Muslim American Artists Strive to Bridge a Chasm

Abstract: When Wajahat Ali, a young Muslim American playwright from Fremont, needed to build an audience for his work, he produced his plays in cramped Pakistani restaurants in the East Bay and used Facebook to get the word out. His play “The Domestic Crusaders” went on to open at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in 2005, and then moved to Off Broadway. Now, family members who were initially skeptical of Mr. Ali’s decision to pursue writing see great power in his profession. Mr. Ali said his uncle had told him that he wished he had “made his son into a journalist,” because “after 30 years of living in this country, I turn on the TV and see myself as a terrorist.” Mr. Ali is one of a growing number of Bay Area artists who are reimagining one of the country’s most complicated compound identities: Muslim American. At a time when Islam has been heavily politicized, many Muslim artists say they hope the arts can expand understanding of their faith among non-Muslims as well as bridge American and Islamic traditions. “We’re at a point where Islam is really being defined in this country, and it’s going to be through the arts,” said Javed Ali, founder of Illume, a Muslim online news, arts and culture magazine based in Newark that serves as one of the central nodes of the Bay Area Muslim American network. Bay Area Islamic organizations, including the much-heralded Zaytuna College in Berkeley, have embraced the shift toward culture. In January, the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California will open a new gallery in the center to showcase Muslim artists. The cultural center, in Oakland, decided to increase its arts programs six months ago, said Ali Sheikholeslami, its executive director. The center regularly hosts an event called “Islam and Authors,” which invites authors to discuss topics related to Islam. “We want to break through common stereotypes and present the whole spectrum of Muslim reality,” said the cultural center’s marketing and development director, Jason van Boom. Hatem Bazian, one of the Islamic scholars behind Zaytuna College, the first Muslim liberal arts institution in this country, echoed that thought. “In American society,” Mr. Bazian said, “artistic expression is the way we narrate our story, so Muslims are beginning to draw their own narrative.” The Bay Area’s Muslim population, estimated to be 250,000, is one of the most diverse in the United States. Mr. Bazian, who is also a senior lecturer at the departments of Near Eastern and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, said the wide mix of ethnicities and large number of converts in the Bay Area’s Muslim population “creates synergies” that can be seen in new art forms that break ethnic molds. Some local artists have taken an online entrepreneurial approach to Islam. Khadija O’Connell, a Hayward resident, started her Web-based arts and craft business, Barakah Life, in 2003 as a way to bring a modern, handcrafted aesthetic to Muslim items most commonly found in gaudy, imported styles. Ms. O’Connell relies on online tools like blogging and Facebook to promote ideas like her pop-up crescent moon cards that would look at home on the popular crafts site Etsy. “People used to adapt neutral Christmas ornaments, like stars, and hang them up for Ramadan,” recalled Ms. O’Connell, who converted to Islam in college. “I wanted to bring new traditions to Muslims living in the West.” For local Muslim American artists whose art has been deemed “radical” by more conservative Muslims, the road has not been an easy one. Audience members walked out of an early November U.C. Berkeley performance of the play “Hijabi Monologues,” which features the stories of Muslim women and contains sexual references. “I’ve spent more time and energy negotiating with the community whether music is haraam [“forbidden”] than putting out content,” said Anas Canon, a convert and the founder of the record label and Muslim artist collective Remarkable Current, which includes the Bay Area MC/spoken word artist Baraka Blue. The label’s music ranges from soul to hip hop and has collaborated with artists such as Mos Def. When Remarkable Current, which is based in both Oakland and Los Angeles, recently held a masquerade-themed book-signing with a D.J. in an Oakland home, debate erupted online ostensibly over men and women in costumes interacting together. An impassioned Facebook note condemning the event unleashed heated comments from Muslims across the Bay Area. In the wake of controversies like the one over a proposed Muslim cultural center near ground zero in New York City, some second-generation Muslims’ art is tinged with a sense of urgency. “Our narrative has been stolen from us,” Wajahat Ali said, referring to the common depiction of Muslims in the American news media. The tendency of his parents’ generation to push their children to prestigious professions like medicine and business discouraged creative voices, he said. But Bay Area Muslim artists are fast creating new narratives. Mr. Ali’s play, which depicts a modern Pakistani-American family, is featured in McSweeney’s literary magazine this month. For many years, Mr. Ali said, he had described the local arts scene as “latent, with a heartbeat.” But now, he said, “it’s dancing.”

Art
Islam
Ali Wajahat
Muslim-Americans
Writing and Writers
Culture (Arts)
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif)


Georgia: Ruling on Water Favors Atlanta

Abstract: The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling that would have significantly restricted withdrawals from Lake Lanier, the main source of water for metro Atlanta, starting next year. The United States Army Corps of Engineers must decide whether Atlanta can get more water before the legal action proceeds. Alabama and Florida have argued that Atlanta’s consumption leaves too little water for their communities downstream.


Charming Italian, and That’s the Truth

Abstract: LIARS take their chances when they put their hands in the Bocca della Verità (“mouth of truth”) in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. The open mouth on a giant face — the design thought to grace an ancient manhole cover — supposedly will clamp down on the hand of the dissembler. While the logo of La Bocca, a new restaurant in White Plains, includes this Roman tourist attraction, the only truth that Tony Spiritoso, the restaurant’s owner and chef, aspires to is filling the mouths of his guests with food that is true to his Italian roots. The restaurant has been open for eight months, and although service once bumpy is now smoothed, several dishes could still use polish. Served to every table, caponata, however, was not one of them. Perfectly seasoned, this teasingly piquant mix of eggplant, olives, onion and tomato went fast, as guests at our table spooned every last bit onto grilled slices of husky bread. Items on a standout appetizer course included an antipasti table laden with dishes offering the “sapori d’Italia” (flavors of Italy). Particularly impressive was the array of silken, dewy cold meats, among them mortadella, two kinds of pancetta, soppressata, prosciutto and capicola. Mozzarella, Parmigiano-reggiano, creamy Gorgonzola, bruschetta, slices of bread called carta da musica (which were in fact thin as a sheet of music ) and various marinated vegetables (including artichokes, broccoli rabe, cauliflower and eggplant) filled in any gaps on the table. The assortment changes daily. Some other starters were just as pleasing, including three sea scallops wrapped in prosciutto, broiled and served atop asparagus spears; and carpaccio of impossibly thin slices of octopus circling a center of bright chopped radicchio. Balsamic dressing put the finishing touch on another carpaccio, this one of tasty raw beef filet and fresh baby arugula, the lot showered with shavings of Parmesan. However, a salad of frisee (insalata deliziosa) was a major disappointment; the barely dressed greens came with awful deep-fried cubes of overly salted, oily ham. Pasta dishes were worth a try. A brilliant combination brought together supple pappardelle and a delicious, slightly smoky cream sauce bobbing with earthy porcini and domestic mushrooms. But big pearls of gnocchi cremosi came in a bland sauce of cream, bits of pear and sweet Gorgonzola. A pungent, aged Gorgonzola would have given the dish needed zing. A few of the entrees were quite successful, like jumbo shrimp ubriachi (drunken), a delightful dish that presented the curled shrimp — sautéed with prosecco — on a bed of pale green risotto. Shrimp gratinati, however, had an off-putting iodine flavor. Cacciucco di mare, a seafood stew, was stocked generously with shrimp, clams, lobster tail, scallops and mussels, all nicely cooked in a fresh tomato sauce. One evening’s special, barramundi, however, was mushy and bland. Grilled bistecca alla Fiorentina, which comes with roasted fingerlings, goes for $45, but take home half of this tender, tasty 20-ounce porterhouse and you’ll have lunches for the next few days. A salad usually tops this steak, but if the diner prefers, the baby arugula under shavings of Parmesan will be served on the side. A dreamy dessert of warmed apple tart with a delicate crust should not be missed. To judge from the hazelnut and cinnamon, ice creams were also top notch. Molten chocolate cake will please diners who like gooey chocolate. Tiramisù of ho-hum layered creams had little interest. Surrounded by mega-restaurants, this charming ristorante and bar offers a cozier, more intimate venue. A glass of Barolo along with a plate of antipasti is reason enough to stop by. La Bocca Ristorante 8 Church Street White Plains (914) 948-3281 www.laboccaristorante.com GOOD THE SPACE A neat, lively bar at the entrance leads to an antipasti table and a long, narrow dining room done in warm earthy tones. Romanesque arches and the stone-block wall design lend a frankly fake antique look. High noise level. Helpful, attentive service. THE CROWD Mainly adult, from the neighborhood and, especially on weeknights, from the surrounding business offices. THE BAR Wine list of mostly Italian bottles with a nice selection in the midprice range. Decent wines by the glass from $9 to $15. THE BILL Lunch: entrees, $15 to $25; $10 to $14 for pasta or panini. Dinner: entrees, $17 to $35; $45 for a 20-ounce porterhouse. WHAT WE LIKE Antipasti selection (sapori d’Italia), scallops (capesante) wrapped in prosciutto, carpaccio of beef, carpaccio of octopus; pappardelle with porcini (alla Bocca), shrimp ubriachi (drunken shrimp), sautéed seafood assortment (cacciucco de mare), bistecca alla Fiorentina; warm apple tart, hazelnut and cinnamon ice creams. IF YOU GO Lunch: Monday to Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Dinner: Monday to Saturday, 5:30 to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 1 to 10 p.m. Reviewed May 25, 2008

Restaurants
Seafood
White Plains (NY)
Cooking and Cookbooks


Obama Sees ‘Game Changer’ if Syria Chemical Arms Were Used

Abstract: JERUSALEM — Showing solidarity with Israel’s growing concern about chemical weapons in neighboring Syria, President Obama stated bluntly on Wednesday that if an investigation he had ordered found proof that the Syrian military had used such weapons it would be a “game changer” in American involvement in the civil war there. On the first day of his first trip to Israel as president, in which Israeli officials stated their own conclusion that chemical weapons had been used in an attack on Tuesday in Syria, Mr. Obama’s remarks represented both an effort to warn the Syrian government of the consequences of using its chemical arsenal and to signal his administration’s support for Israel, the central point of his visit. American officials reiterated that they did not have independent evidence that chemical weapons had been used, and the president made clear that it would require proof gathered by investigators before he would come to any conclusions. Mr. Obama, while vocal in his opposition to the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, has been reluctant to involve American forces in support of the opposition. Presidential aides made clear that he was not signaling any change in that regard. But Mr. Obama’s remarks, in which he pointedly left open the possibility that President Assad’s government had used chemical weapons — and all but ruled out Mr. Assad’s assertions that insurgents had used them — were unusually strong in tone. “Once we establish the facts, I have made clear that the use of chemical weapons is a game changer,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Again and again during his visit, Mr. Obama signaled that the United States and Israel were partners on a broad range of issues, reinforcing their historic alliance and America’s stated commitment to protect Israeli security. Mr. Obama pointedly emphasized his administration’s pledge to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, one of Mr. Netanyahu’s greatest fears. But concern about chemical weapons in Syria were a major focus of the day. Two senior ministers in Israel’s new cabinet said publicly on Wednesday that chemical weapons had been used, and several government officials said in interviews that Israel had credible evidence of an attack. The ministers, Tzipi Livni and Yuval Steinetz, were among those who met with Mr. Obama here on the first day of his trip. A senior American official, however, said Mr. Netanyahu had not presented conclusive evidence of an attack in his closed-door discussions with Mr. Obama. The president’s words might have been intended to reassure Mr. Netanyahu, who has long feared that Mr. Assad’s stockpiles of chemical weapons could be used against Israelis. In Washington, the American ambassador to Syria, Robert S. Ford, testified before Congress that the United States still did not have proof that the weapons had been used. But he added, “We take these reports and these possibilities very seriously.” Mr. Obama’s remarks were his first public reaction to the reports on Tuesday that chemical weapons had been used. They seemed calculated, in part, to counter claims by both the Syrian government and its major supporter, Russia, that opposition forces had mounted a chemical attack against the government. “We intend to investigate thoroughly exactly what happened,” Mr. Obama said. “I’ve instructed my teams to find out precisely what happened, what we can document, what we can prove.” While Mr. Obama cautioned that he did not have all the facts, he said, “We know the Syrian government has the capacity to carry out chemical attacks” and that he was “deeply skeptical of any claim that it was the opposition that used chemical weapons.” Israeli officials provided no proof of their assertions but appeared more confident that chemical weapons had been used. Ms. Livni, the new Israeli justice minister, said in an interview with CNN, “It’s clear for us here in Israel that it’s being used,” adding, “This, I believe, should be on the table in the discussions.” Image A rebel fighter aimed through a hole during fighting in Aleppo on Wednesday. Israeli officials said evidence suggested chemical arms have been used in the war. Credit Reuters Mr. Steinetz, the minister for strategic affairs, said on Israel’s Army Radio, “It’s apparently clear that chemical weapons have been used against civilians by the rebels or the government.” Two senior Israeli officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, said that Israel was sure that chemicals were used, but did not have details about what type of weapons were used, where they came from, when they were deployed, or by whom. A third senior official, also refusing to be identified, said, “It is possible that chemical weapons were used, or some concoction of chemical substances,” but he said he had not “seen clear confirmation.” Mr. Obama spoke after both the Syrian opposition and the government escalated accusations of chemical weapons use, with both sides demanding an international investigation. The National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the umbrella political group that wants to topple Mr. Assad, said in a statement that it “condemns these attacks and holds the Assad regime fully responsible for shedding Syrian blood.” The group said the attacks killed at least 19 civilians and left 69 others short of breath, with some in critical condition. The coalition accused government forces of carrying out two chemical weapons attacks on Tuesday — one in the Khan al-Assal area of northern Aleppo Province, as originally asserted, and a second strike in the Ataybah area of suburban Damascus. Ambassador Ford, in his testimony, also said that the United States was investigating reports of attacks in the north, and in the suburbs of Damascus. Fears about Syria’s growing instability are shadowing Mr. Obama on each stop of this trip. On Thursday, he is to visit the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who is expected to raise worries about the plight of Palestinians in Syria. On Friday, he is scheduled to meet King Abdullah in Jordan, which has been flooded with Syrian refugees. At the United Nations, the Syrian ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, told reporters that his government had also requested an official inquiry to corroborate its claims that insurgents — not government forces — had used the weapons. Mr. Jaafari said he had delivered a letter to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s office seeking a “specialized, independent and neutral technical mission to investigate the use by the terrorist groups operating in Syria of chemical weapons yesterday against civilians.” Mr. Ban’s spokesman, Martin Nesirky, said the request was under study. Mr. Nesirky also repeated Mr. Ban’s reaction to the first allegations of chemical weapons use on Tuesday, saying, “The secretary general remains convinced that the use of chemical weapons by any party under any circumstances would constitute an outrageous crime.” The chemical weapons issue quickly became entangled in the longstanding, sharp divisions on Syria in the United Nations Security Council, between Russia and those Western states opposed to the Damascus government. In a Security Council debate, France said the United Nations should investigate the opposition’s accusations that chemical weapons were used by the government not just in the Aleppo area but also at the second site, in the Damascus suburbs. Russia accused the West of trying to create a diversion, an accusation echoed by the Syrian envoy. The Russian envoy, Vitaly I. Churkin, said the United States, France and others were engaged in “delaying tactics,” for raising the allegation of a second site and for demands like humanitarian access to treat any victims. “Instead of launching those propaganda balloons it is better to get our focus right,” Mr. Churkin said. The Western demands, he said, echoed inspections instituted against Iraq more than a decade ago, which failed to find any chemical weapons. Mr. Churkin also said he would not put it past the opposition to fake a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian government because it knows their use might well prompt international intervention. The Syrian ambassador seconded that possibility. The French envoy, Gerard Araud, sarcastically referring to Mr. Churkin’s summary of the council debate as “fascinating,” said France and its allies wanted the United Nations to investigate all possible incidents.


Roger D. Fisher, Expert in ‘Getting to Yes,’ Dies at 90

Abstract: Roger D. Fisher, a Harvard law professor who was a co-author of the 1981 best seller “Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In” and whose expertise in resolving conflicts led to a role in drafting the Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel and in ending apartheid in South Africa, died on Saturday in Hanover, N.H. He was 90. The cause was complications of dementia, his son Elliott said. Over his career, Professor Fisher eagerly brought his optimistic can-do brand of problem solving to a broad array of conflicts across the globe, from the hostage crisis in Iran to the civil war in El Salvador. His emphasis was always on addressing the mutual interests of the disputing parties instead of what separated them. As he would tell his students, “Peace is not a piece of paper, but a way of dealing with conflict when it arises.” It did not matter to Professor Fisher whether the warring parties reached out to him or not; he would assume they needed his help. “Most of the time he was not invited. He would invite himself,” Elliott Fisher said. “Our sense growing up was that he would read the newspaper and think, ‘Oh, shoot, there is something to fix.’ ” For example, when a rebel group took hostages at the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru, in 1997, his son recalled, Professor Fisher found a way to contact the president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, and gave him suggestions for how to dampen the sense of crisis, including restoration of the power and water in the embassy. This strategy won the freedom of the majority of the hostages. In the end, however, Peruvian forces stormed the embassy, killing all 14 of the rebels and rescuing all but one of the 72 remaining hostages. Professor Fisher is credited with helping initiate the summit meeting between the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan in 1985, convincing Reagan staff members that just meeting to brainstorm and build relations was more important than settling a specific agenda. In 1979, Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance went to Professor Fisher’s house on Martha’s Vineyard before the meeting at Camp David that would lead to a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel . Professor Fisher suggested to Mr. Vance the “single negotiating text” method that was used to bring the parties together, said Bruce M. Patton, who wrote “Getting to Yes” with Professor Fisher and worked on many diplomatic projects with him. The strategy involved having President Jimmy Carter alone be responsible for writing solutions and letting the other leaders shape the treaty through a back-and-forth critiquing process. In 1991 in South Africa, Professor Fisher and former students led workshops with both the Afrikaner cabinet and the African National Congress negotiating committee leading into talks to end apartheid and to establish a new constitution. His upbeat approach to some of the world’s most intractable problems led some critics to assert that he was unrealistic. But Mr. Patton said Professor Fisher recognized and relished the “complexity and irrationality” of the situations he addressed. Although Professor Fisher mostly worked behind the scenes, he did create and moderate a series on public television called “The Advocates.” A court-style program that took on one policy issue at a time and examined it in detail from different perspectives, it ran for several years on PBS and won a Peabody Award. “Getting to Yes,” which he wrote with Mr. Patton and William Ury, has sold millions of copies and been translated into 36 languages, and has been used by leaders in business and government. Professor Fisher also wrote other books and co-founded the Harvard Negotiation Project , which teaches conflict resolution skills to students and to international parties in the midst of a dispute. Roger Dummer Fisher was born May 28, 1922, in Winnetka, Ill. His mother, Katharine Dummer Fisher, had relatives who had ridden the law circuit with Abraham Lincoln; his father, William T. Fisher, a lawyer, was the son of Walter L. Fisher, secretary of the interior in the Taft administration. On the eve of World War II , Professor Fisher attended Harvard University. Upon graduating he volunteered for the Army, where he served from 1942 to 1946 doing weather reconnaissance in both the North Atlantic and Pacific theaters. Four of his eight college roommates died in combat; that, as well as seeing the aftermath of battle, persuaded him to dedicate his life to helping avoid war. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1948, he served on the Marshall Plan staff and as assistant to the solicitor general in the Eisenhower administration before joining the Harvard law faculty in 1960. In addition to his son Elliott, Professor Fisher is survived by another son, Peter; two brothers, John and Frank; and five grandchildren. His wife of 62 years, the former Caroline Speer, died two years ago. Professor Fisher stayed active in advising diplomats until about seven years ago, when illness made him too weak. His constant advocacy was a force many of his friends found comforting. His family recalled that when Professor Fisher celebrated his 80th birthday, his colleague John Kenneth Galbraith toasted him by saying, “Whenever I thought, ‘Someone should do something about this,’ it eased my conscience to learn that Roger was already working on it.”

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Book)


G.O.P., Lacking Unity, Clings to Budget Goals

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Conservative governors are signing on to provisions of what they once derisively dismissed as Obamacare. Prominent Senate Republicans are taking positions on immigration that would have gotten the party’s presidential candidates hooted off the debate stage during last year’s primaries. Same-sex marriage has gone from being a reliable motivator for the conservative base to gaining broad acceptance . Republican lawmakers are so fearful of social issues, in fact, that House leaders ignored intense objections from conservatives last week and allowed the passage of Democratic legislation on domestic and sexual violence against women. All of which helps explain why Speaker John A. Boehner and Congressional Republicans have been so intent on facing down President Obama in their budget dispute. Aware that conservatives could never accept a second round of tax increases this year — and that compromising with Mr. Obama on his terms would lead to party divisions far deeper than those that have emerged so far — Republicans judged that the better course was to take on the economic and political risks associated with the automatic spending cuts that took effect on Friday. “I’m going to say it one more time,” Mr. Boehner said Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “The president got his tax hikes on January the First. The issue here is spending. Spending is out of control.” Four months after Mr. Obama won a second term, the only issue that truly unites Republicans is a commitment to shrinking the federal government through spending cuts, low taxes and less regulation. To have compromised again and agreed to further increase taxes or roll back spending cuts would have left Republicans deeply split and, many of them say, at risk of losing the core of the party’s identity. “If the voters can’t rely on us to stand up to the runaway train of entitlements and deficits and federal debt, what can they count on us for?” said David Kochel, a Republican consultant in Iowa. “We’re going to have disagreements on other issues. This is one we have to agree on.” One of the most striking characteristics about the political climate in the months since Mr. Obama’s re-election is that on issue after issue, it is no longer entirely clear what it means to be a Republican. The party is more divided than ever on domestic policy, and a debate is breaking out over how best to invigorate the conservative movement. Image John A. Boehner still seeks lower tax rates. “Spending is out of control,” he said on “Meet the Press.” Credit Alex Wong/Getty Images In that sense, the budget showdown is not just about cutting $85 billion out of government spending over the next seven months. It is, to many conservatives, about showing that Republicans still have the will, the leadership and the public support to use this moment to halt, or at least slow, an ideological pendulum swing from the right, where the nation seemed to be heading after the 2010 midterm elections, to the left, after the 2012 campaign. “The sequester and winning that fight — however you define what winning means — is critical for the party,” said Ralph Reed , the social conservative leader. There are risks for Republicans in taking a hard line on the spending cuts, especially if the unemployment rate jumps and the economy slows. Democrats are highlighting estimates by the Congressional Budget Office that the fiscal cutbacks could leave the economy with 750,000 fewer jobs this year. And they are warning that while the effects will play out slowly, the cuts will eventually hit voters in noticeable ways. “I don’t see how ‘I’m fine with the sequester’ differs from ‘I’m fine with slower growth and continued high unemployment, or longer delays at airports, fewer Head Start slots, furloughs among civilian D.O.D. folks’ and so on,” said Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., referring to the Department of Defense. Mr. Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research group, said that as the cuts became real, they would “deeply discredit” those who foster the idea that government spending is inherently wasteful and that there is no tangible cost to reducing it. But to the degree that Mr. Boehner has prevailed in the first round of the current fight — the struggles over the across-the-board cuts and longer-term questions about addressing the national debt will go on for months and years — it could not have come at a better time for the morale of Republicans. In the view of some conservative commentators, the Republican Party and the conservative movement are at one of their lowest points in years — “leaderless and nearly issueless,” as Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, wrote last week in an opinion article for Politico that set off debate in the party. With the party divided on so many other fronts, feelings are running especially high when it comes to holding the line on taxes. Conservatives are excoriating Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia, a Republican, for championing a tax increase to pay for transportation projects. Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth, a group that is critical of Republicans it considers to be insufficiently conservative on fiscal policy, said: “Republicans have not had a hard time convincing the base they are conservative enough on social issues. They have had a hard time convincing the base they are sincere on economic issues because they have grown the government.” The internal divisions after the party’s fourth loss in the last six presidential elections and the recognition that inexorable demographic shifts are working against a reliance on its traditional base have set off the most fundamental debate since the Reagan years about the future of conservatism. Image President Obama after meeting with John A. Boehner on Friday, the day the cuts took effect. Credit Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Liberals dismiss the exercise as a sham intended to distract attention from enduring ties between wealthy interests and conservative policy and politicians. That is a point implicitly recognized by many Republicans, who are looking for ways to defend the party’s small-government philosophy without being portrayed by Democrats as imprudently abstemious and against middle-class interests. They are starting to talk about focusing less on reductions in marginal income tax rates — long the primary goal of Reagan-era supply-siders — and more on tax changes, like increasing the child credit or reducing payroll taxes, that would more directly address the stagnation in middle-class incomes and growing inequality. Portraying deficit reduction as an end unto itself, Mr. Reed said, would miss an opportunity for Republicans to connect with voters who are concerned about their families and neighborhoods. “There’s a danger if the Republican Party is only seen as the party that cuts government spending, because that is a necessary but insufficient rationale for a majority party,” he said. In an article in Commentary titled “How to Save the Republican Party,” two veterans of President George W. Bush’s White House, Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, said the party could rebuild itself with a social mobility agenda that extends beyond low taxes, cutting back tax breaks for corporations, breaking up big banks, helping poor people reach and graduate from college, and improving health care for children. “Rather than being exclusively focused on budget numbers or individual economic rights, Republicans would be demonstrating a limited but active role for government: helping individuals attain the skills and values — the social capital — that allow them to succeed in a free economy,” they wrote. For now, the debate about the future of the party remains detached from legislative politics. Mr. Boehner has more than enough trouble navigating the demands of various stripes of conservatives on a daily basis without introducing a more activist strain of policy into the Republican agenda. In talking about taxes, he continues to emphasize reducing income tax rates. But with the automatic budget cuts likely to remain in force for some time, if not permanently, attention in Washington will shift to long-term budget plans to be introduced in the coming weeks by Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee last year, and Senate Democrats and Mr. Obama. It is those documents that provide both sides with their best opportunity to define for voters what they will stand for over the remainder of Mr. Obama’s presidency and beyond.

Republicans
Tax
Income tax
Federal Budget
John Boehner
US Politics
Federal Taxes
US Economy


Obama Reverses Key Bush Security Policies

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President Obama reversed the most disputed counterterrorism policies of the Bush administration on Thursday, declaring that “our ideals give us the strength and moral high ground” in the fight against Al Qaeda. But Mr. Obama postponed for months decisions on complex questions the United States has been grappling with since the terrorist attacks of 2001. Mr. Obama signed executive orders closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay , Cuba, within a year; ending the Central Intelligence Agency ’s secret prisons; and requiring all interrogations to follow the noncoercive methods of the Army Field Manual. “We intend to win this fight,” he said. “We are going to win it on our own terms.” His actions on the second full day of his presidency won praise from human rights groups and Democrats in Congress, who said the new policies would help restore the United States’ moral authority. Mr. Obama invited to the signing ceremony 16 retired generals and admirals who had spoken out against what they called torture. Their passionate appeal to end harsh interrogations “made an extraordinary impression on me,” he said. Mr. Obama’s orders struck a powerful new tone and represented an important first step toward rewriting American rules for dealing with terrorism suspects. But only his decision to halt for now the military trials under way at Guantánamo Bay seemed likely to have immediate practical significance, with other critical policy choices to be resolved by task forces set up within the administration. Among the questions that the White House did not resolve on Thursday were these: What should be done with terrorists who cannot be tried in American courts, either because evidence against them was obtained by torture or because intelligence is too sensitive to use in court? Should some interrogation methods remain secret to keep Al Qaeda from training to resist them? How can the United States make sure prisoners transferred to other countries will not be tortured? Members of Mr. Obama’s national security team have expressed a wide variety of views on interrogation and detention policy, and there is likely to be robust internal debate before the questions are resolved. John D. Hutson, a retired admiral and law school dean who attended the signing ceremony, said he had confidence that the Obama administration would come up with thoughtful, practical answers to such questions. Closing the Guantánamo prison and banning coercive interrogation “is the right thing to do morally, diplomatically, militarily and constitutionally,” Mr. Hutson said, “but it also makes us safer.” Mr. Obama, he added, “really gets it.” But Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the decision to close the prison within a year “places hope ahead of reality — it sets an objective without a plan to get there.” In offering a warning that was also sounded by other Republicans, Mr. Hoekstra noted that in briefings for Congress, administration officials “could not answer questions as to what they will do with any new jihadists or enemy combatants that we capture.” Veterans of Foreign Wars, the influential veterans’ advocacy group, said in a statement that it was “not prudent” to close the Guantánamo prison while the nation remained at war. Glen M. Gardner Jr., a Vietnam veteran and the group’s national commander, said the camp in Cuba “keeps our enemies off the battlefield” and called it “professionally run and respectful of human rights.” Mr. Obama’s order closing the prison assigns the attorney general to lead a review of what should happen to the remaining 245 detainees there and does not rule out the possibility of trying some using military commissions , as the Bush administration had begun to do, though possibly with different procedures. One new task force, headed by the attorney general and the secretary of defense, will study detainee policy and report to the president in six months. A second, led by the attorney general, and with the secretary of defense and director of national intelligence as vice co-chairmen, will study whether the Army Field Manual should remain the only standard for interrogators and review the practice of extraordinary rendition , in which captured terrorism suspects are transferred to other countries. In a separate directive, Mr. Obama asked for a high-level review of the case of Ali al-Marri — Mr. Obama called him “clearly a dangerous individual” — who is being held without charges as an “enemy combatant” in a military jail in South Carolina. The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court for a 30-day stay in Mr. Marri’s civil case challenging his detention until the new administration decided on its position. Mr. Obama sought otherwise to send a signal to the world that he was breaking with Bush administration policies, which he often called wrong and counterproductive during his presidential campaign. In one move, he ordered his government not to rely on any legal opinions concerning interrogation produced by the Justice Department or other agencies between Sept. 11, 2001, and Tuesday, when he assumed the presidency. “We believe we can abide by a rule that says, We don’t torture, but we can effectively obtain the intelligence we need,” Mr. Obama said in his televised statement. The immediate practical impact of the orders was limited, in part because the most aggressive Bush policies were scaled back long ago. Military interrogators have been required by law to abide by the Army Field Manual since 2005, and since 2003 the C.I.A. has not used waterboarding , the near-drowning technique described as torture by Mr. Obama’s choice as attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. Only a handful of prisoners have passed through the C.I.A.’s secret overseas detention program since 2005. As the new executive orders were being signed, Mr. Obama’s choice to become director of national intelligence faced questions from a Senate panel about whether the administration might create a loophole giving more latitude to C.I.A. interrogators. Dennis C. Blair, a retired admiral and former C.I.A. official who is expected to be easily confirmed as the intelligence director by the Senate Intelligence Committee, insisted that military and intelligence interrogators would follow the same rules, but he left open the possibility that techniques beyond the 19 currently approved for military interrogators could be authorized. Mr. Blair also suggested that some interrogation procedures would need to remain secret so potential adversaries could not train to resist them. “We don’t want to provide open intelligence support for those who are coming after us,” he told members of the Intelligence Committee. The response puzzled some Democratic senators, who long have maintained that secret interrogation rules only raise suspicions that the United States might be abusing prisoners. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the committee, said that despite the executive orders she still planned to press for legislation mandating a single standard for military and C.I.A. interrogators. Such a law would be harder to reverse than Mr. Obama’s executive order, which he could alter or cancel at any time by issuing a new order. “I think that ultimately the government is well served by codifying it, by having it in law,” Mrs. Feinstein said. Some liberal groups, while praising the Obama orders, said they supported legislation like Mrs. Feinstein’s because they were concerned about what his task forces might propose. They also said they would continue to press for a full investigation of detention and interrogation programs under President George W. Bush . The National Religious Campaign Against Torture, a coalition of 240 religious groups, said that Mr. Obama’s statement “allowed the United States to again find its moral bearing,” but added that it was concerned that the panel on interrogation might allow the C.I.A. to resume using abusive methods. Geneve Mantri, who tracks counterterrorism programs at Amnesty International, called the orders “a giant leap forward” but added, “We view with concern some of the outstanding questions.” Mr. Obama’s moves drew praise from a former Bush administration official, John B. Bellinger III, who was the top legal adviser in that administration’s National Security Council and State Department. Mr. Bellinger said executive orders were “measured and do not take any rash actions.” “Although the Gitmo order is primarily symbolic,” he said, “it is very important. It accomplishes what we could never accomplish during the Bush administration.”

Executive Orders
Central Intelligence Agency
Interrogations
Torture
Detainees
Obama Barack
Bush George W
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba)
Military Commissions Act
Shutdowns (Institutional)


Hollywood’s Antipiracy Efforts Add New Voice

Abstract: LOS ANGELES — In the fall of 2012, Ruth Vitale, a sassy independent film executive, nosed her horse into a badly directed jump and crashed in the mud. The animal was fine. But Ms. Vitale broke her back, providing painful perspective on the need for the right mix of caution and daring when faced with an obstacle. And the lesson may now ease her leap into another quagmire: the online piracy debate. “It was pilot error,” Ms. Vitale said of the riding accident, though she could well have been describing the crackup , just months before her own, of Hollywood’s push for broad antipiracy legislation in both houses of Congress. In a surprise move, Ms. Vitale, who built her executive reputation on hip films like “Hustle & Flow” and “The Virgin Suicides,” last month was named executive director of CreativeFuture, a coalition of movie and television producers, unions and companies that are bound by a common determination to get a grip, finally, on Hollywood’s digital future. The entertainment industry is usually more comfortable with backdoor maneuvers than with public campaigns. But a Beltway lobbying operation by the Motion Picture Association of America and others was smashed in early 2012 by the combined effort of Silicon Valley giants like Google, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and grass-roots web activists. Together they persuaded Congress to abandon proposed antipiracy laws as unduly restrictive of online freedom. Two years later, Hollywood is beginning to respond. Its new strategy generally eschews legislation, pursues voluntary agreements with legitimate companies that may be complicit with film piracy, and is looking for help from young consumers. But it also counts on the now slightly tempered brassiness of Ms. Vitale, who said she was openly frustrated at seeing techies steal the movie world’s sense of cool. “We’re the cool kids. We actually adopt new technology every day,” snapped Ms. Vitale, who spoke on Wednesday morning at Ago, a West Hollywood restaurant that was co-founded by Robert De Niro, and that finds her cool enough to have opened its doors an hour early for her interview. A sharp tongue and fierce drive have been Ms. Vitale’s trademarks in a series of jobs at New Line Cinema, Paramount Classics and First Look Studios. She proudly notes that she never missed a day of work to her broken back, though she walked “an inch at a time” for four months, she said. “She’s always happy to be in the firing line,” said the producer Gale Anne Hurd, a friend and professional ally. Ms. Vitale cites the 3-D hit “Gravity” and its director, Alfonso Cuarón, as evidence of forward thinking in recent movie making. The film dominated the technical categories at this month’s Oscars. But if Hollywood’s tech credentials are intact, the film and television businesses remain threatened by online theft that appears to be growing, despite legal efforts against pirate sites like Megaupload, and, more recently, Popcorn Time . An app that allowed instant streaming of newly released films with Netflix-like ease, Popcorn Time was quickly taken off the web this month under what its developers, who were based in Argentina, hinted was legal pressure. But similarly designed apps popped up elsewhere, underscoring the difficulty of slapping down global film theft with lawsuits or prosecution. One argument says Hollywood needs to make movies available online as quickly as they hit theaters, though such a change would disrupt a long-successful business model. “The only way to fight piracy is to release day-and-date in every window, providing a reasonably priced digital alternative to the pirates,” says Peter Sealey, who 11 years ago co-wrote a book called “Not on My Watch: Hollywood vs. the Future.” A study commissioned by NBCUniversal, titled “ NetNames: Sizing the Piracy Universe ,” reported in September that online piracy in North America, Europe and Asia had risen 160 percent in two years, consuming 24 percent of Internet bandwidth in those regions. Image Ruth Vitale, executive director of CreativeFuture, is aiming to steer Hollywood’s digital future. Credit Stephanie Diani for The New York Times Any estimate of the actual dollar loss from piracy comes up against imponderables — how many infringing viewers would actually pay, and how much, if they could not see a film free? Yet Ms. Vitale and others point toward audience leakage to sites like Pirate Bay, which has been known to log 60 million unique visitors a month, as a factor in the declining number of films released annually. The number of studio films has been falling since the middle of the last decade, and that trend is now also evident in the independent film business. The Motion Picture Association reported last week that after rising sharply for three years, the number of independent films dropped about a percentage point in 2013, to 545 movies from 549. Speaking on Wednesday, Ms. Vitale attributed the falloff to piracy-driven problems that have made it more difficult to finance an independent film by selling rights to foreign territories, where viewers flock to poorly controlled pirate sites, bypassing conventional outlets and the revenue they once provided to finance films. “Spain used to account for 8 percent of your budget,” she said. “Now, it’s zero.” In a separate interview, Jean Prewitt, chief executive of the Independent Film and Television Alliance, said Italy was rapidly following Spain into the “no sale” column. “It’s not about lost profit. It’s about the ability to finance a picture in the first place,” Ms. Prewitt said. Ms. Vitale has reason to know the math: On leaving her post as president of First Look Studios in 2007, she began to assemble financing for an independent distribution company, only to have her plans crumble in the next year’s general financial collapse. She has since operated an indie-oriented consulting firm, the Film Collective. Initially called Creative America, CreativeFuture was founded in 2011 by a core group that included CBS, Warner Bros. and several entertainment unions. It was intended, among other objectives, to give Hollywood’s antipiracy effort a public face other than that of the Motion Picture Association of America, which was easily portrayed as an alliance of corporate heavyweights. Since Ms. Vitale’s appointment, CreativeFuture has announced several dozen new signatories. Backers now include the indie mainstay Killer Films, the “Transformers” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and talent representatives like the Creative Artists Agency and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment. Now the question becomes what to do with that support. For the moment, Ms. Vitale said she hoped to extend voluntary arrangements with payment processors, ad agencies and others. To date, the most prominent of these agreements is the Copyright Alert System, under which several Internet service providers last year agreed to send an escalating series of notices to suspected copyright infringers, imposing restrictions on service after six “strikes.” Marvin Ammori, a lawyer who has represented Google in the copyright wars, recently called such voluntary agreements no less threatening to free expression than some proposed laws. “Unlike a court of law, there will be no evidence in open court, no established processes, no published decisions, no opportunity to appeal,” Mr. Ammori wrote this month on Slate. Ms. Vitale quickly brokered a response from Kurt Sutter, a writer and executive producer of “Sons of Anarchy.” “Don’t kid yourself, kids,” wrote Mr. Sutter, in a piece that was also posted on Slate: “Google is the establishment. It is a multibillion-dollar information portal that makes dough off of every click on its page and every data byte it streams.” Those dueling viewpoints suggest that the gap between digital-freedom advocates and those with a large financial stake in copyrighted material may have narrowed little in the last two years. “The fundamentals have not changed,” said Mitch Stoltz, a staff lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that supports Internet freedom. Content distributors, he said, still want to have “the ultimate say over what can be on the Internet and what can’t.” As for the very young, Ms. Vitale says she sees signs that children raised in homes where legitimate streaming from Netflix and Hulu are routine can be persuaded to think differently than millennials, many of whom take for granted the concept of free content online. One idea — though now it is no more than that — is to build alliances with educational nonprofit groups that might enforce the notion that stealing an artist’s work online is just like lifting from a classmate’s desk. “It’s as simple as this: One kid does a painting, and another kid comes up and puts his name on it,” Ms. Vitale said.

Ruth Vitale
Legislation
CreativeFuture
Movies
Google
Copyrights
Marvin Ammori


Supreme Court Takes Step Toward Hearing Abortion Case

Abstract: The Supreme Court took a tentative step on Thursday toward hearing a case on the regulation of abortion-inducing drugs, asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to clarify the meaning of a law that state judges had struck down as an unwarranted curb on medical practice and the right to abortion. Depending on the answers, the Supreme Court could decide to drop the case, Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice (No. 12-1094), or it could intervene in a contentious new battleground of the abortion wars. The 2011 law voided in Oklahoma said that the drugs, which are widely used in medicinal, nonsurgical abortions, could be administered only in the dosage and manner specified by the Food and Drug Administration when it first approved their use in 2000. The law was promoted by anti-abortion groups in the name of protecting women’s health from “off-label” uses of the drugs that have become standard practice. The procedure has come into wide use, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the country’s 1.2 million abortions in 2008, according to the Guttmacher Institute , a research group that supports abortion rights. Similar laws prohibiting departures from the 2000 labeling have been adopted in Ohio and Arizona, and restricting medicinal abortions has become a goal of anti-abortion forces. Abortion doctors and major medical associations, who have refined the dosages and other aspects of medicinal abortions over the years, call these laws a transparent attempt to curb a procedure that in the early weeks of pregnancy is often preferable to a surgical abortion. More broadly, off-label uses of drugs are common and essential to medical practice, they argue. “The F.D.A. doesn’t decide how doctors should prescribe drugs,” Julie Rikelman, litigation director for the Center for Reproductive Rights , a nonprofit legal advocacy organization, said in an interview on Thursday. “Doctors decide how to prescribe drugs.” Her group, based in New York, has argued against the Oklahoma law in court on behalf of a coalition of women’s health advocates in the state. An Oklahoma court ruled that the law violated women’s bodily integrity and right to abortion and struck it down, saying it “can serve no purpose other than to prevent women from obtaining abortions.” The state’s highest court affirmed that decision, and now the state attorney general has appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the law is a reasonable exercise of state power. One of the main drugs used in medicinal abortions, mifepristone, formerly known as RU-486, has been a subject of political strife for decades. In the 1990s, abortion opponents, fearing that it would make abortion too easy and acceptable, fought to prevent American approval of the drug, which had been widely used abroad. In 2000, the F.D.A. approved the combination of mifepristone, a steroid that breaks down the lining of the uterus, and misoprostol, a prostaglandin that induces contractions. The agency did so based on clinical trials involving a large dose of mifepristone in the clinic, a dose of misoprostol in the clinic two days later, then a third clinic visit on the 14th day to verify that the embryo had aborted. The procedure was recommended for use through seven weeks of pregnancy. Since then, studies have shown that mifepristone works as well at one-third the previously used dose, that it is safe to take the second medication at home, and that the procedure is safe and effective through the ninth week of pregnancy, according to the National Abortion Federation, the World Health Organization and other medical groups. Serious complications are rare, most medical experts say. But anti-abortion groups argue that the off-label uses are unapproved and more dangerous. Those who challenged the Oklahoma law say it has vague provisions that go beyond those in other states, barring all medicinal abortions and outlawing use of a drug to end ectopic pregnancies. The Supreme Court has asked the Oklahoma justices to clarify whether the law would have such sweeping effects. But even if the law simply mandated the treatment regime approved by the F.D.A. in 2000, Ms. Rikelman said, it would still be medically unjustified and inhibit women’s exercise of their constitutional rights.

Supreme Court
Abortion
Oklahoma
Pharmaceuticals
Women and Girls
RU486
FDA
Legislation


Zimbabwe: 81 Elephants Killed

Abstract: Zimbabwean authorities say at least 81 elephants have been killed for their ivory tusks by poachers using cyanide poison in water holes in a vast western national park. Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said more elephant carcasses were discovered after a first count of more than 40 earlier in the month in Hwange National Park. Wildlife department officials said industrial cyanide, used in gold mining, had been put in the park’s remote water holes, killing smaller animals drinking there and vultures and other predators feeding on the dead animals. Nine accused poachers were arrested after rangers tracked them to a cache of ivory hidden in the park.


For Young Traders, a Market Where Air Jordans Are Blue Chips

Abstract: With sneakers slung around their shoulders and pockets full of cash, young boys huddle in hotel ballrooms and high school gyms, shouting and bartering as if they belong on a trading room floor. “What do you want for them?” John Leonardo asked at one recent event in New Jersey. “What’s your offer?” someone hollered back. In a flurry of transactions, John, who is only 13 years old, bought, sold or exchanged 20 pairs of designer basketball sneakers and walked away with seven, four more pairs than he started with. His collection’s retail value climbed to $1,155 from $340. John, an eighth-grade student from Manalapan, N.J., and thousands of other teenage “sneakerheads” have formed a thriving subculture using Instagram, Facebook and weekend conventions to spot, sell and trade coveted, sometimes limited edition pairs of basketball shoes. Teenagers who have grown up with eBay and the Internet have learned the art of trading up, sometimes earning a profit in the process. Jake White, 14, of Freehold, N.J., has 81 pairs in his collection, helped a lot by gifts from his parents. He estimates they’ve spent $11,000 on shoes and could probably make $20,000 if he sold them all. “I know just about everything about sneakers,” he said. “I only wear them in the summer because I don’t want to take down the value of them.” While the lucrative retail business for sneakers — and the exclusive lines that attract overnight campers outside elite stores — have existed for decades, this teenager-filled marketplace (or high-end sneaker exchange) has spread from city to city in the last few years. It’s the latest phase — one whose staying power is unclear — of the sports footwear craze that began 30 years or so ago when the National Basketball Association forbade Michael Jordan, then a rookie, to wear his Nike Air Jordan 1’s on the court because they didn’t meet the dress code. To this day, no player’s line comes close to Nike’s Jordan-branded footwear, sales of which reached $2.5 billion last year. Over all, basketball sneaker sales made up $4.5 billion of the total $21 billion athletic shoe business, according to Princeton Retail Analysis. And the teenage traders attending these conventions know the market, reciting resale values, the buzz of a hot trade and the debut dates for new pairs as easily as others can spit out baseball stats. Joseph Diorio, 34, the owner of SoleXChange, hosts and sponsors trading events in major cities like New York and Miami and likens the sneaker trading craze to the comic book business. “I think collecting sneakers will live on forever because there is a story behind every sneaker,” Mr. Diorio said. Image A pair of limited Air Jordans had the teenage traders in negotiation mode at a sneaker fair. Credit Casey Kelbaugh for The New York Times At a convention Mr. Diorio sponsored last month in the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan, hundreds of traders carted shoe boxes in duffel bags and backpacks into a 40,000-square-foot space. At many of these events, held nearly weekly around the country, those who pay a $25 entry fee to enter as traders can lug in a maximum of five pairs to barter or sell and then generally earn from $300 to $800, depending on the venue. To get display space like a real vendor, attendees can pay about $125 for a three-person table — and average a share of $2,000 to $4,000 a day, with highs reaching nearly $20,000. The mostly male, mostly teenage hawkers at these conventions may have little in common but their envy for other collectors’ wares. They wander up and down aisles holding sneakers high on top of boxes carried aloft like pizza pies, or set up shop on the floor with a stacked tower of shoes on display. They have quickly learned the art of negotiating and have made friends they would never have met otherwise. “These kids make 10 to 12 transactions, and before you know it, they have a $2,000 pair of sneakers or a real nice collection of shoes,” said Suraj Kaufman, the owner of two popular Nike footwear stores in New Jersey called Sneaker Room, in Bayonne and Jersey City. His stores have more than 66,000 followers on Facebook. “It’s really amazing to see.” At the smaller convention attended by John Leonardo and a few hundred teenagers, Nicole Cavallero, a language arts teacher at Pine Brook School in Manalapan and the mother of a 12-year-old trader, watched as shoes switched hands quickly. “This scene is absolutely insane, but I know that this is all the rage,” she said, adding that she gave her son, Dominick, and one of his friends a lesson in bargaining on the way to an event. “As parents we need to encourage them not to be taken advantage of but also to get their money’s worth.” “Reselling basketball sneakers has become a cultlike atmosphere,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst of the NPD Group. “No one is watching over all this money changing hands. So it seems like it’s being done underground, but it’s perfectly legal. And it’s exciting to them because it’s a real form of income.” Teenagers know what draws top dollar and are careful to walk like ducks so as not to crease new shoes they plan to sell quickly. (The collectors look for their sizes to wear the shoes, and men’s sizes are more valuable.) At these events, experts check the soles, tongues and other marks to authenticate shoes. At the convention at the Hotel Pennsylvania, cleaning stations were also available. While money or shoes change hands successfully on these Saturday afternoons, trades using Instagram and other social media have become so popular that a new shoe — ordered online with the purchase snapped via Instagram — may not have even arrived before it is resold by some enterprising youth. Online and off, business is brisk. “I can see sneakers becoming even bigger than the baseball card scene,” predicted George Rahor, who teams with his son, Steven, 14, in “Street Heat Sole & Style Expo” events, and who used to run baseball card shows in the 1990s. Just like the aura around other highly prized collector’s items, sometimes it’s the deal that doesn’t get made that generates the most buzz. At the Manhattan event last month, one young vendor turned away $98,000 in cash for his Nike Air Yeezy 2 “Red October” sneakers, designed by Kanye West and signed by the artist himself onstage at the Nassau Coliseum in February. “I know I could buy a house with this kind of money,” said the vendor, Jonathan Rodriguez, 18, of Deer Park, N.Y., who said he planned to enlist in the Air Force. “But I’m a huge Kanye West fan. I can just work to get the money. The only way I’m selling them is if there is a reason that I need to sell or I’m offered life-changing money.”

Sneakers
Collecting
Teens
Conventions and Trade Shows


Mayor’s Remarks Weaken Case for Schools Appointee

Abstract: When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was trying to convince the state in 2002 that a scrappy former prosecutor from Queens could run the country’s largest school system, he took the kitchen-sink approach. In a five-page letter to state education officials, Mr. Bloomberg mentioned Joel I. Klein ’s every possible brush with education, including his time at the Justice Department, his speeches on the rights of the mentally ill, and even a plaque on his high school’s wall of fame. As Mr. Bloomberg repeats the ritual of seeking approval from the state for his chancellor-in-waiting — this time, Cathleen P. Black , the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines — his case may be even more strained. “To select a chancellor with no background in education is a daring leap of faith,” said Henry J. Stern, a civic advocate and former city parks commissioner. “It’s very difficult to make an argument on the merits, unless you take the position that what you need is an executive.” As Mr. Bloomberg prepares to submit his case to the state this week, his rationale may be undermined by his remarks on the position eight years ago. In his 2002 letter to the state, for instance, Mr. Bloomberg said it was necessary for the chancellor to have an understanding of labor law and “an ability to negotiate with unions.” Mr. Klein could claim decades of experience as a lawyer and a four-year stint in the antitrust division at the Justice Department. Ms. Black, who has overseen a staff of nonunionized workers at Hearst, has far less experience. Mr. Bloomberg said in 2002 that the schools chief should have experience working with a diverse group of stakeholders. He pointed to Mr. Klein’s time at the top levels of the Justice Department, and he noted his experience at Bertelsmann, a German media company, where he was responsible for unifying a diverse workforce. By contrast, Ms. Black is a creature of the publishing world who has been called the “first lady” of American magazines and has rarely ventured outside the realm of media. A crucial part of Mr. Bloomberg’s case in 2002 was Mr. Klein’s “considerable experience in the education arena.” Mr. Klein, the son of a postal worker, attended public schools in Queens and taught math to sixth graders in the city. “Collectively, this training and experience provide Mr. Klein with the extensive management, educational, administrative, business, analytic, policy and political skills essential to the chancellorship,” the waiver request said. While Mr. Klein’s experience with New York education was slim, Ms. Black’s may be slimmer. She attended Catholic schools in her native Chicago, and her children attended private boarding schools. While she serves on the board of a Harlem charter school and as a trustee for the University of Notre Dame, she does not seem to have had much direct interaction with the public school system. The state’s education commissioner, David M. Steiner, must grant Ms. Black a waiver to allow her to bypass a requirement that leaders of school systems hold a professional certificate in educational leadership and have at least three years of experience in schools. State law permits waivers for “exceptionally qualified persons.” Mr. Steiner’s decision may depend in part on how many top Department of Education officials are planning to leave with Mr. Klein on Jan. 1. If there is significant turnover, it may be more difficult to argue that Ms. Black’s lack of educational experience is irrelevant. Mr. Bloomberg has signaled his intention to argue that Ms. Black was a “superstar manager” whose skills would transfer to the field of education. Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Education, said the mayor would argue that Ms. Black’s management skills were needed in a time of extraordinary financial pressures. That line of reasoning would mirror the mayor’s justification for his support for having a term-limits law amended in 2008, allowing him to run for a third term. Mr. Bloomberg will also contend that the chancellorship is unlike any other superintendency because of its size, and that Ms. Black’s business sensibilities will be useful in managing a system of 130,000 employees. The state has had a mixed record of granting waivers. It denied one in 1983 to Robert F. Wagner Jr., a deputy mayor during the Koch administration who was seen as well versed in educational issues. But in 2000 it granted a waiver to Harold O. Levy, then a banking executive, so he could become chancellor. Richard P. Mills, a former education commissioner who gave waivers to Mr. Klein and Mr. Levy, said the process was shielded from political pressures. Reflecting on Mr. Klein’s case, he said: “This was not a hiring decision. This was a credentialing decision.” “We had to think through what a C.E.O. or a high-level business executive would know and look for parallels in the educational field,” he added. Mr. Levy said Ms. Black’s case was especially thorny for Mr. Steiner because it would have implications across the state. “The decision he makes will set the precedent for requests for waivers he might get from other cities, whether it’s Mount Vernon or Yonkers,” he said.

Education (K-12)
Appointments and Executive Changes
Education Department (NYC)
Black Cathleen P
Bloomberg Michael R
Klein Joel I
New York City


Runaway Oil Rig Under Control, Shell Says

Abstract: An enormous Shell Oil offshore rig that had broken free and gone adrift in stormy seas in the Gulf of Alaska for the better part of three days was brought under control on Monday, the company said. “The situation is stabilizing,” Curtis Smith, a spokesman for Shell in Anchorage, said in a telephone interview. Two tow lines from the rig, the Kulluk, which was used for test drilling in the Arctic last summer, had been reattached to support ships about 19 miles south of Kodiak Island, and officials were discussing what to do next. “We feel considerably more positive about the situation,” Mr. Smith said. The Kulluk , one of two rigs that Shell used to drill test wells off the North Slope of Alaska as part of the company’s ambitious and expensive effort to open Arctic waters to oil production, was being towed to a Seattle shipyard for off-season maintenance when the line to its towing ship, the Aiviq, separated during a storm on Thursday. The Aiviq then lost power, and other support ships and a Coast Guard cutter were brought in to help with engine repairs and to reconnect tow lines to the Kulluk, which does not have its own propulsion system. The 18 workers aboard the rig were evacuated by Coast Guard helicopters on Saturday. Support crews struggled in 25-foot swells to reconnect tow lines, succeeding several times. But each time the lines separated again, leaving the rig, 266 feet in diameter, in danger of drifting toward land. A Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer First Class David Mosley, said the seas began to calm late Sunday night. A tow line from the Kulluk was connected to a tug shortly after midnight, and the rig was reconnected to the Aiviq, its power restored, at 5 a.m. on Monday. Image The Kulluk is one of two rigs that Shell has used to drill test wells off the North Slope of Alaska as part of the company’s ambitious and expensive effort to open Arctic waters to oil production. Credit Petty Officer 1St Class Sara Francis/United States Coast Guard, via Associated Press Mr. Smith said a unified command, with representatives from the Coast Guard, the state, Shell and a contractor, was evaluating various options. One possibility would be to bring the Kulluk into a protected harbor until the weather clears in a few days. The Kulluk, which was built in Japan in 1983 and upgraded over the past six years at a cost of $292 million, is designed for icy conditions in the Arctic. It can drill in up to 400 feet of water and up to 20,000 feet deep. During drilling season it carries a crew of about 140 people, Mr. Smith said. Shell has spent six years and more than $4 billion in its effort to drill in Arctic waters, one of the last untapped oil-producing regions in the United States. But the effort has faced regulatory hurdles and opposition from American Indian and environmental groups. Last summer, the Kulluk drilled a shallow test well in the Beaufort Sea while another rig drilled a similar hole in the Chukchi Sea to the west. But Shell announced in September that it would be forced to delay further drilling until next year after a specialized piece of equipment designed to contain oil from a spill was damaged in a testing accident. The episode was one of a number of setbacks for the Arctic drilling program last year. Shell now says it hopes to drill five exploratory wells in the region during the 2013 drilling season, which begins in mid-July.

Alaska
Arctic
Kodiak Island
Offshore drilling
Royal Dutch Shell


Draft Registration for Women Would Stir a Sleepy Government Agency

Abstract: ARLINGTON, Va. — Once a month, in a windowless office near the Pentagon, specially trained federal employees roll two lottery machines out of a closet to practice something the government has not had to do in more than 40 years: selecting young Americans for the military draft. Following strict written procedures, they power on the machines, and 366 table tennis balls — one for every day of the year, including for leap year — clatter around for five minutes, the time government mathematicians have determined will ensure the balls are properly mixed. Then, as in a Powerball drawing, one of the employees hits a button that shoots a ball through a small pipe to the top of the machine, where the director of the United States Selective Service System pulls it out. “January 25th, January 25th,” the director, Lawrence G. Romo, called out on Friday as he displayed the front of the ball to an empty room in front of him. Mr. Romo then walked over to the second lottery machine, which produces numbers that assign the order in which those born on that day would be drafted. For the occasion, Mr. Romo — who reports directly to President Obama but has met him only once, to shake his hand and pose for a photo — wore a suit and an American flag tie. After decades of work far from public attention, Mr. Romo and his staff are now facing what could be the most significant change to their sleepy agency in decades. Image Blue plastic balls with dates — one for every day of the year, including for leap year — in a lottery machine would be used by the Selective Service System when choosing draftees. Credit Lexey Swall for The New York Times With the Defense Department opening combat roles to women, the Marine Corps commandant, the chief of staff of the Army and one of the top Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee said last week that women should be required to register. Two days later, two Republican members of the House who are military veterans — Duncan Hunter of California and Ryan Zinke of Montana — introduced legislation that would require women to register. “I know women play an invaluable role in war,” Mr. Zinke, a former member of the Navy SEALs, said in a statement released by his office that announced the legislation. “My daughter was a damn good Navy diver. Many times women can gain access to strategic sites that men never could.” Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said Congress should study the issue. The White House has not taken a position. Asked at a Democratic candidates debate, Hillary Clinton said she would need more information before deciding. Some Republican presidential candidates, including Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, have said they favor requiring women to register with the Selective Service, while Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on Sunday at a forum in Peterborough, N.H., that he opposed it. “Political correctness is dangerous,” Mr. Cruz said. “And the idea that we would draft our daughters to forcibly bring them into the military and put them in close combat, I think, is wrong. It is immoral, and if I am president, we ain’t doing it. “I’m the father of two little girls,” he added. “I love those girls with of all my heart. They are capable of doing anything in their hearts’ desire. But the idea that their government would forcibly put them in a foxhole with a 220-pound psychopath trying to kill them doesn’t make any sense at all. And it’s yet one more sign of this politically correct world where we forget common sense.” For the moment, the discussion has cast attention on the Selective Service, resurrecting for baby boomers memories of the Vietnam War, and leading some millennials to wonder what the agency is and whether they ever registered with it, as required by law. Typically, the agency has been in the news only when it has divulged whether presidential candidates registered for the draft. On Friday, the most pressing issue in the office was a request that had come in about the registrations of Mr. Rubio and Mr. Cruz, officials said. Image Vincent McClure, right, a program analyst with the Selective Service System, demonstrated the lottery machines used when choosing people at random for the military draft at the Selective Service office in Arlington, Va. Credit Lexey Swall for The New York Times The draft was last used in 1973, after it had compelled hundreds of thousands of men to fight in Vietnam. Since 1980, all men ages 18 to 25 living in the United States — including those who are not citizens — have been legally required to register with the Selective Service. President Jimmy Carter reinstituted the measure in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. While those who do not register can be prosecuted, Richard Flahavan, an agency official since 1986 and its spokesman, said he knew of no convictions since a handful in the early 1980s. But some consequences for not registering would most likely extend to women if they were included. Under the law, those who do not register can be denied federal jobs, security clearances, education grants and citizenship. In most instances, men are provided a chance to register and are then given the jobs or grants. Citizenship issues remain. According to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, if a man age 18 to 25 “willfully” decides not to register for the draft, his request for citizenship can be denied. If the man is between 26 and 31 and knowingly did not register, the citizenship can be delayed until he is 32. Officials estimate that this affects only a handful of men a year. Most do register as required. According to the Selective Service, 88 percent of men in the United States ages 18 to 25 in 2014 were registered for the draft. The states with 99 percent compliance — Florida, Idaho, Louisiana and Utah — have programs that require men applying for their driver’s licenses to sign up. Jurisdictions with the lowest compliance are the District of Columbia, at 34 percent; North Dakota, at 57 percent; and Vermont, at 58 percent. While the idea of requiring women to register for the draft gained significant public attention only in recent weeks, officials at the Selective Service had been planning for it since the Pentagon announced in December that it was opening combat roles to women . In January, the White House Office of Management and Budget called the agency and asked it to come up with an estimate for how much it would cost to register women. The agency — which has a budget of roughly $23 million, the equivalent of what the Social Security Administration spends every 15 minutes — said it would need about $8.5 million more for the first year of women’s registrations and slightly less in the following several years. It would also need to hire several dozen employees. The agency’s officials said they needed to be prepared for legislation to reinstate the draft. Because the futures of so many Americans would be in their hands, they know that every move they would make during the ball selections would be broadcast live, and closely scrutinized.

Pentagon
Legislation
Military Recruiting and Draft
Women and Girls
US Military
Ashton Carter


Clinton Urges Bosnia’s Leaders to Work Together

Abstract: SARAJEVO, Bosnia — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Bosnian leaders on Tuesday to work together and warned that their country would fall behind the rest of Europe if they did not make overdue reforms. “We worry that if you do not make progress you will be left behind in the rest of the region,” Mrs. Clinton said. “You’ve got other neighbors who are making progress.” Sarajevo was Mrs. Clinton’s first stop on a tour through the Balkan region with Catherine Ashton , the European Union ’s high representative for foreign policy. The unusual joint trip was calculated to reinforce the point that there are steps Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo need to take to resolve lingering disputes and advance their political and economic integration with Europe. Sarajevo is a changed city since the bitter internecine conflict in Bosnia was brought to an end 17 years ago when Bill Clinton was president. But mistrust among Bosnian’s ethnically divided leadership runs deep and has stymied reforms that the United States and European nations have stated are necessary if Bosnia is to apply for NATO membership or to seek admission in the European Union — a message that was delivered to Bosnia’s Serbian, Croatian and Muslim presidents Tuesday. “Is there a political crisis?” Mrs. Clinton asked. “There is, and that political crisis can only be resolved by leadership.” A major barrier to Bosnia’s entry to NATO is the failure of its three presidents to confirm a decision on which military bases and installations will belong to the central government. Although the issue appeared to have been settled in March, observers say Bosnia’s Serbian leadership has been dragging its feet. Mrs. Clinton said that if the issue were settled, she would “personally go to the NATO ministerial in Brussels in December” to support Bosnia’s application to join NATO, a process that can take years. An obstacle for Bosnia’s admission to the European Union, which would provide important benefits for the country’s economy, is a provision of its Constitution that stipulates that posts in the three-member presidency and Parliament be equally divided among Muslims, Croats and Serbs. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the measure violates the rights of smaller minorities since it precludes them from serving in senior government positions. Ms. Ashton said that if Bosnia wanted to pursue membership in the European Union, its “first priority” must be to act on that ruling. Riven by ethnic disputes, Bosnia has lagged behind other Balkan states in joining Europe’s political and security institutions. Croatia, for example, is a NATO member and is on course to join the European Union next year. Serbia and Macedonia are also candidates for membership in the European Union, a point Mrs. Clinton emphasized Tuesday. “We leave here and go to Belgrade,” she said. “Belgrade is on the path for Serbia to become a member of the E.U. We will then go to Pristina. Kosovo is on the path for a lot of positive changes.” In a news conference after the meeting with Bosnia’s leaders, Ms. Ashton also noted that one of her aides had been in contact with Iranians on “how to move forward” the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program . The talks are between Iran and the five members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. Ms. Ashton said she would be in contact with the chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, shortly. Addressing Iran directly at the news conference, Mrs. Clinton said: “The window remains open to resolve the international community’s concerns about your nuclear program diplomatically and to relieve your isolation, but that window cannot remain open indefinitely. Therefore, we hope that there can be serious, good-faith negotiations commenced soon.”

European Union
United States International Relations
Clinton Hillary Rodham
Ashton Catherine
Defense and Military Forces
Bosnia and Herzegovina


Colleges Cut to the Chase, Holding Practices Just for N.B.A. Scouts

Abstract: BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana State men’s basketball coach blew his whistle frequently as his team performed a drill. Usually it was to demand that the defenders in a one-on-one exercise put their body on the shooter and box him out rather than crash the rim. Later, the team shuffled laterally in a set pattern, crisscrossing the court, each player slapping the coach’s hand near a 3-point line. There were water breaks lasting exactly two minutes. Eventually, there was a five-on-five scrimmage. The scene last week at the Tigers’ Pete Maravich Assembly Center was as mundane as any basketball practice on any college campus, except for one aspect. In two rows on one side of the court, several dozen men sat, watching, taking notes, jabbing at their phones. Placards identified their affiliations: the Portland Trail Blazers, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Knicks. Representatives from 28 of the 30 N.B.A. teams watched the Tigers at specially designated open practices geared toward professional scouts last Tuesday and Wednesday. Weeks before the college basketball season begins in earnest, L.S.U.’s players had what might be their most important performance of the year. The event was part of a small but growing trend. This week, for N.B.A. team officials’ benefit, Nevada-Las Vegas will hold a practice expressly designed like the N.B.A. scouting combine. Kentucky, a team that produced four first-round picks last year — three of them freshmen, including the top pick, Karl-Anthony Towns — had its N.B.A.-geared practice shown on ESPNU this month for the second year in a row . “What the heck are we doing here?” ESPN’s Doris Burke asked her fellow analysts at the beginning of the broadcast, underlining its bizarre quality. N.B.A. scouts were drawn to L.S.U. because of three players who are expected to land on N.B.A. teams next season: Ben Simmons, a 6-foot-10 freshman from Australia who is a projected top-three draft pick; the junior guard Tim Quarterman; and the freshman Antonio Blakeney. Image L.S.U.'s Ben Simmons, left, is a 6-foot-10 freshman from Australia who is a projected top-three N.B.A. draft pick. Credit Travis Spradling/The Advocate, via Associated Press “It’s everybody’s goal and dream on the team to go to the N.B.A., so that was a big deal for us,” Quarterman said. The trend is emblematic of college basketball’s raison d’être, at least among the basketball powers. Teams want the best players. The best players’ main interest is getting to the N.B.A., which they may do in as little as one year after high school (but not sooner). Therefore, to succeed, coaches must sell the future. “It’s always been implicit,” said Shane Battier, who played at Duke before a long N.B.A. career and is now an ESPN analyst. “Now it’s more celebrated and less taboo.” No coach has taken advantage of this paradox better than John Calipari , whose Kentucky teams have reached four of the past five Final Fours while producing 18 first-round draft picks since 2010. Other coaches took note when he staged an open practice last year. “We have to all come to grips with the fact that literally just about every kid comes to college thinking they may not be in college for four years and are going to put their names into the N.B.A. draft ,” U.N.L.V. Coach Dave Rice said. “You’re coming here to help us win basketball games, but at the same time it’s equally important for us for you to be able to maximize your pro potential while you’re here,” he added. Having an open practice signals to future prospects that a program understands this. “To have a combine and invite the pro scouts in, that says to the kids, ‘Look, you have a college connection,’ ” Battier said. The one-and-done phenomenon, in which the best players compete in college for one season before declaring for the N.B.A. draft, looms over the college game and has, some say, merely shattered what was previously the pretense that many top college players were primarily interested in winning N.C.A.A. championships. “They asked about this combine — why did we do it?” Calipari said on ESPNU. “Why would you have your kids thinking about the N.B.A. at the start of the season? They all are! Not just my guys, everybody’s guys.” In Kentucky’s case, the practice also provided two hours of nourishment for Big Blue Nation’s insatiable, year-round hunger for Wildcats basketball. Calipari was wired for audio, and the program periodically cut to him instructing his players. He and several players were interviewed. The TV audience, a relatively modest 100,000 viewers, was nearly twice that for last year’s practice. Some fans expressed enthusiasm on social media. “Love watching #UKPractice!” one said on Twitter . “So excited for the season! #BBN♥” The heart was blue. The point is not simply to let N.B.A. team executives see the college players up close. After all, they are typically welcome at practices and games throughout the season. “What people don’t understand is, we’re here every day,” said Austin Ainge, the Boston Celtics’ director of player personnel, who watched L.S.U. last week. (N.B.A. officials are prohibited from commenting on most college players.) Image Jamal Murray (23) during Kentucky's practice for N.B.A. scouts on Oct. 11. Credit Chet White/UK Athletics But there are practical merits to holding a dedicated open practice. The colleges put players through motions they will need to execute again at the spring’s N.B.A. combine; at U.N.L.V., players will even have their wingspans measured. If a proposed N.C.A.A. rule passes in January, then, for the first time, certain underclassmen will be allowed to participate in a combine and still be able to decide not to enter the draft. In the meantime, scouts get a preseason baseline, and players gain experience. Coordinating a day for scouts enables teams to raise the dial on activities that scouts favor and eliminate ones that are unhelpful to them. “They ask us what we’d like to see, and they do it,” Ainge said, adding that if a scout stopped by a random practice, he was taking a gamble. “Could be a scrimmage, could be a day when they’re learning zone defense for 45 minutes.” Johnny Jones, the L.S.U. coach, said he had his players scrimmage more than they otherwise would have, for the benefit of the scouts. Quarterman, who had been practicing with the first team, switched his jersey from purple to gold to make a more even matchup. Jones also said he planned to restrict N.B.A. team officials at most future practices until the regular season began in mid-November, to limit distractions — which is a lot easier to do after giving those officials two dedicated days to come watch. Keeping players focused on the current season rather than future ones is a chief challenge for coaches. Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said: “Our guys — and they’ve done a good job on this — have had to strike the right balance. You have to be concerned about getting your degree. Even if you are a one-and-done, you have a responsibility to meet your obligations to be on this team.” During practice, L.S.U.’s players did not appear to be unusually engaged. There were moments of early-season sloppiness. Simmons, the most coveted prospect on the court, seemed serene. Asked before practice how he felt about the scouts’ presence, he shrugged. “To me, it’s another practice,” he said. “I don’t think it really matters what school you pick. Sometimes, maybe with a few players, but for me I believe if you’re good enough, you’re going to go.”

Basketball
College basketball
John Calipari
Sports Drafts and Recruits
University of Kentucky
University of Nevada
Las Vegas
Louisiana State University


Blackhawks Shut Out Blue Jackets to Remain Unbeaten

Abstract: Corey Crawford made 28 saves and Andrew Shaw scored the only goal as the Chicago Blackhawks stretched their N.H.L.-record, season-opening point streak to 18 games with a 1-0 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night. Crawford, who had been out with an upper-body injury since Feb. 12, posted his second shutout this season, and Shaw provided all the offense in the second period for the Blackhawks (15-0-3), who have not lost in regulation this season and have earned 33 of 36 possible points. The Blackhawks also are 9-0-3 in games decided by one goal. “We’re playing the score,” Chicago Coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’re playing to win. Being on the right side of pucks in a game like today was a good test for us.” HURRICANES 4, ISLANDERS 2 Defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti’s first N.H.L. goal broke a tie in the third period, and Carolina scored four straight goals to end a three-game losing streak. Sanguinetti, the Rangers’ first-round pick in 2006, snapped off a shot over the glove hand of goalie Kevin Poulin, who was making his first start after being recalled from Bridgeport in the American Hockey League. Poulin, 22, replaced Rick DiPietro, who was demoted after an 0-3 start. Sanguinetti, 24, who has battled injuries throughout his career, spent most of last season with Charlotte of the A.H.L. John Tavares, who scored his league-leading 13th goal, and Matt Moulson had given the Islanders a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Staal brothers, Eric and Jordan, scored 45 seconds apart late in the second period to tie the score. The Islanders are a league-worst 2-7 at home. “I don’t know why we play differently at home,” Islanders Coach Jack Capuano said. “I can’t understand why we were so flat in the third period.” BRUINS 4, PANTHERS 1 Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic scored in the first period, and Tuukka Rask stopped 34 shots as Boston won its third straight, at Florida. The Bruins (11-2-2), who are experiencing their best start since the 1976-77 season, have killed 21 straight penalties over six games, including a four-minute power play at the end of the second period and the beginning of the third. RED WINGS 8, CANUCKS 3 Damien Brunner had two goals and two assists, and Joakim Andersson scored twice as Detroit walloped Vancouver at home. Roberto Luongo, who made 20 saves, lost in regulation for the first time this season. PENGUINS 5, LIGHTNING 3 Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist as host Pittsburgh took sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division with a victory against Tampa Bay despite being without the injured Evgeni Malkin, who was out with concussionlike symptoms. DUCKS 4, AVALANCHE 3 Ryan Getzlaf scored the tying goal in the third period and set up Corey Perry’s second of the game 4 minutes 14 seconds into the overtime session as host Anaheim posted its sixth straight victory and 10th in 11 games. Teemu Selanne scored his 668th goal, tying Luc Robitaille for 11th place on the N.H.L. career list. It was also his 250th power-play goal, breaking a tie with Phil Esposito for third place. FLAMES 5, COYOTES 4 Jarome Iginla scored twice, and host Calgary beat Phoenix with two goals in the final two minutes. After Iginla’s second goal tied the score with 1:23 remaining, Curtis Glencross notched the winning goal 23 seconds later.

Blue Jackets
Chicago Blackhawks
Islanders
Ice hockey
Carolina Hurricanes