State Still Struggling to Reduce Pedestrian Deaths

Abstract: MONTCLAIR AS he was sifting through the gruesome details of several fatal accidents in which pedestrians and cyclists were hit by cars, Arnold Anderson, a vehicular homicide investigator in Essex County, detected a pattern: most pedestrian deaths happen in crosswalks. Mr. Anderson, who works for the county prosecutor’s office, decided to put together an unusual sting operation in Montclair and South Orange in which plainclothes police officers would attempt to cross the streets at several locations to see if drivers stopped for them. Other officers waiting up the street stopped drivers who had not yielded to the pedestrians, and issued them either warnings or tickets. During the operation, dubbed Cops in Crosswalks, the percentage of motorists who stopped rose from 11 percent in June to 49 percent in August, and more than 800 drivers received $100 traffic-violation tickets, said Sgt. Daniel Pronti, of the Montclair Police Department. “Most people who committed the violations weren’t even aware they committed a violation,” Sergeant Pronti said. “We learned that education was key to our ultimate goal of making people feel safe.” In the Garden State, where residents love their cars, officials have been trying for years to reduce the high number of pedestrian deaths. In 1998, after 145 cyclists and pedestrians had died the year before, Gov. Christie Whitman introduced a program intended to cut that number in half by 2010. The goal has never been met. Last year, 162 pedestrians and cyclists died in traffic deaths, although the number was down 9 percent from the year before, according to the Tri-State Transportation Committee, a New Jersey, New York and Connecticut group that issued a report in July. Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who made it a priority to spend more on bicycle and pedestrian safety, said in September, “This is a place where we think we can save a lot of lives in urban and suburban communities.” He said the state would invest in signs, signals, lights and infrastructure changes like wider road shoulders and speed bumps. Communities throughout the state have started their own programs to prevent pedestrian deaths. Last month, West Orange sponsored a “Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day” in which officers increased patrols to detect driving violations as part of a national effort. The Tri-State Transportation Committee’s executive director, Kate Slevin, said that while the fatality statistics showed a positive trend, they did not reflect fast enough progress. “You see the number of fatalities go up and down a little,” she said, “but you don’t see a steep decline.” Pamela S. Fischer, director of the New Jersey Division of Traffic Safety, said that the state was in the third year of a five-year pedestrian and bicyclist safety plan started by Governor Corzine. She said the state was working with municipalities to do things like make crosswalks and signs more visible. Nonetheless, she said higher gas prices this summer might have contributed to what she described as a “huge uptick” in cyclist deaths this year. Eighteen cyclists had died in New Jersey through the third week in September, up from five at this time last year. So far there have been 87 pedestrian deaths, compared to 89 by this time last year. “With gas prices being what they are, people are looking for ways to save money,” she said. “I like to say that people have rediscovered their feet.” The state will spend $10.5 million on bicycle and pedestrian safety programs in 2009, said Erin Phalon, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department. She added that there was more than $20 million available to be spent on capital improvements like pedestrian bridges, sidewalks, crosswalks and bicycle-compatible roadway upgrades. A Tri-State Transportation Committee Report released last month listed the state’s most dangerous roads for pedestrians, all of them wide speedways. The top two on the list were Route 30 in Atlantic County and Route 130 in Burlington County; since 2005, nine pedestrians have died on each. In that same time, according to the report, eight pedestrians died on Route 1 in Middlesex County and eight others on Route 9 in Ocean County. Yet, in September, the League of American Bicyclists ranked New Jersey ninth best in the nation for bicycle safety. Elizabeth Kiker, a spokeswoman for the organization, said the state tied for third in the nation for cycle- and pedestrian-friendly planning, was eighth in the nation for policies and programs and was tenth in the nation for safe infrastructure. John Boyle, advocacy director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, said that New Jersey had good policies but that they were not always put into effect. “Until you get the state guidelines implemented at a municipal level, which is where pedestrian walking and bicycling happens, you’ve got a long way to go,” he said. New Jersey often lacks the money to buy private property along roads on which to build shoulders and paths for bikes and pedestrians, said Peter Bilton, project manager at the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. “The most expensive part of roadway expansion is purchasing property adjacent to the road,” he said. Big roads, with enough room for cars, cyclists and pedestrians, are what enable Erik Eklund, a designer, to ride his recumbent bicycle several times a week. “The beauty about riding in Montclair is there are a lot of streets that are wide enough to accommodate bikes and be safe,” Mr. Eklund said. Peter Kasabach, executive director of New Jersey Future, a nonprofit smart-growth advocacy group, said places like Montclair were uncommon. “When we plan our infrastructure, whether it’s urban or rural, we generally don’t take into account people who walk and bike,” he said. “And then we’re surprised when people don’t walk or bike around.” In Parsippany, another town that has worked to make roads safer for nondrivers, Rich Patel, 51, said he feels safe, even walking the medians of busy Route 46 to his job at a hotel. “Everywhere I walk or ride my bicycle is good,” he said. Because of the density of New Jersey’s population, and the age of most of its infrastructure, progress will be slow, said Ranjit Walia, senior research specialist for the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers. “Our current infrastructure and current laws took decades to make,” he said. “It’s going to take time to make that change.”

Montclair (NJ)
Accidents and Safety
Bicycles and Bicycling
Roads and Traffic


Bargain-Basement Prices at a New York Hospital Prove Too Good to Be True

Abstract: Knee joint replacements at one-tenth the next cheapest price statewide! Baby deliveries below what they cost the hospital! At such discounts, one could imagine New Yorkers trekking three hours from Times Square to a small upstate hospital to fix an aching joint or to give birth, considering that some Americans fly overseas for surgery to escape high costs. The upstate bargains, which seemed to jump from an interactive website posted this week by the New York State Health Department, sounded too good to be true. And, in fact, they were. Mark Wright, the chief financial officer at the hospital, A. O. Fox in Oneonta , said administrators were still trying to figure out on Wednesday how its charges came to be so seriously underreported to the state. Anyone looking for the $1,376 knee joint replacement listed in the state’s database would be disappointed, he said, because A. O. Fox’s median charge for the operation in 2011 actually averaged $21,263, and it cost the hospital $14,454, not $1,057. That made it more expensive than 50 other hospitals in the state, including New York City medical centers like Bellevue and Kings County. Likewise, A. O. Fox’s 232 nonsurgical baby deliveries in 2011 were billed at an average of $3,490, not $1,998. Dozens of hospitals statewide charged less, according to the database, based on billings from 2009 through 2011. The lower charges reported at A. O. Fox, Mr. Wright said, did not include major items like the cost of using the operating room. All the charges showed up on patient bills, but did not make it into the state’s main hospital data collection system, known as Sparcs, which was the major source of the cost figures in the Health Department’s database. Mr. Wright noted that, like most hospitals, Fox does not collect what it charges, and is losing more than $3 million a year on a budget of $80 million. Hospitals are responsible for sending the state details on patients, diagnoses, treatments and charges. A. O. Fox, which is part of the Bassett Health Network, sends its data to Healthcare Association of New York State for submission to the state. “It would appear that somewhere in the handoff, some data got dropped,” said Karen Huxtable, a spokeswoman for Bassett. Bill Schwarz, a Department of Health spokesman, would not say whether other hospitals’ costs could also be wrong in the database. Even if A. O. Fox’s bargain prices were accurate, consumers might pause if they checked a separate state site and found that the hospital ranks below average in some basic categories, including treatment for heart failure, for which the hospital scored 75.5 percent; the state average is 96.82 percent.

Price
New York
Hospital
Health Department NYS
Oneonta NY


New Type of Paper Won’t Let You Just Rip It Apart

Abstract: This newspaper is printed on paper made from cellulose fibers obtained from wood pulp. The fibers are fairly large, on the order of tens of micrometers wide, and the resulting paper is fairly weak — pull on it and it tears easily. Researchers in Sweden and Japan have developed a much stronger paper, made from much smaller fibrils of cellulose. This “nanopaper,” they report in the journal Biomacromolecules, has a tensile strength greater than that of cast iron. Marielle Henriksson of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and colleagues used enzymes and a gentle beating technique to produce fibrils on the order of tens of nanometers wide, roughly one-thousandth of the width of conventional fibers. The nanofibrils were then mixed with water, and the suspension was vacuum filtered to make paper. The researchers report that the papers are rather porous, yet greatly resist tearing. They suggest that this property is a result of the high strength of individual fibrils and the way they adhere to one another. The researchers say that if it were developed commercially, the paper might have applications in construction or as a reinforcing material.

Newspapers
Cellulose
Science and Technology
Nanotechnology
Wood and Wood Products
Paper and Pulp


Venezuela: Oil Company Sanctions

Abstract: The United States imposed sanctions on Venezuela ’s national oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, for its deliveries of two shipments of fuel valued at $50 million to Iran . The sanctions do not directly affect the operations of Citgo, the company’s American subsidiary, or prohibit Venezuelan oil exports to the United States. But they prevent Petróleos de Venezuela from competing for United States government contracts, obtaining export licenses or receiving financing from the Export-Import Bank. The State Department also imposed sanctions on six smaller oil and shipping companies, based in the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Israel, Britain and Monaco, for dealings with Iran.

Venezuela
United States
Iran
Embargoes and Economic Sanctions
Petroleos de Venezuela SA
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline
International Trade and World Market


Trying to Make Sense of a Fatal Stampede at Wal-Mart

Abstract: Jdimytai Damour was a big man — 270 pounds, by one account — but he was a gentle giant to his friends, who said he loved to chat about movies, Japanese anime and politics. So on Saturday, they were still reeling from the violent and seemingly inexplicable way that Mr. Damour had died — trampled before sunrise on Friday, the police said, by rampaging shoppers running into a Wal-Mart store on Long Island where he was working as a maintenance man for the holidays. “If you wanted to know about a show, this was the guy, and he had a great sense of humor,” said Jean Olivier, who met Mr. Damour eight years ago in the Rosedale section of Queens, a few minutes’ drive from the store where he was killed. “He was the guy who was always lively. He would have personally gotten out of the way if he knew they wanted that stuff.” Shoppers started lining up late Thursday night at the Wal-Mart, at the Green Acres Mall on Sunrise Highway in Valley Stream, not far from the Queens border, where DVDs, flat-panel television sets and other entertainment items were discounted to attract crowds on the traditional first day of the Christmas shopping season. Mr. Damour, 34, who was known to his friends as Jimbo, or Jdidread because of his dreadlocks, got his job at Wal-Mart through Labor Now, an agency for temporary workers. He had been trying to hold back a crush of shoppers pressing against the store’s sliding-glass double doors, the authorities said. Just before the store’s scheduled 5 a.m. opening, they said, the doors shattered under the weight of the crowd. Mr. Damour was thrown to the floor and trampled. The Nassau County police were trying to determine what happened during the stampede, but said it was unclear if there would be any criminal charges. Michael Aronsen, a Police Department spokesman, said he did not expect the department to announce the results of its investigation this weekend. The department has been looking at videos from the store’s surveillance cameras and sifting through witnesses’ accounts. Another department spokesman said on Friday that it would be difficult to determine who was responsible for Mr. Damour’s death. The Nassau County medical examiner has not announced a cause of death for Mr. Damour, who died just after 6 a.m. on Friday, about an hour after shoppers burst through the Wal-Mart doors. Four shoppers were injured in the stampede. Hank Mullany, the senior vice president of Wal-Mart’s Northeast division, said in a statement that the company had hired extra security officers and installed barricades before the store opened, but “despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred.” David Tovar, a company spokesman, declined to say how many extra officers had been added on Friday. Each store, he said, made its own security arrangements. Security at the mall is handled by a subcontractor, Securitas, which patrols the parking lot but not inside the Wal-Mart, which opened in 2003 and employs more than 300 workers. On Saturday, two security guards were posted outside the Wal-Mart, which is next to a Petland Discounts store and a National Wholesale Liquidators outlet. Workers were repairing one side of the metal door frame that was damaged on Friday. The Wal-Mart was busy on Saturday, with long lines at the registers. Many shoppers were aware of Mr. Damour’s death and said they were appalled that people did not stop to help him as he lay on the ground, and instead surged into the store seeking bargains. “How do you stomp somebody like that?” asked Kenny Murphy, 30, of Lynbrook, N.Y., who was shopping with his wife, Lara. “It’s disgusting how people acted yesterday.” Wal-Mart workers interviewed on Saturday said they had been told by their managers not to speak to reporters or give their names. But they said that on Friday morning, when the store was closed for a few hours after Mr. Damour’s death, dozens of workers gathered near the front door to pray. They were led by a woman who worked as a greeter. “It was crazy,” said a worker in the electronics department who was in the store during the stampede. “The deals weren’t even that good.” Some of the workers said they were still shaken by Mr. Damour’s death and added that they had mixed feelings about whether the store should have hired more security. “How could you know something like that would happen?” said one worker, who added that the store was even busier this year than on Black Friday last year. “No one expected something like that.” Green Acres opened in 1956 on the site of the former Curtiss Wright Airport. One of the first open-air shopping centers on Long Island, it had 1.2 million square feet of retail space and counted Gimbels, J. C. Penney and J. J. Newberry among its first tenants. In 1968, the center was enclosed and later expanded to accommodate the growing number of shoppers from Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island. But Green Acres, which is now owned by Vornado Realty Trust, has also seen its share of trouble. In the 1980s, the mall earned a reputation as the “car theft capital” of Long Island. In 1990, four moviegoers were shot — one fatally — when two groups of teenagers opened fire in a crowded theater that was showing “The Godfather, Part III.”

Stampedes
Damour Jdimytai
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Retail Stores and Trade
Black Friday (Shopping)
Discount Selling
Long Island (NY)


Brady-Goodell Case Gets a Judge Who Is Capable of Resolving It Quickly

Abstract: If there is anybody who can defuse pro football’s dispute over underinflated footballs, it is a Manhattan federal judge with a history of encouraging fast resolutions to perplexing problems. The judge, Richard M. Berman, quickly defined the ground rules in his first written orders after the N.F.L. and the players’ union clashed over Commissioner Roger Goodell’s four-game suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady: that settling the case is a priority, the heated rhetoric must stop, documents will be public, and Goodell and Brady will come to court. Berman is the right judge to navigate the pressures of the Brady-Goodell showdown, said Judge William H. Pauley III, who presided over a lawsuit that Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez brought against Major League Baseball last year over his suspension. “Everybody’s under pressure, not just Tom Brady,” Pauley said. “If there’s anybody on our bench who can resolve a case, it’s Richard.” Berman, 71, assigned randomly to the case, will preside over a hearing Wednesday. The league requested a judgment saying Goodell acted legally when he punished Brady after a league-sponsored investigation concluded that the Patriots had supplied improperly underinflated footballs when New England routed the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7, in last season’s A.F.C. championship game. The union wants the suspension lifted, arguing that an arbitration that went against Brady was a sham. The parties will be contending with “a famous settlement judge,” Chief Judge Loretta A. Preska said, referring to Berman. Preska added: “He’s very good at it. He understands people and the pressures on people, and he’s always calm himself, never ruffled.” Preska recalled introducing Berman, a onetime family court judge, to his colleagues after Berman’s 1998 appointment to the bench by President Bill Clinton. At the gathering of the Second Circuit Judicial Conference, she held up a pen that she said Berman gave lawyers when they settled cases. The pen, she noted, contained a quotation from the first rule of civil procedure, which cautions that the rules should be “construed and administered to ensure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action.” Pauley said Berman’s diverse background gave him additional tools to resolve cases. He spent time as a senior aide to Senator Jacob K. Javits of New York and was an executive of a fledgling cable company that became a giant: Time Warner Cable. Berman declined a request to be interviewed during the N.F.L. dispute. He told The New York Law Journal last year that he believed the role of a judge was to “justly” and “speedily” move civil cases to conclusion. “This means that I pursue settlement options early and often; I try to rule on motions quickly; and I try not to waste any time at trial,” he said. He also told the newspaper that he was “somewhat of a news/TV junkie” who, if not a judge, would probably continue in the media and communications business. Berman noted that he had been general counsel of Warner Cable and MTV Networks Inc. when pay-per-view was developed, the first videodisc jockeys were hired and the first music videos were released. In 17 years on the bench, Berman has faced more than the usual caseload of famous and infamous defendants and has shown a knack for brushing aside distractions to resolve underlying legal issues. When he decides someone has abused the judicial system, he can be harsh. In 2012, he gave a break to Cameron Douglas, the actor Michael Douglas’s son, sentencing him to five years in prison on drug charges after he cooperated with the government. But Berman later doubled the sentence to 10 years and scolded Cameron Douglas, calling him “destructive” and “manipulative” after he persuaded a lawyer turned love interest to sneak drugs into prison in her bra. Perhaps his most challenging case came when Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, was charged with shooting at F.B.I. agents and American soldiers at an Afghan police station in 2008. She punctuated her court appearances with outbursts that raised questions about her sanity and the likelihood of a trial. She was convicted and sentenced to 86 years in prison. Sabrina Shroff, an assistant public defender who observed some Siddiqui proceedings, said Berman had “a knack for recognizing exactly what it takes to run a courtroom.” Shroff added: “Never was this more apparent than in the trial of Aafia Siddiqui, who was a very sad and troubled defendant. It was obvious he was deeply concerned about her all through the trial, and his concern for her continued even after her conviction.” In April 2001, Berman demonstrated his distaste for lawyers’ wasting the time of the court and jurors after a record company in a claim against the former Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee settled with a Swedish man just as a jury reached a verdict. Berman instructed the jury to reveal its verdict, which was in Lee’s favor, prompting Lee, who had argued against settling, to curse his lawyers and yell, “Idiot!” There is a practical reason Berman prefers parties to settle, Preska said. “On the one hand, there’s just the fight,” she said. “But also, if we have to make a ruling, often it’s with a meat cleaver. They can craft a settlement with a scalpel, a much more nuanced settlement that will make everybody happy.”

Football
Roger Goodell
Tom Brady
Lawsuits
NFL
Super Bowl
Super Bowl 2015
Richard M Berman


In Portland, Cultivating a Culture of Two Wheels

Abstract: PORTLAND, Ore. — Susan Peithman did not have a job lined up when she moved here in September to pursue a career in “nonmotorized transportation.” No worries, she figured; the market here is strong. “In so many ways, it’s the center,” Ms. Peithman, 26, explained. “Bike City, U.S.A.” Cyclists have long revered Portland for its bicycle-friendly culture and infrastructure, including the network of bike lanes that the city began planning in the early 1970s. Now, riders are helping the city build a cycling economy. There are, of course, huge national companies like Nike and Columbia Sportswear that have headquarters here and sell some cycling-related products, and there are well-known brands like Team Estrogen, which sells cycling clothing for women online from a Portland suburb. Yet in a city often uncomfortable with corporate gloss, what is most distinctive about the emerging cycling industry here is the growing number of smaller businesses, whether bike frame builders or clothing makers, that often extol recycling as much as cycling, sustainability as much as success. Like the local indie rock bands that insist they are apathetic about fame, many of the smaller local companies say craft, not money, is what drives them. “All the frame builders I know got into this because they love bikes,” said Tony Pereira, a bike builder whose one-man operation has a 10-month waiting list, “not because they wanted to start a business.” Mia Birk, a former city employee who helped lead Portland’s efforts to expand cycling in the 1990s, said the original goals were rooted in environmental and public health, not the economy. “That wasn’t our driving force,” Ms. Birk said. “But it has been a result, and we’re comfortable saying it is a positive result.” Ms. Birk now helps run a consulting firm, Alta Planning and Design, which advises other cities on how to become more bicycle-friendly. In a report for the City of Portland last year, the firm estimated that 600 to 800 people worked in the cycling industry in some form. A decade earlier, Ms. Birk said in an interview, the number would have been more like 200 and made up almost entirely of employees at retail bike stores. Now, Ms. Birk said, the city is nurturing the cycling industry, and there are about 125 bike-related businesses in Portland, including companies that make bike racks, high-end components for racing bikes and aluminum for bikes mass-produced elsewhere. There are small operations that make cycling hats out of recycled fabric. Track, road and cyclo-cross races are held year-round, and state tourism groups promote cycling packages. There is Ms. Birk’s firm, which had two employees in Portland in 1999 and now has 14. There are nonprofit advocacy groups and Web sites, including www.bikeportland.org , that are devoted to cycling issues and events in Portland. And then there is the growing, high-end handmade bike industry, which was made up of just one or two businesses a decade ago but now has more than 10. The Portland Development Commission is working with a handful of the bike builders to improve their business and accounting skills and help them network with one another. This month, the city will be the host of a trade show featuring bike builders from Oregon, which locals say has more makers than any other state. And early next year, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show will bring its fourth annual event to Portland for the first time. It is expected to be the largest national show so far. Sam Adams, a city commissioner in charge of transportation, joined development officials to help lure the show to Portland. It seemed a natural fit. The city regularly ranks at the top of Bicycling Magazine’s list of the best cycling cities and has the nation’s highest percentage of workers who commute by bike, about 3.5 percent, according to the Census Bureau. Drivers here are largely respectful of riders, and some businesses give up parking spaces to make way for bike racks. “Our intentions are to be as sustainable a city as possible,” Mr. Adams said. “That means socially, that means environmentally and that means economically. The bike is great on all three of those factors. You just can’t get a better transportation return on your investment than you get with promoting bicycling.” Although the city has worked to help drivers and riders share roadways, two cyclists were killed in October when they were hit by trucks, and questions persist over whether enough is being done to protect cyclists. Mr. Adams said he was preparing a budget proposal that would spend $24 million to add 110 miles to the city’s existing 20-mile network of bike boulevards, which are meant to get cyclists away from streets busy with cars. Doing so could “double or triple ridership,” he said. The streets were not always so crowded with cyclists. Andy Newlands, by most accounts the first person in Portland to start making bikes by hand, got into the business in the 1970s. Back then, he said, young men would come to him for help piecing together racing bikes. Now, he said, “More and more it’s some guy with a wife and kids and a BMW and all that, and he wants a handmade bike.” Thirty years ago Mr. Newlands sold frames for under $300. Now a new bike might cost the buyer well over $5,000. “There’s so much mass-produced stuff out there that there’s just kind of a little bit of a backlash,” he said. “People like a handmade product.” Sacha White, who was a bike messenger before he started Vanilla Bicycles, one of the most prominent bike makers in Portland, said city officials embraced not only cycling but also the niche industry that has grown out of it, something he considered striking given the size of most operations. His company, among the largest of its kind, has six employees including himself. “I think the biggest thing that’s come from the effort the city has put into this is the vote of confidence,” Mr. White said, speaking of bike riders and bike makers. “They want us here.” Ms. Peithman, the recent Portland arrival, had lived in Chicago until September, where she worked for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, a nonprofit advocacy group. She decided to move here on her own without any job prospects based “90 percent on the bike thing,” she said. “I’m a long-term-thinking, spreadsheet kind of girl,” Ms. Peithman said. “This is the most rash thing I’ve ever done.”


Events in Westchester for Aug. 24-30, 2014

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in the Hudson Valley. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to westweek@nytimes.com. Comedy ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater Matt Burke, Brian Cichocki, Gary DeLena, Tommy Gooch, Joe Mulligan and Frankie Pace. Aug. 30 at 6:45 p.m. $85 for dinner and show. Westchester Broadway Theater, 1 Broadway Plaza. broadwaytheatre.com; (914) 592-2222. PELHAM Rockwells Drew Fraser, Tom Daddario and Steve Loftus. Aug. 30 at 9 p.m. $10. Rockwells, 105 Wolfs Lane. (888) 983-2785; rockwellsusa.net. WEST NYACK Levity Live Miguel Dalmau. Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. $15. Mike Epps. Aug. 29 through 31. $35 to $50. Levity Live, 4210 Palisades Center Drive. (845) 353-5400; levitylive.com. Film BETHEL Bethel Woods Center for the Arts “Dead Man Walking,” directed by Tim Robbins. Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. $5 to $8. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. (866) 781-2922; bethelwoodscenter.org. BREWSTER Village of Brewster Film Festival Village of Brewster Film Festival, with screenings at the Southeast Grille House, the Brewster Train Station, Empire Cinemas, Ryder Farm and Studio Around the Corner. Aug. 29 through Aug. 31. $7 to $40. Some events are free. (845) 729-9687; vobfilmfestival.com. HUDSON Time & Space Limited “Ida,” directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. Aug. 30 at 4 p.m. and Sept. 6 at 3:30 p.m. $6 and $8. Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street. (518) 822-8448; timeandspace.org. PLEASANTVILLE Jacob Burns Film Center “Sounds of Summer: New Music Documentaries,” series. Through Aug. 31. $7 to $30 per screening. “The Blues Brothers,” directed by John Landis. Aug. 28 at 7:15 p.m. “Duck Soup,” starring the Marx Brothers. Aug. 30 and 31 at 2:30 p.m. and Sept. 1 at noon. $7.50 to $12. Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road. burnsfilmcenter.org; (914) 747-5555. ROSENDALE Rosendale Theater “Life Itself,” documentary by Steve James. Through Aug. 28. “A Most Wanted Man,” starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe. Aug. 29 through Sept. 4. $5 and $7. Rosendale Theater, 408 Main Street. (845) 658-8989; rosendaletheatre.org. For Children KATONAH Muscoot Farm Fairy Walk, guided hike in the woods. Participants are encouraged to dress in their own fairy costumes. Aug. 24 at 1 p.m. Free. Muscoot Farm, 51 Route 100. (914) 864-7282; muscootfarm.org. OSSINING Teatown Lake Reservation Nature’s Recyclers, outdoor and educational activities. Aug. 24 at 11 a.m. $7; members, free. Teatown Lake Reservation, 1600 Spring Valley Road. teatown.org; (914) 762-2912. PEEKSKILL The Field Library Children’s Room Travel Around the World, crafts, games, music and food. Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m. Free. The Field Library Children’s Room, 4 Nelson Avenue. fieldkids.wordpress.com; (914) 737-0847. SLEEPY HOLLOW Philipsburg Manor CORNucopia, food, games and activities. Aug. 30 through Sept. 1. $8 and $14; children under 3, free. Philipsburg Manor, 381 North Broadway. hudsonvalley.org; (914) 631-8200. Music and Dance BEACON Towne Crier Cafe Spuyten Duyvil, folk and blues. Aug. 24 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $25. The Revelers, zydeco. Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $25. Myles Mancuso Band, blues. Aug. 29 at 8:30 p.m. $15 and $20. Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, rock. Aug. 30 at 8:30 p.m. $40 and $45. Towne Crier Cafe, 379 Main Street. townecrier.com; (845) 855-1300. BETHEL Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Zac Brown Band, country. Friday at 7 p.m. $38 and $89. Christine Andreas, cabaret. Aug. 30 at 8 p.m. $49.50. Miranda Lambert with Justin Moore and Thomas Rhett, country. Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. $36 and $70.75. Lawn 4-pack is $114. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. bethelwoodscenter.org; (866) 781-2922. ELMSFORD Live From the Haven “Music of Bags, Trane and Monk,” jazz. Aug. 24, 5 to 8 p.m. $25. Live From the Haven, 9 Haven Street. (917) 882-9539; vtyjazz.com. HIGHMOUNT Belleayre Music Festival The Hold Steady, Big Data and Lily and the Parlour Tricks, rock. Aug. 30 at 6 p.m. $26 to $66. Belleayre Music Festival, 181 Galli Curci Road. belleayremusic.org; (845) 254-5600. HUDSON Club Helsinki Hudson The Voodoo Orchestra North, a Miles Davis tribute band. Aug. 25 at 8 p.m. $5 and $7. Jorma Kaukonen, blues. Aug. 30 at 9 p.m. $35 and $45. Club Helsinki Hudson, 405 Columbia Street. (518) 828-4800; helsinkihudson.com. KINGSTON Wall Street Jazz Festival Laura Dubin, Virginia Mayhew, Estrella Salsa, jazz. Aug. 30, 5 to 11 p.m. Free. Wall Street Jazz Festival, Wall and North Front Streets. (917) 494-8354; wallstreetjazzfestival.com. MARLBORO The Falcon Occidental Gypsy, jazz and pop. Aug. 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mark Hummel’s Golden State Lone Star Revue. Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. Sari Schorr Band, blues. Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. Vincentz, Hart and Brown, jazz. Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. Larry Moses and the Latin Jazz Explosion. Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. Blue Chicken, rock. Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. Popa Chubby, blues. Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. Lee Falco Ensemble, jazz. Aug. 31, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donations accepted. The Falcon, 1348 Route 9W. (845) 236-7970; liveatthefalcon.com. NEW PALTZ Unison Arts Center 2nd Annual Ice Cream Social, with Shorty King’s Rhythm Revue, R & B. Aug. 24 at 4 p.m. $20 to $23. Metropolitan Hot Club, jazz. Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. $10 to $15. Unison Arts Center, 68 Mountain Rest Road. (845) 255-1559; unisonarts.org. NEW ROCHELLE Hudson Park Gunsmoke, country. Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Hudson Park, 1 Hudson Park Road. (914) 654-2087; newrochellearts.org. OLIVEBRIDGE Ashokan Center Summer Hoot Festival, with David Bromberg, John Cohen, Mike + Ruthy, Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer, Simi Stone and others. Through Aug. 24. $25 to $60. Ashokan Center, 477 Beaverkill Road. (845) 657-8333; homeofthehoot.com. PEEKSKILL 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar Julie Corbalis, folk. Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. No cover. Qu Boii and Eclectic Paradise, R & B. Aug. 29 at 9:30 p.m. $5. Native Vibe, jazz and world music. Aug. 30 at 9:30 p.m. $5. 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar, 12 North Division Street. (914) 737-6624; 12grapes.com. PEEKSKILL Bean Runner Cafe Todd Londagin Band, jazz. Aug. 29 at 8 p.m. $10. Summarily Dismissed, swing and pop. Aug. 30 at 8 p.m. $10. Bean Runner Cafe, 201 South Division Street. (914) 737-1701; beanrunnercafe.com. PORT CHESTER Garcia’s at the Capitol Theater Dead on the Tracks, Grateful Dead tribute band. Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. $10. Valence, rock. Aug. 28 at 9 p.m. $10. FiKus, electronica. Aug. 29 at 9 p.m. $10. Garcia’s at the Capitol Theater, 149 Westchester Avenue. thecapitoltheatre.com; (914) 937-4126. WHITE PLAINS Renaissance Plaza Mixing It Up, pop. Aug. 28, noon to 2 p.m. Free. Renaissance Plaza, Mamaroneck Avenue and Main Street. (914) 422-1336; cityofwhiteplains.com. WOODSTOCK Bearsville Theater Robbie Dupree and Friends, pop. Aug. 29 at 8:45 p.m. $20. Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street. bearsvilletheater.com; (845) 679-4406. WOODSTOCK Maverick Concert Hall Jupiter String Quartet, classical. Aug. 24 at 4 p.m. $25 and $40. Anthony Wilson Guitar Quartet, jazz. Aug. 30 at 8 p.m. $25 and $40. Pacifica Quartet, classical. Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. $25 and $40. Maverick Concert Hall, 120 Maverick Road. (845) 679-8217; maverickconcerts.org. YONKERS Empire City Casino, at Yonkers Raceway 38 Special, rock. Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. $27.50 to $150. The Stylistics, R & B. Aug. 31 at 6:30 p.m. $27.50 to $150. Empire City Casino, at Yonkers Raceway, 810 Yonkers Avenue. empirecitycasino.com; (914) 968-4200. YONKERS Yonkers Downtown Waterfront Amphitheater K J Denhert, jazz and folk. Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m. Free. Yonkers Downtown Waterfront Amphitheater, 71 Water Grant Street. (914) 969-6660; yonkersdowntown.com. Outdoors BETHEL Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Rosehaven Alpaca Festival, music, boutique, live animals and more. Aug. 31, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Parking is $2. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. bethelwoodscenter.org; (866) 781-2922. CROTON-ON-HUDSON Croton Point Park Saw Mill River Audubon Monday Bird Walk, guided hike. Aug. 25, 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. $5 suggested donation. Croton Point Park, Croton Point Avenue. (914) 666-6503; sawmillriveraudubon.org. OSSINING Teatown Lake Reservation Biomimicry for Beginners, science and nature activities. Aug. 31 at 1 p.m. $7; members, free. Teatown Lake Reservation, 1600 Spring Valley Road. (914) 762-2912; teatown.org. WHITE PLAINS Westchester County Center Bicycle Sundays. Part of the Bronx River Parkway is used exclusively by bicyclists, joggers, walkers, scooters and strollers. Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 7 to 28. Parking at the County Center is $5. Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue. countycenter.biz; (914) 995-4050. YONKERS Untermyer Gardens Conservancy Tours of the Persian garden and estate restoration. Aug. 24 at 4 p.m. $10. Untermyer Gardens Conservancy, 945 North Broadway. untermyergardens.org; (914) 512-0436. Theater ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater “The Wizard of Oz,” musical by John Kane, Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg. Through Sept. 21. $54 to $80 for meal and show. Westchester Broadway Theater, 1 Broadway Plaza. broadwaytheatre.com; (914) 592-2222. GARRISON Boscobel House and Gardens The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival presents Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” in repertory with David Ives’s adaptation of “The Liar.” Through Aug. 31. $27 to $79. Boscobel House and Gardens, 1601 Route 9D. hvshakespeare.org; (845) 265-9575. STONY POINT Penguin Rep Theater “The Fabulous Lipitones,” comedy with music by John Markus and Mark St. Germain. Through Aug. 31. $40. Penguin Rep Theater, 7 Crickettown Road. (845) 786-2873; penguinrep.org. WOODSTOCK Woodstock Shakespeare Festival “Twelfth Night” by Shakespeare. Through Aug. 31. Free. Woodstock Shakespeare Festival, 45 Comeau Drive. birdonacliff.org; (845) 247-4007. Museums and Galleries BEACON Beacon “Beacon 3D,” outdoor public art exhibition. Through Oct. 15. Dawn to dusk. Various locations on Main Street. beacon3d.org; (917) 318-2239. BEACON Beacon “WOMSX,” public art project by 35 local artists in storefront windows along Main Street. On view 24 hours daily through Sept. 13. beaconwindows.org. BEACON Beacon Artist Union “Abstract/Concrete,” Art Murphy. Through Sept. 7. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. Beacon Artist Union, 506 Main Street. baugallery.com; (845) 440-7584. BEACON Matteawan Gallery “Booksmart,” Theresa Gooby, Brece Honeycutt, Björn Meyer-Ebrecht and August Ventimiglia. Through Aug. 31. Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Matteawan Gallery, 464 Main Street. matteawan.com; (845) 440-7901. BEACON The Lofts at Beacon Gallery “Energy Fields,” group show. Through Aug. 26. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Lofts at Beacon Gallery, 18 Front Street. (845) 202-7211; loftsatbeacon.com. BETHEL Bethel Woods Center for the Arts “Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World,” group show. Aug. 28 through Dec. 31. Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Daily, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. beginning Sept. 1. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. (866) 781-2922; bethelwoodscenter.org. BRONX Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum “Grandes Dames and Grand Plans: 100 Years of History at Bartow-Pell.” Through Nov. 16. $3 and $5; members and children, free. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, 895 Shore Road. (718) 885-1461; bpmm.org. BRONX Bronx Museum of the Arts “Sarah Sze: Triple Point (Planetarium).” Through Aug. 24. “In Print/Imprint: Works From the Permanent Collection.” Through Aug. 31. “Terence Gower: SuperPuesto.” Through Sept. 28. “Beyond the Supersquare,” group show. “Rethinking the Garden Casita.” Through Jan. 11. Thursdays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free. Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse. bronxmuseum.org. (718) 681-6000. BRONX The New York Botanical Garden “Groundbreakers: Great American Gardens and the Women Who Designed Them.” Through Sept. 7. “Weird, Wild and Wonderful,” American Society of Botanical Artists. Through Sept. 21. $8 to $30; children under 2, free. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The New York Botanical Garden, Southern Boulevard. (718) 817-8700; nybg.org. CATSKILL The Thomas Cole National Historic Site “Master, Mentor, Master: Thomas Cole and Frederic Church.” Through Nov. 2. $9 and $10; children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Thomas Cole National Historic Site, 218 Spring Street. thomascole.org; (518) 943-7465. COLD SPRING Open Concept Gallery Manya and Roumen jewelry show. Through Dec. 31. Thursdays through Mondays, noon to 6 p.m. Open Concept Gallery, 125 Main Street. openconceptgallery.com; (845) 260-0141. GARRISON Boscobel House and Gardens “The Hudson River Portfolio: A Beginning for the Hudson River School.” Through Nov. 30. $8 to $17; members and children under 6, free. Wednesdays through Mondays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Boscobel House and Gardens, 1601 Route 9D. (845) 265-3638; boscobel.org. GARRISON Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center “Palmas,” surround-sound installation by Melissa McGill. Tours Fridays through Mondays, 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Through Nov. 10. Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, 584 Route 9D. (845) 424-3812; russelwrightcenter.org. HUDSON BCB Art “You Game? I’m Game,” Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Through Sept. 7. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. BCB Art, 116 Warren Street. (518) 828-4539; bcbart.com. HUDSON Carrie Haddad Gallery “A Nod to the Past,” group show. Through Aug. 24. “Playful,” Stephen Walling, Fernando Orellana and Phyllis Palmer. Through Sept. 21. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Carrie Haddad Gallery, 622 Warren Street. carriehaddadgallery.com; (518) 828-1915. HUDSON Curatorium “Like Garage Band,” installation by Daniel Jocz. Through Oct. 11. Fridays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Curatorium, 60 South Front Street. curatoriumhudson.org; (212) 537-6029. HUDSON John Davis Gallery Paintings by Matthew Blackwell. Through Sept. 7. Thursdays through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. John Davis Gallery, 362 ½ Warren Street. (518) 828-5907; johndavisgallery.com. HUDSON Olana “All the Raj: Frederic Church and Lockwood de Forest: Painting, Decorating and Collecting at Olana.” Through Nov. 2. $5 to $12. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Olana, 5720 Route 9G. (518) 828-0135; olana.org. HYDE PARK The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum “Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection.” Through Nov. 2. $6 and $9; children under 15, free. Daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, 4079 Albany Post Road. fdrlibrary.marist.edu; (845) 486-7745. KATONAH Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts “In the Garden of Sonic Delights,” sound art. Also presented at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, the Jacob Burns Film Center, Lyndhurst, the Neuberger Museum of Art and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Through Nov. 2. $10; children, free. Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road. (914) 232-1252; caramoor.org. KATONAH Katonah Museum of Art “Iceland: Artists Respond to Place,” group show. Through Sept. 28. $5 and $10; members and children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street. (914) 232-9555; katonahmuseum.org. KINGSTON One Mile Gallery “The Illustrated Gallery,” group show. Through Aug. 30. Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. One Mile Gallery, 475 Abeel Street. onemilegallery.com; (845) 338-2035. LARCHMONT Kenise Barnes Fine Art “Cool and Collected 2014,” Carla Goldberg, Melanie Kozol, Francis Sills and Eve Stockton. Through Aug. 29. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and by appointment. Kenise Barnes Fine Art, 1947 Palmer Avenue. (914) 834-8077; kenisebarnesfineart.com. LARCHMONT Mamaroneck Artists Guild “Oronero,” James Mignogna. Sept. 2 through 27. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Mamaroneck Artists Guild, 126 Larchmont Avenue. mamaroneckartistsguild.org; (914) 834-1117. LIVINGSTON MANOR Catskill Art Society “Watch Your Step,” Ruth Hardinger and Lucienne Weinberger. Aug. 30 through Oct. 5. Mondays and Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Catskill Art Society, 48 Main Street. catskillartsociety.org; (845) 436-4227. NEW PALTZ Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at the State University of New York at New Paltz “Worlds of Wonder: Hudson Valley Artists 2014,” group show. Through Nov. 9. “Dick Polich: Transforming Metal into Art.” “Race, Love, and Labor: New Work from the Center for Photography at Woodstock’s Artist-in-Residency Program.” Aug. 27 through Dec. 14. Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at the State University of New York at New Paltz, 1 Hawk Drive. (845) 257-3844; newpaltz.edu/museum. NEW PALTZ Unison Arts Center “Fissures,” works by Hanna Eshel. Through Aug. 24. Weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Unison Arts Center, 68 Mountain Rest Road. (845) 255-1559; unisonarts.org. NORTH SALEM Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden “Contemporary Chinese Zen Art Meditations,” group show. “Inhabited,” installation by Wennie Huang. “Soumatou Revolving Lantern,” ceramics by Tomoko Abe. Through Sept. 6. $4 and $5; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden, 28 Deveau Road. hammondmuseum.org; (914) 669-5033. NYACK Edward Hopper House Art Center “Kris Burns: Chasing Edward Hopper.” Through Aug. 31. “Josephine Nivison Hopper: Tree Studies.” Through Oct. 19. “Joanne Howard: Dream House.” Aug. 21 through Oct. 19. $2 to $7; members and children under 16, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Edward Hopper House Art Center, 82 North Broadway. hopperhouse.org; (845) 358-0774. PEEKSKILL Beale Street Barber Shop “Seen, Barely Seen, Never Seen Before,” video art by Marcy B. Freedman and Gene Panczenko. Through Oct. 24. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beale Street Barber Shop, 907 South Street. bealestreetbarbershop.com; (914) 402-1700. PEEKSKILL Field Library “Greta Corens: Irises and Roses.” Through Sept. 30. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Field Library, 4 Nelson Avenue. (914) 737-1212; peekskill.org. PELHAM Pelham Art Center “Wonderwall (Fluorescent Fuchsia Labyrinth),” interactive, sonic, outdoor installation by Andréa Stanislav. Open 24 hours a day. Through Sept. 18. Pelham Art Center, 155 Fifth Avenue. pelhamartcenter.org; (914) 738-2525. PORT CHESTER Clay Art Center “Two Vigiles,” Bruce Dehnert and Shawn O’Connor. Through Sept. 20. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Clay Art Center, 40 Beech Street. clayartcenter.org; (914) 937-2047. POUGHKEEPSIE The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge “Bridge Music,” sound installation by Joseph Bertolozzi. Daily, from dawn to dusk. Through Oct. 31. The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge. josephbertolozzi.com. POUGHKEEPSIE Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center “Faces and Figures in Self-Taught Art,” group show. Through Aug. 31. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 124 Raymond Avenue. (845) 437-5632; fllac.vassar.edu. POUND RIDGE Pound Ridge Public Library “Synthesis,” Kevin Dailey. Through Oct. 4. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pound Ridge Public Library, 271 Westchester Avenue. (914) 764-5085; poundridgelibrary.org. PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College “The Art of Zero: Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Günther Uecker and Friends.” Through Sept. 28. “When Modern Was Contemporary: The Roy R. Neuberger Collection.” Through Dec. 25. $3 to $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. (914) 251-6100; neuberger.org. RHINEBECK Betsy Jacaruso Studio and Gallery “Essence of the Valley,” Betsy Jacaruso and the Cross River Artists. Through Aug. 31. Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Betsy Jacaruso Studio and Gallery, 43 East Market Street. betsyjacarusoartist.com; (845) 516-4435. RHINEBECK Paper Trail Works on paper by Sandra Constantine. Through Aug. 29. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Paper Trail, 6423 Montgomery Street. papertrailrhinebeck.com; (845) 876-8050. SLEEPY HOLLOW Philipsburg Manor Tours of Kykuit, the Rockefeller family estate. House, sculptures, gardens and landscape. Through Nov. 9. $23 to $40. Philipsburg Manor, 381 North Broadway. (914) 631-8200; hudsonvalley.org. WHITE PLAINS White Plains Public Library Paintings by John Folchi. Through Aug. 31. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. White Plains Public Library, 100 Martine Avenue. whiteplainslibrary.org; (914) 422-1480. WOODSTOCK Byrdcliffe Kleinert/James Center for the Arts “Bash II,” group show. Through Sept. 1. Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. Byrdcliffe Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, 36 Tinker Street. (845) 679-2079; byrdcliffe.org. WOODSTOCK Galerie BMG “Elsewhere,” photographs by Kamil Vojnar. Retrospective exhibition of works by Norman Bacon. Also on view at the Sweetheart Gallery, 17 Cricket Ridge Road. Through Oct. 5. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Galerie BMG, 12 Tannery Brook Road. galeriebmg.com; (845) 679-0027. WOODSTOCK The Center for Photography at Woodstock “The Space Between: Redefining Public and Personal in Smartphone Photography,” group show. Through Aug. 31. Wednesdays through Mondays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. The Center for Photography at Woodstock, 59 Tinker Street. (845) 679-9957; cpw.org. WOODSTOCK WFG Gallery “re:Purpose,” group show. Through Sept. 14. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. WFG Gallery, 31 Mill Hill Road. (845) 679-6003; wfggallery.com. WOODSTOCK Woodstock School of Art “Angeloch Under Glass,” Robert H. Angeloch. Through Sept. 6. Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Woodstock School of Art, 2470 Route 212. (845) 679-2388; woodstockschoolofart.org. YONKERS Hudson River Museum “Lily Cox-Richard: Possessing Powers.” “Mandy Greer: The Ecstatic Moment.” Through Sept. 14. $3 to $6; members, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue. (914) 963-4550; hrm.org.


California: Blackouts Possible After Leak Hobbles Gas Facility

Abstract: A huge natural gas well blowout last year that crippled a major energy supply for Southern California could lead to blackouts in the region over 14 days this summer, state officials said Tuesday. State agencies that studied the effect of the partial shutdown of the Aliso Canyon gas storage field near Los Angeles proposed measures to prevent blackouts, but concluded they “will reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of gas shortages this summer that are large enough to cause electricity interruptions.” The report anticipated a typical summer without other supply problems. If the weather is hotter than usual or other problems crop up, the risk of blackouts will increase. The Southern California Gas Company facility is the largest natural gas storage area in the West. It provides gas to heat homes and businesses in winter and helps power electric plants in summer when demand spikes for air conditioning and other uses. The facility has not fully operated since the leak, which lasted about four months, was discovered in October. Officials are investigating the cause.

California
Blackouts
Natural gas
Southern California Gas


Hudson River Park Trust Plans Research and Education Center at Pier 26

Abstract: The Hudson River Park Trust has selected Clarkson University to oversee a new estuarium — a research and education center with a focus on river ecology — that is planned for Pier 26 in TriBeCa. Clarkson, based in Potsdam, N.Y., already runs the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries , some 50 miles up the Hudson River from the park. And the university will lead a consortium that includes the New York Hall of Science and the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater to devise and run programs at the future estuarium. “This will allow us to display our research activity on the river, and represents an opportunity to pull together a lot of interested parties who have worked on the Hudson River for years,” said Tony Collins, president of Clarkson. The center will occupy the end of the 840-foot pier, between North Moore and Hubert Streets. With a footprint of about 12,000 square feet, the estuarium will have instruments and sensors to collect data to monitor things like water quality and salinity from the river. While there will be some research activity, the center’s primary focus will be educational, with classrooms, a wet laboratory and exhibits. “We are in one of the largest estuaries in the United States, and people don’t realize that the lower Hudson is teeming with life,” said Madelyn Wils, the trust’s president. “There are 85 insects and birds in the park and 200 species of fish. It’s our mandate to teach about the environment here.” The Hudson River Park Trust, the public benefit corporation that oversees development and operations of the park, has secured about $10 million toward design and construction. The bulk of the funding came from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Image A view of Pier 26, in the background, on Thursday. Construction is expected to begin on the estuarium in 2017. Credit Karsten Moran for The New York Times Construction is expected to begin on the estuarium in 2017. Plans also call for a new deck and landscaping on Pier 26. The expectation is that Clearwater, which operates educational programs aboard a replica of a cargo sloop , will eventually berth at the pier. This summer a boathouse opened there, offering free kayaking to the public. Estuaries occur where freshwater and saltwater meet, producing especially rich habitats for fish and other marine life. The Hudson River estuary extends some 150 miles, from New York Harbor to Troy, N.Y. The announcement of Clarkson University’s role in the education center follows another major development for Hudson River Park , which is about 70 percent complete and has struggled financially in recent years. Last month, the trust announced that the billionaire Barry Diller would contribute money from his family’s foundation toward a futuristic park-within-the-park, to be built off the shoreline near 14th Street. The space will include three performance spaces and an amphitheater. The 2.4-acre park, to be known as Pier 55, would replace Pier 54, a narrow, crumbling structure. A spokeswoman for the trust said construction is expected to begin in 2016. But it is Pier 40, at Houston Street, which has hurt the trust’s finances in recent years. The thousands of steel pilings that hold up the 15-acre pier, which offers athletic fields and public parking, are badly deteriorated and require $100 million of rehabilitation work. In 2013, a plan to allow the trust to sell development rights in order to help pay for those repairs was approved by the State Legislature. The estuarium, along with Pier 55, would push the park closer to completion. The estuarium will also serve as a focal point for the many environmental and fishing programs that already take place in the park, which hosts 155 camp and school groups each year. The fact that Clarkson has agreed to finance the day-to-day activities at the estuarium was particularly attractive, given the trust’s financial troubles. “That’s a very important piece of this,” Ms. Wils said. “There are always lots of institutions who want to be part of something like this, but to get one that is going to actually pay for the operations is really fabulous.”

Hudson River Park Trust
Hudson River
River
Research
Clarkson University
College


A Consensus in Washington, but No Action

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project has friends in all the right places. Republicans and Democrats from Georgia’s often divided congressional delegation agree that it is essential and overdue. The Senate and House have separately approved it. President Obama supports it, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. traveled to the state last year to vow that “come hell or high water,” the work would get done. It has not even started. Instead, the $652 million project has become the latest emblem of Washington’s struggle to accomplish much of anything, even when all sides agree, and a vivid illustration of how the toxic political climate has made inertia the most powerful force in town. As Congress prepares to return from a two-week spring break on Monday, the capital is frozen in the shadow of the midterm elections, with large tasks such as revising the tax code dismissed with hardly a hearing. Major changes in immigration policy — approved by the Senate, embraced by the White House and endorsed in concept by House leaders — are going nowhere. Pressing subjects like climate change and a crumbling infrastructure are not being addressed. “It really speaks about the dysfunction of the process and the politicization of the process,” said former Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican who left Congress in 2008 , partly out of frustration with a broken system. “It’s a shame.” For a project all sides say they fervently want done, the port work in Savannah has prompted a lot of finger-pointing. Furious Georgia Republicans say the White House is slow-walking its authority to start the dredging work, and speculate not so subtly that the administration may be trying to deny Republicans a home-state accomplishment in the run-up to Georgia’s crucial Senate election. Not so fast, White House officials say, arguing that Republicans would normally want the administration to practice fiscal restraint by declining to commit money before Congress has acted definitively. If Congress would just do what it is supposed to do and pass a water projects bill, they say, the problem would be solved. Georgia lawmakers say they went to great lengths to include special language in the omnibus spending bill passed in January that would allow workers to begin deepening the harbor, to 50 feet from 42, while Congress finished a major water projects bill that remains tied up in House-Senate negotiations. The dredging is needed to accommodate larger ships that will soon begin traversing new locks along the Panama Canal. State officials say if the work does not begin soon, shippers may turn to other, more accessible ports along the Eastern Seaboard. Advocates of the port work had expected no problem, given the administration’s strong backing and the project’s obvious benefits: jobs, trade and overall economic stimulus. They said they were blindsided when the work was not included in the president’s budget. “We gave him the authority in the omnibus bill, specific language that was to be used to allow the Corps of Engineers to sign agreements,” said Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia. In a recent letter, the head of the Army Corps of Engineers told a Georgia lawmaker that while the provision in the omnibus bill was sufficient “as a legal matter” to allow the project to begin, administration policy prevented it because the project had grown in cost and scope since it was first considered in 1999. The administration says it is following well-established precedents in waiting for final congressional action on a project that has grown substantially in price. It says moving ahead prematurely could open the door to a flood of requests for special treatment. “This isn’t about politics,” said Steve Posner, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget. “It is about being fiscally responsible and ensuring that taxpayer resources only go to projects that have been fully reviewed and authorized by Congress. The administration fully supports the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project and urges Congress to pass a Water Resources Development Act that includes authorization for the project.” It is not lost on Democrats that Republicans, who often decry what they see as abuse of executive authority and have complained loudly when the administration has acted unilaterally in other cases, are now demanding that the president use his power to advance the project. Still, the White House’s decision to hold back prompted Representative Tom Graves, Republican of Georgia, to tell a Pentagon official at a recent hearing that “some would say the administration’s playing politics with this project.” One theory among Republicans is that the administration is retaliating for the decision by Georgia’s Republican governor, Nathan Deal, who skipped Mr. Biden’s appearance at the port, to block Georgia from participating in the health care law’s expansion of Medicaid and its state insurance exchanges. More, though, have suggested that the administration and congressional Democrats want to deny a victory to Georgia Republicans in the campaign for the state’s open Senate seat, which Democrats see as a rare pickup opportunity this year. “It is just remarkable,” Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia and a longtime advocate of the port expansion, said of the impasse. “You have the vice president 10 feet from the water saying, ‘Let’s do it,’ the president saying, ‘Let’s do it.’ And we have made it pretty dang clear this thing is a priority and needs to be done.” Mr. Kingston, who represents Savannah and helped push through the special omnibus bill language as a member of the Appropriations Committee, is among the candidates in the crowded Republican Senate primary. Beginning the dredging would be a victory for him and for other Republicans in Congress who have supported the project. “It’s possible,” Mr. Kingston said when asked if he saw a political calculation behind the administration’s stance. The future of the project now seems to rest on the fate of the Water Resources Development Act, which has moved slowly through Congress despite overwhelming support in both chambers. The Senate approved its version almost a year ago by a vote of 83-14, and the House voted 417-13 in October. In the past, public works bills with that kind of backing would have been quickly meshed, returned for a final approval and sent to the president’s desk for a signature, followed by a round of self-congratulatory news releases. But with the current focus on spending and the unwillingness of some Republicans in the House majority to support expensive bills, particularly in an election year, negotiators have moved deliberately, working to identify and eliminate any potential bombshells before returning a final bill for a vote. It is quite a change from a time, not so long ago, when both sides understood that bringing home federal largess was a ticket to re-election rather than an invitation to a primary challenge — a notion that now seems quaint. House and Senate negotiators hope to reach a final deal after lawmakers return next week and start advancing the agreement toward passage. Given the current state of legislative affairs, it could become one of the most significant measures passed this year by a Congress characterized by low productivity and lower expectations. Even Speaker John A. Boehner could not refrain on Thursday from chastising his colleagues for lacking the grit to take on difficult issues such as immigration. “We get elected to make choices,” Mr. Boehner told a Rotary club back home in Ohio. “We get elected to solve problems, and it’s remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don’t want to.”

Port
US Politics
Barack Obama
Savannah GA
Ships and Shipping


Denis McDonough

Abstract: As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of the Obama administration . Following is part of a series of profiles of potential members of the administration. Being considered for: A foreign policy position. Would bring to the job: A background in foreign policy, a working knowledge of Capitol Hill and a deep familiarity with Mr. Obama and his foreign policy thinking, having worked closely with him during the presidential campaign. On the campaign, Mr. McDonough helped synthesize the contributions of some 300 foreign policy advisers, divided into teams based on regions and issues, to assist Mr. Obama in formulating and articulating his foreign policy. Mr. McDonough was often dispatched to brief reporters about Mr. Obama’s positions. Is linked to Mr. Obama by: Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader. Before serving on the Obama campaign as a senior foreign policy adviser, Mr. McDonough was the foreign policy adviser to Mr. Daschle — a major early supporter of Mr. Obama — where he worked with several other aides who also went on to work for Mr. Obama. In his own words: “What Barack has said is that we can begin withdrawing our troops immediately, and he believes that we can do it at pace of about one to two combat brigades per month. And at that pace, we could get the remaining troops out in about 16 months. This is not an ironclad absolute commitment that at the end of 16 months all of our troops will be out. But he does believe that is the kind of pace that we can do responsibly and safely.” (Interview with NPR, June 2008.) Used to work as: An aide to the House International Relations Committee, where he focused on Latin America. He went on to work for Mr. Daschle, rising to senior foreign policy adviser, and became legislative director for Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado after Mr. Daschle’s re-election defeat. He was then a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic-leaning policy organization, before joining the Obama campaign. He played an integral role in the planning and execution of Mr. Obama’s trip abroad last summer. Carries as baggage: A lack of executive branch experience, which could make it difficult to navigate Washington’s high stakes world of foreign policy and national security. Biography: Born Dec. 2, 1969, in Stillwater, Minn.... graduated from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., and has a master’s from Georgetown University. ... played football in college. ... loves fishing. ... lives with his wife and three children in Maryland.

United States International Relations
Obama Barack
McDonough Denis
Presidential Election of 2008
United States Politics and Government


Rising Acidity Is Threatening Food Web of Oceans, Science Panel Says

Abstract: The oceans have long buffered the effects of climate change by absorbing a substantial portion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But this benefit has a catch: as the gas dissolves, it makes seawater more acidic. Now an international panel of marine scientists says this acidity is accelerating so fast it threatens the survival of coral reefs, shellfish and the marine food web generally. The panel, comprising 155 scientists from 26 countries and other international groups, is not the first to point to growing ocean acidity as an environmental threat. For example, a group of eminent scientists convened by The Nature Conservancy issued a similar assessment in August . But the new report’s blunt language and international backing give its assessment unusual force. It called for “urgent action” to sharply reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. “Severe damages are imminent,” the group said Friday in a statement summing up its deliberations at a symposium in Monaco last October. The statement, called the Monaco Declaration, said increasing acidity was interfering with the growth and health of shellfish and eating away at coral reefs, processes that would eventually affect marine food webs generally. Already, the group said, there have been detectable decreases in shellfish and shell weights, and interference with the growth of coral skeletons. Jeremy B. C. Jackson, a coral expert at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego who has no connection to the Monaco report, said “there is just no doubt” that the acidification of the oceans is a major problem. “Nobody really focused on it because we were all so worried about warming,” he said, “but it is very clear that acid is a major threat.” Carbon dioxide, principally from the burning of fossil fuels, is the major component of greenhouse gas emissions, which have risen steadily since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. Oceans absorb about a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions, the group said, but as the gas dissolves in the oceans it produces carbonic acid. The group says acidity of ocean surface waters has increased by 30 percent since the 17th century. “The chemistry is so fundamental and changes so rapid and severe that impacts on organisms appear unavoidable,” according to James Orr, who headed the symposium’s scientific committee. Dr. Orr is a chemical oceanographer at the Marine Environmental Laboratory in Monaco, an affiliate of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations body. According to the declaration, “ocean acidification may render most regions chemically inhospitable to coral reefs by 2050.” The group said that acidification could be controlled only by limiting future atmospheric levels of the gas. Other strategies, including “fertilizing” the oceans to encourage the growth of tiny marine plants that take up carbon dioxide, may actually make the problem worse in some regions, it said.

Oceans
Carbon Dioxide
Reefs
United Nations
Global Warming
Environment


Court Moves Up Verdict Announcement for Putin Critic

Abstract: MOSCOW — A court on Monday unexpectedly moved up the announcement of a verdict in a criminal case against one of Russia ’s most prominent political opposition leaders, Aleksei A. Navalny, saying the decision would be given on Tuesday morning rather than on Jan. 15. The abrupt date change raised the possibility that Mr. Navalny, who rose to prominence as an anticorruption activist and became a leading critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, would be handed a lengthy prison term just before New Year’s Eve, when many Russians are traveling or distracted by family obligations. The change in the hearing date also suggested that the government might be seeking to hinder any response by Mr. Navalny’s supporters, who had been planning a major rally near the Kremlin for the original day of the verdict. The government had taken steps to thwart their plans, in part by asking Facebook to ban a page promoting the event . The rally, which has not been approved by the government as required by law, has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday. A new Facebook page was created to promote the gathering and as of Monday evening had not been restricted. More than 33,000 people had posted on Facebook that they would attend the original rally. Tuesday is also expected to be the coldest day of the year so far in Moscow, with temperatures of 6 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning, and dropping even lower by the time the rally is expected to begin. Prosecutors have asked for a jail sentence of nine years should Mr. Navalny be convicted on charges that he and his brother, Oleg, defrauded a Russian subsidiary of the French perfume company Yves Rocher. The case is just one of several criminal prosecutions brought in recent years against Mr. Navalny, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Moscow in 2013. Navalny on Putin, Being Bugged and Revolution Aleksei A. Navalny rose to prominence as an anticorruption blogger with a special knack for turning a memorable phrase. Mr. Navalny announced that the hearing had been rescheduled in a post on his blog on Monday afternoon, saying he had just received word of it from his lawyer. In another case, Mr. Navalny was convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to five years in prison in July 2013. He was handcuffed in the courtroom, in the regional capital of Kirov, and then jailed overnight only to be unexpectedly released the next day after an appeal was granted . In the hours after his conviction, thousands of supporters gathered spontaneously near the Kremlin to denounce the verdict. The bizarre turn of events seemed to underscore the capricious nature of the Russian judicial system and the government’s treatment of Mr. Navalny, 38, who is married and has two young children. After being freed from prison that July, he was permitted to campaign for mayor of Moscow. His participation was viewed as useful to the Kremlin in portraying the election as legitimate, even though early elections had been called as a way of giving strong advantage to the Kremlin-backed incumbent, Sergei S. Sobyanin. Mr. Sobyanin won the race, but Mr. Navalny finished with more than 27 percent of the vote — a far better result than pollsters had predicted. An appellate judge later suspended Mr. Navalny’s five-year sentence in the Kirov case, but he was barred from traveling outside Moscow, and the conviction on felony charges was expected to prohibit him from running for political office again. In February, a Moscow judge ordered Mr. Navalny placed under house arrest , and he has been confined to his home since then.

Moscow
Russia
Yves Rocher
Aleksei Navalny
Political prisoner
Fraud
Decisions and Verdicts


Missouri Moves Closer to Joining SEC

Abstract: The University of Missouri is heading down a path to join the Southeastern Conference, said a university official with direct knowledge of the situation. The person said that Missouri’s decision to apply for membership to the SEC was “inevitable and imminent,” although a specific timeframe has yet to be set. Missouri’s Board of Curators will meet on Thursday and Friday at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where the process of withdrawing from the Big 12 and applying to the SEC is expected to begin. Expansion is not listed on the agenda, but there is a private session scheduled Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. After it applies, the person said that Missouri expected “no problems” with gathering enough votes among SEC presidents for it to become a member. Although the interim Big 12 commissioner, Chuck Neinas, said last week that he expected Missouri to play in the Big 12 still in 2012, it was possible that it could start play in the SEC as early as next year. Missouri would become the SEC’s 14th member; the league added Texas A&M in September. The SEC would prefer 14 members, as scheduling is a much simpler process with two seven-team divisions. It is expected that the SEC presidents will tie the same caveat about legal entanglements to Missouri’s application that they did to Texas A&M’s. The SEC has made it clear that it wants no part of any legal problems, which held up Texas A&M’s admission for more than a month. Missouri has emerged as an unlikely linchpin in expansion, considering it has never won a Big 12 title in football. But the futures of the Big 12, the SEC and the Big East were tied to Missouri’s decision. This news dampens some optimism for the Big East, which appeared to be gaining momentum toward reviving its football fortunes. The exits of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Texas Christian have the league struggling for survival, and Louisville and West Virginia are considered strong candidates, along with Brigham Young, for Big 12 expansion. The Big East has made it clear that it would like to add Boise State, Air Force and Navy in football and Central Florida, Southern Methodist and Houston in all sports. The potential problem for the Big East is that it needs stability to remain attractive to potential new members. Neinas said recently that if Missouri left, the Big 12 would settle at 10 or 12 teams. The Big 12 chairman Burns Hargis, the president of Oklahoma State, said Saturday that he would prefer a 12-team league, but acknowledged that his preference might not matter. The loss of Missouri would leave Big 12 membership at nine, meaning a likely expansion of one or three universities, prompting more uncertainty and shuffling on the collegiate landscape.

University of Missouri
Southeastern Conference
Football
College Athletics
Football (College)


Too Bad for Pirates, Connecticut Is Too Everything Else

Abstract: EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Feb. 11 - Continental Arena was a toasty retreat from the storm that began to sweep across the area Saturday night. But Seton Hall had to contend with blustery conditions of a different kind once its game against Connecticut began. The Huskies, ranked No. 1 in the nation, were bigger, quicker and deeper than the Pirates. They also played with a larger chip on their shoulder. After Marcus Williams made a 3-pointer late in the first half for UConn, he punched his fist in the air. It might as well have been a knockout blow, because Seton Hall never recovered. When the scoring blizzard ended at the buzzer, Connecticut had a 99-57 victory. It was the most lopsided conference victory ever for the Huskies, according to The Associated Press. UConn's previous record margin in a Big East game was an 86-49 victory against Boston College in 1989. Rashad Anderson and Rudy Gay each scored a game-high 18 points for Connecticut (22-1, 9-1 Big East). The Huskies led by 10 at halftime and put the game away with a 36-7 burst to start the second half. UConn won its 11th consecutive game and will head into Monday's much-anticipated contest at No. 4 Villanova with considerable momentum. The Huskies have not lost since their conference opener, Jan. 3 at Marquette. Connecticut continued another streak, beating Seton Hall for the fifth consecutive time and for the 19th time in 21 games. The Pirates (15-7, 6-4) entered the game on a high note, but their winning streak ended at six games. The program has lost all 10 times that it has played a top-ranked team. Donald Copeland, playing on his 22nd birthday, had 17 points and 7 assists for Seton Hall, and Jamar Nutter added 13 points. In the second half, Seton Hall experienced a scary episode when Nutter stole the ball at midcourt and drove to the lane for a one-handed dunk. Hilton Armstrong challenged Nutter, who missed the shot and landed on his lower back. A foul was called, but the damage had been done. Nutter had been a bright spot for the Pirates. He headed into the locker room for treatment and did not return. Seton Hall's hopes went with him. UConn opened a 39-point lead with 10 minutes remaining on a 3-pointer by Gay. Seton Hall had no answers on defense. In the second half, the Huskies scored on dunks, 3-pointers, layups and just about any other play one could imagine. Seton Hall kept it close early, but UConn closed the first half on a 17-7 run that included consecutive 3-pointers by Williams, the second of which quieted the crowd and was followed by his fist pumping. He finished with 15 points and 10 assists. Seton Hall was patient early , working the ball around to find shots. That opened things up in the lane for Kelly Whitney, whose layup 4 minutes into the first half gave the Pirates an 11-7 lead. But UConn went on one of its trademark runs, outscoring Seton Hall by 17-4 over the next seven and a half minutes. When Armstrong made a jumper in the lane, the Huskies led, 24-15. Copeland kept the Pirates in the game late in the first half with his shooting and his passing. About six minutes before halftime, he drove into the lane, and the defense collapsed around him. He threw the ball to Nutter, who hit an open 3-pointer on the left wing to trim UConn's lead to 26-24. A layup by Copeland tied the score moments later and capped an 11-2 burst. But UConn hit from the outside and gradually began to pull away. After Williams's back-to-back 3-pointers, four other Huskies players scored consecutively to give UConn a 40-31 lead late in the first half. When Armstrong made a free throw with 1 minute 26 seconds left in the half, UConn held its first double-digit lead, and went into halftime leading, 43-33. The Huskies then opened the second half with their offensive outburst. For Seton Hall fans, it probably felt colder inside than it did outside.

SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
BASKETBALL


Poseidon’s Warrior Wins Vanderbilt at Saratoga

Abstract: The long shot Poseidon’s Warrior held off Justin Phillip by a neck in deep stretch to score an upset in the Grade I Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga Race Course. Shackleford, winner of the 2011 Preakness and the Metropolitan Handicap this year, finished last of eight after breaking slowly.


Hot Line Connecting Koreas Returns to Service

Abstract: SEOUL, South Korea — An important diplomatic hot line connecting North and South Korea went back into service on Wednesday after a lapse of more than seven months. An official with the Unification Ministry in Seoul said the two sides spoke briefly on the line, which connects a government office on the North Korean side of the border with a corresponding office on the South Korean side in the so-called truce village of Panmunjom. The North shut down the three hot lines connecting the countries last May, as tensions grew over the March sinking of a South Korea warship. But the Panmunjom line, the most important, was never physically cut, the ministry official said Wednesday. And the hardware remained in place. “It worked,” the official said, who was not authorized to speak for attribution about the matter. “They just didn’t answer.” On Wednesday afternoon, however, when the North called, the South picked up. “We told them it was very important that this hot line keep working consistently,” said the official. Originally started as a way for Red Cross delegations to connect across the border, the line became the principal military and diplomatic communications link between the two Koreas. While the line was not in use, the Koreas left messages for each other at an unofficial office at the Kaesong Industrial Park, a jointly operated complex in the North where South Korean companies use North Korean workers. It was, essentially, diplomacy conducted through a drop box. A line connecting the principal international airports — Pyongyang in the North and Incheon in the South — was restored in October. That link is used for the routing of commercial air traffic. The third line, a maritime hot line established in 2004 after deadly naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002, remains shut off. The line came to be used primarily for the monitoring of commercial ship traffic, but it could have been put to use during the military confrontation that began in November with a deadly artillery exchange on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island. The Unification Ministry official also said Wednesday that North Korea had sent an official proposal for bilateral talks with the South — discussions on Feb. 9 concerning the Kaesong operation and on Feb. 11 about the resumption of South Korean tours to the Diamond Mountain resort in the North. Kaesong and Diamond Mountain are significant sources of hard currency for the impoverished North. The ministry official said the proposed talks were rejected. The South has said the North must first agree to discuss the sinking of the warship, the Cheonan , the shelling of Yeonpyeong, and its nuclear programs. “That,” the official said, “has to be the starting point.”

South Korea
North Korea
Cheonan (Ship)
International Relations


Harvard Medical School to Close Primate Research Center

Abstract: About 2,000 monkeys at a Harvard Medical School research center will be moved to other laboratories around the country as the school shuts down the troubled center, an official with the National Institutes of Health said Wednesday. The school announced Tuesday that it would close the facility, the New England Primate Research Center in Southborough, Mass., over the next two years. Harvard said financial uncertainties were behind the move, but the laboratory has been cited in recent years by the federal Department of Agriculture for failing to comply with the Animal Welfare Act, and four primates have died there since mid-2010. The center, which has operated for nearly half a century and has contributed to research on AIDS and other diseases, employs about 200 people, including research faculty and support staff. It is one of eight national primate research centers that, in all, received about $87 million from the National Institutes of Health last year. The N.I.H. official, Dr. James Anderson, a deputy director, said there were currently about 130 research projects at the Southborough center. N.I.H. officials, along with representatives from Harvard and the other national research centers, will review them case by case, he said. “They all work closely together; they know each other’s inventory,” Dr. Anderson said. “We’ll go through when and where to move the animals and projects.” According to a U.S.D.A. inspection report in November, the center has more than 1,500 rhesus macaques as well as smaller numbers of other species, including cotton-top tamarins, which are among the smallest primates and are less commonly used in research. “I think they’ll all find a place,” Dr. Anderson said. Harvard has said that none of the animals would be euthanized. “We are in the early stages and focusing our attention on working with our faculty, staff and the N.I.H. in order to assure a transition that is orderly and respectful to all concerned, including the animals,” Gina Vild, a spokeswoman for the medical school, said Wednesday. In announcing that it had opted not to seek to renew a five-year N.I.H. grant, the school said it had decided that “winding down” the laboratory’s operations “was more beneficial to the school than investing further resources.” Among the incidents that prompted U.S.D.A. action, in 2010 a cotton-top tamarin that apparently died of natural causes was found dead in a cage that had been sent through a sanitizing machine. In 2012, a tamarin had to be euthanized after it was found dehydrated because of a malfunctioning water bottle in its cage. The medical school revamped some laboratory procedures and made some staffing changes. The school disclosed to The Boston Globe last year that it had been put on probation by an international group that accredits animal-research programs; The Globe also reported on the plan to close the center. Chris Newcomer, director of the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International, said he thought there was no link between the animal-care problems cited and the school’s decision to close the center. “I think science is much too big to close it simply because the U.S.D.A. criticized it,” he said. “It’s a very big and significant scientific endeavor.” April D. Truitt, executive director of the Primate Rescue Center, a private sanctuary in Nicholasville, Ky., that is home to more than 50 monkeys and apes, said she was “a little skeptical” of Harvard’s claim that the closing had nothing to do with the animal-welfare violations. If the school wanted to put some or all of the monkeys in private sanctuaries, she said, there was plenty of room at facilities around the country. “It’s just a question of money,” she said.

Harvard Medical School
Closings
New England Primate Research Center
Monkeys and Apes
NIH
Animal Cruelty
Southborough Mass


United and City Cruise in England

Abstract: Manchester outclassed North London in a Premier League goals frenzy, with United thrashing Arsenal, 8-2, and City routing Tottenham, 5-1. Edin Dzeko scored four goals for City at White Hart Lane. Wayne Rooney responded with a hat trick at Old Trafford as Arsenal allowed eight goals in the league for the first time in 115 years. ¶ After a year of scandal that has rocked world soccer, the FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, said he would present detailed anticorruption reforms in October. Blatter said he would announce his reform agenda after an Oct. 20-21 meeting in Zurich.

Soccer
English Premier League
Manchester United
Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur
Arsenal (Soccer Team)
Tottenham Hotspur (Soccer Team)
Manchester City (Soccer Team)
Manchester United (Soccer Team)


China’s Stock Exchanges Crack Down on Short-Selling

Abstract: HONG KONG — Chinese stocks rebounded sharply on Tuesday after the government took further steps to rein in short-sellers. The main Shanghai share index closed 3.7 percent higher, reversing three days of losses, after the country’s two main stock exchanges said they would make it more difficult for investors to bet on falling share prices. In announcements late Monday, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges said that effective Tuesday, they would discontinue so-called same-day transaction settlements, in which trades are completed the day they are made, for short-sellers. They blamed the practice for causing “abnormal fluctuations in share prices and impacting the stable operation of the market.” Instead, such investors — who borrow shares and sell them in a bet they can be repurchased at a lower price before they must be returned — will be required to keep their trading positions open overnight and can settle the trade only the following day. The sharp rise and fall of China’s markets in recent months has clearly been shaped by record levels of margin financing, in which investors borrow money to buy shares. But the impact of short-selling has been less clear. Outstanding margin financing peaked in mid-June at 2.3 trillion renminbi, or about $370 billion, according to figures from Wind Info, a financial data supplier. Short-selling volumes peaked in April at a much lower level, about 10.3 billion renminbi, and have declined in a choppy fashion since then. As of Friday, outstanding margin financing totaled 440 billion renminbi. Short-selling volumes, measured by the value of shares on loan, were 4.9 billion renminbi. Guide to China’s Market Turmoil The Chinese stock market rout has prompted the country’s government to act aggressively to stop the slide. Responding to the announcement on Tuesday, several of China’s major brokerages, including Citic Securities, the largest, said they would suspend their short-selling services. In a statement Tuesday evening, the People’s Bank of China reiterated recent pledges to continue supporting the markets, having committed last month to underwriting a government-backed program of stock purchases worth at least $20 billion. “We will pay heed to the stability of financial markets, and stand ready to dissolve risks,” the bank said. China’s leaders are now one month into an all-out campaign to halt losses on the country’s share markets, which have plunged sharply despite efforts that have included direct and indirect state purchases of shares, and bans on major shareholders’ selling their stakes in companies. Market regulators and the police have also pledged to curb what they said was “malicious” short-selling, without elaborating on what that might mean. From their peak in mid-June, Chinese stocks have declined by about a third, shedding more than $3 trillion in market value. The announcement this week by the stock exchanges and big brokerages of new curbs on short-selling comes as China’s securities regulator has placed increased scrutiny on automated or computer-driven trading strategies. As a part of this increased supervision, it has suspended more than 30 accounts linked to electronic trading, including one belonging to the securities arm of Citadel , the big American hedge fund group. On Tuesday, the broker handling the suspended Citadel account, Guosen Securities, issued a statement saying it would “strengthen the management” of its trading business and work together with Chinese regulators in order “to firmly support the stability of the capital market.”

China
Stocks,Bonds
Short Selling
Regulation and Deregulation


Pennsylvania: New Inquiry Into Questionable Emails

Abstract: A team of Washington lawyers will comb through thousands of emails on government computers in an independent review of pornographic and other objectionable content shared among judges, prosecutors and others, Attorney General Kathleen Kane said on Tuesday. Ms. Kane said the team will be led by Doug Gansler, a fellow Democrat and former Maryland attorney general. Ms. Kane discovered email exchanges that she described as offensive last year, when an outside lawyer reviewed how the office had handled the child sexual abuse investigation of Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach at Pennsylvania State University. She has disclosed thousands of the emails to reporters and disciplined dozens of people inside the agency. Ms. Kane is running her agency without a law license, as the State Supreme Court suspended it last month while she awaits trial on charges that she leaked grand jury material to a newspaper and lied about it.

Pennsylvania
Email
Lawyers
Attorney general
Kathleen G Kane
Pornography
Rape


Ear Bones of Ancestors Are Like Those of Modern Humans

Abstract: Our very early ancestors possessed bones in the middle ear very similar to those of modern humans, researchers are reporting . The finding suggests that hearing sensitivity is one of the oldest features of human evolution. Such changes could have had a profound effect not only on what these hominins could hear, but how they communicated. Paleoanthropologists from Binghamton University in New York analyzed the tiny middle-ear bones of two hominins from South Africa, Paranthropus robustus (which lived 1.8 million years ago) and Australopithecus africanus (3.3 million to 2.1 million years ago). While some of the bones were similar to those in chimpanzees, both specimens had a malleus, the hammerlike bone attached to the eardrum, that resembled that of modern humans. “That implies it is something they inherited from their last common ancestor, meaning it probably occurred fairly early in the human evolutionary line,” said Rolf M. Quam, an assistant professor of anthropology at Binghamton. “This may have been one of the earliest human features to show up.” The research was published last week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Humans are known to have a distinct auditory range among primates, with particular sensitivity between 2 and 4 kilohertz. And earlier studies have shown that the size and shape of middle-ear bones do have an effect on what primates can hear. Nonetheless, “it’s hard to say a whole lot about hearing” from a single bone, Dr. Quam said. “All we can really say is these bones are consistent with a slightly different hearing pattern,” he added. More study will be needed to determine whether hominins actually had the hearing that may have helped modern humans develop language.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America