Church Tithing Slips in Harlem Even as Neighborhood Improves

Abstract: The tourists started lining up two hours before morning worship service on West 116th Street in Harlem. Most were dressed in everyday clothes, contrasting with the dark suits and prim dresses of the largely African-American congregation in the historic sanctuary of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ. The Rev. Roger Harris, an associate pastor, made his way from the back of the line in his pinstripe suit. “Good to see you, glad you came,” he said, offering grins and handshakes on a recent Sunday. The tourists were herded to the balcony until, as in several churches in Harlem, they packed the seats there. Down below, where the congregation has dwindled over the years, there were plenty of empty seats. The tourists often put offerings in the collection basket. But then they are gone. And so despite the draw, churches like Canaan are struggling. And at the heart of the struggle is a contradiction: As Harlem’s fortunes rise, tithing — the traditional source of the churches’ money — is fading away. Harlem’s historical base of African-Americans has been dwindling. Those who remain have regularly tithed, setting apart 10 percent of their incomes for their church, in times good and bad. But now that has changed, too. “Your tithers are your people who really keep your church going as a whole,” said the Rev. Dr. Charles A. Curtis, the senior pastor at Mount Olivet Baptist Church and the chairman of Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement . “With the drop in population,” he said, “you have less people to tithe.” The Rev. Jesse T. Williams Jr., senior pastor at Convent Avenue Baptist Church , said, “Giving is a form of worship, and an expression of thanking God for what God has given us.” At his church, he said, tithes in recent years were down about 12 percent. Canaan, now with 1,000 members, has lost 500 since 2000, which increased the amount of room available for tourists. Without the tourists, Mr. Harris said, the senior pastor would be “preaching to an empty balcony.” Image Canaan Baptist Church of Christ has lost 500 congregants since 2000, reflecting Harlem’s dwindling black population. Credit Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times And tithes are down 20 percent, though other offerings at Canaan have been stable. It is not clear how much of that money comes from tourists. Some churches have experienced drops in tithing of as much as 50 percent, said Deborah C. Wright, the chief executive of Carver Federal Savings Bank, leading them to seek loans from her bank. “Clearly this is a transitional period,” said Canaan’s senior pastor, the Rev. Thomas D. Johnson Sr., who celebrated his seventh year at the church last month. “I believe that Canaan and all of our strong churches in Harlem are determined not to become extinct. This institution must survive, not only for the congregation, but because of who we represent.” The story of Canaan, and its current struggle, is shared by many of Harlem’s churches. It was founded in 1932 in the spirit of what elders call a country church. Many early congregants were migrants from the South, sharecroppers under Jim Crow, steeped in a worship tradition. As more families came, the church grew. The previous pastor, the Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, led the church for almost 40 years, until he retired in 2004; he was an architect of the civil rights movement and an aide to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “He was a fighter,” said Mr. Harris, who has a goal of increasing church membership by at least 50 within the next year. In 1970, Mr. Walker once stood on the trunk of a car near the church and, through a bullhorn, preached a sermon about drug-dealing in the neighborhood. “We’ve been living dangerously for a long time,” he told his curbside congregation of 300, and whoever else was within earshot, “and we’re not afraid to name names.” The black church, he often said, was the primary resource for the black community. “It is where black people have the ultimate decision-making power,” he said in a 1979 newspaper interview. “Black folks will pay church dues before they pay their rent.” Image At Convent Avenue Baptist Church, the senior pastor, the Rev. Jesse T. Williams Jr., recently greeted parishioners. Credit James Estrin/The New York Times Under Mr. Walker, whose black-and-white portrait hangs in Canaan’s lobby, membership swelled to the point where ushers had to put chairs in the halls. The Canaan that Mr. Johnson inherited, however, looks remarkably different. So does the neighborhood. Where African-Americans once made up the bulk of Central Harlem’s population, they are now less than half. Economically, million-dollar homes and trendy restaurants glimmer amid stubborn pockets of blight. Even in churches where membership has been steady, some pastors say, tithes have dipped. In recent years, food pantries have run bare, building problems have festered, and funds that help people make their rent, keep their electricity on or get a MetroCard to get to work dry up. Some community initiatives have been stalled. Church members always dig deep when pastors make pleas from the pulpit. But despite church holdings in real estate amid Harlem’s rising property values, church operations are tied to the faithful. “Everybody is affected one way or another,” said Mr. Williams of Convent Avenue Baptist, located on 145th Street. “People who have been here a long time, members who have owned their homes or brownstones 30, 40 years, have come up quite well. The other end of the spectrum being, we have members in the congregation who have lost their residences, lost their jobs.” More and more, pastors say, church members bring their worries over layoffs and rent increases to them, and to the altar. “The misery index in Harlem is still high,” Mr. Johnson, 56, said. “It’s really something to walk through Harlem,” he continued, “and see people obviously struggling, and literally on the other side of the street see people walking toy dogs, and coming out of condos. We’ve got to bring them together. I think that’s the bridge we have to build.” Last Sunday, Canaan celebrated its 81st anniversary. And as part of his legacy, Mr. Johnson has been rethinking its ministry. He has ushered in a church Web site and started a men’s ministry, a women’s ministry, a young adult ministry and a social policy institute. He also revived the evangelism ministry, which over the summer will, in part, target Harlem’s growing diversity. “A multilingual church in a multicultural community, that’s where we live now. That’s the kind of Canaan that we’re starting to build,” Mr. Johnson said. “Harlem is going to continue to evolve,” he added, “but we need to make sure we preserve the symbols. People aren’t coming to look at the new condo that went up. They come for the Apollo, to walk down 125th Street and get a glimpse of what that looked like back in the day, and the churches where pastors like Walker preached.”

Canaan Baptist Church of Christ Harlem NY


Spain’s Iniesta Named Euro 2012’s Best Player

Abstract: Andrés Iniesta was honored as best player of the European Championships after helping Spain become the first nation to successfully defend the continental crown. Iniesta, a 28-year-old midfielder, started all six of Spain’s matches, including Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Italy in the final. He won the award despite not scoring a goal in the tournament.

UEFA European Football Championship
Soccer
Iniesta Andres


Accounts of Violence Spread in Zimbabwe

Abstract: JOHANNESBURG — Ten days after Zimbabwe voted and by most accounts rejected its long-serving, autocratic president, Robert Mugabe , the mood of the country grew more ominous on Tuesday. The opposition reported widespread attacks on its supporters, black youths drove white farmers off their land and election officials were accused of vote tampering and arrested. As Mr. Mugabe sought to cling to power beyond his 28th year in office, the High Court began to weigh the demand of the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, for the immediate release of the presidential election results. They have still not been announced, but the opposition says they will give it victory. With international pressure building on Mr. Mugabe’s government to tell his nation who won, the police, part of his apparatus of power, arrested five election officials accused of tampering with the vote to the detriment of Mr. Mugabe’s tally, the state-run newspaper The Herald reported Tuesday. The opposition party has pleaded for international intervention to resolve Zimbabwe’s political stalemate, and at a news conference in Harare, Tendai Biti, its secretary general, protested what he called “the deafening silence” from the African Union and a regional bloc of nations known as the Southern African Development Community, The Associated Press reported. “I say to our brothers and sisters across the continent, don’t wait for dead bodies in the streets of Harare,” he said. Officials from human rights groups and trade union alliances said the arrests of election officials appeared to be a tactic to intimidate those counting the votes, while the delay seemed devised to buy ZANU-PF, Mr. Mugabe’s governing party, time to figure out how to survive and perhaps to rig the outcome. “The fear is they’re going to try to force these officials to falsify results in key constituencies where the votes might be enough to swing the national election,” said Patrick Craven, a spokesman for the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which joined with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions on Tuesday to call for the immediate release of the outcome. Zimbabweans say their rising sense of foreboding grows out of ZANU-PF’s past use of violence for political ends. In 2000, after the defeat of a referendum that would have given Mr. Mugabe greater powers, he blamed white farmers. In the years since, he has sanctioned the seizure of thousands of their farms, often by force. He said he did so to right the injustices of the colonial era, which concentrated farmland in the hands of whites, but much of the confiscated land was doled out as patronage to ZANU-PF’s governing elite. In 2005, Mr. Mugabe’s government demolished the homes of hundreds of thousands of poor people in urban neighborhoods that were strongholds of the political opposition. And last year, the police rounded up dozens of opposition figures, including the current presidential candidate of Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai , beating and arresting them. The opposition said this persecution was happening again in rural areas where there were no witnesses but the victims. Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change, said Tuesday that about 200 of its polling agents, campaign workers and supporters had been arrested, beaten or kidnapped since the election. ZANU-PF is organizing and arming youth militias, he said. “People are facing serious retributive attacks,” he said. The government’s information minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, denied the charges, telling The Associated Press: “They are concocting things. It is peaceful.” Trevor Gifford, president of the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe, said groups of as many as 200 young men, paid by ZANU-PF and chanting party slogans and shouting anti-white epithets, had invaded 60 farms and driven out their inhabitants. “It’s ethnic cleansing happening,” Mr. Gifford said in a telephone interview. “We can very quickly become extinct. People are losing their homes, businesses, lives. It’s really desperate.” The Herald reported Monday that Mr. Mugabe had called on blacks to hold onto the land and never let the whites reclaim it.

Zimbabwe
Election Results
Politics and Government
Tsvangirai Morgan
Mugabe Robert


Just in Time, Game Between Barcelona and Manchester City Gets a New Dimension

Abstract: LONDON — The intensity and joy are back with Barcelona. The intensity and belief are back with Manchester City. And there could be few better ways to welcome back the Champions League than when these two meet in Manchester on Tuesday night. If Barça is back on full throttle, that means Lionel Messi is over his injuries and scoring again at a rate that eclipses the greats. The little Argentine chipped in two goals, exquisite of course, in Barcelona’s 6-0 obliteration of Rayo Vallecano on Saturday. Earlier that evening, City eliminated Chelsea from the F.A. Cup, scoring only twice in a performance so strong that Chelsea was not allowed a shot on goal in the 90 minutes. This, said City captain Vincent Kompany, was vengeance for Chelsea winning at the Etihad Stadium in the league two weeks ago. No it wasn’t, City Coach Manuel Pellegrini said; it was the fact that his team did not want to lose twice in its stadium to the same opponent. The best sound of all at the postgame news conferences was the muted acceptance of Chelsea’s coach, José Mourinho. “Simple,” Mourinho said. “City played much better than us, and when the best team wins, I think football is in peace.” It is at peace when this particular man is not bad-mouthing his fellow managers, as Mourinho did so often when his path crossed Pellegrini’s in Spanish and English soccer. The game has another dimension when Barça’s stars are in good health. Two weeks ago, when Messi was tenderly feeling his way back after months of rest for his tired and torn hamstrings, a coach whose team took full advantage of Barcelona’s wounds last season made a significant observation. “When all your players are fit,” Jupp Heynckes told a Barcelona board member, “you still have more talents than us.” Heynckes retired after his Bayern Munich side cleaned out the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League last season. His acknowledgment that Bayern finished off a weakened Barcelona came two weeks ago, when he met Barcelona’s vice president, Javier Faus. That is how sportsmen — with some exceptions — talk when the microphones are switched off. Heynckes left Munich in great shape, and Pep Guardiola, the former coach at Barcelona, has added talents to Bayern since replacing him. Meanwhile, not only has Messi needed a prolonged timeout, but the captain Carles Puyol, the dynamic inventor Andrés Iniesta and the galvanic left back Jordi Alba have been nursed through strains and nagging pains. It hasn’t always been appreciated, but Tata Martino, the coach in his first season after coming over from Argentina, has juggled maintaining results at the top while rotating and resting senior players. Some fluency was lost. Critics accused Martino of tampering with Barça’s intrinsic “tika-taka” pass-and-move style by trying to persuade players to mix up their approach, to make long diagonal passes from time to time. The coach had one purpose. He sought to arrive at the business end of the European season with a team fit enough and fresh enough to take on the best in Europe. There might, as people have suggested, be another motive. Martino is Argentine. Messi and another Barcelona player, Javier Mascherano, are also Argentine. There is a World Cup coming, and Argentina wants to be a force in that, just as Spain and Brazil and Germany intend to be. Even if it is done subconsciously, players do hold something back through the long season to be ready to take on the World Cup. If anyone is to blame for that, it is FIFA and the clubs for filling out the now year-round calendar with ever more lucrative tournaments. How thrilling, then, it is to see Messi et al. discard their cautious winter coats and turn on their skills again. With his first goal, an audacious flick of the ball over the head of the on-rushing Vallecano keeper on Saturday, Messi tied Alfredo Di Stéfano’s career mark of 227 goals that he scored between 1953 and 1966. One great Argentine player eclipses the record of another. But Messi wasn’t finished. He was involved in more of the goals, scored by Adriano, Alexis Sánchez and lastly by Neymar, the Brazilian returning from an ankle injury with a stunning run from the halfway line before he finished with his right foot. Messi, though, gave one more exhibition of his predatory art, his insatiable appetite for scoring, his joy. His second goal of Saturday night — a low, precise placement from the edge of the 18-yard box, typical for Messi — took him past Di Stéfano’s career total. There are other records on Messi’s radar. He is now level with Raúl González, and Hugo Sánchez’s mark of 234 is within reach. After that is the Athletic Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra, who scored 251 goals from 1940 to 1955. The difference is that those were career tallies, while Messi, who is 26, has plenty of time to add to his 337 total goals in 436 appearances in a Barça shirt. Moreover, in modern soccer not all players get to play 90 minutes every game. Martino did on Saturday what he has done before — he substituted the greatest player in the world to spare his legs and his energy for Tuesday in Manchester. City awaits him in better heart. The 2-0 victory over Chelsea was achieved without the midfield presence of Fernandinho and the scoring threat of Sergio Agüero. Both are injured, and both make a big difference to City. However, David Silva was impishly creative on Saturday, and Pellegrini outfoxed Mourinho with his use of substitutions. The first goal was a delightfully quick and precise low cross shot from Stevan Jovetic, the Montenegrin who has had few opportunities to show his class in Manchester. The second was worked by Silva and scored by Samir Nasri within minutes of Nasri replacing Jovetic. Pellegrini did not crow. His side was in better shape than it was when it met Chelsea 12 days before. A refreshed Barça will be a different dimension altogether.

Lionel Messi
UEFA Champions League
Barcelona Soccer Team
Manchester City Soccer Team


The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space Enshrines the East Village Struggle

Abstract: FOUR days before the opening of the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space on Avenue C, near 10th Street, Bill DiPaola told the volunteer staff about the suggestion box. Though the group was supposed to make all decisions collectively, on this he acted alone. “I put the suggestion box up thinking everybody’s going to be unhappy about everything,” he said of the visitors he expected at the museum’s opening, which was scheduled for Saturday. With a box, he told the staff members, if anyone became abusive, they could say: “That’s awesome. Could you write it down and put it in the box?” He paused for a response, then continued: “Anything to let them leave here without cursing or spitting.” Sheila Jamison, one of the volunteers, eyed him sideways. “Good luck with that,” she said. The museum, conceived by Mr. DiPaola and Laurie Mittelmann, who has studied squats in Denmark and Spain, is a shrine to the recent radical history of the East Village: the 1988 riots in Tompkins Square Park, the standoffs with the police and developers over community gardens, the formation of squats, the civil disobedience actions waged by bicyclists for more bike-friendly streets. Mr. DiPaola, who declined to give his age, lived through many of those battles; Ms. Mittelmann, 24, was, like most of the volunteers, too young. Around the room were photographs of demonstrations and a rack of zines with titles like Profiles of Provocateurs and Under Attack, along with pamphlets of the United States Constitution ($2 each). Blue wooden police barriers decorated the front desk, and a sticker on the telephone read, “THIS PHONE IS TAPPED.” Entrance to the museum will be free, but people can request paid tours of community gardens and squats. It is a homey place, if people in your home use the words “sustainable” and “community” a lot. But for Mr. DiPaola, who is also the director of Time’s Up! , an environmental activist group, the museum involves a battle of ideas. Much of the history has survived only in people’s memories and photographs, each harboring its own version of the truth. How, he wondered, do you turn that into a museum exhibition with a single story line? “What is history?” he asked the group. “There’s corporate history, and there’s our history. Most history museums are history from the past. This isn’t. There’s people who got beat up by police in the park who are going to walk in here. They lost their gardens. They lost their homes. A lot of people didn’t do too well during gentrification.” Around the table, people drank blueberry herbal tea and ate Newman’s Own Organics cookies. “We really like making tea for the meeting because it’s the most communal way of drinking,” Ms. Mittelmann said, sounding a theme for the evening. Later, when someone proposed asking visitors for a suggested donation of $5, Willa Jones, an urban planning intern, thought this was too high. “Three makes it seem like we’re more for the people,” she said. The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space is an attempt to put this communal spirit and fractious history on display — a successor, of sorts, to the Tenement Museum , which enshrines an earlier piece of neighborhood history. The location, in the long-unused storefront of C-Squat (also See Squat) , is significant. C-Squat, home to numerous punk-rock bands and impromptu gigs, was the loudest and most notorious of the East Village squats. (In 2002, it was one of 11 illegally occupied apartment buildings that the city sold for $1 to a nonprofit organization , which is still in the process of turning the buildings over to the residents.) During Hurricane Sandy, when the East Village lost power, residents of C-Squat grilled food for the neighborhood and gave it out free. In the museum’s lower level, one exhibit is a bicycle-powered generator, which was used to generate electricity during Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in Zuccotti Park. When the power went out after the storm, volunteers put the exhibit on the sidewalk as a neighborhood charging station for cellphones. The history chronicled here, to the extent it has reached the public record, has become mainly one of victories for the activists, visible in the community gardens that adorn every other block in the neighborhood and the squats that are now comfortable residences. But lost are the numerous setbacks and defeats along the way, Mr. DiPaola said — the gardens that were bulldozed for development, the squats whose residents were evicted, the bicycle demonstrations that ended only in mass arrests, not in bicycle lanes. As opening day approached, Mr. DiPaola fretted over tone. He asked that the word “protest” be removed from photo displays. “Protest is a little negative,” he said. “This is a celebration.” At a photograph of El Jardin de la Esperanza on East Seventh Street, where the police forcibly removed protesters and brought in bulldozers in 2000, Mr. DiPaola objected to wording that suggested that a subsequent lawsuit by the state attorney general halted destruction of other gardens. “If you talk to people, they say Eliot Spitzer saved the gardens,” Mr. DiPaola said. “Really, it was the demonstrators who went to court and got a temporary restraining order that saved the gardens. So direct action saves the day, and Spitzer comes in later. “So many of the things I worked on — saving community gardens, getting better infrastructure for bicycling — the history of how it happened seems to get washed out. I have it on film; I was there. So we want to show the true history.” As they do so, though, the museum itself risks becoming history. Start-up costs ran $50,000 to $70,000, much more than expected; rent to C-Squat is $1,681 a month. A campaign to raise $18,500 on the crowd-funding Web site Crowdrise stalled recently at $14,265, and two grant checks for $2,000 were momentarily lost because of problems with mail delivery. “We’re down to our last $200,” Ms. Mittelmann said on Wednesday. They had ideas. Mr. DiPaola said he wanted to sell copies of a T-shirt for a community garden that asked, “What type of worm would you like to have in your neighborhood?” with pictures of an earthworm and a real estate developer talking on a cellphone. The thought of the T-shirt buoyed his spirits. Ms. Mittelmann mentioned a tour they ran last year for a group of European academics studying squatting — the sweet spot of their target market, both said. “We talked about, one time, a protest fashion exhibit,” Ms. Mittelmann said. But as a longtime community activist, Mr. DiPaola seemed reflexively to prefer to talk about adversity. The location was inconvenient for European tourists, he said, the neighbors fractious; visitors might steal T-shirts at the opening party. The heat — finally restored after damage from Hurricane Sandy — was too high. Mr. DiPaola said he was not really sure how the museum would meet its expenses. “People can come into the museum for free,” he said. “Maybe they’ll buy a T-shirt.” He paused and looked around at all the work still to be done. “It’s going to be tough to get people interested in history,” he said.

Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space
Squatters
East Village (NYC)


Mortgage Servicers to Revamp Foreclosure Process

Abstract: The nation’s top mortgage servicers are expected to sign legal agreements by the end of this week compelling them to change their foreclosure procedures, regulatory officials said Tuesday. The servicers, which violated state and local laws and regulations governing foreclosures, are agreeing to improve their methods in numerous ways. They will be required to have more layers of oversight and proper training of their foreclosure staff. The oversight will extend to third party groups, including the law firms that do much of the actual work of eviction. Under the new rules, every homeowner in default will have a single point of contact with the servicer. The servicers will end their practice of foreclosing while borrowers are pursuing loan modifications that might allow them to stay in their homes. One of the most significant measures in the consent agreement will require servicers to hire an independent consultant to review foreclosures done over the last two years. If owners were improperly foreclosed on or paid excessive fees, they will be compensated. The reforms were described by individuals who spoke on condition of anonymity because the consent agreements were not yet public. The banks either could not be reached or declined to comment. Bringing in a consultant to establish the amount of damages will give individuals who feel they were abused by their servicer some means of redress. While the servicers have acknowledged violating the laws they maintain that very few if any people lost their house who were not in severe default. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, addressed the issue Tuesday at a banking conference in Washington. “Some of the mistakes were egregious, and they’re embarrassing,” he said, according to Bloomberg News. “But we made a mistake, and we’re going to pay for that mistake.” Many of the reforms that the servicers are agreeing to were also being sought by the state attorneys general, who began their own search for reform last fall. For several weeks in January, the regulators and the attorneys general attempted to work with officials from the Justice Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to produce one comprehensive settlement, but the attempt proved unwieldy. The attorneys general met face to face with the servicers for the first time last week at the Justice Department. A spokesman for Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading the effort, said more meetings are planned but declined to be specific. The attorneys general have larger goals than the regulators. They are seeking to make the banks to cut the debt of delinquent owners. The servicers are balking at this. As a result of the changes being imposed by the banking regulators, servicers will have two options: either hire more employees to give the millions of households in default closer attention, or slow the pace of foreclosures. Foreclosure is already a ponderous process, and has grown more so since the controversy over the servicers’ procedures erupted last fall. The average household in foreclosure has been delinquent for more than 500 days. Regulators expect to issue their report on foreclosure practices at the top 14 servicers within the next few weeks. Preliminary consent agreements were sent to the servicers in February. The report, whose conclusions have been foreshadowed by regulators in Congressional testimony, derives from an investigation this winter by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It will not name individual banks but rather describe their aggregate behavior. The investigators reviewed the policies and procedures, structure and staffing of the top servicers, as well as their use of law firms and other third parties. They examined 2,800 foreclosures in various stages. The banks examined were Bank of America, Citibank, GMAC, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and nine others. The examination found critical deficiencies and shortcomings in foreclosure preparation and oversight, resulting in violations of state and local foreclosure laws, regulations and rules. The servicers will probably be assessed fines at a later point.

Mortgages
Foreclosures
Banking and Financial Institutions
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry


Oracle’s Profit for Quarter Is Up 25%

Abstract: BOSTON, Sept. 20 (Reuters) — Oracle reported a 25 percent rise in its fiscal first-quarter profit Thursday, helped by higher-than-expected sales of new software. The company’s revenue and earnings per share excluding special items exceeded Wall Street expectations. “We continue to take applications market share from SAP,” Oracle’s president, Charles E. Phillips Jr., said in a statement, referring to the German maker of business software that is one of its main rivals. Oracle is the leader in database software, ahead of I.B.M., but it trails SAP in business applications. Net income increased to $840 million, or 16 cents a share, in the period, which ended Aug. 31, from $670 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 26 percent, to $4.53 billion, surpassing the analyst target of $4.36 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Earnings, not counting items including stock-based compensation expenses and acquisition-related charges, were 22 cents a share, a penny above Wall Street expectations. The results were buoyed by the sales of products that were not in its lineup a year ago. Oracle added them after buying Hyperion Solutions, Stellent, MetaSolv and several other software makers over the last year. Revenue from new software licenses increased 35 percent from the period a year earlier, to $1.1 billion. Three months ago, Oracle told investors that it expected new-license revenue would increase by 20 to 30 percent from a year earlier. Oracle reported its results after the stock market closed. In Nasdaq trading Thursday, its shares rose 20 cents, to $21.04; after hours, they rose 11 cents more, to $21.15.


Ousted Executive Provides a Feminine Face to the McCain Campaign

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Three years ago, Carleton S. Fiorina was the celebrity C.E.O. who was spectacularly fired by the Hewlett-Packard board. She produced a best-selling memoir, “Tough Choices,” but for the most part spent the years after her ouster in relative self-imposed exile from public life. No longer. Ms. Fiorina, universally known as Carly, is back, this time reincarnated as a telegenic, take-no-prisoners surrogate for Senator John McCain . On MSNBC on Thursday, Ms. Fiorina praised Mr. McCain’s fund-raising prowess with the announcement that he had raised $21.5 million in May. Last month on the ABC program “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” she pushed Mr. McCain’s proposal for a gasoline-tax holiday and brushed past the fact that she could not name a credible economist who supported it. In the months before that, Ms. Fiorina tirelessly promoted Mr. McCain’s economic proposals in round tables and news media interviews across the country. “When people were picking apart our tax cuts and saying, ‘This will cost a gazillion dollars,’ she’s very good about saying, ‘Come on, guys, let’s get the numbers and push back,’ ” said Mark Salter, one of Mr. McCain’s closest advisers. “She’s a very smart woman.” Ms. Fiorina’s official title is chairwoman of the Republican National Committee’s “Victory ’08” committee dedicated to electing Mr. McCain as president, and she is typically described as an economic adviser to the candidate. To some extent, she is. But Mr. McCain’s campaign advisers say her real role within their testosterone-heavy circle matters more: A high-profile female face for a candidate whose support among women lags substantially behind that of his Democratic rivals. “She has a great feeling for the economy, for technology and probably what women think about these things, and she’s wired in,” said Thomas J. Perkins, a pioneer venture capitalist and a leader on the Hewlett-Packard board in Ms. Fiorina’s ouster. (In the past, Mr. Perkins acknowledged, “we’ve had words and we’ve sort of attacked each other in print.”) In turn, a number of Republicans say Ms. Fiorina is using the McCain campaign to rebuild her image after her explosive tenure at Hewlett-Packard. They also say it is hard to see why a woman widely criticized for mismanaging one of Silicon Valley’s legendary companies is advising and representing a candidate who acknowledged last year that he did not understand the economy as well as he should. “Well, see, the good news about business is, results count,” Ms. Fiorina, 53, responded briskly in a recent interview in her office at Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill. “And the results have been very clear. The results have been crystal clear. From the day I was fired, every quarter, even before they had a new C.E.O., has been record after record. That doesn’t happen unless the foundation’s been built.” Opinion is still split on whether Ms. Fiorina or her successor as chief executive, Mark V. Hurd, deserve credit for Hewlett’s success after Ms. Fiorina drove through the company’s $25 billion acquisition of Compaq in 2002. By many accounts, Ms. Fiorina was superb at marketing, mixed on strategy, bad at execution — and extraordinarily successful in unifying the board against what Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld of the Yale School of Management calls her “street bully” leadership style. “What a blind spot this is in the McCain campaign to have elevated her stature and centrality in this way,” said Mr. Sonnenfeld, the senior associate dean for executive programs at the management school and one of Ms. Fiorina’s sharpest critics. “You couldn’t pick a worse, non-imprisoned C.E.O. to be your standard-bearer.” But Mr. McCain, as Ms. Fiorina put it, does “clearly not” share the views of her critics. To the contrary, he so proudly calls on Ms. Fiorina in her regular appearances with him on the campaign trail — he calls her an American success story “who began as a part-time secretary” — that he seems to be suggesting that Ms. Fiorina, true or not, might have a role in a McCain cabinet. As a result, Ms. Fiorina has been buzzed about as a potential commerce or Treasury secretary or even as a McCain running mate, although some Republicans close to Mr. McCain swiftly dismiss the idea of her as vice president. But the view within the campaign is that it can only help Mr. McCain’s standing among women to have Ms. Fiorina mentioned as a possibility for high-profile office in a McCain administration, particularly when he is trying to win over the supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the meantime, Ms. Fiorina has done little to tamp down speculation that she might run for office herself, including the California governorship in 2010. “I would be disingenuous if I said it has never occurred to me,” Ms. Fiorina said about running in general. “And in part it occurs to me because people keep asking. When I give speeches, people raise their hand — ‘run, run, run.’ ” For now, she said, “I’m focused on getting McCain elected.” Ms. Fiorina has been a regular at the campaign’s Saturday policy sessions at headquarters in Arlington, Va. — she was part of a group, including the candidate, behind Mr. McCain’s sharp pivot from warning against government intervention in the mortgage crisis to calling for government aid to people in danger of losing their homes — but she does not serve as a bridge for the candidate to the business or financial community, in large part because of her tenure at Hewlett-Packard. “It’s difficult to say that she is the unequivocal success figure that resonates with Wall Street,” said A.M. Sacconaghi, an analyst who tracks Hewlett-Packard for Sanford C. Bernstein & Company Ms. Fiorina, whose late father, Joseph T. Sneed 3rd, was a conservative federal appeals court judge and a member of the panel that appointed Kenneth W. Starr as a special prosecutor into the Clintons’ Whitewater dealings, first met Mr. McCain after she testified on Capitol Hill in 2000. Mr. McCain had just abandoned his presidential run against George W. Bush and Ms. Fiorina, who asked to see the senator in his office, left impressed that he was savvy to technological innovation. “He just got it,” she said. Ms. Fiorina, who is married to a former AT&T executive, Frank J. Fiorina, and has two stepdaughters, now divides her time between a condominium in Washington and a home in Silicon Valley. She received a severance package from Hewlett-Packard worth more than $42 million (Mr. McCain denounced excessive executive pay in an economic speech in Pittsburgh last month) and said in the interview that one of the biggest differences between her new life and her old is that “I’m not deciding.” That was clear on a recent morning on the McCain campaign bus, when the candidate summoned Fortune’s onetime “most powerful woman in business” to sing to him and an audience of reporters in the back. The selection was “We’re Strong for Toledo,” which Mr. McCain had heard from Ms. Fiorina at an Ohio fund-raiser the night before. Ms. Fiorina, embarrassed but not at all shy, did as she was told. “Now we know the secret of her success,” Mr. McCain enthused when Ms. Fiorina was done with her serenade.

Women
Fiorina Carleton S
McCain John
Presidential Election of 2008


A Day for Chicken Sandwiches as Proxy in a Cultural Debate

Abstract: ATLANTA — The chicken sandwich culture wars are on, at least here in the city where Chick-fil-A began in 1946 as a diner feeding factory workers. All day long Wednesday, restaurants were packed largely with conservative Christians who showed up for a Chick-fil-A appreciation day, an event organized by former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas after the company was targeted as being antigay. The founder, S. Truett Cathy, built the company on biblical principles, and he and his family have given millions of dollars to organizations trying to stop same-sex marriage . But recent comments by the company’s president, Dan T. Cathy, about the biblical injunctions against homosexuality set up eating at the chain as a kind of cultural litmus test. For many, it comes down to this: Eating at Chick-fil-A supports heterosexual marriage and religious freedom. Refusing to eat there supports same-sex marriage and equality. Although the company has a deep Southern identity and a cultlike status among some people, it has grown into a national powerhouse. There are more than 1,600 restaurants in 39 states, and sales last year were $4.1 billion. On Wednesday, people aligned with the company’s views piled into restaurants in several states. At some restaurants here, parking was a problem and a lunch that might have taken five minutes to pick up stretched into a half-hour wait. People in long drive-through lines bought food for the people in the cars behind them, who then did the same for the next car. “If you are serious about your relationship with Jesus Christ, you just can’t be for same-sex marriage,” said Corliss Carter, 44, who ate lunch at a Marietta, Ga., restaurant. “Chick-fil-A has always been a family-oriented business. We’re just showing our support for them.” Workers at the restaurant declined to comment, instead handing statements to members of the news media giving a little background on the company and reiterating its intention to treat every person in its restaurants with “honor, dignity and respect,” regardless of race, creed, gender or sexual orientation. For some, the issue was not as much about biblical principles or same-sex marriage as it was about freedom of speech. “This is America, and we’re free to speak our minds,” said Neil Greenlee, 49, of Atlanta. “I feel like Chick-fil-A has been unfairly singled out.” As a gesture of support, he planned to eat Chick-fil-A for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of course, for every action there is a reaction. The company’s positive perception among consumers has fallen sharply, said Ted Marzilli, managing director of the BrandIndex survey, which keeps a daily index of the popularity of 1,100 consumer brands, including all the major fast-food outlets. People who support same-sex marriage and oppose the company’s position are organizing a kiss-in on Friday at the restaurants. Meanwhile, restaurants from Manhattan to Atlanta have taken to serving their own version of the company’s signature fried chicken sandwich as a Chick-fil-A alternative. Cooks are taking things into their own hands, too. J. Kenji López-Alt on the New York-based Web site Serious Eats reverse-engineered a sandwich and offered a recipe in his column, The Food Lab. That prompted Sarah Laskow, on the site Grist, to comment, “It’s still possible to get your fried chicken sandwich fix and keep your moral principles intact.”

Same-Sex Marriage Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships


In Reborn Harlem, Liquor Store Draws Complaints

Abstract: Many neighbors agree that their genteel enclave of brownstones in the heart of Harlem does need a shop where they can pick up, say, a good cabernet for a dinner party. But the liquor store seeking to open on Lenox Avenue near 119th Street is decidedly not what they have in mind. With its roll-down steel gate, its bulletproof plexiglass to guard against robbers and drunken vagrants, and its flamboyant red-and-yellow sign, the store is a throwback to the old crime-ridden, ramshackle Harlem, some neighbors say, not the reborn Harlem they have been advancing during the past decade. “We want to be Park Slope with charming little stores and become a destination for people,” said Ruthann Richert, a 25-year resident who is treasurer of a local group, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association . “A store like that is going to attract the people hanging out, drinking wine, so if you’re looking to buy a $30 bottle of wine, you’re not going to go in there.” Laurent Delly, a Haitian-born engineer and real estate agent who is the association’s vice president, was especially unhappy with the sign. “I wouldn’t use the word ghetto, but I would say it’s garish,” he said. The association has gotten the city’s Department of Buildings to stop construction work at the liquor store, mostly because the owner did not get permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to change the appearance of the building, in what is designated the Mount Morris Park Historic District . Berihu Mesfin, the owner of the liquor store, said his landlord had authorized the sign, which he said was similar to that of a beauty parlor that had been in the same space. He also said he had been advised to get plexiglass barriers for security. He said he was willing to make some changes to placate neighbors, but noted that he had already spent $3,500 on signage. “It’s expensive,” he said. “I have to talk to management.” The advent of the liquor store has crystallized the tensions that flow from a neighborhood in metamorphosis. Almost every brownstone that in the 1980s was abandoned or city-owned is now fetching a price of $3 million, with individual condominiums going for $1 million. Residents include the poet Maya Angelou and the documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles. Cafes, cheerful flower and toy shops, and fine restaurants like Settepani , where former President Bill Clinton had a birthday party, are taking over once-forlorn spaces. Crime in the 28th Precinct, which includes the area, has dropped by 70 percent in less than two decades, with 6 murders in 2010, compared with 41 in 1990. The ambience is Bloomsbury-like, calm and demure. But what residents call the second Harlem Renaissance has made the neighborhood less congenial for poorer residents who may want a cheap liquor store, a bodega that accepts food stamps or a place to cash welfare checks. “I don’t see a problem with liquor,” said Rooster Pickering, a 65-year-old unemployed construction worker who was idling with three other men on a stoop next to the liquor store. “The smaller people, they’re trying to push them out.” One woman who lives in a brownstone and who asked not to be identified said she worried that the campaign against the liquor store might take on an “elitist tone.” Yet others argue that they have won the right to push for a more decorous neighborhood, having been pioneers when much of the area was in tatters and plagued by crack cocaine and violence. “I feel I’ve earned my stripes,” said Leah Abraham, an Ethiopian immigrant who opened Settepani with her husband, Nino Settepani, 10 years ago and moved into a Harlem brownstone five years ago. “I was held up at gunpoint twice. I strongly believe I’m doing good in the community. Everybody wants the best.” The struggle sometimes has a racial and class edge because gentrification has attracted an influx of white and black professionals and an outflow of poorer blacks. The historic district stretches over 16 blocks from West 118th Street to 124th Street, roughly taking in the west side of Lenox Avenue almost to Fifth Avenue. Its collection of Gilded Age town houses and Romanesque Revival churches is regarded as among the city’s grandest. (The park itself was renamed Marcus Garvey Park in 1973 after the Jamaica-born black nationalist leader.) When Ms. Richert moved to Harlem in 1987, many of the buildings were boarded up, and she remembers kicking crack vials aside while walking with her two children. All that changed with increasing investments and the steady stream of newcomers glad to pick up handsome brownstones for $250,000. The invigorated Mount Morris Park neighborhood became a draw for sightseeing buses and movie locations. With its wide sidewalks, Lenox Avenue, also known as Malcolm X Boulevard, was once again thought of as “our Champs-Elysée,” Mr. Delly said. Lenox Avenue still has ragged grocery stores, but members of the association view the liquor store as a brash newcomer that must obey the new unwritten rules. “It’s not the business we disagree with, it’s the aesthetics,” Ms. Richert said. Ms. Abraham said the liquor store owner thought he was doing good in opening the store. “I don’t begrudge him that,” she said. “But he didn’t study the neighborhood. You could get away with this 20 years ago. You can’t today.”

Liquor
Gentrification
Harlem (NYC)
Convenience Stores
Alcoholic Beverages
Shopping and Retail


N.B.A.’s Nets Pursuing Sponsors in Russia and Beyond

Abstract: The Nets might be an odd choice to be the N.B.A. ’s ambassador overseas. With 12 wins last season, they are often a forgotten team even in New Jersey, where they fail to sell out their home games and live in the shadow of the cosmopolitan Knicks. Yet the Nets are among the most active teams in courting international companies. Last year, six Chinese companies, including the electronics giant Haier , paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for courtside signs at the Izod Center, where Yi Jianlian played for the Nets. Yi was traded in the off-season, so the Nets are now focused on Russia, the home of their new owner, Mikhail D. Prokhorov , who took over the team in May. The Nets lack a Russian player, but team executives have met with dozens of companies in Russia hoping to convince a few of them that advertising with the team is a good way to reach American and Russian consumers. On Thursday, the Nets announced a five-year sponsorship deal with Stolichnaya, the Russian vodka producer. The agreement, which Prokhorov helped arrange, is worth about $2 million a year and will include sponsored bars at the Barclays Center , the Nets arena being built in Brooklyn. The Nets hope to complete more deals when they visit Moscow on Sunday on their way to China, where they will play two preseason games. In Moscow, the Nets will hold a clinic for 3,000 youngsters, attend a ribbon-cutting at an Adidas store that will feature Nets gear and schmooze with businesspeople at a reception. “We have been talking about the Nets being a global team, and it seems really fitting that, as the first foreign owner of an N.B.A. franchise, their first trip should be to my country,” Prokhorov said in a statement. “It is my hope that the Nets will be the team the country roots for once the season gets under way.” Are the Nets’ efforts to court international companies a sign that they are having trouble attracting sponsors at home? Some sports marketing analysts say that the Nets are smart to piggyback on the N.B.A.’s popularity overseas, where basketball is growing faster than in the United States. “I don’t believe it’s a sign of weakness, but that sports business is global,” said David Carter, who teaches sports business at the University of Southern California. “It’s a chance for the team to build its overall brand, and big brands do well.” The Nets are not the first team to make a push overseas. The Houston Rockets have become a brand name in China because of Yao Ming, their center. Thaddeus B. Brown, the Rockets’ chief executive, said five Chinese companies had courtside signs, and Anheuser-Busch and HP have signs in Mandarin at the team’s arena in Houston. About 65 Rockets games were broadcast in China last season; the league collects revenue from broadcast rights. Revenue from the sale of licensed merchandise is split equally by all 30 teams. The Knicks are getting into the act, too. This month, they played preseason games in Milan and Paris to showcase Danilo Gallinari, their Italian-born forward, and Mike D’Antoni, their coach, who played in Italy. N.B.A. teams have played games overseas for at least two decades. In addition to sending teams to preseason games in China, France, Italy and Spain this year, the Nets will play two regular-season games against the Toronto Raptors in London in March. The league and its teams see the games as a foothold to sell jerseys, sponsorships and television deals in Europe and Asia, and potentially attract other foreign owners. The games also mirror the changing face of the league; 20 percent of the players in the N.B.A. were born overseas. “Our goal is to grow the interest in the game and ultimately in the N.B.A. in markets throughout the world with the recognition that, over time, fans in those countries will want to watch our games on television or various forms of digital media,” said Adam Silver, the deputy commissioner of the N.B.A. Russia, Silver acknowledged, is a relatively untapped market. Although N.B.A. games have been on television in Russia for more than a dozen years, basketball remains a distant third behind soccer and hockey in popularity. There are only a handful of Russian players in the N.B.A., most notably Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz and Timofey Mozgov of the Knicks. To increase its exposure in Russia, the league opened an office in Moscow this summer and has signed sponsorship deals with Adidas, EA, Nike and others. CSKA Moscow, a team once owned by Prokhorov, will play exhibition games against the Miami Heat, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers next week. Prokhorov plans to deepen ties further, not just because he is Russian, but because the Nets plan to move to Brooklyn, which has a large Russian-born population. In all, 250,000 people claim Russian ancestry in New York City, 75,000 of whom say they were born in Russia, according to census figures. The Nets are creating a Russian-language Web site to better reach them, and have replaced a marketing specialist who spoke Mandarin with someone fluent in Russian. Still, signing deals with Russian companies will be more of a chore than finding clients in China, where basketball has made deeper inroads with fans and companies. “If I can get three or four solid deals after my first year, I’d be pleased,” said Brett Yormark, the chief executive of the Nets. REBOUNDS Stephen Graham hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the host Nets rallied from a 7-point deficit in the final 15 seconds to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers, 90-89, on Saturday in a preseason game. Anthony Morrow cut the 76ers’ 88-81 lead to 4 points with a 3-pointer with a little less than 13 seconds to play, then the Nets took advantage of poor free-throw shooting by Philadelphia to get the improbable win. The 76ers missed three of four free-throw attempts in the final 12 seconds. ... Forward Troy Murphy may miss the season opener because of a lower back injury. Nets Coach Avery Johnson said that Murphy had a disk injury and would be sidelined indefinitely. (AP)

Basketball
CSKA Moscow
National Basketball Assn
New Jersey Nets
Adidas AG
Barclays PLC
Prokhorov Mikhail D


Georgia Promises New Look at Freddie Woodruff Killing

Abstract: STRASBOURG, France — The new government of Georgia is taking a new look at one of the unsolved mysteries left over from the chaotic collapse of the Soviet Union: the shooting death of a C.I.A. officer, Freddie Woodruff, on a dusty road on the outskirts of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, 20 years ago. “The case has not been properly investigated,” said Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani, referring to the failure of previous governments to present a plausible explanation for the killing, which took place on Aug. 8, 1993, amid fierce jockeying for influence between Moscow and Washington in the newly independent nation. “We have some serious doubts about what really happened,” she added in an interview during a visit to the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe along with Georgia’s prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, an enigmatic billionaire who took office after parliamentary elections last October. Michael Pullara, a lawyer based in Houston who has studied the Woodruff murder case closely and lobbied for years for a new investigation, said he was “absolutely delighted” by Georgia’s apparent readiness to re-examine the murky saga. He added that despite the passage of so many years, “a lot of the missing pieces have now been found and it is possible to know the truth.” Georgia attributed Mr. Woodruff’s death to a random shot fired by a drunken Georgian, a former Soviet soldier. The suspect, Anzor Sharmaidze, was swiftly convicted of murder in 1994 and sentenced to 15 years in prison, a term later extended to 18 and a half years. He was quietly released from jail in 2008 after witnesses recanted their testimony and said they had been tortured into implicating him. Ms. Tsulukiani said she had not examined the file closely. But she believes that Mr. Sharmaidze was jailed only because “they badly needed to find someone” to take the blame for a killing that severely embarrassed Georgia’s leader at the time, Eduard A. Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister, and raised concerns in Washington about his grip on the country. Georgia’s justice system has long been tainted by political meddling, and a primary purpose of Mr. Ivanishvili’s visit to Strasbourg last week was to assure European officials and legislators that his new government was committed to the rule of law. His political opponents, notably Mikheil Saakashvili, the country’s pro-American president, accuse him of using the judiciary to settle political scores. A number of Mr. Saakashvili’s allies have been placed under investigation and, according to Mr. Ivanishvili, there is a “high probability” that the president, who last week started a visit to the United States, will be prosecuted for corruption and other misdeeds, including the use of violence by riot police officers against a Tbilisi protest in 2011. Giga Bokeria, President Saakashvili’s national security adviser, said the prosecution of the president’s supporters gave a “clear picture of at best selective justice, or at worst outright political persecution.” He said “no credible evidence” had been presented against Mr. Saakashvili, who has not been charged with any crime, and described the prime minister’s remarks as “just another attempt to discredit a major political rival.” Image Freddie Woodruff led a C.I.A. post in Georgia after the Soviet Union collapsed. He was killed in a car by a shot to the head. Mr. Pullara said in a telephone interview that getting to the bottom of Mr. Woodruff’s death “is a litmus test of the new government’s commitment to justice.” Though released from jail, Mr. Sharmaidze has not been formally cleared of murder. “His life has been destroyed,” Mr. Pullara said. He described him as a victim of a “cruel compromise for reasons of expediency” — a fall guy who satisfied both Washington’s desire for a culprit and Moscow’s desire that Russia be kept distant from any hint of involvement in the murder. Rivalry between Russia and the United States has weighed heavily on Georgia since the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991. In the turbulent years that followed, Washington moved quickly to establish a strong presence in the former Soviet republic, including the establishment of a C.I.A. post in the Georgian capital headed by Mr. Woodruff, who was the agency’s director for the Caucasus region. Shortly before his death, he was the host of a visit to Tbilisi by Aldrich Ames, a senior C.I.A. official who was later jailed as a spy for Moscow. Mr. Woodruff was hit in the head by a single bullet while sitting in the back seat of a car driven by Eldar Gogoladze, a veteran Soviet security officer who was working at the time as the head of Mr. Shevardnadze’s security detail. Washington and Moscow continue to spar over Georgia and are both watching closely how Mr. Ivanishvili handles relations between the two former cold war enemies. A wealthy businessman who made most of his money in Russia, Mr. Ivanishvili has sought to warm previously ice-cold relations with Moscow. But in an interview, he said his government intended to maintain Georgia’s pro-Western orientation and would press ahead with efforts to join NATO, despite objections from Moscow. He said the Boston Marathon bombing showed that Russia, the United States and Georgia shared a common foe in Chechen militancy, and he pledged to end what he said was the previous government’s tolerance of Chechen separatist fighters passing through Georgia. “We know that Georgia was used for years as a transit point for fighters,” Mr. Ivanishvili said. “We will stop this by all means. This will not happen now.” He added that an investigation was under way into suspicions that “the previous government was cooperating with the fighters.” Describing Mr. Saakashvili as “a professional liar,” he said officials in Washington and Europe had been “misled” about his own government’s intentions by the charismatic, English-speaking president. “They now see his real face,” said the prime minister. Mr. Bokeria, Mr. Saakashvili’s national security adviser, dismissed the prime minister’s comments as “politically motivated accusations” that had no basis in fact. “There has never been any credible evidence that Georgia under President Saakashvili has allowed any armed groups to cross into Russian territory,” he said. “There are no credible facts to back these assertions because they are completely false.”

Freddie Woodruff
Tea Tsulukiani
Bidzina Ivanishvili
Murders
Anzor Sharmaidze
Mikheil Saakashvili
Georgia country
CIA
International relations


Oregon: Archdiocese to Pay $75 Million in Abuse Cases

Abstract: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland will pay $75 million to settle at least 170 claims of sexual abuse by its priests as part of a revised bankruptcy reorganization, according to legal documents. The plan, filed Monday in federal court, calls for 143 people who said they were abused to receive $40.7 million. About $13.75 million will be set aside for 26 people who may settle or sue the archdiocese; $20 million will cover future claims. Insurance companies will pay $51.75 million. The remainder is to come from archdiocesan holdings and loans. Before bankruptcy, the archdiocese had paid more than $50 million to settle 130 claims against priests.

Roman Catholic Church
Sex Crimes
Suits and Litigation


Mixed Reviews on Program for Immigrants with Criminal Records

Abstract: Senior Obama administration officials created major confusion for state and local authorities by providing inconsistent information about a high-profile federal program to identify illegal immigrants who committed crimes, according to a stinging report published Friday by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security . The mixed messages about the expansion of the program, known as Secure Communities, from officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement led directly to “opposition, criticism and resistance in some locations,” the inspector general, Charles K. Edwards, found. But in a second report released on Friday, the inspector general’s office found that despite the rocky start and continuing political disputes, Secure Communities has been effective at rapidly identifying more immigrants who committed serious crimes — and in many more places — than efforts in the past, and at a very low cost to states. The program is a centerpiece of the Obama administration’s immigration enforcement policy, intended to increase the number of convicted criminals among about 400,000 immigrants deported each year. The second report found that enforcement officers had a good understanding of priorities set by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detaining and deporting immigrants identified under the program, making decisions in line with its priorities in 97 percent of 723 cases that auditors reviewed. The back-to-back reports brought both an embarrassing critique of the performance of officials at the immigration agency, known as ICE, as they extended the program across the country, but also an endorsement by the inspector general’s office of its effectiveness in some aspects. Officials have said they plan to spread Secure Communities nationwide by next year. Amid conflicting statements from ICE officials about whether the program was mandatory, governors of several states — including Illinois, Massachusetts and New York — have sought to withdraw from Secure Communities. The program has drawn an outcry from many immigrant organizations, which contend that it has led to the separation of families and the deportation of many immigrants here illegally who did not actually have criminal records. Under Secure Communities, fingerprints of anyone arrested by the police are checked against both F.B.I. criminal databases, a routine procedure, and also against databases of the Department of Homeland Security, which hold records of all foreign-born people in the immigration system. As of last December, the program was operating in 44 states, covering 64 percent of local law enforcement jurisdictions. Under ICE’s priorities, agents are instructed to accelerate deportations of serious offenders, but exercise prosecutorial discretion to suspend deportations of illegal immigrants who do not have criminal convictions. The inspector general “did not find evidence that ICE intentionally misled” local officials or the public about Secure Communities. But the report includes a chronological roster of misstatements and conflicting documents issued by ICE officials — including the director, John Morton — about whether states could opt out of the program. While ICE indicated during 2009 and 2010 that the program was voluntary, officials eventually settled on the position that states could not withdraw. The report finds that the officials failed to set clear policies internally and “missed opportunities” to clarify the situation. In a statement Friday, Nicole Navas, a spokeswoman for ICE, said that the agency had taken “aggressive steps” in the past year to provide clearer guidance about the program. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has acknowledged that her department fumbled communications about Secure Communities. Homeland Security officials said Friday that they were in the final stages of preparing new guidelines to govern the program, as the inspector general urged. Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, the ranking Democrat on the House immigration subcommittee, wrote a letter last year that prompted the inspector general’s review. She said Friday that she was “frankly disappointed” with the reports, saying they failed to answer several of her questions: “Does the program also ensnare victims and others with no criminal history? Is it susceptible to racial profiling?” Immigrant advocates said the inspector general reports showed that the Secure Communities program should be canceled. “In an attempt to justify the program, the reports inadvertently admit that ICE has mutated S-Comm into an overreaching dragnet,” said Sarahi Uribe, of the National Day Laborers Organizing Network , one of the most staunch opponents of the program.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (US)


Things to Do in Westchester, April 19 to 25, 2015

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in the Hudson Valley. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to westweek@nytimes.com. Comedy PELHAM Rockwells Joe DeVito, Brian Jian and Dennis Rooney. April 25 at 9 p.m. $10. Rockwells, 105 Wolfs Lane. 914-738-5881; rockwellsusa.net. WEST NYACK Levity Live Mark DeMayo. April 22 at 7:30 p.m. $15. Cristela Alonzo. April 23 at 7:30 p.m. $20. Jessimae Peluso. April 24, 25 and 26. $20. Levity Live, 4210 Palisades Center Drive. 845-353-5400; levitylive.com. Film HUDSON Time & Space Limited “The Sturgeon Queens,” documentary by Julie Cohen. April 19 at 6 p.m. $6 and $8. Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street. 518-822-8448; timeandspace.org. IRVINGTON Irvington Town Hall Theater “The Yellow Ticket,” 1918 silent film, with live accompaniment. April 19 at 4 p.m. $10 to $21. Irvington Town Hall Theater, 85 Main Street. 914-591-6602; irvingtontheater.com. KINGSTON Ulster Performing Arts Center “The Met Live in HD: Mascagni’s ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ and Leoncavallo’s ‘Pagliacci,’ “ screening of the operas. April 25 at 12:30 p.m. $19 to $26. Ulster Performing Arts Center, 601 Broadway. 845-339-6088; upac.org. NYACK The Rivertown Film Society “Pride,” directed by Matthew Warchus. April 22 at 8 p.m. $8 to $11. The Rivertown Film Society, 58 Depew Avenue. 845-353-2568; rivertownfilm.org. PLEASANTVILLE Jacob Burns Film Center The Westchester Jewish Film Festival 2015. Through April 30. $7 to $25. Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road. 914-747-5555; burnsfilmcenter.org. PURCHASE The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College “Sing-a Long-a ‘Sound of Music.’ ” April 19 at 3 p.m. $12.50 and $17.50. The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. www.artscenter.org; 914-251-6200. ROSENDALE Rosendale Theater “Chappie,” directed by Neill Blomkamp. Through April 22. “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” directed by John Madden. April 24 through 30. $5 and $7. “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem,” directed by Shlomi Elkabetz and Ronit Elkabetz. April 24 and 25 at 5 p.m. $5 and $7. Rosendale Theater, 408 Main Street. rosendaletheatre.org; 845-658-8989. For Children BETHEL Bethel Woods Center for the Arts “Saturdays at the Woods,” singing and drawing. Saturdays, through May 16, 9 a.m. to noon. $20 per session. $75 for the series. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. bethelwoodscenter.org; 866-781-2922. BRONX Wave Hill “Family Art Project: Connect the Aquatic Dots.” April 19, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. “Family Art Project: Buds, Buds, Buds.” April 25 and 26, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free with admission to the grounds. $2 to $8; members and children under 6, free. Admission is free until noon on Saturdays. Wave Hill, 675 West 252nd Street. 718-549-3200; wavehill.org. IRVINGTON Irvington Town Hall Theater “The Music Man Jr.” April 25 and 26. $15 to $22. Town Hall Theater, 85 Main Street. 914-591-6602; irvingtontheater.com. PEEKSKILL 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar Kids’ open mike for musicians ages 6 to 17. April 19 at 6 p.m. Admission is free. 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar, 12 North Division Street. 914-737-6624; 12grapes.com. PELHAM The Picture House The New York International Children’s Film Festival. Through April 26. $6 to $12. The Picture House, 175 Wolfs Lane. thepicturehouse.org; 914-738-3161. WEST NYACK Levity Live Mark Calabrese, comedy and magic. April 19 at 2 p.m. $14. Levity Live, 4210 Palisades Center Drive. 845-353-5400; levitylive.com. WHITE PLAINS Westchester County Center New York Metro Pet Reptile Expo. April 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. $5 and $10. Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue. 845-526-4845; reptileexpo.com. Music and Dance ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College American Symphony Orchestra, classical. April 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. $25 to $40. Brown University Orchestra, classical. April 26 at 3 p.m. Free. The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College. 845-758-7900. fishercenter.bard.edu. BEACON Towne Crier Cafe Martha Davis and the Motels, rock. April 19 at 7:30 p.m. $35 and $40. Kathy Mattea, country. April 23 at 7:30 p.m. $45 and $50. Robben Ford, rock and blues. April 24 at 8:30 p.m. $40 and $45. Vanessa Carlton, pop. April 25 at 8:30 p.m. $35 and $40. Bruce Molsky, bluegrass. April 26 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $25. Towne Crier Cafe, 379 Main Street. 845-855-1300; townecrier.com. BRONX Church of the Mediator di.vi.sion piano trio, classical. April 19 at 5 p.m. $10 and $15 suggested donation. Church of the Mediator, 260 West 231st Street. 347-326-5846; division-artsandeducation.org. ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater The Duprees, doo-wop. April 20 at 6:15 p.m. The British Invasion Tribute. April 21 at 6:15 p.m. $84 for meal and show. Westchester Broadway Theater, 1 Broadway Plaza. broadwaytheatre.com; 914-592-2222. KATONAH Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts The Horszowski Trio, classical. April 19 at 4 p.m. $15 to $55. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road. 914-232-1252; caramoor.org. KINGSTON Old Dutch Church “Beyond Ellis Island,” Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra. April 26 at 3 p.m. $5 to $20. Old Dutch Church, 272 Wall Street. 845-635-0877; ndsorchestra.org. MAMARONECK Emelin Theater Dance Off the Grid, contemporary dance. April 24 at 8 p.m. $25. Alexander String Quartet, classical. April 25 at 8 p.m. $42. Emelin Theater, 153 Library Lane. 914-698-0098; emelin.org. Image HUDSON The film “Human Capital,” with Matilde Gioli, will be shown on April 26 at 5:15 p.m. at Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street. Tickets are $6 and $8. For further information: 518-822-8448 or timeandspace.org . Credit Film Movement MARLBORO The Falcon Alexis P. Suter and the Ministers of Sound, gospel. April 19, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Larry Moses’ Latin Jazz Explosion. April 19 at 7 p.m. Willy Porter and Carmen Nickerson, indie folk. April 21 at 7 p.m. Leni Stern African Trio. April 22 at 7 p.m. Taylor Eigsti Trio, jazz. April 23 at 7 p.m. Jim Campilongo Trio, blues and country. April 24 at 7 p.m. Dan Bern, folk and country. April 25 at 7 p.m. The Blues Farm, blues. April 26, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Howie Day, folk. April 26 at 7 p.m. Donations accepted. The Falcon, 1348 Route 9W. 845-236-7970; liveatthefalcon.com. MOUNT KISCO Merestead “I’ve Got the Tune: On Stage With Marc Blitzstein and Kurt Weill.” April 19 at 3 p.m. $10 to $25. Merestead, 455 Byram Lake Road. coplandhouse.org; 914-788-4659. MOUNT VERNON St. Paul’s Church Glenn Alexander Jazz Duo. April 22 at 1 p.m. Free. St. Paul’s Church, 897 South Columbus Avenue. 914-667-4116; nps.gov/sapa. NEW PALTZ Unison Arts Center The Claire Lynch Band, bluegrass. April 24 at 8 p.m. $24 to $26. Unison Arts Center, 68 Mountain Rest Road. unisonarts.org; 845-255-1559. NEW ROCHELLE Ossie Davis Theater, New Rochelle Public Library Soundview, jazz and classical. April 19 at 3 p.m. $2 suggested donation. Ossie Davis Theater, New Rochelle Public Library, 16 Lawton Street. 914-632-8254; nrpl.org. PAWLING Daryl’s House Gedeon Luke and the People, soul. April 19 at 8 p.m. $10 and $15. The BoDeans, rock. April 22 at 8 p.m. $30 and $35. Leah Laurenti, singer-songwriter. April 23 at 8 p.m. $15 and $20. Caravan of Thieves, swing. April 24 at 9 p.m. $15 and $20. Red Molly, folk. April 25 at 9 p.m. $20 and $25. Daryl’s House, 130 Route 22. darylshouseclub.com; 845-289-0185. PEEKSKILL 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar Choirgirl, cabaret. April 19 at 2 p.m. $15. Chris Raabe, folk and soul. April 22 at 8 p.m. No cover. Adam Falcon, funk and blues. April 24 at 9:30 p.m. $5. 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar, 12 North Division Street. 914-737-6624; 12grapes.com. PEEKSKILL Bean Runner Cafe Dan Bern, folk and country. April 19 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $25. The Levins and the Lords of Liechtenstein, folk. April 24 at 8 p.m. $10. Thunderhead Organ Trio, jazz. April 25 at 8 p.m. $10. Bean Runner Cafe, 201 South Division Street. 914-737-1701; beanrunnercafe.com. PEEKSKILL Paramount Hudson Valley Joanie Madden’s Irish All Star Show. April 19 at 3 p.m. $25. America, classic rock. April 26 at 7 p.m. $62.50 to $105. Paramount Hudson Valley, 1008 Brown Street. paramounthudsonvalley.com; 914-739-0039. PIERMONT The Turning Point Cheryl Wheeler, folk. April 19 at 4 p.m. $30. Terry Reid and the Cosmic American Derelicts, rock. April 19 at 7:30 p.m. $30. Doc Richmond’s Jazz Jam. April 20 at 8 p.m. $5. Chris Brown and the Bookends, rock. April 24 at 8:30 p.m. $15. Dan Bern, folk and country. April 25 at 3 p.m. $25. Michael Packer Blues Band. April 25 at 9 p.m. $20. Red Molly, folk. April 26 at 4 and 7 p.m. $25. The Turning Point, 468 Piermont Avenue. 845-359-1089; turningpointcafe.com. PORT CHESTER Ballet des Amériques Evening of Dance in Port Chester. April 25 at 7 p.m. $20 suggested donation. Ballet des Amériques, 16 King Street. 646-753-0457; balletdesameriques.company. PORT CHESTER The Capitol Theater Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt, folk and country. April 30 at 8 p.m. $35 to $95. The Capitol Theater, 149 Westchester Avenue. 914-937-4126; thecapitoltheatre.com. POUGHKEEPSIE Bardavon Opera House “Harmony on the Hudson,” Music at Marist. April 25 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 3 p.m. $10 and $15. Bardavon Opera House, 35 Market Street. bardavon.org; 845-473-2072. PURCHASE The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College The Westchester Philharmonic, classical. April 19 at 3 p.m. $30 to $97. westchesterphil.org; 914-682-3707. BBC Concert Orchestra, classical. April 25 at 8 p.m. $21.25 to $82.50. The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. 914-251-6200; artscenter.org. RHINEBECK Church of the Messiah The Enso String Quartet, classical. April 19 at 3 p.m. $5 and $25; children under 13, free. Church of the Messiah, 6436 Montgomery Street. rhinebeckchambermusic.org; 845-876-2870. SAUGERTIES Saugerties Pro Musica, Saugerties United Methodist Church Ashu, classical saxophone. April 19 at 3 p.m. $10 and $12; students, free. Saugerties Pro Musica, Saugerties United Methodist Church, Washington Avenue and Post Street. saugertiespromusica.org; 845-679-5733. SCARSDALE Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El Mama Doni Band, pop. April 26 at 10 a.m. Free. Scarsdale Synagogue Temples Tremont and Emanu-El, 2 Ogden Road. 914-725-5175; sstte.org. SCARSDALE Shaarei Tikvah “You and the Night and the Music,” jazz. April 25 at 9 p.m. $20 and $36. Shaarei Tikvah, 46 Fox Meadow Road. shaareitikvah.org; 914-472-2013. SOUTH SALEM South Salem Presbyterian Church Anthony Newman, piano. April 19 at 3 p.m. $25 to $50. South Salem Presbyterian Church, 111 Spring Street. southsalempc.org; 914-763-9282. TARRYTOWN Tarrytown Music Hall Artistry Dance Project’s Spring Gala. April 25 at 7 p.m. $30 and $40. Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main Street. 877-840-0457; tarrytownmusichall.org. VALHALLA Academic Arts Theater Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, contemporary. April 25 at 8 p.m. $18 to $24. Academic Arts Theater, 75 Grasslands Road. 914-606-6262; sunywcc.edu/smartarts. WHITE PLAINS Downtown Music, Grace Church Anna Han and Allan Yueh, classical. April 19 at 5 p.m. $10 to $25. Downtown Music, Grace Church, 33 Church Street. 914-248-1112; dtmusic.org. WHITE PLAINS White Plains High School New Westchester Symphony Orchestra Spring Concert. April 26 at 3 p.m. $10. White Plains High School, 550 North Street. 914-623-8075; newsymphony.org. WOODSTOCK Bearsville Theater Michael Hurley, jazz and blues. April 19 at 8 p.m. $15. Glass Hammer, progressive rock. April 24 at 8 p.m. $20 and $27. Conehead Buddha, salsa and ska. April 25 at 9 p.m. $15. Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street. bearsvilletheater.com; 845-679-4406. Image KINGSTON The rock guitarist Jeff Beck will perform on April 21 at 8 p.m. at the Ulster Performing Arts Center, 601 Broadway. Tickets are $74 to $89. For further information: 845-339-6088 or upac.org . Credit Chad Batka for The New York Times YONKERS St. John’s Church “Earth Grooves,” Abdoulaye Diabete, the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers and Agua Clara Andean Ensemble. Proceeds to benefit Clearwater. April 25 at 7 p.m. $15 to $100. St. John’s Church, 1 Hudson Street. clearwater.org/earthgrooves; 845-265-8080. YONKERS Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch Yonkers Pops Band, big band. April 19 at 2 p.m. Free. Yonkers Male Glee Club. April 26 at 3 p.m. Free. Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Branch, 1500 Central Park Avenue. ypl.org/grinton; 914-337-1500. Outdoors BRONX Wave Hill Tree TLC with Wayne Morris, Arbor Day walk and demonstration. April 24 at 1 p.m. Free with museum admission. $8 to $12; members and children under 12, free. Wave Hill, 675 West 252nd Street. 718-549-3200; wavehill.org. KATONAH Muscoot Farm Guided bird walk. April 26 at 7:30 a.m. Free. Muscoot Farm, 51 Route 100. muscootfarm.org; 914-864-7282. OSSINING Teatown Lake Reservation Signs of Spring Hike, guided walk and naturalist lessons. April 19 at 10 a.m. $7; members, free. Colors of Nature, guided walk. April 26 at 1 p.m. Free. Parking is $5. Teatown Lake Reservation, 1600 Spring Valley Road. 914-762-2912; teatown.org. SLEEPY HOLLOW Philipsburg Manor Sheep-to-Shawl Festival, sheep shearing, hands-on activities and an 18th-century fashion show. April 19, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $8 to $16; children 3 and under, free. Philipsburg Manor, 381 North Broadway. 914-631-8200; hudsonvalley.org. YONKERS Untermyer Park and Gardens Tours of the Persian garden and estate restoration. Sunday at 2 p.m. through May 17. $10. $20 on May 3. Untermyer Park and Gardens, 945 North Broadway. 914-512-0436; untermyergardens.org. YORKTOWN HEIGHTS Hilltop Hanover Farm Lawn to Garden Workshop. April 19, 10 a.m. to noon. $35. Hilltop Hanover Farm, 1271 Hanover Street. hilltophanoverfarm.org; 914-962-2368. Spoken Word ARMONK North Castle Public Library James Frey discusses his new book, “Endgame: The Calling.” April 20 at 7:30 p.m. $10. North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Road East. 914-273-3887; friendsncpl.org. BEDFORD Historic Court House William Abranowicz discusses his book “A Year in the Mianus River Gorge.” April 22 at 6:30 p.m. Free. Historic Court House, 615 Old Post Road. bedfordhistoricalsociety.org; 914-234-9751. DOBBS FERRY Greenburgh Hebrew Center “After Equality: ‘Queering’ Jewish Theology,” lecture by Jay Michaelson. April 20 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Greenburgh Hebrew Center, 515 Broadway. g-h-c.org; 914-693-4260. MARLBORO The Falcon “Amplify Sound Concert Series,” poetry readings and performances. April 20 at 7 p.m. Donations accepted. The Falcon, 1348 Route 9W. liveatthefalcon.com; 845-236-7970. PEEKSKILL Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art “Love and Lust, Sin and Virtue as conceptualized in Native American Culture,” lecture by Jeffrey Gibson. April 22 at 6 p.m. $15 to $25. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street. 914-788-0100; hvcca.org. PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College “European Renaissance Art and the Dress of African Subjects,” lecture by Paul Kaplan. April 23 at 4:30 p.m. $3 to $5. Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. 914-251-6100; www.neuberger.org. SLEEPY HOLLOW Hudson Valley Writers’ Center Poetry readings by Ellen Bass. April 22 at 7:30 p.m. $5. Readings by Sergio Troncoso, Wayne L. Miller and Larry Wentz. April 24 at 7:30 p.m. $5. Readings by Rowan Ricardo Phillips and his students. April 26 at 4:30 p.m. $5. Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, 300 Riverside Drive. 914-332-5953; writerscenter.org. TARRYTOWN Lyndhurst Estate A staged reading of Catherine Ladnier’s “Dear Mom and Dad.” April 26 at 3 p.m. $15. Lyndhurst Estate, 635 South Broadway. 914-366-7898; jcconthehudson.org. WHITE PLAINS Barnes & Noble Rabbi Joseph Polak discusses his book “After the Holocaust the Bells Still Ring.” April 21 at 7 p.m. Free. Barnes & Noble, 230 Main Street. hhrecny.org; 914-696-0738. YONKERS Hudson River Museum Ann Cefola reads from her book “Furious Stardust: Poems of the Night Sky.” April 26 at 3:30 p.m. $3 to $6. Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue. 914-963-4550; hrm.org. Theater ARMONK Hudson Stage Company, at Whippoorwill Hall, North Castle Public Library “Outside Mullingar,” drama by John Patrick Shanley. Through May 2. $30 and $35. Hudson Stage Company, at Whippoorwill Hall, North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Road. hudsonstage.com; 914-271-2811. CROTON FALLS Schoolhouse Theater “A Living Documentary,” one-woman show by Cynthia Hopkins. April 24 through May 10. $35 and $38. Schoolhouse Theater, 3 Owens Road. schoolhousetheater.org; 914-277-8477. ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater “West Side Story,” musical by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents. Through July 5. $54 to $84 for meal and show. Westchester Broadway Theater, 1 Broadway Plaza. 914-592-2222; broadwaytheatre.com. HYDE PARK Half Moon Theater, at the Culinary Institute of America “The Fantasticks,” musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. April 24 through May 10. $25 to $40. Half Moon Theater, at the Culinary Institute of America, 1946 Campus Drive. halfmoontheatre.org; 800-838-3006. POUGHKEEPSIE Hudson Valley Community Center “Macbeth,” Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. April 19 at 3 p.m. $15 to $30. Hudson Valley Community Center, 110 South Grand Avenue. hvcommunitycenter.com; 845-471-0430. WHITE PLAINS White Plains Performing Arts Center “Carrie the Musical,” by Michael Gore, Dean Pitchford and Lawrence D. Cohen. April 24 through 26. $20 and $25. White Plains Performing Arts Center, 11 City Place. 914-328-1600; wppac.com. Image BRONX “Wrapped in Denim” (2014), quilted fabric by Loretta Bennett, is on view in the group exhibition “The Gee’s Bend Tradition” through May 6 at the Lehman College Art Gallery, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West. For further information: lehman.edu/gallery or 718-960-8731. Credit Loretta Bennett YORKTOWN HEIGHTS Yorktown Stage “Gypsy,” musical by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents. April 24 through 26. $19 to $28. Yorktown Stage, 1974 Commerce Street. 914-962-0606; yorktownstage.org. Museums and Galleries BEACON Matteawan Gallery Works by Lilian Kreutzberger. Through May 3. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Matteawan Gallery, 464 Main Street. 845-440-7901; matteawan.com. BEACON RiverWinds Gallery “Birds in Flight,” photographs by David Wong. Through May 3. Wednesdays through Mondays, noon to 6 p.m.; second Saturdays, noon to 9 p.m. RiverWinds Gallery, 172 Main Street. 845-838-2880; riverwindsgallery.com. BEACON The Lofts at Beacon Gallery “Ravenswind Midnight Masquerade,” Barbara Doherty, Brenda Heady Krajchy, Patrick Hannagan and Nikki Rae. Through April 30. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Lofts at Beacon Gallery, 18 Front Street. 845-202-7211; loftsatbeacon.com. BEACON Theo Ganz Studio “Dispatches From Eternity,” group show. Through May 3. Fridays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Theo Ganz Studio, 149 Main Street. 917-318-2239; theoganzstudio.com. BETHEL Bethel Woods Center for the Arts “Peace, Love, Unity, Respect: The Rise of Electronic Music Culture in America.” Through May 31. $6 to $15; children under 3, free. Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through April 29. Daily, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from April 30 through Sept. 7. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. 866-781-2922; bethelwoodscenter.org. BRONX Bronx Museum of the Arts “Escape Route: Paintings and Drawings by Jeffrey Spencer Hargrave.” Through May 31. “Three Photographers From the Bronx: Jules Aarons, Morton Broffman and Joe Conzo.” Through June 14. “Jaime Davidovich: Adventures of the Avant-Garde.” Through June 14. “Cuba Libre!” Group show. Through June 21. “Please Touch,” installation by Raul Mourão. Through June 21. Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse. 718-681-6000; bronxmuseum.org. BRONX The New York Botanical Garden “The Orchid Show: Chandeliers,” in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Through April 19. $8 to $25; children under 2, free. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The New York Botanical Garden, Southern Boulevard. 718-817-8700; nybg.org. GARRISON Garrison Art Center “Crossing the Lines,” group show. “Suspended Carbon,” Keiko Sono. Through May 3. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Garrison Art Center, 23 Garrison’s Landing. garrisonartcenter.org; 845-424-3960. HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON Upstream Gallery Works by Jerry Vis and Arline Simon. Through April 19. Thursdays through Sundays, 12:30 to 5:30 p.m.; and by appointment. Upstream Gallery, 8 Main Street. upstreamgallery.com; 914-674-8548. HUDSON Carrie Haddad Gallery “Richard Merkin: His Favorite Things,” figurative paintings. Through April 19. “Cast of Characters and Heavy Metal,” group show. April 22 through May 31. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Carrie Haddad Gallery, 622 Warren Street. 518-828-1915; carriehaddadgallery.com. HUDSON Curatorium “Veiled Actions,” George Hildrew. “Everyday Places,” Cathryn Griffin. Through May 7. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Curatorium, 60 South Front Street. 212-537-6029; curatoriumhudson.org. KATONAH Katonah Museum of Art “Chris Larson: The Katonah Relocation Project.” “A Home for Art: Edward Larrabee Barnes and the KMA.” Through June 28. $5 and $10; members and children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street. katonahmuseum.org; 914-232-9555. NEW PALTZ Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at the State University of New York at New Paltz “Videofreex: The Art of Guerrilla Television.” “Grace Hartigan: Myths and Malls.” “The Maverick Festival at 100.” Through July 12. Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at the State University of New York at New Paltz, 1 Hawk Drive. newpaltz.edu/museum. 845-257-3844. NORTH SALEM Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden “Touching Rain,” paintings by Judith Kruger. “Shards,” ceramics by Karen Ford. Through June 20. $4 and $5; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden, 28 Deveau Road. hammondmuseum.org; 914-669-5033. NYACK Edward Hopper House Art Center “Jordan Matter: Hopperesque Dancers Among Us,” photographs. Through June 14. $2 to $7; members and children under 16, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Edward Hopper House Art Center, 82 North Broadway. 845-358-0774; edwardhopperhouse.org. PEEKSKILL Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art “Love: The First of the 7 Virtues,” group show. Through Dec. 6. $2 to $5; members and children under 8, free. Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street. hvcca.org; 914-788-0100. PELHAM Pelham Art Center “In the Courtyard: Fugitive Color by Kristen Rego,” public art installation. On view 24 hours daily through June 12. Pelham Art Center, 155 Fifth Avenue. 914-738-2525; pelhamartcenter.org. PORT CHESTER Clay Art Center “Divergent Currents: The Ripple Effect of Japan on American Ceramic Artists.” Through May 9. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Clay Art Center, 40 Beech Street. clayartcenter.org; 914-937-2047. POUGHKEEPSIE The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge “Bridge Music,” sound installation by Joseph Bertolozzi. Through Oct. 31. Dawn to dusk. The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mid-Hudson Bridge. josephbertolozzi.com. POUGHKEEPSIE Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center “Through the Looking Glass: Daguerreotype Masterworks From the Dawn of Photography.” Through June 14. “Embodying Compassion in Buddhist Art: Image, Pilgrimage, Practice.” April 23 through June 28. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 124 Raymond Avenue. 845-437-5632; fllac.vassar.edu. PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College “Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space and Time.” Through June 14. $3 to $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. 914-251-6100; www.neuberger.org. TUCKAHOE Westchester Italian Cultural Center “Identity: Horizons and Colors, Campania and the Amalfi Coast.” Through May 22. Suggested donation, $5 and $10. Weekdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Weekends, by appointment. Westchester Italian Cultural Center, 1 Generoso Pope Place. 914-771-8700; wiccny.org. WHITE PLAINS ArtsWestchester “Crossing Borders: Memory and Heritage in a New America.” Through May 2. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. ArtsWestchester, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue. artswestchester.org; 914-428-4220. WOODSTOCK Byrdcliffe Kleinert/James Center for the Arts “Influence,” group show. Through April 19. Fridays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. Byrdcliffe Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, 36 Tinker Street. woodstockguild.org; 845-679-2079. YONKERS Hudson River Museum “Frohawk Two Feathers: Kill Your Best Ideas, The Battle for New York and Its Lifeline, the Hudson River.” “Promoting the President in Celebration of Washington’s Birthday.” Through May 17. $3 to $6; members, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue. 914-963-4550; hrm.org.


Republican Governor of Florida Says State Won’t Expand Medicaid

Abstract: WASHINGTON — In another sign of resistance to President Obama’s health care overhaul , Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, a Republican, said Monday that his state would not expand its Medicaid program. Florida is the largest state to say so firmly that it will take advantage of a new option granted by the Supreme Court decision on the health care law. The 2010 law calls for a sweeping expansion of Medicaid, to add 17 million people to the rolls, accounting for half of all the uninsured people expected to gain coverage nationwide. “Florida will opt out of spending approximately $1.9 billion more taxpayer dollars required to implement a massive entitlement expansion of the Medicaid program,” said Mr. Scott, a former health care executive. More than one-fifth of Florida residents — roughly 4 million of 19 million people — lack health insurance. Mr. Scott also rejected another provision of the new federal law, saying Florida would not set up a health insurance exchange, or a regulated market where people can shop for coverage. The governor acknowledged that for three years, from 2014 to 2016, the federal government would pay all the costs of covering people newly eligible for Medicaid. But, he said, “the burden increasingly shifts to Florida taxpayers in future years.” Mr. Scott said Medicaid was “growing three and a half times as fast as Florida’s general revenue” and was gobbling up money needed for education. Obama administration officials said they were not worried by the rumblings among Republican officials in Florida and other states. Obama aides predicted that all states would eventually expand Medicaid and set up exchanges when they realized the benefits. “The vast majority of states will come in,” Jacob J. Lew, the White House chief of staff, said Sunday on the ABC News program “This Week.” “For those few that are slow to come in, they’re going to have to answer to people why they’re turning this down and why they’re letting people go without coverage.” Congress required states to expand Medicaid to cover nonelderly people with incomes less than or equal to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (up to $25,390 for a family of three). But the Supreme Court said that the change was optional, and that the federal government could not penalize recalcitrant states by withholding money they receive under the existing Medicaid program. Republicans in Congress are encouraging continued state opposition to the federal law, which was upheld last week by the Supreme Court . A group of Republican lawmakers — 12 senators and 61 House members — said Monday that they had sent a letter to governors urging them not to set up insurance exchanges. It now appears that the federal government could be running the exchanges in one-third to half of all states in 2014, far more than lawmakers assumed when they passed the law. Gov. Nikki R. Haley of South Carolina, a Republican, said Monday that she would not set up an exchange because “states have little meaningful flexibility under the Obama administration’s concept of state-based exchanges.” A Texas official welcomed the Supreme Court decision, saying it provided an opportunity for states to “push back against” the expansion of Medicaid. “Medicaid already consumes a quarter of the state budget in Texas, and enrollment and costs would mushroom under the Affordable Care Act,” said the official, Thomas M. Suehs, the executive commissioner of health and human services. Miriam E. Harmatz, a lawyer at Florida Legal Services , said Mr. Scott’s action was “a terrible decision for our clients, who would have benefited from the expansion of Medicaid, and a shortsighted decision for the economy of the state,” which would have benefited from an infusion of federal Medicaid money into the health care industry. Bruce Rueben, president of the Florida Hospital Association , said he hoped Mr. Scott would reconsider and reverse his decision on Medicaid. Deborah S. Bachrach, a former Medicaid director in New York, said, “Many states will accept the Medicaid expansion, given that the federal government is paying all the costs in the short term and most of the costs in the long term.”

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010)