Washington.
A law enforcement official said the devices were made with a 1-inch-by-6-inch length of PVC pipe filled with suspected pyrotechnic powder and broken glass to serve as shrapnel. They had a small button battery with a digital clock as a timer and a hot bridge wire initiator, the official said.
The devices contained some of the components that would be required to build an operable bomb, but law enforcement officials would not say late on Wednesday whether they were viable.
The devices were being sent to the F.B.I. lab in Quantico, Va., where they would be analyzed.
President Trump called the series of explosive devices that were sent to prominent Democratic politicians “despicable acts,” and said that an investigation was underway.
As we speak, the packages are being inspected by top explosive experts and a major federal investigation is now underway. The full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation and bring those responsible for these despicable acts to justice. We will spare no resources or expense in this effort. And I just want to tell you that in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message: that acts or threats of political violence, of any kind, have no place in the United States of America.
On Wednesday afternoon, New York City’s police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said that the CNN bomb was “a live explosive device” and that it would be rendered harmless and sent to the F.B.I. to be analyzed. The package that contained the device also included white powder that the police were testing to determine if it was toxic, he said.
Some bomb technicians who studied photos of the device that circulated on social media suggested that the bomb sent to CNN had hallmarks of fake explosives — the kind more typically depicted on television and in movies, rather than devices capable of detonating.
A digital clock was taped to the middle of the pipe, a feature that experts say is typically shown on fictional bombs in an attempt to ratchet up dramatic tension, but unnecessary in real life.
In fact, bombmakers generally avoid attaching visible clocks to their devices to keep from tipping off their targets about when the bombs are set to explode.
Earlier this month, federal authorities said they intercepted multiple packages suspected of containing the lethal substance ricin, addressed to Mr. Trump and at least two top Pentagon officials. In February, an envelope containing a white, powdery substance that investigators later determined was cornstarch was sent to the Manhattan apartment of Donald Trump Jr.’s mother-in-law.
On Wednesday, the authorities said bomb technicians would seek to determine where the bombs’ components were purchased or the bombs were made. Evidence technicians will attempt to recover traces of DNA or fingerprints from the components and the envelopes that contained the bombs.
Federal agents with the United States Postal Inspection Service could play an important role in the investigation if any of the packages were delivered through the mail.
The envelopes had more postage than needed to be delivered, according to a former law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The extra postage led investigators to believe that the person who sent the devices wanted to avoid going to a post office to buy the correct postage — a step to evade detection, the official said.
The Postal Inspection Service would examine the postage and postmarks and seek to determine where the envelopes were mailed from. Investigators could examine surveillance video at post offices and around blue letter boxes where the packages may have been deposited. | 2018-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A suspicious device resembling a pipe bomb was sent to CNN and addressed to Barack Obama’s ex-C.I.A. director John Brennan. Here’s what we know about it.
And before dawn on Thursday, investigators discovered that another package had been sent to Robert De Niro, the actor and filmmaker who has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.
The package arrived at the building in Tribeca in Lower Manhattan that houses Mr. De Niro’s production company and restaurant. It was similar to those discovered a day earlier and was also believed to contain an explosive device, officials said.
On Wednesday, in the center of Manhattan, the Time Warner Center, an elegant office and shopping complex, was evacuated because of a pipe bomb sent to CNN, which has its New York offices there. It was addressed to John O. Brennan, a critic of Mr. Trump who served as Mr. Obama’s C.I.A. director.
None of the devices harmed anyone, and it was not immediately clear whether any of | them could have. One law enforcement official said investigators were examining the possibility that they were hoax devices that were constructed to look like bombs but would not have exploded.
Coming less than two weeks before the midterm elections, the discovery of the pipe bombs reverberated across a country already on edge, stirring anew questions about whether political discourse had grown too vitriolic.
Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Soros and CNN have all figured prominently in right-wing political attacks — many of which have been led by Mr. Trump. He has often referred to major news organizations as “the enemy of the people” and has shown contempt for CNN.
He continued in the same vein later Wednesday at a rally in Wisconsin, encouraging “all sides to come together in peace and harmony,” before taking aim at the news media.
An X-ray of one of the pipe bombs, none of which harmed anyone.
“The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oft |
A sweeping proposal to overhaul New York City’s subway and improve the broader transit system is expected to cost more than $19 billion, according to two people who were briefed on Tuesday, and goes far beyond the emergency repair plan that was unveiled last summer after the subway fell into crisis.
The proposal by the subway’s new leader, Andy Byford, will be announced on Wednesday in a highly anticipated presentation before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board.
Mr. Byford has warned that the subway needs major upgrades to reverse its precipitous slide and the work will require short-term pain for millions of subway riders. His plan will focus on speeding up the rollout of a new signal system to replace the subway’s current antiquated equipment, according to the two people who were briefed on the plan on Tuesday and did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Mr. Byford wants to install new signals on significant parts of the system over the next five years, the people said. That is a far shorter timeline than previous estimates from subway officials who have said that modernizing signals across the system could take nearly 50 years. The existing signals break down on a regular basis and some are so old that replacement parts are no longer manufactured.
The signal work would require some stations to be closed on nights and weekends, but Mr. Byford decided against closing full lines because it would be too difficult on busy routes like the Lexington Avenue line in Manhattan, one person said. The proposal will also cover improvements to buses and paratransit services and could depend on changes to labor and procurement rules so that the work could be done more quickly.
Joseph J. Lhota, the chairman of the M.T.A., the state-controlled agency that oversees the subway, said on Tuesday afternoon that the cost estimates for Mr. Byford’s plan were not yet done and would be completed as part of the next capital plan.
In the first five years, officials would upgrade signals on subway lines that carry roughly half of the system’s daily riders, including parts of the 4, 5 and 6 lines and the A, C and E lines, according to an official with knowledge of the plan. The agency would also move quickly to install elevators at 50 additional stations in the next five years to make the subway more accessible.
Mr. Byford’s proposal is a road map for moving toward a modern and reliable subway, said John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, an advocacy group.
As the subway descended into crisis last summer, officials started to implement a roughly $800 million short-term rescue plan. Mr. Byford’s proposal is aimed at making more comprehensive upgrades, from station bathrooms to elevators, and could involve major disruptions on a system that serves more than five million riders each day.
Changes to the signal system and new safety rules have increased delays, an issue that won’t be easy for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to fix.
The hefty price tag is sure to prompt sticker shock for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who controls the authority and declared the state of emergency last June. Mr. Cuomo has suggested that long-term plans for the subway would require new funding sources, like congestion pricing, which failed in Albany this year, or new financing from the state and the city.
The debate over funding for the subway modernization plan could again pit Mr. Cuomo against his frequent political nemesis Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Cuomo called on Mr. de Blasio to pay about $400 million toward the short-term subway plan, which he eventually agreed to do under pressure.
Mr. Byford’s plan is much more expensive. The authority’s current five-year capital plan is about $33 billion and that covers not just subways and buses, but also funding for two commuter railroads, bridges and tunnels and expansion projects.
Eric Phillips, a spokesman for Mr. de Blasio, said the city was not willing to help pay for Mr. Byford’s plan. He said the authority should use its existing resources and the state should approve a new revenue source, like the millionaire’s tax that Mr. de Blasio has proposed.
“While the devil is always in the details, early reports suggest the M.T.A. is finally focusing on the infrastructure riders need to get around,” Mr. Phillips said in a statement.
Dani Lever, a spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo, said the governor’s office would review the plan. She reiterated the governor’s support for using new technology as part of the signal upgrades.
“Our bottom line is that the plan needs to be expeditious and realistic and we made it clear to the chairman that before it is finalized, the M.T.A. must bring in the top tech experts in the nation. Because if we can experiment with self-driving vehicles, there must be an alternative technology for the subways,” Ms. Lever said in a statement.
Transit advocates have raised concerns about whether officials at the authority have the credibility to tackle a major subway overhaul when its projects are regularly delayed and over budget. Mr. Lhota faced new questions on Tuesday about potential conflicts of interest in an investigation by The New York Times.
Mr. Byford, who previously led Toronto’s transit system, is widely respected by industry veterans and is viewed as meticulous and independent.
Still, his accelerated timeline for upgrading signals may face skepticism because of the agency’s track record. There have been serious delays in installing a new signal system, which is known as communications-based train control, or C.B.T.C.
Of New York’s 22 subway lines, only the L train has the advanced signal system. An effort to install the technology on the No. 7 line is years overdue.
Mr. Byford has said he hoped the No. 7 line signal upgrades would finally be completed this year. | 2018-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A sweeping proposal to overhaul New York City’s subway and improve the broader transit system is expected to cost more than $19 billion, according to two people who were briefed on Tuesday, and goes far beyond the emergency repair plan that was unveiled last summer after the subway fell into crisis.
The proposal by the subway’s new leader, Andy Byford, will be announced on Wednesday in a highly anticipated presentation before the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board.
Mr. Byford has warned that the subway needs major upgrades to reverse its precipitous slide and the work will require short-term pain for millions of subway riders. His plan will focus on speeding up the rollout of a new signal system to replace the subway’s current antiquated equipment, according to the two people who were briefed on the plan on Tuesday and did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Mr. Byford wants to install new signals on significant parts of the system over the next five years, the people said. That | is a far shorter timeline than previous estimates from subway officials who have said that modernizing signals across the system could take nearly 50 years. The existing signals break down on a regular basis and some are so old that replacement parts are no longer manufactured.
The signal work would require some stations to be closed on nights and weekends, but Mr. Byford decided against closing full lines because it would be too difficult on busy routes like the Lexington Avenue line in Manhattan, one person said. The proposal will also cover improvements to buses and paratransit services and could depend on changes to labor and procurement rules so that the work could be done more quickly.
Joseph J. Lhota, the chairman of the M.T.A., the state-controlled agency that oversees the subway, said on Tuesday afternoon that the cost estimates for Mr. Byford’s plan were not yet done and would be completed as part of the next capital plan.
In the first five years, officials would upgrade signals on subway lines that carry |
A sweeping retrospective shows a personal side of the Pop master — his hopes, fears, faith — and reasserts his power for a new generation, Holland Cotter writes in his review.
Mr. Paradox, who never left, is back.
Although, technically, “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again” at the Whitney Museum of American Art is the artist’s first full American retrospective in 31 years, over that span he’s been so much with us — in museums, in galleries, on auction blocks, on Calvin Klein poplin shirts — as to make a survey seem almost redundant. At the same time, his ever-presence has made him, like wallpaper, like atmosphere, only half-noticed. He’s there, but do we care?
We can’t not. He’s the most important American artist of the second half of the 20th century. The Whitney show vividly restores him to full, commanding view, and reasserts his importance for a new generation, but does so in a carefully shaped and edited way.
What we have instead in the Whitney show — organized by Donna De Salvo, the museum’s deputy director for international initiatives and senior curator, assisted by Christie Mitchell and Mark Loiacono — is a figure we seem to have lost track of, and one who young artists today can identify with and treasure: the Warhol for whom art, whatever else it was, was an expression of personal hopes and fears.
This is not to say that this new-old version of the artist is so different that we don’t recognize him when we arrive on the Whitney’s fifth floor show. Ms. De Salvo has made sure that we do. Right at the start we find a lineup of his Pop classics: Brillo Box sculptures, paintings of Campbell Soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, camouflage patterns, and a whole gallery filled with silk-screened flowers and electric pink cows. It’s as if the curator wanted to ground us in the familiar, in order to move us on.
His aesthetic sense developed from this dual culture positioning too. On the one hand, he was entranced by American pop culture: newspapers, advertising, product design, Hollywood fanzines. At the same time, he was deeply influenced by the religious art he saw — gold-painted icons of saints, Crucifixions, Last Judgments — in the Byzantine Catholic church he devoutly attended, and by the ornamental embroideries and drawings made by his mother at home.
Although there’s only one piece by Julia Warhola in the show — a charming ink drawing of a cat lying on a bed of handwritten “purrs”— her filigreed linear style turns up in the early graphic work produced after Warhol moved to New York City in 1949 to start a career in commercial design. There, after doing freelance illustrations for magazines and record albums covers — there are examples in the show — he landed a choice steady gig drawing newspaper ads for I. Miller shoes.
Julia was part of all this. By the early 1950s she was living with Warhol as muse and collaborator. Because he loved her calligraphic script, he had her sign his commercial work. But not all his output was produced for advertising. Some shoe drawings, encrusted with gold leaf and foil, were stand-alone pieces and intended as portraits of celebrities Warhol admired: Elvis Presley, Truman Capote, the transgender pioneer Christine Jorgenson. And he was drawing, often in ballpoint pen, soft-core homoerotic images and sketches of cross-dressed male friends.
These pictures, well represented here, have only fairly recently been admitted into the standard record of his career. And they’re important additions. They make his identity as a gay man, which he was on-and-off cautious about broadcasting, a concrete part of his story. And knowledge of it opens a path to consider how and to what degree his art queered — to use a term from academic theory — received versions of American culture: questioned their validity, revealed their contradictions, turned them inside out.
One obvious example of this testing of orthodoxies was the way he changed careers. In the late 1950s and early ’60s, he dropped his professional identity as a graphic designer and picked up one as a gallery artist. In an era when painterly self-expression was considered the only serious style, he adopted a commercial reproductive technology, silk-screen printing, as his art medium. At a time when talk of money and markets was thought to sully art, he made work about commerce and consumption. The soup can and Coke bottles date from these years.
In 1962, he drew on the visual language of the church art of his youth to transform a photographic portrait of Marilyn Monroe, who had taken her own life that year, into a gilded icon of a martyr-saint. And he turned his insider-outsider eye on the country at large and found it saturated in violence, the reality of which he yanked from the popular press and pushed into art with images of car crashes and suicides, and scenes of vicious police attacks on black civil rights protesters. With this body of work he became, in one stroke, our great new history painter, the one we didn’t even know we’d been waiting for.
Each of these extraordinary paintings was conceived as part of a series of closely related works which differed in color and format. Warhol was an artist-designer of tremendous virtuosity, and the temptation to demonstrate this by putting comparative works side by side must be hard to resist. But Ms. De Salvo has chosen to display just one example from each series, and that’s a good idea. A single, small, tondo-shaped gold Marilyn, isolated on a gallery wall, tells you everything you need to know, emotionally, devotionally, about that picture and what it meant to that artist.
Was Warhol the outsider striving to get inside at last? And what kind of inside was this that had him courting Imelda Marcos, painting the Shah of Iran, and trying to swing a portrait deal with Mr. Trump? A serious chunk of the art world wasn’t amused. It started to call him washed-up.
He wasn’t washed up, though. Good work still came, including, in 1975, the sparkling, self-commissioned portrait series called “Ladies and Gentlemen,” its sitters all black and Latino cross-dressers recruited from Manhattan drag bars. But in the decade leading up to his sudden death in 1987, at 58, Warhol’s art gradually changed in tone, grew darker, fatalistic. Long underrated, even critically disparaged, this work still awaits careful study, and Ms. De Salvo devotes fully a third of this brilliantly-conceived show to it.
With the advent of AIDS, and the loss of partners and friends to it in the early 1980s, Warhol swung between self-protective denial and outright fear, which intensified his religious faith. The show captures his mood of free-floating anxiety in an extraordinary salon-style installation of two dozen small 1980s silk-screen paintings, most in black and white, several quoting from tabloids ads and Apocalypse-minded religious fliers (“Stress!,” “Are You ‘Different?’,” “Mark of the Beast,” a “Heaven and Hell Are Just One Breath Away!”) interspersed with paintings of dollar signs and dire news headlines (“Marine Death Toll Hits 172”).
Intimations of mortality had always coursed through Warhol’s art and the 1970s brought new ones in eerie pictures of skulls, and, by implication, in “Shadows,” a 100-plus panel abstract tour de force in which darkness has no source and no end: It’s just there, foreboding, miasmic, waiting. The artist specified that this wraparound painting, on loan from Dia Art Foundation, could be edited to fit differently sized spaces. In the version now on view at Calvin Klein headquarters at 205 West 39th Street, it’s reduced to 48 panels and has its sightlines interrupted by the space’s thick columns. Even with handicaps, though, it’s a stunner, and Dia gets full credit for the presentation.
And, strange as it seems for an artist so absorbed in worldly matters, images of spiritual transcendence were a staple of his work too, from the “Marilyn” paintings onward. And Ms. De Salvo has given his retrospective a celestial conclusion. There are only four works in the large rectangular final gallery. At either end hang two giant examples of his abstract “Rorschach” paintings, one gold, one black. With their curves and flanges they could be giant examples of Julia’s rococo designs. On a long wall hangs a 25-foot long silk-screen painting of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper,” its sacred narrative of dread and redemption half-buried in camouflage patterning. And facing it is an even longer picture called “Sixty-Three White Mona Lisas,” in which repeat images of the most famous celebrity-sitter of all are dimly visible under washes of semi-translucent white paint.
The work is both a nod to an old, fixed art history (Leonardo, Duchamp) and the statement of a new, open-ended one of simultaneous erasure and proliferation. And seen at the conclusion of Ms. De Salvo’s show the painting suggests a further reading: the image of a host of spirits — benign? threatening? neutral? — stirring behind a drifting bank of clouds.
I never thought I’d use the word exalted for Warhol, or transcendent, or sublime. And he probably never thought to use them either. But that’s what’s here.
Nov. 12 through March 31 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, Manhattan; |||PHONE_NUMBER||| , whitney.org. The exhibition travels to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (May 18-Sept. 2) and the Art Institute of Chicago (Oct. 20-Jan. 26, 2020).
Through Dec. 15 at Calvin Klein headquarters, 205 West 39th Street, ground floor; diaart.org. | 2018-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A sweeping retrospective shows a personal side of the Pop master — his hopes, fears, faith — and reasserts his power for a new generation, Holland Cotter writes in his review.
Mr. Paradox, who never left, is back.
Although, technically, “Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again” at the Whitney Museum of American Art is the artist’s first full American retrospective in 31 years, over that span he’s been so much with us — in museums, in galleries, on auction blocks, on Calvin Klein poplin shirts — as to make a survey seem almost redundant. At the same time, his ever-presence has made him, like wallpaper, like atmosphere, only half-noticed. He’s there, but do we care?
We can’t not. He’s the most important American artist of the second half of the 20th century. The Whitney show vividly restores him to full, commanding view, and reasserts his importance | for a new generation, but does so in a carefully shaped and edited way.
What we have instead in the Whitney show — organized by Donna De Salvo, the museum’s deputy director for international initiatives and senior curator, assisted by Christie Mitchell and Mark Loiacono — is a figure we seem to have lost track of, and one who young artists today can identify with and treasure: the Warhol for whom art, whatever else it was, was an expression of personal hopes and fears.
This is not to say that this new-old version of the artist is so different that we don’t recognize him when we arrive on the Whitney’s fifth floor show. Ms. De Salvo has made sure that we do. Right at the start we find a lineup of his Pop classics: Brillo Box sculptures, paintings of Campbell Soup cans, Coca-Cola bottles, camouflage patterns, and a whole gallery filled with silk-screened flowers and electric pink cows. It’s as if the curator wanted to ground us in |
A takeover of the state’s largest school district has led to lawsuits and accusations that minority voters are being ignored. At the center of it are a majority-black high school and a member of the Class of 1961.
HOUSTON — Harold V. Dutton Jr. was proud to have walked the same high school halls that Barbara Jordan, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, did. Ms. Jordan graduated in 1951 from Houston’s Phillis Wheatley High School, a pillar for nearly a century in the Fifth Ward, one of Houston’s historic black neighborhoods.
Mr. Dutton, 74, graduated from Wheatley 10 years after Ms. Jordan and went on to become a lawyer and Democratic lawmaker in the state House of Representatives. He watched his old high school deteriorate as poverty spread through the Fifth Ward and grew increasingly frustrated by what he felt was a lack of urgency by local educators.
His solution has embroiled the city’s entire public school system in a bitter fight that has stirred legal, political and racial turmoil in the largest school district in Texas. This month, the state’s education commissioner informed the leaders of the Houston Independent School District that the state was taking it over, citing the repeated failing performance of Wheatley as one of the reasons.
Mr. Dutton opened the door to the takeover as the co-author of a law that created what education experts have called one of the harshest remedies in the country for troubled schools. Under its terms, any district that has even one school that consistently fails to meet state standards for five or more years must either shut the campus or face the possibility of a state takeover.
Though the Texas Legislature passed the law in 2015, it is only now being put to its biggest test, in Houston. The state takeover in Houston has put Mr. Dutton’s political career at risk and caused upheaval and uncertainty in one of the largest public-school systems in the country, a sprawling bureaucracy with 200,000 students and more than 12,000 teachers in 280 schools.
Should an entire district be penalized for the chronic low performance of one majority-black school in one of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods? And can Texas education officials — who were found in a federal investigation last year to have illegally denied therapy, tutoring and counseling to tens of thousands of children with disabilities — be trusted to do any better?
No one agrees on the answers. And Mr. Dutton remains unapologetic about the outcome.
“One of the highest forms of child abuse is to kill a child’s future by not educating them, and when you do that, it just seems to me there ought to be a punishment,” said Mr. Dutton, who likened the move by state authorities to the actions of the state’s Child Protective Services in cases of abused children.
“Their self-centered ineptitude has failed the children they are supposed to educate,” he wrote. He added that “if ever there was a school board that needs to be taken over and reformed, it’s H.I.S.D.,” the governor wrote.
The state’s shifting politics have played a role in the debate. A few years ago, Republican officials in Texas had a single opponent to unite them — President Barack Obama and his administration’s liberal policies. Since President Trump was elected, Republicans have found a new villain to rally against — the state’s largest cities.
While Republicans run state government, major cities like Houston are largely dominated by Democrats. Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and other large cities have often joined Houston in fighting the state in court on everything from paid sick leave to plastic-bag bans. Republicans in state government who have long preached an anti-big-government mantra are in turn inserting themselves into local issues, including Mr. Abbott’s recent focus on homeless encampments in Austin.
“It’s a desperate means to maintain control that I think many in the Republican Party feel is slipping away in the state of Texas,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, a union representing teachers and other district employees that is seeking to join a federal lawsuit filed by the school board to block the takeover.
The Fifth Ward is a proud but struggling neighborhood about three miles northeast of downtown Houston, across Buffalo Bayou. It has been a focal point of black Texas — the former home of the boxer George Foreman, the rap group the Geto Boys and Mickey Leland, who filled Ms. Jordan’s seat in Congress after she retired — but has in recent years become increasingly Hispanic.
More than 800 students attend Wheatley now — 53 percent are black and 46 percent are Hispanic. Nearly 94 percent of students are economically disadvantaged. In August, the school failed to meet state academic standards for the seventh consecutive year. Another Fifth Ward school, the long-struggling Kashmere High School, met state standards for the first time in more than a decade, leaving the focus of chronic low performance on Wheatley.
Many black parents and students are opposed to a state takeover and fear that state officials will appoint a board that will seek to close Wheatley or turn it into a charter school.
Some believe the state bureaucracy is too big and ineffective to carry out a turnaround of Wheatley. But many have also lost confidence in the local school board, particularly after the board’s four Hispanic trustees were found by state investigators to have illegally met and coordinated to replace the African-American interim superintendent. Still, there is support for a takeover among some African-American families.
Teachers’ union leaders and other takeover critics said the dynamics at play in Houston were about far more than fixing Wheatley.
They dispute the state’s depiction of the district as dysfunctional, when it earned an overall grade of B for the last school year under the state’s rating system. They point to problems with past state interventions, and they believe the takeover in Houston was prompted by racism and a conservative agenda to turn public schools into charter schools. Across the district, 62 percent of the students are Hispanic and 24 percent are black. The nine-member school board is made up of four Hispanics, three African-Americans, one white and one Asian.
All of the troubled school districts that have been subject to a variety of state interventions in Texas in recent years have been majority-minority districts. The plan to appoint a board of managers in Houston to replace the elected school board was announced Nov. 6, only a day after voters elected new school-board trustees, a move that opponents said disenfranchised minority voters and violated the Voting Rights Act.
“Texas has a long history of disenfranchisement of people of color, and this is just part of it,” said Jose Garza, a longtime voting rights lawyer who is representing the teachers’ union.
Around the country, there have been more than 100 state takeovers of school districts since 1989, and those with predominantly nonwhite school boards have historically been more likely to be taken over, according to Domingo Morel, author of a book on the subject and a political scientist at Rutgers University, Newark.
Mr. Dutton has angered some in his own party for his role in prompting the takeover.
Some Democrats say Mr. Dutton, who has sponsored pro-charter-school legislation, is in league with charter-school proponents. One of the ways the Houston district could have avoided a takeover was by forming a partnership with a nonprofit group, charter school or university, but district leaders voted against it.
At a recent community meeting about the takeover, one of the loudest rounds of applause came after a woman stood up and called for someone to run against Mr. Dutton and remove him from office.
Mr. Dutton, one of the longest-serving lawmakers in the state House, shrugged off any potential political blowback, and also any claims of voting-rights violations.
On Monday, Mr. Dutton walked to the entrance of Wheatley’s auditorium, one of the few parts of the old campus that he and Ms. Jordan attended that were preserved after new buildings were erected.
Mr. Dutton recalled a moment, back in 2002, that played a role in his interest in improving Wheatley. For an event honoring the school’s 75th anniversary, he was looking over the biographies of students who had won an honorary Miss Wheatley title. Many of the early Miss Wheatleys became teachers, and received masters’ degrees and Ph.D.’s, he said. By the late 1980s, he said, he saw a decline in their achievements, and found one former Miss Wheatley working at McDonald’s.
“I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with the students, but there’s simply something wrong with what we’re giving them,” he said.
Dana Goldstein contributed reporting from New York. | 2019-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A takeover of the state’s largest school district has led to lawsuits and accusations that minority voters are being ignored. At the center of it are a majority-black high school and a member of the Class of 1961.
HOUSTON — Harold V. Dutton Jr. was proud to have walked the same high school halls that Barbara Jordan, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, did. Ms. Jordan graduated in 1951 from Houston’s Phillis Wheatley High School, a pillar for nearly a century in the Fifth Ward, one of Houston’s historic black neighborhoods.
Mr. Dutton, 74, graduated from Wheatley 10 years after Ms. Jordan and went on to become a lawyer and Democratic lawmaker in the state House of Representatives. He watched his old high school deteriorate as poverty spread through the Fifth Ward and grew increasingly frustrated by what he felt was a lack of urgency by local educators.
His solution has embroiled the city’s entire public school | system in a bitter fight that has stirred legal, political and racial turmoil in the largest school district in Texas. This month, the state’s education commissioner informed the leaders of the Houston Independent School District that the state was taking it over, citing the repeated failing performance of Wheatley as one of the reasons.
Mr. Dutton opened the door to the takeover as the co-author of a law that created what education experts have called one of the harshest remedies in the country for troubled schools. Under its terms, any district that has even one school that consistently fails to meet state standards for five or more years must either shut the campus or face the possibility of a state takeover.
Though the Texas Legislature passed the law in 2015, it is only now being put to its biggest test, in Houston. The state takeover in Houston has put Mr. Dutton’s political career at risk and caused upheaval and uncertainty in one of the largest public-school systems in the country, a sprawling bureaucracy with |
A team from the Institute for Conservation Research of the San Diego Zoo Global and the Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya confirmed the existence of black leopards — as the animals are also known — in Laikipia County, an area north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
“It is certain black panthers have been there all along, but good footage that could confirm it has always been absent until now,” Nicholas Pilfold, a biologist at the San Diego institute, said in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
The researchers’ findings were published in the African Journal of Ecology in January.
The leopard, scientific name Panthera pardus, is more commonly found with a black coat in tropical and humid Southeast Asia. But, apparently, melanism — the cause of the dark coloring — can also be displayed in semiarid climates, like that of Laikipia, according to the paper.
There have been a few reported observations of this subspecies in Africa, but, until now, only one had been confirmed, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in 1909.
Following unconfirmed reports of a black leopard in Laikipia County, the research team installed eight cameras around the Laikipia Wilderness Camp — focusing on available water sources, such as swimming pools and natural springs, and on animal trails.
From February to April 2018, five of the cameras recorded footage of a young female black leopard. She appeared alone in four nighttime videos — drinking water from artificial water sources or carrying remains of her prey — but in the only daytime video, she was following an adult female leopard with normal markings.
Word of the camera observations brought forth another high-quality image of a black leopard from the Ol Ari Nyiro Conservancy, also in Laikipia, which was taken in May 2007.
“Collectively, these images are the first reported in nearly 100 years that confirm the existence of black leopard in Africa, and the first in Kenya,” the paper said.
The dark coloration of the melanistic leopards’ coat is attributed to a recessive gene that causes the loss of the normal function. Despite being called black, they are usually very dark brown and have the same pattern of spots as other leopards, according to the Out of Africa Park in Arizona, which hosts two black leopards, named Enoch and Silhouette.
But there are also theories suggesting that melanism could have an environmental factor.
“Melanism is hypothesized to be an adaptation to environments in which a dark coloration provides camouflage from predators or prey,” Dr. Pilfold said in the paper.
Until recently, leopards — reclusive, adaptable, and territorial — were considered to exist in relative abundance.
But a study published in May 2016 suggested that leopards had lost 75 percent of their range since 1750. They were then classified as “vulnerable” on the Red List of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“I think the biggest threat to the leopard on a global scale is that it’s been just under the radar,” Philipp Henschel, the lion program survey coordinator for Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organization, told The New York Times in 2016.
| 2019-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A team from the Institute for Conservation Research of the San Diego Zoo Global and the Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya confirmed the existence of black leopards — as the animals are also known — in Laikipia County, an area north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
“It is certain black panthers have been there all along, but good footage that could confirm it has always been absent until now,” Nicholas Pilfold, a biologist at the San Diego institute, said in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
The researchers’ findings were published in the African Journal of Ecology in January.
The leopard, scientific name Panthera pardus, is more commonly found with a black coat in tropical and humid Southeast Asia. But, apparently, melanism — the cause of the dark coloring — can also be displayed in semiarid climates, like that of Laikipia, according to the paper.
There have been a few reported observations of this subspecies in Africa, but, until now, only one had been | confirmed, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in 1909.
Following unconfirmed reports of a black leopard in Laikipia County, the research team installed eight cameras around the Laikipia Wilderness Camp — focusing on available water sources, such as swimming pools and natural springs, and on animal trails.
From February to April 2018, five of the cameras recorded footage of a young female black leopard. She appeared alone in four nighttime videos — drinking water from artificial water sources or carrying remains of her prey — but in the only daytime video, she was following an adult female leopard with normal markings.
Word of the camera observations brought forth another high-quality image of a black leopard from the Ol Ari Nyiro Conservancy, also in Laikipia, which was taken in May 2007.
“Collectively, these images are the first reported in nearly 100 years that confirm the existence of black leopard in Africa, and the first in Kenya,” the paper said.
The |
A team of Japanese researchers combined on-the-ground archaeology with modern technology, including artificial intelligence, to identify the 2,000-year-old images.
A huge carving of a monkey with its tail twirled in a spiral; vast, geometric images of a condor and a hummingbird; an immense spider — the 2,000-year-old Nazca Lines in Peru have awed and mystified modern viewers since they were first seen from the air last century.
Now, 143 more images have been discovered, etched into a coastal desert plain about 250 miles southeast of Lima, the Peruvian capital. The Japanese researchers who found them combined on-the-ground work with the most modern of tools: satellite photography, three-dimensional imaging and, in one case, artificial intelligence.
The newly discovered carvings, or geoglyphs, depict human forms and a broad variety of animals, including camelids, a group of mammals that includes llamas and alpacas; cats; fish; and snakes, according to the research group from Yamagata University.
The shapes, some of which are believed to date from at least 100 B.C., were mainly identified in the western side of the area through fieldwork — picking through pottery remnants, stones and soil — and by analyzing high-resolution imagery, the university said in a statement last week. The largest are more than 300 feet long.
But one geoglyph was revealed as a result of a collaboration between the university research team and Watson, IBM’s artificial intelligence system.
When the university and IBM Japan analyzed data with software called Watson Machine Learning Community Edition, they identified various candidates for “biomorphic” shapes. The university said the researchers then chose one of them and, after conducting work on the ground in 2019, discovered a previously unknown, 16-foot figure of a human standing on two feet.
The Nazca Lines cover an area of about 173 square miles and are thought to have been scratched into the earth from 500 B.C. to A.D. 500. The shapes are best seen from the air, and many are impossible to discern from the ground.
UNESCO has designated the Nazca Lines a World Heritage site that bears witness to “the culture and magical-religious tradition and beliefs,” artistic and technical skills, and land use techniques of societies in pre-Columbian South America.
Masato Sakai, a professor of cultural anthropology and Andean archaeology who led the research team, said in a video about the discovery that the enigmatic drawings must become more visible to ensure their survival.
In 2014, Greenpeace activists left marks on the protected site after they entered the area to place a sign promoting renewable energy. And nearly two years ago, a truck driver was arrested after he intentionally drove his tractor-railer off the Pan-American Highway, which runs through the archaeological site, and damaged three straight-line geoglyphs, Peru’s culture minister said at the time.
All of the Nazca works were created by removing the darker top layer of earth to reveal the white sand beneath.
The new findings are categorized into two types that differ in scale and purpose.
The representational group, depicting animals and anthropomorphic figures, includes figures that usually span less than 165 feet, according to the university. The other, more abstract and geometric group, includes much larger shapes. The longest one stretches more than 330 feet.
Part of the fascination with the Nazca Lines derives from the mystery of their function.
In his 1968 best seller, “Chariots of the Gods?,” Erich von Däniken, a Swiss author, suggested that they might have served as landing strips for aliens.
The researchers plan to use another IBM system, called PAIRS, to organize data collected from the ground over the past 10 years and conduct more groundwork to create a map of the geoglyphs.
And they hope to solve the mysteries that remain about the ancient, sprawling figures and shapes.
Makiko Inoue and Motoko Rich contributed reporting from Tokyo. | 2019-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A team of Japanese researchers combined on-the-ground archaeology with modern technology, including artificial intelligence, to identify the 2,000-year-old images.
A huge carving of a monkey with its tail twirled in a spiral; vast, geometric images of a condor and a hummingbird; an immense spider — the 2,000-year-old Nazca Lines in Peru have awed and mystified modern viewers since they were first seen from the air last century.
Now, 143 more images have been discovered, etched into a coastal desert plain about 250 miles southeast of Lima, the Peruvian capital. The Japanese researchers who found them combined on-the-ground work with the most modern of tools: satellite photography, three-dimensional imaging and, in one case, artificial intelligence.
The newly discovered carvings, or geoglyphs, depict human forms and a broad variety of animals, including camelids, a group of mammals that includes llamas and alpacas; cats; | fish; and snakes, according to the research group from Yamagata University.
The shapes, some of which are believed to date from at least 100 B.C., were mainly identified in the western side of the area through fieldwork — picking through pottery remnants, stones and soil — and by analyzing high-resolution imagery, the university said in a statement last week. The largest are more than 300 feet long.
But one geoglyph was revealed as a result of a collaboration between the university research team and Watson, IBM’s artificial intelligence system.
When the university and IBM Japan analyzed data with software called Watson Machine Learning Community Edition, they identified various candidates for “biomorphic” shapes. The university said the researchers then chose one of them and, after conducting work on the ground in 2019, discovered a previously unknown, 16-foot figure of a human standing on two feet.
The Nazca Lines cover an area of about 173 square miles and are thought to have been scratched into the |
A team of archaeologists and mapmakers say they have uncovered a forgotten tunnel that 80 Jews dug largely by hand as they tried to escape from a Nazi extermination site in Lithuania about 70 years ago.
The Lithuanian site, Ponar, holds mass burial pits and graves where up to 100,000 people were killed and their bodies dumped or burned during the Holocaust.
Using radar and radio waves to scan beneath the ground, the researchers found the tunnel, a 100-foot passageway between five and nine feet below the surface, the team announced on Wednesday.
A previous attempt made by a different team in 2004 to find the underground structure had only located its mouth, which was subsequently left unmarked. The new finding traces the tunnel from entrance to exit and provides evidence to support survivor accounts of the harrowing effort to escape the holding pit.
Archaeologists and geoscientists announced the discovery of a 100-foot-long tunnel made by Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust to escape an extermination site in Lithuania.
Dr. Freund and his colleagues, working with the PBS science series NOVA for a documentary that will be broadcast next year, also uncovered another burial pit containing the ashes of perhaps 7,000 people. That would be the 12th burial pit identified in Ponar; officially known today as Paneriai.
From 1941 until 1944, tens of thousands of Jews from the nearby city of Vilnius, known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania, were brought to Ponar and shot at close range. Their bodies were dumped into the pits and buried.
“I call Ponar ground zero for the Holocaust,” Dr. Freund said. “For the first time we have systematic murder being done by the Nazis and their assistants.” According to Dr. Freund, the events at the site took place about six months before the Nazis started using gas chambers elsewhere for their extermination plans.
An estimated 100,000 people, including 70,000 Jews, died at Ponar. Over four years, about 150 Lithuanian collaborators killed the prisoners — usually in groups of about 10. In 1943 when it became clear the Soviets were going to take over Lithuania, the Nazis began to cover up the evidence of the mass killings. They forced a group of 80 Jews to exhume the bodies, burn them and bury the ashes. At the time they were called the Leichenkommando, or “corpse unit,” but in the years that followed they were known as the Burning Brigade.
For months, the Jewish prisoners dug up and burned bodies. One account tells of a man who identified his wife and two sisters among the corpses. The group knew that once their job was finished, they, too, would be executed, so they developed an escape plan.
About half of the group spent 76 days digging a tunnel in their holding pit by hand and with spoons they found among the bodies. On April 15, 1944 — the last night of Passover when they knew the night would be darkest — the brigade crawled through the two-foot-square tunnel entrance and through to the forest.
The noise alerted the guards, who pursued the prisoners with guns and dogs. Of the 80, 12 managed to escape; 11 of them survived the war and went on to tell their stories, according to the researchers.
Dr. Freund and his team used the information from survivors’ accounts to search for the tunnel.
Rather then excavate and disturb the remains, he and his team used two noninvasive tools — electrical resistivity tomography and ground penetrating radar.
Electrical resistivity tomography is like an M.R.I. for the ground; it provides a clear picture of the subsurface. It uses electricity to identify stones, metal and clay as well as soil disturbances like those made by digging.
With the tool, they also found a previously unknown pit which they think is the largest ever discovered in the area. They estimate that it might have contained as many as 10,000 bodies.
The other tool, the ground penetrating radar, uses FM radio waves to scan about 10 feet under the surface.
The team also used the ground penetrating radar to search for the Great Synagogue of Vilnius, which was destroyed by the Nazis.
Before World War II, Vilnius was a bustling Jewish center with more than 100,000 people. When the Soviets took over Lithuania, they erected an elementary school over the rubble of the city’s Great Synagogue. Using the radar, the team uncovered artifacts from the synagogue, including its ritual bath house.
| 2016-06 | <|begin_of_text|>A team of archaeologists and mapmakers say they have uncovered a forgotten tunnel that 80 Jews dug largely by hand as they tried to escape from a Nazi extermination site in Lithuania about 70 years ago.
The Lithuanian site, Ponar, holds mass burial pits and graves where up to 100,000 people were killed and their bodies dumped or burned during the Holocaust.
Using radar and radio waves to scan beneath the ground, the researchers found the tunnel, a 100-foot passageway between five and nine feet below the surface, the team announced on Wednesday.
A previous attempt made by a different team in 2004 to find the underground structure had only located its mouth, which was subsequently left unmarked. The new finding traces the tunnel from entrance to exit and provides evidence to support survivor accounts of the harrowing effort to escape the holding pit.
Archaeologists and geoscientists announced the discovery of a 100-foot-long tunnel made by Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust | to escape an extermination site in Lithuania.
Dr. Freund and his colleagues, working with the PBS science series NOVA for a documentary that will be broadcast next year, also uncovered another burial pit containing the ashes of perhaps 7,000 people. That would be the 12th burial pit identified in Ponar; officially known today as Paneriai.
From 1941 until 1944, tens of thousands of Jews from the nearby city of Vilnius, known as the Jerusalem of Lithuania, were brought to Ponar and shot at close range. Their bodies were dumped into the pits and buried.
“I call Ponar ground zero for the Holocaust,” Dr. Freund said. “For the first time we have systematic murder being done by the Nazis and their assistants.” According to Dr. Freund, the events at the site took place about six months before the Nazis started using gas chambers elsewhere for their extermination plans.
An estimated 100,000 people, including 70,000 Jews |
A team of researchers is destroying things — with wind, water and fire — to help insurers manage the increasing risks of extreme weather.
WEST GLOCESTER, R.I. — In the backwoods of Rhode Island, a team of researchers spends whole days trying to destroy things: setting boxes on fire, shattering chunks of ice, hurling debris through the air at hurricane speed.
They work for an insurance company, FM Global, and the pandemonium simulates the hazards that are expected to strike with increasing frequency in this age of extreme weather.
Insurers have been vocal in warning of the dangers posed by climate change. Last year, total economic losses from natural disasters — many of them linked to climate change — reached $175 billion worldwide, the highest since 2012, according to the reinsurer Swiss Re.
This year’s tally is expected to be much larger. The hurricanes that tore through the southeastern United States alone caused as much as $245 billion in damage, the risk modeling firm RMS has estimated. Swiss Re said it expected 2017 to be one of the costliest years — if not the most costly — for natural disasters, and that was before raging fires hit Southern California, scorching more than 158,000 acres across four counties so far.
So, Mr. Gritzo and his team spend their days putting all kinds of roofs, decks, walls and other structural defenses through extreme testing.
They focus on protecting what researchers refer to as the “envelope” of a building — its roof, walls and other physical boundaries that separate its interior from the outside world.
To simulate uplift from hurricane winds — “wind can literally lift your roof off,” Mr. Gritzo said — researchers pump air under roof assemblies. During a test for a client, a rubber roof withstood pressure of almost 200 pounds per square foot before its fittings gave way and it burst out of its moorings with a loud pop.
Researchers also test roof shingles, blasting them for two hours at a time with a 350-horsepower machine that generates winds up to 160 miles per hour. “You want a roof that withstands the forces of Mother Nature,” Mr. Gritzo said.
To recreate the wrath of hailstorms, researchers used a device that fired off two-inch spheres of ice against roofs. One ball of ice shattered instantaneously, leaving behind a large pockmark on the roof. Hailstorms, researchers said, were a recent concern, especially across the Midwest.
Then, there is the projectile missile launcher.
A cannon-like device, the launcher hurls chunks of wood — meant to simulate debris flying at 100 miles an hour, or about the speed of a Category 2 hurricane — at a target about 20 feet away. “You could get debris, tree limbs, stop signs, pieces of your neighbor’s roof, all coming at you,” Mr. Gritzo said.
On the cue of “Fire!” an 8-foot-long piece of lumber flew across the lab toward a piece of plywood, the kind that might be used to board up the windows of a home or business. The ½-inch plywood didn’t do well; the projectile went clear through it, like an arrow through an apple.
The team also burns things: plastics, huge rolls of paper, whiskey barrels, car parts, even frozen dinners. FM Global’s fire lab, where a musky odor of soot hangs in the air, can perform detailed analysis of the emissions that result — often a toxic mix of hydrocarbons and other chemicals.
Scientists have warned that climate change is a threat to America’s forests, with rising temperatures, drying trees and earlier-melting of snow contributing to a growing number of extreme wildfires. The recent wine country fires in California caused widespread losses of commercial property in addition to the devastation they brought to residential neighborhoods.
The risks of flooding, which wreaked havoc during Hurricane Harvey, bring a whole other layer of testing and preparations. While the relationship between climate change and hurricanes is complicated, it is becoming clear that a warming planet will produce wetter storms, while sea level rise will worsen the impact of storm surge.
Mr. Gritzo grills companies over their flood preparedness, making executives wear virtual reality goggles programmed to transform the lab into a flood zone, with muddy water licking at the walls.
Flood-proofing a regular four-foot door would require piling up 250 50-pound sandbags, a highly labor-intensive task. The bags also become contaminated from the floodwaters, generating mountains of waste.
Instead, FM Global presses its clients to install waterproof barriers. Other flooding tips are simple, like parking the elevator on the second floor before evacuating a building, saving mechanical and electrical equipment from the floodwater.
One company that saw its investment in flood protection pay off was the juice company Ocean Spray, which took FM Global’s advice and strengthened its buildings and bought portable generators for backup power. Those preparations meant that when powerful storms rolled through Florida in 2004 and 2005, the company was mostly unscathed.
| 2017-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A team of researchers is destroying things — with wind, water and fire — to help insurers manage the increasing risks of extreme weather.
WEST GLOCESTER, R.I. — In the backwoods of Rhode Island, a team of researchers spends whole days trying to destroy things: setting boxes on fire, shattering chunks of ice, hurling debris through the air at hurricane speed.
They work for an insurance company, FM Global, and the pandemonium simulates the hazards that are expected to strike with increasing frequency in this age of extreme weather.
Insurers have been vocal in warning of the dangers posed by climate change. Last year, total economic losses from natural disasters — many of them linked to climate change — reached $175 billion worldwide, the highest since 2012, according to the reinsurer Swiss Re.
This year’s tally is expected to be much larger. The hurricanes that tore through the southeastern United States alone caused as much as $245 billion in damage, the risk modeling | firm RMS has estimated. Swiss Re said it expected 2017 to be one of the costliest years — if not the most costly — for natural disasters, and that was before raging fires hit Southern California, scorching more than 158,000 acres across four counties so far.
So, Mr. Gritzo and his team spend their days putting all kinds of roofs, decks, walls and other structural defenses through extreme testing.
They focus on protecting what researchers refer to as the “envelope” of a building — its roof, walls and other physical boundaries that separate its interior from the outside world.
To simulate uplift from hurricane winds — “wind can literally lift your roof off,” Mr. Gritzo said — researchers pump air under roof assemblies. During a test for a client, a rubber roof withstood pressure of almost 200 pounds per square foot before its fittings gave way and it burst out of its moorings with a loud pop.
Researchers also test roof shingles, |
A team of researchers say that science has relied on a human heterosexual baseline and made faulty assumptions about sexual activity in the animal kingdom.
Male field crickets perform mating songs and dances for each other. Pairs of male box crabs occasionally indulge in days-long marathon sex sessions.
Comparable arrangements can be found in damselflies, Humboldt squid, garter snakes, penguins and cattle. In fact over 1,500 species across most major animal families have been observed engaging in sexual activity with individuals of the same sex. But the origins of such same-sex sexual behavior have long puzzled evolutionary biologists. How could this behavior evolve and persist in so many lineages, even when it doesn’t directly aid reproduction?
That very question may be the wrong one to ask, a group of researchers argue in a study published last week in Nature Ecology and Evolution, seeking to flip the underlying assumptions of a whole wing of biology.
Instead, the researchers suggest that same-sex behavior is bound up in the very origins of animal sex. It hasn’t had to continually re-evolve: It’s always been there.
Evolutionary biologists have long pondered same-sex behavior, often describing it as a “Darwinian paradox.” Paul Vasey, an expert on non-conceptive sexuality at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, who did not participate in the study, says one school of thought held that such behaviors weren’t primarily sexual, instead relating to dominance or grooming.
Other researchers have suggested it persists in some species because it helps social animals maintain communities, said Max Lambert, a biologist at Berkeley and a co-author on the study. Still others suggested that examples of same-sex behavior were “practice” for reproductive sex, or even cases of mistaken identity. Most agreed that it had to have some sort of evolutionary benefit to make up for the presumed costs of nonreproductive sexual behavior.
None of these explanations satisfied Julia Monk, a Ph.D. candidate at Yale and the study’s lead author.
Instead of wondering why same-sex behavior had independently evolved in so many species, Ms. Monk and her colleagues suggest that it may have been present in the oldest parts of the animal family tree. The earliest sexually reproducing animals may have mated with any other individual they came across, regardless of sex. Such reproductive strategies are still practiced today by hermaphroditic species, like snails, and species that don’t appear to differentiate, like sea urchins.
Over time, Ms. Monk said, sexual signals evolved — different sizes, colors, anatomical features and behaviors — allowing different sexes to more accurately target each other for reproduction. But same-sex behavior continued in some organisms, leading to diverse sexual behaviors and strategies across the animal kingdom. And while same-sex behavior may grant some evolutionary benefits, an ancient origin would mean those benefits weren’t required for it to exist.
But how has same-sex behavior stuck around? The answer may be that such behaviors aren’t as evolutionarily costly as assumed. Traditionally, Ms. Monk said, any mating behavior that doesn’t produce young is seen as a waste. But animal behavior often doesn’t fit neatly into an economic accounting of costs and benefits.
Mating attempts between different sexes don’t always efficiently lead to offspring either, Dr. Kamath said — mating attempts can be rebuffed, conception may not occur and clutches or young may not survive. These are normal hiccups in population-level reproduction, and the team predicts that the costs of same-sex behavior aren’t likely to be any greater.
An issue with past research in the field, Dr. Lambert said, is that unexamined cultural projections — largely by the white heterosexual men who have dominated the field — resulted in many researchers failing to accurately document what they were seeing.
“We’re missing so many observations of sexual behaviors because the people looking at them thought that it must have been an abnormality, based on a preconceived notion of how the world should work,” Dr. Lambert said.
While cultural ideas can affect our observations of biology, Dr. Kamath said, biology doesn’t necessarily tell us anything clear about culture. The team was careful not to draw explicit links to any aspects of human culture, including L.G.B.T.Q. communities.
“We do not want our work to be leveraged in harmful ways and we’ve done our best to avoid that in the way that we’ve constructed the paper itself,” she said.
Ms. Monk and her colleagues say that explicitly flipping the cultural assumptions — in this case by conducting the study with researchers who self-identify as queer, and bringing in outside disciplines like social science — can yield better research.
“It’s important for us as scientists to recognize that while we’d love to think about what we do as objective, it might be really framed by our culture and context,” Ms. Monk said.
| 2019-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A team of researchers say that science has relied on a human heterosexual baseline and made faulty assumptions about sexual activity in the animal kingdom.
Male field crickets perform mating songs and dances for each other. Pairs of male box crabs occasionally indulge in days-long marathon sex sessions.
Comparable arrangements can be found in damselflies, Humboldt squid, garter snakes, penguins and cattle. In fact over 1,500 species across most major animal families have been observed engaging in sexual activity with individuals of the same sex. But the origins of such same-sex sexual behavior have long puzzled evolutionary biologists. How could this behavior evolve and persist in so many lineages, even when it doesn’t directly aid reproduction?
That very question may be the wrong one to ask, a group of researchers argue in a study published last week in Nature Ecology and Evolution, seeking to flip the underlying assumptions of a whole wing of biology.
Instead, the researchers suggest that same-sex behavior is bound up in the | very origins of animal sex. It hasn’t had to continually re-evolve: It’s always been there.
Evolutionary biologists have long pondered same-sex behavior, often describing it as a “Darwinian paradox.” Paul Vasey, an expert on non-conceptive sexuality at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, who did not participate in the study, says one school of thought held that such behaviors weren’t primarily sexual, instead relating to dominance or grooming.
Other researchers have suggested it persists in some species because it helps social animals maintain communities, said Max Lambert, a biologist at Berkeley and a co-author on the study. Still others suggested that examples of same-sex behavior were “practice” for reproductive sex, or even cases of mistaken identity. Most agreed that it had to have some sort of evolutionary benefit to make up for the presumed costs of nonreproductive sexual behavior.
None of these explanations satisfied Julia Monk, a Ph.D. candidate at Yale and the study’s lead |
A team of scientists unveiled a new tree of life on Monday, a diagram outlining the evolution of all living things. The researchers found that bacteria make up most of life’s branches. And they found that much of that diversity has been waiting in plain sight to be discovered, dwelling in river mud and meadow soils.
“It is a momentous discovery — an entire continent of life-forms,” said Eugene V. Koonin of the National Center for Biotechnology Information, who was not involved in the study.
The study was published in the journal Nature Microbiology.
Ever since, biologists have sought to draw the tree of life. The invention of DNA sequencing revolutionized that project, because scientists could find the relationship among species encoded in their genes.
In the 1970s, Carl Woese of the University of Illinois and his colleagues published the first “universal tree of life” based on this approach. They presented the tree as three great trunks.
Our own trunk, known as eukaryotes, includes animals, plants, fungi and protozoans. A second trunk included many familiar bacteria like Escherichia coli.
The third trunk that Woese and his colleagues identified included little-known microbes that live in extreme places like hot springs and oxygen-free wetlands. Woese and his colleagues called this third trunk Archaea.
Scientists who wanted to add new species to this tree of life have faced a daunting challenge: They do not know how to grow the vast majority of single-celled organisms in their laboratories.
A number of researchers have developed a way to get around that. They simply pull pieces of DNA out of the environment and piece them together.
In recent years, Jillian F. Banfield of the University of California, Berkeley and her colleagues have been gathering DNA from many environments, like California meadows and deep sea vents. They have been assembling the genomes of hundreds of new microbial species.
The scientists were so busy reconstructing the new genomes that they did not know how these species might fit on the tree of life. “We never really put the whole thing together,” Dr. Banfield said.
Recently, Dr. Banfield and her colleagues decided it was time to redraw the tree.
They selected more than 3,000 species to study, bringing together a representative sample of life’s diversity. “We wanted to be as comprehensive as possible,” said Laura A. Hug, an author of the new study and a biologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
The researchers studied DNA from 2,072 known species, along with the DNA from 1,011 species newly discovered by Dr. Banfield and her colleagues.
The scientists needed a supercomputer to evaluate a vast number of possible trees. Eventually, they found one best supported by the evidence.
It’s a humbling thing to behold. All the eukaryotes, from humans to flowers to amoebae, fit on a slender twig. The new study supported previous findings that eukaryotes and archaea are closely related. But overshadowing those lineages is a sprawling menagerie of bacteria.
Remarkably, the scientists didn’t have to go to extreme places to find many of their new lineages. “Meadow soil is one of the most microbially complex environments on the planet,” Dr. Hug said.
Another new feature of the tree is a single, large branch that splits off near the base. The bacteria in this group tend to be small in size and have a simple metabolism.
Dr. Banfield speculated that they got their start as simple life-forms in the first chapters in the history of life. They have stuck with that winning formula ever since.
Brian P. Hedlund, a microbiologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who was not involved in the new study, said that one of the most striking results of the study was that the tree of life was dominated by species that scientists have never been able to see or grow in their labs. “Most of life is hiding under our noses,” he said.
Patrick Forterre, an evolutionary biologist at the Pasteur Institute in France, agreed that bacteria probably make up much of life’s diversity. But he had concerns about how Dr. Banfield and her colleague built their tree. He argued that genomes assembled from DNA fragments could actually be chimeras, made up of genes from different species. “It’s a real problem,” he said.
Dr. Banfield predicted that the bacterial branches of the tree of life may not change much in years to come. “We’re starting to see the same things over and over again,” she said.
Instead, Dr. Banfield said she expected new branches to be discovered for eukaryotes, especially for tiny species such as microscopic fungi. “That’s where I think the next big advance might be found,” Dr. Banfield said.
| 2016-04 | <|begin_of_text|>A team of scientists unveiled a new tree of life on Monday, a diagram outlining the evolution of all living things. The researchers found that bacteria make up most of life’s branches. And they found that much of that diversity has been waiting in plain sight to be discovered, dwelling in river mud and meadow soils.
“It is a momentous discovery — an entire continent of life-forms,” said Eugene V. Koonin of the National Center for Biotechnology Information, who was not involved in the study.
The study was published in the journal Nature Microbiology.
Ever since, biologists have sought to draw the tree of life. The invention of DNA sequencing revolutionized that project, because scientists could find the relationship among species encoded in their genes.
In the 1970s, Carl Woese of the University of Illinois and his colleagues published the first “universal tree of life” based on this approach. They presented the tree as three great trunks.
Our own trunk, known as e | ukaryotes, includes animals, plants, fungi and protozoans. A second trunk included many familiar bacteria like Escherichia coli.
The third trunk that Woese and his colleagues identified included little-known microbes that live in extreme places like hot springs and oxygen-free wetlands. Woese and his colleagues called this third trunk Archaea.
Scientists who wanted to add new species to this tree of life have faced a daunting challenge: They do not know how to grow the vast majority of single-celled organisms in their laboratories.
A number of researchers have developed a way to get around that. They simply pull pieces of DNA out of the environment and piece them together.
In recent years, Jillian F. Banfield of the University of California, Berkeley and her colleagues have been gathering DNA from many environments, like California meadows and deep sea vents. They have been assembling the genomes of hundreds of new microbial species.
The scientists were so busy reconstructing the new genomes that they did not know how |
A temporary cut in federal taxes on alcohol fueled the growth of American distilleries, but its expiration threatens their demise.
The last two years have been good ones for Lyon Distilling. At the small rum producer in St. Michaels, Md., a town on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay, production has jumped from 4,000 bottles a year to 40,000. Four employees have become 15.
Explosive consumer demand explains some of that growth, said Jaime Windon, the company’s chief executive and co-founder. But she attributes most of it to a steep cut in federal excise taxes on alcoholic beverages, which Congress passed at the end of 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Thousands of small distilleries, breweries and wineries have similar stories. But their fortune may end soon, thanks to congressional paralysis: The tax cut, known as the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, is set to expire on Dec. 31, and legislators have until Friday to extend it.
If they don’t, distilleries like Lyon will face a 400-percent tax increase, with the first payment for many due on Jan. 15. That has craft-beverage producers scrambling.
“The anxiety level with these small distilleries is high,” said Chris Swonger, the chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Industry representatives expect that many small companies will have to lay off employees or close entirely, a turn that could undermine the country’s boom in craft brewing and distilling.
Particularly frustrating for these companies is the fact that the tax cut enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support — a House bill to make it permanent, introduced earlier this year, has 324 co-sponsors, while an identical Senate version has 73.
Such legislation would normally sail through Congress, most likely as part of a so-called extender package of similar targeted cuts. Instead, observers say, it has become a casualty of congressional dysfunction and partisan fighting over taxes and spending.
The tax cut, originally introduced in 2015, was supposed to be permanent, but was trimmed to two years as a compromise to get it into the 2017 tax bill. Industry lobbyists assumed that making it permanent would not be a problem — this summer, the House Ways and Means Committee passed legislation to do so, and a Senate task force endorsed the idea.
But those proposals soon got caught up in larger debates about tax reform, and Congress let the issue sit idle. In recent days, Congressional offices have told lobbyists they are rushing to reach a deal on tax reform, which they hope to attach to the year-end spending bill. But they can’t promise that an extension to the tax cut will be part of it.
Industry lobbyists and legislators who support the bill say that at this point the most they can realistically expect is a one-year extension. But such short-term relief would make it hard for distillers to make long-term investments, like hiring staff, increasing production or buying new equipment.
Trade associations representing all three industries said the vast majority of their members used the tax savings to invest in new equipment and jobs. Bob Pease, the president of the Brewers Association, which represents small breweries, said that craft breweries added 15,000 jobs in 2018, the latest year on record, after an average of just 5,000 for the previous three years.
“I’ve got 7,500 main-street members using that money to reinvest in their companies and their communities,” he said.
The sharp reduction in taxes also encouraged hundreds of new businesses to open, including about 2,000 breweries and 400 distilleries in the last two years. Those companies are especially unprepared for a sudden increase in their excise taxes, which, for most distillers, must be paid every other week.
Extending popular, but temporary, tax cuts has long been an end-of-the-year ritual on Capitol Hill. But many of the temporary cuts have since been made permanent, leaving a dwindling number of affected groups to scramble for support every few years. A number of provisions being considered alongside the alcoholic beverage excise tax have already lapsed, including a biodiesel tax credit, despite strong support from Iowa Republican Charles E. Grassley, the head of the Senate Finance Committee.
Despite its strong bipartisan support, the Craft Act has its critics, many of whom say it gives away too much to big producers. All distillers, no matter the size, get a break on their first 100,000 proof gallons. While most craft distillers make only a small fraction of that — Lyon Distilling produces about 5,000 proof gallons a year — many large distillers make 100,000 gallons or more a week.
Large brewing companies also benefit. AB InBev, which owns Budweiser, Corona and many other brands, now receives about $12 million in tax savings. But bringing big producers on board was a political necessity, said Mr. Pease. “From our perspective, if that’s what it takes, we’re fine with that,” he said.
Still, even skeptics are shocked at how a bill with such broad support — and a track record of boosting investment and job growth — could be scuttled because of political logjams.
| 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A temporary cut in federal taxes on alcohol fueled the growth of American distilleries, but its expiration threatens their demise.
The last two years have been good ones for Lyon Distilling. At the small rum producer in St. Michaels, Md., a town on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay, production has jumped from 4,000 bottles a year to 40,000. Four employees have become 15.
Explosive consumer demand explains some of that growth, said Jaime Windon, the company’s chief executive and co-founder. But she attributes most of it to a steep cut in federal excise taxes on alcoholic beverages, which Congress passed at the end of 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Thousands of small distilleries, breweries and wineries have similar stories. But their fortune may end soon, thanks to congressional paralysis: The tax cut, known as the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, is set to expire on Dec. | 31, and legislators have until Friday to extend it.
If they don’t, distilleries like Lyon will face a 400-percent tax increase, with the first payment for many due on Jan. 15. That has craft-beverage producers scrambling.
“The anxiety level with these small distilleries is high,” said Chris Swonger, the chief executive of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Industry representatives expect that many small companies will have to lay off employees or close entirely, a turn that could undermine the country’s boom in craft brewing and distilling.
Particularly frustrating for these companies is the fact that the tax cut enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support — a House bill to make it permanent, introduced earlier this year, has 324 co-sponsors, while an identical Senate version has 73.
Such legislation would normally sail through Congress, most likely as part of a so-called extender package of similar targeted cuts. Instead, observers say, it has become a casualty of congressional |
A terminal at Orlando International Airport was evacuated and incoming flights were grounded on Saturday morning after a Transportation Security Administration officer jumped to his death, the police and witnesses said.
The officer, described by the Orlando police as a man in his 40s, had just clocked out of work before jumping from a balcony of the Hyatt Regency in the airport atrium about 9:30 a.m.
Jenny L. Burke, a spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed that an off-duty T.S.A. employee had fallen from a balcony inside the airport and died. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officer’s family, friends and everyone in our T.S.A. family,” she said.
The sound of the man crashing to the floor caused passengers to flee unscreened into a restricted area, Ms. Burke said. Crowds of passengers were being rescreened on Saturday afternoon. Officials said flight operations were starting to return to normal about 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a halt to inbound flights that was lifted at 11:30 a.m.
Michael Bawol, 32, was traveling home to Halifax, Nova Scotia, after a week of work in Florida when he saw a man standing on the outer ledge of a balcony on the top floor of the hotel, he said.
Mr. Bawol, who said he was about 20 feet away, looked away when he realized that the man was jumping.
“I covered my ears, but the sound of impact was still audible,” he said.
Adults and children began crying when they realized what had happened. T.S.A. agents rushed in and guided passengers to the terminal exits. Paramedics tried to revive the man before moving him to a stretcher.
The police said the man, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Another witness, Greg Oswald, a psychologist from Plainfield, Ill., was returning home after a Disney cruise with his wife and four children when he heard passengers gasping and screaming.
During the partial government shutdown, T.S.A. workers at several major airports around the country were working without pay and began to call in sick in increasing numbers, union and airport management officials.
| 2019-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A terminal at Orlando International Airport was evacuated and incoming flights were grounded on Saturday morning after a Transportation Security Administration officer jumped to his death, the police and witnesses said.
The officer, described by the Orlando police as a man in his 40s, had just clocked out of work before jumping from a balcony of the Hyatt Regency in the airport atrium about 9:30 a.m.
Jenny L. Burke, a spokeswoman for the agency, confirmed that an off-duty T.S.A. employee had fallen from a balcony inside the airport and died. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officer’s family, friends and everyone in our T.S.A. family,” she said.
The sound of the man crashing to the floor caused passengers to flee unscreened into a restricted area, Ms. Burke said. Crowds of passengers were being rescreened on Saturday afternoon. Officials said flight operations were starting to return to normal about 12:30 p.m. on | Saturday. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a halt to inbound flights that was lifted at 11:30 a.m.
Michael Bawol, 32, was traveling home to Halifax, Nova Scotia, after a week of work in Florida when he saw a man standing on the outer ledge of a balcony on the top floor of the hotel, he said.
Mr. Bawol, who said he was about 20 feet away, looked away when he realized that the man was jumping.
“I covered my ears, but the sound of impact was still audible,” he said.
Adults and children began crying when they realized what had happened. T.S.A. agents rushed in and guided passengers to the terminal exits. Paramedics tried to revive the man before moving him to a stretcher.
The police said the man, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Another witness, Greg Oswald, a psychologist from Plainfield, Ill., was returning home after |
A text from the Trump campaign usually LOOKS LIKE THIS, while Biden texts often go on and on and ….
If you’re like me, you’ve been getting about two or three text messages a day from the Biden and Trump presidential campaigns, with the anticipatory excitement that accompanies each incoming-text “ding” quickly dulled by yet another mass message.
OK, well, for those of you who receive only one candidate’s texts, or none at all, we’re going to take a trip down iMessage memory lane and look at some of the texts from President Trump and Joe Biden, and what they say about their campaigns’ messaging strategies.
The Trump campaign’s mass texting style adheres closely to Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed; not a single text goes out without some word in all capital letters, and the texts are rarely longer than a tweet. They also tend to follow the substance of the president’s social feeds, usually animated by grievances.
When the impeachment process began, a daily deluge of texts hit Trump supporters, repeatedly labeling the process a “HOAX” and “WITCH HUNT!” and “TOTAL SCAM,” all with links to donate.
For the Trump campaign, texting has become an essential way to monetize the outrage Mr. Trump can instill in his base, done right in the moment, with more urgency than mass emails. Within hours of the Senate’s voting to acquit Mr. Trump, the campaign sent out a text proclaiming him “VINDICATED!” and promising a “4X-MATCH” on donations.
Across the Trump campaign’s texts, Facebook ads and email blasts, the messaging is almost always in sync. When the campaign is advertising on Facebook to donate for a “gold card” or hawking St. Patrick’s Day campaign merchandise, the texting closely follows.
Texts from the Biden campaign are, unsurprisingly, markedly different.
The text-message version of Mr. Biden even apologizes if he corresponds late in the day. “Hey, it’s Joe Biden. Hope I didn’t catch you too late,” read a text from March 31, received at 8:28 p.m. on the East Coast.
And while the Trump campaign’s messages can be almost alarmingly direct with someone who hasn’t donated in a while — “LAPSED,” read one — the Biden campaign plays a bit more passive-aggressively: “Is this the right number?” a Biden text read in early January.
The campaign has also occasionally used the mass texts to collect data on its supporters. One text asked users to share their opinions of voting by mail (and as with the V.P. tease, didn’t ask for money). A text sent on Sunday asked voters to fill out a survey (with their emails, ZIP codes and cellphone numbers) indicating whether they would vote for Mr. Biden in the general election.
Clearly, both campaigns do their best to adhere to the style of their candidate — and they have to in order to be effective. Sliding into the text messages on a personal cellphone is among the most intimate forms of outreach in a campaign’s messaging arsenal. So it’s no surprise that the Trump campaign’s texting takes on the familiar tone of the president’s Twitter feed.
For the past 48 hours, the Trump campaign has been running a set of three attack ads attempting to tie two messages together. First, the ads try to blame China for the coronavirus outbreak. Then they blast Joe Biden for criticizing President Trump’s decision in January to restrict travel from China.
The campaign has spent about $420,000 so far on the ads, running them in swing states like Florida, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. The ad with the most money behind it, “Responsible,” has aired 160 times in Florida markets over the past two days, as it becomes increasingly clear that the Trump campaign will continue with its xenophobic messaging on China.
Halfway through the ad, the message shifts to Mr. Biden, who the narrator claims “coddles China.” Black-and-white footage of Mr. Biden provides the visual contrast.
The takeaway: The ad dovetails with Mr. Trump’s strategy of assuming no responsibility for the severity of the outbreak in the United States and pinning the blame on China. It also seeks to highlight tenuous ties between Mr. Biden and China.
Over all, it illustrates the challenge facing Mr. Trump in the general election: Even as he goes on the offensive against Mr. Biden, he’ll have to continually defend his response to the pandemic as well.
Here are the live results from special elections in California and Wisconsin and primaries in Nebraska.
Polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern time in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and 11 p.m. Eastern time in California. Here’s what to watch for.
| 2020-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A text from the Trump campaign usually LOOKS LIKE THIS, while Biden texts often go on and on and ….
If you’re like me, you’ve been getting about two or three text messages a day from the Biden and Trump presidential campaigns, with the anticipatory excitement that accompanies each incoming-text “ding” quickly dulled by yet another mass message.
OK, well, for those of you who receive only one candidate’s texts, or none at all, we’re going to take a trip down iMessage memory lane and look at some of the texts from President Trump and Joe Biden, and what they say about their campaigns’ messaging strategies.
The Trump campaign’s mass texting style adheres closely to Mr. Trump’s Twitter feed; not a single text goes out without some word in all capital letters, and the texts are rarely longer than a tweet. They also tend to follow the substance of the president’s social feeds, usually animated by grievances.
When the impeachment process began, a daily del | uge of texts hit Trump supporters, repeatedly labeling the process a “HOAX” and “WITCH HUNT!” and “TOTAL SCAM,” all with links to donate.
For the Trump campaign, texting has become an essential way to monetize the outrage Mr. Trump can instill in his base, done right in the moment, with more urgency than mass emails. Within hours of the Senate’s voting to acquit Mr. Trump, the campaign sent out a text proclaiming him “VINDICATED!” and promising a “4X-MATCH” on donations.
Across the Trump campaign’s texts, Facebook ads and email blasts, the messaging is almost always in sync. When the campaign is advertising on Facebook to donate for a “gold card” or hawking St. Patrick’s Day campaign merchandise, the texting closely follows.
Texts from the Biden campaign are, unsurprisingly, markedly different.
The text-message version of Mr. Biden even apologizes if he corresponds late in the day |
A thousand years after the Vikings braved the icy seas from Greenland to the New World in search of timber and plunder, satellite technology has found intriguing evidence of a long-elusive prize in archaeology — a second Norse settlement in North America, further south than ever known.
The new Canadian site, with telltale signs of iron-working, was discovered last summer after infrared images from 400 miles in space showed possible man-made shapes under discolored vegetation. The site is on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, about 300 miles south of L’Anse aux Meadows, the first and so far only confirmed Viking settlement in North America, discovered in 1960.
To discover how far the Vikings went in their seafaring explorations, archaeologists are using new technologies.
But last year, Sarah H. Parcak (pronounced PAR-kak), a leading space archaeologist working with Canadian experts and the science series NOVA for a two-hour television documentary, “Vikings Unearthed,” that will be aired on PBS next week, turned her eyes in the sky on coastlines from Baffin Island, west of Greenland, to Massachusetts. She found hundreds of potential “hot spots” that high-resolution aerial photography narrowed to a handful and then one particularly promising candidate — “a dark stain” with buried rectilinear features.
In addition, radiocarbon tests dating the materials to the Norse era, and the absence of historical objects pointing to any other cultures, helped persuade scientists involved in the project and outside experts of the site’s promise. The experts are to resume digging there this summer.
“It screams, ‘Please excavate me!,’ ” said Dr. Parcak, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who won the $1 million TED prize last year for her pioneering work using satellite images to expose the looting of ancient Egyptian antiquities and is using it to globally crowdsource new archaeological sites from space.
The NOVA program will stream online at pbs.org/nova in the United States at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Eastern time, (along with a BBC program in England), and will be broadcast on PBS at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
“There’s no lock that it’s Norse, but there’s no alternative evidence,” said Douglas Bolender, a research assistant professor at the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archeological Research and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, who joined the expedition. He said a buried structure there could be a smithy for longboat nails and weaponry, another strong indicator of Viking presence.
“It would just be logical that there’s more than one site,” said Gerald F. Bigelow, a lecturer in history at Bates College in Lewiston, Me., and a specialist in archaeology of the North Atlantic.
Much depends on what else is found at the site. In archaeology, context is everything. A famous prehistoric site in Brooklin, Me., yielded an 11th century silver Norse coin but it is believed to have landed there through trade and not as proof of Viking settlement.
Master shipbuilders and seafarers, warriors, traders and raiders, the Vikings boiled out of the Scandinavian fjords starting around the 8th century, marauding through Asia and the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. The Vikings focused particularly on the British Isles, and west to Iceland and Greenland, as memorialized in oral narratives and later recorded as the sagas by 13th-century Icelandic monks.
Dr. Parcak began her research by using a commercial satellite called WorldView-3, belonging to the company DigitalGlobe, to search known Norse sites on minuscule Papa Stour in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. Using the near-infrared spectrum invisible to the human eye, the satellite detected buried walls, and digging yielded a carnelian bead from India similar to those found at other Viking sites. Dr. Parcak then focused her satellite search on thousands of miles of coastline from the Canadian Arctic to New England.
“You feeling nervous, Sarah?” a NOVA reporter asked Dr. Parcak.
| 2016-04 | <|begin_of_text|>A thousand years after the Vikings braved the icy seas from Greenland to the New World in search of timber and plunder, satellite technology has found intriguing evidence of a long-elusive prize in archaeology — a second Norse settlement in North America, further south than ever known.
The new Canadian site, with telltale signs of iron-working, was discovered last summer after infrared images from 400 miles in space showed possible man-made shapes under discolored vegetation. The site is on the southwest coast of Newfoundland, about 300 miles south of L’Anse aux Meadows, the first and so far only confirmed Viking settlement in North America, discovered in 1960.
To discover how far the Vikings went in their seafaring explorations, archaeologists are using new technologies.
But last year, Sarah H. Parcak (pronounced PAR-kak), a leading space archaeologist working with Canadian experts and the science series NOVA for a two-hour television documentary, “Vikings Un | earthed,” that will be aired on PBS next week, turned her eyes in the sky on coastlines from Baffin Island, west of Greenland, to Massachusetts. She found hundreds of potential “hot spots” that high-resolution aerial photography narrowed to a handful and then one particularly promising candidate — “a dark stain” with buried rectilinear features.
In addition, radiocarbon tests dating the materials to the Norse era, and the absence of historical objects pointing to any other cultures, helped persuade scientists involved in the project and outside experts of the site’s promise. The experts are to resume digging there this summer.
“It screams, ‘Please excavate me!,’ ” said Dr. Parcak, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who won the $1 million TED prize last year for her pioneering work using satellite images to expose the looting of ancient Egyptian antiquities and is using it to globally crowdsource new archaeological sites from space.
The NOVA program will stream |
A three-hour immersion in the world of a cappella music at the first International Championship of A Cappella Open Finals left a layman listener with a few perhaps unanswerable questions. Is Meghan Trainor one of the great comic performers of our time? Did Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon secretly copy his spooky space harmonies from extreme a cappella arrangements? What is the aftermarket like for white collegiate beatboxers?
This competition, which took place Saturday night at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium, was a kind of finishing school for unaccompanied vocalists of all stripes, from student-driven harmony groups to slightly older performers who have graduated out of that scene but still want to dismantle pop songs into zip-boom-aaah vocal pieces, either as a side hobby or, in the footsteps of the uncomfortably, sometimes devastatingly popular group Pentatonix, a full-time job.
Here, 10 acts competed: the 2017 high school and college champions, and winners of six regional semifinals, an international semifinal and a wild card. There were groups striving to make a cappella their lives, groups that formed as passion projects and groups that seemed intent on dismantling the a cappella establishment from within by taking advantage of the competition’s open format to import styles of singing you won’t see at most college pre-frosh weekends.
At times, and especially during the awards portion of the evening, that made for a confusing mandate, with global folk songs pitted against choral lite-gospel, and smarmy pop-rock alongside the familiar complex multipart vocal harmonizing (with vocal percussion!) that is a cappella’s public face.
A cappella’s mainstream — the stuff of Pentatonix and Straight No Chaser, or the sort captured in the “Pitch Perfect” films and the recent reality-TV series “The Sing-Off” and “Sing It On” — can often verge on parody. Its penchant for melodrama, glee and hyperextended notes sung with what one commentator described as “dynamics” but in fact suggest the Doppler effect can all grate with too much exposure.
These were refreshing palate cleansers, reminders that the mainstream of a cappella is still capable of surprise. But they were rarities. Most of the traditional groups stuck to the genre’s familiar tricks, including selecting curious pop songs with intricate percussion but unimaginative vocals (Jason Derulo’s “Cheyenne,” Rosie Lowe’s “Who’s That Girl?”). That may explain why the only artist covered twice was Ms. Trainor, who is effectively a pop-soul cabaret singer.
At these groups’ best, they recalled pop experimentalists like Marian Hill, Maggie Rogers, Tune-Yards and even Bon Iver (covered in spooky yet gleaming fashion by the Nor’easters, the 2017 college champions, which placed second here). The Quintessence, from the republic of Georgia, thanked the United States “for jazz” and performed intricate, faithful, distractingly dense Manhattan Transfer covers.
At the genre’s worst, it rewards singers with jab but no depth, who distend notes to the point of unrecognizability, creating a kind of neutered new-age sound. Or it prizes singers like the Transit Vocal Band frontman Adam Decker, who imported the needy gestures of a schlock-rock bar singer (he was inexplicably honored for his antics with the other award for outstanding soloist).
In some of the groups, the male performers are afterthoughts, primarily there to provide vocal percussion. A cappella music features perhaps the highest concentration of working beatboxers anywhere outside hip-hop (or perhaps higher than there, too). Most here were functional; a couple — the flamboyant Johnny Buffalo from Backtrack, who won outstanding vocal percussion, and James Wallace of Transit Vocal Band — aspired to complexity. A couple of groups even incorporated — gauchely — the gargantuan percussive drops that have dominated dance music in the 2010s.
They were almost all white, part of a larger racial dynamic at play here. A cappella music is often overwhelmingly white, which is one reason that the group Women of the World — which won the competition — stood out, with members of Japanese, Indian, Haitian and Italian heritage. Theirs was the outlier performance in many ways: It was seamless, not breaking between songs; it was in six different languages; it took in non-Western singing traditions. It was also, in places, excellent, especially on “Rhydhun,” with striking lead vocals and vocal percussion by Annette Philip, one of the night’s standout performers.
And yet, despite its high-wire professionalism, the group managed to smooth out all its songs in a way that minimized their differences. The result was as much global ambience as regional specificity.
The scoring system established by Varsity Vocals, the organization that administers this competition as well as the annual college and high school championships, allows judges to award bonus points to the most galvanic performers. It’s a setup that might favor a skilled group detached from a cappella orthodoxy.
But Women of the World’s victory had strong symbolic meaning. The world of a cappella can feel insular, with its own practices, codes and in-jokes, as much a commitment to heritage as to vocal excellence. It need not be that way, though. All around the world, people sing without accompaniment. They would probably have a lot to say to one another if, like here, they were to find their way into the same room. | 2017-09 | <|begin_of_text|>A three-hour immersion in the world of a cappella music at the first International Championship of A Cappella Open Finals left a layman listener with a few perhaps unanswerable questions. Is Meghan Trainor one of the great comic performers of our time? Did Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon secretly copy his spooky space harmonies from extreme a cappella arrangements? What is the aftermarket like for white collegiate beatboxers?
This competition, which took place Saturday night at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium, was a kind of finishing school for unaccompanied vocalists of all stripes, from student-driven harmony groups to slightly older performers who have graduated out of that scene but still want to dismantle pop songs into zip-boom-aaah vocal pieces, either as a side hobby or, in the footsteps of the uncomfortably, sometimes devastatingly popular group Pentatonix, a full-time job.
Here, 10 acts competed: the 2017 high school and college champions, | and winners of six regional semifinals, an international semifinal and a wild card. There were groups striving to make a cappella their lives, groups that formed as passion projects and groups that seemed intent on dismantling the a cappella establishment from within by taking advantage of the competition’s open format to import styles of singing you won’t see at most college pre-frosh weekends.
At times, and especially during the awards portion of the evening, that made for a confusing mandate, with global folk songs pitted against choral lite-gospel, and smarmy pop-rock alongside the familiar complex multipart vocal harmonizing (with vocal percussion!) that is a cappella’s public face.
A cappella’s mainstream — the stuff of Pentatonix and Straight No Chaser, or the sort captured in the “Pitch Perfect” films and the recent reality-TV series “The Sing-Off” and “Sing It On” — can often verge on parody. Its penchant for melod |
A three-judge appeals panel said Mr. Trump’s accounting firm had to comply with a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.
A federal appeals panel said on Monday that President Trump’s accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, a setback for the president’s attempt to keep his financial records private.
Almost immediately after the ruling, one of the president’s personal lawyers, Jay Sekulow, said Mr. Trump would appeal to the Supreme Court. The president maintains that the Constitution shields him from any criminal investigation.
The case will almost certainly be the first one involving Mr. Trump’s personal conduct and business dealings to reach the high court. The court is not required to hear the case, but the significance of the issues involved suggests that it will. A decision on the case may come by June, as the presidential election enters its final stages.
Other cases involving Mr. Trump are also in the pipeline. They involve matters as diverse as demands from House Democrats for tax and business records, a request for access to redacted portions of the report prepared by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, and challenges to Mr. Trump’s business arrangements under the Constitution’s emoluments clauses.
Last month, for instance, a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Mr. Trump’s accounting firm must comply with the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s demands for eight years of his financial records. Mr. Trump has asked the full appeals court to rehear that case.
In a different case last month, a federal judge in Washington ruled that the House Judiciary Committee was entitled to see secret grand jury evidence gathered by Mr. Mueller.
Mr. Trump has fought vigorously to shield his financial records, and prosecutors in Manhattan have agreed not to seek the tax returns until the case is resolved by the Supreme Court.
Instead, the appeals court said the president’s accounting firm, not Mr. Trump himself, was subpoenaed for the documents, so it did not matter whether presidents had immunity.
Although the panel did not rule on the question of a president’s immunity from investigation, the judges still made it clear they disagreed with Mr. Trump and thought he was unlikely to prevail on that argument.
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on President Trump’s attempt to shield his tax returns.
Judge Robert A. Katzmann noted in the unanimous ruling that Mr. Trump had conceded that his immunity would last only as long as he held office and he could therefore be prosecuted after stepping down.
“There is no obvious reason why a state could not begin to investigate a president during his term and, with the information secured during that search, ultimately determine to prosecute him after he leaves office,” Judge Katzmann wrote for the panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
By keeping the ruling narrowly focused on the subpoena directed at Mr. Trump’s accounting firm, the effect may be to allow the Supreme Court to uphold the decision without having to issue a far broader ruling against the president.
The Second Circuit appeals court typically considers cases with three-judge panels. In addition to Judge Katzmann, the court’s chief judge, the panel included Judge Denny Chin and Judge Christopher F. Droney.
Judge Katzmann was placed on the appeals court by former President Bill Clinton. Judges Chin and Droney were appointed by former President Barack Obama.
The legal fight began in late August after the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, subpoenaed Mr. Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, for his tax returns and those of his family business dating to 2011.
Prosecutors in the office are examining the role of the president and his business in hush-money payments made to two women just before the 2016 presidential election.
Mr. Vance’s office sought the records in connection with an investigation into whether any New York State laws were broken when Mr. Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, reimbursed his former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, for payments he made to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed she had an affair with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Cohen was also involved in money paid to Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who also said she had a relationship with Mr. Trump. The president has denied the relationships.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers sued to block the subpoena, writing that the criminal investigation of the president was unconstitutional. They asserted that presidents have such unique power and responsibility that they cannot be subject to the burden of investigations, especially from local prosecutors who may use the criminal process for political gain.
A spokesman for Mr. Vance said the office had no comment on the appeals court decision.
The immunity argument has never been tested in court. Federal prosecutors are barred from charging a sitting president with a crime because the Justice Department has decided that presidents have temporary immunity from prosecution while they are in office.
But that policy has not precluded investigations of the president. Mr. Trump and other sitting presidents have been the subjects of federal criminal investigations, and local prosecutors like Mr. Vance have not been bound by the policy.
On Oct. 7, Judge Victor Marrero of Federal District Court in Manhattan issued a 75-page opinion, rejecting Mr. Trump’s position.
During the arguments, the president’s immunity claim seemed to crystallize when Judge Chin cited an audacious statement Mr. Trump once made — that he could stand on Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, without being hurt politically.
The Justice Department, led by William P. Barr, had also weighed in, writing in court filings that Mr. Vance’s subpoena should be blocked for now but not adopting Mr. Trump’s absolutist view that a sitting president could never be subject to criminal investigation.
Although the United States is not a party to the lawsuit, it has the right to give its views.
In an appellate brief, the Justice Department wrote that Mr. Vance’s office should not be able to obtain the president’s personal records unless it could show that they were central to the investigation, not available elsewhere and were needed immediately, rather than after Mr. Trump leaves office.
“A subpoena directed at a president’s records should be permitted only as a last resort,” the department wrote.
Under a deal reached by Mr. Trump’s lawyers with Mr. Vance’s office, the subpoena will not be enforced while Mr. Trump seeks review of the appellate ruling in the Supreme Court, provided that he asks that the court hear the case in its current term, which ends in June. | 2019-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A three-judge appeals panel said Mr. Trump’s accounting firm had to comply with a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance, Jr.
A federal appeals panel said on Monday that President Trump’s accounting firm must turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns to Manhattan prosecutors, a setback for the president’s attempt to keep his financial records private.
Almost immediately after the ruling, one of the president’s personal lawyers, Jay Sekulow, said Mr. Trump would appeal to the Supreme Court. The president maintains that the Constitution shields him from any criminal investigation.
The case will almost certainly be the first one involving Mr. Trump’s personal conduct and business dealings to reach the high court. The court is not required to hear the case, but the significance of the issues involved suggests that it will. A decision on the case may come by June, as the presidential election enters its final stages.
Other cases involving Mr. Trump are also in the pipeline. They involve matters | as diverse as demands from House Democrats for tax and business records, a request for access to redacted portions of the report prepared by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, and challenges to Mr. Trump’s business arrangements under the Constitution’s emoluments clauses.
Last month, for instance, a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Mr. Trump’s accounting firm must comply with the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s demands for eight years of his financial records. Mr. Trump has asked the full appeals court to rehear that case.
In a different case last month, a federal judge in Washington ruled that the House Judiciary Committee was entitled to see secret grand jury evidence gathered by Mr. Mueller.
Mr. Trump has fought vigorously to shield his financial records, and prosecutors in Manhattan have agreed not to seek the tax returns until the case is resolved by the Supreme Court.
Instead, the appeals court said the president’s accounting firm, not |
A three-year investigation ended Wednesday with the arrest of seven New York City police officers on prostitution, corruption and misconduct charges in connection with an illegal gambling and prostitution ring in Brooklyn and Queens, law enforcement officials said.
Two other officers, including a detective who until five months ago worked in the Internal Affairs Bureau, were stripped of their guns and shields and placed on administrative duty.
The police said that more than 40 civilians were also in custody or being sought in connection with the investigation, which began with an anonymous officer’s tip to the internal affairs unit in April 2015.
The arrested officers — three sergeants, two detectives and two officers — were indicted before they were taken into custody. They are suspected of providing protection for the ring’s activities in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, the police said. Area residents and public officials have long complained about brothels operating out of local homes, spas and bars, with new establishments popping up as quickly as the police shut the old ones down.
“Today, those who swore an oath and then betrayed it have felt the consequences of that infidelity,” the police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said in a statement. “The people of this department are rightly held to the highest standard, and should they fail to meet it, the penalty will be swift and severe.”.
The Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said the officers are expected to be arraigned Thursday in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.
Police officials see the arrests as a successful effort to uproot rogue officers within department ranks. But the case is likely to test the Police Department’s will on transparency as inevitable questions emerge about any prior misconduct among the officers who have been arrested and others who are being questioned. Under Mayor Bill de Blasio, the city has asserted an expansive view of a state law shielding police disciplinary records from public disclosure, frustrating civil liberties groups.
The sergeants who were arrested on Wednesday are Carlos Cruz, 41, who worked in the detective squad in the 69th Precinct in Canarsie, Brooklyn; Louis Failla, 49, who was assigned to evidence collection in southern Queens; and Cliff Nieves, 37, an investigator in the Transit Bureau. They were taken into custody along with two detectives, Giovanny Rojas-Acosta, 40, who was assigned to the Central Investigations Division, and Rene Samaniego, 43, who worked in the vice squad in southern Brooklyn. Officers Giancarlo Raspanti, 43, of the 109th Precinct in Flushing, Queens, and Steven Nieves, 32, of the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn Heights were also arrested.
The police said Sergeant Cruz, Detective Rojas-Acosta and Detective Samaniego were being held overnight on enterprise corruption charges; Sergeant Nieves and Officer Nieves were charged with promoting prostitution. Sergeant Failla was charged with official misconduct, as was Officer Raspanti.
Two other detectives, Manuel Rodriguez and Rafael Vega, were stripped of their guns and shields and placed on administrative duty for violations of police rules, the police said. The police did not specify how the men ran afoul of department rules.
Detective Rodriguez previously worked in internal affairs and arrived in the 72nd Precinct just five months ago, according to a city official who discussed the investigation on the condition of anonymity. Detective Vega worked on investigations of criminal enterprises.
During the three-year inquiry, the police sent dozens of undercover officers to locations where the ring was thought to operate and conducted more than 300 hours of surveillance, the police said. Investigators also collected physical evidence and obtained court warrants to intercept the officers’ electronic communications, according to the police.
Arrests for prostitution have declined in recent years in the city, but it remains a stubborn problem in parts of Queens and Brooklyn. Arrest rates for prostitution offenses — including patronizing, promoting, compelling, permitting, loitering and sex trafficking — are higher in the two boroughs than elsewhere in New York City. Of the 2,019 prostitution arrests in the city last year, 641 were in Queens and 568 were in Brooklyn, according to police data reported to the state’s criminal justice agency.
The stretch of Roosevelt Avenue that extends through Corona, Jackson Heights and Woodside in Queens has been likened to Times Square of yesteryear, when it was an epicenter of vice. In Sunset Park on Wednesday evening, Luis Ludec, 60, a resident, said he has seen prostitutes working in the neighborhood.
He said the women tried to entice him, and asked him if he “wanted a date,” but he explained that he does not buy sex and is married. He said he last saw prostitutes in the area two weeks ago. | 2018-09 | <|begin_of_text|>A three-year investigation ended Wednesday with the arrest of seven New York City police officers on prostitution, corruption and misconduct charges in connection with an illegal gambling and prostitution ring in Brooklyn and Queens, law enforcement officials said.
Two other officers, including a detective who until five months ago worked in the Internal Affairs Bureau, were stripped of their guns and shields and placed on administrative duty.
The police said that more than 40 civilians were also in custody or being sought in connection with the investigation, which began with an anonymous officer’s tip to the internal affairs unit in April 2015.
The arrested officers — three sergeants, two detectives and two officers — were indicted before they were taken into custody. They are suspected of providing protection for the ring’s activities in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, the police said. Area residents and public officials have long complained about brothels operating out of local homes, spas and bars, with new establishments popping up as quickly as the police shut the | old ones down.
“Today, those who swore an oath and then betrayed it have felt the consequences of that infidelity,” the police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said in a statement. “The people of this department are rightly held to the highest standard, and should they fail to meet it, the penalty will be swift and severe.”.
The Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said the officers are expected to be arraigned Thursday in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens.
Police officials see the arrests as a successful effort to uproot rogue officers within department ranks. But the case is likely to test the Police Department’s will on transparency as inevitable questions emerge about any prior misconduct among the officers who have been arrested and others who are being questioned. Under Mayor Bill de Blasio, the city has asserted an expansive view of a state law shielding police disciplinary records from public disclosure, frustrating civil liberties groups.
The sergeants who were arrested on Wednesday are Carlos Cruz, 41, who |
A three-year investigation finds no criminal wrongdoing in Hillary Clinton’s email practices, which many members of the Trump administration have now embraced.
What about her emails?
Donald Trump raised that question like a red flag for three years, as candidate and president, casting doubts on how Hillary Clinton used a private email server to communicate with her staff and others while she was secretary of state.
“Hillary set up an illegal server for the obvious purpose of shielding her criminal conduct from public disclosure and exposure, knowing full well that her actions put our national security at risk,” Mr. Trump said late in the campaign.
“Lock her up!” the crowds still chant at his rallies.
This comes after the F.B.I. determined months before the election that, while Mrs. Clinton was “extremely careless” in having used a private email server for government communications, she did nothing illegal.
Federal employees are supposed to conduct business on government networks to keep communications secure from foreign adversaries and to create a record of how the American government carried out its affairs. Those records let current officials (and also future historians) understand why actions were taken and make informed decisions.
Despite Mr. Trump’s professed concern about the integrity of government communications, his administration doesn’t seem to take it too seriously.
Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, top White House advisers, used the messaging service WhatsApp for official — possibly classified — White House business, potentially violating federal records laws, according to congressional investigators. For example, Mr. Kushner may have used it to communicate with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who the C.I.A. says ordered the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Both Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner also used private email accounts for official business, according to their lawyer.
They were not the only ones. Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, used a personal email account for some government business, her department’s inspector general found. White House officials told The Times in 2017 that Stephen Bannon, the former chief White House strategist; Reince Priebus, the former chief of staff; Gary D. Cohn, the former economic adviser; and Stephen Miller, a top aide, all had used personal email accounts for government business, as did K.T. McFarland, the former deputy national security adviser.
The keeping and preservation of records isn’t just a matter of concern for historians, it is essential to the smooth functioning of the government. When government officials do business outside official channels, it not only hampers the business of governing, it also raises the concern that there is something to hide. A State Department investigation in 2016 found that other secretaries of state had handled classified information on unclassified email systems. While Mrs. Clinton’s name will always be associated with the practice, it is disappointing to see the use of personal email accounts proliferate across the government.
So the Trump administration’s widespread use of personal accounts for government work raises the unavoidable question: What about those emails? | 2019-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A three-year investigation finds no criminal wrongdoing in Hillary Clinton’s email practices, which many members of the Trump administration have now embraced.
What about her emails?
Donald Trump raised that question like a red flag for three years, as candidate and president, casting doubts on how Hillary Clinton used a private email server to communicate with her staff and others while she was secretary of state.
“Hillary set up an illegal server for the obvious purpose of shielding her criminal conduct from public disclosure and exposure, knowing full well that her actions put our national security at risk,” Mr. Trump said late in the campaign.
“Lock her up!” the crowds still chant at his rallies.
This comes after the F.B.I. determined months before the election that, while Mrs. Clinton was “extremely careless” in having used a private email server for government communications, she did nothing illegal.
Federal employees are supposed to conduct business on government networks to keep communications secure from foreign adversaries and to create a record of how the American government | carried out its affairs. Those records let current officials (and also future historians) understand why actions were taken and make informed decisions.
Despite Mr. Trump’s professed concern about the integrity of government communications, his administration doesn’t seem to take it too seriously.
Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, top White House advisers, used the messaging service WhatsApp for official — possibly classified — White House business, potentially violating federal records laws, according to congressional investigators. For example, Mr. Kushner may have used it to communicate with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who the C.I.A. says ordered the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Both Ms. Trump and Mr. Kushner also used private email accounts for official business, according to their lawyer.
They were not the only ones. Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, used a personal email account for some government business, her department’s inspector general found. White House officials told The Times in 2017 |
A tiny wedge of a park on the East Side of Manhattan is a haven for the older people who fill its benches and often park walking canes and wheelchairs beside them.
But soon the bicycles will be coming.
As part of an ambitious plan to complete an unbroken bike-and-pedestrian path around Manhattan, city officials plan to install a ramp alongside the park that would give access to a new esplanade on the East River.
Longtime parkgoers are furious. And their anger reflects a broader debate about a cycling boom sweeping New York that is increasingly leading to conflict with another trend — the city’s growing number of older residents, many of whom say they cannot dodge bikes fast enough.
Cycling has increasingly emerged as an alternative to the city’s troubled subways and buses, and as a way to help reduce car congestion on already crowded streets. It allows riders to go where they want, when they want, without being limited by routes and schedules. And it offers the benefit of exercise and fresh air. About 460,000 bike rides take place in the city every day, up from about 180,000 bike rides in 2006, according to the city. There are now 1,208 miles of bike lanes, 268 of which have been added since 2014.
But in recent years, the growing bike presence has drawn complaints from residents and community leaders who say that some cyclists ignore traffic rules and pose a safety hazard to pedestrians. Cyclists, in turn, have countered that pedestrians often walk in bike lanes, or dart in front of them with little warning.
Mary Dodd, 64, said she recently had two close calls with cyclists while crossing First Avenue on the Upper East Side. Both times, she said she looked toward oncoming traffic before crossing. And both times, she said she was nearly flattened by cyclists speeding from the opposite direction against traffic. Ms. Dodd, the director of the social services unit for the Carter Burden Network, a community-based social service agency, said she’s heard many stories of older people having near misses.
Critics oppose the bridge and the ramp because they say it will funnel too many bicyclists into the area and create a hazard for older residents.
Still, pedestrians are far more likely to be killed by cars than bikes. A 63-year-old man on the Lower East Side was killed last year in a crash with a cyclist who did not end up being charged with a crime. It was the first time a cyclist had killed a pedestrian since crashes in consecutive months in 2014 in Central Park killed a 75-year-old jogger from Manhattan’s Upper East Side and a 58-year-old Connecticut woman, according to city records. Another 315 pedestrians were injured last year in 365 crashes with cyclists, about half of which took place in Manhattan.
But those figures are dwarfed by the 107 pedestrians who were killed in motor vehicle crashes last year and the more than 10,500 other pedestrians who were injured.
The new East River esplanade is one of the final pieces in a more than two-decade effort to create a 32.5-mile bicycle and pedestrian circuit around Manhattan, known as the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway. The esplanade, which will cost $100 million, will run between East 53rd and East 61st streets.
Lori Kupfer, an architect who has lived in the neighborhood for five years, displays blown up images of existing esplanades that are in areas near Clara Coffey Park that she believes the city should work on improving before building a new one.
A bridge connecting to the esplanade will be built at the eastern end of 54th Street and run over the F.D.R. Drive. The ramp to the bridge will cut through a corner of Clara Coffey Park in Sutton Place, where residents are more accustomed to seeing wheelchairs than bikes. As a result, more cyclists are expected to pass in front of the park’s entrance.
“Closing the gaps along the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway will provide a seamless connection to world-class open space and will help make our city more accessible and equitable,” said Stephanie Báez, a spokeswoman for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which is leading the project.
Ms. Báez said officials have been responding to community concerns, and “the design will provide safe access for bicyclists, pedestrians and those looking to enjoy peace and tranquillity on the East River waterfront.” The bridge and esplanade will be accessible to people with disabilities, she said. Under the current plan, 50 percent of the esplanade will be designed for pedestrians compared with 35 percent for cyclists (15 percent will be shared space).
Perry Pazer, 87, a retired lawyer who lives in Sutton Place, said he looked forward to being able to walk along the riverfront instead of on the street. “It’s a place for us elderly people to get exercise,” he said.
But many residents are against the project, saying that bringing more bikes to their neighborhood will turn even routine trips into a frightening obstacle course. The city has secured some but not all of the approvals for the project, which is on track to begin construction next year.
Residents recently gathered in the park to discuss the project. “It’s an escape from the noise and the bicycles,” Marjorie Posner, 77, a retired financial manager, said of the park.
Some opponents say the new bridge and esplanade will primarily benefit people who are younger, physically fit or active, and not a neighborhood filled with older residents. About 61 percent of Sutton Place residents are over the age of 55, compared with roughly 24 percent citywide, according to an analysis of census data by Social Explorer, a research company.
Sheldon Fried, 85, a retired lawyer who uses a walking cane, said he may have to stop going to the park. “I wouldn’t like to dodge bicycles because I might fall,” he said.
Residents have also questioned whether the $100 million could be better spent on more pressing needs, such as fixing the subways or helping the homeless. Others have called the project “a bridge to nowhere” because there would still be a gap just south of the new esplanade behind the United Nations. There is currently no funding yet to fill the gap, but the city has said it intends to complete this section.
Supporters of the esplanade have dismissed the objections as simply not-in-my-backyard opposition.
David Halle, 71, a sociology professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a cyclist, said that crossing the entrance to the new bridge would be no more dangerous than crossing the bike lanes on nearby First Avenue.
| 2018-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A tiny wedge of a park on the East Side of Manhattan is a haven for the older people who fill its benches and often park walking canes and wheelchairs beside them.
But soon the bicycles will be coming.
As part of an ambitious plan to complete an unbroken bike-and-pedestrian path around Manhattan, city officials plan to install a ramp alongside the park that would give access to a new esplanade on the East River.
Longtime parkgoers are furious. And their anger reflects a broader debate about a cycling boom sweeping New York that is increasingly leading to conflict with another trend — the city’s growing number of older residents, many of whom say they cannot dodge bikes fast enough.
Cycling has increasingly emerged as an alternative to the city’s troubled subways and buses, and as a way to help reduce car congestion on already crowded streets. It allows riders to go where they want, when they want, without being limited by routes and schedules. And it offers the | benefit of exercise and fresh air. About 460,000 bike rides take place in the city every day, up from about 180,000 bike rides in 2006, according to the city. There are now 1,208 miles of bike lanes, 268 of which have been added since 2014.
But in recent years, the growing bike presence has drawn complaints from residents and community leaders who say that some cyclists ignore traffic rules and pose a safety hazard to pedestrians. Cyclists, in turn, have countered that pedestrians often walk in bike lanes, or dart in front of them with little warning.
Mary Dodd, 64, said she recently had two close calls with cyclists while crossing First Avenue on the Upper East Side. Both times, she said she looked toward oncoming traffic before crossing. And both times, she said she was nearly flattened by cyclists speeding from the opposite direction against traffic. Ms. Dodd, the director of the social services unit for the Carter Burden Network |
A top Iranian military commander made a rare public appeal for forgiveness on Sunday as security forces fired on protesters and outrage over the mistaken downing of a jetliner reignited opposition on the streets and stirred dissent within the government’s conservative base.
It was the second day of protests after the military acknowledged early Saturday that it had launched the missiles that brought down a Ukraine International Airlines jet near the Iranian capital on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. The disaster unfolded amid escalating tensions with the United States over the killing of a revered Iranian commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani.
For the first three days after the crash, Iran denied growing international accusations that it had shot the plane down, and looked as if it was engaged in a cover-up. The Iranian authorities insisted that the jetliner had gone down for mechanical reasons, and refused to cooperate with investigators. They also began to remove some evidence from the scene.
That admission limited the blowback from abroad — but threw a match on the volatile situation at home. Anti-government protests that had quieted when General Suleimani was killed in a drone strike in Iraq rekindled across the country.
Headlines in hard-line newspapers demanded resignations, and the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Salami, issued a very rare public apology. In a televised address, he all but begged Iranians to return to the nationalist zeal that only days earlier had seemed to fill the country, after General Suleimani’s killing.
He said he wished he, too, had “crashed and burned” on the jet.
Video verified by The New York Times shows that the Iranian military fired two missiles at the passenger jet. Here’s everything we know about what happened in that seven-minute flight.
We first learned that it was a missile that took down a Ukrainian airliner over Iran because of this video showing the moment of impact. All 176 people on board were killed. To find out what happened to Flight 752 after it left Tehran airport on Jan. 8, we collected flight data, analyzed witness videos and images of the crash site, to paint the clearest picture yet of that disastrous seven-minute flight. We’ll walk you through the evidence, minute by minute, from the plane’s takeoff to the moment it crashed. It’s the early hours of Wednesday, Jan. 8. Iran has just launched ballistic missiles at U.S. military targets in Iraq in retaliation for an American drone strike that killed Iranian military leader Qassim Suleimani. Iranian defenses are on high alert, on guard for a possible U.S. attack. Four hours later, at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, Flight 752, operated by Ukraine International Airlines, is getting ready for departure. At 6:12 a.m., the plane takes off. It flies northwest, and climbs to almost 8,000 feet in around three minutes, according to flight tracker data. It’s following its regular route. Up ahead are several military sites. Until now, the plane’s transponder has been signaling normally. But just before 6:15 a.m., it stops. This is where the first missile hits the plane. Footage from a security camera near one of the military sites shows the missile launch. It hits the plane, and knocks out the transponder. But the airliner keeps flying. A security camera, directly beneath, shows what happens next. A second missile launches 30 seconds after the first, and it explodes, moments later. A third video shows the impact. Let’s watch it again, and slow it down. Here is the missile, and here is the plane. An Iranian military commander said a defense system operator mistook the passenger jet for a cruise missile. The plane is now on fire. We don’t know its precise path after 6:15 a.m., but we do know that it turns back in the direction of the airport. It continues flying for several minutes, engulfed by flames. Around 6:19 a.m., a bystander films the plane slowly going down. There appears to be second explosion before the jetliner plummets outside Tehran about 10 miles from where the last signal was sent. A security camera captures that moment as the plane crashes toward it. Here we see the immediate aftermath of the crash. As day breaks, another witness films the smoldering wreckage. Debris is spread out over 1,500 feet along a small park, orchards and a soccer field, narrowly missing a nearby village. A large section of the plane looks badly charred. More jet parts are found here, and the plane’s tail and wheels land over 500 feet away. It is a gruesome scene. The passengers’ personal items — toys, clothes, photo albums — are scattered around. After days of denials, Iran took responsibility for the crash, blaming human error at a moment of heightened tensions.
The editor in chief of the Revolutionary Guard’s Tasnim news agency, Kian Abdollahi, said that attempts by government officials to lie about what had happened were as great a “catastrophe” as the crash itself.
Iranian hard-liners habitually suspect that American covert operations are behind domestic protests, and the unvarnished pleasure the White House seemed to take in the events unfolding in Iran over the weekend may only harden that view, analysts said.
“We are following your protests closely and are inspired by your courage,” President Trump tweeted on Sunday.
Over the last year, the Trump administration has hit Iran with a so-called “maximum pressure campaign” of painful economic sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to submit to new restrictions on its military activities and nuclear program. Iranian officials describe it as economic warfare.
If hawks in Washington view the protests as evidence of success, that could work against Iranians who favor compromise with the United States — and strengthen hard-liners who favor confrontation, said Sanam Vakil, a scholar at Chatham House.
“Security-focused conservatives are thinking they can’t come to the table now because it would be weak,” she said.
General Salami of the Revolutionary Guards, in his apology and plea for unity on Sunday, appeared eager to rally Iranians once again against their perennial rival since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
By acknowledging belatedly that Iran’s own military had brought down the jet, Iranian leaders avoided the prospect of greater international isolation. European and other governments that had sought to trade with Iran or mediate its dispute with Washington had all begun to cite evidence that Iranian forces shot down the plane.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Sunday that two of its air accident investigators had obtained visas from Iran and would arrive in Tehran on Monday. It said two experts in downloading and analyzing flight data and voice recorder information would follow.
Despite the heavy security presence, large crowds turned out. In many places, they chanted caustic slogans. Some denounced the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which is a capital offense in Iran.
“The supreme leader is a murderer; his regime is obsolete,” demonstrators chanted in Azadi Square in Tehran.
Dozens of prominent film directors, artists and performers issued statements condemning the government’s handling of the crash and pulling their work from a prestigious competition.
And the only female Iranian athlete to win an Olympic medal also chose Sunday to announce that she had defected. “I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years,” the athlete, Kimia Alizadeh, wrote on Instagram. She won a bronze medal in taekwondo in 2016.
A billboard in downtown Tehran that had displayed a photo of General Suleimani was taken down. In its place was a black banner with the names of the victims and a verse about grief. In Tabriz and Tehran, some protesters could be seen tearing up photos of General Suleimani that had been hanging from poles.
Like the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, though, Ayatollah Khamenei did his best to shift public attention back to the conflict with the Washington.
| 2020-01 | <|begin_of_text|>A top Iranian military commander made a rare public appeal for forgiveness on Sunday as security forces fired on protesters and outrage over the mistaken downing of a jetliner reignited opposition on the streets and stirred dissent within the government’s conservative base.
It was the second day of protests after the military acknowledged early Saturday that it had launched the missiles that brought down a Ukraine International Airlines jet near the Iranian capital on Wednesday, killing all 176 people on board. The disaster unfolded amid escalating tensions with the United States over the killing of a revered Iranian commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani.
For the first three days after the crash, Iran denied growing international accusations that it had shot the plane down, and looked as if it was engaged in a cover-up. The Iranian authorities insisted that the jetliner had gone down for mechanical reasons, and refused to cooperate with investigators. They also began to remove some evidence from the scene.
That admission limited the blowback from abroad — but threw a | match on the volatile situation at home. Anti-government protests that had quieted when General Suleimani was killed in a drone strike in Iraq rekindled across the country.
Headlines in hard-line newspapers demanded resignations, and the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Hossein Salami, issued a very rare public apology. In a televised address, he all but begged Iranians to return to the nationalist zeal that only days earlier had seemed to fill the country, after General Suleimani’s killing.
He said he wished he, too, had “crashed and burned” on the jet.
Video verified by The New York Times shows that the Iranian military fired two missiles at the passenger jet. Here’s everything we know about what happened in that seven-minute flight.
We first learned that it was a missile that took down a Ukrainian airliner over Iran because of this video showing the moment of impact. All 176 people on board were killed. To find out what happened |
A total eclipse that crossed the sky from Oregon to South Carolina brought out throngs of spectators, who exulted in seeing the midday sky go briefly dark.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The United States basked in the glory of a total eclipse on Monday, as the moon’s shadow swept from the rocky beaches of Oregon to the marshes of South Carolina.
Over an hour and a half, along a 70-mile-wide ribbon of land, in tiny towns like Glendo, Wyo., and metropolises like Nashville, on dirt roads and superhighways, in modest yards and grand national parks, coastal lowlands and high mountains, the world appeared to hush for a few minutes as the moon stood up to the sun, perfectly blocking its fierce light except for the corona, the halo of hot gas that surrounds it.
This was totality, an event that had not happened in the continental United States since 1979 and had not traversed such a broad swath of the country in nearly a century.
Darkness descended, the summer air caught a quick chill, Venus and some stars appeared in the near-night sky and, in Depoe Bay, Ore., one of the first places to fall under the shadow, a flock of confused sea gulls began to call out.
Even humans — who knew what was going on — were left to hunt for words to describe the spectacle.
“I’m in awe,” whispered Ibeth Arriaga, who had traveled from Los Angeles to Depoe Bay, where, despite some fog, the moon’s slip across the sun was just visible.
The weather cooperated along much of the eclipse’s path, which included parts of 14 states. Scientists in Salem, Ore., who had gambled that skies would be clear, were not disappointed. They shouted and hugged each other as totality ended, knowing that their cameras and other instruments — many of them meant to gain a better understanding of the mysterious corona — captured the eclipse under ideal conditions.
The 2017 solar eclipse seen from up above and down below.CreditCredit...Bill Ingalls/NASA, via Associated Press..
“This was absolutely fabulous,” said Jay Pasachoff, an astronomer at Williams College and one of the leading eclipse watchers in the world, who led the scientific team in Salem. “As perfect as possible.” There would be plenty of data to keep his graduate students occupied, he added with a grin.
But clouds affected viewing in some places, easing up briefly to offer a glimpse of totality in Beatrice, Neb., and Kansas City, Mo., and obscuring it completely in Charleston.
Nowhere was the weather more of a tease than in Carbondale, Ill., a hotbed of activity for scientists from NASA and other places, where 14,000 people gathered to watch in the football stadium of Southern Illinois University.
After a morning of brilliant sunshine, a line of enormous clouds began to appear in the hour before totality. At 10 minutes to zero-hour, all seemed lost despite chants from the crowd, pleading with the clouds to move.
With five minutes to go, the clouds opened up — to huge cheers — only to close again. Then another brief break allowed a view of the first moments of totality before this window, too, closed.
But being in Carbondale, where totality lasted a generous 2 minutes 38 seconds, paid off. Another gap in the clouds opened up, and the eclipsed sun was visible for a few more moments as totality ended.
“That one little second was beautiful,” said Masumi Iriye, from Urbana, Ill.
Over the weekend and into Monday, people had flocked to places where they could see the full eclipse, clogging roads, filling hotel rooms and taxing local facilities in some places.
Some paid nothing to see the spectacle; others paid a lot. For both, the experience proved overwhelming.
A couple from Portland got out of their minivan along a guard rail on Interstate 5 in Oregon — against advice from the state police, who worried that eclipse watchers might become highway hazards. Michael and Nancy Worstell, 71 and 73 years old, clutched each other, beamed and laughed as totality began. Trucks barreled past them, oblivious to the show in the sky.
Mr. Worstell, who like his wife is deaf, explained — by writing on a pad — that he had always regretted that the last total eclipse in Portland, in 1979, took place under cloudy skies.
He had no regrets this time. He lifted his two hands to his eyes and raised his index fingers to form a smile at the corners of his eyes. Then as totality ended and the sky brightened, the Worstells got back in the minivan and continued their drive north.
Less than 20 minutes later, people who had paid $595 for a private viewing party on Snow King Mountain near Jackson, Wyo., stopped sipping their mimosas as totality arrived. A string trio that had been entertaining them put down their instruments.
Squeeze in among the crowds and witness the first total solar eclipse to cross the entire continental United States since 1918. An exclusive video by The New York Times in partnership with NOVA/PBS.CreditCredit...Jay Pasachoff for PBS/NOVA “Eclipse Over America”. Technology by Samsung.
The crags of the Tetons blushed scarlet as if in the last robes of dusk, and a cheer raced through the crowd. People laughed uncontrollably and stammered as they stared dumbfounded at the midday darkness. Strangers hugged each other. For a brief moment everyone’s attention was as aligned as the moon and the sun.
Ten minutes later in the ranch town of Glendo, population 204, some of the thousands of visitors watched from a beach on a reservoir as totality set in.
One couple thanked God that they had skipped work. Others tore off their eclipse glasses, screamed and danced.
Outside the path of totality, where the sun and moon offered only a partial eclipse, reactions were generally more muted.
But ignoring the spectacle entirely was difficult, since none of the 50 states was untouched. Even in Anchorage, nearly half the sun was blocked by the moon at the height of the eclipse, about 9:15 a.m. local time.
Photos from the path of totality across the United States.
In New York, where about 70 percent of the sun was eventually blocked, office workers left their desks and crowded the streets for a view.
At the White House, President Trump, his wife and their son Barron walked onto the Truman Balcony shortly before the eclipse reached its maximum of 81 percent.
Mr. Trump at first glanced up at the sun without wearing protective glasses, ignoring the shouts of an aide below. Later he and the rest of the family donned the glasses and watched the partial eclipse for about a minute and a half before going inside.
In St. Louis, the largest metropolitan area along the eclipse path, the northern boundary of totality sliced diagonally through the city just two miles south of downtown.
An estimated 10,000 people gathered in Jefferson Barracks Park, on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, well inside the totality zone. Shortly before the total eclipse, locusts began chirping in the trees, only to be drowned out by roars from the crowd.
Terry McGarrigle of White Plains, N.Y., traveled to St. Louis to experience totality firsthand. “You can read about it, but I am a witness to something powerful in the universe,” she said.
In downtown St. Louis, people jammed rooftops to witness a near-total eclipse. The sudden dusk caused street and bridge lights to turn on.
Here in Charleston, the final city on the eclipse route, the clouds wreaked havoc with totality. But with classes starting Tuesday, hundreds of College of Charleston students gathered for a campus viewing of the eclipse celebrated anyway.
They hooted and hollered as the moon slowly worked its way across the sun — a sight that, with glasses, was visible through the clouds. And they screamed again after totality, when a crescent sun again made an appearance.
Then the eclipse headed past Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, across slivers of coastal wetlands and out over the Atlantic Ocean, where it ended for good at sunset near Africa.
The nation won’t have to wait decades for the next one — a total eclipse will sweep from Texas to Maine on April 8, 2024. | 2017-08 | <|begin_of_text|>A total eclipse that crossed the sky from Oregon to South Carolina brought out throngs of spectators, who exulted in seeing the midday sky go briefly dark.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — The United States basked in the glory of a total eclipse on Monday, as the moon’s shadow swept from the rocky beaches of Oregon to the marshes of South Carolina.
Over an hour and a half, along a 70-mile-wide ribbon of land, in tiny towns like Glendo, Wyo., and metropolises like Nashville, on dirt roads and superhighways, in modest yards and grand national parks, coastal lowlands and high mountains, the world appeared to hush for a few minutes as the moon stood up to the sun, perfectly blocking its fierce light except for the corona, the halo of hot gas that surrounds it.
This was totality, an event that had not happened in the continental United States since 1979 and had not traversed | such a broad swath of the country in nearly a century.
Darkness descended, the summer air caught a quick chill, Venus and some stars appeared in the near-night sky and, in Depoe Bay, Ore., one of the first places to fall under the shadow, a flock of confused sea gulls began to call out.
Even humans — who knew what was going on — were left to hunt for words to describe the spectacle.
“I’m in awe,” whispered Ibeth Arriaga, who had traveled from Los Angeles to Depoe Bay, where, despite some fog, the moon’s slip across the sun was just visible.
The weather cooperated along much of the eclipse’s path, which included parts of 14 states. Scientists in Salem, Ore., who had gambled that skies would be clear, were not disappointed. They shouted and hugged each other as totality ended, knowing that their cameras and other instruments — many of them meant to gain a better understanding of the mysterious corona |
A tour of the recent annual installment of the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.
There are countless books at the annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, of course, but also ephemera of all kinds: posters, pamphlets, calendars, playing cards. The price tags can be eye-popping — by the end of a stroll around the fair, $2,500 for a beautiful old deck of cards started to sound, somehow, entirely reasonable.
For people with modest bank accounts, a tour of the fair amounts to a trip to an exhibit or museum, with dealers happily telling the often fascinating stories behind their wares, even if a potential sale is nowhere in sight. The 59th edition of the fair took place March 7 to 10 at the Park Avenue Armory.
In the photo above, Donald Heald, a book dealer based just a few blocks from the Armory, displays the second edition of an 18th-century book by Louis Renard, with illustrations engraved after drawings by Samuel Fallours. Printed on high-quality Dutch paper, the book cataloged the riotous marine life of the East Indies, very little known to Europeans at the time. Some balked at the images, believing they must be fictional, but scientists have verified most of the species depicted (with the exception, Heald wryly noted, of a mermaid). There were only 100 copies of this edition published, and the price tag for this copy at the fair was $145,000.
Many of the books at the fair are not just limited editions, but truly one of a kind. Such is the case with this pontifical made for a bishop in Ferrara, Italy. This type of manual would normally be used for officiating at masses and other events. But this one, dating from circa 1460, was made purely for display, which accounts for why its condition remains so clean and vivid. Vincenzo Ferro of Bibliopathos explained that it’s one of the rare manuscripts thought to be illuminated in the workshop of Giorgio d’Alemagna and Taddeo Crivelli.
Born in China in the late 19th century, Qiu Jin rebelled against the oppressive patriarchal society in which she found herself. In a recent obituary, part of The Times’s Overlooked project, Amy Qin wrote that Qiu was “an early and fierce advocate for the liberation of Chinese women, defying prevailing Confucian gender and class norms by unbinding her feet, cross-dressing and leaving her young family to pursue an education abroad.” She became such a revolutionary force that she was beheaded in 1907, accused of conspiring to overthrow the government. At the fair, the Brooklyn-based Honey & Wax Booksellers showed off a pamphlet published soon after Qiu’s death, which featured her own writing as well as remembrances of her.
When Adam Davis, who sells books and ephemera at Division Leap, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, turned to showcase various items in his booth, he said: “Follow me, and descend into the darkness of American history.” And sure enough, there was the archive of Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough, a pair of Ohio friends who performed as clowns in the early 20th century. Davis explained how McCullough checked into a sanitarium and later killed himself with a barber’s razor after getting his hair cut. Another archive documented the life and times of a man, also from Ohio (“really the eccentric birthplace of American art,” Davis said), who would high dive blindfolded, only to actually lose his vision from the accumulated pressure of the dives on his retinas.
Davis flipped through the pages of this calendar, created by the artist George Knowlton to protest the media’s coverage of the 1971 uprising at Attica prison. The illustrations are screened on to pages of The New York Times.
When you think of the Jazz Age, Houston might not be the first place on which your mind alights. This scrapbook, assembled from 1926 to 1927 and also found at Honey & Wax, documents the senior year of Mary Jane Wiseman, a flapper in Texas. The book had preprinted illustrations in it, but Wiseman and her friends added to them with striking drawings of their own. There are also poems, stories about class outings, and tickets and other souvenirs. The keepsake sold at the fair for $2,500.
More conventional literary treasures could be found at Whitmore Rare Books, based in Pasadena, Calif. Dan Whitmore, the company’s founder, discussed a first edition of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,” of which less than 300 were printed in 1855. “This was quite a format for an unknown guy,” Whitmore said. “It was bigger than any other book of poetry.” Whitmore said Whitman had strong opinions about every element of the book’s design, and was closely involved with the printing process. The gold gilded frame on the cover only existed on the first edition; it was removed on future editions to cut costs.
| 2019-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A tour of the recent annual installment of the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.
There are countless books at the annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, of course, but also ephemera of all kinds: posters, pamphlets, calendars, playing cards. The price tags can be eye-popping — by the end of a stroll around the fair, $2,500 for a beautiful old deck of cards started to sound, somehow, entirely reasonable.
For people with modest bank accounts, a tour of the fair amounts to a trip to an exhibit or museum, with dealers happily telling the often fascinating stories behind their wares, even if a potential sale is nowhere in sight. The 59th edition of the fair took place March 7 to 10 at the Park Avenue Armory.
In the photo above, Donald Heald, a book dealer based just a few blocks from the Armory, displays the second edition of an 18th-century book by Louis Renard | , with illustrations engraved after drawings by Samuel Fallours. Printed on high-quality Dutch paper, the book cataloged the riotous marine life of the East Indies, very little known to Europeans at the time. Some balked at the images, believing they must be fictional, but scientists have verified most of the species depicted (with the exception, Heald wryly noted, of a mermaid). There were only 100 copies of this edition published, and the price tag for this copy at the fair was $145,000.
Many of the books at the fair are not just limited editions, but truly one of a kind. Such is the case with this pontifical made for a bishop in Ferrara, Italy. This type of manual would normally be used for officiating at masses and other events. But this one, dating from circa 1460, was made purely for display, which accounts for why its condition remains so clean and vivid. Vincenzo Ferro of Bibli |
A towering defender, he won the World Cup with his home country in 1966 and went on to coach the Irish national team to memorable runs in 1990 and 1994.
LEEDS, England — Jack Charlton, a soccer star who was a central part of the England team that lifted the World Cup on home soil in 1966 and who would later go on to transform Ireland’s national team as a manager, died on Friday at his home in Northumberland, in northern England. He was 85.
His family announced the death in a statement on Saturday. Charlton had received a diagnosis of lymphoma last year and had suffered in recent years from dementia, according to the BBC.
Charlton spent all of his playing career with Leeds United, making 773 appearances for the club as it was transformed from a makeweight into one of English soccer’s powerhouses in the 1960s and ’70s. It was his international career, though, that cemented his legacy.
Charlton was born in Ashington, a mining town in Northumberland, in 1935, the eldest of four boys in a family of famous soccer stock: His mother, Cissie, was a cousin of Jackie Milburn, a famous striker for Newcastle United.
Though Charlton started work in the town’s colliery as a 15-year-old, he left soon after, deciding to take up the offer of a contract at Leeds. A younger brother, Bobby, would make a similar journey three years later, leaving Ashington to join Leeds’s great rival, Manchester United.
Whereas Bobby, widely regarded as one of the finest players England has ever produced, was a powerful and prolific scorer of goals, Jack was a towering, imposing and gnarled defender. Together, they were part of the team that led England to its first (and thus far only) World Cup victory in 1966.
In the final, England beat West Germany 4-2 after a long, grueling game. After congratulating Geoff Hurst, who had scored the decisive goals, the Charlton brothers embraced, and Jack sank to his knees, providing one of the defining images of the victory. “I don’t remember if I was saying a prayer or if I was knackered,” he would say later.
After his retirement as a player in 1973, Charlton coached Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle, his hometown team, as well as applying to take charge of England in 1977. He never received a reply. Instead, almost a decade later, it would be in Ireland that the second act of his professional life reached its climax.
Under Charlton’s aegis, Ireland qualified for the 1988 European Championship and the World Cup in both 1990, in Italy, and 1994, in the United States, playing a style that was rudimentary but effective. Charlton once admitted that his team’s strength was “stopping other people playing”; once, he threatened to substitute a player who dared to pass the ball short.
That did not diminish the affection in which he was held. Charlton was credited with turning Ireland from one of European soccer’s minnows — until he took over, it had never previously qualified for a major tournament — into a rising power, a transformation that foreshadowed the growth of the Celtic Tiger economy in the 1990s.
After he retired from the role in 1995, Charlton was made a freeman of the city of Dublin.
Charlton is survived by his wife, Pat, whom he married in 1958, and their children, John, Deborah and Peter.
As considerable as his achievements were, as both a player and a coach, it was Charlton’s character — “larger than life,” as Houghton put it — that endeared him to players and fans alike on both sides of the Irish Sea. Charlton’s love for the outdoors — hunting, shooting and fishing — never waned, and he encouraged his teams to bond as much as possible, advocating the health benefits of Guinness over beer.
He had an ear for an anecdote and an eye for a one-liner, all delivered in the distinctive Northumberland brogue that he never lost. During the 1990 World Cup, Charlton had taken his Ireland squad to the Vatican to meet Pope John Paul II. The pope, an amateur goalkeeper in his youth, had struck up a conversation with Ireland’s goalkeeper, Packie Bonner.
When Ireland was eliminated at the quarterfinal stage — by Italy, largely because of a shot spilled by the Irish goalie — Charlton did his best to console his players in the locker room. He told them that they had exceeded expectations and done their country proud. As they packed their bags, ready to fly home, the mood somber, he turned to his goalkeeper.
Rory Smith reported from Leeds, and Elian Peltier and Mark A. Walsh from London. | 2020-07 | <|begin_of_text|>A towering defender, he won the World Cup with his home country in 1966 and went on to coach the Irish national team to memorable runs in 1990 and 1994.
LEEDS, England — Jack Charlton, a soccer star who was a central part of the England team that lifted the World Cup on home soil in 1966 and who would later go on to transform Ireland’s national team as a manager, died on Friday at his home in Northumberland, in northern England. He was 85.
His family announced the death in a statement on Saturday. Charlton had received a diagnosis of lymphoma last year and had suffered in recent years from dementia, according to the BBC.
Charlton spent all of his playing career with Leeds United, making 773 appearances for the club as it was transformed from a makeweight into one of English soccer’s powerhouses in the 1960s and ’70s. It was his international career, though, | that cemented his legacy.
Charlton was born in Ashington, a mining town in Northumberland, in 1935, the eldest of four boys in a family of famous soccer stock: His mother, Cissie, was a cousin of Jackie Milburn, a famous striker for Newcastle United.
Though Charlton started work in the town’s colliery as a 15-year-old, he left soon after, deciding to take up the offer of a contract at Leeds. A younger brother, Bobby, would make a similar journey three years later, leaving Ashington to join Leeds’s great rival, Manchester United.
Whereas Bobby, widely regarded as one of the finest players England has ever produced, was a powerful and prolific scorer of goals, Jack was a towering, imposing and gnarled defender. Together, they were part of the team that led England to its first (and thus far only) World Cup victory in 1966.
In the final, England beat West Germany |
A trail of blood led from one apartment to another. That was the first clue that led the police to suspect a 24-year-old woman in the fatal stabbing of her neighbor in an Upper West Side co-op.
Detectives made inquiries. The young woman, who lived with her mother, had been hospitalized for mental illness. A search of her apartment turned up other evidence, the police said, including blood on a shoe.
On Wednesday, more than a week later, the police arrested the woman, Anya Johnston, on charges she slashed the throat of Susan Trott, a 70-year-old advertising copywriter who lived one floor below her, the police said.
Ms. Johnston was charged with murder and burglary. The police said she was emotionally disturbed. The week of the murder, Ms. Johnston had been reported missing by her mother, but eventually had returned home, the police said. She told her family that she was mentally unstable and was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospital on the day of the murder, the police said. She had undergone a psychiatric evaluation before she was taken into custody on Wednesday.
Her arrest marked a turning point in the investigation into a gruesome murder that rattled residents of the building and others in the Manhattan neighborhood.
Ms. Trott lived alone in a 14th-floor apartment of a prewar building on West End Avenue between 94th and 95th Streets. The police found her body faceup and fully clothed in her bedroom on Oct. 21. There was no weapon found at the scene, and there were no signs of forced entry. The medical examiner’s office said Ms. Trott died of a stab wound to the neck.
There were bloody footprints in the apartment, and in the hallway detectives discovered the blood trail leading from the victim’s apartment to Ms. Johnston’s apartment upstairs, where a search turned up other evidence related to the homicide, the police said.
Investigators eventually spoke with Ms. Johnston at a hospital before her arrest. Her motive remains murky, the police said.
From the moment Ms. Trott was found, the police said they had focused their investigation on a resident of the 93-unit building, which has surveillance cameras and a 24-hour doorman. But they did not publicly identify the person they wanted to question and revealed little else about the case until Wednesday.
Eric Boscia, a longtime friend and business partner of Ms. Trott, said that Ms. Johnston lived with her mother and knew Ms. Trott. Ms. Trott’s body was discovered after Mr. Boscia contacted the police from London, where he lives, and asked that they check up on her. He had not heard from her for several days.
“She was very spiritual and believed no one ever leaves this planet,” Mr. Boscia said.
A graduate of the Pratt Institute, Ms. Trott was an eccentric character known for her creativity and love of animals. Still, she angered some of her neighbors, who complained that her habit of feeding birds and squirrels attracted rats. Before her death, Ms. Trott confided in friends that she had received threats and that other residents in the building had harassed her.
A memorial for Ms. Trott will be held on Sunday. | 2018-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A trail of blood led from one apartment to another. That was the first clue that led the police to suspect a 24-year-old woman in the fatal stabbing of her neighbor in an Upper West Side co-op.
Detectives made inquiries. The young woman, who lived with her mother, had been hospitalized for mental illness. A search of her apartment turned up other evidence, the police said, including blood on a shoe.
On Wednesday, more than a week later, the police arrested the woman, Anya Johnston, on charges she slashed the throat of Susan Trott, a 70-year-old advertising copywriter who lived one floor below her, the police said.
Ms. Johnston was charged with murder and burglary. The police said she was emotionally disturbed. The week of the murder, Ms. Johnston had been reported missing by her mother, but eventually had returned home, the police said. She told her family that she was mentally unstable and was taken to Mount Sinai St. Luke’s hospital | on the day of the murder, the police said. She had undergone a psychiatric evaluation before she was taken into custody on Wednesday.
Her arrest marked a turning point in the investigation into a gruesome murder that rattled residents of the building and others in the Manhattan neighborhood.
Ms. Trott lived alone in a 14th-floor apartment of a prewar building on West End Avenue between 94th and 95th Streets. The police found her body faceup and fully clothed in her bedroom on Oct. 21. There was no weapon found at the scene, and there were no signs of forced entry. The medical examiner’s office said Ms. Trott died of a stab wound to the neck.
There were bloody footprints in the apartment, and in the hallway detectives discovered the blood trail leading from the victim’s apartment to Ms. Johnston’s apartment upstairs, where a search turned up other evidence related to the homicide, the police said.
Investigators eventually spoke with Ms. Johnston at a hospital |
A traveler returns to his old town, where he’s tasked with watching over a just-perished stranger.
T’s Nov. 11 Travel issue is dedicated to a series of five fairy tales written exclusively for us — the kinds of stories that will inspire your own adventures, if not of the body, then at least of the mind. Read more in our letter from the editor.
This story is inspired by “The Legends of Tono” a collection of 119 Japanese folk tales published by Kunio Yanagita (1875-1962) in 1910. The 101st tale involves a traveler who visits a friend’s home and ends up watching over a dead body.
A TRAVELER WAS passing through a Montana town late one night. He had once lived here, in a white house that he now walked past again and again. The shapes and shadows in the windows of this house he imagined to be his own, and that of the young woman he’d lived with at that time — as if they had not moved away, had not parted, had settled here and perhaps started a family together.
Later, he walked past the restaurant where this young woman had worked, then the bowling alley where she had also been employed.
The moon rose, round and pale. The train yard was empty. A distant dog barked; another answered.
Still later, he passed a nursing home, a memory-care unit where another woman he knew now lived. He had once worked for this woman, tending animals on her ranch; if he were to visit her this evening, she would not likely remember his name or anything about him. Her mind had forgotten most everything it had known, and yet her body remained behind, eating and sleeping and waking each morning.
In the final letter the traveler had received from this old woman, a few years before, she had said that one night, while in bed, she’d heard a clattering in her kitchen, cupboards slapped open, metal pots and pans bouncing on the floor. In her nightgown, she had leapt from bed and seized a broom to confront the intruder. Standing in her kitchen was a large grizzly bear; it stared at her for a moment, then leapt out the broken door. Cattle scattered as the bear bounded across the pasture toward the trees.
Read more: a guide to Livingston, Mont., near where this story is set.
The traveler, aware of the declining state of the woman’s mind, was not certain whether to believe her story. A few weeks later, however, her granddaughter sent him a photograph of a round trailer, set outside the old woman’s house, in which the bear, upon its return to the kitchen, had been captured and driven far away. It was as if that bear was drawn to her, the granddaughter wrote, as if she called it.
Remembering this story, the traveler had lost track of where he was walking. He now found himself out along the Yellowstone River and, before long, in another landscape. The earth here was humped up in mounds, white pipes twisted from the ground. This was a place where people had prepared for the end of the world, and yet the world had not ended, or had not seemed to. They had left all these shelters behind.
The traveler shivered, walking atop these hidden rooms, feeling their emptiness beneath him. It grew still later, and he was tired. Fortunately, he saw smoke twisting up against the night sky, and he walked toward it. He came, before long, to a heavy door set into the side of a low mound. He knocked upon the door with his fist, and then with a stone.
Faint footsteps approached, a click as the lock turned. The door swung inward with a scraping sound.
Before the traveler could respond, his friend slapped him on the back and disappeared down a zigzagging path into the darkness.
The traveler closed the door, then proceeded to a stairway that was actually a ladder, which he had to descend backward. When he turned around at the bottom, he saw the fire in the hearth, the chair waiting before it. He sat down, unlaced his boots, and took them off. On the small table next to the chair was a mug of peppermint tea, still warm. He took a drink, then looked around. The dead person appeared to be an old woman, and she was laid out on a bed in the adjoining room. His friend had not thought to close the door, or had left it open on purpose. Why was it necessary for the dead to be watched? And what were the consequences if they were not watched? The traveler decided not to close the door; he drank the tea and stared into the fire, keeping the dead woman in his peripheral vision. Again, he shivered. Would it be less unsettling, perhaps, if there were more than one dead person? If her face were covered? If the dead person were someone he’d known when alive, would that be more or less disturbing?
Standing, the traveler stepped away from the fire, through the doorway, and stood at the foot of the bed where the woman had been laid to rest. (Was she resting? Why were the dead put in beds? Why was a blanket pulled up to her waist? To keep her warm?) She was tiny, frail, the size of a child, wearing a white nightgown. Her bare gray forearms were crossed on her chest, her thin knotty fingers on her shoulders. Her eyes were closed.
The traveler was certain he had not known this woman. Relieved, he stepped back through the doorway, leaving it open and, adding wood to the fire, sat down again. He picked up a notebook and saw that his friend had been studying calligraphy, writing the whole alphabet again and again in complicated letters. The hour was late. The traveler stretched out his legs and closed his eyes. Just as he began to doze, he was startled by the ringing of a telephone.
He had not noticed the telephone before, and it took a moment to locate it — yellow, affixed to the wall, its tangled cord dangling. It rang and rang, and in that moment, he expected the old woman to rise and answer it. Turning quickly, he saw that she had not moved, was lying exactly as she had been.
When the telephone ceased ringing, the silence tightened around the traveler.
AND WHEN, a moment later, the telephone resumed its ringing, he knew it was a signal to him, a sign that he was supposed to answer it. At once, he realized it was the woman calling, the woman with whom he’d lived in the white house, long before. She had somehow sensed that he’d returned to this place, was compelled to call him and was now going to tell him what he needed to know.
“What are you doing there?” she said.
Her voice had changed, or it wasn’t her voice. In fact, it was an old woman’s voice, raspy and faint.
The traveler turned, the telephone’s cord twisting around his arm. Through the doorway, he could see the dead woman on the bed. While he heard her voice in his ear, her lips were still, not moving at all.
“Are you here?” he said.
“Is it a sky like our sky, here?” he said.
“Pardon me?” she said.
“I am someone else,” she said.
“I dialed the numbers,” she said.
With that, she hung up the phone. The traveler unwound the cord from his arm, which had fallen asleep, and sat down in the chair once again.
Silence gathered. The logs in the fire collapsed, settled into coals.
JUST AS THE TRAVELER was about to sleep, at the edge of his vision he saw the woman in the bed slowly sit up and turn her head toward him. He was panic-stricken but controlled himself, not immediately looking straight in her direction. Neither spoke, and in that silence, he realized that the old woman — her eyes open now, reflecting the firelight — was not looking at him but past him, across the room.
In the far wall, up by the ceiling, which was at the level of the ground outside, was a window. In that window, the traveler could see something like a fox’s head, its eyes staring fixedly at the dead woman, who was staring back.
Carefully, the traveler dropped to the floor and crawled slowly to the ladder and climbed from the room to the door. Outside, he crept around until he saw, in the moonlight, that it actually was a fox, flattened on the ground with its head stuck down into the window and its hind legs stretched out straight. The traveler snatched up a piece of pipe and began beating the fox, meaning to kill it, to break the connection with the old woman, but the fox leapt away, escaped into the night.
Next, the traveler bent down and peered through the window. Once again, the old woman was lying flat on the bed, deceased. The fire glowed on the empty chair, on his boots with their laces scribbling across the floor. The traveler filled the window with stones, to prevent the fox’s return, then walked back to the door. He went through it, turned and descended the ladder.
The traveler’s friend, returning home the next morning, found the traveler fast asleep, lying in the bed next to the dead woman. The woman’s white hair was so knotted and tangled with that of the traveler that it required a very sharp knife to sever them, one from the other.
| 2018-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A traveler returns to his old town, where he’s tasked with watching over a just-perished stranger.
T’s Nov. 11 Travel issue is dedicated to a series of five fairy tales written exclusively for us — the kinds of stories that will inspire your own adventures, if not of the body, then at least of the mind. Read more in our letter from the editor.
This story is inspired by “The Legends of Tono” a collection of 119 Japanese folk tales published by Kunio Yanagita (1875-1962) in 1910. The 101st tale involves a traveler who visits a friend’s home and ends up watching over a dead body.
A TRAVELER WAS passing through a Montana town late one night. He had once lived here, in a white house that he now walked past again and again. The shapes and shadows in the windows of this house he imagined to be his own, and that of the young woman he’d lived with | at that time — as if they had not moved away, had not parted, had settled here and perhaps started a family together.
Later, he walked past the restaurant where this young woman had worked, then the bowling alley where she had also been employed.
The moon rose, round and pale. The train yard was empty. A distant dog barked; another answered.
Still later, he passed a nursing home, a memory-care unit where another woman he knew now lived. He had once worked for this woman, tending animals on her ranch; if he were to visit her this evening, she would not likely remember his name or anything about him. Her mind had forgotten most everything it had known, and yet her body remained behind, eating and sleeping and waking each morning.
In the final letter the traveler had received from this old woman, a few years before, she had said that one night, while in bed, she’d heard a clattering in her kitchen, cupboards slapped open, |
A trio of talent is branching out with refined lines of furniture and objects.
The Brooklyn-based interior design firm Home Studios has been slowly catching up to its name. The brothers behind it, Oliver and Evan Haslegrave, earned their reputation by outfitting some of New York’s coolest bars and restaurants (Elsa, Paulie Gee’s) with custom carpentry, tile work, lighting fixtures and furniture. Commercial commissions still make up the bulk of their operation — their latest project, a West Village pub called the Spaniard, opens this month — but they’ve begun to take on residences as well, and Oliver recently designed a line of objects and furniture called Homework, debuting in May.
It was her training as a fine artist that inspired Susan Hable to start a textile company with her business-minded sister Katharine 18 years ago. “I thought, ‘Oh, I can paint, and then translate that into a pattern and sell the fabric,’” she says. Her instinct was a good one: Hable Construction quickly became a design world darling, partnering with the likes of Barneys New York and Garnet Hill. Her recent foray into furniture was just as intuitive. In 2009, when Hable moved down south and started looking for local collaborators, she was immediately drawn to the century-old Hickory Chair Furniture Company, based in North Carolina and known for its dedication to craftsmanship and classic, antique-inspired pieces.
In 2012, the Swedish designer Malin Glemme was working at H&M, helping to facilitate the brand’s capsule collections, when she and her boyfriend moved house. “When I was single, I had this pink, totally kitsch home with lots of antiques and porcelain and animals and fringes,” she says. “He had this Danish ’60s style.” Now, they were attempting to combine aesthetics, but Glemme couldn’t find the exact floor coverings she was envisioning, so she designed them herself. Before long, friends and other visitors started to put in requests and her company, Layered, was born, offering a range of rugs from woolly shags to heavy cotton stitched in geometric patterns.
| 2017-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A trio of talent is branching out with refined lines of furniture and objects.
The Brooklyn-based interior design firm Home Studios has been slowly catching up to its name. The brothers behind it, Oliver and Evan Haslegrave, earned their reputation by outfitting some of New York’s coolest bars and restaurants (Elsa, Paulie Gee’s) with custom carpentry, tile work, lighting fixtures and furniture. Commercial commissions still make up the bulk of their operation — their latest project, a West Village pub called the Spaniard, opens this month — but they’ve begun to take on residences as well, and Oliver recently designed a line of objects and furniture called Homework, debuting in May.
It was her training as a fine artist that inspired Susan Hable to start a textile company with her business-minded sister Katharine 18 years ago. “I thought, ‘Oh, I can paint, and then translate that into a pattern and sell the fabric,’” she says. Her instinct was a good | one: Hable Construction quickly became a design world darling, partnering with the likes of Barneys New York and Garnet Hill. Her recent foray into furniture was just as intuitive. In 2009, when Hable moved down south and started looking for local collaborators, she was immediately drawn to the century-old Hickory Chair Furniture Company, based in North Carolina and known for its dedication to craftsmanship and classic, antique-inspired pieces.
In 2012, the Swedish designer Malin Glemme was working at H&M, helping to facilitate the brand’s capsule collections, when she and her boyfriend moved house. “When I was single, I had this pink, totally kitsch home with lots of antiques and porcelain and animals and fringes,” she says. “He had this Danish ’60s style.” Now, they were attempting to combine aesthetics, but Glemme couldn’t find the exact floor coverings she was envisioning, so she designed them herself. Before long, friends |
A trip down the aisle requires frequent flier miles and a passport for many brides shopping for traditional wedding garments.
NEW DELHI — After an 18-hour journey from New York to New Delhi in December sandwiched between my parents, I wanted nothing more than to take a long shower and dive under the covers. But we were there on a mission and time was scarce.
So, one brief pit stop at our hotel later, we were yawning in a car on the way to Chandni Chowk, a famously crowded market hawking everything from textbooks to hardware supplies. The maze of stalls is so sinuous that cars can only travel so far, at which point we clambered into an auto rickshaw and told the driver to head to Asiana Couture. I nervously hoped that it was as good a store as my distant cousins had claimed on our WhatsApp group chat.
Finally, at the end of a dimly lit alley lined with heaps of vibrant saris and the occasional stray dog, we found the store. And so began a frantic week of shopping for my bridal lehenga, a.k.a. my wedding dress.
The notion of shopping in India for my June wedding in Connecticut has struck many of my friends and work colleagues as unusual and even glamorous. But for many South Asian brides, as well as people marrying South Asians, this sort of high-pressure, whirlwind trip is a normal rite of passage in the lead-up to their weddings. Countless stores are visited where shopkeepers attempt to discern your tastes as they trot out garment after garment. Scratches may be left on your arms from trying on so many richly embellished clothes. Decisions have to be made quickly, which is a challenge since most stores do not allow photos.
Pop culture has made it easier to explain the color and customs of Indian weddings since the days of “Bend It Like Beckham.” There was Cece and Schmidt’s wedding on “New Girl,” the People magazine spreads of Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, and the lavish Isha Ambani wedding where Beyoncé performed. Rent the Runway recently started testing formal Indian garb for guests. But even as Indian weddings have entered the mainstream in the United States, and more first-generation Indian-Americans get married, the options for bridal clothing in the United States are limited.
A quick tutorial in the garb: Wedding garments and colors can differ based on the region of India where brides are from, but many wear lehengas in shades of red, pink or orange for their ceremonies. These include a cropped top, flowing skirt and a sash known as a dupatta. It’s common to wear lighter-colored lehengas or gowns for receptions and brightly colored lehengas or saris for prewedding events, like a Sangeet, which is an evening event centered on song and dance.
While the internet has expanded access to Indian attire, a wedding dress is one of those pieces of clothing that women reasonably prefer to see and try on in person. In the United States, that quest is often limited to small shops like Nazranaa on Oak Tree Road in Iselin, N.J., and stores that are essentially set up in family homes.
Anu Rajasingham, a 35-year-old public health engineer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, visited one such home in the Atlanta area last year while searching for wedding saris from Sabyasachi Mukherjee. It was an unusual retail experience, she said, given that Mr. Mukherjee is one of India’s top designers and the host of an Indian wedding dress show akin to “Say Yes to the Dress.” But the address was listed on the brand’s website.
When Ms. Rajasingham, who is of Sri Lankan descent, couldn’t find the right white sari for her ceremony, she was told that she could receive images of the designer’s upcoming collection through WhatsApp photos and, upon making an order, share her measurements through Skype. Ultimately, though, it was a challenge to discern the outfits from grainy WhatsApp images, she said, motivating her to make a shopping trip to Chennai, India and Sri Lanka.
These frantic searches have fueled a lucrative business for the Indian designer Anita Dongre, who opened a 5,000-square-foot store in SoHo in Manhattan in 2017 to sell a variety of clothing. Now more than half her business is tied to wedding-related garb for brides and other Indian wedding guests.
“There are a few mom-and-pop stores in the U.S., but I would say we are the first Indian wedding wear designer brand there with our flagship in New York,” she said.
Ms. Dongre, whose designs have been worn by Catherine, the duchess of Cambridge, and Ms. Chopra, said she was inspired to expand her wedding collection into the United States by the women who traveled to her stores in India. She knew of the pressure to complete their shopping quickly, their concerns around fittings and the tight management of vacation days.
The popularity of her wedding business has caught her by surprise and piqued the interest of other Indian designers. Calcutta-based Sabyasachi, for example, recently announced on Instagram that the label will be opening a New York flagship this fall, though the brand didn’t respond to inquiries about how much wedding wear it plans to carry. It also announced a jewelry collaboration with Bergdorf Goodman.
It speaks to the scarcity of options in the United States that Ms. Dongre has been such a hit, given her steep prices. She said that her lighter, non-ceremony lehengas start at $1,000, while bridal outfits rise to $5,000 to $7,000. (On average, women spend $1,600 on wedding fashion, from gowns to jumpsuits, according to a 2019 study by The Knot.) But Ms. Dongre has benefited from brides who are factoring in the potential cost of a trip to India with their families.
While Ms. Dongre sells the lehengas and measures brides in the United States, the garments are still tailor-made in India and then shipped back to her store.
When my parents and I traveled to India, as well as my older sister before me, we each brought an empty suitcase. They stayed for an extra two weeks after I left — a true act of filial love — in order to take my bridal lehenga home. It took up an entire suitcase and, according to my mother, came in at 20 pounds of deep pink fabric and embroidery.
Many stores in India, from designers to regular boutiques, require at least 30 days to customize lehengas, and may not ship goods. Ms. Eichler, who shopped in January for her June wedding, was told that her two Sabyasachi lehengas would be ready in three months but she didn’t have time to make another trip to India and the store did not ship to the United States.
Until more options emerge for Indian bridal wear in the United States, the shopping trip to India and all its accompanying chaos remains the norm for many women. On Facebook, a roughly 2,200-member group for Indian-American women planning weddings called “The Little Brown Diary” regularly lights up with recommendation requests for visits to Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and more, where they intend to buy their own clothes as well as outfits for family members and bridal parties.
Itineraries are hastily stitched together through tips and direct messages from strangers and references from loved ones, and then, it’s time to hope for the best and prepare for totally unpredictable events. For example, when my older sister, Dr. Deepali Maheshwari, traveled to Jaipur, India, ahead of her wedding in July 2016, there was a strike that shuttered every jeweler in the country. I managed to order my wedding lehenga just before protests over a contentious citizenship law made it virtually impossible for my parents to access Chandni Chowk.
In my case, I’m pleased to report that Asiana Couture was, in fact, as good as my cousin said it was. In fact, we ended up buying a lehenga that I tried on that first, exhausted night in Delhi — but only after days of visiting a slew of other shops, to the chagrin of my patient father.
And even though I was halfway around the globe from home, fighting jet lag and wearing an outfit that had been lifted and tied onto me by no fewer than three people — I still felt that common spark that most of my friends describe when they buy their wedding dresses as I exchanged a tearful hug with my mother.
Now, let’s just hope that it fits. | 2020-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A trip down the aisle requires frequent flier miles and a passport for many brides shopping for traditional wedding garments.
NEW DELHI — After an 18-hour journey from New York to New Delhi in December sandwiched between my parents, I wanted nothing more than to take a long shower and dive under the covers. But we were there on a mission and time was scarce.
So, one brief pit stop at our hotel later, we were yawning in a car on the way to Chandni Chowk, a famously crowded market hawking everything from textbooks to hardware supplies. The maze of stalls is so sinuous that cars can only travel so far, at which point we clambered into an auto rickshaw and told the driver to head to Asiana Couture. I nervously hoped that it was as good a store as my distant cousins had claimed on our WhatsApp group chat.
Finally, at the end of a dimly lit alley lined with heaps of vibrant saris and the | occasional stray dog, we found the store. And so began a frantic week of shopping for my bridal lehenga, a.k.a. my wedding dress.
The notion of shopping in India for my June wedding in Connecticut has struck many of my friends and work colleagues as unusual and even glamorous. But for many South Asian brides, as well as people marrying South Asians, this sort of high-pressure, whirlwind trip is a normal rite of passage in the lead-up to their weddings. Countless stores are visited where shopkeepers attempt to discern your tastes as they trot out garment after garment. Scratches may be left on your arms from trying on so many richly embellished clothes. Decisions have to be made quickly, which is a challenge since most stores do not allow photos.
Pop culture has made it easier to explain the color and customs of Indian weddings since the days of “Bend It Like Beckham.” There was Cece and Schmidt’s wedding on “New Girl,” the People magazine spreads |
A triplex penthouse atop a new condominium conversion on the Upper East Side, just a block from Central Park, with three terraces and a private roof deck, sold for $31,000,000 and was the most expensive closed sale of the week, according to city records.
The sponsor apartment, PH3, at 33 East 74th Street, at Madison Avenue, has 6,312 square feet of space that includes five bedrooms, five and a half baths, an eat-in kitchen with two pantries, a family room, two dining areas and a 30-by-18-foot living room that opens to a terrace. There is also a private elevator.
The total monthly carrying charges are $20,471; the asking price was $32 million.
Most of the home’s bedrooms, along with a laundry room, are on the first floor. The 760-square-foot master suite features a walk-in closet and a spalike bath. The second floor holds the kitchen, the formal dining room and the living room, while the third level, with two terraces, contains a second dining area, a kitchenette, a family room and an en-suite bedroom.
The outdoor space totals 2,287 square feet, according to the listing with Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Katherine Gauthier was the listing agent, and Janet Wang of the Corcoran Group brought the buyer, whose identity was shielded by the limited liability company Crest East 74.
The condominium at 33 East 74th is a conversion of 19th-century brownstones once owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art. It actually encompasses buildings on Madison Avenue, but is being marketed with a side street address to present more of a residential context. The project was developed by the health care entrepreneur Daniel E. Straus, using an affiliate company, JZS Madison LLC.
Among the other big-ticket transactions, three more near-identical apartments at 432 Park Avenue, currently the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, topping out at 1,396 feet, have officially closed.
The priciest of the trio, on the 58th floor, unit No. 58C, sold for $17,287,537.59, according to city records, and was this week’s runner-up sale. Its buyer, represented by Ellen Elman of Century 21 Metropolitan, was identified as Hampstead Properties, with Larisa Egorchenko listed in city documents as the president.
Unit No. 51C, which closed at $16,218,375.09, according to records, was sold to Pearl 51 Ltd., with Sule Haskell of Douglas Elliman Real Estate representing the buyer. No. 57C, with no buyer’s broker, sold for $13,715,516.59, to the limited liability company JE Manhattan.
Each of the sponsor units measures 3,576 square feet and contains two bedrooms, three and a half baths and a library. They all have private elevator landings.
And like all of the 104 residences in the 96-story condominium, between 56th and 57th Streets amid “Billionaires’ Row,” these recently closed aeries have 12.6-foot ceilings and 10-by-10-foot square windows, which provide an abundance of light and park, river and cityscape views.
The monthly carrying charges for each apartment total $14,224, according to a spokesman for Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, which is handling sales for the building, along with Macklowe Property Sales.
The supertall 432 Park Avenue, which was completed last year, was designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects and developed by Macklowe Properties and the CIM Group. Big Ticket includes closed sales from the previous week, ending Wednesday. | 2016-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A triplex penthouse atop a new condominium conversion on the Upper East Side, just a block from Central Park, with three terraces and a private roof deck, sold for $31,000,000 and was the most expensive closed sale of the week, according to city records.
The sponsor apartment, PH3, at 33 East 74th Street, at Madison Avenue, has 6,312 square feet of space that includes five bedrooms, five and a half baths, an eat-in kitchen with two pantries, a family room, two dining areas and a 30-by-18-foot living room that opens to a terrace. There is also a private elevator.
The total monthly carrying charges are $20,471; the asking price was $32 million.
Most of the home’s bedrooms, along with a laundry room, are on the first floor. The 760-square-foot master suite features a walk-in closet and a spalike bath. The second floor holds the kitchen | , the formal dining room and the living room, while the third level, with two terraces, contains a second dining area, a kitchenette, a family room and an en-suite bedroom.
The outdoor space totals 2,287 square feet, according to the listing with Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Katherine Gauthier was the listing agent, and Janet Wang of the Corcoran Group brought the buyer, whose identity was shielded by the limited liability company Crest East 74.
The condominium at 33 East 74th is a conversion of 19th-century brownstones once owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art. It actually encompasses buildings on Madison Avenue, but is being marketed with a side street address to present more of a residential context. The project was developed by the health care entrepreneur Daniel E. Straus, using an affiliate company, JZS Madison LLC.
Among the other big-ticket transactions, three more near-identical apartments at 432 Park Avenue, currently the |
A troubling feature of political disagreement in the United States today is that many issues on which liberals and conservatives hold divergent views are questions not of value but of fact. Is human activity responsible for global warming? Do guns make society safer? Is immigration harmful to the economy? Though undoubtedly complicated, these questions turn on empirical evidence. As new information emerges, we ought to move, however fitfully, toward consensus.
But we don’t. Unfortunately, people do not always revise their beliefs in light of new information. On the contrary, they often stubbornly maintain their views. Certain disagreements stay entrenched and polarized.
Why? A common explanation is confirmation bias. This is the psychological tendency to favor information that confirms our beliefs and to disfavor information that counters them — a tendency manifested in the echo chambers and “filter bubbles” of the online world.
If this explanation is right, then there is a relatively straightforward solution to political polarization: We need to consciously expose ourselves to evidence that challenges our beliefs to compensate for our inclination to discount it.
But what if confirmation bias isn’t the only culprit? It recently struck us that confirmation bias is often conflated with “telling people what they want to hear,” which is actually a distinct phenomenon known as desirability bias, or the tendency to credit information you want to believe. Though there is a clear difference between what you believe and what you want to believe — a pessimist may expect the worst but hope for the best — when it comes to political beliefs, they are frequently aligned.
For example, gun-control advocates who believe stricter firearms laws will reduce gun-related homicides usually also want to believe that such laws will reduce gun-related homicides. If those advocates decline to revise their beliefs in the face of evidence to the contrary, it can be hard to tell which bias is at work.
So we decided to conduct an experiment that would isolate these biases. This way, we could see whether a reluctance to revise political beliefs was a result of confirmation bias or desirability bias (or both). Our experiment capitalized on the fact that one month before the 2016 presidential election there was a profusion of close polling results concerning Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
We asked 900 United States residents which candidate they wanted to win the election, and which candidate they believed was most likely to win. Respondents fell into two groups. In one group were those who believed the candidate they wanted to win was also most likely to win (for example, the Clinton supporter who believed Mrs. Clinton would win). In the other group were those who believed the candidate they wanted to win was not the candidate most likely to win (for example, the Trump supporter who believed Mrs. Clinton would win). Each person in the study then read about recent polling results emphasizing either that Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump was more likely to win.
Roughly half of our participants believed their preferred candidate was the one less likely to win the election. For those people, the desirability of the polling evidence was decoupled from its value in confirming their beliefs.
After reading about the recent polling numbers, all the participants once again indicated which candidate they believed was most likely to win. The results, which we report in a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, were clear and robust. Those people who received desirable evidence — polls suggesting that their preferred candidate was going to win — took note and incorporated the information into their subsequent belief about which candidate was most likely to win the election. In contrast, those people who received undesirable evidence barely changed their belief about which candidate was most likely to win.
We also explored which supporters showed the greatest bias in favor of the desirable evidence. The results were bipartisan: Supporters of Mr. Trump and supporters of Mrs. Clinton showed a similar-size bias in favor of the desirable evidence.
Our study suggests that political belief polarization may emerge because of peoples’ conflicting desires, not their conflicting beliefs per se. This is rather troubling, as it implies that even if we were to escape from our political echo chambers, it wouldn’t help much. Short of changing what people want to believe, we must find other ways to unify our perceptions of reality. | 2017-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A troubling feature of political disagreement in the United States today is that many issues on which liberals and conservatives hold divergent views are questions not of value but of fact. Is human activity responsible for global warming? Do guns make society safer? Is immigration harmful to the economy? Though undoubtedly complicated, these questions turn on empirical evidence. As new information emerges, we ought to move, however fitfully, toward consensus.
But we don’t. Unfortunately, people do not always revise their beliefs in light of new information. On the contrary, they often stubbornly maintain their views. Certain disagreements stay entrenched and polarized.
Why? A common explanation is confirmation bias. This is the psychological tendency to favor information that confirms our beliefs and to disfavor information that counters them — a tendency manifested in the echo chambers and “filter bubbles” of the online world.
If this explanation is right, then there is a relatively straightforward solution to political polarization: We need to consciously expose ourselves to evidence that challenges our beliefs to | compensate for our inclination to discount it.
But what if confirmation bias isn’t the only culprit? It recently struck us that confirmation bias is often conflated with “telling people what they want to hear,” which is actually a distinct phenomenon known as desirability bias, or the tendency to credit information you want to believe. Though there is a clear difference between what you believe and what you want to believe — a pessimist may expect the worst but hope for the best — when it comes to political beliefs, they are frequently aligned.
For example, gun-control advocates who believe stricter firearms laws will reduce gun-related homicides usually also want to believe that such laws will reduce gun-related homicides. If those advocates decline to revise their beliefs in the face of evidence to the contrary, it can be hard to tell which bias is at work.
So we decided to conduct an experiment that would isolate these biases. This way, we could see whether a reluctance to revise political beliefs was a result of confirmation bias or des |
A trove of lush Soviet-era tutus can be found hidden in the back room of a small school near Chicago.
“We have some of the best costumes. Come, look,” Tatyana Mazur says as she guides me to the back closet of the small dance studio she runs with her husband, Roman Mazur, in the corner of an unassuming strip mall in Buffalo Grove, Ill.
Inside, I am met with an explosion of velvet, tulle and satin. The dozens of dresses, tutus and elaborate headpieces stored here comprise a rare collection of Soviet-era dance costumes, still in use more than 40 years after they were made.
12 years ago, when I was 14, I wore one of these costumes. The bodices, bejeweled with hundreds of handsewn sequins stood in stark contrast to the minimalist costumes of modern ballet productions. The faux gemstones may have seemed large and gaudy up close, but onstage they subtly caught the stage lights, illuminating dancers as they moved. Every decorative element was exaggerated to be visible from the last row of any theater.
Many of the pieces in Tatyana’s collection are delicate and noticeably weak from years of wear. Decades of sweat stains have discolored the fabric lining and the once vibrant satin has faded to pastel. The velvet pulls at the seams, worn-out and frayed. Columns of sizing hooks leave a record of differently shaped Russian, Ukrainian and now American dancers.
As Tatyana’s student, I trained for hours with her each week while she taught me a solo variation from the classic Russian ballet, “Raymonda.” The preparation was rigorous, and my enthusiasm was waning. I had been studying ballet most of my life, and by my late teenage years I was no longer as dedicated as I once had been.
One afternoon, after a particularly grueling session, Tatyana brought out several piles of tutus for me to choose from. As I slipped into the layers of tulle and blue satin, my mood changed. The warped fitting hooks reminded me of the professional dancers who had pushed themselves to the limit in this tutu, spinning, jumping and extending as they performed for audiences thousands of miles away.
I looked at myself in the mirror, an otherwise average girl from downtown Chicago, now transformed into a countess. It was in that moment that I found the resolve to dance through my final ballet performance.
Tatyana, a former dancer turned instructor, met Roman 33 years ago, in Riga, Latvia, after both escaping Kiev during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. “It was a terrible situation in Ukraine and Russia,” Tatyana said. Eventually the couple returned to Kiev to help open a government-funded dance school, before leaving for the United States in 1997.
After several years in Ohio, they moved to Illinois and opened Mazur Dance. Roman continues to teach traditional folk dance classes to the sizable Russian community in the Chicago area and Tatyana gives private one-on-one sessions to ballet students.
In an attempt to bring a more professional attitude to her American students, Tatyana began to look for quality costumes. After an unsuccessful search in the United States, she traveled back to Ukraine and Russia in 2001 where she bought old costumes from professional companies, including the National Ballet of Ukraine.
The costumes were already 20 to 30 years old at the time she bought them, meaning they were made and worn in the U.S.S.R. during the 1970s and ’80s, when companies would commission local designers and seamstresses to craft elaborate costumes for each production.
Talking about Tatyana’s costumes with Marc Happel, the Costume Director for New York City Ballet, he pointed out the “old-school Russian aesthetic toward decoration.” The bold coloring and opulent adornment stand in contrast to the polished costumes with which Mr. Happel typically works.
But an affinity for older costumes can also come with sizing challenges. Mr. Happel cites the increase in female height and rib cage size since the 1940s as a key issue he and his team encounter when reusing old costumes. “Dancers are not the petite little things they once were, they’ve gotten much more athletic,” he said.
On the day I visit, Tatyana’s students are giddy with excitement. They gasp as she brings out each piece. “This one is my favorite!” says Julianne Pankau. Only to change her mind once Tatyana brings out another.
Though it had been more than a decade since I had danced with Tatyana, her students’ enthusiasm reminded me of the feeling that the “Raymonda” tutu gave me. I was proud to wear that blue dress — a privilege I had earned only after dedicating years to ballet.
Bianca Ladipo is a journalist and researcher living in New York City. She writes about the arts, government transitions, and political behavior.
Whitten Sabbatini is a photographer based in Memphis, Tenn.
| 2019-09 | <|begin_of_text|>A trove of lush Soviet-era tutus can be found hidden in the back room of a small school near Chicago.
“We have some of the best costumes. Come, look,” Tatyana Mazur says as she guides me to the back closet of the small dance studio she runs with her husband, Roman Mazur, in the corner of an unassuming strip mall in Buffalo Grove, Ill.
Inside, I am met with an explosion of velvet, tulle and satin. The dozens of dresses, tutus and elaborate headpieces stored here comprise a rare collection of Soviet-era dance costumes, still in use more than 40 years after they were made.
12 years ago, when I was 14, I wore one of these costumes. The bodices, bejeweled with hundreds of handsewn sequins stood in stark contrast to the minimalist costumes of modern ballet productions. The faux gemstones may have seemed large and gaudy up close, but onstage they subtly caught the | stage lights, illuminating dancers as they moved. Every decorative element was exaggerated to be visible from the last row of any theater.
Many of the pieces in Tatyana’s collection are delicate and noticeably weak from years of wear. Decades of sweat stains have discolored the fabric lining and the once vibrant satin has faded to pastel. The velvet pulls at the seams, worn-out and frayed. Columns of sizing hooks leave a record of differently shaped Russian, Ukrainian and now American dancers.
As Tatyana’s student, I trained for hours with her each week while she taught me a solo variation from the classic Russian ballet, “Raymonda.” The preparation was rigorous, and my enthusiasm was waning. I had been studying ballet most of my life, and by my late teenage years I was no longer as dedicated as I once had been.
One afternoon, after a particularly grueling session, Tatyana brought out several piles of tutus for me to choose from. As |
A tsunami of contemporary and modern art is arriving in New York City this week, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Running from now through the weekend are at least nine art fairs, with work by thousands of artists and dealers from dozens of countries. That’s in addition to the city’s standing array of art offerings, comprising hundreds of gallery and museum shows.
Not to mention the boatloads of public art on view.
There is far more than one person could see, much of it up for just a few days before it’s trundled off to someone’s private collection.
For a nonexpert, with an appetite for art but a limited amount of time and money, this situation calls for careful strategizing. So we asked some veteran fairgoers for tips on how to make the most of it.
Other suggestions: Arrive early. The crowds get thicker in the afternoon. And note that while admission prices can be steep, many fairs offer discounts for students, seniors or young people.
Now, what sort of experience are you looking for?
Frieze New York, now in its fifth year, is the luxury option. It offers the broadest range of art, is the hardest to get to and charges the highest admission fee (standard tickets are $49). And it takes place on Randalls Island, in a tent large enough for three decent circuses, with more than 200 galleries showing some of the bright lights among contemporary artists.
This seems to be a strong year for female artists, the organizers said, with gallery shows focused on Lisa Yuskavage and Isa Genzken at David Zwirner; Huma Bhabha, Judy Chicago and Betty Woodman at Salon 94; and works by Cornelia Parker, whose roof installation just opened at the Met, at London’s Frith Street gallery.
Not everything is for sale. The fair, running Thursday through Sunday, also offers commissioned work through its Frieze Projects and Frieze Sounds series.
As in previous years, the fair will also pay tribute to an artist project or art gallery that has had a lasting impact. This year, in homage to Daniel Newburg Gallery, which operated from 1984 to 1994 in Lower Manhattan, Maurizio Cattelan will restage his 1994 exhibition, “Warning! Enter at Your Own Risk. Do Not Touch, Do Not Feed, No Smoking, No Photographs, No Dogs, Thank You,” the gallery’s last. It consists of a donkey in a bare room, illuminated by a chandelier.
If this sounds like a lot, Frieze offers many chances to relax and indulge: Food vendors include Frankies Spuntino, Roberta’s and Cosme, among others. And a series of talks organized by Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, promises to engage the brain while the body rests. The poet Eileen Myles speaks on Thursday afternoon; on Saturday, the novelist Ben Lerner will join in conversation with the critic Hal Foster.
Getting there can be tricky, so plan on making a day of it. The best way to go is the East River ferry service ($19 round trip), which departs every 30 minutes from East 35th Street. An additional ferry runs Thursday and Friday only, departing from East 90th Street.
Most of these are easier to reach, with lower cost of admission.
Portal, in its first year, is organized by 4heads Inc., which also presents the Governors Island Art Fair. The focus is on emerging artists. It runs through Tuesday at the Federal Hall National Memorial at 26 Wall Street. Free.
Spring Masters offers fine art as well as design and jewelry, at the Park Avenue Armory, Friday through Monday. $25 online, $30 in person.
NADA features more than 70 funky galleries from a dozen countries., through Sunday at 299 South Street on the Lower East Side. $20.
Context New York and Art New York share the same location, Pier 94 (12th Avenue at West 54th Street), and run through Sunday. Context is focused on early- to midcareer artists, while Art New York aims to showcase “important, never-before-exhibited works from both primary and secondary markets.” $40.
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair includes 17 galleries from nine countries, with work by 60 artists on view. It takes place at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn (159 Pioneer Street), Friday through Sunday. $20.
Flux is a hybrid of art fair and public installations, with works and events across Harlem. Events take place through the end of May; some require tickets.
Collective Design offers works of striking design from more than 30 galleries, through Sunday at 550 Washington Street, SoHo. $32.
With so much attention focused elsewhere, this could be a good weekend to crawl some neighborhood galleries. Here are some recent recommendations from Times critics.
Betty Tompkins, “Women Words, Phrases and Stories” at the Flag Art Foundation in Chelsea.
“Jean Dubuffet: Anticultural Positions” at Acquavella Galleries on the Upper East Side.
Jessi Reaves at Bridget Donahue on the Lower East Side.
Akio Suzuki at Southfirst gallery in Williamsburg.
“The 1970s: The Blossoming of a Queer Enlightenment” at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in SoHo.
Or take a peek at what’s on offer in next week’s evening art auctions.
Christie’s has three big evening sales next week, ranging from Impressionists to contemporary art, with works by Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Many will be on display in their Rockefeller Center showroom during business hours.
Sotheby’s will have two major evening sales next week, as well, including works by Claude Monet, Francis Bacon and Cy Twombly. Their showroom is at 1334 York Avenue (at East 71st Street). | 2016-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A tsunami of contemporary and modern art is arriving in New York City this week, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Running from now through the weekend are at least nine art fairs, with work by thousands of artists and dealers from dozens of countries. That’s in addition to the city’s standing array of art offerings, comprising hundreds of gallery and museum shows.
Not to mention the boatloads of public art on view.
There is far more than one person could see, much of it up for just a few days before it’s trundled off to someone’s private collection.
For a nonexpert, with an appetite for art but a limited amount of time and money, this situation calls for careful strategizing. So we asked some veteran fairgoers for tips on how to make the most of it.
Other suggestions: Arrive early. The crowds get thicker in the afternoon. And note that while admission prices can be steep, many fairs offer discounts for students, seniors or | young people.
Now, what sort of experience are you looking for?
Frieze New York, now in its fifth year, is the luxury option. It offers the broadest range of art, is the hardest to get to and charges the highest admission fee (standard tickets are $49). And it takes place on Randalls Island, in a tent large enough for three decent circuses, with more than 200 galleries showing some of the bright lights among contemporary artists.
This seems to be a strong year for female artists, the organizers said, with gallery shows focused on Lisa Yuskavage and Isa Genzken at David Zwirner; Huma Bhabha, Judy Chicago and Betty Woodman at Salon 94; and works by Cornelia Parker, whose roof installation just opened at the Met, at London’s Frith Street gallery.
Not everything is for sale. The fair, running Thursday through Sunday, also offers commissioned work through its Frieze Projects and Frieze Sounds |
A two-day walkout by thousands of West Virginia public schoolteachers and employees to protest low pay will continue on Monday, organizers said on Friday afternoon.
The American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, the West Virginia Education Association and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association organized the statewide action, which left more than a quarter of a million students out of school on Thursday and Friday in the state’s 55 counties.
“They believe that not enough has been done,” she said.
Organizers say teachers are so poorly paid in the state that some must take second jobs to make ends meet. In 2016, the average salary for a teacher in West Virginia was $45,622, ranking it 48th in the country, according to the National Education Association.
Schools across the state have a deficit of educators, and experienced teachers have left in search of adequate pay and benefits, the union said.
An estimated 5,000 teachers, parents and supporters protested at the Capitol building in Charleston on Friday, said Kym Randolph, the communications director for the West Virginia Education Association. There were slightly fewer demonstrators than on Thursday, when lines were so long it took up to three hours to get in.
West Virginia’s 680 public schools employ 19,488 classroom teachers, said Alyssa Keedy, a spokeswoman for the state’s education department. There are 277,137 students enrolled.
During the two-day shutdown, state food banks helped feed students who depend on school meals, and supplemental child care centers were set up, according to local news reports.
The strike took place after Gov. James C. Justice, a Republican, signed legislation on Wednesday that would provide teachers and school service personnel a 2 percent raise starting in July, part of an increase in salaries for some state employees.
Teachers and service personnel are scheduled to get an additional 1 percent raise in the 2020 fiscal year, and teachers will get another 1 percent raise in 2021.
Teachers’ unions say the raises will not cover cost-of-living increases. Ms. Randolph said that teachers’ salaries had stagnated for years and that the lack of state contributions to the health care plan had meant that inflation costs have been borne by the employees, who are struggling under higher deductibles, premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.
While the board of the Public Employees Insurance Agency, which administers the health care plan for state employees, has agreed to freeze rates in 2019, the teachers want a more permanent funding fix.
Governor Justice said the agency’s board would work on long-term solutions to address the teachers’ concerns. “Now we need to turn our focus back to continuing public education reforms and making our state educational system the best in the country,” he said.
Ms. Nester said the walkout seemed to have a lot of support from members of her community, adding that she was demonstrating in support of all state workers, not just educators.
| 2018-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A two-day walkout by thousands of West Virginia public schoolteachers and employees to protest low pay will continue on Monday, organizers said on Friday afternoon.
The American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, the West Virginia Education Association and the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association organized the statewide action, which left more than a quarter of a million students out of school on Thursday and Friday in the state’s 55 counties.
“They believe that not enough has been done,” she said.
Organizers say teachers are so poorly paid in the state that some must take second jobs to make ends meet. In 2016, the average salary for a teacher in West Virginia was $45,622, ranking it 48th in the country, according to the National Education Association.
Schools across the state have a deficit of educators, and experienced teachers have left in search of adequate pay and benefits, the union said.
An estimated 5,000 teachers, parents and supporters protested at the Capitol building in Charleston on Friday | , said Kym Randolph, the communications director for the West Virginia Education Association. There were slightly fewer demonstrators than on Thursday, when lines were so long it took up to three hours to get in.
West Virginia’s 680 public schools employ 19,488 classroom teachers, said Alyssa Keedy, a spokeswoman for the state’s education department. There are 277,137 students enrolled.
During the two-day shutdown, state food banks helped feed students who depend on school meals, and supplemental child care centers were set up, according to local news reports.
The strike took place after Gov. James C. Justice, a Republican, signed legislation on Wednesday that would provide teachers and school service personnel a 2 percent raise starting in July, part of an increase in salaries for some state employees.
Teachers and service personnel are scheduled to get an additional 1 percent raise in the 2020 fiscal year, and teachers will get another 1 percent raise in 2021.
Teachers’ unions say the |
A two-month investigation into the conduct of Peter Martins, the former chief of New York City Ballet and its school, did not corroborate any allegations of sexual harassment or physical abuse that several former dancers and others made against him this winter, according to a statement on Thursday.
The mixed signals — that there was no verifiable abuse, yet new policies were needed — infuriated some former dancers who had accused Mr. Martins of misconduct. Yet there were also bound to be frustrations among supporters of Mr. Martins, who retired last month under the pressure of the allegations, even though he professed his innocence and the investigation wasn’t complete. Some said they wished he still led the ballet or want to hold a tribute honoring him.
Mr. Martins, in a statement provided by his lawyer, said he was “gratified for the conclusions” of the investigation, conducted by an outside counsel, Barbara Hoey; her report will not be publicly released.
The investigation, which was initiated by the company and its School of American Ballet, was denounced Thursday by two former dancers who had come forward with accusations. They said Ms. Hoey, who interviewed them, had seemed sharply skeptical of their accounts of abuse. One of the dancers, Kelly Cass Boal, said she believed that the investigation was a whitewash meant to protect management and Mr. Martins.
“Everybody covers for him,” Ms. Boal said.
Charles W. Scharf, the chairman of the ballet, defended the thoroughness of the investigation, which included interviews with 77 current and former dancers and others.
The inquiry was prompted by an anonymous letter sent in early December to the company and school that accused Mr. Martins of sexual harassment.
In the wake of the letter’s allegation — the specifics were never released — several former dancers came forward with reports of physical and verbal abuse by Mr. Martins. Other former dancers described a culture of fear about speaking up, retribution for whistle-blowers and enabling by the board and management.
Mr. Ostrovsky said the outcome only confirmed his misgivings after meeting with the investigator, Ms. Hoey, the management lawyer. “She wasn’t blatantly discrediting me, but it felt like she was suggesting that maybe I didn’t experience that,” Mr. Ostrovsky said.
“They’re going to make it look pretty,” said Ms. Boal, who is married to Peter Boal, artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle and director of its school.
Many of those who say they were mistreated by Mr. Martins have remarked on the lack of any public statement or apology from the board in response to their accusations regarding Mr. Martins. In particular, several have expressed being disappointed by the public silence from Sarah Jessica Parker, the vice chairwoman of the board, who has been vocal about the Time’s Up movement in Hollywood.
A number of current dancers, as well as some current and former board members, have remained loyal to Mr. Martins and continue to regret his departure.
Earle Mack, a former trustee, whose wife, Carol D. Mack, continues to serve on the board, said in an interview before the investigation’s conclusion that the board “acted prematurely” in letting Mr. Martins go.
It remains unclear when a successor to Mr. Martins will be named; Mr. Scharf said the ballet had only begun the search process.
A team of dancers is leading the company in the interim: Justin Peck, Rebecca Krohn, Jonathan Stafford and Craig Hall. Because Mr. Martins had been in charge for more than 30 years, Mr. Scharf said, the ballet has an opportunity to examine the role anew, including whether it should be held by just one person and whether that person should head both the company and the school.
The company has also hired an independent outside vendor to handle employee complaints anonymously and instituted a system for anonymous reporting of inappropriate conduct.
Nevertheless, there remains concern among people outside the ballet that, without changes in governance, the culture won’t change. In 1992, Mr. Martins was charged with assaulting his wife, Darci Kistler, then a principal dancer at City Ballet. The misdemeanor charge was later dropped. Shortly before he retired, Mr. Martins was charged with driving while intoxicated in Westchester County. In a previous incident, in 2011, he pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated.
“If all these people who are responsible for the behavior of Peter Martins are still there, certain things will still happen,” Mr. Ostrovsky said. | 2018-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A two-month investigation into the conduct of Peter Martins, the former chief of New York City Ballet and its school, did not corroborate any allegations of sexual harassment or physical abuse that several former dancers and others made against him this winter, according to a statement on Thursday.
The mixed signals — that there was no verifiable abuse, yet new policies were needed — infuriated some former dancers who had accused Mr. Martins of misconduct. Yet there were also bound to be frustrations among supporters of Mr. Martins, who retired last month under the pressure of the allegations, even though he professed his innocence and the investigation wasn’t complete. Some said they wished he still led the ballet or want to hold a tribute honoring him.
Mr. Martins, in a statement provided by his lawyer, said he was “gratified for the conclusions” of the investigation, conducted by an outside counsel, Barbara Hoey; her report will not be publicly released.
The investigation, which was initiated by the company and | its School of American Ballet, was denounced Thursday by two former dancers who had come forward with accusations. They said Ms. Hoey, who interviewed them, had seemed sharply skeptical of their accounts of abuse. One of the dancers, Kelly Cass Boal, said she believed that the investigation was a whitewash meant to protect management and Mr. Martins.
“Everybody covers for him,” Ms. Boal said.
Charles W. Scharf, the chairman of the ballet, defended the thoroughness of the investigation, which included interviews with 77 current and former dancers and others.
The inquiry was prompted by an anonymous letter sent in early December to the company and school that accused Mr. Martins of sexual harassment.
In the wake of the letter’s allegation — the specifics were never released — several former dancers came forward with reports of physical and verbal abuse by Mr. Martins. Other former dancers described a culture of fear about speaking up, retribution for whistle-blowers and enabling by the board and |
A two-year legal battle between Apple and its chip supplier, Qualcomm, reached a new level of contention on Monday when Qualcomm said a Chinese court had ordered Apple to stop selling older iPhone models in China.
The court ruling is the latest turn in the two companies’ fight over Apple’s use of Qualcomm technology in iPhones. But Apple and Qualcomm disagreed on the impact the decision will have on iPhone sales in China.
Qualcomm said a Chinese court ruled on Nov. 30 that Apple had infringed on two Qualcomm patents and issued a preliminary injunction that bars Apple from selling the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6S Plus, the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X in China. The ruling did not apply to Apple’s three newest iPhones: the XS, the XS Max and the XR.
Apple said in a statement, however, that it continued to sell all iPhone models in China.
“Qualcomm’s effort to ban our products is another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world,” an Apple spokesman, Josh Rosenstock, said. He added that in the Chinese court case, Qualcomm had challenged Apple on three patents it had never raised before, including one that had already been invalidated.
Late Monday in China, Apple continued to sell four of the seven iPhone models affected by the ruling — the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus — on its Chinese website, as well as its newer models.
Apple’s stock price was up less than 1 percent on Monday. Qualcomm’s stock rose 2.2 percent.
A slowdown in iPhone sales has contributed to a roughly 25 percent slide in Apple’s share price since the company last released quarterly results on Nov. 1. The ruling also adds to developments that have worsened trade tensions between the United States and China, including the recent arrest of the chief financial officer of the Chinese electronics giant Huawei.
“The hits keep coming,” said Tom Forte, an Apple analyst at D. A. Davidson, referring to the string of negative headlines for the company. He added that the Chinese ruling was not as worrisome as other recent news because it affected only older smartphones and could still be resolved.
It is possible that Apple would be able to sell older iPhones if they were running on newer software. But Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm’s executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement that the court ruling wasn’t specific to the phones’ software. He said Qualcomm would ask the Chinese courts to enforce the order.
“Apple continues to benefit from our intellectual property while refusing to compensate us,” he said.
Qualcomm, which has long sold key communications chips to Apple but has been excluded from its latest models, has filed a series of patent suits against the smartphone giant in multiple countries. Those lawsuits came after Apple filed suit in early 2017 challenging Qualcomm’s practices in licensing its patents.
The ruling in China involved two Qualcomm patents. One lets consumers adjust and reformat the size and appearance of photographs. The other manages applications using a touch screen when viewing, navigating and dismissing applications, Qualcomm said.
A Qualcomm spokeswoman said Apple could ask the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court to reconsider its orders within 10 days of being served with them. There is no other appeal process. Apple cannot post a bond or pay a fine and continue infringing the two patents, she said.
Apple said it had filed a request for “reconsideration” with the court on Monday, the first step in appealing the preliminary injunction.
Steve Mollenkopf, Qualcomm’s chief executive, has said he expects that victories in its patent cases would help persuade Apple to agree to settle the legal disputes.
Qualcomm is the largest supplier of modem chips that allow smartphones to communicate over cellular networks. More than half of its profits have historically come from patent license fees it charges to phone makers, which have in turn complained to regulatory authorities and sued Qualcomm.
Apple sued Qualcomm in January 2017, accusing it of monopolistic practices that harm Apple and the industry. The Federal Trade Commission raised similar charges in a case filed against Qualcomm the same month. Qualcomm has insisted its practices are legal.
Apple has gradually reduced its reliance on Qualcomm, turning to Intel for modem chips in its latest iPhones.
Qualcomm has tried to put pressure on Apple by claiming patent infringement and other misdeeds, such as accusations that Apple stole proprietary Qualcomm software and shared it with Intel. Apple said Qualcomm had failed to provide evidence of any stolen information.
Qualcomm has also resorted to an aggressive public-relations campaign against Apple. It enlisted the firm Definers Public Affairs to publish negative articles about Apple on a conservative website and to start a false campaign to draft Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, as a presidential candidate, presumably to make him a target of President Trump.
News of the Chinese court’s ruling emerged during a broad skirmish between China and the United States over trade. The United States has cracked down on ZTE and Huawei, two Chinese telecommunications giants, for illicit activities. And China scuttled Qualcomm’s proposed acquisition of NXP, a Dutch chip maker.
Some business leaders in the United States have been bracing for retribution from China after the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Canada, fearing that American executives in China could be harassed.
The Trump administration said last week that it did not anticipate such retaliation and expressed hope that the situation, which it described as a criminal justice matter, would not derail trade talks. | 2018-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A two-year legal battle between Apple and its chip supplier, Qualcomm, reached a new level of contention on Monday when Qualcomm said a Chinese court had ordered Apple to stop selling older iPhone models in China.
The court ruling is the latest turn in the two companies’ fight over Apple’s use of Qualcomm technology in iPhones. But Apple and Qualcomm disagreed on the impact the decision will have on iPhone sales in China.
Qualcomm said a Chinese court ruled on Nov. 30 that Apple had infringed on two Qualcomm patents and issued a preliminary injunction that bars Apple from selling the iPhone 6S, the iPhone 6S Plus, the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus, the iPhone 8, the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X in China. The ruling did not apply to Apple’s three newest iPhones: the XS, the XS Max and the XR.
Apple said in a statement, however, that it continued to sell all iPhone models in China.
“Qualcomm’s effort | to ban our products is another desperate move by a company whose illegal practices are under investigation by regulators around the world,” an Apple spokesman, Josh Rosenstock, said. He added that in the Chinese court case, Qualcomm had challenged Apple on three patents it had never raised before, including one that had already been invalidated.
Late Monday in China, Apple continued to sell four of the seven iPhone models affected by the ruling — the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus — on its Chinese website, as well as its newer models.
Apple’s stock price was up less than 1 percent on Monday. Qualcomm’s stock rose 2.2 percent.
A slowdown in iPhone sales has contributed to a roughly 25 percent slide in Apple’s share price since the company last released quarterly results on Nov. 1. The ruling also adds to developments that have worsened trade tensions between the United States and China, including the recent arrest of the chief financial officer of the Chinese |
A typical American funeral usually involves a few hallmarks we’ve come to expect: an expensive coffin, lots of flowers, an embalming for the deceased and a number of other add-ons.
The specifics of a green burial vary widely, but typically they require far fewer resources for the care of the body and skip a number of the traditional steps, making them better for the environment. Plus, they can save families on funeral costs.
Interest in these pared-down, eco-friendly options has grown as people look for ways to cut their carbon footprint. Nearly 54 percent of Americans are considering a green burial, and 72 percent of cemeteries are reporting an increased demand, according to a survey released earlier this year by the National Funeral Directors Association.
Death planning may not be at the top of your mind, but if you’re curious about looking into a green burial, here’s what to know.
What exactly is a green burial?
The Green Burial Council’s steps for minimizing negative environmental effects include forgoing embalming, skipping concrete vaults, rethinking burial containers and maintaining and protecting natural habitat. Choices can be made at each step of the death care process to limit waste, reduce the carbon footprint and even nourish the local ecosystem.
Embalming, vaults and coffins can be expensive, with the national median cost of a funeral reaching upward of $8,500, according to the N.F.D.A. Replacing them with other options or scrapping them altogether can save money as well as the environment, since you’re not spending on extraneous items or putting them into the ground.
The extent of how “green” a burial can be is up to the individual; the service can be as simple as wrapping the deceased in a cotton shroud before lowering them into the ground. The services can also become more complicated, involving a memorial ceremony and burial in a conservation park like Washington’s Greenacres, where families can choose to plant a variety of plants, flowers and shrubs on the grave.
These aren’t entirely new ideas — the funeral traditions of many religions, for example, are in line with these steps.
Death planning is a deeply personal and often unpleasant topic, so reasons for choosing one type of burial over another are as varied as you can imagine. But for many people who opt for a green burial, it can come down to cost, environmental impact and legacy.
The reason others choose green burial is right in the name: It’s environmentally friendly. Green burials do away with both the embalming chemicals and the extraneous cement, steel or other non-biodegradable materials conventional burials put into the earth, and lack the carbon footprint of cremation, which has been calculated to be the equivalent of a 500-mile car journey.
But isn’t embalming necessary?
Generally speaking, no. Embalming — the preservation of human remains for public display through the use of a chemical mixture that delays decomposition and makes the body “look natural” — is more of a cosmetic procedure than a public health safeguard.
“The easy elimination in traditional funerals is embalming,” said Amber Carvaly, a service director at California’s Undertaking LA, referring to how to lessen a funeral’s environmental impact.
Still, popular culture tends to reinforce the idea that embalming is a necessary step: Just about 48 percent of people are aware that embalming isn’t needed for a cremation service, according to the N.F.D.A.’s consumer survey.
Jeff Jorgenson, who owns Elemental Cremation and Burial in Washington, said forgoing embalming is a crucial part of green burials.
Instead, he suggested asking for dry ice or Techni-ice, a refrigeration unit, or a nontoxic embalming agent. You can also keep (or bring) the body home and cool it with fans, cooling blankets or open windows.
Here is what Americans put in the ground each year through traditional burials: 20 million feet of wood, 4.3 million gallons of embalming fluids, 1.6 million tons of reinforced concrete, 17,000 tons of copper and bronze, and 64,500 tons of steel, according to the Green Burial Council.
Green burials eliminate much of this waste by leaving out almost all of those materials; most bodies are simply wrapped in shrouds made from a biodegradable material like cotton and placed in the ground. And although cremations often have the reputation as being an eco-friendly option, they tend to have an outsize carbon footprint.
Each option has its pros and cons, and it’s important to consider your situation. If you’re attentive to your carbon footprint, cremation in your hometown might still be a better choice than using a green cemetery hours away, and certain funeral homes have ways to offset the environmental hit, like working with organizations on strategic reforestation processes, Mr. Jorgenson said.
Should you go with cremation, there is one final factor to consider: What to do with the remains.
“Even scattering small amounts can be hazardous in a delicate environment such as an alpine environment or vernal pool,” said Michelle Acciavatti of Ending Well, a service that guides families all over the country through their end-of-life options.
Instead of scattering, try Let Your Love Grow, a product that turns ashes into plantable soil for a memorial flower or tree. Another option is Eternal Reefs, which hold cremated remains in an underwater cement ball and create new marine habitats for fish and other sea life.
While cremation is a straightforward option, a green burial encapsulates a wider range of decisions, from how to where. If there aren’t green cemeteries where you live, there are still plenty of ways to minimize the burial process’s environmental impact.
Substitute concrete vaults and toxic burial containers for coffins made with sustainably harvested wood and organic liners, and check if products or components were transported over long distances, which can increase the carbon footprint.
You also shouldn’t feel limited by what a funeral home is selling you — by federal law, they’re required to accept a coffin provided by the customer at no extra charge. Or skip the coffin altogether. A shroud made from organic, biodegradable cotton can be purchased through your funeral home or online, or even at the local fabric store.
When it comes to green burials, funeral professionals say the biggest challenge is a lack of awareness and resources.
Ms. Acciavatti and many others in the industry believe that educating the public as well as continuing to invest in green practices helps not just the environment, but humans, too.
The Green Burial Council’s website has information, a list of providers and additional resources for people interested in green burial.
The Order of the Good Death, a collective of funeral professionals, academics and artists, has an informative page about green burials.
Looking for a green burial for you and your pet? Visit the Green Pet-Burial Society. | 2018-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A typical American funeral usually involves a few hallmarks we’ve come to expect: an expensive coffin, lots of flowers, an embalming for the deceased and a number of other add-ons.
The specifics of a green burial vary widely, but typically they require far fewer resources for the care of the body and skip a number of the traditional steps, making them better for the environment. Plus, they can save families on funeral costs.
Interest in these pared-down, eco-friendly options has grown as people look for ways to cut their carbon footprint. Nearly 54 percent of Americans are considering a green burial, and 72 percent of cemeteries are reporting an increased demand, according to a survey released earlier this year by the National Funeral Directors Association.
Death planning may not be at the top of your mind, but if you’re curious about looking into a green burial, here’s what to know.
What exactly is a green burial?
The Green Burial Council’s steps for minimizing negative environmental | effects include forgoing embalming, skipping concrete vaults, rethinking burial containers and maintaining and protecting natural habitat. Choices can be made at each step of the death care process to limit waste, reduce the carbon footprint and even nourish the local ecosystem.
Embalming, vaults and coffins can be expensive, with the national median cost of a funeral reaching upward of $8,500, according to the N.F.D.A. Replacing them with other options or scrapping them altogether can save money as well as the environment, since you’re not spending on extraneous items or putting them into the ground.
The extent of how “green” a burial can be is up to the individual; the service can be as simple as wrapping the deceased in a cotton shroud before lowering them into the ground. The services can also become more complicated, involving a memorial ceremony and burial in a conservation park like Washington’s Greenacres, where families can choose to plant a variety of plants, |
A union in Nevada, the third state to vote in the Democratic primary, told presidential candidates that health care, specifically keeping union health care, is what’s on their members’ minds.
Ms. Warren, the Massachusetts senator and 2020 presidential candidate, had toured the gleaming clinic where housekeepers and bartenders in the local culinary workers’ union and their families can see a doctor, visit the dentist and pick up their prescriptions. She did not directly answer the question about health care, which has divided the Democratic candidates.
The candidates were wooing the Culinary Workers Local 226, which with 60,000 members has outsize political firepower in a state where organized labor still holds sway and has played a key role in electing Democrats in Nevada. In 2016, the union remained neutral during the primary, but knocked on doors and delivered enough votes for Hillary Clinton to capture the state in the general election.
Now, the union’s endorsement is one every Democratic presidential candidate is vying for before Nevada becomes the third state to vote, on Feb. 22, less than three weeks after Iowa and a week before South Carolina.
In three days at a candidates’ forum this week, the union hosted three of the top candidates, a clear show of influence.
The dominant question for the candidates was about health care: whether they support “Medicare for all,” as Ms. Warren does, which would abolish the private insurance unions have long fought for. And one answer was apparent: the vast majority of the union members want to keep their health care just the way it is.
Ms. Muñoz was one of hundreds of casino workers who went on strike for more than six years in the 1990s, when one of their primary demands was better health insurance.
“We have in this country a dysfunctional, broken and cruel health care system,” Mr. Sanders said, adding that he views health care as a human right.
Unruffled, he addressed the question head-on.
Though he received loud applause, there was no shortage of skepticism of that promise as union members milled through the hall after he spoke.
“Nobody believes that, come on,” D. Taylor, the head of Unite Here, the Culinary union’s national organization, said after Mr. Sanders spoke.
Nevada’s demographics are far more diverse than any of the other early-voting states, and few groups have the diversity of the Culinary Workers Union: 54 percent Latino, 19 percent white, 15 percent Asian and 10 percent black. The majority-female union describes itself as the largest immigrant organization in the state, with members who come from 178 countries. And since the union began a citizenship initiative in 2001, more than 18,000 workers have become citizens.
These are the people who quietly make Las Vegas the tourist haven it is: the union’s members shuttle luggage, serve drinks, cook food, make beds and generally do whatever the millions of visitors who come here annually desire. Nearly 15 percent of Nevada’s work force are part of a labor union, one of the highest rates in the country, even though it is a right-to-work state, which means workers are allowed to decline membership to a union.
Beyond electoral politics, the union is a labor advocacy group, organizing multiyear strikes to fight for higher wages and — equally important in the eyes of members — health benefits.
Ms. Argüello-Kline began her career as a maid before becoming an organizer with the union, and took over the union’s highest office in 2012.
But whom will the union back? While Mr. Biden clearly enjoys popularity for his approach to health care, many members favor Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders for other reasons, including their more liberal positions on immigration.
Mr. Taylor, of Unite Here, said he had not ruled out backing either Ms. Warren or Mr. Sanders.
The union has a history of effective turnout. In 2008, Unite Here endorsed Barack Obama soon after he lost in New Hampshire, providing the campaign with a key boost and helping him amass more delegates in Nevada, though he lost the popular vote to Ms. Clinton.
During the 2018 midterms, about 250 culinary workers took leave from their jobs to focus on elections, registering 10,000 new voters and knocking on 200,000 doors. Democrats won several key races, flipping a Senate seat and capturing the governor’s office for the first time since 1999.
In dozens of interviews with rank-and-file members, they voiced a broad range of opinions about the candidates: Many said they were undecided; some favored Mr. Sanders for his populist appeals and immigration proposals, others Mr. Biden because they liked his health care plans and because they believe he has the best chance to win in the general election. Ms. Warren won over some women here Monday, though several said they were disappointed she did not answer questions more directly, sticking instead to more familiar talking points that are part of her stump speech.
But Mr. Biden faced some skepticism for his record on immigration, with one member asking him how he would approach deportations differently than he did under the Obama administration, which deported roughly three million people.
The former vice president began by citing the “incredible pain” caused by those deportations and assured the crowd that those without criminal records would not be deported in his administration, as part of an immigration plan he announced Wednesday.
Union members repeatedly raised immigration and health care as the most important issues. Even those who were pleased with their own health plan spoke about friends and family members who have gone without needed medication or gone bankrupt to pay for hospital bills.
Selamawit Gudeta, 37, who works at the MGM Grand casino, said she has supported Mr. Sanders since 2016 and will vote for him again this time.
“He cares about workers, he cares about families, he cares about all the little people and the things I care about,” Ms. Gudeta said.
If there was any doubt about how much of an effort the candidates were making in their appeals, Mr. Biden made it plain during his town hall Wednesday. He stepped offstage and into the crowd, often speaking in hushed tones as though he were confiding in the members.
“If I end up being your president, you will never ever ever have in American history someone who is more pro-labor in the White House,” he said.
He was rewarded with the longest selfie line at the union hall in three days. | 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A union in Nevada, the third state to vote in the Democratic primary, told presidential candidates that health care, specifically keeping union health care, is what’s on their members’ minds.
Ms. Warren, the Massachusetts senator and 2020 presidential candidate, had toured the gleaming clinic where housekeepers and bartenders in the local culinary workers’ union and their families can see a doctor, visit the dentist and pick up their prescriptions. She did not directly answer the question about health care, which has divided the Democratic candidates.
The candidates were wooing the Culinary Workers Local 226, which with 60,000 members has outsize political firepower in a state where organized labor still holds sway and has played a key role in electing Democrats in Nevada. In 2016, the union remained neutral during the primary, but knocked on doors and delivered enough votes for Hillary Clinton to capture the state in the general election.
Now, the union’s endorsement is one every Democratic presidential candidate is v | ying for before Nevada becomes the third state to vote, on Feb. 22, less than three weeks after Iowa and a week before South Carolina.
In three days at a candidates’ forum this week, the union hosted three of the top candidates, a clear show of influence.
The dominant question for the candidates was about health care: whether they support “Medicare for all,” as Ms. Warren does, which would abolish the private insurance unions have long fought for. And one answer was apparent: the vast majority of the union members want to keep their health care just the way it is.
Ms. Muñoz was one of hundreds of casino workers who went on strike for more than six years in the 1990s, when one of their primary demands was better health insurance.
“We have in this country a dysfunctional, broken and cruel health care system,” Mr. Sanders said, adding that he views health care as a human right.
Unruffled, he addressed the question head-on.
|
A unit of Warren Buffett’s empire paid an inflated price for a pipe maker that used fake sales to look profitable, an arbitration panel concluded. The firm was close to bankruptcy.
FRANKFURT — Only a few weeks after Berkshire Hathaway bought what looked like an upstanding example of German engineering prowess, a manager in Warren Buffett’s widely admired corporate empire received an unsettling email.
The whistle-blower’s tip eventually led to the exposure of an elaborate conspiracy involving fake sales invoices, phantom customers and hacked computer systems, according to testimony in a legal dispute. The case showed that even Mr. Buffett, one of the shrewdest investors in the world, can be hoodwinked.
What looked like a profitable German manufacturer of specialized pipes for the oil and gas industry was, in fact, nearly bankrupt, according to testimony.
As a result, according to the findings of an American arbitration panel, Precision Castparts, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, paid 800 million euros, or $870 million, for a company that was worth only about one-fifth that price.
The acquisition of the company, Wilhelm Schulz, was an expensive misstep for Mr. Buffett’s holding company, which has also been hit hard by the pandemic. Early in May, Berkshire Hathaway reported a loss of almost $50 billion in the first quarter as lockdowns and the economic downturn took a toll on the company’s portfolio of airlines and financial firms.
The case also dents the mythos of the Mittelstand — the midsize manufacturing companies that underpin the German economy. German prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation focusing on eight suspects at Wilhelm Schulz, all of them former high-ranking executives, finance officials or information technology specialists. None have been charged.
The investigation was reported earlier by the Handelsblatt newspaper.
The circumstances that allowed Mr. Buffett’s organization to be tripped up by a little-known German manufacturer were detailed by the arbitration panel that considered a complaint filed by Precision Castparts, which is based in Portland, Ore. The tribunal found that Wilhelm Schulz executives and employees had “engaged in a pervasive scheme” to conceal the company’s dire financial condition so that Precision Castparts would go ahead with the acquisition.
Lawyers representing interests of the sellers, three German holding companies owned primarily by members of the Schulz family, deny wrongdoing and have asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss the arbitrators’ decision.
On the surface, Wilhelm Schulz seemed like the kind of solid industrial company that has made Germany an export powerhouse. Based in Krefeld, north of Düsseldorf in Germany’s industrial heartland, Schulz appeared to have a strong position in its market niche: specialized pipes for the oil and gas industry.
The chief executive, Wolfgang Schulz, was the son of Wilhelm Schulz, who put his name on the company when he founded it only months after the end of World War II. Wolfgang Schulz was well known locally as the owner of a pro ice hockey team, the Krefeld Penguins. Mr. Schulz has denied wrongdoing and vowed to clear his name.
Precision Castparts began thinking about acquiring Wilhelm Schulz after being approached by an intermediary in 2016.
Berkshire Hathaway had acquired Precision Castparts only a few months earlier for $37 billion, Mr. Buffett’s biggest acquisition ever. Though best known for its aircraft parts, Precision Castparts also makes products for oil and gas production, an industry that was suffering even before the pandemic caused fuel prices to plummet.
Wilhelm Schulz seemed like a way for Precision Castparts to increase its presence overseas, and a rare opportunity to buy a German company. Many midsize German manufacturers are owned by families that are loath to sell.
Precision Castparts dispatched employees to Krefeld, where they spent six months poring over Wilhelm Schulz’s financial records. They examined lists of the biggest customers, interviewed Schulz employees and visited Schulz facilities.
But unbeknown to Precision Castparts, Schulz had narrowly avoided bankruptcy only weeks before. The company had been unable to make payments on a €325 million credit line from Commerzbank, according to the arbitrators’ report. A lawyer hired by Schulz had advised the company that it was obligated under German law to file for insolvency.
Schulz avoided that fate only because it persuaded Commerzbank to front it €8 million more, saying it was waiting for payment from a big customer. The bridge loan came with a proviso. If Schulz couldn’t pay, Commerzbank would effectively take control of the company.
Schulz was also raising cash by borrowing against accounts receivable — money that customers owe but have not yet paid — a common practice known as factoring. But some of the documentation that Schulz presented to the lender (and later reviewed by Precision Castparts before the purchase) was fabricated by using Photoshop software to create fake invoices and delivery receipts, the arbitrators found.
How could Precision Castparts’ auditors miss these glaring problems? One incident described in the arbitrators’ report illustrates how Schulz employees made the company look healthier than it was.
In October 2016, as Precision Castparts was going through Schulz’s financial records, a Schulz information technology employee engineered a five-day outage of the computer system used to track sales and orders. A team at Schulz exploited the downtime to fabricate nearly 50 orders, worth tens of millions of euros, that were backdated to make it look as if they had been placed in 2014 and 2015, according to the arbitrators’ report.
Orders were recorded from companies with which Schulz no longer did business, according to testimony. One supposed customer had effectively ceased to exist years earlier.
The whistle-blower’s email arrived in early March.
“I regard this as a criminal act and don’t want to work for a company which uses such methods any longer,” the email said.
Alarmed, Precision Castparts flew in consultants who specialize in accounting fraud, along with its own financial controllers.
After months of digging, one investigator discovered the backdated computer invoices. Another learned from Schulz employees not involved in the fraud that companies that were supposed to be among the firm’s biggest customers were not customers at all. Auditors found emails in which Schulz employees appeared to be discussing how to artificially pump up sales.
In 2018, in an attempt to get some of its money back, Precision Castparts invoked a provision of the sales contract that required disputes to be settled by arbitrators.
In April, a tribunal in New York found that Wolfgang Schulz and his employees had “engaged in a pervasive effort to present a fundamentally misleading picture of the financial condition” of the company. An expert who testified concluded that fake transactions inflated Wilhelm Schulz’s profits by €160 million.
His lawyers argue that Wilhelm Schulz was worth the €800 million that Precision Castparts paid for it. Any loss of value was caused by poor management since the acquisition took place, including a decision to fire all the top executives after irregularities were discovered, they say.
Precision Castparts “continues to aggressively use the Schulz brand in the market, even as it demands return of the purchase price,” Schulz Holding said in a statement.
Precision Castparts has prevailed in the legal battle so far. The arbitration tribunal awarded it €643 million in damages — the purchase price minus Wilhelm Schulz’s estimated true value of €157 million.
It’s doubtful whether Precision Castparts will be able to collect the money. The three holding companies that sold their shares in Wilhelm Schulz have declared insolvency. Wolfgang Schulz sold almost all of his stake in the Krefeld Penguins in April for an undisclosed price. Jan-Philipp Hoos, a Düsseldorf lawyer who is serving as bankruptcy administrator of the holding companies, declined to comment.
The financial hit comes at an especially bad time for Precision Castparts. Its main customers, aircraft makers like Boeing as well as oil and gas producers, have been hit hard by the economic effects of the pandemic.
But Wilhelm Schulz does not seem to have shaken Mr. Buffett’s faith in Germany, a country whose engineering he has often praised.
| 2020-07 | <|begin_of_text|>A unit of Warren Buffett’s empire paid an inflated price for a pipe maker that used fake sales to look profitable, an arbitration panel concluded. The firm was close to bankruptcy.
FRANKFURT — Only a few weeks after Berkshire Hathaway bought what looked like an upstanding example of German engineering prowess, a manager in Warren Buffett’s widely admired corporate empire received an unsettling email.
The whistle-blower’s tip eventually led to the exposure of an elaborate conspiracy involving fake sales invoices, phantom customers and hacked computer systems, according to testimony in a legal dispute. The case showed that even Mr. Buffett, one of the shrewdest investors in the world, can be hoodwinked.
What looked like a profitable German manufacturer of specialized pipes for the oil and gas industry was, in fact, nearly bankrupt, according to testimony.
As a result, according to the findings of an American arbitration panel, Precision Castparts, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, paid 800 million euros, or $870 | million, for a company that was worth only about one-fifth that price.
The acquisition of the company, Wilhelm Schulz, was an expensive misstep for Mr. Buffett’s holding company, which has also been hit hard by the pandemic. Early in May, Berkshire Hathaway reported a loss of almost $50 billion in the first quarter as lockdowns and the economic downturn took a toll on the company’s portfolio of airlines and financial firms.
The case also dents the mythos of the Mittelstand — the midsize manufacturing companies that underpin the German economy. German prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation focusing on eight suspects at Wilhelm Schulz, all of them former high-ranking executives, finance officials or information technology specialists. None have been charged.
The investigation was reported earlier by the Handelsblatt newspaper.
The circumstances that allowed Mr. Buffett’s organization to be tripped up by a little-known German manufacturer were detailed by the arbitration panel that considered a complaint filed by Precision Castparts, |
A university review found that the disgraced financier, who killed himself last year, visited Harvard more than 40 times after he was convicted of sex charges involving a minor in Florida.
He had no official Harvard affiliation, yet Jeffrey Epstein had his own office, key card and Harvard phone line. He would often swing by on weekends to host dinners with academics he wanted to meet.
According to a university report released on Friday, Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in jail last year, visited Harvard more than 40 times after he was convicted of sex charges involving a minor in 2008.
The report documented more extensive ties than had been previously known between Mr. Epstein and the university, which was one of a number of powerful institutions that he used to help burnish his image. Harvard said it had placed one professor, Martin A. Nowak, on paid administrative leave in response to the findings.
In a letter to the Harvard community, the university’s president, Lawrence S. Bacow, said the university had also donated $200,937 in unspent gifts from Mr. Epstein to organizations that support victims of human trafficking and sexual assault.
Mr. Bacow said that a review had confirmed that the university accepted a total of $9.1 million from Mr. Epstein from 1998 to 2008 to support research and faculty activities. That is about $200,000 more than had been disclosed by Mr. Bacow in September after an initial review.
Drew G. Faust, who was then the president of Harvard, had ruled in 2008 that the university should no longer accept gifts from him, the report said.
From 2010 to 2018, the report said, Mr. Epstein made more than 40 visits to the university’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which Mr. Epstein helped establish with a $6.5 million donation in 2003. Despite having no Harvard affiliation, Mr. Epstein had key-card access to the program’s offices in Harvard Square and was given his own office space within the program until 2018, the report said. It was known as “Jeffrey’s Office,” the report said.
Mr. Epstein had cultivated a close relationship with Professor Nowak, the director of the program, who “permitted Epstein to have unrestricted access to Harvard offices,” despite knowing he was a registered sex offender, the report said.
Professor Nowak also allowed Mr. Epstein to create a page on the program’s website that featured his photograph and links to his own website, the report said. The page was taken down after a group of sexual assault survivors complained in 2014, it said.
The report also accused Professor Nowak of falsely informing a grant-making foundation that he had matching funds from one of Mr. Epstein’s foundations, even though he had no such funds.
Claudine Gay, dean of the school’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said on Friday that she had placed Professor Nowak on paid administrative leave pending a review of whether he had violated policies and standards of professional conduct.
Mr. Epstein paid the tuition and fees to be a visiting fellow and showed up for registration but “did little to pursue his proposed course of study,” the report said. Still, Mr. Epstein applied for the fellowship again in the 2006-7 academic year, and was accepted. He agreed to withdraw in 2006 after he was arrested, the report said.
Dr. Kosslyn, who left the university in 2011 and is now a professor emeritus at Harvard, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Friday. | 2020-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A university review found that the disgraced financier, who killed himself last year, visited Harvard more than 40 times after he was convicted of sex charges involving a minor in Florida.
He had no official Harvard affiliation, yet Jeffrey Epstein had his own office, key card and Harvard phone line. He would often swing by on weekends to host dinners with academics he wanted to meet.
According to a university report released on Friday, Mr. Epstein, the disgraced financier who killed himself in jail last year, visited Harvard more than 40 times after he was convicted of sex charges involving a minor in 2008.
The report documented more extensive ties than had been previously known between Mr. Epstein and the university, which was one of a number of powerful institutions that he used to help burnish his image. Harvard said it had placed one professor, Martin A. Nowak, on paid administrative leave in response to the findings.
In a letter to the Harvard community, the university’s president, Lawrence S | . Bacow, said the university had also donated $200,937 in unspent gifts from Mr. Epstein to organizations that support victims of human trafficking and sexual assault.
Mr. Bacow said that a review had confirmed that the university accepted a total of $9.1 million from Mr. Epstein from 1998 to 2008 to support research and faculty activities. That is about $200,000 more than had been disclosed by Mr. Bacow in September after an initial review.
Drew G. Faust, who was then the president of Harvard, had ruled in 2008 that the university should no longer accept gifts from him, the report said.
From 2010 to 2018, the report said, Mr. Epstein made more than 40 visits to the university’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which Mr. Epstein helped establish with a $6.5 million donation in 2003. Despite having no Harvard affiliation, Mr. Epstein had key-card access to |
A vast conspiracy of well-connected insiders had colluded to rob Donald J. Trump of a prize that was rightfully his (or at least that is what he thought). The year was 2004. And then 2005.
Mr. Trump never forgot the injustices, so years later he used Twitter to vent his anger at a rigged system that he believed had done him wrong.
At the presidential debate on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton said that Mr. Trump blamed a rigged system whenever something didn’t go his way. One example she cited was the Emmy Awards, which had never given Mr. Trump’s hit reality television show, “The Apprentice,” the accolades that he thought it deserved.
“There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged against him,” she said.
Mr. Trump’s own extensive record of Twitter posts backs up Mrs. Clinton’s claim.
“The Apprentice” aired on NBC for seven seasons between 2004 and 2010, followed by a spinoff, “Celebrity Apprentice.” It was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program in 2004 and 2005, but it lost to “The Amazing Race” both times — even after Mr. Trump agreed to sing a song alongside the actress Megan Mullally during the 2005 telecast.
Mr. Trump did not have his outsize Twitter presence when his show lost its Emmy bids, so he was not able to post the rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness thoughts and attacks that have become such a part of the 2016 campaign.
But after he embraced social media, Mr. Trump returned to the topic again and again in tweets and in YouTube videos posted many years after he lost. His fulminations over his Emmy snubs echo much of the language he has used to attack his political opponents during the presidential campaign.
“Certain shows — and I can name them and maybe at some point I will — just don’t get the acclaim that they should and other shows year after year after year keep being nominated and whether people watch them or not they shouldn’t be nominated and everyone knows it,” he said in one YouTube video from 2011.
The Emmys were “a con game” and “an irrelevant show,” he added.
In a series of tweets posted between 2012 and 2014 he criticized the awards show that snubbed him as having “no credibility” and “low ratings.” The show that beat him was “a joke,” he said.
| 2016-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A vast conspiracy of well-connected insiders had colluded to rob Donald J. Trump of a prize that was rightfully his (or at least that is what he thought). The year was 2004. And then 2005.
Mr. Trump never forgot the injustices, so years later he used Twitter to vent his anger at a rigged system that he believed had done him wrong.
At the presidential debate on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton said that Mr. Trump blamed a rigged system whenever something didn’t go his way. One example she cited was the Emmy Awards, which had never given Mr. Trump’s hit reality television show, “The Apprentice,” the accolades that he thought it deserved.
“There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged against him,” she said.
Mr. Trump’s own extensive record of Twitter posts backs up Mrs. Clinton’s claim.
“The Apprentice” aired on NBC | for seven seasons between 2004 and 2010, followed by a spinoff, “Celebrity Apprentice.” It was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program in 2004 and 2005, but it lost to “The Amazing Race” both times — even after Mr. Trump agreed to sing a song alongside the actress Megan Mullally during the 2005 telecast.
Mr. Trump did not have his outsize Twitter presence when his show lost its Emmy bids, so he was not able to post the rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness thoughts and attacks that have become such a part of the 2016 campaign.
But after he embraced social media, Mr. Trump returned to the topic again and again in tweets and in YouTube videos posted many years after he lost. His fulminations over his Emmy snubs echo much of the language he has used to attack his political opponents during the presidential campaign.
“Certain shows — and I can name them and maybe at |
A vast majority of those infected with the coronavirus will develop only mild to moderate symptoms. But many people remain frightened and wonder how and when to seek medical care.
How do I get tested, or get my family member tested?
Call your doctor first. Don’t just show up.
Don’t rush to the emergency room.
When should high-risk patients seek care?
What are the warning signs that should cause concern for otherwise healthy people?
How should we care for people at home who have symptoms or have tested positive for the virus?
Should I take special precautions?
How can I clean up when my family member is at home and sick?
As the coronavirus spreads around the globe, the reality is that many of us will probably get it at some point. Fortunately, a vast majority of people will develop only mild to moderate symptoms that will not require hospitalization.
Even so, many people remain frightened about the uncertainty of getting sick with a new disease, and wonder how and when to seek medical care. Here’s what to do if you, or someone in your family, develop symptoms or test positive for infection with the coronavirus.
It’s very possible that even if you have the virus, you will never be tested for it. This is frustrating to people who have symptoms and want to know if they should isolate themselves and warn their friends about potential exposure. But right now, widespread testing of everyone with symptoms is not happening in the United States. If you have flulike symptoms, you should assume you have the illness and take precautions. Call your doctor for guidance.
If you’re worried (and have symptoms that would send you to the doctor during normal times), call your family doctor and ask for guidance. You can also call your emergency room for advice. The important thing is that you shouldn’t just show up. Hospitals have plans for the arrival of potential coronavirus patients, to protect staff and other patients, so call ahead.
Emergency room waiting rooms are packed with very sick people and overworked staff and doctors. It’s not a place you want to be, and if you show up unnecessarily, you’re taking care away from people who really need it. Before going to the E.R., stop and ask yourself, “Would I go to the E.R. for these symptoms (a cough or fever) under normal circumstances?” In most cases, the answer is probably no. Coughs, fevers, sore throats and runny noses have rarely been an emergency in the past, and those symptoms, even if due to the coronavirus, won’t be an emergency in most cases. Call your doctor.
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Patients at high-risk should check in with their doctors as soon as they have symptoms. A doctor who knows your situation can help you navigate the system and advise you on how and when to seek treatment. High-risk patients include the elderly as well as people with asthma or lung disease, or a history of pneumonia, heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, a compromised immune system due to illness or a drug therapy, or a person who has recently been treated for cancer.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the following symptoms should prompt you to seek emergency treatment.
Many people who have the coronavirus will not stay in a hospital and will be isolated at home. If you have all of the symptoms of the virus but haven’t been tested, you should assume you have it and still take precautions.
Caring for someone with mild to moderate symptoms of the coronavirus is similar to caring for someone with the flu. Give them supportive care, fluids, soups and Tylenol, and have them take their temperature regularly. If a person is so sick or weak that he or she can’t eat, drink or go to the bathroom, call a doctor. The World Health Organization has guidelines on home care for patients with suspected or confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Yes! The patient should be confined to a separate room with no or minimal contact with the rest of the household (including pets), and should use a separate bathroom if possible. Most of the time, a sick person will feel miserable, but he or she can pick up food trays left at the door and sanitize a shared bathroom after using it. (This may not be the case with young children.) If you have masks at home, both patient and caregiver should wear them when in contact with each other.
Make sure that shared spaces in the home have good airflow by turning on an air-conditioner or opening a window.
If a sick person can be isolated in the home, you should try to reduce cleaning in their area as much as possible to avoid unnecessary contact with the ill person. The C.D.C. recommends providing cleaning supplies — tissues, paper towels and disinfectants — for an ill person’s bedroom and bathroom (unless it’s a small child or a person with disabilities). If family members must share a bathroom, the ill person should do their best to clean and disinfect it after each use. Caregivers should wait as long as is practical after use by an ill person to enter and to clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces. Always wash your hands thoroughly after cleaning.
If you are sharing spaces with a sick person, you should wear gloves and disinfect door knobs, light switches, faucets, toilets and any other high-touch areas the patient has used. Read the C.D.C.’s guidelines on cleaning and disinfecting a home shared with someone with a suspected case of the coronavirus.
Can the rest of the family go about its business?
No. If one person is infected or suspects they have the coronavirus, the sick person should isolate and the whole household should quarantine in the home for 14 days, according to public health officials. If you don’t have a confirmed test, but the family member is exhibiting all of the symptoms of the virus, you should probably err on the side of caution and stay quarantined.
Most people will feel better after a week, according to the C.D.C.
When can we end home isolation?
A hospitalized patient will typically be released after two negative tests, 24 hours apart. But because there is a shortage of tests, many people recovering at home will not receive a follow-up test to determine if they are still contagious.
Guidelines are changing rapidly. The W.H.O. recommends that patients isolate for 14 days after symptoms have resolved. The C.D.C. guidelines are not as strict, now saying three things must happen before you can leave isolation after a bout (confirmed or unconfirmed) with Covid-19.
| 2020-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A vast majority of those infected with the coronavirus will develop only mild to moderate symptoms. But many people remain frightened and wonder how and when to seek medical care.
How do I get tested, or get my family member tested?
Call your doctor first. Don’t just show up.
Don’t rush to the emergency room.
When should high-risk patients seek care?
What are the warning signs that should cause concern for otherwise healthy people?
How should we care for people at home who have symptoms or have tested positive for the virus?
Should I take special precautions?
How can I clean up when my family member is at home and sick?
As the coronavirus spreads around the globe, the reality is that many of us will probably get it at some point. Fortunately, a vast majority of people will develop only mild to moderate symptoms that will not require hospitalization.
Even so, many people remain frightened about the uncertainty of getting sick with a new disease, and wonder how and when to seek medical care. Here | ’s what to do if you, or someone in your family, develop symptoms or test positive for infection with the coronavirus.
It’s very possible that even if you have the virus, you will never be tested for it. This is frustrating to people who have symptoms and want to know if they should isolate themselves and warn their friends about potential exposure. But right now, widespread testing of everyone with symptoms is not happening in the United States. If you have flulike symptoms, you should assume you have the illness and take precautions. Call your doctor for guidance.
If you’re worried (and have symptoms that would send you to the doctor during normal times), call your family doctor and ask for guidance. You can also call your emergency room for advice. The important thing is that you shouldn’t just show up. Hospitals have plans for the arrival of potential coronavirus patients, to protect staff and other patients, so call ahead.
Emergency room waiting rooms are packed with very sick people and overworked staff and doctors |
A vast majority of those infected with the coronavirus will develop only mild to moderate symptoms. But many people remain frightened and wonder how and when to seek medical care.
How do I get tested, or get my family member tested?
Call your doctor first. Don’t just show up.
How can I clean up when my family member is at home and sick?
As the coronavirus spreads around the globe, the reality is that many of us will probably get it at some point. Fortunately, a vast majority of people will develop only mild to moderate symptoms that will not require hospitalization.
Even so, many people remain frightened about the uncertainty of getting sick with a new disease, and wonder how and when to seek medical care. Here’s what to do if you, or someone in your family, develop symptoms or test positive for infection with the coronavirus.
It’s very possible that even if you have the virus, you will never be tested for it. This is frustrating to people who have symptoms and want to know if they should isolate themselves and warn their friends about potential exposure. But right now, widespread testing of everyone with symptoms is not happening in the United States. If you have flulike symptoms, you should assume you have the illness and take precautions. Call your doctor for guidance.
If you’re worried (and have symptoms that would send you to the doctor during normal times), call your family doctor and ask for guidance. You can also call your emergency room for advice. The important thing is that you shouldn’t just show up. Hospitals have plans for the arrival of potential coronavirus patients, to protect staff and other patients, so call ahead.
Patients at high-risk should check in with their doctors as soon as they have symptoms. A doctor who knows your situation can help you navigate the system and advise you on how and when to seek treatment. High-risk patients include the elderly as well as people with asthma or lung disease, or a history of pneumonia, heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, a compromised immune system due to illness or a drug therapy, or a person who has recently been treated for cancer.
Make sure that shared spaces in the home have good airflow by turning on an air-conditioner or opening a window.
If a sick person can be isolated in the home, you should try to reduce cleaning in their area as much as possible to avoid unnecessary contact with the ill person. The C.D.C. recommends providing cleaning supplies — tissues, paper towels and disinfectants — for an ill person’s bedroom and bathroom (unless it’s a small child or a person with disabilities). If family members must share a bathroom, the ill person should do their best to clean and disinfect it after each use. Caregivers should wait as long as is practical after use by an ill person to enter and to clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces. Always wash your hands thoroughly after cleaning.
If you are sharing spaces with a sick person, you should wear gloves and disinfect door knobs, light switches, faucets, toilets and any other high-touch areas the patient has used. Read the C.D.C.’s guidelines on cleaning and disinfecting a home shared with someone with a suspected case of the coronavirus.
No. If one person is infected or suspects they have the coronavirus, the sick person should isolate and the whole household should quarantine in the home for 14 days, according to public health officials. If you don’t have a confirmed test, but the family member is exhibiting all of the symptoms of the virus, you should probably err on the side of caution and stay quarantined.
Most people will feel better after a week, according to the C.D.C.
When can we end home isolation?
A hospitalized patient will typically be released after two negative tests, 24 hours apart. But because there is a shortage of tests, many people recovering at home will not receive a follow-up test to determine if they are still contagious.
Guidelines are changing rapidly. The W.H.O. recommends that patients isolate for 14 days after symptoms have resolved. The C.D.C. guidelines are not as strict, now saying three things must happen before you can leave isolation after a bout (confirmed or unconfirmed) with Covid-19.
| 2020-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A vast majority of those infected with the coronavirus will develop only mild to moderate symptoms. But many people remain frightened and wonder how and when to seek medical care.
How do I get tested, or get my family member tested?
Call your doctor first. Don’t just show up.
How can I clean up when my family member is at home and sick?
As the coronavirus spreads around the globe, the reality is that many of us will probably get it at some point. Fortunately, a vast majority of people will develop only mild to moderate symptoms that will not require hospitalization.
Even so, many people remain frightened about the uncertainty of getting sick with a new disease, and wonder how and when to seek medical care. Here’s what to do if you, or someone in your family, develop symptoms or test positive for infection with the coronavirus.
It’s very possible that even if you have the virus, you will never be tested for it. This is frustrating to people who have symptoms and want to | know if they should isolate themselves and warn their friends about potential exposure. But right now, widespread testing of everyone with symptoms is not happening in the United States. If you have flulike symptoms, you should assume you have the illness and take precautions. Call your doctor for guidance.
If you’re worried (and have symptoms that would send you to the doctor during normal times), call your family doctor and ask for guidance. You can also call your emergency room for advice. The important thing is that you shouldn’t just show up. Hospitals have plans for the arrival of potential coronavirus patients, to protect staff and other patients, so call ahead.
Patients at high-risk should check in with their doctors as soon as they have symptoms. A doctor who knows your situation can help you navigate the system and advise you on how and when to seek treatment. High-risk patients include the elderly as well as people with asthma or lung disease, or a history of pneumonia, heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, a |
A vegetarian riff on Indian butter chicken, this fragrant stew of chickpeas is spiced with cinnamon, garam masala and fresh ginger, and is rich and creamy from the coconut milk.Credit...David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
For all of my adult life, I’ve reveled in rare rib-eye steaks and oozing Camembert. I won’t let go of my drumstick until I’ve gnawed off every bit of cartilage and golden skin, and it’s best to not even talk about bacon so crisp that it won’t bend for that first porky bite.
Yet over the past few months, I’ve cut way down on my lamb chops and grilled cheese sandwiches. And if you’re a meat-and-dairy eater who aches over the environmental state of our planet, then you may be thinking of doing the same thing, too.
It started in the spring, when my Food colleague Julia Moskin teamed up with Brad Plumer from The New York Times Climate desk to report on how our current food system is contributing to climate change. The results were crystal clear and deeply depressing. Meat and dairy production alone account for 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions — as much each year as from all cars, trucks, airplanes and ships combined. It’s a staggering statistic.
I’d always considered my food choices to be outside the problem. I get a local farm box of produce every week, and frequent the farmers’ market for more vegetables, as well as grains and ethically raised meat. I limit seafood that’s not sustainable, and when I do shop at a supermarket I mostly fill my cart with organic whole foods that are not highly processed (the occasional bag of Cheetos aside).
Evidence is piling up, though, that this isn’t enough to make an impact. Only drastic changes will make a difference. The World Resource Institute, an environmental research group, recommends that wealthy nations cut their beef, lamb and dairy consumption by 40 percent to meet global emissions goals for 2050.
Becoming vegan would be the most planet-friendly way to go, followed by going vegetarian. In my case, those diets would be a professional liability, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t know that I’ve got the willpower to stick to either one. I love meat and dairy too much to give them up entirely. But eating less of them — that I can do.
On the upside, eating less meat and dairy means there is more room on my plate for other delectable things: really good sourdough bread slathered with tahini and homemade marmalade, mushroom Bourguignon over a mound of noodles, and all those speckled heirloom beans I keep meaning to order online.
So how much meat and dairy should we actually be eating? And if we reduce our intake severely, do we then need to worry about getting enough protein?
With that anxiety abated, I turned to setting a concrete goal: a balance of plant-based versus meat-and-dairy meals to strive for every week, like my daily 10,000 steps (or should it be 15,000?), translated into broccoli and burgers.
For my meat allotment, I’ve focused more on chicken, pork and local seafood (especially mollusks), which are generally less taxing to the environment than beef and lamb, both of which are now relegated to special-occasion status.
Of course, none of this is in any way a novel approach. The concept of flexitarianism has been around since the early 2000s, and it’s a central tenet in much of Michael Pollan’s writing. But somehow the term seems timeworn, and not at all evocative of the pleasures of the table.
I like to loosely think of my approach as mindful meat-eating. Now, when I do simmer up a pot of beef short ribs (or smear cream cheese on my bagel, or go for sushi), I’m thoughtful and deliberate about it, which makes it taste even more delicious, seasoned with anticipation.
And while the days of absent-minded chicken Caesar salads and oblivious cheese-and-cracker munching are for the most part over, the likes of avocado toast, salted cashews and popcorn covered with coconut oil and nutritional yeast can fill the void.
What follows is my own personal guide to eating less meat, and dairy too, with tips, strategies and plenty of recipes.
We are a family of bean lovers, so adding more of them to our weekly menu makes for happiness all around. To keep us from getting bored, though, I’ve widened the net, seeking out less common varieties like brown-dappled Jacob’s Cattle beans and purple-swirled Christmas lima beans, along with my usual roster of chickpeas, lentils and cannellini.
I’ve also changed the way I think about chili, one of my go-to bean-based meals. I used to add a small amount of ground meat to my chili pot as a matter of course, unless I was making a specifically vegetarian chili. Now, I usually skip the meat — save for the occasional spoonful of bacon grease or lard for richness — and I don’t miss it.
Beans are also excellent stand-ins for meat in certain recipes, like using chickpeas in a riff on Indian butter chicken, and filling tacos with black beans instead of pork. And there’s an entire universe of dals that I’m continuing to explore.
When I can plan ahead, I like cooking all of my beans myself for better flavor and texture, not to mention the bonus of leftover bean broth from cooking, which tastes especially amazing if you add lots of salt and garlic to the bean pot. I always keep some of that broth in the freezer to use in soups and stews. If you love beans and don’t have a pressure cooker (either manual or electric), you should really consider getting one. It cuts the cooking time in half.
That said, canned beans are one of the greatest supermarket convenience foods, ever. My pantry is never without them.
Grain bowls make diverse, ever-changing meals that I can throw together from whatever is in the fridge, anything from leftovers to condiments or both. These days I find myself putting together a grain bowl at least once a week, topped with roasted vegetables and some kind of savory sauce to bind everything together. These bowls never get boring.
But within this category, pasta is my first choice, and I adore it in every incarnation. And using toasted bread crumbs in place of Parmesan keeps the dairy quotient down, too.
Whether pillow-soft and fluffy or crisp-edged and browned, tofu is always welcome on my plate. This is not the case for the rest of my family, who give it the side-eye whenever I serve it. The trick in our house has been to pair tofu, which has a relatively neutral taste, with ingredients with pizazz — the more umami-intense, the better. Miso, soy sauce, mushrooms, hot sauce and fermented black beans do a lot of the heavy lifting.
Another strategy is to mix in a small amount of meat — ground chicken or pork, or a little bacon — to add a large amount of flavor. Cooking it all on a sheet pan makes for an easy weeknight meal.
I could sing the praises of toasted nuts, nut butter and tahini here, but you probably already know everything you need to about them. Whether toasted and chopped so they’re satisfyingly crunchy, or puréed and seasoned to become alluringly creamy dressings or sauces, nuts and nut butters are a great way to round out a plate of roasted, steamed or raw vegetables.
What I really want to talk about is my newfound love of homemade vegan cheese (though I won’t turn my nose up at store-bought nut-based queso dip, either). The best recipes I’ve tried are made from cashews, ground up with nutritional yeast and all manner of seasonings (smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano), and then set with agar powder.
No, they don’t taste anything like actual cheese. But when I rush home, ravenous and stressed after work, and there’s some in the refrigerator that I can heap onto my Wheat Thins and nibble with my glass of wine, I don’t miss Stilton nearly as much as I’d feared.
There’s no denying how processed most vegan meats are, loaded with unidentifiable ingredients, but they do scratch the itch for burgers and meatballs. And plant-based sausages remind me of kishke, a traditional Jewish and Eastern European sausage made with beef and bread or grains, in a very good way. These products are often a starting point for people who want to cut down on their meat intake — and, with some brands, once that faux burger patty is stuffed into a bun and loaded with condiments, it may be hard to tell the difference.
Of the various kinds of vegan meats, seitan is my personal favorite. (A traditional meat substitute in Asia that’s made from wheat gluten, it’s the stuff of mock duck.) I truly enjoy seitan’s chewy texture and lightly earthy flavor. As vegan meats go mainstream and the competition gets fiercer, seitan sausages, taco crumbles and bacon are getting tastier — far more so than their old, bland health-food store brethren. Unfortunately, as much as my 11-year-old likes the idea of a plant-based meat with a name that sounds like the Devil’s, she doesn’t actually like seitan. More for me.
Now that I’m eating less meat, every single morsel of it needs to hold its own. Which means I’m less likely to bother with a chicken breast when a smaller amount of Italian turkey sausage, sautéed until crisp and strewn over my spinach salad, delivers a lot more oomph. Or how about some duck confit? Assertively flavored cured pork — bacon, salami, prosciutto — add salty brawn to roasted vegetables and grains, pastas and salads, and a little goes a long way.
Then there’s good, concentrated broth, whether it’s bone broth or otherwise. Using beef broth in mushroom Bourguignon contributes tons of savory character without adding any actual meat. And making bone broth from scratch with the leftovers of your blowout holiday prime rib helps, at least a tiny bit, with the severe problem of food waste in this country. But really, make it because it tastes good.
| 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A vegetarian riff on Indian butter chicken, this fragrant stew of chickpeas is spiced with cinnamon, garam masala and fresh ginger, and is rich and creamy from the coconut milk.Credit...David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
For all of my adult life, I’ve reveled in rare rib-eye steaks and oozing Camembert. I won’t let go of my drumstick until I’ve gnawed off every bit of cartilage and golden skin, and it’s best to not even talk about bacon so crisp that it won’t bend for that first porky bite.
Yet over the past few months, I’ve cut way down on my lamb chops and grilled cheese sandwiches. And if you’re a meat-and-dairy eater who aches over the environmental state of our planet, then you may be thinking of doing the same thing, too.
It started in the spring, when my Food colleague Julia Mos | kin teamed up with Brad Plumer from The New York Times Climate desk to report on how our current food system is contributing to climate change. The results were crystal clear and deeply depressing. Meat and dairy production alone account for 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions — as much each year as from all cars, trucks, airplanes and ships combined. It’s a staggering statistic.
I’d always considered my food choices to be outside the problem. I get a local farm box of produce every week, and frequent the farmers’ market for more vegetables, as well as grains and ethically raised meat. I limit seafood that’s not sustainable, and when I do shop at a supermarket I mostly fill my cart with organic whole foods that are not highly processed (the occasional bag of Cheetos aside).
Evidence is piling up, though, that this isn’t enough to make an impact. Only drastic changes will make a difference. The World Resource Institute, an environmental research group, recommends |
A vegetarian riff on Indian butter chicken, this fragrant stew of chickpeas is spiced with cinnamon, garam masala and fresh ginger, and is rich and creamy from the coconut milk.Credit...David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Yet over the past few months, I’ve cut way down on my lamb chops and grilled cheese sandwiches. And if you’re a meat-and-dairy eater who aches over the environmental state of our planet, then you may be thinking of doing the same thing, too.
I’d always considered my food choices to be outside the problem. I get a local farm box of produce every week, and frequent the farmers’ market for more vegetables, as well as grains and ethically raised meat. I limit seafood that’s not sustainable, and when I do shop at a supermarket I mostly fill my cart with organic whole foods that are not highly processed (the occasional bag of Cheetos aside).
Evidence is piling up, though, that this isn’t enough to make an impact. Only drastic changes will make a difference. The World Resource Institute, an environmental research group, recommends that wealthy nations cut their beef, lamb and dairy consumption by 40 percent to meet global emissions goals for 2050.
Becoming vegan would be the most planet-friendly way to go, followed by going vegetarian. In my case, those diets would be a professional liability, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t know that I’ve got the willpower to stick to either one. I love meat and dairy too much to give them up entirely. But eating less of them — that I can do.
On the upside, eating less meat and dairy means there is more room on my plate for other delectable things: really good sourdough bread slathered with tahini and homemade marmalade, mushroom Bourguignon over a mound of noodles, and all those speckled heirloom beans I keep meaning to order online.
So how much meat and dairy should we actually be eating? And if we reduce our intake severely, do we then need to worry about getting enough protein?
With that anxiety abated, I turned to setting a concrete goal: a balance of plant-based versus meat-and-dairy meals to strive for every week, like my daily 10,000 steps (or should it be 15,000?), translated into broccoli and burgers.
For my meat allotment, I’ve focused more on chicken, pork and local seafood (especially mollusks), which are generally less taxing to the environment than beef and lamb, both of which are now relegated to special-occasion status.
Of course, none of this is in any way a novel approach. The concept of flexitarianism has been around since the early 2000s, and it’s a central tenet in much of Michael Pollan’s writing. But somehow the term seems timeworn, and not at all evocative of the pleasures of the table.
I like to loosely think of my approach as mindful meat-eating. Now, when I do simmer up a pot of beef short ribs (or smear cream cheese on my bagel, or go for sushi), I’m thoughtful and deliberate about it, which makes it taste even more delicious, seasoned with anticipation.
And while the days of absent-minded chicken Caesar salads and oblivious cheese-and-cracker munching are for the most part over, the likes of avocado toast, salted cashews and popcorn covered with coconut oil and nutritional yeast can fill the void.
What follows is my own personal guide to eating less meat, and dairy too, with tips, strategies and plenty of recipes.
We are a family of bean lovers, so adding more of them to our weekly menu makes for happiness all around. To keep us from getting bored, though, I’ve widened the net, seeking out less common varieties like brown-dappled Jacob’s Cattle beans and purple-swirled Christmas lima beans, along with my usual roster of chickpeas, lentils and cannellini.
I’ve also changed the way I think about chili, one of my go-to bean-based meals. I used to add a small amount of ground meat to my chili pot as a matter of course, unless I was making a specifically vegetarian chili. Now, I usually skip the meat — save for the occasional spoonful of bacon grease or lard for richness — and I don’t miss it.
Beans are also excellent stand-ins for meat in certain recipes, like using chickpeas in a riff on Indian butter chicken, and filling tacos with black beans instead of pork. And there’s an entire universe of dals that I’m continuing to explore.
When I can plan ahead, I like cooking all of my beans myself for better flavor and texture, not to mention the bonus of leftover bean broth from cooking, which tastes especially amazing if you add lots of salt and garlic to the bean pot. I always keep some of that broth in the freezer to use in soups and stews. If you love beans and don’t have a pressure cooker (either manual or electric), you should really consider getting one. It cuts the cooking time in half.
That said, canned beans are one of the greatest supermarket convenience foods, ever. My pantry is never without them.
Grain bowls make diverse, ever-changing meals that I can throw together from whatever is in the fridge, anything from leftovers to condiments or both. These days I find myself putting together a grain bowl at least once a week, topped with roasted vegetables and some kind of savory sauce to bind everything together. These bowls never get boring.
But within this category, pasta is my first choice, and I adore it in every incarnation. And using toasted bread crumbs in place of Parmesan keeps the dairy quotient down, too.
Whether pillow-soft and fluffy or crisp-edged and browned, tofu is always welcome on my plate. This is not the case for the rest of my family, who give it the side-eye whenever I serve it. The trick in our house has been to pair tofu, which has a relatively neutral taste, with ingredients with pizazz — the more umami-intense, the better. Miso, soy sauce, mushrooms, hot sauce and fermented black beans do a lot of the heavy lifting.
Another strategy is to mix in a small amount of meat — ground chicken or pork, or a little bacon — to add a large amount of flavor. Cooking it all on a sheet pan makes for an easy weeknight meal.
I could sing the praises of toasted nuts, nut butter and tahini here, but you probably already know everything you need to about them. Whether toasted and chopped so they’re satisfyingly crunchy, or puréed and seasoned to become alluringly creamy dressings or sauces, nuts and nut butters are a great way to round out a plate of roasted, steamed or raw vegetables.
What I really want to talk about is my newfound love of homemade vegan cheese (though I won’t turn my nose up at store-bought nut-based queso dip, either). The best recipes I’ve tried are made from cashews, ground up with nutritional yeast and all manner of seasonings (smoked paprika, garlic powder, oregano), and then set with agar powder.
No, they don’t taste anything like actual cheese. But when I rush home, ravenous and stressed after work, and there’s some in the refrigerator that I can heap onto my Wheat Thins and nibble with my glass of wine, I don’t miss Stilton nearly as much as I’d feared.
There’s no denying how processed most vegan meats are, loaded with unidentifiable ingredients, but they do scratch the itch for burgers and meatballs. And plant-based sausages remind me of kishke, a traditional Jewish and Eastern European sausage made with beef and bread or grains, in a very good way. These products are often a starting point for people who want to cut down on their meat intake — and, with some brands, once that faux burger patty is stuffed into a bun and loaded with condiments, it may be hard to tell the difference.
Of the various kinds of vegan meats, seitan is my personal favorite. (A traditional meat substitute in Asia that’s made from wheat gluten, it’s the stuff of mock duck.) I truly enjoy seitan’s chewy texture and lightly earthy flavor. As vegan meats go mainstream and the competition gets fiercer, seitan sausages, taco crumbles and bacon are getting tastier — far more so than their old, bland health-food store brethren. Unfortunately, as much as my 11-year-old likes the idea of a plant-based meat with a name that sounds like the Devil’s, she doesn’t actually like seitan. More for me.
Now that I’m eating less meat, every single morsel of it needs to hold its own. Which means I’m less likely to bother with a chicken breast when a smaller amount of Italian turkey sausage, sautéed until crisp and strewn over my spinach salad, delivers a lot more oomph. Or how about some duck confit? Assertively flavored cured pork — bacon, salami, prosciutto — add salty brawn to roasted vegetables and grains, pastas and salads, and a little goes a long way.
Then there’s good, concentrated broth, whether it’s bone broth or otherwise. Using beef broth in mushroom Bourguignon contributes tons of savory character without adding any actual meat. And making bone broth from scratch with the leftovers of your blowout holiday prime rib helps, at least a tiny bit, with the severe problem of food waste in this country. But really, make it because it tastes good.
| 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A vegetarian riff on Indian butter chicken, this fragrant stew of chickpeas is spiced with cinnamon, garam masala and fresh ginger, and is rich and creamy from the coconut milk.Credit...David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Yet over the past few months, I’ve cut way down on my lamb chops and grilled cheese sandwiches. And if you’re a meat-and-dairy eater who aches over the environmental state of our planet, then you may be thinking of doing the same thing, too.
I’d always considered my food choices to be outside the problem. I get a local farm box of produce every week, and frequent the farmers’ market for more vegetables, as well as grains and ethically raised meat. I limit seafood that’s not sustainable, and when I do shop at a supermarket I mostly fill my cart with organic whole foods that are not highly processed (the occasional bag of Cheetos aside).
Evidence is | piling up, though, that this isn’t enough to make an impact. Only drastic changes will make a difference. The World Resource Institute, an environmental research group, recommends that wealthy nations cut their beef, lamb and dairy consumption by 40 percent to meet global emissions goals for 2050.
Becoming vegan would be the most planet-friendly way to go, followed by going vegetarian. In my case, those diets would be a professional liability, and to be perfectly honest, I don’t know that I’ve got the willpower to stick to either one. I love meat and dairy too much to give them up entirely. But eating less of them — that I can do.
On the upside, eating less meat and dairy means there is more room on my plate for other delectable things: really good sourdough bread slathered with tahini and homemade marmalade, mushroom Bourguignon over a mound of noodles, and all those speckled heirloom beans |
A verdant expansion of parkland opened on Governors Island this week, a 10-acre parcel called the Hills, with singular views of Upper New York Bay, far across to the bustling docks of Bayonne, N.J., out toward the arc of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, or north to the spiky Manhattan skyline.
It was designed by an esteemed landscape architecture firm, West 8, and has been endowed with an appropriately inscrutable piece of concrete art, “Cabin,” by an award-winning artist, Rachel Whiteread.
Fine. Great! But what about the slides?
There was plenty for kids — and adults — to do on the island already, said Leslie Koch, president of the Trust. She noted the miniature golf course, playgrounds and water sprinklers, a vegetable garden and a pair of friendly goats named Rice and Beans. All of which have helped the island grow more popular.
“We’re at 20 percent more than last year, already,” said Ms. Koch, who plans to step down this year.
But is bigger really better when it comes to slides? Accompanied by two freelance critics — experts in the field — a reporter set out to investigate.
In an interview aboard the Governors Island ferry, the critics — Hudson, 5, and Jacqueline, 3 — proffered a slippery set of criteria, verging on the tautological.
“What makes a good slide?” a reporter (a.k.a. Dad) asked.
“That it’s a good slide,” Hudson replied.
“Yeah,” Hudson said.
Pressed to elaborate, the critics acknowledged that they had not yet encountered a disagreeable slide. But they allowed for the possibility that one could exist.
From its base, Slide Hill is just the least bit vertiginous at 40 feet, with four shiny metal tongues wagging their way down.
“Me,” both critics said.
Negotiations continued in this vein until a settlement was reached. The elder critic went first, followed by his junior colleague.
They quickly agreed: This slide, and its three smaller neighbors, needed more extensive testing before a judgment could be rendered.
This further research took 10 minutes. The slides were deemed impressive.
“Ten thumbs up,” Hudson said as the critics prepared to depart.
Ms. Koch seemed pleased with the verdict and shared a bit of advice.
| 2016-07 | <|begin_of_text|>A verdant expansion of parkland opened on Governors Island this week, a 10-acre parcel called the Hills, with singular views of Upper New York Bay, far across to the bustling docks of Bayonne, N.J., out toward the arc of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, or north to the spiky Manhattan skyline.
It was designed by an esteemed landscape architecture firm, West 8, and has been endowed with an appropriately inscrutable piece of concrete art, “Cabin,” by an award-winning artist, Rachel Whiteread.
Fine. Great! But what about the slides?
There was plenty for kids — and adults — to do on the island already, said Leslie Koch, president of the Trust. She noted the miniature golf course, playgrounds and water sprinklers, a vegetable garden and a pair of friendly goats named Rice and Beans. All of which have helped the island grow more popular.
“We’re at 20 percent more than last year, already | ,” said Ms. Koch, who plans to step down this year.
But is bigger really better when it comes to slides? Accompanied by two freelance critics — experts in the field — a reporter set out to investigate.
In an interview aboard the Governors Island ferry, the critics — Hudson, 5, and Jacqueline, 3 — proffered a slippery set of criteria, verging on the tautological.
“What makes a good slide?” a reporter (a.k.a. Dad) asked.
“That it’s a good slide,” Hudson replied.
“Yeah,” Hudson said.
Pressed to elaborate, the critics acknowledged that they had not yet encountered a disagreeable slide. But they allowed for the possibility that one could exist.
From its base, Slide Hill is just the least bit vertiginous at 40 feet, with four shiny metal tongues wagging their way down.
“Me,” both critics said.
Negotiations continued in this vein until a settlement was reached. The elder critic went |
A very American story about capitalism consuming our national preparedness and resiliency.
Why is the United States running out of face masks for medical workers? How does the world’s wealthiest country find itself in such a tragic and avoidable mess? And how long will it take to get enough protective gear, if that’s even possible now?
I’ve spent the last few days digging into these questions, because the shortages of protective gear, particularly face masks, has struck me as one of the more disturbing absurdities in America’s response to this pandemic.
Yes, it would have been nice to have had early, widespread testing for the coronavirus, the strategy South Korea used to contain its outbreak. It would be amazing if we can avoid running out of ventilators and hospital space, the catastrophe that has befallen parts of Italy. But neither matters much — in fact, no significant intervention is possible — if health care workers cannot even come into contact with coronavirus patients without getting sick themselves.
That’s where cheap, disposable face masks, eye protection, gloves and gowns come in. That we failed to procure enough safety gear for medical workers — not to mention for sick people and for the public, as some health experts might have recommended if masks were not in such low supply — seems astoundingly negligent.
What a small, shameful way for a strong nation to falter: For want of a 75-cent face mask, the kingdom was lost.
I am sorry to say that digging into the mask shortage does little to assuage one’s sense of outrage. The answer to why we’re running out of protective gear involves a very American set of capitalist pathologies — the rise and inevitable lure of low-cost overseas manufacturing, and a strategic failure, at the national level and in the health care industry, to consider seriously the cascading vulnerabilities that flowed from the incentives to reduce costs.
Perhaps the only way to address the shortfall now is to recognize that the market is broken, and to have the government step in to immediately spur global and domestic production. President Trump, bizarrely, has so far resisted ordering companies to produce more supplies and equipment. In the case of masks, manufacturers say they are moving mountains to ramp up production, and some large companies are donating millions of masks from their own reserves.
But given the vast global need for masks — in the United States alone, fighting the coronavirus will consume 3.5 billion face masks, according to an estimate by the Department of Health and Human Services — corporate generosity will fall short. People in the mask business say it will take a few months, at a minimum, to significantly expand production.
“We are at full capacity today, and increased production by building another factory or extending further will take anywhere between three to four months,” said Guillaume Laverdure, the chief operating officer of Medicom, a Canadian company that makes masks and other protective equipment in factories around the world.
And though some nontraditional manufacturers like T-shirt factories and other apparel makers have announced plans to rush-produce masks, it’s unclear that they will be able to meet required safety standards or shift over production in time to answer demand.
Few in the protective equipment industry are surprised by the shortages, because they’ve been predicted for years. In 2005, the George W. Bush administration called for the coordination of domestic production and stockpiling of protective gear in preparation for pandemic influenza. In 2006, Congress approved funds to add protective gear to a national strategic stockpile — among other things, the stockpile collected 52 million surgical face masks and 104 million N95 respirator masks.
But about 100 million masks in the stockpile were deployed in 2009 in the fight against the H1N1 flu pandemic, and the government never bothered to replace them. This month, Alex Azar, secretary of health and human services, testified that there are only about 40 million masks in the stockpile — around 1 percent of the projected national need.
As the coronavirus began to spread in China early this year, a global shortage of protective equipment began to look inevitable. But by then it was too late for the American government to do much about the problem. Two decades ago, most hospital protective gear was made domestically. But like much of the rest of the apparel and consumer products business, face mask manufacturing has since shifted nearly entirely overseas. “China is a producer of 80 percent of masks worldwide,” Laverdure said.
Hospitals began to run out of masks for the same reason that supermarkets ran out of toilet paper — because their “just-in-time” supply chains, which call for holding as little inventory as possible to meet demand, are built to optimize efficiency, not resiliency.
In January, the brittle supply chain began to crack under pressure. To deal with its own outbreak, China began to restrict exports of protective equipment. Then other countries did as well — Taiwan, Germany, France and India took steps to stop exports of medical equipment. That left American hospitals to seek more and more masks from fewer and fewer producers.
I don’t doubt it — but that we did not plan, as a nation, for this entirely predictable shortage makes me wonder what other inevitable pothole is lurking out there for all to trip over. Getting enough protective gear was among the cheapest, most effective things we could have done to slow down the pandemic. That we failed on such an obvious thing reveals an alarming national incapacity to imagine and prepare for the worst.
We will get enough masks in time for the next disaster. But wouldn’t it be nice, for once, if we prepared for trouble before it hit us in the face?
| 2020-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A very American story about capitalism consuming our national preparedness and resiliency.
Why is the United States running out of face masks for medical workers? How does the world’s wealthiest country find itself in such a tragic and avoidable mess? And how long will it take to get enough protective gear, if that’s even possible now?
I’ve spent the last few days digging into these questions, because the shortages of protective gear, particularly face masks, has struck me as one of the more disturbing absurdities in America’s response to this pandemic.
Yes, it would have been nice to have had early, widespread testing for the coronavirus, the strategy South Korea used to contain its outbreak. It would be amazing if we can avoid running out of ventilators and hospital space, the catastrophe that has befallen parts of Italy. But neither matters much — in fact, no significant intervention is possible — if health care workers cannot even come into contact with coronavirus patients without getting sick themselves.
That’s where | cheap, disposable face masks, eye protection, gloves and gowns come in. That we failed to procure enough safety gear for medical workers — not to mention for sick people and for the public, as some health experts might have recommended if masks were not in such low supply — seems astoundingly negligent.
What a small, shameful way for a strong nation to falter: For want of a 75-cent face mask, the kingdom was lost.
I am sorry to say that digging into the mask shortage does little to assuage one’s sense of outrage. The answer to why we’re running out of protective gear involves a very American set of capitalist pathologies — the rise and inevitable lure of low-cost overseas manufacturing, and a strategic failure, at the national level and in the health care industry, to consider seriously the cascading vulnerabilities that flowed from the incentives to reduce costs.
Perhaps the only way to address the shortfall now is to recognize that the market is broken, and to have the government |
A veteran food writer, she founded Les Dames d’Escoffier, a society for women in the male-dominated culinary world.
Carol Brock, a food writer who helped women advance in the male-dominated culinary world by starting an organization called Les Dames d’Escoffier New York, died on July 27 in Manhasset, N.Y. She was 96.
Her death, at North Shore University Hospital, was caused by respiratory failure, her son Brian said.
As a veteran food journalist at The Daily News in New York, Ms. Brock saw what she called a “Pyrex ceiling” limiting women in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. So in 1976 she formed Les Dames as an offshoot of Les Amis d’Escoffier Society, a mostly male gastronomic club named after the French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935).
The parent organization, however, struck her as narrowly concerned with consuming great food and wine, and talking about it. Ms. Brock saw a need for something more. Her group would provide scholarships, educational programs and networking opportunities for women. Les Dames is now international, with 45 chapters and 2,400 members.
When Ms. Brock started the group, “men were so disdainful of women in the industry,” the chef and television personality Sara Moulton, who received one of the organization’s first scholarships, said in a phone interview.
“To be with a group of people who appreciated you was huge,” she said.
Ms. Brock could be haughty or bubbly, driven “to make things happen, to make life meaningful, especially for women in our industry,” said the restaurateur and chef Lidia Bastianich, a close friend and member of the organization.
Carol Jean Lang was born on Dec. 14, 1923, in Queens, the only child of Charles and Helen Lang. Her mother was a homemaker; her father ran a butcher shop after losing money in real estate during the Great Depression. Carol grew up in Beechhurst, a mostly affluent waterfront neighborhood in Queens. She earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics at Queens College before getting a master’s in food science from New York University.
At 20 she married Emil Andrew Brock, an accountant, and went to work for Good Housekeeping magazine as the hostess editor. Her son Brian said, “She’d do a lot of entertaining for prominent people who’d come to Good Housekeeping,” including the publisher, William Randolph Hearst, and his powerful associates.
In addition to Mr. Brock, she is survived by another son, Craig. Her husband died in the 1990s.
Ms. Brock remained at Good Housekeeping for 23 years, was the food editor of Parents magazine for three years and moved to The Daily News in 1971. She wrote and edited articles about food for the newspaper for 15 years.
Les Dames welcomed members from all corners of the food world: historians, wine professionals, cooks, journalists, restaurateurs. Members had to have at least 10 years of food experience, which — along with the $235 in annual dues (reduced to $160 this year because of the pandemic) and the high prices for many Les Dames events — closed the organization to newcomers, except as recipients of the group’s annual scholarships.
When Ms. Brock asked Ms. Moulton to create a junior chapter for these less-experienced women, the board rejected the idea. “She was more forward-thinking than the organization she founded,” Ms. Moulton said.
It was Ms. Brock who pushed the organization to expand nationally, then internationally.
As the food world changed, no longer beholden to French haute cuisine, Ms. Brock and her organization changed with it, said Sharon Franke, president of the New York chapter. Before the pandemic hit, Ms. Brock was organizing a dinner to explore Native American cooking.
Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of food and nutrition at New York University, credits Ms. Brock with diversifying her group’s membership beyond restaurant kitchens so that women in different fields could meet and collaborate.
“I have no doubt that hundreds of stories of collaboration came out of this,” she said.
After leaving The Daily News, Ms. Brock reviewed restaurants for the TimesLedger chain of weekly newspapers in Queens and coordinated culinary education programs for adults in Great Neck, N.Y.
She swam regularly in Little Neck Bay, near her home in the Douglaston section of Queens, until about 10 years ago, when she switched to a community pool and, finally, a neighbor’s pool, Brian Brock said.
If she had one more secret to a productive life, perhaps it was this: At home, her husband did most of the cooking. “He cooked quite well,” Brian said. | 2020-08 | <|begin_of_text|>A veteran food writer, she founded Les Dames d’Escoffier, a society for women in the male-dominated culinary world.
Carol Brock, a food writer who helped women advance in the male-dominated culinary world by starting an organization called Les Dames d’Escoffier New York, died on July 27 in Manhasset, N.Y. She was 96.
Her death, at North Shore University Hospital, was caused by respiratory failure, her son Brian said.
As a veteran food journalist at The Daily News in New York, Ms. Brock saw what she called a “Pyrex ceiling” limiting women in the food, beverage and hospitality industries. So in 1976 she formed Les Dames as an offshoot of Les Amis d’Escoffier Society, a mostly male gastronomic club named after the French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935).
The parent organization, however, struck her as narrowly concerned with consuming | great food and wine, and talking about it. Ms. Brock saw a need for something more. Her group would provide scholarships, educational programs and networking opportunities for women. Les Dames is now international, with 45 chapters and 2,400 members.
When Ms. Brock started the group, “men were so disdainful of women in the industry,” the chef and television personality Sara Moulton, who received one of the organization’s first scholarships, said in a phone interview.
“To be with a group of people who appreciated you was huge,” she said.
Ms. Brock could be haughty or bubbly, driven “to make things happen, to make life meaningful, especially for women in our industry,” said the restaurateur and chef Lidia Bastianich, a close friend and member of the organization.
Carol Jean Lang was born on Dec. 14, 1923, in Queens, the only child of Charles and Helen Lang. Her mother was a homemaker; her |
A veteran political reporter takes stock of how Washington has — and hasn’t — changed in the time of Trump.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, was running late and ‘‘tied up in the Oval,’’ an assistant explained. It was late on a Thursday afternoon in June, and I had not seen Spicer since the election that would supposedly transform the accustomed reality of Washington and had unquestionably upended his.
In the political order of the pre-Trump era, Spicer represented a Washington ‘‘type’’ in good standing: an amiable plodder in his job as spokesman for the Republican National Committee and a stock character of the local ensemble. He was an eager shooter of the breeze, visible at cocktail parties and serviceable on TV. I once described the pre-Trump Spicer as being a ‘‘lower-wattage aide,’’ which he would often remind me of whenever I used to see him around the city. He never appeared overly bothered by this and spoke in a tone somewhere between stage-wincing and sarcastic pride that he even rated a mention at all.
This phrase — ‘‘current status’’ — struck me as a perfectly of-the-moment representation of the city from which Spicer had derived a creditable identity for himself until he (and it) had become otherwise occupied. To begin with, it was well known that Spicer’s ‘‘current status’’ had been a volatile predicament from pretty much the start of this volatile presidency. ‘‘Embattled’’ or ‘‘beleaguered’’ effectively became part of his job title. There was the recurring ‘‘Saturday Night Live’’ character (‘‘Spicey,’’ played by Melissa McCarthy), real-time chyron shaming (CNN: ‘‘President’s spokesman says he can’t speak for the president’’) and nonstop abuse and incredulity from much of the press corps. And yet in keeping with the Trump-era rule stipulating that ‘‘the enemy of the enemy of the people is my friend,’’ the mockery directed at this blandly ubiquitous greenroom denizen — just the kind of Washington political hack Trump ran against — propelled him to a golden status with ‘‘the base.’’ At Trump’s postelection rallies across the country, the press secretary was engulfed by squealing, selfie-seeking fans and drew a fuss meriting its own headlines (‘‘Spicer Treated Like a Rock Star at Trump’s Nashville Rally’’). His daily briefings became appointment cable viewing for groupies and hate-watchers alike, at least until the White House started disallowing cameras at many of them.
Spicer cuts an oddly compelling profile in that he represents a crossover player, someone who comfortably inhabited the old Tokyo-on-the-Potomac before Godzilla was elected and put him to work. He also seems to embody a particular neurosis of Trump-era Washington, where the lizard-brain logic of making a name for yourself is colliding with the imperative of survival in the shadow of a capricious force. To some degree, Washington will always learn how to adapt to the distinct styles, personalities and expectations of a new president. It will ascertain how decisions are made, the processes leading up to them and the factors that influence a White House organization. This is next to impossible in Trumpland, mainly because ‘‘process,’’ such as it is, resides purely with the whims of one man. It is all about Trump. Everything is at his mercy, and little about it is comfortable. It creates an overwrought environment to perform in, and the closer in you have to operate, the more intense it becomes.
Huh. It’s usually not this easy to infringe on the president’s schedule.
‘‘Uh, sure,’’ I said.
She walked me in.
It was 12:30, but the president was not eating lunch. He was watching a recording of ‘‘Fox and Friends’’ from about four hours earlier on a large TV mounted on the wall. This was one of those stretches when Trump was tweeting a lot, including attacks on the mayor of London following a terrorist attack on the city the previous weekend. The tweets were becoming a growing topic of concern among Republicans, many of whom were urging him to stop. But like most reporters, I found his tweets far more illuminating than anything the White House press office could ever disgorge. I urged him to keep it up.
‘‘You’re putting on makeup,’’ I said.
‘‘I’m going on my way to a television hit,’’ he said. He patted his cheeks a few times with a makeup puff.
‘‘That’s fine,’’ I said.
‘‘You’re going on TV,’’ I affirmed.
‘‘I believe there are too many reporters who are looking for some snarky angle,’’ he said.
We walked out of the White House, and Spicer, looking perfect, veered off to the front lawn to tape his second on-camera interview of the afternoon with Fox News.
In 2013, I published a book called ‘‘This Town,’’ an anthropological snapshot of the gilded, inbred carnival of early-21st-century Washington. It portrayed Washington as a permanent feudal village of bipartisan politicians, former officeholders, celebrity staff members, lobbyists, journalists, hangers-on and usual-suspects of all stripes. No one seemed to ever leave, because why would they? So-called change elections came and went — Obama in 2008, Tea Partyers in 2010 — but nothing seemed to change, except that the people involved seemed to grow richer. Washington kept celebrating itself while the rest of the country became more and more disgusted. The book’s original subtitle, ‘‘The Way It Works in Suck-Up City,’’ reflected a city of norms, fixed positions and predictable guidelines. This was a static system, and you could always figure out how to game it if you stuck around or paid someone who did. This was the Swamp that Trump had promised to drain.
To outward appearances, This Town in the time of Trump seems as fat and cozy as ever. The city is thriving with construction projects, abundant lobbying, government contracts, media gigs and bull-market wealth. This is hardly a Trump-specific phenomenon. Washingtonians have claimed the highest average income in the country for years. Every recent administration has put its mark on the boom, and this one is no different. Trump-connected consultants and administration officials show up in chic restaurants along 14th Street, K Street, Penn Quarter and Georgetown. (‘‘WHAT A TOWN!’’ exulted Playbook, Politico’s tip sheet, on June 2. ‘‘E.P.A. ADMINISTRATOR SCOTT PRUITT celebrated exiting the Paris agreement by dining last night at . . . Le Diplomate, the French bistro on 14th Street with some aides!’’) The swamp feels anything but drained; more like remodeled into a gold-plated hot tub.
But as Trump’s impulsive, vindictively personal style has been transferred, unhumbled and unpivoted, to the White House, it has also introduced new variables into the capital’s power calculus — one being that access to power governs status. Since Trump is everywhere, ‘‘access’’ in the traditional sense holds much less currency than it once did. The ability to ascertain ‘‘what the White House is thinking’’ or ‘‘the president’s mind-set’’ once accounted for many hours (often billable) of analysis. Now it only requires a Twitter account.
Unlike previous presidents’, Trump’s unpredictability makes playing the power game treacherous, to say the least. Lobbyists and corporations live in fear of doing something that would agitate the White House, something that could incite a tweet and tank a stock. You hear of longtime Washington lawyers, operatives and consultants who are shunned and disparaged (usually off the record) for deigning to work with Godzilla. Trump also presents a particular challenge for Republican members of Congress. For officeholders, Trump becomes a test of coping and courage, particularly within the family he has chosen as his own, the Republican Party. Members of Congress can be seen scurrying down hallways, fake-talking on their cellphones and ducking out back doors to avoid reporters’ questions about the latest tweet.
In some ways, this is the definition of ‘‘unnerving’’ the establishment. Trump certainly presents a riddle to members of the Washington consultant class who are accustomed to certain truths and personalities enduring from administration to administration. Insofar as there is a ruling class of ‘‘influencers’’ in this destabilized landscape, the new Trump hotel in the Old Post Office Building serves as its radiant center. ‘‘The Swamp Hotel,’’ as it was recently christened in a Time magazine cover story, has become a haven for Trump loyalists, favor-currying lobbyists and foreign governments: grand chandeliers and cozy couches, a Washingtonian mix of bustling scene and discreet areas well situated amid the White House, the Capitol and Downtown.
I made my first visit there in late spring to meet Trump’s former campaign manager and still-confidant Corey Lewandowski. He held court in the middle of the lobby bar, seated at a table marked ‘‘Reserved’’ with a shiny glass plate. The last time I saw Lewandowski was in February, before the Super Bowl in Houston. He was there as a guest of Microsoft, wearing shorts and a red-and-white New England Patriots polo shirt and chatting with Robert Kraft, the Patriots’ owner and a Trump friend, at a V.I.P. reception before the game. Lewandowski was now dressed in a sharp gray suit and shiny black dress shoes. Potential clients were knocking down his door, he told me. He was, by any measure, a made man.
As with many people that populate the inner ring of Trumpland, Lewandowski has virtually no cachet independent from his relationship to the president. He has spent his career as a journeyman political operative, a two-time failed candidate for office (in Massachusetts and New Hampshire) and a police officer. Yet where the Clintons were surrounded by a vast horde of ‘‘friends,’’ Trump ran a family business with a small network of flag-wavers. His campaign was a tiny operation, and Lewandowski got in early, stuck around and stayed loyal. Never mind that he was bounced as campaign manager in June 2016, one reason being that he had run afoul of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump; Bloomberg reported last month of a détente between Lewandowski and Kushner, consummated on a ‘‘stroll through the White House Rose Garden,’’ ending in a hug.
Being one of ‘‘Trump’s guys’’ positions Lewandowski at the apex of Washington influence in 2017. He is clearly close to the president. He can decipher his moods, know which buttons to push and when to stay away. Rather than ‘‘going in’’ (local shorthand for ‘‘going in to an administration’’), Lewandowski leveraged his big-fish status in Trumpland to open a lucrative Washington consultancy to help corporations and clients ‘‘navigate’’ the new administration. Unlike Spicer’s position, this inside-out role enables Lewandowski to pick his spots and steer clear of the West Wing infighting and fiefs and, maybe most of all, the day-to-day dramas inherent in being too close to Donald J. Trump.
Lewandowski warned me to keep my voice down, as he suspected that the guy sitting on the couch behind him was an eavesdropping reporter — a familiar hazard at the Trump Hotel. After a few minutes, we were joined by Anthony Scaramucci, the Long Island-born financier, fund-raiser and Trump acolyte — known as ‘‘the Mooch’’ to fellow Trumpians, New York tabloid-headline writers as well as his long-ago Little League teammates. Scaramucci, whose sculpted jaw, hair and form-fitting suit give the impression of an infomercial host, had been having trouble landing a top White House job. He had apparently been up for a role as an adviser and public liaison to government agencies and businesses, but that stalled because of complications related to the sale of his company, SkyBridge Capital, to foreign buyers.
‘‘Thanks for that thing at the White House today,’’ Scaramucci told Lewandowski, the first of four times he would thank him in the five minutes that we were together. The men locked eyes and nodded simultaneously: Gratitude acknowledged, accepted. Lewandowski had to rush off to catch a flight home to New Hampshire, where he lives with his wife and four children. The Mooch thanked him again.
I found out later that Scaramucci was now in line to be the Paris-based ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, pending Senate confirmation. In the interim, Scaramucci has been appointed chief strategy officer of the United States Export-Import Bank, an institution that Trump derided during the campaign as ‘‘excess baggage.’’ But the Mooch says the plan is now to keep the bank open. The excess baggage, in other words, has been claimed.
Trump was elected in part by portraying and revealing politicians to be feckless weenies — and many of them went out and reinforced this view by displaying their willingness to be rolled by Trump in the campaign and unwillingness to stand up to him in office. This gets to one ethic of This Town that has endured and that Trump has reinforced: The interests of self-perpetuation drive nearly everything. Much of the Republican base still loves Trump, and few Republicans in Congress can afford to alienate these voters by defying him too forcefully, even though many of them — particularly senators — plainly hold the president in low regard.
Elected Republicans operate in their own distinct habitat when figuring how to deal with this White House. They are, in a partisan sense, on Trump’s team. They share policy goals and agenda items. They need each other, ostensibly. But members of Congress live in their own parallel power centers, with their own districts, voters and issues to worry about, not to mention the peculiar dynamics of their institution. Being married to Trump can make for tense and uncomfortable times, as any Republican of Capitol Hill these days can attest when they’re not running away.
On the day that the former F.B.I. director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee, I was walking around the Senate side of the Capitol and noticed that whenever Republican members were asked about Trump, as they inevitably were, they looked as if they were bracing for a chandelier to drop on their heads. I approached Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Corker is typically one of the more thoughtful and relatively candid voices on Trump, with whom he has had ups and downs but to whom he has essentially been encouraging. Corker had recently praised Trump’s first international trip as president as ‘‘executed to near perfection.’’ This was seen as puzzling, given that the trip’s end and immediate aftermath were dominated by bipartisan consternation over Trump’s refusal to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to Article 5 of the NATO charter, the sacred provision stipulating that NATO allies must come to the aid of an ally under attack. I asked Corker if he stood by his assessment. ‘‘I said near perfection,’’ he said defensively. ‘‘It would have been really perfect,’’ Corker said, if only Trump had mentioned Article 5. Given the uproar the omission caused, Corker’s caveat conveyed a distinct sense of ‘‘Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln. . . . ’’ He seemed to realize this and smiled a little sheepishly.
When approached, Republican members attempt to fashion boundaries on Trump-related engagement. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, has gone through numerous strategies. He has tried to place Trump’s tweets off-limits (‘‘I typically don’t quote or comment on the tweet of the hour,’’ he said in February), chide reporters for focusing on these trivial matters (‘‘I’m going to do my job. I’ll let you guys do yours with respect to how you report, or what you don’t report’’), suggest he has more important things to do (‘‘I’m not going to comment on this stuff,’’ in response to a reporter’s question about something Trump said about Arnold Schwarzenegger) and plead (‘‘Let’s talk about policy’’).
As a general rule, the most time-efficient and foolproof approach for a Trump-weary Republican is to simply walk through the Capitol as if protected by a selectively permeable bubble filtering out certain unwelcome words (e.g., ‘‘Trump’’). Mitch McConnell is the master of this, and I caught the Senate Republican leader as he walked off the Senate floor on the day of the Comey hearings. ‘‘What’d you think of Comey?’’ I asked as he headed back to his office. He kept walking, remaining impassive. The McConnell Zombie Walk is familiar to any reporter who has spent time on Capitol Hill. But this was a rare privilege to be exclusively blown off by McConnell. It was just me alone with him and his security detail moving down an empty hallway. I asked the question twice more, until we passed Lindsey Graham, who was walking in the other direction. Of late, Graham had been a font of backhanded Trump defenses. ‘‘He can’t collude with his own government,’’ Graham said last month on ‘‘Face the Nation.’’ ‘‘Why do you think he’s colluding with the Russians?’’ (He had also suggested to reporters that it was no big deal that Comey had accused Trump of lying, because ‘‘everyone in the primary accused him of lying.’’) I asked Graham how he would characterize this moment in the capital, given that he has seen many Washington circuses over the years. He paused and took a breath, as if he were about to deliver the first line of a sermon. ‘‘I yearn for the good old days of impeachment,’’ he said, then ducked into a meeting.
When I went to see John McCain, Graham’s Senate sidekick, the next week, he seemed to be in a darker place. Now 80, McCain has been traveling the globe to the point of weariness, seemingly on a personal mission to reassure allies unnerved by Trump. It was Trump’s ability to deceive with impunity while still claiming the mantle of the tough-talking truth-teller that seemed to gall him most. ‘‘If I were a Democrat right now, I’d be going after Trump for not telling the truth,’’ McCain said. ‘‘I’d leave the issues, and just say, ‘Look, you can’t trust this guy, you can’t trust him.’ ’’ McCain told me he had arrived at a coping strategy. ‘‘After about a month, I decided I’ll just watch what he does, not just what his tweets are,’’ McCain said. ‘‘And whatever, I don’t care.’’ He caught himself. ‘‘I care,’’ he said, ‘‘but I’m not going to react. I think it was gradual. First shock, then surprise, then Whisky Tango Foxtrot’’— military slang for a three-letter abbreviation that you also hear a lot these days.
Ryan, who was persuaded by his House colleagues to replace Boehner as speaker in 2015, has perfected his ‘‘I don’t need this job’’ shtick. He will frequently express longing for his previous post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. When I interviewed him in his grand office at the Capitol, I asked what he liked best about being speaker. ‘‘The impact, the big impact I can have,’’ he said.
The perpetually breaking news cycle of the Trump era has become its own suffocating force. It has never been more difficult to consume and process what has just happened before the next thing explodes. To wit: The baseball practice shooting was sharing headlines and chyrons only a few hours after it happened with an another bombshell (a Washington Post report that Trump was being investigated for obstruction of justice), followed by a presidential tweet the next morning (“You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history”) and whatever else.
A few This Town veterans told me that this scary new normal has instilled in them a greater appreciation for old-normal rituals. The congressional baseball game, which obviously took on greater significance this year, is one of these. Traditionally, it has been a sleepy-but-nice event in which dorky partisans in the crowd can be heard chanting sick burns at their opposition. ‘‘Justice Roberts!’’ Democrats taunted Republicans in 2012, after the conservative chief justice cast the deciding vote upholding Obamacare. Well, then, Republicans took to chanting ‘‘T.P.A., T.P.A.’’ in 2015 — as Obama was trying to secure trade promotion authority from Congress (ouch!).
Scalise was supposed to be playing second base for the Republican team. On June 14, the morning he was shot, he had been standing just down the baseline from Representative Tom Rooney of Florida, who played first base. As it happened, I met Rooney two months before, though I didn’t realize he was in Congress. We were in Pittsburgh, at the funeral of his uncle Dan Rooney, the Hall of Fame member and owner of the Steelers. Tom introduced himself to me as ‘‘someone who works in politics in D.C.,’’ and I assumed he was a lobbyist or consultant or some other Swamp-dweller. He was not wearing a congressional pin, the telltale way to identify a member. But Rooney rarely wears his pin, and when he does, he often tries to cover it up. He does not wish to be fussed over, lectured or hectored, or worse.
As with most of their colleagues, Rooney and Kinzinger are largely unknown outside their districts. The most important thing many people will judge them on is what team they play for — the Rs or Ds. They both have friends in the other party. ‘‘You almost have to hide the fact that you like them,’’ Rooney said, of Democrats. ‘‘Nobody understands what it’s like to be a member of Congress except another member of Congress.’’ That has become another hallmark of life in the modern swamp: Common humanity is best expressed in private. Rooney observed that the increasingly pitched tone of our political dialogues — in campaigns, in Congress and certainly online — can become mutually reinforcing. ‘‘There’s a sense that people out in the country can see the far left and the far right on social media, and they think it’s O.K. to act out any way they want,’’ Rooney said.
Suddenly, as he spoke, Rooney’s tone acquired an edge. There was something he wanted to say, something that made him mad. The newly sworn-in representative Greg Gianforte had just given his first House speech. Gianforte, a Montana Republican, will be forever known as the guy who body-slammed the Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs on the eve of his May 25 special election. He won anyway. And Gianforte used his maiden remarks on the floor to call for mandatory term limits, a ban on lobbying for any former member and a suspension of congressional salary if the House does not pass a balanced budget.
Rooney told me he did not know if he would run for re-election next year, but said he was reluctant to be too critical of Trump, in case he did. Like many of his colleagues, he is ambivalent about the president, but his frustrations with Washington long predate Trump’s arrival. His fondest hope for change with Trump was that Republicans might finally accomplish things. ‘‘Things do need to change,’’ he told me. The shooting, and the feeling of vulnerability it engendered, would be something he considered in his ‘‘Is it worth it?’’ calculus.
| 2017-07 | <|begin_of_text|>A veteran political reporter takes stock of how Washington has — and hasn’t — changed in the time of Trump.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, was running late and ‘‘tied up in the Oval,’’ an assistant explained. It was late on a Thursday afternoon in June, and I had not seen Spicer since the election that would supposedly transform the accustomed reality of Washington and had unquestionably upended his.
In the political order of the pre-Trump era, Spicer represented a Washington ‘‘type’’ in good standing: an amiable plodder in his job as spokesman for the Republican National Committee and a stock character of the local ensemble. He was an eager shooter of the breeze, visible at cocktail parties and serviceable on TV. I once described the pre-Trump Spicer as being a ‘‘lower-wattage aide,’’ which he would often remind me of whenever I used to see him around the city. He never appeared overly bothered by this and spoke in a tone somewhere between | stage-wincing and sarcastic pride that he even rated a mention at all.
This phrase — ‘‘current status’’ — struck me as a perfectly of-the-moment representation of the city from which Spicer had derived a creditable identity for himself until he (and it) had become otherwise occupied. To begin with, it was well known that Spicer’s ‘‘current status’’ had been a volatile predicament from pretty much the start of this volatile presidency. ‘‘Embattled’’ or ‘‘beleaguered’’ effectively became part of his job title. There was the recurring ‘‘Saturday Night Live’’ character (‘‘Spicey,’’ played by Melissa McCarthy), real-time chyron shaming (CNN: ‘‘President’s spokesman says he can’t speak for the president’’) and nonstop abuse and incredulity from much of the press corps. And yet in keeping with the Trump-era rule stipulating that ‘‘the enemy of the enemy of the people |
A video posted on Instagram Sunday night recorded some of their final moments: Young faces, glowing in the pink light of dusk, smiling wide as their sightseeing helicopter lifted off the ground.
“In the air!” one of the passengers, Trevor Cadigan, appears to shout over the sound of whirling blades.
Only a few minutes later, the chopper descended into the frigid and fast-moving waters of the East River. The pilot, Richard Vance, 33, cried “engine failure” in a mayday call and turned the helicopter away from the busy streets of Manhattan. Of the six people on that flight, Mr. Vance was the only one who survived.
Among the dead, the oldest was just 34.
Mr. Cadigan, 26, was aboard with Brian McDaniel, also 26, a friend from their high school days in Dallas. Carla Vallejos Blanco, 29, of Corrientes, Argentina, was visiting New York with a friend, a woman who decided to skip the flight. Two other men were killed: Tristan Hill, 29; and Daniel Thompson, 34, whom a law enforcement official described as an employee of the helicopter tour company that operated the craft.
Mr. Hill was engaged to be married, according to his younger brother, Brendan. The date was less than two months away.
Tristan Hill was one of three brothers raised in Reno, Nev. He played basketball at Missouri Valley College, and he stayed involved with the sport after graduation. He coached with the Boys and Girls Club of America and organized a charity basketball camp for children in Reno, a fund-raiser for the Boys and Girls Club.
Brendan Hill said he was always jealous of his brother’s drive, and Mr. Hill’s short career showed a young man with wide interests and varied talents. He worked at the Sierra Nevada Corporation for a time, and briefly co-owned a bar in Reno called the Stamp Social Club, which was in the basement of an old 1930s post office. He even interned on Capitol Hill for Representative Michael R. Turner, a Republican from Ohio.
Mr. Hill’s other brother, Iain Hill, wrote a tribute to him on Facebook.
Ms. Vallejos Blanco arrived in New York from Argentina on Wednesday and was planning to stay for a week, said Mateo Estremé, the consul general of Argentina in New York. Roxana Blanco, Ms. Vallejos Blanco’s aunt, told Pulxo, an Argentine radio station, that her niece’s traveling companion decided she would rather skip the Sunday evening ride.
Also on the ride was another young person who had recently moved to the city: Mr. Cadigan, the man who took the video. He studied journalism at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and recently moved to New York to work at Business Insider, a business news website. He graduated from Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas in 2010, according to WFAA, a Dallas television station and ABC affiliate, where his father, Jerry Cadigan, is the production manager.
Mr. Cadigan was on the helicopter with his friend from high school, Mr. McDaniel. The two were on the football team together and remained friends after they graduated. Mr. McDaniel was a firefighter with the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department and had been on vacation in New York. He was a fire rescue officer assigned to Fire Station 36 in West Dallas, according to a statement from Dallas Fire-Rescue officials. Mr. McDaniel had been with the department since May 2016.
Mr. McDaniel’s father, Allen L. McDaniel, said he was too distraught to talk about his son on Monday morning.
His voice caught, and Mr. McDaniel began to cry. | 2018-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A video posted on Instagram Sunday night recorded some of their final moments: Young faces, glowing in the pink light of dusk, smiling wide as their sightseeing helicopter lifted off the ground.
“In the air!” one of the passengers, Trevor Cadigan, appears to shout over the sound of whirling blades.
Only a few minutes later, the chopper descended into the frigid and fast-moving waters of the East River. The pilot, Richard Vance, 33, cried “engine failure” in a mayday call and turned the helicopter away from the busy streets of Manhattan. Of the six people on that flight, Mr. Vance was the only one who survived.
Among the dead, the oldest was just 34.
Mr. Cadigan, 26, was aboard with Brian McDaniel, also 26, a friend from their high school days in Dallas. Carla Vallejos Blanco, 29, of Corrientes, Argentina, was visiting New York with a friend, a woman who | decided to skip the flight. Two other men were killed: Tristan Hill, 29; and Daniel Thompson, 34, whom a law enforcement official described as an employee of the helicopter tour company that operated the craft.
Mr. Hill was engaged to be married, according to his younger brother, Brendan. The date was less than two months away.
Tristan Hill was one of three brothers raised in Reno, Nev. He played basketball at Missouri Valley College, and he stayed involved with the sport after graduation. He coached with the Boys and Girls Club of America and organized a charity basketball camp for children in Reno, a fund-raiser for the Boys and Girls Club.
Brendan Hill said he was always jealous of his brother’s drive, and Mr. Hill’s short career showed a young man with wide interests and varied talents. He worked at the Sierra Nevada Corporation for a time, and briefly co-owned a bar in Reno called the Stamp Social Club, which was in the basement of an old |
A video posted to Facebook showed police officers forcefully removing Jazmine Headley’s 1-year-old son from her arms at a Brooklyn food stamp office. The episode ignited outrage online against the New York Police Department and the charges against Ms. Headley were later dropped.
A video that shows police officers trying to remove a woman’s 1-year-old son from her grasp as they arrested her in a Brooklyn food stamp office ignited a fury on social media and prompted calls on Sunday for an explanation from the police.
A Facebook user who uploaded the video said the police had been called on Friday after the woman, identified by the police as Jazmine Headley, 23, sat on the floor of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program office in Boerum Hill because there were no available chairs.
After a verbal dispute with a security guard, someone called the police, according to Nyashia Ferguson, who posted the video.
A female sergeant and three police officers, two of whom appear to be women, surround Ms. Headley and attempt to pull the child away. Then one officer, her back facing the camera, repeatedly yanks the child in an apparent attempt to separate him from his mother.
After more officers join the fray, the officer who yanked the child waves a yellow stun gun at the outraged crowd of onlookers, which includes several children and people filming with their cellphones.
The encounter was the latest in New York to spark outrage over excessive policing against unarmed civilians, despite the Police Department’s implementation of de-escalation training.
Nearly all of the civilians involved in those incidents have been black or Latino. The training followed the death of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner, from a police chokehold in 2014 on Staten Island.
The Patrol Guide, the official police manual, states that stun guns should be used in limited circumstances: against people who are physically resisting being taken into custody; people who indicate verbally that they intend to do so; and people who are acting in a manner that could cause injury to themselves or someone else.
The Police Department called Friday’s incident “troubling” in a statement on Sunday, and said officers had responded to a 911 call for harassment. When the officers arrived, security guards told them that Ms. Headley had refused to leave.
The police officers told Ms. Headley to leave “numerous times,” the police said, and after she refused, the security guards “brought the woman to the floor.” Police officers then tried to arrest her; despite her resistance, she was taken into custody, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner Phillip Walzak, a police spokesman, said the officers involved are all assigned to the 84th Precinct and remained on full-duty status. He declined to give their names or say whether they followed department protocols, citing its investigation.
The department is investigating the incident with the city Human Resources Administration, which administers public benefits. A spokeswoman for Allied Universal, the parent company of the security firm visible on security guards’ patches, FJC Security, did not respond to requests for comment.
She disputed the police account of the incident and said the officer who waved the stun gun, not a security guard, had forced Ms. Headley to the ground.
For the city’s poor, applying for public assistance requires copious amounts of patience, and Friday had been no different for Ms. Headley, Ms. Ferguson said.
Ms. Headley had been waiting for about two hours, sitting on the floor the entire time, in the part of the office that helps families get child care, Ms. Ferguson said. The office was more crowded than usual, she said, and the wait times were agonizing.
A female security guard eventually approached Ms. Headley, and several more guards followed as a verbal dispute escalated. Ms. Ferguson said they taunted Ms. Headley and laughed in her face before leaving.
Ten minutes later, they returned with the police, Ms. Ferguson said. A fearful expression crossed Ms. Headley’s face as they approached, she said.
The police officers asked Ms. Headley to come with them, Ms. Ferguson said. When she tried to explain, they cut her off. The situation quickly devolved into chaos.
On social media, some people fumed over the police officers’ actions, and wondered what Ms. Headley could possibly have done to warrant their response.
Letitia James, the city’s public advocate, called in a statement for the officers to be placed on desk duty and the results of the investigation to be made public.
Alex S. Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College who coordinates its Policing and Social Justice Project, said that rather than defusing tensions, the officers appear to be needlessly using force against someone who refused to comply with their requests. He said the officers deserved to be suspended.
“It’s just hard to imagine what possibly could have transpired before the video starts that would have warranted that level of force in those circumstances,” he said.
Professor Vitale added that he was baffled that no one in the food stamp office, which has security guards and social workers, could figure out how to handle the situation without calling the police.
A police officer who waved a stun gun at teenagers near Midwood High School in Brooklyn in March 2017 is facing disciplinary charges after Professor Vitale recorded the incident. “You want to ride the lightning?” the officer asked one of the teenagers, after pushing her with his baton.
In an era when New York City’s police commissioner has pushed for stronger ties between neighborhoods and the police who patrol them, Professor Vitale said incidents like these only harden mistrust of the police among poor people of color.
“This just reinforces their sense that police are a source of violence and injustice,” he said. | 2018-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A video posted to Facebook showed police officers forcefully removing Jazmine Headley’s 1-year-old son from her arms at a Brooklyn food stamp office. The episode ignited outrage online against the New York Police Department and the charges against Ms. Headley were later dropped.
A video that shows police officers trying to remove a woman’s 1-year-old son from her grasp as they arrested her in a Brooklyn food stamp office ignited a fury on social media and prompted calls on Sunday for an explanation from the police.
A Facebook user who uploaded the video said the police had been called on Friday after the woman, identified by the police as Jazmine Headley, 23, sat on the floor of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program office in Boerum Hill because there were no available chairs.
After a verbal dispute with a security guard, someone called the police, according to Nyashia Ferguson, who posted the video.
A female sergeant and three police officers, two of whom appear to be | women, surround Ms. Headley and attempt to pull the child away. Then one officer, her back facing the camera, repeatedly yanks the child in an apparent attempt to separate him from his mother.
After more officers join the fray, the officer who yanked the child waves a yellow stun gun at the outraged crowd of onlookers, which includes several children and people filming with their cellphones.
The encounter was the latest in New York to spark outrage over excessive policing against unarmed civilians, despite the Police Department’s implementation of de-escalation training.
Nearly all of the civilians involved in those incidents have been black or Latino. The training followed the death of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner, from a police chokehold in 2014 on Staten Island.
The Patrol Guide, the official police manual, states that stun guns should be used in limited circumstances: against people who are physically resisting being taken into custody; people who indicate verbally that they intend to do so; and people who are |
A video posted to Facebook showed police officers forcefully removing Jazmine Headley’s 1-year-old son from her arms at a Brooklyn food stamp office. The episode ignited outrage online against the New York Police Department and the charges against Ms. Headley were later dropped.
A video that shows police officers trying to remove a woman’s 1-year-old son from her grasp as they arrested her in a Brooklyn food stamp office ignited a fury on social media and prompted calls on Sunday for an explanation from the police.
A Facebook user who uploaded the video said the police had been called on Friday after the woman, identified by the police as Jazmine Headley, 23, sat on the floor of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program office in Boerum Hill because there were no available chairs.
After a verbal dispute with a security guard, someone called the police, according to Nyashia Ferguson, who posted the video.
A female sergeant and three police officers, two of whom appear to be women, surround Ms. Headley and attempt to pull the child away. Then one officer, her back facing the camera, repeatedly yanks the child in an apparent attempt to separate him from his mother.
After more officers join the fray, the officer who yanked the child waves a yellow stun gun at the outraged crowd of onlookers, which includes several children and people filming with their cellphones.
The encounter was the latest in New York to spark outrage over excessive policing against unarmed civilians, despite the Police Department’s implementation of de-escalation training.
Nearly all of the civilians involved in those incidents have been black or Latino. The training followed the death of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner, from a police chokehold in 2014 on Staten Island.
The Patrol Guide, the official police manual, states that stun guns should be used in limited circumstances: against people who are physically resisting being taken into custody; people who indicate verbally that they intend to do so; and people who are acting in a manner that could cause injury to themselves or someone else.
The Police Department called Friday’s incident “troubling” in a statement on Sunday, and said officers had responded to a 911 call for harassment. When the officers arrived, security guards told them that Ms. Headley had refused to leave.
The police officers told Ms. Headley to leave “numerous times,” the police said, and after she refused, the security guards “brought the woman to the floor.” Police officers then tried to arrest her; despite her resistance, she was taken into custody, the police said.
Ms. Headley was charged with resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child, obstructing governmental administration and trespassing. The police said she refused medical treatment for herself and her son, who was placed in the care of a relative.
She could not be reached for comment on Sunday because she was being held without bail on Rikers Island, according to online corrections records and Brooklyn Defender Services, the public defender organization representing her.
Deputy Commissioner Phillip Walzak, a police spokesman, said the officers involved are all assigned to the 84th Precinct and remained on full-duty status. He declined to give their names or say whether they followed department protocols, citing its investigation.
The department is investigating the incident with the city Human Resources Administration, which administers public benefits. A spokeswoman for Allied Universal, the parent company of the security firm visible on security guards’ patches, FJC Security, did not respond to requests for comment.
She disputed the police account of the incident and said the officer who waved the stun gun, not a security guard, had forced Ms. Headley to the ground.
For the city’s poor, applying for public assistance requires copious amounts of patience, and Friday had been no different for Ms. Headley, Ms. Ferguson said.
Ms. Headley had been waiting for about two hours, sitting on the floor the entire time, in the part of the office that helps families get child care, Ms. Ferguson said. The office was more crowded than usual, she said, and the wait times were agonizing.
A female security guard eventually approached Ms. Headley, and several more guards followed as a verbal dispute escalated. Ms. Ferguson said they taunted Ms. Headley and laughed in her face before leaving.
Ten minutes later, they returned with the police, Ms. Ferguson said. A fearful expression crossed Ms. Headley’s face as they approached, she said.
The police officers asked Ms. Headley to come with them, Ms. Ferguson said. When she tried to explain, they cut her off. The situation quickly devolved into chaos.
On social media, some people fumed over the police officers’ actions, and wondered what Ms. Headley could possibly have done to warrant their response.
Letitia James, the city’s public advocate, called in a statement for the officers to be placed on desk duty and the results of the investigation to be made public.
Alex S. Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College who coordinates its Policing and Social Justice Project, said that rather than defusing tensions, the officers appear to be needlessly using force against someone who refused to comply with their requests. He said the officers deserved to be suspended.
“It’s just hard to imagine what possibly could have transpired before the video starts that would have warranted that level of force in those circumstances,” he said.
Professor Vitale added that he was baffled that no one in the food stamp office, which has security guards and social workers, could figure out how to handle the situation without calling the police.
A police officer who waved a stun gun at teenagers near Midwood High School in Brooklyn in March 2017 is facing disciplinary charges after Professor Vitale recorded the incident. “You want to ride the lightning?” the officer asked one of the teenagers, after pushing her with his baton.
In an era when New York City’s police commissioner has pushed for stronger ties between neighborhoods and the police who patrol them, Professor Vitale said incidents like these only harden mistrust of the police among poor people of color.
“This just reinforces their sense that police are a source of violence and injustice,” he said. | 2018-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A video posted to Facebook showed police officers forcefully removing Jazmine Headley’s 1-year-old son from her arms at a Brooklyn food stamp office. The episode ignited outrage online against the New York Police Department and the charges against Ms. Headley were later dropped.
A video that shows police officers trying to remove a woman’s 1-year-old son from her grasp as they arrested her in a Brooklyn food stamp office ignited a fury on social media and prompted calls on Sunday for an explanation from the police.
A Facebook user who uploaded the video said the police had been called on Friday after the woman, identified by the police as Jazmine Headley, 23, sat on the floor of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program office in Boerum Hill because there were no available chairs.
After a verbal dispute with a security guard, someone called the police, according to Nyashia Ferguson, who posted the video.
A female sergeant and three police officers, two of whom appear to be | women, surround Ms. Headley and attempt to pull the child away. Then one officer, her back facing the camera, repeatedly yanks the child in an apparent attempt to separate him from his mother.
After more officers join the fray, the officer who yanked the child waves a yellow stun gun at the outraged crowd of onlookers, which includes several children and people filming with their cellphones.
The encounter was the latest in New York to spark outrage over excessive policing against unarmed civilians, despite the Police Department’s implementation of de-escalation training.
Nearly all of the civilians involved in those incidents have been black or Latino. The training followed the death of an unarmed black man, Eric Garner, from a police chokehold in 2014 on Staten Island.
The Patrol Guide, the official police manual, states that stun guns should be used in limited circumstances: against people who are physically resisting being taken into custody; people who indicate verbally that they intend to do so; and people who are |
A video shared by Bryan Kramer, an opposition lawmaker in Papua New Guinea, showed property damage at the Parliament building in Port Moresby, the capital.
Disgruntled police officers and other workers stormed the Parliament building in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, breaking glass and overturning furniture as they demanded to be paid for their work during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting.
Harry Momos, a spokesman for Parliament, said about 300 people forced their way into the building in Port Moresby, the capital. The situation cooled down Tuesday afternoon after the group met with the speaker of Parliament and the government finance minister, he said.
“We don’t expect any further damage or confrontation,” Mr. Momos said.
Papua New Guinea, the poorest of the 21 member economies in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, known as APEC, had a rare turn in the global spotlight as host of the group’s annual summit meeting, which ended Sunday. The Parliament raid on Tuesday was an embarrassing footnote to the event.
Mr. Momos said the officers would be paid on Wednesday.
A video shared by Bryan Kramer, an opposition lawmaker, showed art ripped off the walls, toppled plants and an overturned X-ray machine and desk. The windows at the front of the building had been shattered.
Mr. Kramer said that “numerous staff of Parliament were assaulted during this confrontation.” Mr. Momos said there were no serious injuries.
The government of Papua New Guinea had been criticized for spending lavishly on the APEC meeting, including $7 million on 40 Maserati sedans to ferry world leaders around the capital. About 7,000 people attended, including Vice President Mike Pence and President Xi Jinping of China.
Just north of Australia, the country of eight million people is riddled with crime and is in the midst of a national health crisis, including the return of polio. Less than a fifth of the population has access to electricity, and almost 85 percent lives on subsistence farming. | 2018-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A video shared by Bryan Kramer, an opposition lawmaker in Papua New Guinea, showed property damage at the Parliament building in Port Moresby, the capital.
Disgruntled police officers and other workers stormed the Parliament building in Papua New Guinea on Tuesday, breaking glass and overturning furniture as they demanded to be paid for their work during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting.
Harry Momos, a spokesman for Parliament, said about 300 people forced their way into the building in Port Moresby, the capital. The situation cooled down Tuesday afternoon after the group met with the speaker of Parliament and the government finance minister, he said.
“We don’t expect any further damage or confrontation,” Mr. Momos said.
Papua New Guinea, the poorest of the 21 member economies in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, known as APEC, had a rare turn in the global spotlight as host of the group’s annual summit meeting, which ended Sunday. The Parliament raid on Tuesday was an | embarrassing footnote to the event.
Mr. Momos said the officers would be paid on Wednesday.
A video shared by Bryan Kramer, an opposition lawmaker, showed art ripped off the walls, toppled plants and an overturned X-ray machine and desk. The windows at the front of the building had been shattered.
Mr. Kramer said that “numerous staff of Parliament were assaulted during this confrontation.” Mr. Momos said there were no serious injuries.
The government of Papua New Guinea had been criticized for spending lavishly on the APEC meeting, including $7 million on 40 Maserati sedans to ferry world leaders around the capital. About 7,000 people attended, including Vice President Mike Pence and President Xi Jinping of China.
Just north of Australia, the country of eight million people is riddled with crime and is in the midst of a national health crisis, including the return of polio. Less than a fifth of the population has access to electricity, and almost 85 percent lives |
A video showed the protester motionless on the ground and bleeding. Fifty-seven officers resigned from the department’s Emergency Response Team in solidarity with the two who were suspended.
Police officers knocked a man down on a sidewalk in Buffalo on Thursday as he tried to talk to them. The 75-year-old man appeared to hit his head and lie motionless on the ground.
Prosecutors are investigating the actions of two Buffalo police officers who were suspended without pay on Thursday night after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, who was hospitalized with a head injury.
The video taken by WBFO, a local radio station, shows the man, identified on Friday as Martin Gugino, approaching a group of officers during a protest stemming from the death of George Floyd. He was identified by the Western New York Peace Center, a nonprofit that named him in a Facebook post, saying he is a peace activist and a member.
After the video shows Mr. Gugino stopping in front of the officers to talk, an officer yells “push him back” three times; one officer pushes his arm into Mr. Gugino’s chest, while another extends his baton toward him with both hands. Mr. Gugino flails backward, landing just out of range of the camera, with blood immediately leaking from his right ear.
An officer leans down to examine him, the video shows, but another officer then pulls the first officer away. Several other officers are seen walking by the man, motionless on the ground, without checking on him.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Friday that prosecutors were investigating the incident. It said Mr. Gugino was unable to provide a statement to investigators on Thursday night at the Erie County Medical Center, where he was taken for treatment for the head injury. On Friday, Mr. Gugino was in serious but stable condition and was alert and oriented, according to a hospital spokesman.
The video, which rapidly spread across social media, added to a growing body of videos from across the nation that showed officers responding to protests against police violence with more police violence. Fury among online supporters of the protests was heightened by the Police Department’s initial claim that he “tripped and fell,” a description at direct odds with the video.
The officers’ union and the Buffalo Police Department did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Friday. Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo, said the city was aware of the development.
The Buffalo Police Department told local news media that five people were arrested during the protest.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York condemned the actions of the officers in the video late Thursday night.
“It sickens me,” the Erie County executive, Mark Poloncarz, said on Twitter of the video, which includes both vulgarity and disturbing images.
Mr. Brown, the mayor, said in a statement that he was disturbed by the episode and that the city’s police commissioner had ordered an immediate investigation.
Like other cities in New York, Buffalo has widely deployed law enforcement during the protests. On June 1, officers in armored vehicles fired tear gas after asking a crowd to disperse. Several stores were looted; a vehicle drove into a group of police officers, injuring two; and two people were struck by gunfire.
The Buffalo Police Department has been accused in lawsuits in recent years of discriminating against minority groups. In 2018, the department was sued in federal court, accused of discriminating against people of color through traffic enforcement practices that included checkpoints in neighborhoods where a majority of residents are black.
Chinyere Ezie, one of the lawyers litigating the case, said additional plaintiffs had been added to the suit, amended in April. Ms. Ezie said the video showing Mr. Gugino’s treatment highlighted “systemic problems and institutional failures” in the department’s enforcement, even when both the city’s mayor and police chief are black.
| 2020-06 | <|begin_of_text|>A video showed the protester motionless on the ground and bleeding. Fifty-seven officers resigned from the department’s Emergency Response Team in solidarity with the two who were suspended.
Police officers knocked a man down on a sidewalk in Buffalo on Thursday as he tried to talk to them. The 75-year-old man appeared to hit his head and lie motionless on the ground.
Prosecutors are investigating the actions of two Buffalo police officers who were suspended without pay on Thursday night after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester, who was hospitalized with a head injury.
The video taken by WBFO, a local radio station, shows the man, identified on Friday as Martin Gugino, approaching a group of officers during a protest stemming from the death of George Floyd. He was identified by the Western New York Peace Center, a nonprofit that named him in a Facebook post, saying he is a peace activist and a member.
After the video shows Mr. Gugino stopping in front of | the officers to talk, an officer yells “push him back” three times; one officer pushes his arm into Mr. Gugino’s chest, while another extends his baton toward him with both hands. Mr. Gugino flails backward, landing just out of range of the camera, with blood immediately leaking from his right ear.
An officer leans down to examine him, the video shows, but another officer then pulls the first officer away. Several other officers are seen walking by the man, motionless on the ground, without checking on him.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Friday that prosecutors were investigating the incident. It said Mr. Gugino was unable to provide a statement to investigators on Thursday night at the Erie County Medical Center, where he was taken for treatment for the head injury. On Friday, Mr. Gugino was in serious but stable condition and was alert and oriented, according to a hospital spokesman.
The video, which rapidly |
A view that institutional racism is a faraway problem is keeping the country from more fully confronting entrenched discrimination.
TOKYO — As protests were spreading around the globe in response to George Floyd’s killing by the police, Sierra Todd, an African-American undergraduate in Japan, organized a march last month in Tokyo to show solidarity with American demonstrators.
With images of America’s racial strife rolling across television screens, some in Japan have insisted that institutional racism is a faraway problem. That, activists and scholars say, is keeping the public from more fully seizing the moment to reckon with entrenched discrimination against marginalized groups in Japan.
A vocal faction of Japanese conservatives endorses racist notions of blood-based purity. And the largely homogeneous population has often resisted acknowledging difference or engaging in the kind of introspection about racism and inequality that is playing out in the United States.
Bako Nguasong, left, and V. Athena Lisane, center, at a protest in Fukuoka.
But Japan has a longstanding history of discrimination against minorities, including the descendants of Koreans brought to Japan as forced labor before and during World War II; Indigenous groups like the Ainu of the northernmost island, Hokkaido; those whose lineage traces back to a feudal class of outcasts known as buraku; and mixed-race individuals.
The mistreatment of mixed-race people through their school years and beyond has drawn particular attention as a growing number of biracial celebrities have spoken out.
In an emotional testimonial posted on Twitter last month, Louis Okoye, a half-Japanese, half-Nigerian professional baseball player, described how he had often been bullied as a child in Japan because of the color of his skin.
“I would look out from the balcony of our home and think, if I jumped off and was born again, maybe I can come back as a normal Japanese person,” he wrote in the post, which has been retweeted 52,000 times. Most of the comments were overwhelmingly supportive.
Ms. Nguasong, 36, left behind a home and a career in Washington and moved to Japan two years ago because she was weary of fearing for her safety as a Black woman in America. “I knew it wasn’t going to be diverse, but I also knew I wasn’t going to be afraid for my life,” said Ms. Nguasong, who previously worked as a mental health coordinator for former inmates.
She did find physical security in Japan, where crime rates are low and police killings are rare. But she could not escape racism, even if in Japan it takes a less violent form.
Ms. Nguasong said that she had noticed looks and whispers from local Japanese people, and that passengers had avoided sitting next to her on trains. Two older women, she said, once groped her breasts in an elevator in apparent surprise over her figure.
A glaring reminder of that came last month when NHK, the public broadcaster, aired a segment about the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States.
A clip showed African-Americans as overly muscled, music-playing, looting caricatures, and presented the protests as the product of frustration with economic disparity and the coronavirus, without mentioning police brutality. After pushback on Twitter, NHK apologized and took the clip down.
The country’s insularity has generated not just overt and unconscious bias against people abroad, but also a distrust of foreigners who come to Japan.
As the country slowly opens its doors to outside workers to help confront a demographic crisis, improving its treatment of foreigners may be crucial to Japan’s future. But according to a 2017 Ministry of Justice survey, 30 percent of foreigners in Japan said they had been the target of discrimination, with many citing issues getting jobs or housing.
At the same time, though, some Japanese show a fascination with foreigners, including Black pop culture. That has led to accusations of cultural appropriation, and left some African-Americans chagrined that more people in Japan don’t reflect on their own racism.
Ms. Albritton has experienced incidences of racism in Japan, such as when a man in the street shouted “you’re so gross,” or when a casting agent for a modeling job asked her to demonstrate a “Black handshake” at an audition.
Compared to Black Lives Matter marches in France or Britain, which have drawn tens of thousands of people, the rallies in Japan have been modest in size. The largest, in Tokyo, drew about 3,500 people, with many participants having some foreign roots.
Some scholars worry that the Japanese public only sees racism abroad without reflecting on it closer to home.
The tennis champion Naomi Osaka, the daughter of a Haitian-American father and a Japanese mother whose superstar status has inspired a reassessment of traditional Japanese identity, has called out those on social media who claim there is no racism in Japan.
Some Japanese are working to draw more attention to prejudice against foreigners. After video emerged on social media showing Tokyo police officers roughing up a Turkish immigrant, Ramazan Celik, during a traffic stop, Kento Suzuki, who volunteers at a detention center where asylum seekers and other foreigners are held, organized two protests.
Still, Mr. Suzuki worries about cases in which asylum seekers and immigrants have said that they were abused or neglected while in detention.
| 2020-07 | <|begin_of_text|>A view that institutional racism is a faraway problem is keeping the country from more fully confronting entrenched discrimination.
TOKYO — As protests were spreading around the globe in response to George Floyd’s killing by the police, Sierra Todd, an African-American undergraduate in Japan, organized a march last month in Tokyo to show solidarity with American demonstrators.
With images of America’s racial strife rolling across television screens, some in Japan have insisted that institutional racism is a faraway problem. That, activists and scholars say, is keeping the public from more fully seizing the moment to reckon with entrenched discrimination against marginalized groups in Japan.
A vocal faction of Japanese conservatives endorses racist notions of blood-based purity. And the largely homogeneous population has often resisted acknowledging difference or engaging in the kind of introspection about racism and inequality that is playing out in the United States.
Bako Nguasong, left, and V. Athena Lisane, center, at a protest in Fukuoka.
But Japan has a longstanding history | of discrimination against minorities, including the descendants of Koreans brought to Japan as forced labor before and during World War II; Indigenous groups like the Ainu of the northernmost island, Hokkaido; those whose lineage traces back to a feudal class of outcasts known as buraku; and mixed-race individuals.
The mistreatment of mixed-race people through their school years and beyond has drawn particular attention as a growing number of biracial celebrities have spoken out.
In an emotional testimonial posted on Twitter last month, Louis Okoye, a half-Japanese, half-Nigerian professional baseball player, described how he had often been bullied as a child in Japan because of the color of his skin.
“I would look out from the balcony of our home and think, if I jumped off and was born again, maybe I can come back as a normal Japanese person,” he wrote in the post, which has been retweeted 52,000 times. Most of the comments were overwhelmingly supportive.
|
A viral tweet about picking a seat on New York’s subway prompted a spirited debate over which spot is prized.
It is a subconscious decision that New Yorkers face every day: entering a subway train and making a split-second judgment about which seat to grab.
The choice is primal and depends on a series of calculations, including the length of your trip and the body language of the people seated nearby.
In the photo, a group of seats on a D train, in a cascade of orange hues, is labeled with a number, from 1 to 5.
A fiery debate soon erupted. The seat next to the door (No. 1), some proclaimed. The one by the window tucked safely out of harm’s way (No. 4). Definitely not the middle seat (No. 2), everyone agreed.
“Anyone who doesn’t say 1 should be arrested by the M.T.A. Police,” the television writer Bess Kalb responded.
Even Andy Byford, the subway’s leader, weighed in, noting that a true gentleman stands.
Mayor Bill de Blasio weighed in late on Thursday, speaking for tall people everywhere and shunning the seats with little legroom.
Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor and a regular subway rider, agreed with Mr. Byford that standing was the best option.
“I always stand,” Mr. Bloomberg posted on Twitter, alongside a photo of him reading a newspaper on the train, although he was committing his own etiquette lapse by blocking the door.
Other riders had more practical concerns.
“Whichever one isn’t inexplicably wet,” the comedian Mike Drucker wrote.
One rider complained that the seat closest to the door could inspire a robbery. “I call that one the snatch and run,” he said of seat No. 1.
Mr. Bautista, 20, said his train was empty on New Year’s Eve because he gets on at the first D stop in the Bronx. He was home for the holidays from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Mr. Bautista struggled to select a seat on the train on Thursday morning, ultimately choosing the seat near the aisle where he could sit sideways.
The train in the photo is an R68 model, which is used on the A, B, D, G, N, Q and W lines, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency that oversees the subway. About 625 of the cars are currently in service.
Other models have different layouts, like the loathed R32 cars, which are among the oldest in the world. Those breakdown-prone cars have a long bench on either side, where riders often exchange perturbed glances over invisible boundaries because seats are not marked.
The subway seat debate started the same day that Mr. Byford, the subway leader, touched off another viral post on Twitter when the official subway account referred to him as “Train Daddy,” a new nickname that has made New Yorkers chuckle.
The subway Twitter account posted photos of Mr. Byford greeting riders on New Year’s Eve and thanking employees for working on the holiday.
Mr. Byford, a cheerful British native, has become a bit of a cult figure in New York as he has worked to improve subway service over the last two years.
| 2020-01 | <|begin_of_text|>A viral tweet about picking a seat on New York’s subway prompted a spirited debate over which spot is prized.
It is a subconscious decision that New Yorkers face every day: entering a subway train and making a split-second judgment about which seat to grab.
The choice is primal and depends on a series of calculations, including the length of your trip and the body language of the people seated nearby.
In the photo, a group of seats on a D train, in a cascade of orange hues, is labeled with a number, from 1 to 5.
A fiery debate soon erupted. The seat next to the door (No. 1), some proclaimed. The one by the window tucked safely out of harm’s way (No. 4). Definitely not the middle seat (No. 2), everyone agreed.
“Anyone who doesn’t say 1 should be arrested by the M.T.A. Police,” the television writer Bess Kalb responded.
Even Andy Byford, the subway | ’s leader, weighed in, noting that a true gentleman stands.
Mayor Bill de Blasio weighed in late on Thursday, speaking for tall people everywhere and shunning the seats with little legroom.
Michael R. Bloomberg, Mr. de Blasio’s predecessor and a regular subway rider, agreed with Mr. Byford that standing was the best option.
“I always stand,” Mr. Bloomberg posted on Twitter, alongside a photo of him reading a newspaper on the train, although he was committing his own etiquette lapse by blocking the door.
Other riders had more practical concerns.
“Whichever one isn’t inexplicably wet,” the comedian Mike Drucker wrote.
One rider complained that the seat closest to the door could inspire a robbery. “I call that one the snatch and run,” he said of seat No. 1.
Mr. Bautista, 20, said his train was empty on New Year’s Eve because he gets on at the first D stop in the Bronx. He was home for the |
A virus doesn’t care about our ideological preconceptions.
“The only thing it wants is targets,” a George Mason University Ph.D. candidate in computer science, Adam Elkus, wrote of the coronavirus in March.
In each stage of the American response to the coronavirus, this delusion has been at work. In the first stage it was liberals and portions of the public health establishment (including, fatefully, key decision-makers in New York City) who treated the virus as something to “be spun or narrativized away,” trying to define the real contagion as xenophobia or racism rather than the disease itself.
By the time this effort at reality-denial collapsed, the baton of narrative delusion had been passed to President Donald Trump, who spent crucial weeks behaving as though the power of positive thinking could suffice to keep his glorious economy afloat.
Eventually the plunging stock market and the rising infection rate forced even Trump to adapt somewhat to reality. But the next delusion belonged to some of his conservative supporters, who embraced the idea that the economic carnage was just the result of misguided government policy — even though many stay-at-home orders only happened after steep drops in dining and shopping and travel, not before — and that if the government simply spoke the right magic words of reopening, something close to normal life would immediately resume.
Now finally, amid the wave of protests against police brutality, the baton of words-against-reality has been passed back to the public health establishment, many of whose leaders are tying themselves in ideological knots arguing that it is not only acceptable but essential, after months circumscribing every sort of basic liberty, to encourage mass gatherings to support one particular just cause.
With this last turn, we’ve reached the end of the progression, because it means the original theory behind a stern public health response — that the danger to life and health justified suspending even the most righteous pursuits, including not just normal economic life but the practices and institutions that protect children, comfort the dying, serve the poor — has been abandoned or subverted by every faction in our national debate.
Yes, there are ongoing liberal attempts (including from the ridiculous, disastrous Bill de Blasio) to prop up a distinction between mass protests and other forms of non-distanced human life. But these attempts will fall apart: There is no First Amendment warrant to break up Hasidic funerals while blessing Black Lives Matters protests, and there is no moral warrant to claim that only anti-racism, however pressing its goals, deserves a sweeping exception from rules that have forbidden so many morally important activities for the last few months.
For the record, I still believe those rules were mostly right. The lockdowns lasted too long and imposed too much in certain places, and the George Floyd protests reflect pent-up energies that had to be released. But the rules bought time for warmer weather and social adaptations and hopefully a slower spread, they bought time for hospitals and masks and medical equipment, they brought us at least some distance closer to a vaccine — and on the evidence of the stock market and the jobs numbers, they did so without creating the total economic calamity that many on the right were prophesying.
That the rules are now dissolving amid ideological double talk from health authorities says something important about the American capacity for political delusion. But it doesn’t prove that we were wrong to implement them — not when there are thousands of people who are still alive, and whose lives emphatically matter, because we sustained restrictions for a time.
The progression I’ve described, though, in which all sides have embraced delusions or found something to value more than public health, does signal that there will be no further comprehensive attempt to fight the virus. Trump and conservatism won’t support it, the public health bureaucracy won’t be able to defend it, and we didn’t use the time the lockdowns bought to build the infrastructure to sustain a campaign of actual suppression.
So in this sense we are back with Elkus’s original point. All the virus wants is targets, and if it doesn’t ultimately find another hundred thousand victims, or more than that in some autumn second wave, it will not be political decisions or public health exhortations that save us. On the left and right we’ve exhausted those possibilities, and like the earthlings unexpectedly preserved from alien domination at the end of “The War of the Worlds,” now only some inherent weakness in our enemy can save us from many, many deaths to come.
| 2020-06 | <|begin_of_text|>A virus doesn’t care about our ideological preconceptions.
“The only thing it wants is targets,” a George Mason University Ph.D. candidate in computer science, Adam Elkus, wrote of the coronavirus in March.
In each stage of the American response to the coronavirus, this delusion has been at work. In the first stage it was liberals and portions of the public health establishment (including, fatefully, key decision-makers in New York City) who treated the virus as something to “be spun or narrativized away,” trying to define the real contagion as xenophobia or racism rather than the disease itself.
By the time this effort at reality-denial collapsed, the baton of narrative delusion had been passed to President Donald Trump, who spent crucial weeks behaving as though the power of positive thinking could suffice to keep his glorious economy afloat.
Eventually the plunging stock market and the rising infection rate forced even Trump to adapt somewhat to reality. But the next delusion belonged to | some of his conservative supporters, who embraced the idea that the economic carnage was just the result of misguided government policy — even though many stay-at-home orders only happened after steep drops in dining and shopping and travel, not before — and that if the government simply spoke the right magic words of reopening, something close to normal life would immediately resume.
Now finally, amid the wave of protests against police brutality, the baton of words-against-reality has been passed back to the public health establishment, many of whose leaders are tying themselves in ideological knots arguing that it is not only acceptable but essential, after months circumscribing every sort of basic liberty, to encourage mass gatherings to support one particular just cause.
With this last turn, we’ve reached the end of the progression, because it means the original theory behind a stern public health response — that the danger to life and health justified suspending even the most righteous pursuits, including not just normal economic life but the practices and institutions that protect children, |
A visit with the artist reveals him to be every bit as brilliant, confounding and heartbreakingly soulful as the pictures he makes.
I ARRIVE AT THE Eggleston Artistic Trust building at just after 1 on a sweltering, humid Memphis afternoon. I am met at the door by the charismatic son of the photographer William Eggleston, Winston, who is the director of the trust as well as its official archivist. He ushers me into the cool, darkened rear office where his father sits at one of two substantial desks that are positioned face to face, occupying the center of the room. Large photographic proof sheets hang on the walls along with old Coke signs. An illuminated jukebox sits in the corner beside a red midcentury sofa.
He smells like bourbon and body lotion. He wears a Cartier watch, two minutes slow. I ask if he likes to talk about photography. Eggleston closes his eyes. “It’s tricky,” he says. “Words and pictures don’t — they’re like two different animals. They don’t particularly like each other.” He speaks in almost a whisper, his dapper Southern drawl relaxed further with a slur.
A day in the life of the photographer, accompanied by the artist Wolfgang Tillmans.
In another famous shot, a naked man stands in a blood-red bedroom. It feels slightly hallucinogenic and also somewhat sinister: Why is he naked? Why is the room a mess? I ask Eggleston about the man. “He was my best friend in the world,” he tells me, before adding, “He was murdered. Somebody hit him in the head with an ax.” Of yet another famous photo — depicting a longhaired girl lying on the grass, eyes closed, a camera in her left hand — he tells me she wasn’t sleeping, she was on Quaaludes.
A period of silence ensues but he does not appear uncomfortable or impatient in the least. I realize it doesn’t matter what we talk about, or if we talk at all. “The only thing one can do is really look at the damn things. It’s just not making much sense to talk about them,” he says.
This makes sense. While I may not be able to imagine Eggleston navigating through the mundanities of life, such as shopping for groceries or filling out a form of any kind, I can imagine a sober, sharpened, parallel-universe version of him scribbling out a Unified Theory of Everything on a paper napkin and then tucking it as a kind favor into Albert Einstein’s astonished hand. The flow of endless cigarettes, bottomless drinks, continuous images, the “why try to explain it?”-ness of the man himself: These qualities testify to something indefinable and Schrödinger’s-cat-like woven into his very nature. The Eggleston of this universe is a self-taught photographer who has succeeded in proving all his savage, elitist and uncomprehending original critics — including The New York Times — utterly, deliciously wrong. In his pressed suit he stands vindicated, fire bursting from his fingertips as he lights another American Spirit, a flesh-and-blood world changer. Everywhere he looks he notices things others miss. “I see great pictures all the time,” he says, and that is unequivocally dazzling.
With a fresh drink beading water atop his piano, Eggleston plays “Ol’ Man River” from the Broadway musical “Show Boat.” At times, I recognize the piece, but then beneath Eggleston’s deft fingers it wanders off, meandering and exploring. He plays for 20 minutes, never quite beginning or ending but also never hitting a single sour note.
“Are you a genius?” I ask him. His fingers instantly leave the piano keys, suspended in midair above them, and he swivels toward me with an expression of bald incredulity, as if I have asked, “Do you use toilet paper?” His eyes are grayish-blue until just before the pupil where the color becomes something close to honey, and they are fixed on my own. He replies in a breathy, almost pitying drawl, “Well, yes.” The unspoken message is clear: You’ve spent all day with me and you even have to ask? | 2016-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A visit with the artist reveals him to be every bit as brilliant, confounding and heartbreakingly soulful as the pictures he makes.
I ARRIVE AT THE Eggleston Artistic Trust building at just after 1 on a sweltering, humid Memphis afternoon. I am met at the door by the charismatic son of the photographer William Eggleston, Winston, who is the director of the trust as well as its official archivist. He ushers me into the cool, darkened rear office where his father sits at one of two substantial desks that are positioned face to face, occupying the center of the room. Large photographic proof sheets hang on the walls along with old Coke signs. An illuminated jukebox sits in the corner beside a red midcentury sofa.
He smells like bourbon and body lotion. He wears a Cartier watch, two minutes slow. I ask if he likes to talk about photography. Eggleston closes his eyes. “It’s tricky,” | he says. “Words and pictures don’t — they’re like two different animals. They don’t particularly like each other.” He speaks in almost a whisper, his dapper Southern drawl relaxed further with a slur.
A day in the life of the photographer, accompanied by the artist Wolfgang Tillmans.
In another famous shot, a naked man stands in a blood-red bedroom. It feels slightly hallucinogenic and also somewhat sinister: Why is he naked? Why is the room a mess? I ask Eggleston about the man. “He was my best friend in the world,” he tells me, before adding, “He was murdered. Somebody hit him in the head with an ax.” Of yet another famous photo — depicting a longhaired girl lying on the grass, eyes closed, a camera in her left hand — he tells me she wasn’t sleeping, she was on Quaaludes.
A period of silence ensues but he does not appear uncomfortable or impatient in the least. |
A warlord, a novelist, a diplomat, a centenarian and other exceptional women our overseas correspondents wrote about in 2017.
LONDON — Since its inception in 2002, the Saturday Profile has aimed to bring to readers of The New York Times people around the world they probably have never heard of, but who have led interesting lives and done extraordinary things, or perhaps recently gone through a remarkable experience.
The people we look for usually do not run countries, or headline blockbuster movies, or write best sellers. We leave those to the appropriate sections of the newspaper. Our subjects are more likely to have just emerged from prison, or written their 1,547th novel.
Or, this year, to be women with a story to tell about abuse, sexual or otherwise — a couple of whom shared #MeToo moments in our pages. Carlotta Gall told the story of Henda Ayari, a French citizen of North African heritage and anti-Salafist activist who accused a prominent Oxford professor of raping her.
Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, a proponent of a “feminist foreign policy,” opened up to Ellen Barry about her abuse at the hands of an old boyfriend when she was a young woman, something she had never said publicly before.
Perhaps my favorite profile this year was Kiki Zhao’s stirring depiction of the remarkable Yu Xiuhua, now one of China’s most read poets, a woman with cerebral palsy who lived most of her 41 years on a farm, writing at a low table. She never finished high school, and says she “could write before she could read.” Now, she is invited to places like Stanford University and fends off comparisons to Emily Dickinson.
So take a look. We sincerely hope you enjoy reading them as much as we liked selecting and editing them.
Emma Morano’s singular achievement in life may have been perseverance. She lived for 117 years, crediting her longevity to raw eggs and her lack of a husband. She died on April 15.
As foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, who broke free from a violent relationship in her 20s, is challenging assumptions in a traditionally male sphere.
Henda Ayari created a storm when she denounced radical Islam. Now, inspired by the #MeToo campaign, she has accused an Oxford professor of rape.
Born to royalty in Burma, Olive Yang, who died on July 31, rejected her birthright to become a cross-dressing warlord and opium trafficker.
Asli Erdogan, a novelist of the “dark, pessimistic,” is struggling to process her own grim experience: months in prison.
Letizia Battaglia chronicled Palermo’s Mafia wars in the 1970s and ’80s for a local newspaper. Now, her images appear in museums and retrospectives.
Sinta Nuriyah carries forth her family’s campaign in Indonesia, holding interfaith events and establishing a network of progressive Islamic boarding schools for girls.
Alice Schwarzer, who has battled for women’s rights for years, is stunned that “an old-school sexist” like Donald J. Trump could win the United States presidency.
She had recently emerged as the right hand of her father, the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But corruption charges are clouding her rapid rise. | 2017-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A warlord, a novelist, a diplomat, a centenarian and other exceptional women our overseas correspondents wrote about in 2017.
LONDON — Since its inception in 2002, the Saturday Profile has aimed to bring to readers of The New York Times people around the world they probably have never heard of, but who have led interesting lives and done extraordinary things, or perhaps recently gone through a remarkable experience.
The people we look for usually do not run countries, or headline blockbuster movies, or write best sellers. We leave those to the appropriate sections of the newspaper. Our subjects are more likely to have just emerged from prison, or written their 1,547th novel.
Or, this year, to be women with a story to tell about abuse, sexual or otherwise — a couple of whom shared #MeToo moments in our pages. Carlotta Gall told the story of Henda Ayari, a French citizen of North African heritage and anti-Salafist activist who | accused a prominent Oxford professor of raping her.
Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, a proponent of a “feminist foreign policy,” opened up to Ellen Barry about her abuse at the hands of an old boyfriend when she was a young woman, something she had never said publicly before.
Perhaps my favorite profile this year was Kiki Zhao’s stirring depiction of the remarkable Yu Xiuhua, now one of China’s most read poets, a woman with cerebral palsy who lived most of her 41 years on a farm, writing at a low table. She never finished high school, and says she “could write before she could read.” Now, she is invited to places like Stanford University and fends off comparisons to Emily Dickinson.
So take a look. We sincerely hope you enjoy reading them as much as we liked selecting and editing them.
Emma Morano’s singular achievement in life may have been perseverance. She lived for 117 years, crediting her longevity to raw eggs |
A warm offer on a cool train, heading out after Hurricane Sandy and more reader tales of New York City in this week’s Metropolitan Diary.
The Q clattering through Brooklyn had lulled my 7-year-old to sleep. Her red curls were spread across my lap, and her legs were piled onto the adjoining seat.
It was hot and humid, and she was wearing her pale pink shorts with silver butterflies. The train was air-conditioned, and her bare legs caught the eye of an older woman sitting near us.
A moment passed. The woman looked over again and gently took my daughter’s feet and brought them to the seat next to hers, allowing the scrunched little legs a nice stretch.
Satisfied, the woman covered her eyes with her hand and joined my daughter in dreamland.
It was four days after Hurricane Sandy. I had moved to New York just three months earlier. I was living in a shabby one-bedroom in Kingsbridge in the Bronx, and I had serious cabin fever. As soon as the trains started to run again, I decided to go into Manhattan.
The train was more crowded than I had ever seen it. I bailed at 72nd Street and decided to walk down Broadway. I texted some friends in Park Slope and made plans to meet for lunch.
I kept walking on Broadway until I got to Chambers Street. It was the first time I had seen a significant portion of the downtown area, and the power was still out. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time that day, too. I remember it being wickedly cold.
Later, when it was time to go home, I lined up for a shuttle bus outside Barclays Center. A young woman approached me and asked if I wanted a free ride to Manhattan. The mayor had imposed a minimum of three riders per vehicle, and she said that she and her friend needed a third.
I agreed, and followed her around the corner. Her friend, it turned out, was her father’s personal driver. I got a limo ride across the Manhattan Bridge and had them drop me off at the New York Public Library.
We made small talk along the way. I explained that I had moved to the city to study architecture history. The young woman pointed out random buildings and asked questions about them. I did my best to answer.
When they dropped me off, she asked for my card. It was the first time that had ever happened to me, too.
In 1968, my husband was transferred from his company’s Chicago office to headquarters in New York.
We settled in Bayside and began adjusting to our new life in Queens. Learning the shopping habits of the local residents was one of the challenges.
I was in line at the Waldbaum’s deli counter one day waiting my turn. An older woman next to me placed her order.
“A quarter pound of the Nova from the belly under the paper,” she said.
I knew I had a ways to go to live like the natives.
Visiting New York as a young girl, the city felt like home in a way that nowhere else had. It made me feel empowered and powerful. At 5, I asked my parents to walk 10 paces behind me through Midtown. That’s how I strode into the city as an adult: never expecting to leave.
But one of the many things this city gave me was love, and love is taking me to California.
It’s not easy preparing to leave a home that you built, slowly, for so long. And it’s not the home I expected. New York isn’t the Broadway lights, the Statue of Liberty or bagels or Katz’s or Central Park.
It’s the businessman who shouted a garbled ‘blerg!’ and grabbed me as I nearly stepped, texting, into an oncoming Toyota.
It’s the woman at 125th Street who, recognizing my distress about running late for work, yanked me onto a crowded No. 4 train, forcing other passengers to make room.
It’s the first kiss with the woman who would be my wife on Barrow Street, after stumbling out of Henrietta Hudson in the early morning.
Sure, New York is rats and bad landlords and subway delays. But what I’ll remember most about my home, when I’m away, is the kindness.
Stay kind for me, New York.
I saw him about halfway across the pedestrian pathway on the Williamsburg Bridge. He seemed to be loitering as I approached. It was late, and there was no one around except him and me.
I knew I was about to be mugged. Steeling myself, I gripped my keys between my fingers and prepared to fight back.
He was gesturing toward Manhattan. He was right. It was gorgeous. Clouds seemed to ring the skyline, and the buildings were aglow in the moonlight.
“It’s beautiful,” he said again.
I put my keys back in my pocket.
| 2019-08 | <|begin_of_text|>A warm offer on a cool train, heading out after Hurricane Sandy and more reader tales of New York City in this week’s Metropolitan Diary.
The Q clattering through Brooklyn had lulled my 7-year-old to sleep. Her red curls were spread across my lap, and her legs were piled onto the adjoining seat.
It was hot and humid, and she was wearing her pale pink shorts with silver butterflies. The train was air-conditioned, and her bare legs caught the eye of an older woman sitting near us.
A moment passed. The woman looked over again and gently took my daughter’s feet and brought them to the seat next to hers, allowing the scrunched little legs a nice stretch.
Satisfied, the woman covered her eyes with her hand and joined my daughter in dreamland.
It was four days after Hurricane Sandy. I had moved to New York just three months earlier. I was living in a shabby one-bedroom in Kingsbridge in the Bronx, and I had serious | cabin fever. As soon as the trains started to run again, I decided to go into Manhattan.
The train was more crowded than I had ever seen it. I bailed at 72nd Street and decided to walk down Broadway. I texted some friends in Park Slope and made plans to meet for lunch.
I kept walking on Broadway until I got to Chambers Street. It was the first time I had seen a significant portion of the downtown area, and the power was still out. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time that day, too. I remember it being wickedly cold.
Later, when it was time to go home, I lined up for a shuttle bus outside Barclays Center. A young woman approached me and asked if I wanted a free ride to Manhattan. The mayor had imposed a minimum of three riders per vehicle, and she said that she and her friend needed a third.
I agreed, and followed her around the corner. Her friend, it turned out, |
A warming planet has already forced a number of industries — coal, oil, agriculture and utilities among them — to account for potential future costs of a changed climate. The real estate industry, particularly along the vulnerable coastlines, is slowly awakening to the need to factor in the risks of catastrophic damage from climate change, including that wrought by rising seas and storm-driven flooding.
But many economists say that this reckoning needs to happen much faster and that home buyers urgently need to be better informed. Some analysts say the economic impact of a collapse in the waterfront property market could surpass that of the bursting dot-com and real estate bubbles of 2000 and 2008.
The fallout would be felt by property owners, developers, real estate lenders and the financial institutions that bundle and resell mortgages.
Over the past five years, home sales in flood-prone areas grew about 25 percent less quickly than in counties that do not typically flood, according to county-by-county data from Attom Data Solutions, the parent company of RealtyTrac. Many coastal residents are rethinking their investments and heading for safer ground.
State lawmakers in Massachusetts and New Jersey are pushing to impose new rules on real estate agents and others, obligating them to disclose climate-related damage like previous flooding.
Banks and insurers need to protect their collateral and investors more by improving their methods for estimating climate-change risks and creating more standardized rules for reporting them publicly, economists warn.
In April, Sean Becketti, the chief economist for Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage giant, issued a dire prediction. It is only a matter of time, he wrote, before sea level rise and storm surges become so unbearable along the coast that people will leave, ditching their mortgages and potentially triggering another housing meltdown — except this time, it would be unlikely that these housing prices would ever recover.
Much of the uncertainty surrounding climate change focuses on the pace of the rise in sea levels. But some argue that this misses the point because property values will probably go under water long before the properties themselves do.
What is often called “nuisance” flooding — inundation caused more by tides than weather — is already affecting property values. Often just a foot or two deep, this type of flooding can stop traffic, swamp basements, damage cars and contaminate groundwater.
Florida has six of the 10 American urban centers most vulnerable to storm surge, according to a 2016 report from CoreLogic, a real estate data firm. Southeast Florida experiences about 10 tidal floods per year now. That number is likely to be around 240 floods per year by 2045, according to climate researchers.
In the past year, home sales have increased 2.6 percent nationally, but have dropped about 7.6 percent in high-risk flood zones in Miami-Dade County, according to housing data. Many coastal cities are taking steps toward mitigation, digging runoff tunnels, elevating roads and building detention ponds.
James Murley, Miami-Dade’s chief resilience officer, said it was important to avoid spooking the market since real estate investment produces much of the revenue that pays for these upgrades. This balancing act is especially important in Florida because the state and localities rely heavily on property and sales taxes for funding such projects.
Florida is not alone. Forty percent of Americans live and work in coastal areas, and those who can afford it are protecting their investments by building private bulkheads and lifting their homes onto stilts. But skeptics question the logic of upgrading individual properties if the surrounding areas do not keep pace and flooding or the rise in sea levels swamps nearby roads.
For many home buyers and owners, the cost of flood insurance is a growing worry. As premiums rise, property values fall, a trend already hurting home prices in places like Atlantic City, Norfolk, Va., and St. Petersburg, Fla., according to local real estate agents.
Roy and Carol Baker, who now live in Sarasota, Fla., recalled trying for several months to sell their home in nearby Siesta Key in 2014. Interested buyers kept backing out of the purchase when they found out that the annual flood insurance premium was roughly $7,000, they said.
This experience will become more common, economists say, as the federal government shifts away from subsidizing flood insurance rates to get premiums closer to reflecting the true market cost of the risk.
As difficult as it is to predict the pace of climate change, modeling how it will affect the real estate market is even more complicated. Like a game of hot potato, builders, homeowners, banks, flood insurers and buyers of securitized mortgages try to hand off risky properties before getting burned. Developers erect houses and sell them typically within a couple of years, long before their investments depreciate. Banks earn commissions even on risky home loans before bundling these mortgages into securities and selling them to large pension funds, insurers or other buyers.
Home buyers tend to think short term, focus on what they can afford and hope that the local infrastructure keeps pace with the rise in sea levels. Home buyers are also generally on their own as they look at prospective properties and try to size up their risk, as real estate agents vary in what they disclose.
Most real estate agents say they try to tackle the issue head-on, providing clients with maps indicating federally declared high-risk flood zones, and using climate-change preparedness as a selling point, emphasizing if the house has a backup generator or shingles that can withstand hurricane-strength winds.
But real estate agents risk putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage by overstating threats. Good information is hard to come by. No one knows whether, when or by how much properties will depreciate, seas will encroach or flood insurance policies will change.
Valerie Amor, a real estate agent in Fort Lauderdale, said that, unlike most in her industry, she does a feasibility study before she assists in either buying or selling property.
“It should not be left as a moral or personal decision,” said Ms. Amor, adding that more disclosure should be mandatory.
Norfolk is a city surrounded by water. In 2014, the Federal Emergency Management Agency expanded the area designated as highest risk for a flood in an update to regional maps, requiring thousands of new homeowners to have flood insurance. The real estate industry worried about the impact on the market. Lawmakers responded.
The region around Norfolk has among the highest rates of annual sea level rise on the East Coast. Rising water and sinking land could push the relative sea level up in some parts by six feet by the end of the century, the United States Army Corps of Engineers estimates. Flood insurance in moderate- to low-risk areas nationally costs more than $200 a year, according to the National Flood Insurance Program, but for properties in flood zones, those rates could rise by as much as several thousand dollars.
Virginia requires real estate agents to reveal whether a property is in a military airplane noise zone, has defective drywall or has ever been used to manufacture methamphetamine. After the flood maps were updated, the industry wondered what new disclosure rules would be mandated. Should homeowners or their agents be required to reveal to potential buyers if the house had been flooded? Should they have to tell how much flood insurance cost and was estimated to rise?
Within a year, state lawmakers passed a real estate disclosure law that the industry hailed as a major step forward. “We are immensely satisfied,” Deborah Baisden, then president of the Virginia Association of Realtors, said of the law.
While the law encourages home buyers to exert due diligence in investigating the risk of living in a flood hazard area, it also explicitly states that the seller of a home is not obligated to disclose whether the home is in a zone that FEMA regards as high risk.
Some city officials said the law did not go far enough. “It’s a nondisclosure disclosure,” Meg Pittenger, an environmental manager for the city of Portsmouth, Va., told a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot. She added that it should have required sellers or agents to inform prospective buyers whether a property lies in a flood zone.
Flood risks are easily overlooked because past flood damage often goes unreported and, as in Virginia, the burden of discovering it falls to the buyer. LexisNexis, a news and legal research company, can supply sellers a report with the history of flood claims on the property, but buyers usually do not know to ask for it. FEMA collects information on federal insurance claims for homes nationally, but the agency has been reluctant to make it public for privacy reasons.
States and local real estate agents are handling disclosure differently. In Florida, real estate agents have to notify purchasers if a property is subject to natural hazards, but the law applies only to a limited area along the Florida coast and has no penalties for noncompliance. And in 2010 lawmakers stripped the requirement to disclose a property’s windstorm mitigation rating.
California, Washington and Pennsylvania, on the other hand, require the disclosure of past flooding or susceptibility to future flooding. In New York, sellers are required to disclose whether a property sits in a flood plain. “It may be a matter of life and death,” said State Senator Stewart Greenleaf of Pennsylvania, who sponsored a state disclosure rule that became law this year.
Some real estate agents around Boston have begun taking prospective buyers to newly repaired multimillion-dollar sea walls built to protect homes from storm damage. They also have begun to encourage clients to increase the marketability of their properties by installing storm-resistant technology, including steel beams and window flaps that allow water to flow in and out of a basement during a flood.
Not everyone favors more disclosure, said Daren Blomquist, the senior vice president of communications at Attom Data Solutions, the real estate data tracking firm that serves brokers, lenders and insurers. After strong objections from real estate companies, which threatened to stop providing data, his firm took down its web page that integrated real estate listings with plot-by-plot information about the risks of floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other natural hazards.
“The pressure was intense,” he said, adding that the company still provides this information on separate web pages.
It is not just property owners, buyers and sellers who are struggling to estimate the potential financial impact of climate change on the real estate market. These risks compound as individual mortgages get bundled and sold as securities. In his April report, Mr. Becketti, the Freddie Mac economist, emphasized how difficult it was to predict whether the bubble in coastal real estate would slowly deflate or suddenly pop.
The real estate and mortgage markets have been slow to confront climate change, said Albert Slap, an environmental lawyer and the president of Coastal Risk Consulting, a company that advises communities on how to prepare for sea level rise. Most buyers of securities, for example, underestimate the risk in their portfolios by relying on FEMA flood maps, he said. Strictly backward looking, these maps are based on floods that have already occurred.
To make matters worse, the National Flood Insurance Program is more than $20 billion in debt. After several major coastal storms, Congress tried to fix the program, passing a law in 2012 requiring that insurance premiums be recalculated to accurately reflect risk. Coastal homeowners rebelled, arguing that the legislation made insurance unaffordable, and in 2014 Congress repealed parts of the law.
George Kasimos, a real estate expert in Toms River, N.J., said homeowners had good reason to react. “A homeowner may be approved for a $300,000 mortgage with a $3,000 a year flood insurance premium,” he said, but the same person’s loan application would most likely be rejected with a $10,000 flood insurance premium. As insurance prices rise, some home purchases will become cash only, squeezing more middle-class and lower-income buyers out of the market.
The North Carolina shore has been especially popular among baby boomers along the East Coast looking for an affordable retirement option.
David Jacobs, 54, said he expected that his home — about 50 feet from the water in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. — will be washed away soon enough. “It pains me to think my children and grandchildren may not be able to enjoy it,” he said, adding that his flood insurance is now about $400 more per month than it was when he moved there in 2013.
Economists have also called for reporting rules so securities investors would know what portion of their bundled mortgages includes high risk from climate change, like properties in coastal regions, river flood plains, flammable canyons and mountainsides, earthquake zones, tsunami washout zones and tornado alleys.
“Coastal mortgages are growing into as big a bubble as the housing market of 2007,” said Philip Stoddard, the mayor of South Miami. But this time, he said, there will not be a rebound because the waters will not recede and properties will eventually lose all of their value.
Politicians are more focused on keeping developers calm and reassuring people that technological solutions will save the day, he said, which plays into an expectation, especially among the wealthiest homeowners, that the government will bail them out if property values crash.
Coastal homeowners are reluctant to leave. Robert Meyer, the co-director of the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has been using web surveys to assess the willingness of South Florida residents to pay higher taxes for climate-change upgrades rather than move.
“They show a remarkable willingness to stick it out,” Mr. Meyer said. His study found that by 2050 people would still be living in the riskiest areas and would have incrementally paid billions of dollars for adaptation measures.
Despite the slowdown in home sales, many flood-prone cities are still growing. Skyscrapers and new apartment buildings are going up all around Fort Lauderdale. The local chamber of commerce says the city expects to add about 50,000 people in the next 15 years and currently lacks housing to accommodate them. In Miami, much of the new construction consists of luxury condos aimed at a large number of cash buyers from Russia and Latin America.
Nationally, median home prices in areas at high risk for flooding are still 4.4 percent below what they were 10 years ago, while home prices in low-risk areas are up 29.7 percent over the same period, according to the housing data.
Chris Bergh, the South Florida conservation director at the Nature Conservancy, said he was worried because his house on Big Pine Key was just over a half-mile from the beach and only about five feet above sea level.
| 2016-11 | <|begin_of_text|>A warming planet has already forced a number of industries — coal, oil, agriculture and utilities among them — to account for potential future costs of a changed climate. The real estate industry, particularly along the vulnerable coastlines, is slowly awakening to the need to factor in the risks of catastrophic damage from climate change, including that wrought by rising seas and storm-driven flooding.
But many economists say that this reckoning needs to happen much faster and that home buyers urgently need to be better informed. Some analysts say the economic impact of a collapse in the waterfront property market could surpass that of the bursting dot-com and real estate bubbles of 2000 and 2008.
The fallout would be felt by property owners, developers, real estate lenders and the financial institutions that bundle and resell mortgages.
Over the past five years, home sales in flood-prone areas grew about 25 percent less quickly than in counties that do not typically flood, according to county-by-county data from Attom Data Solutions, | the parent company of RealtyTrac. Many coastal residents are rethinking their investments and heading for safer ground.
State lawmakers in Massachusetts and New Jersey are pushing to impose new rules on real estate agents and others, obligating them to disclose climate-related damage like previous flooding.
Banks and insurers need to protect their collateral and investors more by improving their methods for estimating climate-change risks and creating more standardized rules for reporting them publicly, economists warn.
In April, Sean Becketti, the chief economist for Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage giant, issued a dire prediction. It is only a matter of time, he wrote, before sea level rise and storm surges become so unbearable along the coast that people will leave, ditching their mortgages and potentially triggering another housing meltdown — except this time, it would be unlikely that these housing prices would ever recover.
Much of the uncertainty surrounding climate change focuses on the pace of the rise in sea levels. But some argue that this misses the point because property values |
A wave of arrests against journalists, opposition activists, doctors and religious believers raises a question: Is this a police state in the making or just a highly dysfunctional one?
PSKOV, Russia — After a teenager blew himself up inside a branch of Russia’s secret police near the Arctic Circle late last year, a freelance journalist hundreds of miles to the south drew what she thought was “an obvious and banal” conclusion in her weekly radio commentary.
Even the Kremlin’s own Human Rights Council protested that Ms. Prokopyeva had done no such thing and, from her home office in the ancient Russian city of Pskov, had been merely trying to explain the forces that push people toward extreme acts, not to encourage them.
Yet, the case rolls on, adding a Kafkaesque twist to the increasingly assertive actions of a security apparatus seemingly bent on proving the Kremlin’s harshest critics right when they say that Russia has taken a dangerous turn as President Vladimir V. Putin serves out what is supposed to be his final term.
The prosecution of Ms. Prokopyeva and other harmless critics comes against the backdrop of foreboding and uncertainty over what might follow Mr. Putin, who has anchored the system for nearly two decades. Even the question of whether he will depart as scheduled in 2024 is the subject of speculation, since he remains more popular than any opponent despite a dip in his ratings.
The resulting jitters, exacerbated by economic stagnation and mostly small but widespread protests that erupted this summer, have left Russia’s numerous law-enforcement bodies scrambling to prove their mettle against potential threats, no matter how puny, and secure their future in a country they all view as a fortress besieged by enemies at home and abroad.
In the aftermath of the protests, which were broken up with often brutal force by the authorities, law-enforcement agencies last week conducted nationwide raids on news outlets critical of the Kremlin and on the homes and offices of people affiliated with the opposition leader, Aleksei A. Navalny.
But, as Ms. Prokopyeva noted, cracking down so hard has often fueled anger and further unrest. When men armed with hatchets — they were dressed in civilian clothes but backed up by riot police officers — broke up a tiny protest in Siberia last month over the treatment of a shaman, their violent action set off the biggest outpouring of anger in the remote region near the border with Mongolia in years.
The widening and often-hard-to-fathom crackdown has even reached aging Soviet-era dissidents with scant means and few followers.
The Justice Ministry, for example, demanded last week that a shoestring human rights group led by Lev A. Ponomaryov, 78, be disbanded. Burly police officers then snatched the leader of a doctors’ association, an eye specialist, off the street, charging her and an assistant, a gynecologist, with “disobedience” to law enforcement authorities after a flurry of protests by medical workers.
On Monday, the Kremlin announced an overhaul of the Human Rights Council, already a toothless body but one that had on occasion spoken up for victims, including Ms. Prokopyeva, of Russia’s often lawless security apparatus. The most independent-minded members of the council were purged in favor of loyalists from the state news media and others known for their obedience.
The logic driving actions by the Federal Security Service, known by its Russian initials F.S.B., and other arms of a vast security apparatus riven by feuds over turf and money, Ms. Schulmann said, does not flow from any master plan to terrorize Kremlin opponents but rests on self-interested bureaucratic calculation.
Ms. Prokopyeva, in an interview in Pskov, said she had been questioned repeatedly by investigators from the Investigative Committee, Russia’s version of the F.B.I., about why she wrote what she did and whether anyone had helped or had given her instructions. But she said she believed the case had been driven from behind the scenes by the F.S.B., which has overall responsibility for combating terrorism.
The agency’s motive, she said, was simple: “revenge” for her suggestion that Russia’s security system is creating the crimes it is supposed to prevent.
“They want to defend their immovable position in this country,” she said, dressed in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words “We Will Not Shut Up” in different languages.
Ms. Prokopyeva has been in the sights of Russia’s security services since 2014, when, as editor of Pskovskaya Guberniya, her hometown’s only independent newspaper, she oversaw coverage exposing another “obvious” truth: that Russian soldiers have been fighting and dying in eastern Ukraine.
Exhibit A in the criminal case against Ms. Prokopyeva is an 800-word text she wrote that compared the teenage bomber in the northern city of Arkhangelsk — who killed nobody but himself — to young Russians in the 19th century who joined “People’s Will,” a group of revolutionaries responsible for the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881.
Mr. Prokopyeva’s view that security services responsible for keeping Russia safe are contributing to its ruin clearly hit a raw nerve in a system that — replete with grand pageantry and endless praise of Mr. Putin as guardian of Orthodox Christianity and Russia’s status as a great power — is looking more and more like a throwback to the czarist era.
Drawing attention to the violent side of Russian history, particularly to a group that murdered a czar, is highly sensitive at a time when Mr. Putin increasingly points to Russia’s past — scrubbed of assassinations and bloody strife — to inspire patriotic confidence in the future.
In the past year, at least nine people besides Ms. Prokopyeva have faced criminal charges — with one person sent to jail for two and a half years — over comments they made about the teenager, Mikhail Zhlobitski, 17, who blew himself up. Also caught up in the rolling crackdown against supposed “extremists” have been scores of peaceful and often older followers of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination that Moscow outlawed in 2017 as a security threat.
Ms. Prokopyeva, who last month was formally charged with inciting terrorism, said she had written her text in just a couple of hours and never imagined it would stir such a ruckus. “It wasn’t anything special or original,” she said, adding that anyone who went to school, as she did, in the Soviet Union, where textbooks celebrated 19th-century anarchists as precursors of Lenin’s revolutionaries, knows how czarist repression fed violence.
Mr. Zhlobitski, she wrote, was not simply a lone lunatic but a warning that the authorities need to heed if they want to avoid following the example of Russia’s doomed czarist order. “The ruthless state gave birth to a citizen who made death his argument,” she wrote, noting that the authorities had sealed off peaceful avenues of dissent for young people like Mr. Zhlobitski.
Even this, he added, no longer works.
“They have created a new generation that is no longer scared of them,” he said.
Oleg Matsnev contributed reporting from Moscow. | 2019-10 | <|begin_of_text|>A wave of arrests against journalists, opposition activists, doctors and religious believers raises a question: Is this a police state in the making or just a highly dysfunctional one?
PSKOV, Russia — After a teenager blew himself up inside a branch of Russia’s secret police near the Arctic Circle late last year, a freelance journalist hundreds of miles to the south drew what she thought was “an obvious and banal” conclusion in her weekly radio commentary.
Even the Kremlin’s own Human Rights Council protested that Ms. Prokopyeva had done no such thing and, from her home office in the ancient Russian city of Pskov, had been merely trying to explain the forces that push people toward extreme acts, not to encourage them.
Yet, the case rolls on, adding a Kafkaesque twist to the increasingly assertive actions of a security apparatus seemingly bent on proving the Kremlin’s harshest critics right when they say that Russia has taken a dangerous turn as President Vladimir V. Putin serves out | what is supposed to be his final term.
The prosecution of Ms. Prokopyeva and other harmless critics comes against the backdrop of foreboding and uncertainty over what might follow Mr. Putin, who has anchored the system for nearly two decades. Even the question of whether he will depart as scheduled in 2024 is the subject of speculation, since he remains more popular than any opponent despite a dip in his ratings.
The resulting jitters, exacerbated by economic stagnation and mostly small but widespread protests that erupted this summer, have left Russia’s numerous law-enforcement bodies scrambling to prove their mettle against potential threats, no matter how puny, and secure their future in a country they all view as a fortress besieged by enemies at home and abroad.
In the aftermath of the protests, which were broken up with often brutal force by the authorities, law-enforcement agencies last week conducted nationwide raids on news outlets critical of the Kremlin and on the homes and offices of people affiliated with the opposition |
A wave of concern has spread through a community of foreign consultants, investors and executives who have made the territory their home and regional headquarters.
HONG KONG — As tens of thousands of protesters returned to Hong Kong’s streets on Wednesday to speak out against a proposed law that would allow extraditions to mainland China, one prominent voice has been largely silent: big business.
But quietly, a wave of concern has spread through the community of foreign consultants, investors and executives who depend on Hong Kong as a safe base from which to do business in China.
No major company dares to speak out publicly for fear of angering the Chinese government. Behind the scenes, they are grappling with difficult questions about whether the legislation would endanger foreign executives or undermine the city’s legal system, a venue preferred over the mainland’s Communist Party-controlled courts for resolving disputes.
“The business and financial community is deeply concerned about what this may augur for Hong Kong,” said Fred Hu, founder of the investment firm Primavera Capital Group and former chairman of Goldman Sachs’s Greater China business.
“Any perceived erosion of independent judiciary and individual freedom could undermine investor confidence and negatively affect Hong Kong’s future as a leading global business and financial center,” Mr. Hu said.
The law could broadly threaten Hong Kong’s place as a middle ground between China and the business world. As the protests gathered steam in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the United States House of Representatives, issued a statement questioning whether Washington should reconsider a law that exempts Hong Kong from some of the trade and technology limits it imposes on the rest of China.
“Congress has no choice but to reassess whether Hong Kong is ‘sufficiently autonomous’ under ‘one country, two systems’ framework” if the government passes the bill, she said, referring to the arrangement that allows the Chinese city to function under its own laws.
Hong Kong’s stock market fell 1.7 percent on Wednesday in an otherwise quiet trading day in Asia, as protesters filled up a main transportation artery where multinational companies and international banks occupy much of the gleaming skyscraper real estate. The police used tear gas on protesters Wednesday afternoon on the same streets and sidewalks that bankers and lawyers for some of the world’s biggest companies travel on their daily commutes. Employees at major banks like HSBC and accounting firms like Deloitte were told to work from home in anticipation of grinding traffic and concerns about safety.
There were signs on Wednesday that tensions in Hong Kong were already undermining business confidence. A Hong Kong property developer called Goldin Financial Holdings cited “recent social contradiction and economic instability” for its decision this week to walk away from its $1.4 billion bid for a plot of land at the city’s former Kai Tak Airport. It did not detail its concerns.
For big business, Hong Kong was supposed to be safer than this.
When the British handed over Hong Kong, a former colony, to China in 1997 under the policy of “one country, two systems,” there was a promise that the territory would continue to operate under relative autonomy. Though Beijing effectively controls the system by which Hong Kong picks its top leaders, the city enjoys wide freedoms of speech and of the press. The government takes a light hand compared with the mainland when it comes to business regulation, and its courts are considered independent and well run.
For decades, major companies parked their Chinese or Asian headquarters in Hong Kong, making the city a major nexus of finance and commerce, though some of that power has ebbed as China grew wealthy in its own right and more companies began to deal with that market directly.
Still, unease has grown in recent months.
Last year, the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said that over half of its respondents were concerned about the rule of law. Business leaders cited a move by the Hong Kong government to reject a standard request by a journalist to renew his work visa last year as a major setback for Hong Kong’s independence. While the city government declined to disclose a reason, it appeared to be in response to the journalist hosting a talk with Andy Chan, the leader of a small political party that calls on Hong Kong to secede from China.
Yet even as American companies, sometimes privately, have expressed increasing concern about the bill, it was too early to say whether they would pull out of Hong Kong and move operations elsewhere.
“People are talking about what this bill could mean and what their possible alternatives could be, but there are no immediate answers,” Ms. Joseph said.
One fear among businesses is that the United States could begin treating Hong Kong as if it were just another Chinese city. Under a 1992 law called the United States-Hong Kong Policy Act, the city enjoys special treatment for customs and commercial purposes. Changing or eliminating that law could crimp Hong Kong’s status as a business crossroads.
In recent days, as the front pages of American newspapers displayed images of the protests, lawmakers in Washington have taken greater interest in the territory both publicly and in private meetings, according to two people with direct knowledge of these meetings but not authorized to speak publicly.
Many have cited the most recent Hong Kong Policy Act Report by the State Department in March, which reported an increased “tempo of mainland central government intervention in Hong Kong affairs — and actions by the Hong Kong government consistent with mainland direction.” Despite this, the report concluded that Hong Kong continued to have a sufficient degree of autonomy.
Unlike big companies, many small businesses in Hong Kong have been outspoken against the legislation, worrying that it could permanently damage Hong Kong’s economy. More than a thousand of them closed on Wednesday in solidarity with the protesters. The city’s historically weak labor groups asked workers to call in sick.
“Striking is the only action we could take,” said Yanki Lam, co-owner of Changchang Goodstore, a company in the city’s Kowloon district.
Yet even with this growing sense of concern, foreign businesses that speak out could face retribution from the Chinese government.
There is also a sense of resignation from big companies that rejecting the extradition legislation would do little to address a bigger problem of China’s growing reach into the city, Mr. Webb said.
“No amount of padding around the extradition treaty is going to fix that,” he said.
Katherine Li contributed reporting. | 2019-06 | <|begin_of_text|>A wave of concern has spread through a community of foreign consultants, investors and executives who have made the territory their home and regional headquarters.
HONG KONG — As tens of thousands of protesters returned to Hong Kong’s streets on Wednesday to speak out against a proposed law that would allow extraditions to mainland China, one prominent voice has been largely silent: big business.
But quietly, a wave of concern has spread through the community of foreign consultants, investors and executives who depend on Hong Kong as a safe base from which to do business in China.
No major company dares to speak out publicly for fear of angering the Chinese government. Behind the scenes, they are grappling with difficult questions about whether the legislation would endanger foreign executives or undermine the city’s legal system, a venue preferred over the mainland’s Communist Party-controlled courts for resolving disputes.
“The business and financial community is deeply concerned about what this may augur for Hong Kong,” said Fred Hu, founder of the investment firm Primavera Capital | Group and former chairman of Goldman Sachs’s Greater China business.
“Any perceived erosion of independent judiciary and individual freedom could undermine investor confidence and negatively affect Hong Kong’s future as a leading global business and financial center,” Mr. Hu said.
The law could broadly threaten Hong Kong’s place as a middle ground between China and the business world. As the protests gathered steam in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the United States House of Representatives, issued a statement questioning whether Washington should reconsider a law that exempts Hong Kong from some of the trade and technology limits it imposes on the rest of China.
“Congress has no choice but to reassess whether Hong Kong is ‘sufficiently autonomous’ under ‘one country, two systems’ framework” if the government passes the bill, she said, referring to the arrangement that allows the Chinese city to function under its own laws.
Hong Kong’s stock market fell 1.7 percent on Wednesday in an otherwise quiet trading day in Asia, as protesters |
A way to combat the capricious and biased nature of human decisions.
In courtrooms across the country, judges turn to computer algorithms when deciding whether defendants awaiting trial must pay bail or can be released without payment. The increasing use of such algorithms has prompted warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence. But research shows that algorithms are powerful tools for combating the capricious and biased nature of human decisions.
Bail decisions have traditionally been made by judges relying on intuition and personal preference, in a hasty process that often lasts just a few minutes. In New York City, the strictest judges are more than twice as likely to demand bail as the most lenient ones.
To combat such arbitrariness, judges in some cities now receive algorithmically generated scores that rate a defendant’s risk of skipping trial or committing a violent crime if released. Judges are free to exercise discretion, but algorithms bring a measure of consistency and evenhandedness to the process.
The use of these algorithms often yields immediate and tangible benefits: Jail populations, for example, can decline without adversely affecting public safety.
In one recent experiment, agencies in Virginia were randomly selected to use an algorithm that rated both defendants’ likelihood of skipping trial and their likelihood of being arrested if released. Nearly twice as many defendants were released, and there was no increase in pretrial crime.
New Jersey similarly reformed its bail system this year, adopting algorithmic tools that contributed to a 16 percent drop in its pretrial jail population, again with no increase in crime.
Algorithms have also proved useful in informing sentencing decisions. In an experiment in Philadelphia in 2008, an algorithm was used to identify probationers and parolees at low risk of future violence. The study found that officers could decrease their supervision of these low-risk individuals — and reduce the burdens imposed on them — without increasing rates of re-offense.
Studies like these illustrate how data and statistics can help overcome the limits of intuitive human judgments, which can suffer from inconsistency, implicit bias and even outright prejudice.
Algorithms, of course, are designed by humans, and some people fear that algorithms simply amplify the biases of those who develop them and the biases buried deep in the data on which they are built. The reality is more complicated. Poorly designed algorithms can indeed exacerbate historical inequalities, but well-designed algorithms can mitigate pernicious problems with unaided human decisions. Often the worries about algorithms are unfounded.
For example, when ProPublica examined computer-generated risk scores in Broward County, Fla., in 2016, it found that black defendants were substantially more likely than whites to be rated a high risk of committing a violent crime if released. Even among defendants who ultimately were not re-arrested, blacks were more likely than whites to be deemed risky. These results elicited a visceral sense of injustice and prompted a chorus of warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence.
Yet those results don’t prove the algorithm itself is biased against black defendants — a point we’ve made previously, including in peer-reviewed research. The Broward County classifications are based on recognized risk factors, like a documented history of violence. The classifications do not explicitly consider a defendant’s race.
Because of complex social and economic causes, black defendants in Broward County are in reality more likely than whites to be arrested in connection with a violent crime after release, and so classifications designed to predict such outcomes necessarily identify more black defendants as risky. This would be true regardless of whether the judgments were made by a computer or by a human decision maker.
It is not biased algorithms but broader societal inequalities that drive the troubling racial differences we see in Broward County and throughout the country. It is misleading and counterproductive to blame the algorithm for uncovering real statistical patterns. Ignoring these patterns would not resolve the underlying disparities.
Still, like humans, algorithms can be imperfect arbiters of risk, and policymakers should be aware of two important ways in which biased data can corrupt statistical judgments. First, measurement matters. Being arrested for an offense is not the same as committing that offense. Black Americans are much more likely than whites to be arrested on marijuana possession charges despite using the drug at similar rates.
As a result, any algorithm designed to estimate risk of drug arrest (rather than drug use) would yield biased assessments. Recognizing this problem, many jurisdictions — though not all — have decided to focus on a defendant’s likelihood of being arrested in connection with a violent crime, in part because arrests for violence appear less likely to suffer from racial bias.
Many jurisdictions additionally consider flight risk, and in this case the act of skipping trial can be perfectly observed, which circumvents the potential for biased measurement of behavior.
The second way in which bias can enter the data is through risk factors that are not equally predictive across groups. For example, relative to men with similar criminal histories, women are significantly less likely to commit future violent acts. Consequently, algorithms that inappropriately combine data for all defendants overstate the recidivism risk for women, which can lead to unjustly harsh detention decisions.
Experts have developed gender-specific risk models in response, though not all jurisdictions use them. That choice to ignore best statistical practices creates a fairness problem, but one rooted in poor policy rather than the use of algorithms more generally.
Despite these challenges, research shows that algorithms are important tools for reforming our criminal justice system. Yes, algorithms must be carefully applied and regularly tested to confirm that they perform as intended. Some popular algorithms are proprietary and opaque, stymieing independent evaluation and sowing mistrust. Likewise, not all algorithms are equally well constructed, leaving plenty of room for improvement.
Algorithms are not a panacea for past and present discrimination. Nor are they a substitute for sound policy, which demands inherently human, not algorithmic, choices.
But well-designed algorithms can counter the biases and inconsistencies of unaided human judgments and help ensure equitable outcomes for all.
Sam Corbett-Davies is a Ph.D. student at Stanford; Sharad Goel is an assistant professor at Stanford and executive director of the Stanford Computational Policy Lab; and Sandra González-Bailón is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. | 2017-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A way to combat the capricious and biased nature of human decisions.
In courtrooms across the country, judges turn to computer algorithms when deciding whether defendants awaiting trial must pay bail or can be released without payment. The increasing use of such algorithms has prompted warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence. But research shows that algorithms are powerful tools for combating the capricious and biased nature of human decisions.
Bail decisions have traditionally been made by judges relying on intuition and personal preference, in a hasty process that often lasts just a few minutes. In New York City, the strictest judges are more than twice as likely to demand bail as the most lenient ones.
To combat such arbitrariness, judges in some cities now receive algorithmically generated scores that rate a defendant’s risk of skipping trial or committing a violent crime if released. Judges are free to exercise discretion, but algorithms bring a measure of consistency and evenhandedness to the process.
The use of these algorithms often yields immediate | and tangible benefits: Jail populations, for example, can decline without adversely affecting public safety.
In one recent experiment, agencies in Virginia were randomly selected to use an algorithm that rated both defendants’ likelihood of skipping trial and their likelihood of being arrested if released. Nearly twice as many defendants were released, and there was no increase in pretrial crime.
New Jersey similarly reformed its bail system this year, adopting algorithmic tools that contributed to a 16 percent drop in its pretrial jail population, again with no increase in crime.
Algorithms have also proved useful in informing sentencing decisions. In an experiment in Philadelphia in 2008, an algorithm was used to identify probationers and parolees at low risk of future violence. The study found that officers could decrease their supervision of these low-risk individuals — and reduce the burdens imposed on them — without increasing rates of re-offense.
Studies like these illustrate how data and statistics can help overcome the limits of intuitive human judgments, which can suffer from inconsistency, |
A weak showing in New Hampshire, some Democrats warn, could undermine his electability argument and accelerate a flight of donors and voters to his rivals.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s fourth-place finish in Iowa and his wobbly standing here in New Hampshire are now testing the central premise of his candidacy — that he is the Democrat with the strongest chance to defeat President Trump — and forcing his team to scramble to prove that claim before voters move on to other candidates.
It was a striking departure from Mr. Biden’s self-assured posture throughout most of the campaign. He has said he is “the clear front-runner in the party.” His allies still cite his strength in general election polls constantly, and have even featured them in his television commercials. He has spent months targeting Mr. Trump rather than driving a sustained message at his rival Democrats, and his attempts to do so at Friday night’s debate, while aggressive, did not appear to hurt them.
Now Mr. Biden’s campaign is confronting its greatest moment of peril to date, marked by worrisome polls, jittery donors and tensions within the staff.
“If your whole theory of the case is that I’m the electable one and I can win, and then you lose in the first state and possibly the second state, it sort of blows your entire message,” said Patti Solis Doyle, who served as Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in 2008.
Another weak showing, some Democrats warn, could accelerate a flight of wealthy backers to his two most formidable moderate rivals: Mr. Buttigieg and Michael R. Bloomberg. It could also jeopardize the former vice president’s strength in the later-voting, more diverse states he is counting on.
In a sign that he knows his campaign is in trouble, Mr. Biden shook up his leadership team at the end of this past week, turning over effective control of the campaign to a longtime adviser, Anita Dunn (his current campaign manager, Greg Schultz, was spotted at a Democratic dinner in Washington instead of at Friday’s debate). News of the shake-up leaked quickly and, in an illustration of the growing angst inside his campaign, a number of aides privately indicated how happy they were about the change, while others sought to downplay it.
But no amount of staff reshuffling may address Mr. Biden’s more fundamental challenge: The setup of the primary calendar means that Mr. Biden is faltering before he has even had a chance to compete in states where he has broader support, like Nevada and South Carolina later in the month.
And without a turnaround, he will not have the money to compete on Super Tuesday on March 3, when 14 states, including California and Texas, go to the polls.
Of the top four finishers in Iowa, Mr. Biden entered 2020 with the smallest amount of cash on hand — less than $9 million — and his January fund-raising total is expected to be less than half of the $25 million haul that Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced on Thursday. Mr. Biden has been vastly outspent on television ads in New Hampshire, and this past week he shifted some ad spending to Nevada from a state with a later contest, South Carolina.
Being forced out by money woes would be a humbling scenario for a former vice president making his third attempt at the White House, who entered the race with widespread name recognition, deep relationships across the party and the reflected glow of having served in the Obama White House.
A CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released Saturday, however, was not encouraging. It showed Mr. Sanders leading at 28 percent, Mr. Buttigieg at 21 percent and Mr. Biden a distant third at 11 percent.
Last Wednesday, Mr. Biden appeared at a CNN town hall event and impressed many observers by speaking movingly about helping people who struggle with stuttering — as he once did. Afterward, a prominent New Hampshire Democrat cornered him.
That was great, State Senator Lou D’Allesandro recalled telling him, impressed by the connection with the audience. Do more of that.
Yet Mr. Biden proceeded to go home to Delaware to prepare for Friday night’s debate, taking two days off the New Hampshire trail at one of the most uncertain, high-risk moments of his campaign before returning for the debate and a busy final weekend push.
While Mr. Biden was out of state, his chief rival for moderate votes in New Hampshire, Mr. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., held an event with veterans and drew substantial media coverage.
Several attendees fit the profile Mr. Biden is targeting: older, moderate, affiliated with labor and skeptical of far-reaching proposals like “Medicare for all.” It was a sign of the fierce competition Mr. Biden faces for the centrist voters his allies had hoped he would own — and at least at Mr. Buttigieg’s event, a number of attendees who said they had been torn between the two candidates indicated that they were prepared to settle on the young former mayor.
Mr. Biden’s campaign has been adamant that when they discuss electability, they are focused on the general election against Mr. Trump, arguing that the former vice president has the unique ability to both assemble a diverse coalition and to compete in the industrial Midwest. Mr. Buttigieg, Mr. Biden himself has suggested, struggles with voters of color, a bedrock of the Democratic Party; he did not register with black voters in a recent Quinnipiac University poll.
Mr. Biden is also supported by a super PAC, and his campaign said that Friday was his best debate day for online fund-raising, without specifying how much he raised.
How Mr. Biden fares against his Democratic rivals in a nominating contest in a single state — especially in the heavily white states of Iowa and New Hampshire — is not necessarily predictive of how he would do in later contests, or against Mr. Trump in battleground states in a general election. But his loss in Iowa was not a narrow one. Of the 31 counties in Iowa that voted for Mr. Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections only to flip to Mr. Trump in 2016, Mr. Biden won only one.
Mr. Biden currently has a commanding lead in South Carolina with older African-American voters, a crucial part of the electorate there. But as Tom Steyer demonstrated with his repeated appeals at Friday’s debate, others in the race are aggressively seeking to make inroads with Mr. Biden’s base.
Campaigning in New Hampshire this past week, Mr. Biden seemed to understand it was time to make his argument more aggressively, and he has taken aim in particular at Mr. Buttigieg.
He continued the attacks on Saturday, with his campaign releasing a digital ad drawing a cutting contrast between the responsibilities of running a small city and those of serving in the executive branch. Mr. Biden also repeatedly launched broadsides against Mr. Buttigieg on the campaign trail during the day.
It is these kinds of feisty performances that some of his supporters had hoped to see.
“Voters have to know the difference,” Mr. Richmond said.
Jim Demers, a New Hampshire lobbyist who was an early supporter of Mr. Obama’s, said Mr. Biden was right to be more assertive in contrasting himself with Mr. Buttigieg and Mr. Sanders. Mr. Demers supports Mr. Biden after originally backing Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Jonathan Martin contributed reporting from Manchester, and Stephanie Saul from Columbia, S.C. | 2020-02 | <|begin_of_text|>A weak showing in New Hampshire, some Democrats warn, could undermine his electability argument and accelerate a flight of donors and voters to his rivals.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s fourth-place finish in Iowa and his wobbly standing here in New Hampshire are now testing the central premise of his candidacy — that he is the Democrat with the strongest chance to defeat President Trump — and forcing his team to scramble to prove that claim before voters move on to other candidates.
It was a striking departure from Mr. Biden’s self-assured posture throughout most of the campaign. He has said he is “the clear front-runner in the party.” His allies still cite his strength in general election polls constantly, and have even featured them in his television commercials. He has spent months targeting Mr. Trump rather than driving a sustained message at his rival Democrats, and his attempts to do so at Friday night’s debate, while aggressive, did not appear to hurt | them.
Now Mr. Biden’s campaign is confronting its greatest moment of peril to date, marked by worrisome polls, jittery donors and tensions within the staff.
“If your whole theory of the case is that I’m the electable one and I can win, and then you lose in the first state and possibly the second state, it sort of blows your entire message,” said Patti Solis Doyle, who served as Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager in 2008.
Another weak showing, some Democrats warn, could accelerate a flight of wealthy backers to his two most formidable moderate rivals: Mr. Buttigieg and Michael R. Bloomberg. It could also jeopardize the former vice president’s strength in the later-voting, more diverse states he is counting on.
In a sign that he knows his campaign is in trouble, Mr. Biden shook up his leadership team at the end of this past week, turning over effective control of the campaign to a longtime adviser, Anita Dunn (his current |
A weather system that roared across the country from the Rockies through the Midwest socked the Northeast with up to 20 inches of snow in places.
Parts of New England are in for more heavy snow on Tuesday.
Hundreds of flights have been canceled because of the storm.
Driving in snow is tricky, even if you think you’re good at it.
It’s a region that’s used to snow — but still, this is a lot.
Can it be a winter storm if autumn isn’t over yet?
The bad weather that swept across the Midwest during the holiday weekend is now pelting the Northeast with rain and snow.
The winter storm that blanketed much of the Northeast with snow on Monday, disrupting travel and closing schools, is expected to keep hammering parts of New England on Tuesday.
As the storm system moves slowly northeastward, some areas could get an additional foot of snow overnight and into the morning, forecasters said. Winter storm warnings and advisories were posted for most of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
“It’s going to get cranking tonight and tomorrow morning,” said Frank Nocera, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norton, Mass. Metropolitan Boston, which already had four to eight inches of snow in some suburbs, could see those amounts double by Tuesday, he said, and further school closings and commuting problems were possible.
The storm delivered the first major snowfall of the season in the Northeast, but other than coming at a relatively early date, it did not pack many surprises for weather experts.
As the storm blasted its way into the region from Sunday into Monday, the hardest-hit areas were mainly in Central New York; the region around Albany, the state capital; and western Massachusetts. More than a foot of snow fell in many areas, and Saratoga County northeast of Albany saw up to 20 inches. Albany got 13.3 inches of snow on Sunday, a record for Dec. 1 and one of the top 10 December snowfalls on record in the city. An additional five to 10 inches of snow is expected before Tuesday morning.
From Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, schools and colleges closed for an early-season snow day on Monday.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York declared a state of emergency for Albany, Saratoga and several other counties in the region, and said he would deploy 300 members of the National Guard to help with snow removal.
More than 770 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled on Monday, according to FlightAware.com, with many of the scrubbed flights involving the New York and Boston airports.
Anthony and Amy Burt, newlyweds from Devon, England, who have been celebrating their honeymoon in Maine the past two weeks, were concerned that their flight back home from Boston on Tuesday might not take off as planned.
“The snow is hitting pretty hard up here in Portland,” Mr. Burt said.
Portland had received nearly two inches of snow by Monday afternoon, but another six to 10 inches was expected to fall by Tuesday morning. Some places in southern parts of the state, in particular York County, had already seen more than nine inches of snow.
“We have prepared ourselves for the drive to Boston tomorrow by putting snacks in the car, water and tea,” Mr. Burt said, adding that he had made sure the car’s tires were in good condition.
I knew it was a particularly fierce ice storm, and not a run-of-the-mill one, when I spotted an upended salt truck, a big sturdy vehicle that slid off the road outside of Buffalo and had flipped on its side on the shoulder. Call that Accident No. 1.
Over the course of the day on Sunday, I would count no fewer than 24 accidents. There was the car turned the wrong way on the expressway on-ramp — Accident No. 2. There was the car turned sideways — Accident No. 3.
There was the three-car pile up. The four-car pile up. I could not interview any of the drivers, some of whom were still on the scene, as I too was navigating the storm and struggling to remain between the lines.
The airports were nightmarish, I am told, with flights delayed and passengers stranded in the post-Thanksgiving rush. But the roads, I dare say, were worse.
Experts say that factors like a few degrees’ difference in temperature, uneven application of road salt or the recent passage of another vehicle can make one patch of pavement much slipperier than another a few feet away. Falling or blowing snow can make it especially hard to tell where the slick spots are. And for drivers, familiarity can breed complacency.
“We see a lot of people from all over the country who have grown up in the Snow Belt and have years and years of driving experience, and in reality have just been lucky, because their technique leaves a lot to be desired,” Mark Cox, the director of the Bridgestone Winter Driving School in Steamboat Springs, Colo., told The Times in January.
Read more about the hazards and misconceptions of winter driving.
Classes were canceled on Monday at the University at Albany, something Allison Craig, who has taught at the school for 20 years, said she could not remember happening before.
Stuck at her home in the Albany suburb of Delmar, she watched the snow mounting and her neighbors working to dig their cars out.
But for Upstate New Yorkers, this weather was nothing unusual.
Lynn Hodges, who has lived in Cohoes, a suburb northeast of Albany, for 45 years, said she was prepared for extreme weather. Last week, she collected enough wood for fires, bought plenty of canned goods, and filled her cars with gas to see her through the storm.
“You learn,” she said.
The calendar says the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere is still nearly three weeks away. But the storm that has been slashing across the country is correctly called a winter storm, because “winter” means something a bit different to a meteorologist than it does to astronomers and calendar-makers, who mark the start of the season with the winter solstice.
That’s the moment when the northern half of the earth is tipped most directly away from the sun. This year, the solstice will occur at 11:19 p.m. Eastern time on Dec. 21, which will be the shortest day and longest night of the year.
But meteorologists define the seasons using the annual cycle of average temperatures, with the three coldest months of the civil calendar considered “meteorological winter.” That season began on Sunday, Dec. 1.
So the weather isn’t just wintry — to a weather forecaster, it’s a winter storm.
The weather turned deadly over the holiday weekend.
The storm was blamed for multiple deaths over the long holiday weekend.
In Missouri, officials said three people were killed on Saturday when their vehicles were swept off flooded roads, The Associated Press reported, and a 48-year-old Louisiana man died in a separate incident.
A highway pileup near Kingston, Ontario, involving about 30 vehicles, including several tractor-trailers, left one person dead and several injured, according to officials. Curtis Dick, a constable with the Ontario Provincial Police, said that the crash was related to the storm, and that the area had seen a “significant amount of snowfall” accumulate over a short period of time.
The authorities in Arizona found the bodies of two young children who had been among nine people riding in a vehicle on Friday that was swept away as it tried to cross a creek swollen with runoff from the storm. A third child was still missing.
Investigators are looking into whether blizzard conditions in South Dakota caused the crash of a private plane shortly after it took off bound for Idaho on Saturday. The 12 people on board belonged to the same family; nine were killed.
| 2019-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A weather system that roared across the country from the Rockies through the Midwest socked the Northeast with up to 20 inches of snow in places.
Parts of New England are in for more heavy snow on Tuesday.
Hundreds of flights have been canceled because of the storm.
Driving in snow is tricky, even if you think you’re good at it.
It’s a region that’s used to snow — but still, this is a lot.
Can it be a winter storm if autumn isn’t over yet?
The bad weather that swept across the Midwest during the holiday weekend is now pelting the Northeast with rain and snow.
The winter storm that blanketed much of the Northeast with snow on Monday, disrupting travel and closing schools, is expected to keep hammering parts of New England on Tuesday.
As the storm system moves slowly northeastward, some areas could get an additional foot of snow overnight and into the morning, forecasters said. Winter storm warnings and advisories were posted for most of Massachusetts, | New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
“It’s going to get cranking tonight and tomorrow morning,” said Frank Nocera, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norton, Mass. Metropolitan Boston, which already had four to eight inches of snow in some suburbs, could see those amounts double by Tuesday, he said, and further school closings and commuting problems were possible.
The storm delivered the first major snowfall of the season in the Northeast, but other than coming at a relatively early date, it did not pack many surprises for weather experts.
As the storm blasted its way into the region from Sunday into Monday, the hardest-hit areas were mainly in Central New York; the region around Albany, the state capital; and western Massachusetts. More than a foot of snow fell in many areas, and Saratoga County northeast of Albany saw up to 20 inches. Albany got 13.3 inches of snow on Sunday, a record for Dec. 1 and one of the top |
A week after Stephen K. Bannon helped engineer the populist revolt that led to Donald J. Trump’s election, Buzzfeed unearthed a recording of him speaking to a Vatican conference of conservative Catholics in 2014.
In his presentation, Mr. Bannon, then the head of the hard-right website Breitbart News and now Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, called on the “church militant” to fight a global war against a “new barbarity” of “Islamic fascism” and international financial elites, with 2,500 years of Western civilization at risk.
While most listeners probably overlooked the term “church militant,” knowledgeable Catholics would have recognized it as a concept deeply embedded in the church’s teaching. Moreover, they would have noticed that Mr. Bannon had taken the term out of context, invoking it in a call for cultural and military conflict rather than for spiritual warfare, particularly within one’s soul, its longstanding connotation.
As the Trump administration prepares to take office, the use of Church Militant theology has gone well beyond its religious meaning and has taken on a political resonance. To fully grasp what “church militant” means in this highly politicized atmosphere, it helps to examine the broader movement and the role of a traditionalist Catholic website called — to no surprise — ChurchMilitant.com.
Michael Voris, the senior executive producer of ChurchMilitant.com, said the website’s positions were a righteous defense of patriotism and morality on behalf of people who believe those virtues have been attacked by liberals, secularists and global elites.
For some Catholic scholars and anti-hate advocates, the emergence of Church Militant theology in a politicized and highly partisan way is disturbing.
The term has roots in the early centuries of the church, when the Catholic community — living and dead — was envisioned as having three parts. These were later called the Church Triumphant (composed of those in heaven), the Church Suffering or Church Penitent (those in purgatory) and the Church Militant (those on earth).
Catholic teaching held that the spiritual efforts of the Church Militant would hasten the ascent into heaven of the souls in purgatory. But how is a concept that was formed during Roman persecution of early Christians and took on a martial connotation during the Crusades meant to be understood in a democratic, capitalist, polyglot, multimedia society like the modern United States?
While the term remains in the Roman catechism, which was promulgated by the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s, the official catechism produced under Pope John Paul II in 1992 replaced “Church Militant” with “pilgrims on earth.” The adult catechism then devised by Catholic bishops in the United States adopted those words, and they are overwhelmingly the norm in Catholic practice in the United States and abroad.
The words could serve as a mission statement for Mr. Vorsi’s ChurchMilitant.com. A television producer who renounced his earlier life as a gay man, Mr. Voris, 55, has developed a media operation from ChurchMilitant.com’s studio in suburban Detroit that produces books, online articles, YouTube videos, podcasts and a daily talk show. These cumulatively attract about 1.5 million views a month, he said.
In an earlier iteration, ChurchMilitant.com operated as Real Catholic TV, until the Archdiocese of Detroit forced it to stop using the name because it had no permission. While some of the core issues for ChurchMilitant.com are staples of traditionalist Catholics — advocating the Latin Mass, for instance — others map neatly onto the secular political landscape. And they do so in a highly strident way.
In a statement that echoed one made by Mr. Bannon when he was still with Breitbart, Mr. Voris maintained that American Catholic bishops supported immigration solely to “shore up flagging numbers of Catholics” and rebuild a “shrinking, shriveling church” with both legal and illegal arrivals from Mexico.
Not all of Mr. Voris’s criticisms are aimed at Catholics. He has also singled out the liberal philanthropist George Soros and the deceased community organizer Saul Alinsky, familiar targets for conservative activists like Newt Gingrich and Glenn Beck. Mr. Voris, though, goes a significant step further by prominently identifying both Mr. Soros and Mr. Alinsky as Jewish.
Repudiation does not appear likely for any of ChurchMilitant.com’s extremist positions, especially now that kindred spirits are about to take control of the executive branch of the American government.
| 2016-12 | <|begin_of_text|>A week after Stephen K. Bannon helped engineer the populist revolt that led to Donald J. Trump’s election, Buzzfeed unearthed a recording of him speaking to a Vatican conference of conservative Catholics in 2014.
In his presentation, Mr. Bannon, then the head of the hard-right website Breitbart News and now Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, called on the “church militant” to fight a global war against a “new barbarity” of “Islamic fascism” and international financial elites, with 2,500 years of Western civilization at risk.
While most listeners probably overlooked the term “church militant,” knowledgeable Catholics would have recognized it as a concept deeply embedded in the church’s teaching. Moreover, they would have noticed that Mr. Bannon had taken the term out of context, invoking it in a call for cultural and military conflict rather than for spiritual warfare, particularly within one’s soul, its longstanding connotation.
As the Trump administration prepares to take office, the use of Church Militant | theology has gone well beyond its religious meaning and has taken on a political resonance. To fully grasp what “church militant” means in this highly politicized atmosphere, it helps to examine the broader movement and the role of a traditionalist Catholic website called — to no surprise — ChurchMilitant.com.
Michael Voris, the senior executive producer of ChurchMilitant.com, said the website’s positions were a righteous defense of patriotism and morality on behalf of people who believe those virtues have been attacked by liberals, secularists and global elites.
For some Catholic scholars and anti-hate advocates, the emergence of Church Militant theology in a politicized and highly partisan way is disturbing.
The term has roots in the early centuries of the church, when the Catholic community — living and dead — was envisioned as having three parts. These were later called the Church Triumphant (composed of those in heaven), the Church Suffering or Church Penitent (those in purgatory) and the Church |
A week ago, major U.S. airlines said that they could absorb the costs of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, after travel bans around the world, they’ve approached the government for help.
They’re asking for over $50 billion, the WSJ reports. And carriers like Delta and American are also asking banks for billions in loans. That’s not including the $10 billion that U.S. airports reportedly want, or the unknown amount that Boeing is said to be negotiating for itself and its suppliers.
“We’re going to back the airlines 100 percent,” President Trump said at a news conference yesterday. But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the assistance wouldn’t be a bailout. “If you’re providing liquidity to good businesses that just need liquidity for three to six months, where you’re taking collateral and you have security, that’s not a bailout,” he said.
The thing is … The five biggest U.S. carriers spent 96 percent of their free cash flow over the past decade on stock buybacks, according to Bloomberg.
• The NYT columnist Tim Wu writes that any bailout should require the airlines to cap fees for itinerary changes and baggage, halt the drive for ever-smaller seats, and generally treat customers and employees better. “We cannot permit American and other airlines to use federal assistance, whether labeled a bailout or not, to weather the coronavirus crisis and then return to business as usual,” he writes.
Are bailouts for people or companies? Bloomberg’s Joe Nocera senses a change in attitude in the economic response to the virus, with companies going out of their way to pay workers during downtime. “For once, ‘shareholder value’ is a secondary concern,” he writes.
• Republican Senators Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton have proposed direct cash payments for all Americans, a very different approach from the one pursued after the 2008 financial crisis, when banks and auto companies received the bulk of bailout funds.
Concerns about the financial health of banks and the broader business world are being reflected in credit markets.
• That said, new accounting rules could force banks to book losses on loans in full earlier than in the past. Analysts say that’s unfair, but they don’t expect any easing of the guidelines in the middle of a crisis.
Policymakers were urged to broaden access to the discount window to non-financial companies with more than 500 employees. Companies have already been drawing down credit lines — Anheuser-Busch InBev and Kraft Heinz among them — while demand for short-term unsecured bonds known as commercial paper dries up. And oil companies like Chesapeake have reportedly hired advisers to help them figure out what to do about their hefty debt loads.
Yesterday brought one of the worst one-day declines in U.S. stock market history, rivaled only by the crashes in 1987 and (gulp) 1929. As the economic damage of the coronavirus outbreak becomes clear, data and forecasts are being produced that would have been scarcely believable just a short time ago.
• Increasingly strict restrictions on activity are shutting down large parts of the economy, resulting in G.D.P. forecasts that will make your head spin. Pantheon Macroeconomics, for instance, expects U.S. growth to fall 10 percent in the second quarter, driven by a collapse in discretionary consumer spending (which accounts for more than a third of G.D.P.).
• The outlook for jobs is equally grim: Kevin Hassett, a former White House economic adviser, expects March payrolls to fall by one million. “Nobody is going to get hired next week,” he told CNN.
• Unprecedented volatility in the markets pushed the VIX index — Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — to a record high. Some think automated trading strategies are making market swings more violent. Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and South Korea have introduced curbs on short-selling in an effort to calm their markets.
• Transportation accounts for two-thirds of global oil demand. With practically nobody traveling, trade slowing, and the Saudi-Russian price war flooding the market with unneeded crude, the Eurasia Group says global oil consumption could fall by 25 million barrels per day in the second quarter, to 75 million.
• Many of these assumptions depend on how widely the virus spreads, and especially its mortality rate. The NYT Upshot team put a range of estimates and assumptions into an interactive tool, putting the numbers in context.
One of the most sought-after commodities these days is the alcohol-based goo, and businesses are responding to shortages of the stuff.
• Air Liquide, which was already in the process of selling a division that makes sanitizer, has reportedly upped its asking price for the business, Kaye Wiggins of the FT reports.
• Distilleries are making their own hand sanitizers — they already have the necessary base alcohol, after all — and are giving them away. In addition to clean hands, these varieties feature the aromas of juniper, citrus, coconut and piña colada.
• Oura, the start-up that makes the Ouraring sleep tracker, plans to announce that it has raised $28 million in new funding.
| 2020-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A week ago, major U.S. airlines said that they could absorb the costs of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, after travel bans around the world, they’ve approached the government for help.
They’re asking for over $50 billion, the WSJ reports. And carriers like Delta and American are also asking banks for billions in loans. That’s not including the $10 billion that U.S. airports reportedly want, or the unknown amount that Boeing is said to be negotiating for itself and its suppliers.
“We’re going to back the airlines 100 percent,” President Trump said at a news conference yesterday. But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the assistance wouldn’t be a bailout. “If you’re providing liquidity to good businesses that just need liquidity for three to six months, where you’re taking collateral and you have security, that’s not a bailout,” he said.
The thing is … The five biggest U.S. carriers spent 96 percent of their free cash flow over the past decade on | stock buybacks, according to Bloomberg.
• The NYT columnist Tim Wu writes that any bailout should require the airlines to cap fees for itinerary changes and baggage, halt the drive for ever-smaller seats, and generally treat customers and employees better. “We cannot permit American and other airlines to use federal assistance, whether labeled a bailout or not, to weather the coronavirus crisis and then return to business as usual,” he writes.
Are bailouts for people or companies? Bloomberg’s Joe Nocera senses a change in attitude in the economic response to the virus, with companies going out of their way to pay workers during downtime. “For once, ‘shareholder value’ is a secondary concern,” he writes.
• Republican Senators Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton have proposed direct cash payments for all Americans, a very different approach from the one pursued after the 2008 financial crisis, when banks and auto companies received the bulk of bailout funds.
Concerns about the financial health of banks and the broader business world are |
A week into a statewide teacher walkout in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey signed a budget bill on Thursday that he said would provide teachers with the 20 percent raises they had demanded, in addition to new funds for classrooms.
While the organizers of the walkout said the bill might not produce as much as the governor promised, they announced an end to their labor action, which had kept hundreds of thousands of children out of school.
Arizona is the fourth state this year, after West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky, where protesting teachers left classrooms and won concessions from conservative lawmakers — though the agreements have often fallen short of initial demands. In some of the states it has proved easier for Republicans to support pay raises for educators than to provide the large annual funding increases for classrooms that teachers and many parents are asking for.
At least one additional state, North Carolina, is expecting a widespread teacher walkout in the coming weeks.
In Arizona, as in Oklahoma, legislators refused requests to raise income taxes on the wealthy, and instead turned to a hodgepodge of revenue sources that are likely to hit a wide range of voters. The funding increase in Arizona will come in part from a new vehicle registration fee and a change in the way some school desegregation efforts are paid for. Lawmakers in Oklahoma pushed through taxes on tobacco, motor fuels, gambling and online sales, in addition to a higher production tax on oil and gas.
Leaders of the teachers’ walkout movement, which calls itself #RedforEd, said they would be shifting their focus to support a ballot initiative to raise income taxes on individuals with income over $250,000 and couples with income over $500,000.
Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, said that despite Mr. Ducey’s claim of a 20 percent teacher raise, the union’s calculations showed the new budget guaranteed funding for less than a 10 percent raise. The bill restores only about a quarter of $1.1 billion in annual education cuts since the last recession, Mr. Thomas said, and does not guarantee raises for school support staff.
Like many of the other states rocked by teacher walkouts, Arizona has pursued decades of tax and spending cuts that educators say have devastated schools and made it difficult for teachers to achieve a middle-class lifestyle. In 2015, the last year for which census data was available, the state’s per-pupil funding was the third-lowest in the nation, behind only Utah and Idaho.
Mr. Ducey, a first-term Republican facing re-election, ran for governor promising never to raise taxes, and has said his budget keeps that commitment. In addition to an $18 car registration fee, a plan to shift the costs of several school desegregation plans to local property taxpayers from state government is expected to raise $18 million, in part by increasing property taxes in some low-income school districts.
Some districts never closed down for the walkouts. Others reopened their schools on Thursday, or planned to open Friday or Monday. Many are still determining how they will make up missed instructional time. Some may extend the school year or turn half-days into full days.
Matthew Simon, director of education policy for the Goldwater Institute, an influential libertarian think tank in Phoenix, said his organization considered the teacher walkout unlawful, and generally opposes increasing vehicle registration and other government fees.
He also disputed the idea that more money would improve education in Arizona, pointing to the state’s rising scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a standardized test.
The new bill will lead to “hundreds of millions of new dollars put into K-12 education, and the teachers and community still have to hold their locally elected governing boards accountable” for how it is spent, Mr. Simon said. He suggested districts could save money by shutting down under-enrolled schools.
| 2018-05 | <|begin_of_text|>A week into a statewide teacher walkout in Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey signed a budget bill on Thursday that he said would provide teachers with the 20 percent raises they had demanded, in addition to new funds for classrooms.
While the organizers of the walkout said the bill might not produce as much as the governor promised, they announced an end to their labor action, which had kept hundreds of thousands of children out of school.
Arizona is the fourth state this year, after West Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky, where protesting teachers left classrooms and won concessions from conservative lawmakers — though the agreements have often fallen short of initial demands. In some of the states it has proved easier for Republicans to support pay raises for educators than to provide the large annual funding increases for classrooms that teachers and many parents are asking for.
At least one additional state, North Carolina, is expecting a widespread teacher walkout in the coming weeks.
In Arizona, as in Oklahoma, legislators refused requests to raise income taxes on | the wealthy, and instead turned to a hodgepodge of revenue sources that are likely to hit a wide range of voters. The funding increase in Arizona will come in part from a new vehicle registration fee and a change in the way some school desegregation efforts are paid for. Lawmakers in Oklahoma pushed through taxes on tobacco, motor fuels, gambling and online sales, in addition to a higher production tax on oil and gas.
Leaders of the teachers’ walkout movement, which calls itself #RedforEd, said they would be shifting their focus to support a ballot initiative to raise income taxes on individuals with income over $250,000 and couples with income over $500,000.
Joe Thomas, president of the Arizona Education Association, said that despite Mr. Ducey’s claim of a 20 percent teacher raise, the union’s calculations showed the new budget guaranteed funding for less than a 10 percent raise. The bill restores only about a quarter of $1.1 billion in |
A week into his senior year, the 18-year-old student logged onto Amazon and bought a knife: a spring-loaded switchblade, slim enough to stay hidden in his pocket but sturdy enough, at a price of $30, that it could be lethal.
The student, Abel Cedeno, told a friend he felt trapped. Under a Facebook video on Sept. 16 in which he popped the knife open, he asked why people thought he was soft. Detectives believe he started taking the knife to school, a five-story brick building on Mohegan Avenue in the Bronx where some parents worried their children were so unprotected that they had, in the past, taken to patrolling the hallways themselves.
That was the prelude to what on Wednesday became the first killing in a New York City public school classroom in two decades, a death that defied steep drops in crime and exposed how vulnerable city classrooms remain to unaddressed bullying and the violence that can follow.
During a history class, two classmates started pelting Mr. Cedeno from behind with pencil bits and balled-up paper, the police said. It was the first time the three of them had tangled, but two police officials stressed that it may not have seemed that way to Mr. Cedeno, who told detectives that other classmates had been harassing him since the start of school.
He got up and went to the bathroom, but when he returned, the tormenting continued, one of the police officials said. So he stood up, turned around and said something. A teacher, an aide and two dozen other students watched.
“What’d you call me?” one of the classmates, Matthew McCree, 15, answered. He strode up to Mr. Cedeno and punched him, according to one of the police officials.
Mr. Cedeno then pulled out his knife and, with two swings to Mr. McCree’s chest and one to his back, killed him, the police official said. Both police officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing. The other classmate, Ariane Laboy, who told detectives he did not yet realize his friend was being stabbed, stepped into the fracas, and Mr. Cedeno sliced him in the biceps, drawing so much blood that Mr. Laboy fainted.
Investigators are still building a picture of Mr. Cedeno’s life before the fatal confrontation: steady bullying by students he resisted naming in a police interview room; a mother who has been stranded in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria; enough difficulties in school that he was older than most of his classmates.
But the killing also seems to have taken place amid currents of homophobia, escalating fear and chaotic classrooms, which some parents and students said had been converging for weeks without the school gaining control.
Mr. Cedeno identified as bisexual to a small circle of people, a longtime family friend, Savannah Hornback, said. He also struggled with mental health issues, she said, though she declined to go into details.
She said he was a homebody who liked playing video games and keeping to himself. Neighbors described him as an “in-house kid” who held the door open for them, and said his mother went to Puerto Rico to visit family about a month ago. Ms. Hornback said being Hispanic and being bisexual made Mr. Cedeno a target of nasty slurs from classmates.
Ms. Hornback said Mr. Cedeno’s family was not trying to diminish what he did. But she said Mr. Cedeno’s mother had pleaded with staff members at the school for help protecting her son and had met with a guidance counselor there.
“There was no action from the school,” Ms. Hornback said.
At a news conference on Thursday morning, the chief of detectives for the New York Police Department, Robert K. Boyce, said Mr. Cedeno did not specifically cite his perceived sexual orientation as a reason he was being bullied or make clear why exactly he had bought the knife.
Chief Boyce told reporters that there was no indication Mr. Cedeno himself had complained to school officials about the abuse.
Matthew McCree, 15, was killed in the stabbing.
Toya Holness, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, cited a federal student privacy law in declining to comment on whether the school was aware that Mr. Cedeno was being bullied, but she said the department was conducting an investigation.
A student who said he witnessed the stabbing, Frankie Santiago, 16, a junior who was friends with Mr. McCree, said, “The two teachers standing there did absolutely nothing.” He said Mr. McCree had not been bullying Mr. Cedeno and the encounter only grew violent when Mr. Cedeno challenged Mr. McCree to fight. He said Mr. Cedeno overreacted and appeared intent on hurting his two classmates.
At a court appearance on Thursday morning in which Mr. Cedeno was formally charged with murder, attempted murder and manslaughter, his lawyer, Deborah Rush, asked that her client be placed on suicide watch and receive a psychological evaluation. Mr. Cedeno signed an order of protection agreeing to avoid contact with Mr. Laboy, 16, who remained hospitalized. Mr. Cedeno was ordered jailed without bail.
A prosecutor, Nancy Borko, said at the hearing that Mr. Cedeno had confessed to the attack and to buying the knife.
City officials, facing an outcry from parents for not having had metal detectors at the school before, scrambled to put them in place on Thursday. But parents still kept their children home in droves: Less than a third of students at Mr. Cedeno’s school, the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation, and just under half of students at the elementary school that shares the building, Public School 67, attended school on Thursday.
Parents said their fears stemmed from a failure by school officials to deal with complaints of bullying. They described students cursing openly in hallways, taunting teachers and leaving condoms and marijuana blunts in the hallways.
Kayesha McIntosh, 32, said she once told school officials that students were pulling her daughter’s hair. They suggested she put her daughter’s hair in a bun.
Feeling abandoned by teachers, she said she visited the parents of one of the offending students herself.
Another mother, Jovana Russell, a former PTA president at P.S. 67, said she pulled her daughter from the elementary school after a high school student exposed himself to her in the stairwell several years ago. After parents’ requests for more security were turned down, she said, they started patrolling the hallways themselves.
Students described feeling as though they had to defend themselves. Some parents said that led to cycles of bullying and violence in which students who were bullied became angry at a lack of action by the school and started threatening other students.
There is little indication that the Wildlife Conservation school is one of the most dangerous in the city. But so routine was the trouble that another mother, Uneek Valentin, 37, said that she was having a meeting with the principal about bullying only to have the principal dash out of the office because a fight had broken out in the school.
Ms. Valentin’s son, Dwhy Hoyt, a senior, said bullies curse at teachers, skip class and slap books out of students’ hands, ruining the learning environment.
Mr. Hoyt, 17, said he had learned to defend himself, only to be chided by school officials for fighting, and had stopped reporting some incidents.
“I had to fight my own battles and make people into my friend,” he said. | 2017-09 | <|begin_of_text|>A week into his senior year, the 18-year-old student logged onto Amazon and bought a knife: a spring-loaded switchblade, slim enough to stay hidden in his pocket but sturdy enough, at a price of $30, that it could be lethal.
The student, Abel Cedeno, told a friend he felt trapped. Under a Facebook video on Sept. 16 in which he popped the knife open, he asked why people thought he was soft. Detectives believe he started taking the knife to school, a five-story brick building on Mohegan Avenue in the Bronx where some parents worried their children were so unprotected that they had, in the past, taken to patrolling the hallways themselves.
That was the prelude to what on Wednesday became the first killing in a New York City public school classroom in two decades, a death that defied steep drops in crime and exposed how vulnerable city classrooms remain to unaddressed bullying and the violence that can follow.
During a history | class, two classmates started pelting Mr. Cedeno from behind with pencil bits and balled-up paper, the police said. It was the first time the three of them had tangled, but two police officials stressed that it may not have seemed that way to Mr. Cedeno, who told detectives that other classmates had been harassing him since the start of school.
He got up and went to the bathroom, but when he returned, the tormenting continued, one of the police officials said. So he stood up, turned around and said something. A teacher, an aide and two dozen other students watched.
“What’d you call me?” one of the classmates, Matthew McCree, 15, answered. He strode up to Mr. Cedeno and punched him, according to one of the police officials.
Mr. Cedeno then pulled out his knife and, with two swings to Mr. McCree’s chest and one to his back, killed him, the police official said. Both police |
A week or so after the 2016 presidential election, the actress Lizzy Caplan arrived in London for the premiere of her “Allied,” a Robert Zemeckis drama set during World World II, in which she starred alongside Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. She smiled for the cameras and proudly displayed her right palm, where she — or someone — had scrawled “Love Trumps Hate,” one of the meme-worthiest phrases from one of the final speeches of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The slogan, scrawled on her hand, infuriated me. The rage had no logic. It wasn’t directed at Ms. Caplan, whom I have adored ever since she appeared as an awkward misfit in 2004’s “Mean Girls.” My recoil was at the acceptability of such a gesture as bold, or capable of helping anyone other than herself. Love is an emotion that alone is not capable of destroying capitalism, of dismantling centuries of systems that remain in place today.
Ms. Caplan’s passive attempt at protest became fairly common in the immediate aftermath of the election. The president’s consistently anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-[insert marginalized group here] rhetoric had crystallized into something real, and the future was suddenly even more unnervingly unpredictable. A wave of hate crimes swept the country, and his policies promised further harm against groups that had long faced persecution. The desperation and panic were ever-present sour tastes in the backs of our throats. People were eager to establish themselves as allies, united in solidarity. But the fight against what, exactly, was never clear.
A young woman who had taken to wearing a safety pin on her jacket described the action to The New York Times as “a form of resistance to hate and to negativity.” Around the same time, I found myself in Portland, Ore., and saw countless signs in largely gentrified neighborhoods that read: “We welcome all races, all religions, all countries of origin, all sexual orientations, all genders, all abilities.” Passively waiting for the future to be better is not a strategy — it’s a luxury and a privilege.
A few days ago, when I heard that several male actors were joining some actresses in their plans to wear all-black to the Golden Globes in solidarity with those who have experienced sexual misconduct, I felt the old flames of anger reignite. There is something unsettling about how little these celebrities have to lose by taking these stances. They aren’t risking financial ruin, nor are they vulnerable to violence, as is the norm for most who take a bold position. It feels completely privileged, and a little complicit, to still participate in the larger system that has condoned sexual violence in their industry. Besides, don’t they already wear lots of black on the red carpet anyway?!
Recently, I was watching “Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart,” the forthcoming documentary about the life of Lorraine Hansberry, a writer best known for her play “A Raisin in the Sun.” On June 15, 1964, she spoke at a town hall of black artists and activists who had gathered to talk about the civil rights movement with folks like Ruby Dee and James Baldwin. A white author named Charles Silberman expressed frustration that the African-Americans were dissatisfied by the meager progress made. He urged them to “go along with the means,” and be patient. Hansberry lashed out. “To be in Mississippi is to be in danger,” she said. Hansberry knew how high the stakes were, and whose lives were in danger. She had seen buses and churches firebombed, children horribly beaten during nonviolent sit-ins. They were not people like Silberman.
As the Golden Globes approached, more people announced their plans to don all-black. I kept trying to imagine an entire sea of actors, lined up silently in black, women and men. Nonviolent, visual protests have a long history of forming images that can quickly go viral and set a powerful tone for a moment. There is a physicality to them, a choreography, that when done right, cannot be underestimated. My mind kept returning to the idea that they were still planning to attend the events altogether. Why not sit it out? Stay home? Boycott everything altogether?
I remained unmoved until Mary J. Blige confirmed her plans to attend in all-black. I champion them,” she said. “There’s so many women that don’t get a chance to speak in other industries that are not the film industry, the music industry. It’s important for us to stand up for them so they can get a chance to speak.” Ms. Blige was nominated for her stirring portrayal of Florence Jackson, the head of a sharecropping family in Mississippi, and she deserves to be there to accept the award if she wins. She deserves to be on television, in all-black, signaling to the women at home who were fans of her music for years that she recognizes and cares about them. And who knows — maybe enough people will show up in black, and it will look like a mass funeral, grieving a death of something old and decrepit that needed to die. | 2018-01 | <|begin_of_text|>A week or so after the 2016 presidential election, the actress Lizzy Caplan arrived in London for the premiere of her “Allied,” a Robert Zemeckis drama set during World World II, in which she starred alongside Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. She smiled for the cameras and proudly displayed her right palm, where she — or someone — had scrawled “Love Trumps Hate,” one of the meme-worthiest phrases from one of the final speeches of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The slogan, scrawled on her hand, infuriated me. The rage had no logic. It wasn’t directed at Ms. Caplan, whom I have adored ever since she appeared as an awkward misfit in 2004’s “Mean Girls.” My recoil was at the acceptability of such a gesture as bold, or capable of helping anyone other than herself. Love is an emotion that alone is not capable of destroying capitalism, of dismantling centuries of systems that | remain in place today.
Ms. Caplan’s passive attempt at protest became fairly common in the immediate aftermath of the election. The president’s consistently anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-[insert marginalized group here] rhetoric had crystallized into something real, and the future was suddenly even more unnervingly unpredictable. A wave of hate crimes swept the country, and his policies promised further harm against groups that had long faced persecution. The desperation and panic were ever-present sour tastes in the backs of our throats. People were eager to establish themselves as allies, united in solidarity. But the fight against what, exactly, was never clear.
A young woman who had taken to wearing a safety pin on her jacket described the action to The New York Times as “a form of resistance to hate and to negativity.” Around the same time, I found myself in Portland, Ore., and saw countless signs in largely gentrified neighborhoods that read: “We welcome all races, all religions, all countries of |
A weekly guide to maintaining a social life while social distancing.
A month into life under mandated social distancing, New Yorkers have been adjusted to this new reality by moving their social lives online.
From virtual dance parties with live D.J. sets to dinners and recipe-sharing over Zoom, they’ve shown that social distancing doesn’t mean giving up social interaction. In fact, it can be a reminder that we are all in this together, and participating in online events can help support local businesses that are now economically vulnerable.
Follow the hashtag #FeministAntibodies for the conversation and visit the collective’s Twitter page for more details.
Are you low on groceries and stumped on what to cook? Send over five pantry ingredients to Eric Kwan, the chef at the Museum of Food and Drink, for his weekly Pantry Challenge, and he might whip up a recipe for you to try at home. At 3 p.m., watch a cooking demonstration with a recipe inspired by ingredients in a viewer’s kitchen. For more information on how to submit pantry ingredients, go to the event page.
Visit the museum’s Instagram page for the live stream.
Bandits on the Run, a Brooklyn-based trio used to busking in subway stations, is trading its usual venue for the great indoors. At 7 p.m., the acoustic, indie-pop group will perform a concert live on its social media accounts.
You can access the performance on the group’s Instagram and Facebook pages.
Elsewhere, a live-music venue, nightclub and art space in Brooklyn, is hosting a music festival — in a video game.
Starting at 6 p.m., participants can enter the world of Minecraft and attend Nether Meant, a virtual music festival. The event will be headlined by the band American Football and will include performances from Anamanaguchi, HANA and others.
Staged in a digitally scaled replica of Elsewhere, Nether Meant is free, but participants can purchase V.I.P. passes to access special areas and in-game merchandise. All proceeds from the passes will benefit coronavirus relief efforts at Good360, a nonprofit organization. Those who can’t join the game can watch the festival on the Twitch live stream.
For more information on how to participate, visit the event page.
Diaspora Co., a company that aims to create a more equitable spice trade, will host a cooking demonstration with Rachel Gurjar, a New York-based chef and writer, at 2 p.m. This week’s theme is “Indian-ish,” and participants will learn how to make cabbage poriyal and carrot, ginger and cauliflower pickle. The recipe will be on Diaspora Co.’s blog before the demonstration so you can follow along.
Watch the live stream on Diaspora Co.’s Instagram page.
Mira Jacob, the Brooklyn-based author who wrote the graphic memoir “Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations,” will join Lupita Aquino (also known as @Lupita_Reads) for a Q. and A. at 6:30 p.m. Attendees can listen to the interview on Zoom.
To register, visit the event page. All attendees will receive a copy of Ms. Jacob’s memoir.
If you’re looking for one last dance party before the start of the week, another Brooklyn-based venue is keeping its virtual doors open for a D.J. set. Starting at 8 p.m., Nowadays will host the “party-starting masters,” Optimo, for four hours of dancing in your living room.
To catch the live stream, head over to Nowadays’ website. | 2020-04 | <|begin_of_text|>A weekly guide to maintaining a social life while social distancing.
A month into life under mandated social distancing, New Yorkers have been adjusted to this new reality by moving their social lives online.
From virtual dance parties with live D.J. sets to dinners and recipe-sharing over Zoom, they’ve shown that social distancing doesn’t mean giving up social interaction. In fact, it can be a reminder that we are all in this together, and participating in online events can help support local businesses that are now economically vulnerable.
Follow the hashtag #FeministAntibodies for the conversation and visit the collective’s Twitter page for more details.
Are you low on groceries and stumped on what to cook? Send over five pantry ingredients to Eric Kwan, the chef at the Museum of Food and Drink, for his weekly Pantry Challenge, and he might whip up a recipe for you to try at home. At 3 p.m., watch a cooking demonstration with a recipe inspired by ingredients in a viewer’s | kitchen. For more information on how to submit pantry ingredients, go to the event page.
Visit the museum’s Instagram page for the live stream.
Bandits on the Run, a Brooklyn-based trio used to busking in subway stations, is trading its usual venue for the great indoors. At 7 p.m., the acoustic, indie-pop group will perform a concert live on its social media accounts.
You can access the performance on the group’s Instagram and Facebook pages.
Elsewhere, a live-music venue, nightclub and art space in Brooklyn, is hosting a music festival — in a video game.
Starting at 6 p.m., participants can enter the world of Minecraft and attend Nether Meant, a virtual music festival. The event will be headlined by the band American Football and will include performances from Anamanaguchi, HANA and others.
Staged in a digitally scaled replica of Elsewhere, Nether Meant is free, but participants can purchase V.I.P. passes |
A well-known money manager is shutting down his firm after a year of disappointing results — the latest sign of turmoil in the $3 trillion hedge fund industry.
Eric Mindich, 49, was once a Wall Street wunderkind, becoming the youngest ever partner at Goldman Sachs more than 20 years ago. He launched Eton Park Capital Management in 2004, expanding it to manage as much as $14 billion.
But on Thursday he said he was throwing in the towel. In a letter to investors reviewed by The New York Times, Mr. Mindich said a mix of challenging market conditions and Eton Park’s poor performance had led to the decision. The firm’s assets under management have fallen by half since 2011.
“A combination of industry headwinds, a difficult market environment and, importantly, our own disappointing 2016 results have challenged our ability to continue to maintain the scale and scope we believe necessary to pursue our investment program,” Mr. Mindich wrote.
Eton Park is the first big hedge fund to shut down this year. But the closure comes as other well-known money managers are struggling to post the kind of double-digit returns that their investors have come to expect, and that justify their firms’ hefty fees.
William A. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management, for instance, is still reeling from its $4 billion losing bet on shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, the embattled drug company that has seen its stock plunge over concern about its accounting practices.
And John Paulson, who made billions betting on the collapse of the housing market during the financial crisis, has struggled to find a consistent winning formula since that time.
At the same time, state pension funds led by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System are dumping their hedge fund portfolios, contending many strategies are too complex and costly — especially at a time when many firms are underperforming.
Eton Park, based in Manhattan, will begin returning its roughly $7 billion in capital to investors, and anticipates returning about 40 percent of its outside money by the end of April.
The decision by Mr. Mindich to close the firm comes after a tough year in 2016, when Eton Park’s returns were down about 9.4 percent. So far this year, the fund’s performance has been flat.
The firm sent out the letter on Thursday after notifying its roughly 120 employees of the decision to close.
Over all, 2016 was one of the worst years for hedge fund closures since the financial crisis, with hundreds of smaller funds closing because of poor performance, investor redemptions and complaints about high fees.
In all, 1,057 hedge funds closed or were liquidated in 2016, compared with 729 openings, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. The number of active hedge funds is at its lowest level since 2012.
In a sign of the industry’s continuing struggles, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index — a broad measure of hedge fund performance — was up just 2.23 percent for the year at the end of February, compared with a roughly 5 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 during that time.
One of the larger hedge funds to shut down last year was Perry Capital, the firm founded by Richard C. Perry, another Goldman alumnus. And one of the notable small hedge fund closures was Eaglevale Partners, a firm co-founded by Marc Mezvinsky, the son-in-law of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Mindich and his wife, Stacey, a theater producer, are prominent philanthropists. In 2015, the couple made a $15 million gift to fund public service initiatives at Harvard. They have also donated to Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York to support children’s health research.
Mr. Mindich made his name as a fast-rising star on Wall Street, heading up Goldman’s arbitrage desk at the age of 25. In 1994, at 27, he became Goldman’s youngest partner ever and was a leader of the firm’s equities arbitrage business.
The arbitrage desk at Goldman, under the tutelage of Robert Rubin, who would leave Goldman to become Treasury secretary in 1995, spawned a number of hedge fund managers, including Mr. Mindich, Mr. Perry and Daniel Och, founder of Och-Ziff Capital Management.
Mr. Mindich was seen as a Wall Street wunderkind when he started Eton Park. The firm started with about $3.5 billion in capital and at the time was among the biggest and splashiest hedge fund launches.
And for many years, the firm posted solid returns, investing heavily in stocks, bonds and derivatives. One of the hedge fund’s best years came in 2013, when it returned 22 percent. In 2008, one of the worst years for hedge funds, Eton Park lost 10 percent, but that was far better than most other firms fared.
The firm grew to manage about $14 billion, and opened offices in London and Hong Kong. But a week ago, Eton Park quietly closed its London office, a sign of the trouble to come.
| 2017-03 | <|begin_of_text|>A well-known money manager is shutting down his firm after a year of disappointing results — the latest sign of turmoil in the $3 trillion hedge fund industry.
Eric Mindich, 49, was once a Wall Street wunderkind, becoming the youngest ever partner at Goldman Sachs more than 20 years ago. He launched Eton Park Capital Management in 2004, expanding it to manage as much as $14 billion.
But on Thursday he said he was throwing in the towel. In a letter to investors reviewed by The New York Times, Mr. Mindich said a mix of challenging market conditions and Eton Park’s poor performance had led to the decision. The firm’s assets under management have fallen by half since 2011.
“A combination of industry headwinds, a difficult market environment and, importantly, our own disappointing 2016 results have challenged our ability to continue to maintain the scale and scope we believe necessary to pursue our investment program,” Mr. Mindich wrote.
E | ton Park is the first big hedge fund to shut down this year. But the closure comes as other well-known money managers are struggling to post the kind of double-digit returns that their investors have come to expect, and that justify their firms’ hefty fees.
William A. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management, for instance, is still reeling from its $4 billion losing bet on shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, the embattled drug company that has seen its stock plunge over concern about its accounting practices.
And John Paulson, who made billions betting on the collapse of the housing market during the financial crisis, has struggled to find a consistent winning formula since that time.
At the same time, state pension funds led by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System are dumping their hedge fund portfolios, contending many strategies are too complex and costly — especially at a time when many firms are underperforming.
Eton Park, based in Manhattan, will begin returning its roughly $7 billion |
A well-placed, orderly sandbox. Teachers who laugh often. Plenty of miniature tables and chairs.
Those are markers of an excellent pre-K classroom. And New York City, home to the largest citywide prekindergarten initiative in the country, has these features — and many more — in the vast majority of its programs, according to new data shared with The New York Times.
In 2018, about 94 percent of the city’s prekindergarten programs met or exceeded a threshold that predicts positive student outcomes after pre-K, according to a national evaluation system, the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, developed by a coalition of experts.
This means that as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature initiative — public pre-K for all 4-year-olds in New York City — gets bigger, it is also improving.
In 2013, there were only 19,000 New York City children enrolled in prekindergarten; Mr. de Blasio’s initiative launched in 2014 and now enrolls about 70,000 pre-K students.
The new data represents a big jump from the first time the system was evaluated in 2015, when just 77 percent of the programs were found to be up to par. So it is not just that existing programs are improving; many of the new pre-Ks joining the initiative are already high quality.
“The hardest thing is getting instructional quality at scale across thousands of classrooms,” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, the president of Bank Street College of Education and a former top education official under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. New York appears to have succeeded so far.
Universal pre-K has provided Mr. de Blasio with one of his clearest political wins and perhaps his best shot at the national prominence that he has long sought. The program was implemented relatively smoothly, is broadly popular and continues to pay dividends for a mayor who has not reached the same level of success with the rest of his education agenda.
Mr. de Blasio’s high-profile plan for struggling schools, known as Renewal, was a disappointment and is set to end in the coming months. The city will have spent nearly $800 million on that plan, but it did not have a major impact on academic performance in those schools.
Mr. de Blasio has also faced criticism from advocates who want him to take more forceful action to racially integrate city schools.
When city inspectors enter pre-K classrooms, they are looking for things a parent who simply sees a room of exuberant toddlers might miss.
There should be a clear nap schedule, students who know how to wash their hands by themselves and lots of opportunities for children to talk. There should be few instances when the whole class is gathered together on the rug, and instead children should be playing in small groups.
And when children misbehave, the teacher should not yell or berate them. Instead, teachers should tell students what they did wrong and what they should do better next time.
New York City’s prekindergarten programs scored especially high on students’ language and reasoning skills and interaction among children, and scored lowest on the “personal care routines” category.
The work is far from over, both in New York and in cities experimenting with large pre-K programs around the country. Research has shown that if students move from excellent pre-Ks to mediocre kindergarten and first-grade classes, the gains achieved in pre-K can evaporate. As New York’s pre-K expands and becomes more successful, the city should focus on improving its early elementary school instruction, Mr. Polakow-Suransky said.
“If we’re going to be a model, we need to pay attention to the places other folks have struggled,” he said. This year, the city added more reading coaches in an attempt to assist teachers instructing elementary school students.
The second phase of the mayor’s early childhood education plan is just beginning. In 2017, Mr. de Blasio announced the expansion of pre-K into a program for 3-year-olds, now commonly known as 3-K.
The program currently serves about 5,000 children in six mostly low-income neighborhoods. 3-K will be available throughout the city in 2021 — if City Hall can secure $700 million in funding from the state or federal government before then.
Expanding city schools into a system that runs from 3 to 18 years old will present big challenges.
As part of the 3-K expansion, Mr. de Blasio’s administration will have to find suitable space for thousands of toddlers. In addition, the program will confront a longstanding issue: salary disparities among early childhood teachers in different types of schools. Plus, the mayor will have to bring much of the city infrastructure that supports infants and toddlers under the Department of Education, rather than the Administration for Children’s Services.
But 3-K offers significant opportunities, said Kendra Hurley of the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School, who has studied the issue.
| 2019-01 | <|begin_of_text|>A well-placed, orderly sandbox. Teachers who laugh often. Plenty of miniature tables and chairs.
Those are markers of an excellent pre-K classroom. And New York City, home to the largest citywide prekindergarten initiative in the country, has these features — and many more — in the vast majority of its programs, according to new data shared with The New York Times.
In 2018, about 94 percent of the city’s prekindergarten programs met or exceeded a threshold that predicts positive student outcomes after pre-K, according to a national evaluation system, the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, developed by a coalition of experts.
This means that as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature initiative — public pre-K for all 4-year-olds in New York City — gets bigger, it is also improving.
In 2013, there were only 19,000 New York City children enrolled in prekindergarten; Mr. de Blasio’s initiative launched in 2014 and now enrolls | about 70,000 pre-K students.
The new data represents a big jump from the first time the system was evaluated in 2015, when just 77 percent of the programs were found to be up to par. So it is not just that existing programs are improving; many of the new pre-Ks joining the initiative are already high quality.
“The hardest thing is getting instructional quality at scale across thousands of classrooms,” said Shael Polakow-Suransky, the president of Bank Street College of Education and a former top education official under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. New York appears to have succeeded so far.
Universal pre-K has provided Mr. de Blasio with one of his clearest political wins and perhaps his best shot at the national prominence that he has long sought. The program was implemented relatively smoothly, is broadly popular and continues to pay dividends for a mayor who has not reached the same level of success with the rest of his education agenda.
Mr. de Blasio’s high-profile |
Subsets and Splits