Neighbors Challenge Energy Aims in Bolivia

Abstract: LA PAZ, Bolivia — President Evo Morales ’s leftist government, which has asserted greater control over some of South America’s most coveted natural gas reserves, is facing a challenge as neighboring countries move to achieve energy security by cutting their dependence on Bolivian gas supplies. New gas projects in Brazil and Argentina have come on line at a time when Mr. Morales is winning plaudits for a strong economy. It grew 3.7 percent last year, enabling him to consolidate control over energy resources, including natural gas, South America’s second-largest such reserve after Venezuela’s, and huge lithium deposits. But even as Mr. Morales has emerged as one of the region’s strongest leaders, bolstered by a landslide re-election victory in December, concern is surfacing here over Bolivia ’s long-term financial underpinnings as its neighbors start importing gas from distant sources like Qatar, and not so distant ones, like Trinidad and Tobago. The reorganization of South America’s energy relationships is being closely followed by countries trying to limit their reliance on energy-rich nations that are in political flux or that use their resources as a political lever, as Russia’s state energy company has bullied former Soviet republics and Europe . “The new projects in South America offer a striking example of how countries can cut their umbilical dependence on pipelines,” said Carlos Alberto López, an energy secretary in a previous administration here. “We are awakening to the reality that our energy nationalism is shooting us in the foot.” The new gas-import ventures in Brazil and Argentina, as well as two in Chile, once a potential market for Bolivian gas, all use ship-borne imports, in which the fuel is cooled into liquefied natural gas for transport from exporting countries and reheated on delivery. This increasingly common transport method has provided substantial competition with pipelines in some markets. Bolivia itself once had plans to export liquefied gas by sending it first to a Chilean port, from where it would be shipped north to Mexico or the United States. But the plan caused so much outrage — driven in part by historical tensions with Chile and by resentment of the political elite here who had championed the project — that it was a major factor in an uprising by Bolivia’s indigenous population in 2003. Mr. Morales, 50, helped lead those protests and announced the nationalization of the energy industry after he became president in 2006. He sent soldiers to occupy gas installations, raised royalties on foreign energy companies and bolstered nationalistic institutions like the navy, which patrols rivers and lakes, and pines for sea access in this landlocked country. While these policies intensified fears in neighboring countries over Bolivia’s ability and willingness to export its gas at certain prices, they hold wide appeal among Bolivia’s voters, reflected in the election victory here last month of Mr. Morales, the country’s first indigenous president. “We’ve been ransacked for so long,” said Domitila Mora, 46, a fruit seller in El Alto, the city of slums located above the capital, La Paz. “The nationalization gave us back our dignity, and now things are better. Brother Evo Morales is taking care of our natural resources for us.” The symbolism of his energy policies permeates El Alto’s bleak cityscape in the form of state advertising. One billboard paid for by YPFB, the national energy company, extols social spending made possible by higher royalties. “There is no development without nationalization,” it says, showing Mr. Morales holding a schoolgirl in his arms. Relatively sound economic stewardship, particularly compared with Venezuela, Bolivia’s top ally, makes a sudden crisis over losing gas-export markets unlikely. Bolivia’s growth last year contrasted with Venezuela’s 2.9 percent economic contraction, as Venezuela struggled with high inflation and a dearth of private investment. Brazil, the region’s rising power, is also not eager to see Bolivia, a major producer of cocaine and still one of South America’s poorest nations, lose its hard-won economic stability. While trying to avoid confrontation with Mr. Morales, Brazil has reassured Bolivia that it will keep importing its gas, even as Petrobras , Brazil’s national energy company, has cooled to large new investments here. And private Brazilian companies like HRT have made breaking dependence on Bolivian gas a central mission. Meanwhile, cracks are already emerging in Bolivia’s energy industry as the focus of international energy companies in South America shifts decidedly to Brazil, which is developing its own new discoveries of offshore oil and gas , and away from Bolivia and Venezuela. Prices for Bolivia’s gas fell sharply in 2009, with income from gas exports declining 39 percent to $2.1 billion, according to the Bolivian Hydrocarbons Chamber, an industry group. As foreign companies slow investments here, drilling for new fields is almost at a standstill, Bolivian energy consultants said. YPFB, the national energy company, also faces a scandal involving a kickback scheme and the recent killing here of an energy executive who was carrying $450,000 in cash, events that Mr. Morales attributed to infiltration of the company by the Central Intelligence Agency. But the liquefied gas projects in neighboring countries, including two in Brazil and one in Argentina, loom as a bigger challenge. Two more liquid projects in Chile, which does not import Bolivian gas, would alter the region’s energy dynamic further. Gas from those projects could also be shipped by pipeline to Argentina, a top Bolivian market. For now, the possibility of Bolivian energy exports to Chile seems increasingly remote as Chile remains resistant to aspirations by Bolivia, reiterated here last month by Adm. José Luis Cabas, the commander of Bolivia’s armed forces, to regain coastline from what is now Chilean territory. “Evo’s nationalization was an astute move politically in the short term,” said Roger Tissot, a specialist in South American energy politics at Gas Energy, a Brazilian consulting firm, citing the increase in social spending made possible here by higher revenues. “But in the long term Bolivia is boxing itself in.” Miguel Yague, a senior energy official in Mr. Morales’s government, said that Bolivia remained optimistic about maintaining exports to its neighbors and possibly establishing pipeline routes to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. “Looking at Brazil,” he said, “it is a market of almost limitless potential.” Still, Brazil is now drawing up plans of its own to tap its newly discovered gas reserves and build its own separate liquefied natural gas terminal to possibly export the fuel during months of low demand. And Peru, Bolivia’s northwestern neighbor, is preparing to export liquefied gas, potentially shipping to markets that could have been Bolivia’s. At the same time, Bolivia is focused on smaller projects like expanding a pipeline to Argentina. Fanfare followed a recent announcement by Repsol, the Spanish energy giant, that it would increase investments in Bolivia. But skepticism persists as to whether the move was similar to those by foreign companies in Venezuela, where they seek to keep a seat at the negotiating table in a country with large energy reserves but rarely follow through on talk of large projects. “A decade ago Bolivia was preparing to be the energy nerve center of South America,” said Gonzalo Chávez, an economist at this city’s Catholic University. “Now a loop of energy-security projects is going up around us.”

Bolivia
South America
Natural Gas
Morales Evo
International Trade and World Market


Alabama-Georgia Classic Merely a Warm-Up to the Main Event

Abstract: ATLANTA — In the aftermath of a college football classic as close and tense as any game this season, as good or better than any Southeastern Conference final that came before, Alabama lingered on the Georgia game, on what just happened. The Crimson Tide topped the Bulldogs on Saturday, but barely, victory not assured until the game clock read all zeros. Everyone else lingered on Alabama and Notre Dame , two of college football’s most storied programs now set to meet in the Bowl Championship Series finale. The hype machine, sure to overheat between now and when they play on Jan. 7, had already started to warm up. For as much as defeat stung Georgia, which finished 5 yards from a completely different script, all of college football, its advertisers and sponsors and broadcast partners, stood to benefit from Alabama’s inclusion. Perhaps that is unfair to Georgia, which played like a national champion Saturday — and probably fell from B.C.S. bowl contention, an incredible injustice. Still, facts are facts. Alabama will draw more money, more eyeballs, more interest. Simply because Alabama is Alabama. And Notre Dame is Notre Dame. These are the college football teams that Hollywood makes movies about. On Saturday, the sport’s dream final materialized: the SEC champion in Alabama against undefeated Notre Dame, tradition vs. tradition, Roll Tide meets Touchdown Jesus. The teams last faced off in 1987, a fact sure to be repeated thousands of times before they meet again. Hype? Of course. Large doses. Ad nauseam. The whole deal started Saturday, and immediately. Even then, a notion more pertinent to the national championship game itself continued to surface. It concerned Alabama and the SEC, winner of the past six national championships, the King Kong conference of college football, and how that related to Notre Dame, a very good team that this season mostly took advantage of a fairly weak schedule. Afterward, Alabama Coach Nick Saban went on and on about his conference: the impossible schedule; the long list of contenders, each with at least one loss; the rosters filled with so much N.F.L. talent that Alabama and Georgia could nearly stock a competitive professional roster by themselves. The SEC, Saban correctly noted, “will test your mettle.” His sister, Saban continued, did the math: SEC teams made up 60 percent of the top 10 and only 20 percent of B.C.S. bowl teams. All the reporters laughed. But Saban had a point. And so, the question lingered. Does Notre Dame, the country’s No. 1-ranked team, have any sort of chance? Would the dream final end up in a blowout? Notre Dame did win that game in 1987. The Fighting Irish do lead the series, 5-1. They did topple top-ranked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in 1973, did defeat No. 2 Alabama in the Orange Bowl in 1975. This, of course, is not 1973 or 1987. Notre Dame has more than a slight chance in 2012, a good one even, but it might want to start on the prayers this week. Just in case. Saban, forever clinging to his famous “process” like a toddler to a blanket, claimed afterward he would not really look at Notre Dame for weeks. His Crimson Tide had a banquet Sunday night, and he wanted to properly acknowledge his team’s accomplishments. He insisted he did not know the date of the national title game. It is doubtful that even his wife believed him. Already, experts predicted that Alabama-Notre Dame would shatter previous ratings. Brad Adgate, research director at the media services company Horizon Media, said in an e-mail Saturday he expected a “minimum average of 30 million viewers,” which would break the cable audience record by several million. An exciting, close game, Adgate added, could lift that average toward 35 million viewers, a mind-boggling number. The matchup, he said, “is the best ESPN could have hoped for” and “most compelling since U.S.C.-Texas in 2006.” Saban, meanwhile, continued on the stage. It was semicomical to hear him sell his current team, the defending national champion, as anything other than another mighty Alabama squad. Yet he did, sort of, go there, painting Alabama as this Little Engine that Could (a successful, well-funded, well-stocked version). But again, he had a point. In his first meeting this season, Saban said he told his players: “You are not a national championship team. If you played on that team, that team is gone.” This team, talented but young (relative), capable but inexperienced (again, relative), exceeded even Saban’s expectations, despite, he said, losing more players for the season to injury than any team he had ever coached. Its triumph over Georgia typified the 2012 campaign, in that Alabama won with force and willpower and talent. Always, talent, but less than in recent seasons (again, relative). Georgia Coach Mark Richt said Alabama did what Alabama does best Saturday. The Crimson Tide handed the ball off and ran inside, no gimmicks, just power football, SEC football, straight ahead. “They ran the ball good,” Richt said. “I can figure that one out.” Saban continued on about the conference, about how Georgia was unlikely to play in a B.C.S. bowl game, while 8-5 Wisconsin will. Some system, huh? Ridiculous, Saban called it. Still, typical B.C.S. mess or not, college football got the title game, the most important game, correct. If it happened largely by circumstance, so be it. The sport got Notre Dame and Alabama, two formidable defenses, two iconic programs. Richt said he would vote Notre Dame No. 1 and Alabama No. 2 this week, and while that is fair, it also hardly mattered. Alabama will enter the contest a clear favorite, no matter what Saban says or how Richt votes. Now, all college football needs is a quality game to match the hype, some fight from the Fighting Irish. The sports world will be watching.

Football
Bowl Championship Series
University of Alabama
University of Notre Dame
College Athletics
Football (College)


E.P.A. Plan to Clean Up Gowanus Canal Meets Local Resistance

Abstract: Almost everybody wants the Gowanus Canal cleansed of its toxic gunk. But a $500 million plan by the Environmental Protection Agency to do just that has run into protests from otherwise environmentally conscious residents in several Brooklyn neighborhoods. They want the canal purged of pollutants like PCBs, lead, mercury and raw sewage, but are fighting the methods the agency has chosen. One neighborhood fears that the sludge taken out from the canal would poison the air over their ball fields, and others worry that the location of a sewage-processing site needed for the cleanup would destroy a beloved swimming pool. The disputes illustrate a predicament that often crops up in environmental remediation: those affected see the cure as worse than the disease. One part of the E.P.A.’s plan for the 1.8-mile canal would require the city to build an eight-million-gallon sewage storage tank so that the area’s combined waste and rainwater sewers would not overflow during heavy storms and contaminate the canal. But the site the agency has chosen for the tank would place it under a park that has a popular 3-foot-9-inch-deep swimming pool, fondly known as the Double D pool because it is between Douglass and DeGraw Streets. Sabine Aronowsky, a local activist and mother, said the pool was not just a place for children to cool off during sweltering summer days, but “one of the last remaining bastions of Brooklyn as I know it, a real community gathering place.” Children from Park Slope, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens mingle with those from three nearby housing projects. Image Sabine Aronowsky opposes a plan to clean the Gowanus Canal. Credit Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times “There’s nothing like getting into a bathing suit for neutralizing class lines,” said Holly White, a mother of two young children who learned to swim at the Double D and caper there much of the summer. The Bloomberg administration tried to close the pool in 2010 for budgetary reasons, but neighborhood outrage succeeded in saving it. Construction of the sewage storage tank would close the pool, and possibly an adjoining playground, basketball court and skate park, for years; officials have not said whether they would come up with a temporary alternative. Residents have gathered 700 signatures opposing the tank’s location and have suggested an empty Consolidated Edison lot a few blocks away as a more suitable spot. The E.P.A. says that in any case, the pool will one day have to be dug up since it was built above the remnants of a plant that manufactured natural gas from coal and left behind a residue of toxic coal tars. “Something has to happen to it, and the question is what is that something,” said Walter Mugdan, a regional Superfund director for the E.P.A. “Does it include excavation of all the soils in the area? And if it includes excavation, there’s going to be a temporary closing of the pool in any event.” The E.P.A. finished taking comments from the affected neighborhoods late last month and plans to publish its final plan before the end of the year. Dredging could begin in 2015 and be completed by 2020. Once dredging begins, the canal sediment would have to be “dewatered” nearby, on barges or on land. Then, most of the toxic sludge would be shipped out of state for treatment, but some of the leftover could be treated in Brooklyn and blended into concrete to be used as landfill. Image The plan would include closing a swimming pool and building a plant near ball fields and public housing. Credit Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times The location of the proposed Brooklyn treatment plant is the subject of another protest, this time in Red Hook. The neighborhood has been slowly gentrifying, but gritty industry still has a large presence; it is perennially considered for unpopular uses like garbage-transfer stations. The chief idea the E.P.A. has been considering is to build the dewatering and treatment plant on a parking lot that is part of the sprawling Gowanus Bay Terminal. But the terminal sits next to ball fields, a large swimming pool and the Red Hook Houses, public low-income housing. Some residents, as well as the owners of popular Latin American food trucks that congregate there, fear the plant — known as a Confined Disposal Facility — could create a noxious stench. “We’re not saying we’re opposed to dredging,” said Bea Byrd, a longtime resident of the Red Hook Houses. “But how can you have a sludge plant on the other side of where children are playing ball? Never mind the Red Hook Houses where we have to breathe the air. We have residents with asthma and cancer.” John Quadrozzi Jr., who owns the terminal, says the least toxic portion of the sediment would be transported a short distance in enclosed barges to be processed in an enclosed plant and would emerge as a safe concrete mixture. Mr. Quadrozzi wants to use the concrete products in the construction of a pier, near the end of Columbia Street, where oceangoing ships could dock. He and the E.P.A. have tried to build support by offering training at the plant for eventual jobs and promising to build a maritime park, complete with an Intrepid-like museum on a freighter. But neighborhood activists like John McGettrick, a chairman of the Red Hook Civic Association, have accused the E.P.A. of trying to enrich Mr. Quadrozzi, the owner of several city concrete plants and someone they say has been cited by New York State’s environmental agency for illegally dumping in Gowanus Bay. Mr. Quadrozzi said that after years of waiting for state permits to repair a bulkhead, he paid $60,000 to settle accusations brought by the New York agency when the bulkhead collapsed into the bay. The E.P.A. does have an alternative plan for treating the sludge: Shipping it all to states like Idaho and Texas where existing plants can process it. But that remedy is more expensive. In an interview, Mr. Mugdan said the agency would not dispose of sludge in Red Hook “unless there is community acceptance.” He added, “So far, there’s been pretty vigorous opposition.”

Brooklyn
Superfund
EPA
Gowanus Canal Brooklyn
Water pollution
HazMat


Biden Says He Didn’t Oppose Raid That Killed Bin Laden

Abstract: WASHINGTON — If Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. decides to run for the presidency again, his best chance may well be to present himself as President Obama ’s third-term successor. On Tuesday, Mr. Biden took the first step, describing himself as Mr. Obama’s most essential partner while taking subtle swipes at his would-be rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Along the way, Mr. Biden sought to recast his role in the raid to kill Osama bin Laden , arguably the most picked-over moment of Mr. Obama’s presidency and one that might hurt Mr. Biden’s presidential chances. Mr. Biden had previously said that he had advised the president against launching the special forces raid on the Abbottabad compound where Bin Laden was suspected of hiding. At a Democratic congressional retreat in January 2012 , Mr. Biden said that almost every other official in the Situation Room had hedged on a response when asked by the president whether he should order the raid. “I said, ‘We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is, don’t go. We have to do two more things to see if he’s there,’ ” Mr. Biden said then. It was a potential weakness that Mrs. Clinton has signaled she might exploit. At a debate last week in Las Vegas, Mrs. Clinton boasted she was one of the few advisers to support “the tough decision that President Obama had to make about Osama bin Laden.” But by January 2013, Mr. Biden had begun hedging on whether he had opposed the raid. “I remember walking up to his office and saying: ‘Look, follow your instincts. Follow your instincts,’ ” he said in a January 2013 interview. When asked specifically whether he had advised against the raid, Mr. Biden said: “Let me put it this way: My advice was, follow your instincts, knowing what his instinct was.” On Tuesday, Mr. Biden’s evolution continued. Before an audience at George Washington University, Mr. Biden said he never gave Mr. Obama definitive advice on controversial issues in front of other officials, mindful that he did not want the rest of the team to see a difference between his opinion and that of the president. With others around them, Mr. Biden said he suggested one more pass over the Abbottabad compound with an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone . After the meeting in the Situation Room, though, Mr. Biden said he privately gave the president his real view. “As we walked out of the room and went upstairs, I told him my opinion, that I said that I thought he should go but to follow his own instincts,” Mr. Biden said Tuesday. William M. Daley, who was Mr. Obama’s chief of staff at the time and was present in the Situation Room when the Abbottabad raid was discussed, said shortly after Tuesday’s forum that the meeting occurred as Mr. Biden described it. The description of the meeting about the Abbottabad raid was one of several moments when Mr. Biden seemed to take swipes, at least indirectly, at Mrs. Clinton. He did not mention Mrs. Clinton as among those who had definitively supported the Abbottabad raid, although she and Mr. Daley said she had been. In a wide-ranging conversation with former Vice President Walter F. Mondale about his vice presidency, Mr. Biden mentioned that he had flown more than one million miles to speak to world leaders. “We’ve had two great secretaries of state,” he said, “but when I go, they know that I am speaking for the president. There is nothing missed between the lip and the cup. Whatever I say, the president is saying.” At another point in the discussion, Mr. Biden mentioned that he was the administration’s primary interlocutor with Capitol Hill. “And I still have a lot of Republican friends,” Mr. Biden said, adding for the second time in two days, “I don’t think my chief enemy there is the Republican Party. This is a matter of making things work.” Later, at another event honoring the 87-year-old Mr. Mondale on Tuesday night, Mr. Biden went even further, calling it "naïve" to think that the country can be governed without bipartisan cooperation. In last week’s Democratic debate, Mrs. Clinton was asked which enemies she is most proud of making. “Well, in addition to the N.R.A., the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians,” she responded to laughter, “probably the Republicans.” Mr. Biden’s subtle digs could presage the kind of negative primary campaign that has so far largely been confined to the Republican side. Even if he does not enter the race, the vice president’s comments suggested that he is unhappy with Mrs. Clinton and unlikely to get behind his former Senate and administration colleague any time soon. Either possibility — testy rival or sideline critic — is not pretty for Democrats and particularly Obama loyalists. Political analysts have pointed out that Mr. Biden’s best and perhaps only chance to secure his party’s nomination would be to persuade center-left Democrats, particularly blacks and Hispanics, that he and not Mrs. Clinton is Mr. Obama’s true heir. Mr. Obama remains wildly popular among those groups. A Washington Post/ABC News poll this week put the president’s approval rating at 78 percent among nonwhite voters. Mr. Biden was not the only one seeming to eye Mr. Obama’s voters on Tuesday. A few hours before the event here, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign released a list of more than 50 black mayors supporting her campaign, more than half of them from South Carolina, an early nominating state where Mr. Biden is expected to compete aggressively should he run. So far, Mr. Obama has done nothing to signal that he would bestow such a blessing on either his vice president or his former secretary of state. But Mr. Biden did his best to suggest that he and the president are all but joined at the hip. He said the two of them spent four to seven hours every day together, that the president had given him veto authority over every cabinet pick, that he never disagreed with the president ideologically, only tactically, and that even their families were close. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that while four to seven hours together “is not a daily occurrence” the claim was “generally accurate.”

Osama bin Laden
Joe Biden
2016 Presidential Election
Barack Obama
Walter F Mondale


The Week Ahead: Citizens Financial Stock Offering, and a New BlackBerry

Abstract: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP TO HOLD I.P.O. IN NEW YORK Citizens Financial Group, a retail bank with 1,230 branches and $130 billion worth of assets, is scheduled to price its initial public offering this week. The firm is being spun off from the Royal Bank of Scotland, the British lender that has been under pressure to slim itself down following its government bailout during the financial crisis. Citizens Financial is hoping to raise as much as $3.5 billion from its offering in the first half of this week. It will then begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CFG. MICHAEL J. de la MERCED Image Mario Draghi Credit Matteo Bazzi/European Pressphoto Agency BLACKBERRY TO INTRODUCE ITS LATEST SMARTPHONE BlackBerry is returning to its roots in what may be the company’s last chance to re-establish itself in the smartphone market. On Wednesday it will introduce a phone known as the Passport, which BlackBerry hopes will appeal to users in the sectors that first embraced the brand: financial services, health care, law enforcement and government. The new phone will feature an unusual square display and a physical keyboard that doubles as a trackpad. On Friday, investors will see how far the company has to go when it releases its second-quarter results. John S. Chen, the company’s chief executive, announced during the period that a protracted series of layoffs and cutbacks at the company had come to an end. IAN AUSTEN DRAGHI TO VISIT LITHUANIA BEFORE ITS EUROZONE ENTRANCE Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, will appear on Thursday at a conference in Vilnius on Lithuania’s plans to join the eurozone on Jan. 1. The event will underline Lithuania’s ever-closer integration with Europe at a time when many citizens in the former Soviet republic feel threatened by Russia. JACK EWING

BlackBerry
Citizens Financial Group
Royal Bank of Scotland
Smartphone
Lithuania
European Central Bank
IPO


Rachael Ray Promotes Nutrish Dog Food With a Truck

Abstract: IN a novel effort to woo pet owners to her Nutrish line of high-end dog food, the television chef Rachael Ray is turning to something usually reserved for human gourmets: a food truck. Ms. Ray will begin handing out samples of the newest addition to her product line from a “Pup-Up Food Truck for Dogs” in Manhattan on Thursday. Depending on the response, she may take the truck to other cities to draw attention to pet adoptions and to shelters crowded with cats and other animals that people do not want or cannot keep — and to promote her dog food. Each year, Ms. Ray donates her portion of the proceeds from the brand — her total contributions are expected to reach $4 million by the end of 2012 — to animal welfare organizations. She modeled Nutrish’s charitable giving on that of Yum-o, a nonprofit organization she founded in 2006 to help children and their families learn about healthy food and cooking, which is financed by sales of cookbooks and other items. “We wanted to come up with a dedicated product, like we did for children,” she said. “So there are no galas, no celebrity concerts, but a product that builds awareness of a problem and generates income.” Even though bad economic times mean more animals are landing in shelters, people who can afford it are spending increasing amounts on better quality food for their pets. Nutrish, which made its debut in October 2008, is tapping into that trend. Manufactured by the family-owned Ainsworth Pet Nutrition , in Meadville, Pa., Nutrish was the fastest-growing dry dog food brand in grocery stores for the 26 weeks ending Sept. 29. Sales were $22.6 million, up 45.4 percent from the same period last year, according to Ainsworth. The line is expected to reach $100 million in retail sales by January 2013. The Rachael Ray Nutrish line includes dry and wet dog food and treats that contain no artificial preservatives, flavors or colors. Ms. Ray’s truck will serve several varieties of her newest product, Nutrish Naturally Delish wet dog food, which comes in plastic tubs, including flavors like “Chicken Paw Pie” and “Chicken Muttballs.” “Dogs will be served their choice on a dish, and they can go home with samples and a bottle of pup water,” Ms. Ray said in an interview this week after the filming of her daytime syndicated talk show, “Rachael Ray.” Samples have been an important factor in Nutrish’s success, said Beth Nigro, a senior vice president at the marketing agency Engauge. Its Pittsburgh office has worked with Ainsworth for 30 years, and oversaw Ms. Ray’s pet food introduction with a “Switch to Nutrish” campaign that has given away 1.5 million six-ounce samples since January 2009. “We found that 50 percent of the people who tried a free sample converted to the brand,” Ms. Nigro said. The line includes Nutrish; Just 6 food and treats, which are made from only six ingredients; and Nutrish Healthy Weight. Ms. Ray, who also has a lifestyle magazine called “Every Day With Rachael Ray,” best-selling cookbooks and a line of cookware, said her blend of advocacy and commercial success helped to support shelters and animal organizations across the country. “I’ve been an advocate for them all my life,” said Ms. Ray, who dotes on her red-nose pit bull, Isaboo, and previously adopted another pit bull, Boo, who died about seven years ago. She said her mother cared for more than a dozen rescue cats. On average, pet owners spent $254 on dog food and another $70 on treats last year, according to an American Pet Products Association survey. Some 46.3 million households owned a dog, and 38.9 million owned a cat. Most owners preferred premium dog food, a trend that has gained traction since the 2007 recalls of adulterated dog and cat food. “Nutrish is made to human standards. I’ve tried the kibble myself,” Ms. Ray said, adding that real meat was the top ingredient in three varieties. “And the wet food looks like real food, not brown mush.” Helping to increase awareness, she said, is the 2012 Rachael Ray $100K Challenge . The goal of the initiative, begun in August with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, is for 50 animal shelters to save at least 300 more dogs and cats from August through October than they did during the same three-month period last year. The most successful shelter will win $100,000, and other shelters can win lesser amounts for their efforts. The average age of Nutrish customers is 45, and the average household income is $135,000. But the brand is vying with established market giants like Purina for a share of the $9.5 billion in annual sales of dry dog food in grocery stores and mass-market locations like Walmart, according to 2011 figures from Nielsen ScanTrack. (Sales increased from $7.1 billion in 2007.) Nutrish claimed a 2.8 percent share, $22.6 million, of the $823 million in dry dog food sales in grocery stores in the four weeks ending Sept. 29. In comparison, Purina One had $90.4 million in sales over the same period, up 4.4 percent from last year; Beneful had $141.7 million, up 3.3 percent; and Iams had $99.7 million, a 1.6 percent drop, according to Nielsen. Ms. Ray worked with Engauge to create the green, yellow and brown truck she calls the “Woof Wagon.” She plans to post to Facebook and Twitter from the truck, which will be at Columbus Circle on Thursday before moving to Union Square. Best Friends Animal Society, a Rachael Ray partner, and two local rescue organizations will have puppies available for adoption at the truck site. The Nutrish campaign — which also includes print ads in pet specialty publications and in major home magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal and Country Living, as well as online ads — increased its spending on advertising to $4 million in the first six months of 2012, compared with $874,000 in the same period last year, according to Kantar Media, a unit of WPP. “For some people, pets are as important as anyone in the family,” Ms. Ray said. “We’re going to have more Nutrish products this year and next. And we’ll have food for cats, too, because of my mom.”

Food Trucks
Pet Foods
Advertising and Marketing
Ray Rachael


United Rentals Takes Cerberus Cash Offer

Abstract: GREENWICH, Conn., July 23 (AP) — The private equity group Cerberus will acquire United Rentals for about $4 billion in cash, United Rentals said Monday. Including about $2.6 billion in assumed debt, the transaction is valued at $6.6 billion. Shares of United Rentals, one of the largest players in the construction-equipment rental industry, have risen more than 16 percent since April 9, the day before the company said it might put itself up for sale. On Monday, stock in United Rentals climbed 61 cents, almost 2 percent, to $32.98 a share. United Rentals has about 700 rental locations in 48 states, Canada and Mexico, and has more than 12,000 employees. It serves construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities and homeowners, according to the company’s Web site. The $34.50-a-share purchase price represents a 7 percent premium over United’s closing price of $32.37 on Friday. United Rentals, whose board approved the transaction, said it can seek other offers through Aug. 31. United Rentals is based in Greenwich. Cerberus Capital Management, based in New York, has about $25 billion under management in funds and accounts.

Cerberus Capital Management
Mergers Acquisitions and Divestitures
United Rentals Incorporated


Ailing Spanish Lender Gets a €550 Million Bailout

Abstract: MADRID — Weaknesses in the Spanish financial sector were exposed over the weekend when the central bank rescued CajaSur, a savings bank that was crippled by losses related to real estate and was unable to agree on a merger with a bigger rival. The Bank of Spain, the central bank, announced Saturday that it had taken over management of CajaSur, appointing a team of administrators and injecting about €550 million, or $691 million, from a special restructuring fund to keep the bank, based in Córdoba, in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. The central bank’s intervention followed the collapse of merger negotiations between CajaSur, which has been under the control of the Roman Catholic Church, and a larger savings bank, Unicaja, based in Malaga. CajaSur had a loss of €596 million last year. Like many Spanish savings banks, known as cajas, it has been hit by mounting defaults on real estate loans as a result of the collapse of the construction sector. The Bank of Spain said that its goal was to ensure CajaSur “can continue to function normally and meet all its obligations toward third parties.” It said that depositors and creditors could feel “totally at ease,” and emphasized that CajaSur accounted for only 0.6 percent of the assets of the country’s banking sector. CajaSur could still end up in liquidation but the central bank and government were likely to renew their efforts to ensure a takeover instead. Still, CajaSur’s demise comes only two weeks after Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero agreed to work with leader of the main center-right opposition Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, to speed up consolidation among the weakened cajas. The party leaders said they would propose new legislation to require the cajas to increase their capital by issuing shares with voting rights, which should also help dilute the control that political interests exert on some of the saving banks. CajaSur started merger talks with Unicaja last July, but the negotiations dragged on and were finally broken off Friday, reportedly over how to share control and implement job cuts among CajaSur’s 3,100 employees. In March, Finance Minister Elena Salgado of Spain warned that a third of Spain’s cajas faced solvency problems and needed to consolidate rapidly. The government has told the cajas to present details of their merger plans by the end of June, which was also the deadline set to benefit from a €99 billion restructuring fund created to help banks pay for job cuts and branch closures resulting from mergers. The fund was tapped Saturday to provide the €550 million in emergency aid to CajaSur. The central bank also left the door open for an additional injection of money to help increase the bank’s liquidity. The cajas bankrolled a construction boom that added about 2.8 million homes over five years, of which only 1.5 million were sold, according to Morgan Stanley research. The cajas also used real estate lending to establish a consumer banking presence in new residential areas, leaving them with a combined exposure of €175 billion to real estate developers, Morgan Stanley estimated.

Spain
Zapatero Jose Luis Rodriguez
Banks and Banking


Traveling Takes Toll on Nets, as Do Turnovers

Abstract: DALLAS, Jan. 14 - If the Nets, with their long-forgotten 10-game winning streak, had established themselves as one of the Eastern Conference's elite teams, then perhaps the past three games were an indication that their N.B.A. title hopes lacked a crucial ingredient: success against the Western Conference's elite. With a resounding 110-77 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night, the Nets suffered their third consecutive loss to a top team from the West. It was the Nets' worst loss of the season and it followed sound defeats at the hands of the Southwest Division's other leading teams -- the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies. "They're obviously disappointing losses," Nets forward Cliff Robinson said. "We played some good teams on this trip and, to me, it just lets us know where we need to go. We didn't play them as well as we would like. We have to get back in the lab and try to improve on some things." The Nets face another tough challenge Monday when they play host to the Indiana Pacers. Saturday night's game was all but over by halftime, with the Mavericks leading by 23 points. Dallas's good fortune in the first half had an unexpected catalyst: the former Net Keith Van Horn. Van Horn was a perfect 7 for 7 in the first half and he finished the game with a season-high 23 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Josh Howard, the Mavericks' pliable swingman, gave them just about everything else they needed, leading all scorers with a season-high of 29 points. Point guard Jason Kidd was the only Net to make a significant impact. He scored 19 points, shooting 8 for 11, and had 5 assists. "Dallas just imposed their will and totally played at a much higher level," Nets Coach Lawrence Frank said. "We're all accountable for this type of performance and it's embarrassing." The Mavericks appeared much quicker and stronger than the Nets, seeming to get to the basket when they wanted (they had 34 points in the paint) and were hitting all kinds of shots (52.6 percent over all and 53.3 percent on 3's) even when guarded closely. The gritty team defense and the offensive dominance of the swingman Vince Carter, both of which epitomized the Nets' nearly month-long winning streak, have been absent the past two games. Carter finished with 17 points Saturday night. Richard Jefferson, another swingman and the Nets' second-leading scorer, has missed the past three games because of a back injury he sustained last Sunday against Toronto, the final victory of the winning streak. Though Jefferson's absence likely contributed to the Nets' deficiencies, his injury is something the team cannot harp on, forward Scott Padgett said. "I think that's a problem," he said. "Maybe you're tapping your feet, waiting for Richard to come back and you're not going out there and taking care of business." Dallas wasted little time pulling away from the Nets, who did not hold a lead the entire game. Mavericks forward Josh Howard converted a fastbreak layup with 2:29 left in the first quarter to give his team a double-digit lead for good. From there, Van Horn asserted himself, scoring 21 of the Mavericks' next 30 points. In fewer than 10 minutes, Van Horn surpassed his season-high of 19 points. He hit a driving layup, then a hook shot, then he scattered five consecutive 3's before capping his first-half scoring with a pair of free throws. By then, the Mavericks had outscored the Nets, 30-14, for a 55-29 lead, their largest of the first half. "I felt in great rhythm tonight," said Van Horn, who played with the Nets from 1997-2002. "Once I hit a couple, my teammates really looked for me. I just let my shot go." Howard opened the second half with a personal clinic that buried the Nets even deeper into submission. Howard scored 9 of the Mavericks' first 16 points of the second half as Dallas outscored the Nets by 16-4. Howard scored 12 points in the third quarter alone and surpassed his season high of 26 points with a tip-in with 5:15 remaining in the third. His free throw with 1:12 left in the quarter gave the Mavericks a 38-point lead, their biggest of the game. The Nets did little to help themselves with 25 turnovers, which the Mavericks turned into 36 points. The Nets could not seem to find the fastbreak opportunities that helped them establish their winning streak. If they are to reverse their fortunes to the direction that had them winning with ease just a week ago, the Nets must start with better defense, Kidd said. "The big thing for us is to get back to winning and look at what we're not doing," Kidd said. "That's taking care of the ball and having a better first quarter, defensively." REBOUNDS Guard Jeff McInnis left the game in the second quarter after playing just under five minutes because of an injured left knee.

DALLAS MAVERICKS
NEW JERSEY NETS
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSN
BASKETBALL


Drug Saves Fertility for Women With Cancer

Abstract: CHICAGO — A commonly used drug can help young women with breast cancer retain the ability to have babies, apparently protecting their ovaries from the damage caused by chemotherapy, researchers reported here on Friday. The treatment could provide a new option for dealing with one of the painful dilemmas faced by young cancer patients — that doing the utmost to save their lives might impair or even ruin their fertility. Researchers said the drug, goserelin, which temporarily shuts down the ovaries, appears to protect women from the more permanent premature menopause that can be induced by chemotherapy. In a clinical trial, women who were given goserelin injections along with chemotherapy had less ovarian failure and gave birth to more babies than women receiving only the chemotherapy. “Premenopausal women beginning chemotherapy for early breast cancer should consider this new option to prevent premature ovarian death,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Halle Moore of the Cleveland Clinic, said at a news conference here at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Ann H. Partridge, a breast cancer specialist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and another author of the study, said about 16,000 American women under age 45 get breast cancer each year. Impaired fertility from chemotherapy is also a problem for women and men with other types of cancer and for children who survive the disease, though it is not clear if the results of this study would apply to them, she said. Goserelin is sold by AstraZeneca under the brand name Zoladex. Global sales of the drug were about $1 billion in 2013. Goserelin and similar drugs, known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, are commonly used as hormonal therapies to treat breast and prostate cancer. They are also used at fertility clinics to control the timing of ovulation. The main option now for young breast cancer patients wanting to increase their chances of having babies is to have multiple eggs removed from their ovaries, as is done for in vitro fertilization. The eggs can be frozen or used to create embryos, which are then frozen. But that is an invasive procedure and can cost $10,000 or more. And in some cases women have to start chemotherapy so quickly they do not have the two to three weeks needed to undergo the egg retrieval process. Once-a-month injections of goserelin during chemotherapy could be a less expensive and easier alternative. In the study, each goserelin injection costs about $500 to $600, including the costs of giving the shot, said Dr. Kathy S. Albain of Loyola University Chicago, the senior author of the study. In the study, women typically needed four injections. Image Dr. Halle Moore, the study’s lead author, spoke on Friday during a news conference in Chicago. Credit Scott Morgan/ASCO But until now, studies testing goserelin and similar drugs have reported inconsistent results. The oncology society’s guidelines say there is insufficient evidence that the approach is effective and that it “should not be relied on to preserve fertility.” Dr. Partridge, who is on the committee that developed the guidelines, said she thought they would have to be reviewed in light of the new study. The trial, which was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, involved 257 premenopausal women up to age 49 undergoing chemotherapy before or after having their tumors removed surgically. Two years after starting chemotherapy, only 8 percent of the women who had received the monthly goserelin injections experienced ovarian failure, compared to 22 percent of those who did not. Twenty-one percent of the women in the goserelin group became pregnant and 15 percent had babies, while in the control group, only 11 percent became pregnant and 7 percent gave birth. Researchers said that difference could not be explained by a difference in the numbers of women who tried to conceive in each group. In an unexpected finding, the researchers reported that the women receiving goserelin also had a significantly lower risk of dying after four years. Dr. Jennifer Litton, a breast medical oncologist who was not involved in the study, said that was not enough survival data to recommend that goserelin be used to treat the cancers, but it at least suggested that it would not worsen the cancer outcomes if used to preserve fertility. Still, Dr. Litton, who is with the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said the trial was fairly small and the chances of a pregnancy were higher with egg retrieval, though the use of one technique would not preclude use of the other. “I don’t think it’s going to be the only thing I’m going to offer for fertility preservation,” she said of goserelin. Dr. Partridge said there were differences between the new study and many of the previous ones, some of which had shown that the approach was not effective in preserving fertility. This new trial, she said, measured pregnancy and birthrates, which are better indications of fertility than the loss of menstrual periods, a less direct measure used in many of the previous studies. Some women can lose fertility even if they continue having periods, while others can be fertile even though they do not have periods, she said. Some of the previous studies also included women with hormone-receptor-positive cancer, meaning tumor growth is fed by estrogen. Women with that type of cancer typically take tamoxifen, which itself can cause loss of menstruation, she said. The new study included only women with hormone-receptor-negative cancer. Women with hormone-positive cancer take drugs to suppress estrogen or block its effects and are typically advised not to try to get pregnant for a number of years. It is not clear why goserelin would protect the ovaries. There is some speculation that making the ovaries less active protects them from chemotherapy. The downside is that goserelin induces a temporary postmenopausal state, which can bring with it hot flashes and other symptoms.

Breast cancer
Halle Moore
Cleveland Clinic
AstraZeneca
Pregnancy
Pharmaceuticals


Despite Quarterly Drop, Investors Lift Walgreen Shares

Abstract: The fiscal second-quarter earnings for Walgreen, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, slipped from a year ago as it reaped a smaller benefit from generic drugs and took a $60 million hit because of severe winter weather. But the company’s underlying performance appeared to impress investors, and its shares rose, approaching the nominal high reached last month. Walgreen executives said on Tuesday that a wave of new generic drug introductions peaked in last year’s quarter, which made comparisons difficult for this year’s quarter. Over all, Walgreen earned $754 million, or 78 cents a share, in the quarter that ended Feb. 28. That’s down from $756 million, or 79 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings were 91 cents a share. Analysts had expected 93 cents a share, FactSet said. Revenue rose to about 5 percent, to $19.61 billion.

Walgreen
Pharmaceuticals
Earnings Reports


Suicide Attack in Khar, Pakistan, Kills at Least 26

Abstract: PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Dozens of people, including two senior security officers, were killed and scores were wounded in a suicide attack on a government checkpoint in a tribal district along the Afghan border, hospital and government officials said. A bomber, described by witnesses as a teenager who arrived on foot, killed the commander and deputy commander of the Bajaur Levies, a security force drawn from local Pashtun tribesmen, according to an official with the local tribal administration. As of Friday night, Pakistani health officials reported that 26 people had been killed and 75 wounded. The Pakistani Taliban took credit for the attack and a spokesman said the two officials had been targeted in retaliation for the death of Sheik Marwan, a Qaeda commander killed by security forces in Bajaur last year. “We will continue to attack government-sponsored militias and security forces,” the spokesman, Ihsanullah Ihsan, said in a statement delivered through an intermediary. The attack came one day after the United States released 17 letters seized from the compound of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by American forces in May 2011. Some of the letters indicated the Qaeda leader’s concern for the high civilian toll from Pakistani Taliban attacks. Friday’s attack took place in Khar, the capital of Bajaur District. Witnesses said the bomber struck at a crossroads just before 8 a.m. as markets were opening. The two senior security officers were visiting the area in response to intelligence reports of a possible assault. “They were checking up on their men. There had been a security high alert due to an intercept about an impending attack,” the tribal official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The explosion ripped through more than a dozen shops in the local market; afterward the streets were littered with debris and the belongings of the dead and wounded, reporters at the scene said. At least five members of the security forces were among the dead. It was the first major militant attack in Bajaur since December 2010, when a suicide bomber killed at least 40 people in an attack on a food distribution point run by the United Nations World Food Program. The Pakistani Army has been operating in the region, which borders Afghanistan, since 2008 in a bid to oust fighters loyal to the local warlord, Faqir Muhammad, a former deputy leader of the main Taliban group in Pakistan, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Fierce fighting drove Mr. Muhammad across the border into Kunar Province in Afghanistan, where his fighters have taken advantage of the vacuum left by departing American troops to coordinate attacks inside Pakistan. In recent months Mr. Muhammad has been seen as a declining force inside the Pakistani Taliban after he was deposed as second in command. Militant sources said Mr. Muhammad has been replaced in Bajaur by Dadullah, a Taliban commander who goes by one name, and who was believed to be responsible for Friday’s attack.

Pakistan
Taliban
Peshawar (Pakistan)
Pashtun (Ethnic Group)
Defense and Military Forces
Bombs and Explosives
Bajaur (Pakistan)


Sears Bids $269 Million for Restoration Hardware

Abstract: ATLANTA, Nov. 26 (Reuters) — Sears Holdings has proposed buying the furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware for $6.75 a share, or a total of $269 million, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. The offer, made in a letter to Restoration dated Friday that Sears included in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, would top a management-led buyout valued at $6.70 a share, or $267 million, that Restoration agreed to this month. Shares of Restoration Hardware fell 6 cents, to $7.00, while Sears declined 4 percent, to $107.77. Sears Holdings, which operates the Kmart and Sears, Roebuck chains, disclosed last week that it owned a 13.7 percent stake in Restoration and had initially proposed a $4-a-share bid after being informed in late October that Restoration was weighing a management buyout. Sears, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., asked a special committee of Restoration’s board for confidential information to submit a binding proposal, but the request was denied, according to the letter to a special panel of Restoration’s board attached to the S.E.C. filing. The proposed $6.75-a-share tender offer was based solely on publicly available information, Sears’s executive vice president, William C. Crowley, said in the letter. Restoration announced on Nov. 8 that it had agreed to a buyout in a deal that included the private equity firm Catterton Partners. It is soliciting competing proposals from third parties during a 35-day period that ends Dec. 13. A representative for Restoration Hardware and a spokesman for Sears Holdings both declined to comment.

Restoration Hardware
Sears Holdings
Securities and Exchange Commission
Stocks and Bonds


The Importance of Naming Your Emotions

Abstract: “How are you feeling?” Those are the four deceptively simple words with which my colleagues and I regularly begin our meetings and our training sessions at other organizations. People ask the question to each other, one at a time. We don’t mean, “How are you?” or even “How are you doing?” because the rote responses to these questions are usually some version of “Fine.” What we mean is, “How are you really feeling?” Although our emotional state profoundly influences the quality of our work, many of us aren’t aware of how we’re feeling at any given moment or what the impact may be. Most employers don’t give emotions much attention either, preferring that we park them at the door in the morning so they don’t get in the way during the workday. Unfortunately, that isn’t possible for human beings. We’re not machines, nor robots. Think about how you feel when you’re performing at your best. What adjectives come to mind? My colleagues and I have asked this question to thousands of people over the years, and the answers have been remarkably consistent. At our best, we feel positive, happy, confident, calm, focused, enthusiastic, open and optimistic. That’s when we’re most productive and get along best with others. At our worst, we’re typically experiencing the opposite feelings: negativity, unhappiness, self-doubt, impatience, irritability, defensiveness and pessimism. Our sense of value feels at risk, our vision narrows, and our energy gets consumed in self-protection. Imagine that you sense a serious threat to your physical well-being lurking in the shadows. Then you’re asked to solve a complex problem. How will you perform? In this “fight or flight” state, you would struggle to think clearly or imaginatively, and it would be difficult to collaborate effectively. Most of us move along the spectrum between our best and our worst all day long, depending on what’s going on around us. The most prevalent unexpressed emotions in the workplace revolve around suffering. It’s not that suffering is a modern phenomenon or that it’s the only thing we feel at work. What seems to have changed is the pervasive impact of increased demand in our lives, leading to anxiety, uncertainty and a sense of feeling overwhelmed. So what’s the value of getting people to express what they’re actually feeling, rather than keeping things relentlessly light and bland? The answer is that naming our emotions tends to diffuse their charge and lessen the burden they create. The psychologist Dan Siegel refers to this practice as “name it to tame it.” It’s also true that we can’t change what we don’t notice. Denying or avoiding feelings doesn’t make them go away, nor does it lessen their impact on us, even if it’s unconscious. Noticing and naming emotions gives us the chance to take a step back and make choices about what to do with them. Emotions are just a form of energy, forever seeking expression. Paradoxically, sharing what we’re feeling in simple terms helps us to better contain and manage even the most difficult emotions. By naming them out loud, we are effectively taking responsibility for them, making it less likely that they will spill out at the expense of others over the course of a day. Several weeks ago, one of my colleagues was facilitating a session with a group of senior leaders for whom this exercise was way outside their comfort zone. As it turned out, the first person who got asked how he was feeling said: “Actually, I’m feeling kind of anxious and distracted. I just heard this morning that the roof of my house completely collapsed last night and my wife and children were inside.” Thankfully, no one was hurt, but is there any doubt that sharing this news, and his resulting concerns, was healthy and appropriate, not least because it was such a significant event? The impact on one of his colleagues was transformational. He had been highly skeptical about the value of sharing feelings, which he usually kept close to the vest. “It just dawned on me,” he told his colleagues, “how much likely goes unsaid between us and what the cost of holding that in must be.” As the chief executive of my company, I’m acutely aware that whatever I happen to be feeling at work is disproportionately contagious, for better and worse. Mostly, I’ve learned to simply notice my emotions without feeling compelled to act on them. To my chagrin, I still have occasions when negative emotions rise up in me outside of my awareness. The impact shows up in the tone of my voice or my choice of words, and my solution has been to turn to colleagues for help. Any time they sense that I might be feeling negative emotions, I’ve asked that they simply ask me, “How are you feeling?” That’s usually all it takes for me to notice. By noticing, I’m almost always able to manage whatever is going on inside me more gracefully. So, how are you feeling?


Teaching Toddlers in Manhattan

Abstract: Holly Wilson, 22, teaches babies, toddlers and preschoolers music and movement at Gymboree in Manhattan. With a voice a little like Cindy Lauper’s and thick socks for romping on the mats, she blows bubbles, shakes out brightly striped parachutes and generally plays for a living. How she landed here: I was a sophomore in college when I started. I had a friend who worked here and said I should try it. I said no, I’m too shy, I won’t be any good at it. It turned out to be so much fun, and I was kind of good at it. Degree: I just finished up at N.Y.U., majoring in Italian and linguistics, with minors in creative writing and African studies. Most unusual college course: Figure drawing, in Italian. All nude Italian men and women. That was sort of fun. I almost majored in art. Her lyrics to the tune of “The Flintstones” theme song: Clean up! Time to clean up! Most poetic lyric: If all the raindrops were lemon drops or gumdrops, what a rain that would be. Youngest student: 3 weeks old. Ever make them cry? I picked up a kid, who started screaming, and for the rest of the class stayed so upset. Some kids you can’t pick up. Work perks: I get a lot of hugs, I see first words, I get babies crawling over to say hi. If I come to work in a bad mood, I can’t stay in a bad mood. It’s so much better than working at a desk, doing the same thing every day. This boy, Ryan, said his first word once here, and his first word was Holly. I almost cried. His mom said, “When he’s 18, he’ll ask what his first word was.” They’re always changing. Every week they’ve grown up, but not that much. Post-work perks: I’ll be such a good mom, I’ll know all the songs. My mom says to me, you know all these things I wish I knew when I had babies. How to tell the toddler triplets apart: This is Benjamin, the one with dimples. He’s my boyfriend. The flirt, we call him. A good day: That’s when I get a lot of hugs, and nobody cries too much, when the kids are feeling it, when the grown-ups are feeling it. It’s all about grown-up participation. When the grown-ups are listening to you, they’re right there with the kids. Chatty moms: It’s a problem sometimes. At first I was too shy to go up and ask them not to talk during class. Working among runny noses: The first winter, me and everybody else I work with got sick. The first two winters. We sanitize all the toys. We clean all the equipment. But we can never avoid everything. Other bodily fluids: I got spit up on really good the other day. There’s a lot of drool; I have no problem with that. I don’t change diapers, because the classes are all mommy-and-me. That’s what’s so great about it: I only do the fun stuff. It’s like being an aunt. On the nightstand: “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs.” It’s a cultural manifesto on pop culture.


Pine Bush, N.Y., School District Faces Accusations of Anti-Semitism

Abstract: The swastikas, the students recalled, seemed to be everywhere: on walls, desks, lockers, textbooks, computer screens, a playground slide — even on a student’s face. A picture of President Obama, with a swastika drawn on his forehead, remained on the wall of an eighth-grade social studies classroom for about a month after a student informed her teacher, the student said. For some Jewish students in the Pine Bush Central School District in New York State, attending public school has been nothing short of a nightmare. They tell of hearing anti-Semitic epithets and nicknames, and horrific jokes about the Holocaust. They have reported being pelted with coins, told to retrieve money thrown into garbage receptacles, shoved and even beaten. They say that on school buses in this rural part of the state, located about 90 minutes north of New York City and once home to a local Ku Klux Klan chapter president, students have chanted “white power” and made Nazi salutes with their arms. The proliferation and cumulative effect of the slurs, drawings and bullying led three Jewish families last year to sue the district and its administrators in federal court; they seek damages and an end to what they call pervasive anti-Semitism and indifference by school officials. The district — centered in Pine Bush, west of Newburgh, and serving 5,600 children from Orange, Sullivan and Ulster Counties — is vigorously contesting the suit. But a review of sworn depositions of current and former school officials shows that some have acknowledged there had been a problem, although they denied it was widespread and said they had responded appropriately with discipline and other measures. “There are anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred that we need to address,” John Boyle, Crispell Middle School’s principal, said in a deposition in April. In 2011, when one parent complained about continued harassment of her daughter and another Jewish girl, Pine Bush’s superintendent from 2008 to 2013, Philip G. Steinberg, wrote in an email, “I have said I will meet with your daughters and I will, but your expectations for changing inbred prejudice may be a bit unrealistic.” Mr. Steinberg, who, along with two other administrators named as defendants, is Jewish, described the lawsuit in recent interviews as a “money grab.” He contended that the plaintiffs had “embellished” some allegations. Nonetheless, reports of anti-Semitism have persisted, with at least two recent complaints made to the Jewish Federation of Greater Orange County. The New York Times has reviewed about 3,500 pages of deposition testimony by parents, children and school administrators, which were provided by the families’ lawyers on the condition that the identities of the children, some of whom are still enrolled, be protected. Limited redactions were also made to protect student privacy. The children, in their depositions, accuse at least 35 students, who are identified by their initials, of carrying out anti-Semitic acts; other offenders are identified less specifically. Whatever the number of students involved in such activity, its impact was felt by the Jewish children, said Ilann M. Maazel, a lawyer for the families. “There were multiple children who just did not feel safe going to school day after day,” he said. A Hostile Environment In 2008, T.E., then a fifth grader at Pine Bush Elementary School, told her mother that two boys had made drawings in school that she did not understand, adding, “I think it was something bad.” The mother, Sherri E., 48, asked her daughter to draw what she had seen, and realized it was a swastika. The mother testified that during a subsequent meeting, the elementary school principal at the time, Steve Fisch, agreed to talk with the boys but added: “What’s the big deal? They didn’t aim it towards her.” Mr. Fisch, in his deposition, denies saying that. Not long afterward, the mother said, one of the boys called T.E. “Jew” on the bus and made an offensive gesture toward her and her daughter. Sherri E. withdrew her daughter from Crispell Middle School last year, and is now educating her at home. Image Crispell Middle School in the Pine Bush School District. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times Some of the affected students saw their grades suffer, and felt socially isolated and depressed, the depositions show. One said he contemplated suicide. The swastikas, drawn or carved onto school property, or even constructed by students out of pipe cleaners, caused much of the anxiety. Sometimes they were accompanied by messages like “Die Jew,” the children testified. “I actually started to hate myself for being Jewish,” D.C., a Pine Bush High School graduate who now attends college, said in an interview. He recalled that around the time of the Jewish holidays, teachers would ask if there were Jewish students in the class. “I learned very, very quickly not to raise my hand,” he said. D.C., now 18, testified that he was “overwhelmed” by the number of swastikas he saw. In eighth grade, he said, he reported one that was about a foot in diameter, which he found in a bathroom; it was removed, but it reappeared quickly. He testified that he stopped reporting swastikas because “nobody was doing anything about them.” His sister, O.C., now 15, testified about a more direct message from a sixth grader who formed his hand into the shape of a gun and “said he was killing Jews.” In seventh grade, O.C. said, she saw a girl holding her hands up to hide a swastika on her face. The girl explained that a student had restrained her while another drew the insignia; the school said it had disciplined the two students. O.C. said she heard slurs like Christ killer, stupid Jew, dirty Jew, disgusting Jew. “Jew was kind of an insult,” she explained. Her father, David C., an adjunct instructor at Orange County Community College, recalled telling his daughter’s teachers that she lacked focus because of the harassment and swastikas. He had even stumbled upon one, he testified, describing how he saw a “small swastika on one of the stalls” in a school bathroom. The children testified about hearing crude jokes about the Holocaust and the killing of Jews. “How do you get a Jewish girl’s number? Lift up her sleeve,” went one. D.C. remembered a student telling him that his ancestors had died in the Holocaust. The student then blew on his flattened hand, and said, “You are just ashes.” “Every day at the high school,” D.C. testified, “I would go in, and I would just have the worst day of my life.” ‘So Many’ Accused Mr. Steinberg said in his deposition that his challenge as superintendent was that “so many” students were being accused of anti-Semitic behavior. “The issue is not three students doing it all the time; the question is if you have 30 students doing it,” he said. “How do you undo the years of inbred prejudice?” At the edge of town, a big red barn is painted with a patriotic yellow ribbon. Across the street, a yard decorated with military equipment has a bomb painted with the words, “God Bless Our Troops.” Billboards advertise 4-H clubs; stores sell tractors, snow blowers and soft-serve ice cream. Most people interviewed — from a bagel shop owner to McDonald’s clerks, adults and teenagers alike — said they had not heard of the swastikas. But some said they were aware of bullying or hate-fueled teasing, including a middle-school student who said she knew a boy who had drawn swastikas on the back of their school. “It’s just hate,” she said outside after school last month. “And just being kids.” At that point, a pickup truck pulled up nearby, and a man emerged. The man, John Barker, 42, a mechanic, cautioned that “everybody watches out for everybody.” When asked about the presence of Jewish families, he blurted out, “We don’t want them in our town.” “They can’t drive, for number one — and they already have Sullivan County. Who really wants them here? They don’t belong here.” Bullies on the Bus The bus was a particularly difficult place for Jewish students. On April 19, 2010, T.E., then in sixth grade, told her mother that students on her bus had made Nazi salutes and discussed how to celebrate the anniversary of Hitler’s birthday, which was the next day. Sherri E., who knew the date was also the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, said she reported the episode to school officials, telling them her daughter would stay home the next morning. Image “I have said I will meet with your daughters and I will, but your expectations for changing inbred prejudice may be a bit unrealistic.” PHILIP G. STEINBERG , superintendent of the Pine Bush Central School District from 2008 until his retirement this year, in an email to a parent who complained about continuing harassment. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times No violence followed, but the harassment continued, T.E. said in an interview. “I finally said, ‘I’m not going back to school,’ ” she said. She withdrew in early 2012. D.R. was in sixth grade when a school-sponsored ski trip turned ugly. A boy on the bus ride home asked if he was Jewish, and when D.R. answered yes, a group of students began taunting him with slurs, he testified. One boy then repeatedly punched him in the stomach “until I was ready to throw up,” D.R. said in his account. His father, Jerrold R., 52, an aircraft leasing executive, testified that his son cried uncontrollably that night. “That was the worst experience he had ever been through,” he said. Pine Bush said it had disciplined the student who led the episode, requiring him to write an apology note and contacting his mother. D.R., now 16 and a junior, testified that early this year, he saw four or five Pine Bush students goose-stepping and high-fiving with Nazi salutes in the hallway. The school district has sharply disputed claims that swastikas were “everywhere” in the high school, and said it responded diligently to reports of anti-Semitic behavior. Laura Wong-Pan, a lawyer for the district, said Pine Bush had taken many steps to address “the plaintiffs’ complaints and deal with bullying in general,” like disciplining students in a manner that was “reasonably calculated to prevent a recurrence.” Ms. Wong-Pan said that in some cases, that “included counseling, detentions, suspensions, letters to parents and meetings.” She said the district had also held antibullying assemblies and classroom discussions; brought Holocaust survivors and experts to address students on issues like bullying, anti-Semitism and tolerance; and provided staff training on such topics. Trouble Seeking Help The families say their conversations with school officials led nowhere. They were told that their complaints were isolated, and were not informed that other families had raised similar issues. T.E. testified that when she was in seventh grade, she and O.C. were reporting anti-Semitic graffiti and other behavior to a Crispell administrator, who discouraged them at one point. “We would write it down and bring it to him, usually at the end of the week,” she said. “He told us we were now just looking for trouble and that we were causing our own problems.” Jerrold R. said that he once asked an assistant principal why his older son, A.R., then in middle school, was disciplined for defending himself against a student who had grabbed him after taunting him about the Holocaust. The school official replied, “ ‘We have a zero-tolerance policy on fighting,’ ” the father recalled. “And I said, ‘How about a zero-tolerance policy on anti-Semitism?’ ” In a court filing, the families cited eight cases of slurs or coin-throwing in which one child received two hours of detention, one was counseled, and six received no discipline. “I was lied to, to my face, repeatedly, by the schools,” Jerrold R. recalled in an interview. The assurances, he said, “kept us from doing something that would have protected our kids, taking a more aggressive stance.” Two parents testified about meeting with Mr. Steinberg in spring 2011. “We told him about the swastikas,” David C. said. “We told him about the name-calling. We told him about the insidious Holocaust jokes. We showed him the pictures of four or five or six of the swastikas that the girls had taken. We told him about being singled out and being bullied for being Jewish.” Sherri E. testified that Mr. Steinberg once told her how his own son had experienced anti-Semitism, leading him to move his family and send him to a different school. “My response to him was, ‘Well, in a better economy that might be nice, but I can’t sell my house and move from here right now,’ ” she said. “Something needs to be taken care of at the school level.” History of Racism Mr. Steinberg, 65, who retired as superintendent in the summer, worked as a teacher, principal and superintendent in New York City’s schools before taking the Pine Bush position in 2008. Image FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT A Pine Bush High School graduate, now 18, testified in a March deposition about his experiences in the school system. He said in his deposition that when he was being considered for the post, members of the Pine Bush school board cautioned him about the community’s history of anti-Semitism and Klan activity, and that it “was not a Jewish area.” He said his hiring was an example of how far the district had come. In the 1970s, Pine Bush was the home of the grand dragon of a Klan chapter that became embroiled in a legal dispute with the state attorney general’s office, which had demanded that it reveal its membership list. The group, Independent Northern Klans Inc., which was represented by the American and New York Civil Liberties Unions, successfully rebuffed the effort. The Klan leader’s wife had been a member of Pine Bush’s school board. The Anti-Defamation League, which said then that the chapter had about 200 “activists” in the region, says today there has been little evidence of organized Klan activity in the state in recent years. Mr. Steinberg, in interviews, said he asked the parents who had sued why they chose Pine Bush. “I said to them, ‘If being Jewish is so important to you, why would you move into a community that does not have a synagogue?’ ” “ ‘If you want your kids to hang out with more Jewish children or have more tolerance,’ ” he added, “ ‘why would you pick a community like Pine Bush?’ ” He had experienced anti-Semitism as a child and as a parent, he said, elaborating on how he moved his own family within Nassau County after his young son was told by a classmate that she would not eat lunch with him because he was Jewish. “A 7-year-old doesn’t learn that except from her parents,” Mr. Steinberg remembered thinking. “We don’t teach them hate in school, but yet we have to undo the hate and the intolerance,” he said. Mr. Steinberg said he and his staff followed up on all complaints about anti-Semitic behavior, but substantiated fewer than a dozen examples of swastikas and other offensive graffiti. He said that through the assemblies, staff training and visits from Holocaust experts, he had sought to “try and change behaviors one student at a time.” A Continuing Fight In a September court hearing in White Plains, the district’s lawyer, Ms. Wong-Pan, told Judge Kenneth M. Karas that Pine Bush officials did not condone anti-Semitism. She accused the plaintiffs of distorting the facts. “I mean, the way they describe it, it sounds like it’s the Third Reich in those schools,” she said. At the local McDonald’s recently, a worker sweeping the floor, Corey Kyles, 25, said that his brother, Tyler, used to draw swastikas outside the town’s Boys and Girls Club, and also carve them into the high school’s wrestling mats. “God only knows why he did it,” Mr. Kyles said of Tyler, who died in a car accident in 2009. “He probably was just stupid.” The experiences of other Pine Bush alumni have varied. Sherri Kravitz-Donnell, the board president of Congregation Beth Hillel in nearby Walden and a longtime high school English teacher in Pine Bush until she retired in 2008, said she did not witness anti-Semitic behavior, nor did she hear about it from her son or daughter, who attended the schools. But after they graduated, she said, her children, now in their 20s, said that they had experienced anti-Semitic teasing and slurs but had kept it from her, not wanting her to intervene. Since 2011, at least two complaints about such behavior in Pine Bush’s Circleville Middle School have been received by the Jewish Federation in Orange County, said Susan Notar, a federation volunteer. The first was from a parent about a boy on the school bus who said he had dressed up as a Hasidic Jew for Halloween because he “thought it was funny,” and whose brother had wanted to dress up as Hitler. Ms. Notar said she emailed Circleville’s principal, Lisa Hankinson, who replied that she was “deeply troubled” and invited Ms. Notar to speak to the faculty. Ms. Notar said she offered the teachers resources to fight anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of intolerance. The federation received another complaint last spring. Ms. Notar said that she again emailed Ms. Hankinson, and at her invitation returned two weeks ago to speak to an assembly of students. Ms. Notar said Ms. Hankinson had responded appropriately. “I teach about the Holocaust,” Ms. Notar said. “I know what can happen when people look the other way.”

Bullying
Lawsuits
Judaism
Antisemitism
Discrimination
School discipline
K-12 Education
Pine Bush NY


C. C. Sabathia, Pitching for Yankees, Has Nerves but ‘No Complaints’

Abstract: TAMPA, Fla. — C. C. Sabathia had not stood atop a mound in a major league game since last May, so there were manifold questions and concerns on Tuesday night: about his surgically repaired right knee, his arm strength, his control, his velocity, his stamina. And it was not surprising that Sabathia felt jittery. “I was really nervous, more so than normal,” said Sabathia, a former Cy Young Award winner and a six-time All-Star. “It was kind of weird.” Sabathia pitched two unspectacular innings for the Yankees against the Toronto Blue Jays, a stint he said was not long enough to calm his nerves. “I never really settled in,” he said. “I think it was just being a big league game again. Being out there with my teammates. I hadn’t been out there in a big league game in almost a year.” Since May 10, 2014, to be exact. It was after that start when a 15-day stint on the disabled list led to a 60-day stay that eventually led to season-ending arthroscopic knee surgery on July 23. Sabathia’s first-inning performance was solid. He induced the leadoff hitter, Jose Reyes, to ground out to shortstop, struck out Josh Donaldson swinging and got Jose Bautista to also ground out to short. “I was really pleased,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “I liked the way the ball was coming out of his hand.” However, in the second inning, Sabathia unraveled. He yielded four hits, although the first was a grounder between third and shortstop that a younger Alex Rodriguez, who was playing third, might have had the range to get to. Sabathia surrendered three more hits, two of them doubles, which led to two earned runs. “I’m not worried about giving up runs,” Girardi said after the Blue Jays’ 4-2 victory. “He’s still working on things. This was a first step.” A first step that Sabathia, aside from the nervousness, said he was pleased with. “I felt good,” Sabathia said. “No complaints. I want to work on my changeup a little more and get that down. I want it to be my No. 2 pitch instead of my cutter. My fastball command was pretty good.” His fastball, which once resided in the upper-90-mile-per-hour range, consistently registered 90 to 92 against the Blue Jays. “My velocity is what it is,” Sabathia said with a resignation in his voice that clearly conveyed he was weary of discussing the topic. “It’s going to be in the 80s some days, and some days, hopefully, it’ll be higher than 92. I don’t really care.” Clearly, Sabathia, who turns 35 on July 21 and has two years plus a vested year remaining on his contract, is not the pitcher he once was. His streak of six consecutive opening day starts for the Yankees — he has made 11 over all — will most likely end next month. “I can’t say that’s going to make or break me,” he said. “I want to be there in September, or for Game 1 of any playoff series.” After Sabathia went 3-4 last season and appeared in only 46 innings, which was the first year he did not pitch 200 or more innings since 2006, it also is what the Yankees would like to see. INSIDE PITCH Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury sat out the game and was not expected to play Wednesday because of a mild abdominal strain. Neither Ellsbury nor Joe Girardi believes the injury is serious, though Girardi could not say when the center fielder would return to the lineup. ... Mark Teixeira hit his first home run of the spring, an opposite-field shot to left-center to lead off the bottom of the fourth. ... Before the game, the Yankees optioned catcher Gary Sanchez to Class AA Trenton and reassigned him to minor league camp. ... After the game, the Yankees optioned the right-hander Domingo German to Class A Tampa and the right-hander Branden Pinder to Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and reassigned both to minor league camp. They also reassigned the infielders Greg Bird and Kyle Roller to minor league camp.

Yankees
Jacoby Ellsbury
Baseball
C C Sabathia


An Easier-to-Understand Photoshop for Amateurs

Abstract: Adobe recently announced a new version of its popular Photoshop Elements 8 picture-editing software. As you might expect, Photoshop Elements uses the same algorithms as Adobe’s professional-level Photoshop software, but the features are much more accessible to users. Think of it as Photoshop for very smart dummies. The Organizer in Elements can now check for problems like blurry focus or poorly lighted photos. The Smart Tags tool can flag and suggest fixes to these images. Adobe has also improved its face-recognition technology to make it a bit faster to verify the correct association of names with faces. Adobe has enhanced its Quick Fix feature by making it easier to understand photo-editing terms. The company says many users have not taken advantage of certain adjustments, like temperature, because they simply didn’t understand the language. To help, the Quick Fix tool displays changes to the main image as you edit, a useful addition for more casual users. The Windows versions of Photoshop Elements 8 is available now for $100. The Mac version will be available in October for the same price. RIK FAIRLIE

Software
Computers and the Internet
Adobe Systems Inc
Photography


Dispute Flares After NATO Kills 4 in Afghanistan

Abstract: KABUL, Afghanistan — A NATO military convoy in eastern Afghanistan shot to death four unarmed civilians in a vehicle early Monday evening, including a police officer and a 12-year-old student, Afghan officials said Tuesday. The killings in Khost Province, near the border with Pakistan, led to a dispute almost immediately between local Afghan leaders and NATO officials. Deaths of civilians from shootings by NATO forces near convoys and at checkpoints have emerged as a particular flash point with the Afghan public and government. “The civilians’ vehicle was driving on the road when the coalition forces opened fire on them,” said the governor of Gurbuz District, Mohammad Akbar Zadran. “There was a 12-year-old schoolboy among the dead, and a police officer named Maiwand who was also killed.” Without offering proof, NATO described the dead as two insurgents and their “associates.” In a statement on Tuesday , NATO said the vehicle ignored warning shots and accelerated toward the military convoy. But the statement did not challenge the Afghan account that no weapons were found in the vehicle. At least 35 civilians have been killed since last summer by NATO and American troops in such incidents — but military officials say that in no instance did the victims prove to be a danger to troops. One week ago, American troops raked a large passenger bus with gunfire near Kandahar, killing 5 civilians and wounding as many as 18, igniting angry anti-American demonstrations. In Khost, local officials said the four were slain at 6 p.m. Monday as they drove home in a Toyota. One official identified the men as Maiwand, a police officer; Faizullah, a 12-year-old student; and two shopkeepers at the Khost bazaar, Amirullah and Nasratullah. The governor of Khost, Abdul Jabar Naimi, also described the four as a policeman, a student and two shop owners. “We are still doing our investigation to see if they were involved in any criminal activities against the government,” he said. The American-led NATO military command in Kabul said two of the dead men were identified after the fact as “known insurgents.” A NATO spokesman in Kabul said identification was made using “biometric data” but could not say how that specifically tied the men to militancy. NATO said the military convoy was returning to its base after defusing a roadside bomb when the vehicle approached from the opposite direction. The troops “attempted to flag the vehicle down, and flashed its lights,” a NATO statement said, but the “driver of the unidentified vehicle responded by turning off the vehicle’s headlights and accelerating toward the convoy.” Troops fired warning shots, but the vehicle continued to accelerate, the statement said. “Several rounds were fired in an attempt to disable the vehicle, and finally shots were fired into the vehicle itself.”

United States Defense and Military Forces


Eels, Worms and Baitfish Are Kim Zatto’s Business

Abstract: IT was still dark Thursday morning when Kim Zatto, 46, arrived at a bait shop on City Island. The other customers wore flannel shirts and fish-slimy jeans, but Ms. Zatto showed up with her blond coif and purple manicure done just so. She bought a couple of dozen crates of sandworms and bloodworms from a delivery truck out back, just in from Maine, and she loaded them into her minivan. She held a tiny handbag and a purple rhinestone-studded cellphone, which now began ringing. It was a Long Island bait store owner. “How are you doing on clams?” she asked. “What about bunker? You O.K. with bunker?” It is safe to say that providing baitfish to anglers in the New York area is a niche business, and this niche has been a livelihood for Ms. Zatto, 46, and her family: the Seaman clan of Rosedale, Queens. The Seamans are perhaps the last New York City eeling family. Ms. Zatto belongs to the fifth generation of Seamans scooping bait out of Jamaica Bay and selling it to tackle shops spread from the East End of Long Island to the Jersey Shore. Ms. Zatto lives in a house between those of her father, Larry Seaman, 69, and his younger brother, Bob, in a ramshackle neighborhood that gets swallowed regularly by high tides and heavy rains. The houses are on a creek along the edge of Kennedy International Airport, and the Seaman brothers have been catching eels, crabs and baitfish like killies and spearing in these waters since they were children — a trappers’ life in view of the Manhattan skyline. Ms. Zatto’s husband, Victor, has a landlubbing job at the airport, but their son, Victor, 14, is already catching bait the way Ms. Zatto has since she was 10, when her father made her a flat-bottomed skiff so she could set killie traps in the bay and then deliver the fish by boat to the shops in Howard Beach. As a teenager, she helped tend the family’s roadside seafood stand and its bait shack, which has a hand-scrawled sign — “Park here for bait only. No IHOP people” — a reference to the International House of Pancakes nearby on Rockaway Boulevard. Ms. Zatto has been delivering, and doing some trapping, since graduating from high school, she said, returning home with her worms — which she typically buys from bait wholesalers, along with other items that her family members do not typically catch themselves, including squid, clams and bunker. Often, she is racing around buying and selling, with a van full of cargo that starts to either thaw, die or smell after a couple of hours. “I don’t even smell it anymore,” she said, backing her 1994 minivan into her father’s yard. Live bait is kept in pens submerged off the docks in the creek, and frozen bait is kept in a walk-in freezer converted from an old delivery truck. The family members gather regularly to package barrels of spearing into small plastic bags for Ms. Zatto to deliver, along with the crabs and eels they trap and the worms they dig. On Thursday morning, she filled the minivan with bait and slipped in her fishing rod, in case of an emergency fishing stop. The Seamans’ bait business has declined since the 1990s, when they had a fleet of bait trucks run by Ms. Zatto’s mother, Lois, who died of cancer in 1998. Ms. Zatto blames government restrictions, the cost of gas and technological distractions that keep people from the water. Indeed, Thursday was a slow day. The summer rush was over, and striper season had not yet kicked in. “I got all these worms and I got no one to sell them to,” Ms. Zatto said. “I’m not happy.” Ms. Zatto stopped at the Launch Pad bait shop in Inwood and sold sandworms and bunker. The next two shops, Crossbay Fishing Station in Howard Beach and Bernie’s bait shop in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, placed orders for the weekend. Ms. Zatto then checked on some fishing buddies in a shopping-center parking lot in Far Rockaway, where you can stand next to your car and cast into a deep channel for striped bass. Ms. Zatto’s bait tales are better than fish tales. “One time, the van was stolen with $1,000 worth of bait in it,” she said. “The cops found it in Brooklyn, and all the bait was gone.” Then there was the time she was driving her aunt home on the Belt Parkway and a sharp turn sent two large barrels of eels tumbling over. Ms. Zatto calmly drove home with eels and ice water flooding the minivan like an aquarium. She has been known for cutting off customers who grouse about the size of the worms or the condition of the fiddler crabs. “If they get on my nerves too much, I tell them, ‘No spearing for you,’ and I don’t come back,” she said. “I got enough people annoying me in my life.”

Fishing Sport
City Island (NYC)
Zatto Kim


Wilpon Apologizes to Mets Players for Comments

Abstract: CHICAGO — With his public-relations campaign backfiring, Fred Wilpon , the Mets ’ principal owner, apologized to Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran via speaker phone in a cramped office in the clubhouse at Wrigley Field on Tuesday. The usually restrained Wilpon had done a series of interviews with weekly magazines in the hope of presenting his side of the Bernard L. Madoff scandal, only to ignite a fresh controversy. No one around the Mets appeared particularly surprised at the need for apologetic phone calls, team meetings and the seemingly unrelenting requirement of addressing negative off-field issues. “In the years that I’ve been here, this is not the first time that I’m in a situation where I have to answer questions about what somebody said about me or this or that,” Beltran said. In addition to Beltran and Reyes, Wilpon reached out to David Wright, who is not with the team because of a back injury, after he criticized all of them and disparaged the team as a whole in an interview in The New Yorker that was published this week. Wilpon said that Wright was not a superstar, even though the team markets him that way, and that Reyes has had “everything wrong with him,” and he used an expletive to describe the team as lousy. He considered coming to Chicago to apologize in person, but it was decided that his presence would only inflame the situation. As it was, Manager Terry Collins felt compelled to hold a team meeting in the tiny clubhouse to tell the players to ignore the situation flaring around them and to focus strictly on baseball. But then the Mets went out and played one of their worst games of the season, losing to the Cubs, 11-1 . General Manager Sandy Alderson spoke to reporters after the loss and said it was time to move on. “Everyone was surprised by the comments, but there’s nobody who is more passionate about the Mets, has more empathy for the players than Fred,” he said. “I think that we all get caught up in the emotion from time to time, and perhaps say some things that on reflection probably were not well chosen.” Although Beltran and Reyes took a mostly forgiving and gracious tone with reporters, they seemed to suppress some resentment. The most visibly agitated was Beltran, who said he had become far too experienced at answering questions about ownership’s criticisms of him. Beltran had also incurred the wrath of the owners when he had surgery on his knee against their wishes in January 2010, and after he missed an optional team visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center last year. Beltran directly rebutted Wilpon’s assertion in The New Yorker that he was 65 to 70 percent of the player he once was. “What is important is that I’m healthy and I’m back playing, I’m enjoying the game,” Beltran said. “I don’t feel 70 or 65, I feel 100 percent.” Beltran went into Tuesday’s game with a .910 on-base plus slugging percentage, the eighth best in the National League, and is now batting .279 with 8 homers and 25 runs batted in . Reyes, likewise, is having an excellent season, batting .314 with a major-league-high 6 triples, and 17 stolen bases, second in the majors. But both players can be free agents after the season, and whatever hope remained that they might return next year appears to have been answered in the negative by Wilpon’s public comments. Wilpon said in The New Yorker that Reyes would not command a contract similar to the $142 million deal Carl Crawford received from the Boston Red Sox last winter. (Reyes has not made public any contract demands.) Perhaps Wilpon simply meant he would not get it from the cash-deficient Mets. In fact, based on another article, it appears the Mets would not pay Reyes even half that amount. In an article in Sports Illustrated , Wilpon confirmed what had been widely assumed, that next season’s payroll would be below $100 million. That would mean a roughly 30 percent drop from this season, all but ensuring the departure of Beltran and Reyes. Alderson said he was not told that the payroll would necessarily dip that low, then playfully alluded to Wilpon’s recent media campaign. “Look, I haven’t read Sports Illustrated, I haven’t read Mechanics Illustrated, Men’s Health,” he said. “I don’t know what stories are out there, so until I’ve read those stories I can’t comment.” He added with an exasperated smile, “Let’s focus on getting past the New Yorker article.” As for the remorseful phone call from Wilpon, Beltran and Reyes said they told him that they were not losing sleep over it, but seemed to appreciate his contrition. “He just said sorry it happened, sorry it got out,” Collins explained of the call, “and we certainly said don’t worry about it, we’re going to move forward. We’re big leaguers. We’re men. It’s a big league baseball team, our job is to play baseball.” In addition to his father’s calls, Jeff Wilpon, the Mets’ chief operating officer, reached out to some players Monday to explain. If he tried to contact Reyes, though, the call never got through. Asked if Jeff Wilpon had called him, Reyes said: “No, I mean, probably. But I don’t answer. I was in bed all day yesterday, so I don’t know. A lot of people called me. I don’t know, maybe.”

Apologies
New Yorker
Baseball
New York Mets
Wilpon Fred
Beltran Carlos