French Justice Minister Quits Over Plan to Strip Citizenship From Terrorists

Abstract: PARIS — The French justice minister, one of the most outspoken and progressive voices in the government, resigned on Wednesday after a clash over a proposal to strip the citizenship of French-born dual nationals convicted of terrorism. President François Hollande ‘s office said in a statement that he had accepted the resignation of the minister, Christiane Taubira , a native of French Guiana . She had held the position since Mr. Hollande’s election in 2012 and had disagreed with his government on several issues. The statement said that Mr. Hollande had expressed “gratitude” for Ms. Taubira’s service and that she had reformed the justice system with “conviction, determination and talent.” At a news conference at the Justice Ministry, she said, “I am leaving the government over a major political disagreement.” “I am choosing to be faithful to myself, to my commitments, to my fights,” she added. Ms. Taubira was widely known as an independent spirit with a more leftist bent than that of the Socialist government. Before the news conference, she said on Twitter that she was “proud” of her time at the Justice Ministry. “Sometimes to resist is to stay, sometimes to resist is to leave,” she wrote in a second post . The proposal to strip the citizenship of French-born dual nationals convicted of terrorism was put forward by Mr. Hollande in the aftermath of the attacks in the Paris area in November that killed 130 people. Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who was presenting the proposal on Wednesday at the National Assembly, France ‘s lower house of Parliament, said that the legislation would make no reference to dual citizenship and that it would only apply to the most serious crimes and offenses. Mr. Valls also emphasized that France would not make anybody stateless, suggesting that the stripping of citizenship would in practice apply only to those with dual citizenship, even if it did not specifically say so. Mr. Valls said the bill would make it possible to strip French citizens of some or all of their civic rights, like the right to vote, regardless of how many citizenships they held. Opinion polls show that most French people support the measure. Yet it has proved deeply divisive for the left, where many, including Ms. Taubira, said it discriminated among French citizens and was largely symbolic because it was unlikely to deter any would-be terrorists. Ms. Taubira said at her news conference that France was facing a “serious” and “unpredictable” terrorist threat, adding that “we know how to fight it.” Video A French government spokesman reacted to the resignation of Justice Minister Christiane Taubira after she clashed with others in government over a controversial counterterrorism proposal. Credit Credit Kenzo Tribouillard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “But I believe that we mustn’t grant it any victory, neither military, nor diplomatic, nor political, nor symbolic.” The proposal, which requires an amendment to the French Constitution, is part of a bill that also aims to give a constitutional framework to the law governing the state of emergency. Mr. Hollande declared a state of emergency immediately after the Nov. 13 attacks. He is expected to extend it for another three months after the first three-month period expires on Feb. 26. France’s top administrative court upheld the state of emergency on Wednesday, rejecting a request by the League for Human Rights to suspend it and arguing that the threat of terrorist attacks still loomed. Ms. Taubira, a skilled orator who peppers her speeches with lyrical flourishes and erudite references, was one of the few black, female politicians within a prominent ministry in the French government. She ran for president in 2002 . She was an advocate for women and minorities, and she was best known for championing the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2013, which elevated her status on the left as a defender of progressive values. Mr. Hollande’s statement praised her “major role” in passing the legislation. But her role in the same-sex marriage debate also made her a target for the right and far right, and criticism of Ms. Taubira and her policies was a cornerstone of opposition to the Socialist government. Guillaume Larrivé, a spokesman for former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative party, declared that she had been the “worst justice minister of the Fifth Republic.” Marine Le Pen , the president of the far-right National Front party, said in a statement that Ms. Taubira’s departure was “good news” for France and that her time at the Justice Ministry had proved “absolutely disastrous” for the country. Mr. Hollande nominated Jean-Jacques Urvoas, a Socialist lawmaker from Brittany, to replace Ms. Taubira. Mr. Urvoas is a close ally of Mr. Valls’s and hews more closely to the law-and-order line favored by the prime minister. Mr. Urvoas was a strong promoter of a bill passed last year that vastly expanded the surveillance abilities of French intelligence services, legislation that Ms. Taubira said she would have demonstrated against had she not been in the government. Ms. Taubira was scheduled to land in Washington on Wednesday evening for a three-day visit to the United States that was to include meetings with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and with representatives from the Black Lives Matter movement. The Justice Ministry said the official visit would be canceled in light of her resignation, but New York University confirmed that she would still be attending a conference there Friday, suggesting that she was traveling as a private citizen. “I can’t stand having a boss,” Ms. Taubira told The New York Times in a 2013 interview . “My conscience is my boss, and my conscience dictates rules that are extremely, I’d say, grand — they’re rough but beautiful.”

Citizenship
Terrorism
Christiane Taubira
Manuel Valls
France
Francois Hollande
Paris Attacks


Ambac Financial Gets Pressed to Make a Move

Abstract: The Ambac Financial Group is getting the right pressure but from the wrong place. Ambac, a United States bond insurer that spent three years in bankruptcy as a result of the financial crisis, is under threat of a proxy fight from the hedge fund Canyon Capital Advisors. Canyon wants Ambac to hasten settlement proceedings on $4 billion of claims originating from unstable mortgage debt bundles and other instruments. The trouble is that the hedge fund has a position on both sides of the trade. Canyon is run by Joshua S. Friedman, an alumnus of Drexel Burnham Lambert and Goldman Sachs, who owns about a 4.5 percent stake in Ambac. It also has “built a significant economic interest in” the claims under dispute, according to a report this week by Reuters, citing unnamed sources. The logic of Ambac buying up as many claims as possible makes sense. It will reduce interest costs and the financial guarantor ought to be able to pay less than the face value it would require if it waited for them to mature. Even Ambac seems to accept that it’s a good idea. It bought $635 million worth last year. As the company argues, though, snapping up too many of them too quickly could hinder Ambac’s ability to meet other liabilities. These include debt issued by the city of Chicago and Puerto Rico, both of which are under significant duress. That ought to be of concern to Ambac shareholders. The outstanding $4 billion of claims dwarf Ambac’s $700 million market value. Canyon also hasn’t disclosed how big a stake it has in the troubled assets. A couple of other investors share similar views to Canyon, Reuters reported last month, though they have not yet even revealed their names — and not all are shareholders. In an attempt to achieve its aims, Canyon is lording over Ambac the idea of trying to replace at least half of its board. While the hedge fund may have a case, last decade’s mortgage bond boom and bust is riddled with conflicts of interest at issuers, rating agencies, investment banks and investors alike. Even just a whiff of another one should be enough to put investors on edge.

Ambac Financial Group
Canyon Capital Advisors
Conflict of interest
Stocks,Bonds


Lockheed Selling 2 Units and Realigning Others

Abstract: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Lockheed Martin Corporation said Wednesday that it would sell two businesses and realign others to improve performance and avoid potential problems over new government regulations for military contractors. The company said it would sell the enterprise integration group and the Pacific Architects and Engineers unit. Combined, the two make up about 3 percent of Lockheed’s annual revenue. The chief executive, Robert J. Stevens, said in an interview that the changes were based on Lockheed’s assessment of the market for global security services and the needs of its customers, made up mostly of government agencies like the Pentagon and intelligence services. He added that Lockheed does not yet have a group of prospective buyers and declined to give any details on possible valuations of the two units. Military contracting legislation passed last year includes a provision meant to reduce conflicts of interest for contractors, many of them deeply involved in a broad range of government operation. Lawmakers were concerned that such companies might have access to nonpublic information that could help them win additional contracts. Mr. Stevens said Lockheed concluded the enterprise integration unit could pose conflicts of interest. Lockheed paid an undisclosed sum for Pacific Architects and Engineers in 2006. The company provides services like disaster relief and support of peacekeeping missions for governments. Mr. Stevens said its customers wanted more services, like construction or maintenance, that do not fit in with Lockheed’s plans for the company. Lockheed also said it would combine its readiness and stability operations and Savi Technology units with its simulation, training and support business, and rename them Global Training and Logistics. Shares of Lockheed, which is based in Bethesda, Md., rose 63 cents to $79.80.

Lockheed Martin
Defense Contracts
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry


Giants’ Bumgarner Pitches Rangers to Brink of Elimination

Abstract: ARLINGTON, Tex. — As befitting this so-called year of the pitcher, the San Francisco Giants on Sunday paraded out the final member of the first entirely homegrown World Series rotation in 24 years. All of their starters are in their 20s and under club control for at least the next two seasons. Imagine the possibilities, Aubrey Huff said. “This team,” said Huff, the Giants’ first baseman, “has a chance to do something special for quite some time.” As bright as the future looks, the present looks even better. One victory stands between the Giants and immortality, and a championship parade in San Francisco that would rival Mardi Gras. Behind a sparkling outing by the 21-year-old rookie left-hander Madison Bumgarner, the Giants silenced the Texas Rangers , 4-0, in Game 4 at Rangers Ballpark. Huff provided the necessary offense, a mammoth two-run homer in the third inning, and Bumgarner allowed three hits over eight innings to shove Texas to the cusp of elimination. “We can feel it, we can taste it, all the sense,” said the outfielder Cody Ross. “But we have to keep grinding and playing like our backs are against the wall.” Whatever works. Now is not the time to diverge from the blueprint, not with the franchise’s first championship since 1954 tantalizingly close. The Giants were eight outs away from glory in 2002, in Game 6, before their dreams crumbled. They did not win a game against Oakland in 1989, and in 1962 the Yankees edged them, 1-0, in Game 7. “There’s a lot of bones to bury,” said General Manager Brian Sabean, who added, “It would be a fitting end. Having said that, it’s still not finished business. The gut-wrenching thing is, if any group deserves it, it’s this group. They’ve willed their way to this point, they’re very determined, they’re very confident, but we’ll see what happens. Texas is the same way.” The Rangers were shut out for the second time in three games and are hitting .211 for the series. They reached as far as second base only once, and not until there were two out in the seventh inning, when Bumgarner got Ian Kinsler, representing the tying run in a 3-0 game, to line out to Ross in left field. Buster Posey then slugged a one-out homer in the top of the eighth, and Bumgarner finished off his masterpiece by striking out Mitch Moreland to end the inning. Brian Wilson worked a perfect ninth. “They’ve certainly been pitching as advertised,” Rangers Manager Ron Washington said of the Giants. “We’ve got to figure out a way to put some runs on the board against them.” This is the seventh consecutive World Series in which a team has led by 3-1 or already clinched after Game 4, and to send the series back to San Francisco the Rangers will turn to Cliff Lee, who would seem difficult topple twice in six days, in Game 5 on Monday night. The Giants will counter with their own ace, Tim Lincecum, who fronts this imposing group of young pitching. At 26, Lincecum is the second oldest of a quartet that rocketed through the Giants’ system, much like Roger Clemens, Bruce Hurst, Oil Can Boyd and Al Nipper did for the 1986 Boston Red Sox, who lost the World Series to the Mets. Each of them had more experience than Bumgarner, who became the youngest pitcher to start a World Series game since Fernando Valenzuela pitched – and won – Game 3 for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981. “I started off rough this year, I didn't expect this in my wildest dreams,” said Bumgarner, who was summoned from the minors at the end of June. “But I'm definitely glad to be here and blessed to have this opportunity.” Madisonmania may not sound as catchy as, say, Fernandomania, but it is all the rage in San Francisco. He walked the leadoff hitter, Elvis Andrus, on four pitches, but ran a three-ball count to only four of his next 26 hitters. Josh Hamilton, who went 0 for 4 with a strikeout, praised the deception of Bumgarner, who, with his sling-shot delivery, befuddled hitters with the precision of his boyhood heroes. Growing up in Hudson, N.C., a small town 90 miles northwest of Charlotte, Bumgarner found himself drawn toward some of the best left-handed pitchers of this generation: Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, Andy Pettitte. “Just anybody that’s good,” he said. Teaming with Posey, a fellow rookie standout, Bumgarner faced only one batter over the minimum through six innings. Excellent defense – a leaping catch by Freddy Sanchez in the second, two sharply turned double plays – certainly helped, but Bumgarner quieted the crowd of 51,920 at Rangers Ballpark by adhering to the same approach as Texas starter Colby Lewis in Game 3: firing first-pitch strikes, which he did to 21 of 27 batters. “He came to the yard today and you could see he was just chilling,” Huff said. “Nothing really bothers him. Put on some David Allan Coe on the playlist and let him go to town. He’s just a big 21-year-old kid out there with a funky delivery and who attacks the zone.” Bumgarner’s brutal efficiency – 106 pitches over eight innings – stood in stark contrast to the muddling of Rangers starter Tommy Hunter, who failed to pitch past the fourth inning for the third straight start. Without a put-away pitch – he did not generate a swing-and-miss until his 79th pitch, with two out in the fourth – Hunter ran several deep counts and watched in frustration as the Giants fouled off 22 of his 83 pitches. “I can’t tell you how many foul balls they had,” Hunter said. “You just keep throwing the ball out there and hope they put it in play.” A blown call at first base in the second inning, though it forced him to throw 11 additional pitches, did not hurt him. But the Giants’ next lucky break at the bag certainly did. Leading off the third, Andres Torres ripped a sharp grounder that struck the front of the base and caromed over the head of Mitch Moreland and into the right-field corner for a double. With one out, Huff crushed a first-pitch cutter inside the right-field foul pole. “That took our crowd out,” Texas right fielder Jeff Francoeur said. Washington turned over the last 15 outs to his bullpen, which got five from Alexi Ogando – who left with a strained left oblique muscle and will be replaced on the roster – and three from Darren Oliver before a two-out double by Andres Torres extended the Giants’ lead to 3-0. Nolan Ryan, who caught the ceremonial first pitch from the former President George W. Bush, shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and again when Posey avenged his Game 3 encounter with Darren O’Day by mashing a ball onto the grass in center field. As Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, arrived via golf cart, Ross, stationed along the left-field line, reached out for a quick handshake. As soon as Monday, the Giants can secure the Bay Area’s first title since 1994, when the 49ers won the Super Bowl , and the spoils that come with it. A visit to the White House, and a more proper meeting with a president, would await for Ross and his teammates, especially Bumgarner, the youngest of them all. “It’s what you want to do every year, and we’ve got the team to do it,” Bumgarner said. “It’s a lot of fun to be on this team.”

San Francisco Giants
World Series
Texas Rangers
Baseball
Bumgarner Madison


Brian Gordon’s Trail Takes Him to Yankee Stadium

Abstract: In need of a starting pitcher on Thursday afternoon, the Yankees will turn to a former outfielder with 3,810 at-bats over a 15-year minor league career and only four innings of work pitching in the majors, all in 2008. Many unlikely things occur over the course of a 162-game season, but few can match the ascent of Brian Gordon, 32, who had been making his living pitching for the Class AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs of Allentown, Pa., his 13th team in 15 years of minor league ball . Now he will take the mound for the Yankees against the Texas Rangers . And he is still, perhaps, something of a curiosity even to the Yankees. “I’ve seen a little film on him,” Manager Joe Girardi said Wednesday night when he named Gordon the Thursday starter after the Yankees’ 12-4 win against Texas . “Not a ton, but a little.” Gordon startled his brother, Scott, 29, with an excited telephone call Tuesday night letting him know that he exercised his opt-out clause with the Philadelphia Phillies, who run the IronPigs , and was about to sign a major league deal with the Yankees. “I’m so excited, it’s like my dream come true,” Scott Gordon said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I never doubted him,” he said of his brother’s long road. “It seems like every time he gets a chance, he does well.” Gordon, who is from West Point, N.Y., was originally selected in the seventh round of the 1997 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the years since, he could have used Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” as a soundtrack for his life. “I’ve been to Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota, Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota, Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa,” Cash sang. Gordon could respond that he has been to South Bend, Lancaster, El Paso, Tucson, Salt Lake City, Corpus Christi, Round Rock, Oklahoma City, Allentown. And now, apparently, the Bronx. It was in 2007, after he had hit 118 home runs over 10 minor league seasons, that Gordon decided to try something different. He decided to pitch, which he had not done since high school. By then, he had played four full seasons as a Class AAA outfielder, and felt his career was stagnating. So he asked his manager at the time, Jackie Moore, with Houston’s Class AAA Round Rock club, if he could return to the mound. Moore said fine. “I thought he would have a better chance,” Moore, now the Rangers’ bench coach, said on Wednesday. “But I also realized that it was not going to be easy for him, that he would have to get a couple big breaks and take advantage of it, which he has.” Improbably, a year later, Gordon appeared in three games for the Rangers , pitching four inconsequential innings of relief over three games. Then it was back to the minors, where he continued to toil until something clicked this spring, when he put together a 5-0 record for the IronPigs with a 1.14 earned run average. Now he is about to put on pinstripes. “He’s obviously a good enough athlete to play baseball,” the Rangers left-hander C. J. Wilson said on Wednesday. “So he’s overqualified athletically to be a pitcher.” And having been a position player, Wilson said, Gordon might have an advantage “to sort of read hitters a little bit better.” Gordon will be replacing Bartolo Colon, who is on the disabled list with a strained hamstring. At some point, Colon will be back. The injured right-hander Phil Hughes could also rejoin the Yankees next month. Gordon’s Yankee adventure may not last long. But the fact it has gotten this far is remarkable.

Texas Rangers
Baseball
New York Yankees
Gordon Brian


Little Leaguers, Dreaming in Extra Large

Abstract: Four new metal street signs are on order in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., but Mayor Robert Novitke is not sure what they will say. His city, an eastern suburb of Detroit, is celebrating its sending a baseball team to the Little League World Series for the first time since 1979. The words on the signs, which will be posted with the city limit markers, await only the outcome of that trip. “I think we’d love these signs saying ‘2013 World Series champions’; wouldn’t that be something?” Novitke said Tuesday. “We’re already so proud of them, no matter what happens now.” Win or lose, the Woods-Shores team — the league also includes nearby Grosse Pointe Shores — is already the focus of national attention because of one of its pitchers, Chad Lorkowski. He is 6 feet 3 inches and 219 pounds. And 12 years old. Lorkowski certainly looks older than his years, but in case anybody asks, Coach Tom Mazzola arrived in Williamsport, Pa., this week armed with multiple copies of Lorkowski’s birth certificate to rebut doubters. A quick conversation with Lorkowski revealed interests typical of a soon-to-be seventh grader. “Can you put my nickname, Swag Daddy, and my Instagram in the paper, too?” Lorkowski asked in a telephone interview Tuesday, drawing a stern “No!” from Mazzola. “I know all eyes will be on me, because that’s the way it always is. I’m used to it by now, and I like it. I like that it intimidates them.” Lorkowski started Woods-Shores’s World Series opener Friday against Chula Vista, Calif., pitching six scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and struck out 12. But his effort was outdone by the seven-inning, 13-strikeout no-hitter thrown by Grant Holman in Chula Vista’s 3-0 victory. Chula Vista scored its runs after Lorkowski was removed from the game because of pitch count restrictions. Holman, the tallest player in this World Series at 6-4, threw the first no-hitter by a California team in the championship since 1993. The World Series is double-elimination, and Woods-Shores will play Newark, Del., or Urbandale, Iowa, on Saturday. “Chad is a great player, but we are a team and all of the boys have to play their roles, work hard or we’re not going to win,” Mazzola said. “It’s important we keep everything in perspective for these boys. They’re getting a lot of attention, they’ll be on ESPN, and this social media stuff doesn’t help. We need to keep perspective: we win together, we lose together. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I don’t think this will hit them until a couple of years from now.” Image At 12 years old, Chad Lorkowski, a pitcher, is 6 feet 3 inches and 219 pounds. Credit Will Yurman for The New York Times The Michigan league in which Lorkowski plays has had other attention-grabbing talents, like the Detroit Tigers slugger Prince Fielder. While his father Cecil Fielder was hitting homers for the Tigers in the early 1990s, Prince was doing the same in the Woods-Shores league. Lorkowski, who throws up to 73 miles per hour, had 25 strikeouts and a 2.54 earned run average in four playoff games before the World Series. He struck out 10 and hit two homers in Woods-Shores’s 10-2 victory in the Great Lakes regional final over Chicago on Aug. 10. Lorkowski’s teammates faced him during the regular season, and most are quite happy to be on his side now. “You see the other teams, and their eyes get really big and their mouths go open at the plate,” said Jimmy Mazzola, a pitcher who is also the coach’s son. Pitching and defense brought Woods-Shores to the World Series, behind the arms of Lorkowski and Antonio Moceri. The two jokingly compare themselves to the Detroit All-Star pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Lorkowski says he is Verlander. And Moceri, who has a 1.69 playoff earned run average and 14 strikeouts, says he is Scherzer. “We’ve gotten a lot of cool, totally free stuff with our names on it, and it’s cool to see everybody from around the world,” said Moceri, who gave up Chula Vista’s three runs Friday. “We’re all pretty excited, but we’re not nervous anymore because we’ve been on ESPN before.” Back home, talk of the Woods-Shores Little League team is a welcome respite from the daily bankruptcy news coming out of nearby Detroit. Support and praise have poured in, with messages from Gov. Rick Snyder; the Detroit Tigers’ president and general manager, Dave Dombrowski; and Kansas City Royals second baseman Chris Getz, another former Grosse Pointe Little League star. The team received a send-off before its trip to the regionals, with three blocks of the main Woods thoroughfare closed for an auxiliary police-escorted parade. Plans are in the works for another parade, and more City Council proclamations, after the World Series. The boys are only the 10th Michigan team since 1947 to reach the tournament in Williamsport. The last team was Jenison, 15 years ago. Only Hamtramck has won the World Series, in 1959. “This whole thing has a life of its own,” said the Woods-Shores Little League board president, Dick Borland. “It’s something I’ve rarely seen in this town, and I have been involved in Little League for 12 years. These boys have far exceeded all our expectations.”

Baseball
Little League World Series
Chad Lorkowski
Little League Baseball and Softball
Grosse Pointe Michigan


Wisconsin Pulls Away Late to Top Cal State Fullerton

Abstract: Wisconsin survived, but not before Cal State Fullerton gave it a scare. Wisconsin (29-4) could not shake the 14th-seeded Titans (24-9) until late in the second half Thursday, before winning, 71-56, in Omaha during the first round of the N.C.A.A. tournament. The Badgers will face Kansas State in the second round Saturday. The Badgers shot 42 percent and committed 17 turnovers but blocked seven shots and outrebounded the Titans, 50-27. That was enough to overcome a career-high 31 points from Fullerton’s Josh Akognon, whose five 3-pointers always seemed to come just when it looked as if the Badgers were about to pull away. Brian Butch scored 14 and Joe Krabbenhoft and Jason Bohannon had 13 each for the Badgers, who won their 24th in 26 games. U.N.L.V. 71, KENT STATE 58 With 4 minutes 42 seconds left in the first half, Kent State Coach Jim Christian called a second timeout. One more, and it would have matched the number of baskets the Golden Flashes had scored. N.C.A.A. tournament games between No. 8 and No. 9 seeds are not supposed to be one-sided. Then again, Nevada-Las Vegas, which stifled Kent State through most of a first-round victory, was lucky to be in the tournament at all, let alone with a single-digit seed. The Rebels lost five seniors and four starters from last year’s team, which reached the Round of 16. After this season began, Coach Lon Kruger kicked off two players and had a third leave. Of the 10 players in uniform Thursday, only seven played significant minutes. Yet here are the eighth-seeded Rebels, gearing up for a game Saturday against Kansas, the Midwest Region’s top seed. The victory offered a glimpse of how the 27-7 Rebels, the Mountain West Conference champions, did it. The leading scorer Wink Adams shot 6 for 9 from the field for 17 points, and Joe Darger had four 3-pointers among his 18 points against the Golden Flashes (28-7). The Rebels pressured the junior guard Al Fisher, the Mid-American Conference player of the year, into 3-for-15 shooting. Fisher finished with 10 points. (PAT BORZI) KANSAS 85, PORTLAND STATE 61 Brandon Rush had 18 points as top-seeded Kansas (32-3) routed Portland State (23-10). Kansas’ five seniors and Rush, a junior who may be headed to the N.B.A., are determined to go out in style after some tournament disappointments. The Jayhawks still remember being knocked off two straight years in the opening round, losing stunners to 14th-seeded Bucknell in 2005 and No. 13 Bradley in 2006. Last year, they were within a victory of the Final Fourbut lost to U.C.L.A. (AP)

NCAA Basketball Tournament
Basketball
Kent State University
University of Nevada


Now Touring, the Debt Duo, Simpson-Bowles

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Theirs is an improbable buddy act that is making for unlikely entertainment from campuses to corporations on a most serious subject: the federal debt. The proof of their appeal: some business groups pay them $40,000 each per appearance. Really. To discuss budgets and baselines. Ladies and gentlemen, coming soon to your city or town (if they have not been there already, and maybe even if they have) are the latest odd couple of politics: the 67-year-old Democratic straight man, Erskine B. Bowles of Charlotte , N.C., and his corny 81-year-old, 6-foot-7 Republican sidekick, Alan K. Simpson of Cody , Wyo. Since the perceived failure two years ago next week of the bipartisan fiscal commission they led for President Obama , they have been on the road, sometimes solo but often together, perfecting a sort of Off Broadway show that has kept their panel’s recommendations alive, and made them a little money as well. That so many people from Bellevue, Wash., to Sanibel Island, Fla., and from Waterville, Me., to Dana Point, Calif., talk about “ Simpson-Bowles ” (or “Bowles-Simpson”) as if it is shorthand for the solution to the nation’s fiscal woes — even though few know its devilish details on tax increases and spending cuts — is testament to the men’s indefatigable efforts. And so is the fact, not unrelated, that both the men and their plan could still play a role as Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders negotiate to avert a looming fiscal crisis in January. On Tuesday, Mr. Bowles and corporate executives he helped recruit to a “Fix the Debt” campaign met privately at the White House with six senior administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner . The commission’s report “could have just been put into the dustbin,” said David M. Cote, the chief executive of Honeywell and a panel member. “Instead,” Mr. Cote added, “it’s become the basis for all of this discussion.” He jokes that Mr. Bowles has achieved a status like Sting or Bono: “He is known by one name — everybody just calls him ‘Erskine’ now.” Such quirky celebrity is clear evidence that there are second acts in politics. Mr. Simpson, a former Senate Republican leader who retired in 1997 after three terms, and Mr. Bowles, an investor, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and a failed Senate candidate, have created a new model for the afterlife of capital commissions. Instead of playing the usual insiders’ game — in which big-name commissioners report to the Washington big shots, only to see their work buried on a shelf — these two have gone outside the Beltway to maintain pressure for action. The Washington Speakers Bureau, a stable of politicians and pundits for hire, provided added inducement. It sought to re-sign Mr. Simpson, who had been on contract after leaving the Senate, after the commission reported in December 2010. He, like Mr. Bowles, had been flying weekly to Washington without compensation; Mr. Simpson said he had spent about $25,000 of his own money to upgrade from government-rate coach seating to premium-class seats able to fit his frame. He contacted his pal. “I said: ‘Erskine, would you want to do any of this? I know that may not be your bag, but I certainly have still embraced the capitalistic system,’ ” Mr. Simpson recalled. “He said, ‘Yeah, as long as I do it with you.’ ” Initially they made up to $32,000 each, Mr. Simpson said, then $36,000 and now $40,000. But they often appear without a fee, including at colleges and city economic clubs. The two men have done countless interviews, for newspaper reporters, doctoral students and middle school report-writers; have sat for rural radio stations and for “60 Minutes”; and have lectured both on campuses and to campuses, as Mr. Simpson did by Skype from Wyoming last week to a class here at American University. They have addressed Rotary Clubs and corporate conventions; in coming days, they will speak at Bank of America and to investment groups in Manhattan . “Erskine is the numbers guy; I’m the color guy,” Mr. Simpson said. The two often mix substance and sarcasm. For instance, in a recent appearance on Bloomberg TV, Mr. Simpson turned to Mr. Bowles for the correct figure on Social Security ’s negative cash flow, and then joked that if lawmakers could not compromise on that issue and others, “You should never be in a legislature, and you sure as hell should never get married.” The night after Mr. Obama celebrated his re-election in a Chicago hotel, Mr. Bowles, solo, was there as the keynote speaker for about 800 financial analysts, members of the CFA Society of Chicago. Keith Cardoza, the chairman, said the $40,000 cost was worth it “for somebody as accomplished and experienced as Mr. Bowles.” The Simpson-Bowles road show began two years ago when, after months of deliberations, 11 of the 18 commission members — 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans and 1 independent — backed the chairmen’s plan to reduce annual deficits at least $4 trillion in the first decade with tax increases and cuts in military and social spending. While the support was greater than expected, it was short of the 14 votes needed to force immediate action in Congress. The executive director, Bruce Reed, now chief of staff to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. , urged the chairmen to soldier on. “Together we decided, Let’s don’t let this thing die,” Mr. Bowles said. “Bruce convinced Al and me that the plan we put together could be the gold standard.” They quickly raised money, including from Peter G. Peterson , the billionaire financier of antideficit efforts, to keep a small staff. They began working with the bipartisan “Gang of Six” senators (now eight) to write the report into legislation — “the Cialis project,” Mr. Bowles privately joked, borrowing from the advertising slogan for an erectile dysfunction drug, “When the moment is right, will you be ready?” In Minneapolis recently, they visited both the newspaper, which then ran a supportive editorial, and business leaders in hopes of influencing Minnesota lawmakers like Senator Amy Klobuchar , a Democrat. They are booked soon at the University of Kentucky in the home state of Senator Mitch McConnell , the Senate Republican leader. “It’s an outside game, and it’s been very effective,” said Senator Tom Coburn , an Oklahoma Republican who was on the commission. “It certainly has been with the business community. And I think a lot of Americans are for it.” Not all, certainly. Many progressives oppose its proposed savings from Social Security and Medicare . Many conservatives resist proposed tax increases and military cuts. Officials in the White House and in Congress grouse that few Simpson-Bowles fans are aware of particulars, like new gasoline taxes and higher capital gains taxes on inheritances. And critics say the chairmen have oversold the idea, which Republicans have embraced, that Washington can raise revenues by curbing popular tax breaks instead of raising tax rates. Last February, Mr. Obama was so irked by criticism that he had rejected Simpson-Bowles that he had Mr. Bowles to lunch to explain his long-term strategy for using the $4 trillion framework, if not all the details, to press Republicans to accept tax increases and Democrats to reduce entitlement spending. Mr. Bowles recounted, “He felt that after the election — if he couldn’t get something done before then — he would have a real chance to negotiate with the Congress on a balanced deal.”

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform


OPEC Reaches Deal to Limit Production, Sending Prices Soaring

Abstract: VIENNA — After years of trying fruitlessly to prop up energy markets, OPEC on Wednesday finally reached a consensus on production cuts, sending oil prices soaring. The problem is, the euphoria in the markets may not last. With prices still at less than half the levels of two years ago, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed this fall to lower collective production. But it could not figure out how to spread the cuts among the countries. The path to consensus has been complicated by Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose longstanding mutual enmity encompasses religious, political and economic competition. When it comes to oil, Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s top producer, has fought to maintain its market share, while Iran has worked to protect its nascent comeback as a power broker in the cartel, a role it lost in recent years under Western sanctions tied to its nuclear program. They overcame their differences on Wednesday, with OPEC deciding to cut production next year by about 4.5 percent, or 1.2 million barrels a day. It will be the first cut in eight years. With the prospect of less pumping, oil prices, which began rising earlier in the day in anticipation of the deal, were up more than 8 percent, to nearly $50 a barrel. Rising prices could lift the troubled economies of oil-dependent nations like Nigeria and Venezuela, and bolster the fortunes of smaller American energy producers that have been shaken by the weakness. The deal shows that “the weight and resilience of OPEC is still there and will continue to be,” Qatar’s energy minister, Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, said at a news conference on Wednesday. The market optimism, though, may soon be tempered. The deal, which is to last six months starting in January, is contingent on the cooperation of non-OPEC countries, most notably Russia. While Russia agreed to participate, Moscow is notoriously difficult to predict. And its reported 300,000 barrels-per-day cut is only a trickle in its total output. A recent production frenzy creates another wild card for the deal. While Saudi Arabia and Iran have vocally supported higher prices, their national oil companies have been making deals in Asia and filling tankers as quickly as possible. Saudi production has increased to well over 10 million barrels a day, while reductions in domestic consumption have left more available for export. Iran, relieved of nuclear sanctions, has gone on its own selling spree in India and started production in new oil and gas fields. Other OPEC countries have followed, increasing production in recent months. The race to pump more is taking several of the cartel’s largest members to the brink of their production capacity. The intense competition makes OPEC’s new plan less meaningful — part of the piece of the industry dynamics that means the price increase could prove temporary. The size of the cut is fairly trivial in a 96-million-barrel-a-day marketplace that remains oversupplied. Should prices rise in the next few weeks, American shale producers are very likely to drill and complete more wells, which would add supply to the global market. And if history is any guide, even a modest agreement can be breached by cheating. “If higher prices bring higher output, prices will not remain up for long,” said Jim Krane, a Middle East energy analyst at Rice University. “It won’t be long before we’re back where we started.” Two months ago, the cartel surprised world energy markets by agreeing in principle to trim production . The move by OPEC signaled a significant change of course for Saudi Arabia, which had allowed oil prices to collapse to try to undercut higher-cost Western players. Oil Prices: What to Make of the Volatility Over the last two and a half years, the oil industry experienced its deepest downturn since at least the 1990s. But the cartel’s words and actions did not initially dovetail. The production and export frenzy in Iran has been accompanied by increased activity across much of OPEC. In the midst of a civil war, Libya has more than doubled oil production since August, to 600,000 barrels a day. It says it hopes to raise output an additional 300,000 barrels by early 2017. Iraq has expanded production by 300,000 barrels a day since the summer. Nigeria has pledged to increase oil production to 2.2 million barrels a day by the end of the year, from 1.9 million. Iran is trying to reclaim the global market share, and the clout in OPEC, that it lost in recent years under nuclear sanctions. Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern and African producers — particularly Angola, Iraq, Kuwait and Nigeria — took advantage of Iran’s troubles by raising production to serve its old customers. Iran once threatened a retaliatory naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the critical Persian Gulf choke point, a move that could have paralyzed the economies of Saudi Arabia, its neighboring allies and much of Asia and inflamed geopolitical tensions. Now Iran is coming back fast. Since many sanctions were lifted in January, Iran’s crude oil production has risen nearly a third, to about 3.7 million barrels a day. Having achieved the goal of returning to pre-sanctions levels, Iranian officials want to take production capacity higher still, toward 4.8 million barrels a day by 2021. “Iran’s influence in OPEC, and indeed in the region, has been growing since the lifting of nuclear-related international sanctions,” said Bhushan Bahree, an OPEC analyst at IHS Markit, a research company. Iran is also beginning to negotiate deals with outside companies for the capital and technological expertise needed to reach its production goals. Officials have already reached a preliminary agreement with Total to develop a giant gulf natural gas field that Iran shares with Qatar, and they are discussing energy deals with Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch giant. Nearly 50 oil and gas projects may also be opened to international investors. Iran’s ultimate success at recovering its old glory is uncertain. During the presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump promised to rip up the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration and other world powers. And even if other countries do not follow Mr. Trump’s lead, persistently low oil prices could deter foreign investment. “There is a lot of uncertainty,” said Homayoun Falakshahi, an Iran analyst at Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy. The Saudi-Iranian rivalry has complicated the negotiations. Some energy analysts say the Saudis pushed the idea of a cut, in part thinking that Iran had reached its production limits and would not be able to fight for supremacy in the Asian markets for long. In the days before the OPEC meeting, Iran tried to negotiate an exemption from any cut. The competition extends beyond markets. Saudi Arabia and Iran are also playing an increasingly deadly political game, battling for power in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East. The specifics of the ultimate OPEC deal give both Saudi Arabia and Iran reasonable room, adding to the doubt about whether the cuts will have much teeth. Saudi Arabia is taking a considerable hit, agreeing to cut 486,000 barrels a day, the largest chunk of the total deal. But the Saudis would normally cut substantially in the winter, when they burn less oil to generate electric power for air-conditioning. Iran faces a ceiling about 100,000 barrels a day higher than what analysts estimate it is now producing. Adherence to the deal is also not a given. Three big and reliable gulf producers — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates — account for more than 60 percent of the cuts. But the rest come from other producers who may not adhere as closely to their limits. “This is a great headline number,” said Jamie Webster, a fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy, who was observing the meeting. But considering the “need to secure cuts from non-OPEC and that there need to occur big contributions from countries that don’t have a great history of compliance, it starts to look smaller,” he said.


Cavaliers Give Cleveland a Shot at Reversing Roles

Abstract: It took one second for LeBron James to change the course of N.B.A. history, and just a few seconds more for the comparisons and the homages to begin. Michael Jordan’s name was invoked, naturally. The vast almanac of Cleveland sports debacles — a list that borders on cliché — was referenced frequently. For once, the city did not wince at the memories. For once, the mind-blowing, life-altering play was Cleveland’s to own and cherish. Twenty years ago, Jordan devastated Cavaliers fans with a series-clinching jumper over Craig Ehlo, a play canonized as “The Shot.” James reappropriated the label late Friday night with a 3-pointer at the buzzer that beat the Orlando Magic and pumped new life into Cleveland’s title hopes. “The Shot is dead,” a commenter wrote on The Plain-Dealer’s Web site . “Long live THE SHOT!!!!” The main photograph on cavstheblog.com conveyed renewal and redemption: a man, standing on a beach, his arms raised high in a pose that screamed, “Serenity now!” The Cavaliers have to beat Orlando three more times to win the Eastern Conference finals. They remain seven victories short of a karma-cleansing championship. All that James really delivered Friday, aside from a pharmaceutical-grade dose of euphoria, was a 1-1 tie. There was no room inside Quicken Loans Arena for inconvenient, sobering thoughts late Friday night. Only Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu, who hit the apparent game-winning jumper with a second left, dared to tread into that territory. “The way they were celebrating, it was good,” Turkoglu said. “They make a last-second shot and seeing them celebrating, it means we are in their heads.” James harrumphed, “Orlando is not in our head at all.” After two taut games and two fantastic finishes, the Magic surely has the Cavaliers’ attention and respect. Orlando erased a 16-point deficit to win Game 1, and wiped out a 23-point deficit in nearly winning Game 2. The Magic has held a lead for only 8 minutes 16 seconds in the series, and yet was a second from taking a 2-0 lead on the Cavaliers’ home court. While Magic Coach Stan Van Gundy plaintively mutters about James’s otherworldly talents, the Cavaliers seem just as helpless to contain Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis, Orlando’s towering, long-limbed, 3-point shooting forwards. Lewis won Game 1 with a tightly guarded 3-pointer with 14 seconds left and had 23 points in Game 2. Turkoglu shot poorly in Game 1 but had 14 assists and came back with 21 points in Game 2, including the shot that for a moment was the biggest one of the night. Consider for a moment the alternate reality. If James had missed the final shot, Turkoglu would have been cast as Turkish Jordan. His 13-footer in the lane could have been labeled The Shot II. Sasha Pavlovic would be the new Ehlo. Instead, James is Jordan and Turkoglu is Ehlo, and Cleveland is still standing. Van Gundy said he had a feeling about what was coming. He had seen the Cavaliers run an inbounds lob play to James against Indiana in February, and he instructed his team to prevent it. Turkoglu defended it well, forcing James to reverse course and run toward the arc, where he caught a pass from Mo Williams, then turned and fired. For Orlando, it made the outcome that much more cruel. The Magic prevented a 2-point play that would have tied the score and forced James to take a 3-pointer that won the game. Two nights earlier, the Cavaliers lost similarly — initially preventing Lewis from driving to the basket, then giving up his 3-pointer on the same possession. “I guess that’s sort of poetic justice in some ways,” Van Gundy said. Cleveland fans would argue that the scales of justice remain hopelessly out of balance. Their heartbreaks include The Shot, The Drive and The Fumble. One fan has created a Web site, clevelandchamps.blogspot.com , devoted solely to the pursuit of The Title, a championship to end a 45-year drought among the city’s first professional sports teams. The site features a grim-faced version of Chief Wahoo, the Indians’ mascot, with a tear on his left cheek. For one evening, anyway, that could have been a tear of joy.

James LeBron
Cleveland Cavaliers
Basketball


Ryan Seeks Team Sit-Down With Revis

Abstract: CORTLAND, N.Y. — After every morning practice, Jets Coach Rex Ryan , usually wearing green, strides into a small room in the Carl “Chugger” Davis Building near the prim fields and takes a spot behind a lectern with a State University of New York Cortland seal on the front. This setting serves as Ryan’s bully pulpit. Most of the time, he keeps the mood light when answering questions, sprinkling so many one-liners into his news conferences that he could charge a $10 cover. Most of the time, he is asked about players in camp. But Ryan was asked again Wednesday about Darrelle Revis, the cornerback whose contract holdout has lasted 11 days. Ryan said Monday and Tuesday that he was focused on the players here. By Wednesday, aware that his voice carries, Ryan sounded much more like a peacemaker. He was irritated with Neil Schwartz, one of Revis’s agents, who late Tuesday said it was a “blatant lie” that Revis’s camp had rebuffed a request for the owner Woody Johnson to attend a meeting between the two sides Friday in Roscoe, N.Y., as Johnson had said. Even before a question had been completed about the exchange, Ryan rolled his eyes, smiled weakly and said, “All right, that’s a blatant joke to me.” But Ryan has also said many times that he was a big fan of Revis. That has apparently not changed. Ryan still wants to coach Revis — this season. Instead, Revis has accumulated $181,753 in fines. “This is what I’d like to have happen in this soup: everybody put their cards on the table, have Darrelle come here with anybody he wanted,” Ryan said. “And we’ll have Mr. Johnson here.” Ryan sounded as if he had been thinking about a solution, saying, “This is the way I would handle it: we’ll call off practice. We’ll have our whole team there and meet. That way, there’s no he-said, she-said or whatever. Just get the thing done.” With a fuzzy microphone from HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series hanging over his head, Ryan said: “That’s maybe how we’ll get a solution. Everybody wants a solution. Let’s figure a way to do it. Maybe this is the way.” He said he was absolutely serious. Jonathan Feinsod, one of Revis’s agents, responded Wednesday by saying, “The Jets have my phone number.” Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum declined to comment through a team spokesman about Ryan’s proposal. Ryan said the increasingly ugly impasse was frustrating to him. The situation has become distracting. He would rather worry about assembling a team that he thinks could win the Super Bowl than talk about a new contract for Revis, an All-Pro player who wants to be the highest-paid cornerback in the N.F.L. Training camp in Cortland — a sleepy town where “the cable doesn’t go past 72,” linebacker Bart Scott said — has become a drag. Ryan said the Jets were getting tired of hitting each other. There were still five days before the first preseason game, on Monday against the Giants. The hottest battle for a starting position is at left guard, where Matt Slauson has a slight edge on the rookie Vladimir Ducasse. Ryan said Mark Brunell would back up Mark Sanchez, with Kellen Clemens fighting for a job. Tannenbaum invited Ryan during the off-season to attend a meeting between the Jets and Revis’s agents. The meeting lasted five hours. Ryan, not smiling, said Wednesday that he almost quit his job after that meeting. “I was sitting back there and saying, ‘You couldn’t pay me enough to be a general manager of a team; there’s no way,’ ” Ryan said. Still, he thought it would be a good idea if Revis attended such a meeting. “Ultimately, it’s his future,” he said. “His teammates will love it because they’d get a practice off.” He smiled and said: “Everybody knows what I think of Darrelle, and all that stuff. It’d be much easier to win it with him. But it’s certainly not impossible to win it without him.”

Revis Darrelle
New York Jets
Ryan Rex
Football


Pope and Russian Orthodox Leader Meet in Historic Step

Abstract: HAVANA — Pope Francis on Friday became the first pontiff to ever meet a patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church , as the two Christian leaders set aside centuries of division in a historic encounter that was held in an unlikely setting: a room at the Havana airport. Having announced the meeting only a week ago, Francis landed in Havana about 2 p.m. for a stopover that lasted a few hours, before he continued to Mexico City for his six-day visit to Mexico. Awaiting him in Havana was Patriarch Kirill, who was making an official visit to Cuba at the invitation of President Raúl Castro. As he approached the Russian patriarch amid the clicking of news cameras, Francis was overheard to say, “Brother.” A moment later, he added, “Finally.” The two men embraced, kissing each other twice on the cheeks and clasping hands before taking seats. “Now things are easier,” Kirill said. Francis responded, “It is clear now that this is the will of God.” The meeting was richly symbolic: Francis, 79, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, stood with Kirill, 69, leader of the largest church in the Eastern Orthodox world, with an estimated 150 million followers. But it was also about geopolitics, rivalries among Orthodox leaders and, analysts say, the maneuverings of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia — who is closely aligned with the conservative Russian church. For Francis, the meeting was an ecumenical and diplomatic coup that eluded his predecessors but that also opened him to criticism that his embrace of the Russian patriarch would indirectly give a boost to Mr. Putin as he wages a war in Syria and continues to meddle in Ukraine. In Moscow, the Russian news media made little effort to hide the government’s role in enabling the historic encounter. In an editorial this week, Vedomosti, a business newspaper, said, “The meeting would not be possible if the interests of the Russian Orthodox Church did not coincide with those of the Kremlin.” The Cuban setting was the result of months of negotiations, abetted by Mr. Castro. It met the demands of the Russian side for a “neutral” meeting place while dovetailing with Francis’ trip to Mexico. The two religious leaders met with aides and translators in a private room at José Martí International Airport. In a joint declaration released afterward, they called for an end to the conflicts raging in the Middle East and for an end to the persecution of Christians in the region, “the land in which our faith was first disseminated and in which they have lived since the time of the Apostles, together with other religious communities.” Addressing the schism between their religions, the two also declared, “It is our hope that our meeting may contribute to the re-establishment of this unity willed by God.” For decades, the Vatican has sought a meeting with the Russian patriarch as popes tried to heal the rifts between the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity. Analysts say Francis, who has made deepening ecumenical ties a centerpiece of his papacy, was able to achieve a meeting because of a complex confluence of factors. Analysts note that Mr. Putin could have blocked the meeting but apparently concluded that it could burnish his global standing and undermine Western efforts to isolate Russia with sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. Mr. Putin has sought to portray Russia as a defender of beleaguered Christians in the Middle East, including in Syria as he props up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Kirill is trying to burnish his image at home after corruption scandals swirling around church property. He also is preparing for a major council of Orthodox leaders in June on the Greek island of Crete. The council is being organized by his rival, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christianity. Meeting Francis only enhances the Russian patriarch’s stature. “He sees this as projecting himself as a global Orthodox leader,” said Aristotle Papanikolaou , co-founder of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. “It is also a way of projecting Russia globally.” The roots of the East-West split in Christianity can be traced to the Schism of 1054 . The Eastern churches led by the patriarch of Constantinople separated from the Western church led by Pope Leo IX, as each leader angrily excommunicated the other side. Russian Christians fell under the orbit of Constantinople. But when Muslim invaders of the Ottoman Empire sacked Constantinople in the 15th century, the Eastern churches were thrown into disarray. The Russian Orthodox Church declared itself an independent entity and named its own patriarch. More than five centuries would pass before Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople met in 1964 and later lifted the mutual excommunications. But the Russian church maintained its distance from Rome. Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI tried and failed to achieve a breakthrough. One obstacle was the Soviet Union, which tightly restricted the Russian church. But even the fall of the Soviet Union did not alter the equation, as the Russian church complained about Catholic proselytizing on its historical turf. Today, tensions still exist over Ukraine, where the Russians are suspicious of the Vatican’s influence over Ukrainian Greek Catholic congregations, who celebrate Mass according to Eastern traditions and allow their priests to marry. The Vedomosti editorial noted that Kirill was under pressure to support the continued existence of the branch of Orthodoxy in Ukraine that remains loyal to Moscow.

Pope Francis
Russian Orthodox Church
Cuba
Kirill I
Catholic Church


Raft of Armed Robberies Puts New Orleans Diners on Edge

Abstract: NEW ORLEANS — The last dinner check was paid and the half-dozen customers at Patois were lingering at the restaurant bar, celebrating a birthday, a new book and another perfect evening drifting unhurriedly to a close. Someone opened the door to the dark but quiet residential street, so smokers could freely come and go. A minute later, three men came in, one wearing a mask and the others with hoodies pulled tight around their faces. They flashed pistols and ordered everyone on the floor, then began grabbing purses, phones and cash. The robbery unfolded over an eternal-seeming six minutes, to a soundtrack of whimpers, occasional barked orders and Frank Sinatra singing “My Way” over the speaker system. The holdup of Patois , on Aug. 20, would be only the first of three armed robberies of bars and restaurants in well-to-do parts of Uptown New Orleans. A little before 10 p.m. on Sept 24, two men dressed similarly to those who held up Patois burst into Atchafalaya restaurant, robbing the staff and diners. Four days later, there were three men again, this time at the Monkey Hill Bar , a cocktail lounge three blocks from Patois. The police, while acknowledging the similarities, have yet to conclude that the robbers are the same men. Crime has never been rare in New Orleans; in much of the city it is appallingly routine, as some have noted while watching the outcry about the Uptown robberies. But the brazenness of the holdups, and an accumulating toll of shocking crimes in seemingly safe locales, has triggered a newfound impatience with the authorities and apprehension about what may come next. “In over 30 years I’ve never seen anything approaching this,” said Brad Hollingsworth, who runs Clancy’s , a restaurant beloved by the seersucker crowd, which sits just a block from Patois. Clancy’s has hired a guard, for the first time in decades. Customers had been asking about one. Or Friday, police officials were summoned before the City Council to discuss their overall crime strategy. The police force has shrunk to its lowest size in four decades, a staffing shortfall that will take years to remedy. But the police superintendent, Michael Harrison, insisted that his department was doing its best with the technology and the officers it had. “As sure as my name is Michael, every member of the N.O.P.D. is doing what we can to No. 1 catch the people who are committing crimes and also prevent the crimes we can prevent,” he said. Image One robber wore a mask, the other two wore hoodies pulled around their faces. Two other similar armed robberies have followed. Credit New Orleans Police Department, via Associated Press Violent crime is the chief source of anxiety all over the city these days, because of both to perception and reality. The murder rate hit a 20-year low in 2014, though it is spiking again. In any year, it far outpaces the rate in most other American cities. The number of robberies in 2014 was greater than in any year since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — and armed robberies are up this year — but it was still a fraction of the number in the 1990s. But while the data is complex, the anecdotes are straightforward: The police took more than 20 minutes to respond to the Patois robbery because, the chief said, they were pursuing suspects in another string of Uptown carjackings, allegedly orchestrated by a middle-aged man and a team of teenagers. Some have watched the response to the restaurant holdups — the $30,000 award, the involvement of federal law enforcement and the special City Council session — and remarked on the difference when it came to the violent crime that takes place in less-favored parts of town. “It’s an unfortunate situation that these people had to endure,” said Tamara Jackson, the executive director of Silence Is Violence , an advocacy group. “But they finally recognize the trauma that African-Americans have endured for years.” In a survey released in August by National Public Radio and the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly six in 10 black New Orleanians said their neighborhoods did not have enough of a police presence, and blacks were more than twice as likely as whites to say they were very worried about becoming victims of a crime. However, blacks were also far less likely than whites to trust the police to do what is right most of the time. “It’s getting worse,” said Issac Dixon, the owner of the Purple Rain lounge, a corner bar in a poorer part of town that was held up by three gunmen in May. The story was on the news for a day, he said. He never did find out if the robbers had been caught. Mr. Dixon’s sentiment is widely shared. “I know some people talking about bringing assault rifles into their restaurants, and I know other people talking about getting out of the business,” Robert LeBlanc, who owns several restaurants in New Orleans, said. (Mr. LeBlanc is not a fan of either of these ideas.) Restaurant owners said they had not yet seen a dip in business, chalking that up to a show of solidarity, the start of the busy season and the resignation of New Orleanians to the risks and rewards of their city. “There was definitely a feeling that it was bound to happen, that maybe our number had flipped,” said Cynthia Joyce, a writer and journalism professor who had been at Patois that night. She knew the staff members well and they knew her; friends came and went, strangers were introduced and the night progressed like so many others in New Orleans. The violent way it concluded, Ms. Joyce then said with some sadness, was probably not all that unusual for the city either.


In the Ring, Strength Is Just a Start

Abstract: Paterson THE speed bags, the jump ropes, the shadow boxers dancing in front of the mirrors that lined the worn brick walls, jabbing at opponents only they could see — everything stopped when Joe Grier stepped out of his office and called his gym to order. He was 23 narrow steps up from the streets of his hometown, in the cavernous second floor of an old riverside mill, the sanctuary from which he spreads his gospel about the transformative power of boxing. He was eager to bring more young men up with him, and grateful for the inspiration one former student provided this summer. “As you guys know, Kendall Holt won the world championship,” Mr. Grier said, as he announced an upcoming night in honor of Paterson’s newest celebrity, the 27-year-old local boxer who was knocked down twice in the first round of a title fight in July before getting up and knocking out Ricardo Torres, winning the World Boxing Organization junior welterweight crown in just 61 seconds. “Kendall comes here all the time and busts our chops, so this gives us a chance to bust his, and congratulate him.” Boxing grows best where grass is scarce. The greener precincts of New Jersey may be overrun by soccer fields, but Paterson still supports three boxing gyms, and a host of contenders eager to punch their way toward fame. And when one does, as Mr. Holt has, the hopes of many others are lifted. “He’s the talk of the town, and you can see it in the kids, how they’re motivated,” said Mr. Grier, 59, whose boxing academy gained more than half a dozen new young students after Mr. Holt’s victory. “It’s not just about boxing in here. Our priority is discipline with these kids, making sure we develop them into positive citizens. We try to persuade them to do the right things for themselves.” Anthony Boyd was circling the ring with his two nephews — Quazeir Boyd, 8, and Cory Clyburn, 7 — teaching them how to move nimbly, how to attack and escape, without tripping themselves up. “Put your hands up — hands up, chin down,” said Mr. Boyd, 37, who bought them gloves and started bringing them to Mr. Grier’s gym this summer, during the layoff from one of his two jobs, in the kitchens at William Paterson University. He picks them up each day at 5 p.m. after finishing his other job, as a maintenance worker in the city’s Head Start facilities. His own son is just 2, but he plans to bring him here when he’s old enough. “It helps the soul, the mind,” said Mr. Boyd, who was first captivated by boxing when he was about the age of his nephews, watching his grandfather train in the backyard of his house on East 31st Street here. “It kept me focused, it kept me wanting to do better.” After he and his nephews stepped out of the ring and moved on to the weight room, two boxers in headgear stepped in to spar. Mr. Grier stood outside the ropes, shouting advice over the din. “Keep your hands in front of you and punch from there,” he called. “Push him back, push him back. When you feel the guy punching from the outside, take the inside.” Mr. Grier first stepped into a ring when he was 14, around the time his father left and his family splintered, and boxing shaped his life so deeply that he has devoted himself to shaping as many other lives as he can with it. He won some Golden Gloves titles, boxed his way across the country, through the Army and around the world as an amateur, had a brief pro career, and then became an officer with the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department. He started coaching at the Police Athletic League, and then opened his own gym 12 years ago. He has coached more than a dozen professionals, and works with some each morning in his gym, but he regards the younger boxers, the ones who come late each afternoon, as his main mission. “Boxing is an alternative, especially for the strong young men that we have on the street,” said Mr. Grier, who retired from the sheriff’s department five years ago and puts part of his pension check into the gym each month. “That’s why we have the crime rate we do. There’s nowhere for these kids to put that energy.” They almost lost his gym as an alternative this winter, when he was forced out of his old space by a steep rent hike. His boxers and his friends pitched in to help him find a new home and move his equipment here, so his lessons — which reach well beyond the ring — could continue. “Some of them come in, they think that being able to punch is all there is to it,” Mr. Grier said after the sparring pair finished and he was back in his office, where he keeps a long table so that kids can do their homework. “But the world has a punch waiting for each and every one of them. They just better be able to outbox it. You can’t just punch back at it, you’ve got to box it.” Out in the gym, the alarm that breaks each day into an endless loop of three-minute increments — the length of a round — chirped again, like a new morning. Three minutes doesn’t seem like much, but as every boxer knows, as Kendall Holt just proved again, it’s enough time for the world to change. “Kids are drifting here, here, here,” Anthony Boyd said as he unlaced his nephews’ gloves. “They’ll drift off somewhere, messing with other people. I don’t want that. I want them over here.” He unwrapped their hands, as they stood beside the cabinet where the gloves are stored. Taped to its side were two messages about what might lie ahead: a newspaper clipping about Mr. Holt’s victory, and a poster from Bergen County College. The alarm chirped again.

Boxing
World Boxing Organization
New Jersey


House G.O.P. Open to Residency, not Citizenship for Illegal Immigrants

Abstract: WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday staked out what they cast as a middle-ground option in the debate over immigration, pushing an approach that could include legal residency but not a path to citizenship — as their Democratic counterparts favor — for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country. Republicans also signaled that they are open to the idea of breaking immigration legislation into several smaller bills, which would allow them to deal with the question of highly skilled workers, as well as a farmworker program, without addressing what Democrats and immigration advocates say is the larger issue of potential citizenship. Immigration advocates favor a comprehensive measure to enable them to use elements that have bipartisan backing to build support for broader legislation. At a House Judiciary Committee hearing exploring an overhaul of the immigration system — the first of several such hearings expected in the House — Representative Robert W. Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the committee, tried to frame what he called the question of the day: “Are there options that we should consider between the extremes of mass deportation and a pathway to citizenship for those not lawfully present in the United States?” It was a question later echoed by Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and the former chairman of the committee, when questioning Mayor Julián Castro of San Antonio. “Do you see any compromise area between the current status quo and a path to citizenship for virtually all the 11 million who are illegal immigrants in the country today?” he asked. Mr. Castro, whose twin brother, Representative Joaquín Castro, is a newly elected Democrat from Texas, said he saw the compromise as “a recognition that a path to citizenship will be earned citizenship,” meaning that illegal immigrants would be forced to learn English, and pay fines and back taxes before they could become citizens. Representative Spencer Bachus, Republican of Alabama, turned to the question of how to approach an overhaul of the system when he said he thought the panelists could all agree that “it’s going to be a much easier lift to solve the problem of highly skilled workers.” “When you take comprehensive, then we’re dealing with certain issues like full citizenship,” Mr. Bachus said. “And whatever else we disagree on, I think we would agree on that that’s a more toxic and contentious issue, granting full amnesty.” Video TimesCast Politics: Activists speak out in Arizona. | An interview with a conservative voice. | Can legislation actually pass the House? But Representative Cedric L. Richmond, Democrat of Louisiana, countered that the only way to tackle immigration is through comprehensive legislation. “Why don’t we just get the skilled labor part done first?” Mr. Richmond asked. “Well, politically, and just being very practical about it, if we got the skilled labor part done first, do you think we would ever come behind it and finish the job? I think it has to be a comprehensive approach or we’ll never get to the hard part.” Immigration advocates, who had been eagerly awaiting the hearing for an early hint of the tenor of the debate on immigration as it unfolds in the House, said the use of the word “amnesty” would most likely be a bad sign for those in favor of a comprehensive overhaul. Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, tried to set the tone early — “I hope no one uses the term ‘illegal immigrants’ here today,” he said in his opening remarks. But the a-word, as immigration advocates have called “amnesty,” came up twice. In addition to Mr. Bachus, Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, also used the phrase: “This is not our country’s first foray into amnesty.” He expressed concern for “respect for the rule of law.” Meanwhile, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 House Republican, used a speech on his legislative priorities beyond the fights over deficit reduction to try to soften his party’s position on immigration. Speaking at a research group downtown, he explicitly embraced offering illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children a pathway to legal residency and citizenship, a position he had opposed. And he endorsed in broad terms a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws. “I’m pleased these discussions make border security, employment verification and creating a workable guest worker program an immediate priority. It’s the right thing to do for our families, for our security, and for our economy,” Mr. Cantor said. But he warned, “There are some who would rather avoid fixing the problem in order to save this as a political issue.” Representative Raúl R. Labrador, Republican of Idaho, also challenged immigration advocates on the question of a political versus policy victory. “If we want a political solution, you guys are going to insist on a pathway to citizenship,” he said. “You’re going to beat Republicans over the head on this issue. But if we want a policy solution, I think there’s good will here in the House of Representatives for us to come together, actually pass a pragmatic solution to the current problem that we have, and solve and modernize the immigration system for years to come.” In a flurry of immigration legislation offered in recent days in the House, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would allow American citizens with foreign-born same-sex spouses or partners to obtain permanent resident visas, known as green cards, for them. Mr. Nadler’s proposal would allow a well-established same-sex couple to apply for a green card, avoiding any direct challenge to a federal law that bans recognition of gay marriage.

Citizenship
Illegal immigration
Immigration
House of Representatives
Congress
US Politics


Ivan Nova and Yankees Have a Deal

Abstract: Pitcher Ivan Nova and the Yankees agreed to a one-year contract for $3.3 million, the same salary he earned in 2014, when he missed most of the season because of a torn elbow ligament. ■ The Washington Nationals acquired infielder Yunel Escobar from the Oakland Athletics for the All-Star reliever Tyler Clippard. The A’s picked up Escobar from Tampa Bay in a trade Saturday, but the Nationals had been looking for a starting second baseman. ■ The Houston Astros acquired the slugger Evan Gattis and the right-hander James Hoyt from the Atlanta Braves for three minor leaguers. Gattis hit .263 with 22 homers and 52 runs batted in for the Braves last season.


Swimming With the Mysterious Sardine Disco Balls of the Philippines

Abstract: Thousands to millions of sardines emerge from a coral wall in cobalt waters just a few yards from the shores of Cebu Island in the Philippines. They move in a single undulating cloud of silver that twists, turns, shrinks, expands and wraps itself around any object that gets in its way. At times, it becomes a thundercloud, blocking out the sun or clapping violently as it suddenly flips its formation to evade a predator. “The morning sun strikes them, and they shimmer,” said Julius Santos, the founder of an adventure tour company called Island Hopping Adventure Philippines , who dived with the fish in November 2015. “The silvery reflection creates a disco ball.” Swimming with sardines in the Philippines Credit Credit Video by Geng G Sparkling balls of sardines like the one Mr. Santos described started appearing around a handful of Cebu beaches about a decade ago and have been there ever since. With the winter cold bearing down, it’s a nice time to imagine experiencing this phenomenon. To dive with the sardines in the Philippines, all you have to do is book a trip with one of many local dive shops. A boat will take you just a few yards from the beach. You dive in, swim down a few feet and look up at the fish clouds. For the best view, head out early. But if you can’t make it soon, don’t worry: They are there every day, unlike the more famous sardines that migrate by the billions to the coastal waters of South Africa only in the summer. The sardines’ schooling behavior is sometimes called a bait ball, and it confuses most predators and very likely helps the sardines to survive. But it doesn’t always work out for them. In 2010, Simon Oliver , a conservation biologist now at the University of Chester in Britain, got lucky and captured video of the thresher shark, which has a unique workaround to counter the bait ball: a really long tail. The sharks slap at the ball with sickle-shaped tails specially adapted for the task, at speeds averaging 30 miles per hour, stunning some of the fish. The sardines drop from the ball, and the sharks swim over to gobble them up. Why are the sardines there? That remains somewhat of a mystery. Until recently , when the sardine industry started worrying about the dwindling numbers of the fish offshore, no one had really thought to study them, let alone the smaller groups found closer to shore. As a result, the science on the populations of these fish near Cebu’s beaches is lacking. “They were nonexistent a decade ago, and now they’re fairly regular,” said Dr. Oliver, who encountered the sardines a few years ago while studying thresher sharks just outside Moalboal on Cebu Island. But he’s not ready to call them residents. He thinks the sardines probably emerged as anything does in nature that finds a niche. Perhaps a few eggs floated into the waters around Cebu and found conditions favorable enough to persist: few predators, plenty of plankton and ideal water temperatures. The sardines appear to hop from one location to the next, like between Pescador Island and the shores of Moalboal. If this setup ever changes, they might go away for good. They appear to be doing all right so far, thanks in part to local management by barangays, or villages. Near shore, you may spot security guards enforcing fishing rules, said Ben Meerhaeghe, a manager at Seaquest Dive Centers , in Bohol.


Hope and Despair as Families Languish in Texas Immigration Centers

Abstract: DILLEY, Tex. — Workers are putting the finishing touches on rows of barracks in a 50-acre camp here, the largest immigration detention center in the country. It houses thousands of women and their children who were caught crossing the border illegally and are seeking asylum in the United States. Federal officials say the center is a crucial part of the Obama administration’s strategy to avert another influx like the one last summer, when nearly 70,000 parents with children overwhelmed the authorities along the Southwest line. That strategy, though, has drawn intense criticism from lawmakers, advocates and religious leaders, who say confinement only compounds the suffering of women fleeing predatory gangs or domestic abuse at home. In response, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson ordered changes to make it easier for more women and children to be released. Last week, several mothers who had languished in camps for six months or more were granted bond and let go. But Mr. Johnson, who planned to visit a nearby detention center on Monday, said he was not changing the overall course. “I am not prepared to abandon the policy and shut down the facilities such that we have no capability to detain adults who bring their children,” Mr. Johnson said in an interview. “We simply cannot have a situation where if you cross the border and are apprehended, you can count on being escorted to the nearest bus station.” Surrounded by high fencing, the South Texas Family Residential Center, as it is officially known, has a basketball gym, a school for the children, a state-of-the-art medical clinic and a beauty salon. But in interviews last month, women who had been here for months said the time in detention with no defined end had taken a severe toll, leaving mothers despondent and young children worried and confused. “I would be lying if I said they didn’t treat us well,” said Y.G.G., a 27-year-old woman who has been at the camp here since February with two children, ages 9 and 6. She said she had fled Honduras after vengeful drug traffickers murdered five of her relatives and told her that she was next. Like the other women interviewed, she asked to be identified only by her initials because asylum cases are confidential. Image Y.G.G., 27, and her two children, with whom she fled Honduras, are detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Tex. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times “But I can’t sleep because I have such a headache from thinking about being trapped in here,” she said. “My children get so sad, and they ask me, ‘Mama, when will we get out of here?’ After all they went through, they are traumatized again.” At the nearby center in Karnes City, Tex., which Mr. Johnson will visit on Monday, lengthy stays for some women have led to simmering unrest and at least two reports of suicide attempts. Mr. Johnson ordered the opening of new facilities last summer, after many families crossing the border illegally said they had been spurred by word reaching Central America that parents with children were routinely released by border agents to stay in the United States. The centers were designed to hold the women while they fight their cases in the immigration courts, part of the administration’s expansion of family detention to more than 3,000 beds nationwide, from only 95 a year ago. A camp hastily assembled in Artesia, N.M., closed in December. Since then, women with children have been sent here to Dilley, which holds up to 2,400 migrants; to the Karnes center, with a capacity for 530 people; or to one in Berks County, Pa., built for 100 people. Since last year, Homeland Security officials had been denying release to many mothers — to send a message to families in Central America that they would not go free if they came to the United States. In February, a federal judge in Washington ordered officials to stop denying bond to Central American asylum seekers solely for the purpose of deterring other migrants. The administration appealed. But in May, Mr. Johnson issued new guidelines, telling officials that they should no longer argue deterrence as a factor when they set bond and should consider only the risk the migrants might not appear in immigration court. Officials will also review family cases after 90 days of detention, and again every 60 days, to see if they should be considered for release. Under the new policy, bond rates have dropped and more women are being released sooner to fight their cases on the outside. Immigration officials say the average stay in Dilley is now 22 days. Image Mélida G.L. and her daughter Estrella spent nearly a year in the immigration detention center in Karnes City, Tex., after traveling from Guatemala. They were released last week. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times While the number of people crossing the border illegally has dropped sharply this year, families continue to come. Since Oct. 1, more than 17,000 parents and children have been caught along the Southwest border, according to official figures. At the Dilley camp, more than half the detainees are children. Their average age is 9. They live with their mothers in modular barracks among open yards that torrential rains have turned into mud flats. Bunk rooms, which hold 12 people each, have refrigerators, televisions and telephones. Migrants can move about within the camp, and neighborhoods are identified with colorful logos of parrots and butterflies so that wandering children can find their way home. Unlike in a prison, everyone keeps his or her shoelaces. When migrants arrive, they go to storerooms stacked with new clothing and sneakers to select outfits to keep. Mothers are supplied with diapers, bottles and strollers. Children are vaccinated, and almost everyone gets an X-ray for tuberculosis. A staff pediatrician performs weekly wellness checks, officials said. On a recent day, a nurse took the temperature of everyone entering the dining hall for lunch, to control an outbreak of chickenpox. In a school classroom, 17 lively children raised their hands and tried to outdo one another saying the English words for the apples and peanuts that a bilingual teacher displayed on a Smart Board. They all knew what to say when she showed a chocolate cone. “I love ice cream!” they shouted. Recreation specialists lead Zumba classes. In the one-chair beauty parlor, detainees earn $1 a day styling hair. A formal courtroom has a video screen beaming immigration judges sitting in Miami. This year, official figures show, 88 percent of migrants in family centers passed the first hurdle for an asylum claim, an interview in which they described their fears of returning home. Some women detained here said they felt relief at first, after bringing their children on a journey from Central America almost as perilous as the mayhem they were escaping. R.P.C., 26, said she had left El Salvador after gunmen in her town told her 12-year-son that he could either join their gang or die. She had been detained since April with him and an 8-year-old daughter. Image Elora Mukherjee, in the gray blazer, is head of Columbia Law School's immigrants' rights clinic. Suny Yaneth Rodriguez, in the blue jacket, and her son, Angelo, 8, were released from the Dilley center after winning their immigration case. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times “At least here we are together and we’re safe,” she said. But as weeks drag on to months, mothers struggle. Children become restless and wonder what they did wrong. “It’s true they give the children toys to play with,” said Y.R.V., 33, who came with a 5-year-old daughter from Guatemala. “But they hear so much about court, about lawyers, that’s what their games are about. One little girl asks another, ‘Are you going to court? Are you getting out before me?’ Those are their games in here.” Medical staff reported many complaints that children were rejecting the dining hall food and losing weight. But an audit in May at the Karnes center by the Department of Homeland Security civil rights office, based on a review of about 200 medical charts of women and children, “did not reveal any significant weight loss.” Yet at Karnes, some women with long stays protested with hunger strikes in March and April. During a visit in May, many women rushed from their rooms and gathered around reporters, clamoring for help to win release. Mélida L.G., who is 30, was detained in July with her daughter Estrella, now 4. (Their first names have previously been made public.) Her sister-in-law was murdered by a criminal gang on Long Island. Relatives testified against the killer at his New York trial. Back in Guatemala, members of the same gang came looking for Mélida, and she fled. “Sometimes I feel I am drowning in my own desperation,” she said in an interview in May, her 10th month in detention. “I want to shut myself in a room and never come out.” Luis Zayas, a psychiatric specialist who evaluated her for her asylum claim, said Mélida was in “a severe state of depression.” Mr. Zayas, the dean of the social work school at the University of Texas at Austin, found that Estrella was buffeted by her mother’s moods, and her asthma had worsened. “When her mother is distressed, she is sad and becomes distressed,” Mr. Zayas said in an interview. “We really are depriving this girl of a normal childhood experience.” After their lawyer, Stephen Manning, pressed officials to review the case under the new guidelines, they were finally granted bond at $1,500. They were released Thursday to join their family in New York. Women and children who had help from lawyers have often been successful at obtaining early release or winning asylum. But lawyers said the Corrections Corporation of America, the private contractor running the Dilley center, had raised obstacles for their work. Although the court is in Florida, they have been prohibited from bringing in mobile phones or scanners. Legal assistants have been barred from bringing food and banned for wearing underwire bras. With some 40 migrants arriving at Dilley each day, most have to go it alone. “They might have winning claims,” said Elora Mukherjee, a professor from Columbia Law School who brought a squad of students to volunteer here last month. “But we don’t know because there are just not enough lawyers.”

Texas
Dilley
Immigration detention
Children
Homeland Security
Illegal Immigration
Women and Girls
Southwest US
Jeh C Johnson
Barack Obama


Tardigrades Have the Right Stuff to Resist Radiation

Abstract: Tardigrades, eight-legged microscopic animals that resemble obese caterpillars, can survive temperatures close to absolute zero and live after being baked at 300 degrees. They can go without food or water for as long as 30 years, yet live to reproduce again. They have even survived in the vacuum of outer space. As far as is known, they cannot leap tall buildings in a single bound. But now Japanese researchers have found a unique protein in tardigrade cells that confers an ability to tolerate doses of radiation that would kill most other animals. They transferred this protein to human cells and found it makes them, too, highly resistant to X-rays. Some day, the researchers believe, the finding may have practical application in protecting humans from the harmful effects of radiation, perhaps even limiting the damaging side effects of radiotherapy.

Tardigrades
Radiation
Protein
Biology and Biochemistry
Microbiology


In Oregon, Team With Track Record and One With Fresh Start Stand Out

Abstract: CORVALLIS, Ore. — In what has become something of a mantra for Oregon State Coach Pat Casey, he opened the baseball season by saying the polls do not matter. One has the perennially ranked Beavers at No. 2, the team’s highest spot ever. “I’ll say the same thing I said last year,” Casey said. “I’m not impressed at all.” About 40 miles down the road, Oregon is ranked as high as No. 6 in the national polls, and Coach George Horton is saying essentially the same thing: The Ducks have not proved anything yet. “We’ll just have to let our baseball speak for itself,” Horton said. Once again, the state of Oregon has two college baseball teams receiving national attention. The Beavers and the Ducks were picked to finish first and second in the Pacific-12 Conference, which has always been strong in the sport. League teams have won 28 N.C.A.A. baseball titles, more than any other conference. U.C.L.A., last season’s College World Series champion, was picked by the league’s coaches to finish third this year. “I like our team,” Casey said of the Beavers. “We have to stay healthy, and we obviously have to play at a very high level in order to compete in our conference — and with the people we play out of conference. So I do like our team, but I think they would tell you we’ve got a long way to go.” For the past decade, college baseball has grown much more popular in Oregon since the Beavers, then underdogs, became the fifth college program to win back-to-back C.W.S. titles in 2006 and in 2007. Casey, who is entering his 20th season in Corvallis, has taken the team to the postseason for the past five years, a team record. The Beavers went 52-13 last season, advancing to the C.W.S. for the fifth time — the fourth under Casey. Oregon State went 24-6 in the Pac-12 for the team’s third conference title since Casey took over. Image Coach George Horton of Oregon. “We’ll just have to let our baseball speak for itself.” Credit Kevin Clark/The Register-Guard, via Associated Press Although the Beavers have lost key contributors in pitcher Matt Boyd, shortstop Tyler Smith and catcher Jake Rodriguez, they will have pitchers Ben Wetzler and Andrew Moore and outfielder Michael Conforto returning. In 2009, Oregon reinstated its baseball program after a 28-year hiatus. The Ducks made a splash by hiring Horton, a two-time national coach of the year who led Cal State Fullerton to the C.W.S. six times and the N.C.A.A. title in 2004. After holding open tryouts for the team in Horton’s first season, the Ducks surprisingly went to the postseason the next year. But so far, the C.W.S. has eluded them. Last season, Oregon won a team-record 48 games and finished second in the Pac-12. But the nationally seeded Ducks fell to Rice in their regional series. “We haven’t finished yet,” Horton said at the team’s preseason news media gathering. “We’ve had expectation years where we fumbled. The last two years, we thought we had a competitive ball club, won our share of one- and two-run games and put ourselves in position to host regionals and super regionals and had national seeds. But we’ve squandered opportunities.” The Ducks have lost a few of the stars from last season’s team. First baseman Ryon Healy and pitcher Jimmie Sherfy graduated, and pitcher Cole Irvin had season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery. But they return infielder Scott Heineman and outfielder Tyler Baumgartner. Oregon and Oregon State opened their seasons this weekend. The Beavers were playing in the Husker Classic in Tempe, Ariz., and the Ducks were visiting Hawaii for a four-game series. The Ducks and the Beavers will play each other five times after splitting last season’s series, 2-2. Ultimately, a combination of factors will determine how their seasons turn out. That is why Casey says he does not have a lot of faith in preseason polls. “Team chemistry’s always one of the most important things,” he said. “We have enough people there. We have the people, if they choose to be strong leaders and they choose to have chemistry and hang with each other, that we’ll have the same type of bond” as last season. Casey added: “Winning fixes a lot of problems. When you come out and you have a lot of success early, you feel good. It’s when you’re struggling that real leadership and chemistry comes to the top.”

Baseball
College Sports
University of Oregon
Oregon State University


Wall Street Journal Said to Have Cut 20 to 40 Jobs

Abstract: The Wall Street Journal has cut between 20 and 40 staff members in recent weeks, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as part of a re-evaluation of its newsroom that came at the end of its financial year. Some of those laid off were informed at the end of last week, the final days of the newspaper’s fiscal year. According to two people with knowledge of the cuts, the layoffs have not been announced to the newsroom staff, which the company says numbers 1,800. Dow Jones, the Journal’s parent company, declined to answer specific questions on the layoffs or confirm the details, but provided a statement saying it had been evaluating the newsroom “to target areas for growth and deploy our resources globally.” As a result, Dow Jones said, “we will be eliminating certain positions.” Those laid off are said to include veteran reporters and editors at the newspaper. Lex Fenwick resigned in January as chief executive of Dow Jones. Mr. Fenwick had embarked on an ambitious project to unify all Dow Jones products — including newswires and financial databases — under the name DJX. The high-priced product proved unpopular with customers, and probably put a dent in the company’s bottom line. Dow Jones offered those laid off two weeks’ severance for every year at the newspaper, one of the people said. Tim Martell, a union representative, said 19 people were also laid off in the technology department earlier this year.


What to Watch at the Olympics: Friday

Abstract: ALPINE SKIING Mikaela Shiffrin, 18, the reigning world champion, will try to win the United States’ first Olympic medal in the women’s slalom in 42 years. NBC, 8 p.m. CURLING Canada is going for its third straight gold in men’s curling, against Britain, which is seeking the country’s first gold medal in curling since 1924. CNBC, 5 p.m. MEN’S HOCKEY The eyes of North America may be on the United States-Canada semifinal (NBCSN, noon), but that rivalry has nothing on Sweden and Finland, which have been entwined since the 12th century. On the ice, they played for the gold medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics, won by the Swedes, and have met four times for the world championship, splitting the games. A key matchup is in goal, where Henrik Lundqvist has dominated for Sweden and Tuukka Rask has shined for Finland. NBCSN, 7 a.m.

Alpine skiing
Curling
2014 Winter Olympics
Ice hockey