BELVIDERE, N.J., Oct. 8.--The presence of the Democratic candidate for Governor, Congressman Green, was the occasion for quite a gathering of local Democratic lights this morning in the court room where Janitor James J. Titus is on trial for his life. View Full Article in Timesmachine »
The city's Rent Guidelines Board is expected to decide tomorrow on a major modification of the highly controversial rentrise limits affecting some 400,000 apartments here.
The apartments involved had been removed from rent control or rent stabilization programs under the vacancy decontrol law that prevailed between 1971 and this summer, and the critics argued that, in the three‐year period, owners of most of the 400,000 units had already received steep increases.
Under the modification, officials said yesterday, about onethird of the 400,000 apartments could be restricted to smaller rent rises, if leases are due for renewal in the coming year, than under the previously promulgated limits. In a number of cases, under the modification, a lease renewal in the coming year could involve no rent increase for a year.
The Guidelines. Board is working to meet a deadline tomorrow, given by the City Council's General Welfare. Committee, to modify the previously announced limits. These were made public on Aug. 27 and permit across the board rent rises of up to 12 per cent when leases are signed in any of the 400,000 apartments.
Tenant groups, some City, Councilmen and the Temporary State Commission on Living Costs and the Economy insisted that the ceilings announced Aug. 27 were too generous to landlords.
Landlords defended the Aug. 27 ceilings or called them too restrictive, given their own rising costs.
In a separate development, inVolving 850,000 apartments under standard rent control, Mayor Beame announced a “crash program” to comply with a court order calling for the issuance by the city by Oct. 19 of badly backlogged 1974 rent orders.
A version of this archives appears in print on September 26, 1974, on Page 26 of the New York edition with the headline: City Board Decides Tomorrow On Modification of Rent Rises. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
On North Xidan Street, the crowds of shoppers were as thick as ever today, and the talk of the afternoon was the bomb that ripped through a public bus here on Friday evening.
The police said the explosion was caused by a home-made bomb, and was not accidental, State television said today. At least 10 people were reported seriously injured in the blast.
Many shoppers and salespeople in the area expressed surprise that terrorism seems to have arrived in Beijing, long considered one of the world's safest capitals, and several said they found it hard to accept that something that seemed to be a foreign phenomenon was now a domestic reality.
Not that many seemed to cut back on what has become the city's favorite Saturday afternoon pastime: shopping.
''I sit on that bus every day,'' said Qiu Hong, 26, who was looking at leather shoes in the Xidan Shopping Center with a friend. ''I don't want to have to worry about it every time I go home at night.''
Then, addressing her friend and gesturing at a pair of brown shoes with a tan bow over the toe, she said in a more serious tone: ''These, what do you think of these?''
Ms. Qiu's reluctance to accept a new sense of danger, and her preoccupation with shopping, reflected the mood in Beijing today about the explosion. If the threat of political violence is now real -- no one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing -- the possibility of sustained terrorism still seems remote.
''It was not a very big explosion,'' said Liu Jinmen, a beeper saleswoman whose store is across the street from the bus stop where the explosion occurred. ''There was a lot of glass on the street, but now you can't tell where it happened.''
The Beijing Daily reported today that 10 people were injured by the explosion, and none killed. A police spokeswoman insisted today that no one had died, though Reuters news agency reported that two people were killed in the blast.
Beijing Television reported that an investigation ''showed the explosive was planted beside the left-hand seats three and four rows from the front of the bus.''
Although public disturbances in China have usually been left out of the official media in the past, today Beijing Television not only reported the news, but also said a reward had been offered for any information that leads to the arrest of the bombers.
Witnesses reported seeing a momentary flash inside the No. 22 bus before window glass shattered outward and victims poured off the bus, many of them burned. One witness said she saw about two dozen people injured and taken for medical treatment.
Even though robbery and other crimes have become more prevalent in recent years, many Beijing residents consider their city relatively safe, particularly in contrast with cities in the United States, because it is still difficult to obtain weapons here, and because penalties for being caught are severe. Few law enforcement officials are permitted to carry a gun, and virtually no private citizens are.
One exception is for members of China's armed forces, and incidents of military officials brandishing a weapon in public to avoid paying a restaurant or a taxi bill are not uncommon.
Yet explosions like the one Friday evening at Xidan are extremely rare. Because the blast resembled three similar explosions on public buses that occurred on Feb. 25 in Urumuqi, the capital of the Muslim-dominated region of Xinjiang in western China, there is wide suspicion that this explosion is similarly the work of advocates of independence for that region.
Beijing was already under heightened security because the National People's Congress, China's legislature, is in the middle of its two-week-long annual session. Today, uniformed police officers were posted throughout the Xidan area, and also at many bus stops as well.
Asked if public buses were under tighter security checks, a bus driver who paused to pick up passengers near Xidan simply shook her head to decline comment.
''I never thought there could be a bomb in a public place like that,'' said a yogurt and fruit seller whose outdoor stall is a few dozen yards down the street from where the explosion occurred. ''We're standing here every day. Who says another bomb won't explode right here?''
Wu Weidong, a shirt salesman in a nearby department store, said: ''Society is not so stable anymore, so there are going to be problems. But I never thought we'd have a bomb right outside the store.''
A version of this article appears in print on March 9, 1997, on Page 1001004 of the National edition with the headline: Bus Bombing Fails to Daunt Shopping Day In Beijing. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
ATTENTION weekend warriors armed with rake, hoe and spade: Are you resigned to the aching back, stiff joints and sore muscles that are the annual legacy of your desire to ready the yard and garden for another growing season? Or are you willing to learn some simple techniques that can bring you beautiful blooms and luscious produce without sacrificing your body?
''People tend to get involved in the task and don't think about how they are using their bodies when they garden,'' said Carole Crewdson, a movement specialist who has taught body-safe gardening techniques at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Dr. Mark A. Anderson, an associate professor of physical therapy at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, said: ''People don't think of gardening as an athletic activity, but it is physically demanding and you have to prepare your body for it. Any activity that you haven't done for a long time uses muscles that haven't been used in a while.''
Overwork those muscles and you pay a price, sometimes in the form of lingering injuries that can interfere with other activities.
''A lot of springtime gardeners don't do anything the rest of the year,'' Ms. Crewdson said. ''They need to prepare their bodies for gardening as they would prepare the soil for planting.''
Ideally, Dr. Anderson said, gardeners should maintain a year-round exercise program. Failing that, he suggests starting the season not with the shovel, but with a regimen of activities that build general fitness: endurance, strength and flexibility.
Before you tackle the soil, warm up and loosen up. Walk around the yard several times or march in place to get the blood flowing, then do some gentle stretching exercises, particularly of the muscles in the lower back, legs and arms. Warm-ups should include circling and rocking movements to loosen up the pelvis, shoulders, arms, legs, hands and feet.
Use body-sparing equipment. Ms. Crewdson recommends rakes, shovels and other tools that are appropriate to your height and strength, cushioned pads for your knees (the kind that children wear when they play soccer), a sheet or light-weight tarp to collect raked-up debris so it can be dragged instead of carried to a disposal site, and perhaps a gardening stool to sit on. When loads are very heavy, get someone to help, divide the load in half, slide it along on a mat or use a luggage cart to carry it. Another handy device is a two-wheeled plastic lawn cart.
For people with arthritis in their hands, consider buying gardening tools with cushioned grips (for example, Softouch sold by L.L. Bean, 800-221-4221). FistGrip garden tools have upright handles that keep the hand in a neutral, stress-free position. They are made by the Calais Company in Mendham, N.J. (201-543-5665).
The best tools in the world will not spare your body unless you move it properly. Ms. Crewdson teaches the principles of the Alexander technique to reduce needless stress on muscles and joints. The technique involves keeping the spine elongated from the occipital notch at the base of the skull to the tip of the tailbone. It also emphasizes using the whole body, especially the weight and strength of the torso and legs, as the energy source for most garden tasks. This reduces stress on the neck, back, shoulders, arms and knees.
For raking, sweeping or hoeing, she teaches a lunging technique in which you step forward with one foot in the direction you are facing and, with the rear knee bent and back straight, shift your weight back and forth in a rocking motion as you work the tool. Neck and shoulder muscles stay relaxed. The same principle can be applied to digging. In all these activities, avoid twisting your body. To transfer leaves or soil to one side, swivel on your feet and face the direction the material is going.
For chores near or at ground level, there are several options. One is to use a monkey-like posture. Think of the hip joint as the body's main hinge. With feet apart and knees bent slightly, lean forward -- again with back straight -- from the hip socket to do low chores. Another possibility when sowing seeds, planting bulbs or weeding is to squat -- with back straight and both knees bent, lower your buttocks toward the ground -- or do a semi-crouch, placing one knee on the ground. A third choice is to get down on your hands and knees (be sure to wear pads) and crawl along, straddling the row. You can also sit to work at ground level, as long as you can face the direction you are working in.
The monkey position can be used to lift heavy objects. With knees bent and back straight, bend from the hips and, using the muscles in the thighs and buttocks to stand up, raise the object close to your body as you straighten the hip joints. Never bend over from the waist or with knees straight.
Avoid using more energy than a task requires. ''Too many people attack a rake or garden hose as if they were heavy artillery,'' Ms. Crewdson said.
Learn to pace yourself. ''Do not try to do everything in one afternoon,'' she said. ''Don't set unreasonable goals, such as 'I must finish that last boarder today,' and be sure to take frequent breaks to relieve the stress on body parts.''
Ms. Crewdson suggests dividing a three-hour task into three one-hour sessions and setting a timer to go off every 15 minutes to remind you to change positions, relax tense muscles and stretch. And rather than doing the same chore for an hour at a time, switch off every 15 or 20 minutes to activities that use different muscle groups, like raking, planting and clipping hedges. This allows muscles to recover before they become overly fatigued and lose their ability to protect the body from injury.
''Repetitive motions can cause soreness and tendinitis,'' Ms. Crewdson warns. ''You may not feel the discomfort until the next day or two, which causes you to continue with an activity far longer than you should.''
Dr. Anderson said that late-onset muscle soreness typically lasts two or three days. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can help to control the discomfort. Sitting in a hot tub can bring temporary relief, he said, ''but it won't make the soreness go away any sooner.''
A version of this article appears in print on March 26, 1997, on Page C00008 of the National edition with the headline: Personal Health. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
BOSTON — A group including Jack Welch, the retired chief executive of General Electric, and Jack Connors, an advertising executive, may offer to buy The Boston Globe from The New York Times Co., Connors said Wednesday.
But Connors cautioned that a deal might not materialize. After the Globe reported the possibility of a bid Wednesday, Connors issued a statement saying, "the current speculation is very premature.
"I have conversations about possible business deals all the time, and 90 percent of them never move forward," said Connors, co- founder of Hill Holliday, a Boston advertising firm.
The Globe, citing several unnamed executives who have participated in the discussions, said Welch and Connors are working with investment bankers at J.P. Morgan to evaluate a potential deal, and that J.P. Morgan has valued the Globe at $550 million to $600 million, below the $1.1 billion The Times Co. paid in 1993.
Catherine Mathis, The Times Co.'s vice president of corporate communications, said in a statement: "We constantly review our portfolio of properties to assess their continuing relevance to our strategy. We view the Globe as an important asset."
The Times Co., which also owns the International Herald Tribune, recently named P. Steven Ainsley, who had headed its regional newspapers, as the Globe's publisher.
Last week, The Times Co. reported that advertising revenue for its New England Media Group, led by the Globe, fell 10 percent in the first nine months of this year from a year earlier, while circulation revenue fell 6.2 percent.
A move to return the Globe to local ownership would mirror developments in other cities. A group of Philadelphia business leaders bought The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News from McClatchy Co. for $515 million this year.
Women’s suffrage has brought about the defeat of Mr. C. H. Gill, on a “recall” election as mayor of Seattle yesterday [Feb. 7]. The issue was the accusation that Mr. Gill had ordered the police to “run” Seattle on “wide open” lines, particularly not to attempt to stamp out the social evil. He was elected mayor a year ago. Eight months after his election, the women of Washington State were enfranchised, and they began an agitation against his policy. Washington has a law which is known as “recall,” whereby ten per cent of voters in any community by petition can force a new election to any office at any time. Mr. Gill attacked the women during the campaign, alleging that they took no intelligent interest in the city’s affairs and adopted whatever attitude the clergymen told them.
Premier Benito Mussolini, in an exclusive interview granted to Sir Arnold Wilson, M.P., today [Feb. 8] warned Great Britain that she has “turned a colonial war into what may yet be a world-wide disaster.” “We shall not soon forget the language used by your statesmen,” the Duce told Sir Arnold. “You have turned a colonial war into what may yet be a world-wide disaster. Where is the Stresa front now? We cannot forget the blood and treasure we poured out in the Great War, nor put away from us the remembrance of 670,000 dead. Have you so soon forgotten?” Sir Arnold reports that Mussolini looked “tired, but robust.” Responding to Sir Arnold’s inquiries, Mussolini said: “I have repeatedly assured the British government that we harbour no designs against British interests in Africa.”
A gregarious chimpanzee, barely entering his adolescence, last Tuesday [Jan. 31] took his place alongside Columbus, Magellan, Adm. Richard E. Byrd, Sir Edmund Hillary, Strelka and Belka as one of the great explorers of all time. The three-foot-tall 37.5-pound ape, called Ham, was an intelligent animal. Indeed, he was chosen for the job as the smartest graduate in his class of chimpanzee astronauts at the Air Force’s Bio-Astronautics Branch, Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, N.M. Was Ham intelligent enough, as he soared weightlessly for more than six minutes or came crashing back into the earth’s atmosphere from space with a force 18 times greater than gravity’s pull, to wonder: “What am I doing here?” Perhaps. No man really knows what goes through a chimpanzee’s mind.
A version of this article appears in print on February 9, 2011, in The International Herald Tribune. Today's Paper|Subscribe
Today’s Paper|Quotation of the Day: Penalty: Up to 2 Years in Prison. Charge: Casting an Illegal Vote.
TARANTA HOLMAN, 28, one of 12 people in Alamance County in North Carolina who have been charged with voting illegally in the 2016 presidential election.
Florida District Court of Appeals Retain Cory Ciklin Results: “Yes” in the Lead – Election Results 2016 – The New York Times
Song of the Day: Calling All My Lovelies, words and music by the Bruno Mars crew, is one of those soulful "molasses-slow" grooves from "24K Magic," the Grammy-nominated "Best R&B Album of the Year" by Bruno Mars. On this track, even Oscar-award winning actress Halle Berry makes a cameo appearance. Check out the album version [YouTube link] and a live performance at the Apollo [DailyMotion link, around the 16-minute mark].