Kanye West’s Charity Closes

Abstract: The charity named for the rapper Kanye West that was intended to reduce high school dropout rates has closed mysteriously. Its former executive director, Joseph Collins, sent an e-mail to associates last month, telling them that he was looking for a job because the charity, the Kanye West Foundation, had closed, and its phone has been disconnected. “I am reaching out to let you know that the Kanye West Foundation ( kanyewestfoundation.org ) has officially closed it doors after a successful 4+ years of programming and events,” Mr. Collins wrote in the e-mail, which was given to The New York Times by executives from two nonprofit groups that had worked with the organization. “It has been an incredible experience working with Kanye and the board to realize his mother’s vision and I am honored to have been given the opportunity to lead the Foundation.” Reached by phone, Mr. Collins declined to comment. “You’d have to get in touch with Mr. West,” he said. Efforts to reach Mr. West failed, however. Mr. West’s agency, WME Entertainment, referred calls about the closing of the charity to the performer’s publicist, Gabriel Tesoriero, but Mr. Tesoriero did not respond to e-mail sent to the address the agency provided. Nor did a representative for Universal Music, where Mr. Tesoriero works, return a call. Michelynn Woodard, listed as the organization’s chairwoman, did not respond to e-mails or phone messages. The charity filed tax forms as if it were a private foundation, but it does not appear to have been financed by Mr. West, instead raising the bulk of its money from companies and individuals with whom Mr. West does business. In 2009, for instance, Madison Square Garden gave it $151,754, and the retailer Karmaloop donated $20,000. The previous year, the charity received contributions from the concert promoters Live Nation Music Group and Goldenvoice. The charity raised an average of $492,000 and made total grants averaging $18,080 in each of 2007, 2008 and 2009, the last year for which tax forms are available. Grant-making slowed drastically — in 2009, the charity made just $563 in grants — after the death of Mr. West’s mother, Donda West, in 2007 from complications of plastic surgery. Dr. West was an English professor, according to the charity’s Web site, who founded the organization because she “was passionate about student success.”

Philanthropy
West Kanye
Shutdowns (Institutional)
Executives and Management


New York City Police Helicopter Rescues Injured Hiker

Abstract: It began as a Mother’s Day hike with family and ended like a scene from some Rocky Mountain adventure film: an injured hiker, unable to get down from a treacherous cliffside trail; a rescuer descending by rope from a hovering helicopter. Except instead of mountains, Manhattan skyscrapers loomed in the distance. And in the helicopter were New York City police officers. The rescue was a rarity for the Police Department, whose aviation officers train for water rescues and those in confined spaces — such as dense urban environments — but rarely have a chance to perform the sort of hiker-rescue operations common to more rugged jurisdictions. Yet every few years, the department is called upon to pluck the unfortunate from the wilderness a short helicopter ride from town: a kayaker who flipped his boat into a Hudson River marsh and could not get out; hikers in Harriman State Park; two West Point cadets stranded on the rock face of Storm King Mountain. As the sun and warmth coaxed New Yorkers outdoors on Sunday, the police aviation unit at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn got a call in the early afternoon about a hiker, Amanda Graham, 36, who had broken her ankle high on a steep rock trail just north of Alpine, N.J., in Palisades Interstate Park. None of the four members who conducted the rescue had ever hiked there, they said later. Ms. Graham had fallen while hiking with relatives, officials said. Their first call to 911 went to the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police, who called around 1:30 p.m. to the volunteer firefighters in nearby Piermont, N.Y., who are expert in the park’s trails. Video On Sunday, the New York Police Department’s aviation unit rescued a female hiker who had broken her ankle high on a steep rock trail just north of Alpine, N.J., in Palisades Interstate Park. “We’re up there four or five times a year,” said Daniel Goswick, an assistant chief in the department who took part in the rescue. He was just sitting down for a Mother’s Day lunch with his wife and daughter when he got the call. “I actually left my wife at the restaurant,” he said, but was quick to add that both women are emergency medical technicians and so were understanding. Soon, roughly 20 volunteers landed on the shores of the cliff and hiked up 500 meters to a section of trail known as Giant Steps. “The trail is well marked but it is difficult and should only be attempted by experienced hikers,” said Christina M. Fehre, the trail supervisor for the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. With Ms. Graham in a stretcher, Mr. Goswick and his team took her to a section of the tree-covered trail where the cliff face, which looms above, had collapsed in 2012, creating a clearing. Other hikers — firefighters from New York and New Jersey out for their own strolls — lent a hand, Mr. Goswick said. But soon it was apparent that getting down to the boats or out via the trail would be too dangerous. “She was just at a position that was hard to get her down,” Mr. Goswick said. “It’s a steep drop at a couple of points.” They called for an airborne rescue from New York around 2:30 p.m. An hour later, two helicopters were in the air, and 12 minutes after that, they were hovering about 50 feet over the steeply inclined face. Officer Edgar Burroughs, who went down on a rope, cleared the area and attended to Ms. Graham, who was about 200 feet above the water. He helped to move her to a stretcher that could be lifted into the helicopter as the pilot, Officer Seth Levinstein, staying nearby, maneuvered to keep the rotating blades from the unforgiving rock cliff. Soon she was rising. “She said it felt like a movie, and it really did,” Officer Burroughs said. By Monday, Ms. Graham had been treated at Nyack Hospital and released. Her residence could not immediately be learned.

Helicopter
Rescue
Hiking
Amanda Graham
NYPD
Alpine NJ
Palisades Interstate Park of NY and NJ


Pavin Is on His Game at Colonial

Abstract: FORT WORTH — When he is playing well, on a course that suits him, Corey Pavin can still make a golf ball do just about anything he wants it to do. He can hold a low, cutting 4-iron into the wind, working it into a back-right pin position. He can spin bunker shots stone dead from the short side of the hole. He can turn a driver over and wrap a draw around a dogleg left like a man taking his dog out for a walk. He can do everything with a golf ball except send it high in the air on a 300-yard trip. That is something he never could do, not when he teed it up in his first of 27 appearances at Colonial Country Club in 1984, and not Friday, when he shot a 64 in the Crowne Plaza Invitational that put him at nine-under-par 131 through two rounds. That round, which included a couple of seeing-eye putts with his vintage Bulls Eye Putter on the final two holes, left the 50-year-old Pavin four strokes behind the leader, Bryce Molder , who shot a 62 for a one-stroke lead going into the weekend. Even at Pavin’s age, his presence on the leader board, tied for seventh at the classic golf course where he has won twice, is not a shock. But it is unusual enough that it would be apropos to fire up a few bars of the John Williams theme song from “Jurassic Park.” Because Pavin, the current United States Ryder Cup captain, is — if not a dinosaur — at least an endangered species. In a new world filled with touring pros who average more than 300 yards off the tee, Pavin is a short hitter who can still occasionally compete by maneuvering his ball around classically designed golf courses — like this 7,204-yard, par-70 gem by John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell. Colonial was one of two courses nicknamed Hogan’s Alley after Ben Hogan showed how it was played — winning here four times. (The other was Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles.) Pavin, with his two victories, could not drive it as far as Hogan, but he did not — does not even now — give up much when it comes to striking his irons. John Mallinger, a 30-year-old pro in his fourth full season on tour who played with Pavin on Friday, called him a “magician” because of some of the iron shots he hit. “I’ve been playing well, and Colonial is my favorite place on tour,” Pavin said when told of Mallinger’s comment. “It seems like even when I’m playing badly, when I come in here I play well. I’m just trying to play my game, and this course allows me to play my game.” In the 1980s and ’90s, when Pavin was playing his game, he was a fearless battler who took down some giants. He twice slew Greg Norman, beating him at the 1995 United States Open at Shinnecock Hills, hitting a 4-wood into the par-4 finishing hole to close out his final round with a two-putt par and a score of even-par 280. And he beat him here at Colonial in 1996, his 14th tour victory and — it seemed for a decade — possibly his last until he added a 15th in 2006 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. Pavin’s modus operandi was to plot his way around a golf course, managing himself and his game and making crucial putts when he had the opportunity. He won the Los Angeles Open in 1994 and ’95 at what he calls “the old Riviera Country Club,” implying that changes since made to lengthen Riviera have not been to his liking. Colonial has had several changes, but none significant enough to change Pavin’s opinion of it. It is still a comfortable fit, a place to rekindle his enthusiasm for the game and maybe even to reignite the dream of winning. “I mean, I can play my game here,” Pavin said. “I don’t have to do things that are out of my comfort zone. It’s about positioning shots off the tee, keeping the ball in the fairway. It requires a lot of clean iron shots and smart shots. “You don’t have to birdie every hole, but there are certainly holes that you want to go after and try to birdie. And the other holes I kind of hang on and play smart — if I’m in a position where it’s hard to hit the green, miss it in the right place and it’s an easy up-and-down.” At that moment, Pavin sounded as he did two decades ago. If he can play that way again, for two more days, he can be dangerous.

Golf
Crowne Plaza Invitational
Pavin Corey
Molder Bryce


Pakistan Cancels Talks With India, Citing Restrictions

Abstract: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan announced Saturday that it was pulling out of talks with India scheduled to begin Sunday in New Delhi, saying the conditions set by India for the meeting were not acceptable. The decision came as the two countries traded barbs over Pakistan’s plans to meet with Kashmiri separatist leaders while in India. The disagreement weighed heavily on both sides as each positioned itself to blame the other for the failure to hold the talks, which were to be held on Sunday and Monday. India had also stressed that it wanted terrorism to be the only item on the agenda while Pakistan wanted to discuss the dispute over the Kashmir region, which is claimed by both sides. A statement by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that, after reviewing an Indian news conference by the minister for external affairs, Pakistan concluded that high-level talks “would not serve any purpose.” Earlier on Saturday afternoon, the Indian external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, denied that India was calling off the talks. She spoke of the need for a “conducive atmosphere” for discussion and insisted that the Pakistani representatives should not meet with a coalition of the Kashmiri separatists. Ms. Swaraj urged the Pakistani national security adviser, Sartaj Aziz, not to expand the scope of the talks “beyond terrorism.” She added that Pakistan had until Saturday night to respond to India’s assertions, which she denied were “preconditions.” Last year, analysts on both sides said Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, seen as a hard-liner, could propel a dialogue because he would be more immune to criticism from those who opposed talks. But while previous Indian governments have grudgingly tolerated meetings between Pakistani officials and Kashmiri separatists, Mr. Modi’s government has now twice signaled that it will not. Last year, India called off high-level talks when a top Pakistani diplomat met with Kashmiri separatist leaders. “India is quite clearly saying, ‘You have met the Hurriyat guys before, but that’s not going to happen now,’” said C. Raja Mohan, a foreign-policy analyst in New Delhi, referring to advocates of Kashmiri separatism. “From India’s perception the context has changed” from earlier years, Mr. Mohan added. “It’s a table for two. It’s not a table for three.” Both India and Pakistan said on Saturday that there had been a large number of cease-fire violations since last month. Ms. Swaraj said there had been domestic pressure to cancel the talks because of the violations and because of two attacks in July and early August in Punjab Province and in Jammu and Kashmir State. “India’s political leadership is quite strong to withstand any kind of pressure, and we are withstanding those pressures,” Ms. Swaraj said. “But Pakistan leadership is not able to withstand the pressure.” Earlier on Saturday, Shabir Shah, a Kashmiri separatist leader, was detained at the Delhi airport, where he had arrived to meet Mr. Aziz, the Press Trust of India reported . In a telephone interview from Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, another leader of the Kashmiri separatist coalition, Yasin Malik, called Kashmiris “the principal party in the dispute,” adding that lasting peace was unattainable without consulting them. “Talks between the national security advisers should have taken place,” said Masood Khan, the director general of the Islamabad-based Institute of Strategic Studies, a research group. “Absence of dialogue is pushing the two nuclear-armed countries to the brink of a dangerous face-off.” Though Mr. Sharif is said to be eager to improve relations with India, analysts said he would not abandon the focus on Kashmir, which remains important to Pakistan’s powerful military. “The civilian and military leadership have no choice but to be on the same page on Kashmir for such high-profile talks,” Mr. Khan said. “Indians would miscalculate if they think that there is a fissure that they can exploit.”

Pakistan
India
Sushma Swaraj
Narendra Modi
Nawaz Sharif


Kremlin Rejects Registration by New Opposition Party

Abstract: MOSCOW — Russian authorities refused to register a new liberal opposition party on Wednesday, frustrating efforts by several prominent Kremlin critics to run in parliamentary elections scheduled for December. The decision seemed, at the least, inconsistent with recent calls by President Dmitri A. Medvedev for more political diversity in Russia ’s parliament, which is currently dominated by a single party, United Russia. But it was not a surprise to the creators of the new party, called the People’s Freedom Party, who over the years have been squeezed out of a political system monopolized by Mr. Medvedev’s predecessor, Vladimir V. Putin, who is now prime minister and United Russia’s leader. “We are denied our political rights,” said Vladimir A. Ryzhkov, one of the party’s leaders. “We are not allowed to participate in elections. This is illegal.” In over a decade in power, Mr. Putin has altered Russia’s political system in a way that has disenfranchised smaller parties. He raised the percentage of votes parties must win to enter parliament, and banned individual candidates from running without party affiliation. The restrictions cost Mr. Ryzhkov his seat in parliament in 2007 and forced his old party to disband. Other leaders of the new party, including Boris Y. Nemtsov, a deputy prime minister in the 1990s, and Mikhail M. Kasyanov, a former prime minister under Mr. Putin, have been similarly affected. In an interview published Monday in the Financial Times, Mr. Medvedev said that Russia would benefit from easing some of these restrictions, but called for doing so gradually. “I would like the whole of the political spectrum to be represented in our parliament,” he said. “I have taken steps in this direction when possible, but I think nevertheless that these steps should not contradict the general trend of development. Mr. Medvedev’s first term as president ends next year, and it is still unclear whether he or Mr. Putin will run in the presidential election next March. The leaders have said they will decide which of them will run. Mr. Ryzhkov said the decision to deny his party registration indicated who, in fact, was really in charge. “Medvedev is an empty chatterbox. His words mean nothing,” he said. “Putin decides everything.” In reaching its decision, the Justice Ministry cited what it called several technical violations including a failure to adhere to a rotating leadership structure required by law. It also said in a statement that some of the 45,000 signatures required to show support for the party were provided by under-aged or illegally registered individuals. Some signatories, the ministry said, were dead. Such technicalities are frequently used to deny opposition groups the chance to participate in elections here, independent election monitors say. While party leaders said some mistakes could have been made, none should have warranted a denial. The Justice Ministry said it was possible to resubmit corrected application materials, but Mr. Ryzhkov said the party would boycott the upcoming elections and plan protests instead.

Russia
Medvedev Dmitri A
Politics and Government


Fjords Contribute to Melting of Glaciers

Abstract: Greenland’s glaciers are melting faster than they used to, contributing to the rise of sea levels worldwide. While warmer atmospheric temperatures thin all the glaciers from above, scientists have wondered if warmer waters are also melting the many glaciers that flow into the fjords. Two studies published in Nature Geoscience provide evidence that this is the case. In one study , Fiammetta Straneo of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and colleagues looked at water temperatures and circulation in a fjord in East Greenland that is the terminus of Helheim glacier. They found that the 3,000-foot-deep fjord was continually being replenished with relatively warm (that is to say, 38 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit) water from the sea shelf beyond, driven by winds. They suggest that this warmer water is causing increased undersea melting of the glacier at its terminus and that the same phenomenon could be occurring at other glaciers as well. Atmospheric and oceanic changes are responsible, they say, because they have altered the properties of the shelf water and the wind patterns to cause more and warmer water to enter the fjord. The second study , by Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and colleagues, looked at the rates of undersea melting at four glaciers in West Greenland. This isn’t easy to do: it involves measuring water velocity, temperature and salinity near the glacier front to determine the patterns of mixing and flow, and then calculating melting rates. The researchers say that cold melt water from underneath the glacier combines with rising warmer, saltier water from the depths of the fjord. This rises along the underwater face of the glacier, melting it. The mixed waters then flow out into the glacier in a plume. They calculated the rates of undersea melting to be up to two orders of magnitude larger than surface melting rates. Taken together, the two studies suggest that fjords play an important role in the changes taking place in Greenland’s glaciers.


John Jay College to Unveil a New Tribute, in Bronze, to Its Namesake

Abstract: John Jay negotiated peace with Britain after the American Revolution, served as the first chief justice of the United States and struggled against slavery as governor of New York. But when Jeremy Travis was named president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice a decade ago, Jay’s likeness could barely be found on campus. Since then, a borrowed copy of a Gilbert Stuart portrait was installed on the sixth floor and an etching was hung outside a ninth-floor conference room. On Monday, Jay’s legacy will assume a whole new dimension: A life-size statue of Jay will be dedicated in the Lynn and Jules Kroll Atrium of his namesake college in Manhattan. Ivan Schwartz, who founded the studio where the sculpture was created, would be the perfect professor if the college were ever to offer a forensic course on the limitations of statues. "The one thing that really vexes me is that I never get to hear their voices,” he said. Still, not many people can claim to have lived with 42 of the Founding Fathers. Mr. Schwartz has. Image Ivan Schwartz founded StudioEIS. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times “I spent years with them,” he said. They were crafted in his studio in Dumbo, Brooklyn, where he also lived (the firm has since moved to Industry City in Brooklyn, he to an apartment in Park Slope), and were stored there while they awaited installation in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Busts of Jay abound, but Mr. Schwartz said he was unaware of another full-frame statue until this one, his latest work. Mr. Schwartz, 63, who grew up in Kew Gardens, Queens, and founded StudioEIS four decades ago with Elliot Schwartz, his brother, was also commissioned to sculpt statues of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass at the New-York Historical Society, Theodore Roosevelt at the American Museum of Natural History and figures for the National Park Service’s African Burial Ground in Lower Manhattan. “For somebody who went to New York City public schools and did not have a great education in history, it’s been a great ride,” he said. The bronze John Jay stands at 5-foot-10 and weighs 670 pounds, but research by Mr. Schwartz and his partners, including his brother and his sister, Debra, was unable to verify the physique of John Jay, the man. Image StudioEIS was commissioned to create the sculpture of John Jay and other figures including Abraham Lincoln at the New-York Historical Society. Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times “There are a few things we never find out,” Mr. Schwartz said. The researchers examined portraits by Gilbert Stuart and John Trumbull, and enlisted Stuart Williamson, an artist, to paint a detailed version from which the sculptor, Jiwoong Cheh, created a clay model. They also studied photographs of Jay’s black-satin robe with salmon-colored silk trim (one survives at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History), and 19th century descriptions of his “colorless complexion, with blue penetrating eyes, aquiline nose and pointed chin.” Jay is holding the justice’s oath of office, duplicated as closely as possible in his own handwriting. To help choose the statue’s pose, a model dressed in robes posed at the installation site and a half-dozen alternatives were presented to college officials and board members and students. “John Jay is our forgotten Founding Father, one of the greatest New Yorkers, who helped create our democracy,” Mr. Travis said. “Our students, who are devoted to the common good, will be inspired by his example.” The $125,000 statue, financed through private donations and rental income from private events, took a year to make under the supervision of Bj Ervick, the production manager. It was cast at a foundry in Phoenix. “From my point of view, the essential interest is to activate the past,” Mr. Schwartz said. “To do that you have to create some kind of credible narrative and that begins with measurements, what is the action, what does the face look like? In some way one easily falls prey to mimicry, so not having another statue to work from made it a little easier.”

John Jay
College
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Sculpture
StudioEIS
Art
Monuments and Memorials


De Blasio’s Victory Speech

Abstract: Following is the prepared text of Bill de Blasio’s victory speech at the Park Slope Armory in Brooklyn. Ladies and gentleman, give it up for the next First Lady of New York City! My fellow New Yorkers: today, you spoke out loudly and clearly for a new direction in our city, united by a belief that our city should leave no New Yorker behind. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished in the campaign and humbled by it. And let me say to all of you, from the bottom of my heart: thank you! But let me be clear. Our work -- all of our work -- is really just beginning. And we have no illusions about the task that lies ahead. Tackling inequality isn’t easy; it never has been, and never will be. The challenges we face have been decades in the making, and the problems we set out to address will not be solved overnight. But make no mistake: the people of this city have chosen a progressive path, and tonight we set forth on it, together, as one city. Estamos muy orgullosos de lo que hemos logrado en esta campaña. Seré claro: Nuestro trabajo acaba de empezár. Los problemas de nuestra ciudad no serán fácil de resolver. Pero, una cosa es clara: la gente de esta ciudad ha elegido el camino progresista, y esta noche empezámos a caminar, juntos, como una sola ciudad. To everyone who knocked on doors, made phone calls, persuaded your friends, held house parties, oreven tweeted about the campaign: this victory is yours! Thank you so much! There are so many inspiring individuals and organizations so many friends who made this victory possible. If I mentioned each name, we’d be here all night – you know who you are, and you know I wouldn’t be here without you. I do want to acknowledge two close friends who guided and advised me at every turn, even when the polls didn’t look so hot. Please give it up for Ambassador Patrick Gaspard and Nick Baldick. And I want to say how grateful I am to Bill Hyers and Emma Wolfe and the best campaign team this city has ever seen! And a special thank you to two people who have helped me since my first run for City Council, here in this neighborhood: Gabrielle Fialkoff and Jim Crounse. But the people I am most grateful to – and most grateful for – are standing right next to me. My partner in life, my best friend in the world, she is brilliant and every bit as compassionate as she is tough. The love of my life: Chirlane McCray! And of everything I have to feel fortunate about, I am most lucky to be the father of two extraordinary children: Chiara and Dante. They make me proud every single day. And they’re very stylish. Tonight I feel the deepest appreciation for generations of my family, including those no longer with us and a special thank you to my Italian family and friends in Rome, and in my Grandfather’s hometown of Sant’Agata dei Goti and my Grandmother’s hometown of Grassano. To them I say: grazie a tutti! Earlier this evening, I received a call from Joe Lhota. Even though we have our differences, I know he loves this city as much as I do. To everyone whose vote I didn’t earn today: I promise that I won’t stop working to earn your trust. I’ve spoken often about a Tale of Two Cities. That inequality – that feeling of a few doing very well, while so many slip further behind – that is the defining challenge of our time. Because inequality in New York is not something that only threatens those who are struggling. The stakes are so high for every New Yorker. And making sure no son or daughter of New York falls behind defines the very promise of our city. New York is the brightest embodiment of the idea behind American greatness: It doesn’t matter where you were born what you look like what your religion is, or who you love. If you have brains and heart and guts and faith, this city – more than any other in the world – will offer you a real chance at a better life. For generations, New York has meant opportunity. That’s what it has been to so many, and that what it must be again. It’s how immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island – those with nothing to their names but a few bags and high hopes – started businesses that became bedrocks of entire communities. It’s how kids who have grown up poor, from every borough, have become CEOs and playwrights fashion designers and architects doctors and teachers. It’s how for generations, even in the face of untold economic stress, working parents in New York knew this city had their back they knew if they gave it all they had, this city would reward their kids with a shot, a real shot, at something better. New Yorkers are strong and resilient, dedicated and big-hearted. Our greatness is not accidental. But neither is it inevitable. To maintain that greatness and to ensure that our brightest days are ahead of us, we must commit ourselves to progressive ideas that will lift us all. It won’t be easy, but it is essential. It is a challenge I know this city is up to because I’ve seen the commitment of New Yorkers from every borough, every neighborhood, every income bracket the commitment to rise to this challenge of our time together. The best and the brightest are born in every neighborhood. We all have a shared responsibility -- and a shared stake -- in making sure their destiny is defined by how hard they work and how big they dream, not by their Zip code. So when we call on the wealthiest among us to pay just a little more in taxes to fund universal Pre-K and after-school programs we aren’t threatening anyone’s success. We are asking those who’ve done very well to ensure that every child has the same opportunity to do just as well as they have. That’s how we all rise together. Public safety is a prerequisite for the thriving neighborhoods that create opportunity in this city. So is respect for civil liberties. The two are not mutually exclusive; in fact we must have both. We must work to promote a real partnership between the best police force in the world and the communities they protect from danger – be it local or global. New Yorkers on both sides of the badge understand this. We’re all hungry for an approach that acknowledges we are stronger and safer as a city when police and residents work hand-in-hand. That’s how we all rise together. Opportunity in New York springs from strong neighborhoods. When we demand that big developers build affordable housing, and fight to keep our hospitals from becoming luxury condos, it’s not to punish the real estate industry. We do these things so the everyday, hardworking people who anchor our neighborhoods can live and work and be healthy in the communities they love. That’s how we all rise together. New York is no stranger to big challenges. We’ve faced the depths of the Depression, we’ve stared down the hateful destruction of terrorists, we’ve endured the ferocity of gale force winds and surging tides, and each and every time, New Yorkers have faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles with grit and determination and an unyielding commitment to one another and we have – always – prevailed. The challenge before us today is different from any we’ve faced before: it has no distinct or dramatic catalyst, no insidious face, no electronic image on a radar map. The growing inequality we see, the crisis of affordability we face, it has been decades in the making. But its slow creep upon this city cannot weaken our resolve. And it won’t. The people of our city come from so many different places, with so many different stories. By our nature, we are clear eyed and realistic. Yet we stand united – united by a shared hope, a shared optimism, a shared faith that there’s no problem bigger than our city, no adversity more powerful than the might of our collective ideas and action. New York’s resilience is legendary; our toughness is unmatched; and our will is unbreakable. So I say to you tonight: The road ahead will be difficult, but it will be traveled; Progressive changes won’t happen overnight, but they will happen; There will be many obstacles that stand in our way, but we will overcome them. And know this: I will never stop fighting for the city I love, and we all love, so much. And I will never forget that as mayor, I work for you. And we as New Yorkers, people whose stories wouldn’t be possible anywhere else on earth, we know that we are not defined by the cold steel of our skyscrapers, but by the strength and compassion and boldness of our collective spirit. We are all at our best when every child, every parent, every New Yorker has a shot. And we reach our greatest heights when we all rise together. Thank you and God bless you!

Speeches
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
NYC
Election


Black Republicans See a White Convention, Heavy on Lectures

Abstract: CLEVELAND — Mike Hill, a black Republican state representative in Florida, grew steadily more disheartened as he watched television clips of his party’s overwhelmingly white national convention lecturing African-Americans about the police and race relations. There was Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, nearly shouting Monday night that the police only wanted to help people, regardless of race. A sea of white convention delegates, cheering wildly as two black speakers ridiculed the Black Lives Matter movement and unconditionally praised law enforcement officers. And a series of speakers pushing Donald J. Trump’s law-and-order message and arguing, as he has, that the United States had lost its way. “When a lot of white Republicans get together and bring up race, even telling black people how they should see police and the world, it evokes the worst kind of emotion,” said Mr. Hill, who supports Mr. Trump but decided to skip the convention. “We have so few black Republicans to begin with. Talking about race won’t bring us more.” For many black Republicans, the party’s convention has veered unexpectedly and unhappily toward lecturing and moralizing on issues of race, an off-putting posture at a time when Mr. Trump is staggeringly unpopular with minority voters. He drew support from zero percent of African-Americans in recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and he is struggling badly with Hispanics, partly because of his harsh language about Mexicans and immigrants. These Republicans said they had preferred the political messages to black voters at recent conventions, where the focus was less on public safety and crime than on economic opportunity, job creation, support for small businesses and school choice — all issues, they said, that held appeal. Video The first day of the Republican National Convention did not go as planned, and on the second night in Cleveland, staying on message proved difficult for the campaign and the speakers. Credit Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times In Cleveland, however, Mr. Trump and Republican Party leaders are focused on appealing to white voters, particularly white men who are critical to their electoral strategy in the Midwest and the South. Black Republicans said they understood the thinking behind this, but argued that it was based on politics more than on helping people or strengthening the country. “When the Republican is getting only 5 or 6 percent of the black vote anyway, and the Democrat simply needs to say ‘I’m on your side’ to win the black vote, then what option do you have?” said Ward Connerly, a former regent at the University of California and a leader in national efforts to end affirmative action in college admissions. “You support law and order. That will bring out a certain amount of support for a lot of Americans who are afraid because they see society as crumbling.” “Politically, it’s a smart move to make,” Mr. Connerly added, “but whether Republicans are solving the problems of the black underclass or not is another question.” Several black political figures and candidates skipped the event altogether. “Haven’t been watching,” former Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote in an email. And those who did speak from the podium seemed focused more on castigating black protesters, scolding other blacks for their behavior and exalting Mr. Trump than on trying to help Republicans make inroads with undecided or skeptical black voters. Video Republican delegates from every state in the nation are in Cleveland, where they nominated Donald J. Trump for the presidency on Tuesday. Here, some of them talk about how they will vote in November. Credit Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times “Somebody with a nice tan needs to say this: All lives matter!” declared Darryl Glenn, a commissioner of El Paso County, Colo., who is African-American, in a line that drew a thunderous ovation from delegates. Mr. Glenn repeatedly struck a moralizing tone. “If we really want to heal our communities, more men need to start stepping up and taking care of their children,” he said at one point. “Safe neighborhoods happen when fathers and mothers are in the home,” he said at another. The convention’s most prominent black speaker, Ben Carson, by contrast, suggested Tuesday night that Hillary Clinton was seeking to deceive poor blacks and other disadvantaged people. “She would continue with a system that denigrates the education of our young people, puts them in a place where they’re never going to be able to get a job, where they’re always going to be dependent, and where therefore they can be cultivated for their votes,” Mr. Carson said. “This is not what America is all about.” Though Mr. Carson and Mr. Glenn were enthusiastically received, their overtures to blacks seemed all the more discordant given the racial makeup of the audience in the convention hall here. This convention has fewer black delegates and speakers than any in two decades, according to several African-American Republicans who are regulars at party gatherings. The Republican National Committee could not provide definitive counts of delegates by race; one party official estimated that there were 80 black delegates, but that was based on an informal crowd count that might have included people on the convention floor who were not delegates. There are 2,472 delegates in all. Republican Convention Day 2: Analysis We analyzed the second night of the Republican National Convention in real time. The highlights. Fred Brown, the chairman of the National Black Republican Council, said he had been going to Republican conventions since the 1970s and believed that this year’s convention was one of the whitest in memory. “The Republican Party has not done enough to enrich the party and create an opportunity for black members to become more involved,” said Mr. Brown, 80, who lives in the Bronx. Referring to Republican outreach to blacks, he said: “They haven’t put the resources behind it to make that happen. The money should be there. It’s like we created the Southern strategy in the South, and right now we control the South because the Republican Party under Nixon put the money up. The same thing they did there, they could do with the African-American community.” Melanie Collins, a computer programming teacher from Cape May, N.J., who said she had been a Republican for a decade, said she felt alienated by the messages she had heard lately from Mr. Trump and other Republicans. “I would not have been part of a party if that had been their messaging all along,” she said. “That’s not a party that I would be in.” After wrestling with whether to support Mr. Trump, Ms. Collins said she would, but only in a transactional sense — as if she were doing business with someone with a “horrible personality” because “you had no choice.” Image Darryl Glenn, a commissioner of El Paso County, Colo., declared on Monday at the convention that “all lives matter.” Credit Chang W. Lee/The New York Times The speech by Mr. Glenn, and Mr. Giuliani’s hand-waving turn on the stage — in which he seemed to condemn people who held negative views about the police — were among several moments at the convention that unnerved some Republicans. Another came when David Clarke Jr., the sheriff of Milwaukee County, declared that “blue lives matter” and argued that the Black Lives Matter movement was contributing to “a collapse of social order.” He also praised the acquittal of one of the Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. (Efforts to reach Mr. Glenn and Mr. Clarke on Tuesday were unsuccessful.) “How we talk directly about a community of people, and how we talk indirectly about a community of people, matters,” said Michael Steele, who was the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee. “Rudy’s not living in their neighborhoods. And he doesn’t understand what’s motivating them.” Mr. Steele added, “The coding, the language and the wording becomes a distraction.” Some Republicans said privately that they were uncomfortable that convention planners had tapped black speakers to chastise black protesters in front of a mostly white crowd, which seemed to lap it up. But others, like Mr. Brown from New York, said it was a “farce” to say that African-Americans like Sheriff Clarke were being cynically used by Republicans to deliver stern rebukes to people of their own race. “He’s saying blue lives also matter to create a balance,” Mr. Brown said. Telly Lovelace, the national director for African-American initiatives and urban media for the Republican National Committee, said the party’s estimates indicated that this year’s convention was more diverse than the last two. Still, he said he had felt uncomfortable during some speeches, including Sheriff Clarke’s. “I don’t think Sheriff Clarke fully understands what those who live in urban communities, and particularly black men, have to deal with and have to go through, dealing with the police and being racially profiled,” he said. “I do believe that black lives matter. And Black Lives Matter is not this quote-unquote anarchist movement, as he described it in his speech.”

Minorities
2016 Presidential Election
Black People,African-Americans
Race and Ethnicity
Republican National Convention,RNC
Daryl Glenn
Ben Carson,Benjamin S. Carson


Closed in Error on Google Places, Merchants Seek Fixes

Abstract: In mid-August, Jason Rule learned some surprising news about the coffee shop that he owns and operates in Hays, Kan.: the place had closed for good. Not in the real world, where it is thriving. Coffee Rules Lounge was listed for a few days as “permanently closed” on Google Maps. During that time, anyone searching for a latte on a smartphone, for instance, would have assumed the store was a goner. “We’re not far from Interstate 70,” said Mr. Rule, “and I have no doubt that a lot of people running up and down that highway just skipped us.” In recent months, plenty of perfectly healthy businesses across the country have expired — sometimes for hours, other times for weeks — though only in the online realm cataloged and curated by Google . The reason is that it is surprisingly easy to report a business as closed in Google Places, the search giant’s version of the local Yellow Pages. On Google Places , a typical listing has the address of a business, a description provided by the owner and links to photos, reviews and Google Maps. It also has a section titled “Report a problem” and one of the problems to report is “this place is permanently closed.” If enough users click it, the business is labeled “reportedly closed” and later, pending a review by Google, “permanently closed.” Google was tight-lipped about its review methods and would not discuss them. Google’s rivals, like Bing and Yahoo , have versions of Places — called Bing Local and Yahoo Local — and these let users report a business as closed. But neither has anything close to Google’s traffic, which means they are the scene of far less mischief. When Google created Places it had an eminently sensible type of crowd-sourcing in mind. The site contains millions of listings, and when owners close without updating their profile, the job falls to customers to keep information current. But like any open system, this one can be abused. Search engine consultants say that “closing” a business on Google has become an increasingly common tactic among unscrupulous competitors. “I’d say that it was in June that we started to see a big uptick in complaints about this in online forums,” said Linda Buquet of Catalyst eMarketing in San Marcos, Calif. “It might be that a number of consultants are now offering services like ‘nuke your competitor’ in Google Places. But it could just be a competitor, acting alone.” Nobody is quite sure how prevalent these sham closings have become. In Google Forums, where users can pose questions about Google’s features, there are dozens of exasperated postings like this one , written in July: “Help! My business is listed ‘PERMANENTLY CLOSED’ on Google Maps even though it has always been open! Help!” But this most likely represents a fraction of viable businesses that have been cyberpadlocked. Many owners, search consultants say, have no idea that they’ve been shuttered online, and many others fix the problem without asking anyone how to solve it. A Google spokesman, Gabriel Stricker, declined to comment on whether the company kept a running tally of fraudulent closings. But he said Google was aware of the issue and was already working on changes, which will be adopted in coming days, to prevent what he called “malicious or incorrect labeling.” “We know that accurate listings on Google Maps are an important tool for many business owners,” he wrote in an e-mail. “We take reports of spam and abuse very seriously and do our best to ensure the accuracy of a listing before updating it.” If there is a historical antecedent to “closing” a company on Google, it is a dirty trick that was fairly common in 19th-century politics, wherein supporters of a candidate would spread rumors that his opponent was dead. This didn’t always work — Thomas Jefferson prevailed in the election of 1800, despite reports of his demise — but the Internet corollary can have terrible consequences. “For weeks, our bookings for September have been far lower than normal and we were wondering why,” said Charlene Cowan, who owns and operates Macadamia Meadows Farm, a bed-and-breakfast in Naalehu, Hawaii , which has been tagged as “permanently closed” for weeks. “I can’t imagine a customer is behind this — if someone doesn’t like their visit here, they’d complain on TripAdvisor . I can’t prove it, but this seems like something a competitor did.” The owner of a closed business, and customers who know better, can click on a button marked “not true,” which appears by all “reportedly closed” and “permanently closed” listings. In some instances, owners say, a business will “open” shortly thereafter. But other owners, like Ms. Cowan, say that the button doesn’t work, or that it takes a week to have any effect. Still others say that immediately after clicking the “not true” button, their business is immediately “closed” again. “In the last four days, I’ve hit that ‘not true’ button every six to eight hours,” said Daniel Navejas of RBI Divorce Lawyers of El Paso . “It’s getting old.” In mid-August, a search consultant and blogger named Mike Blumenthal was so rankled by what he considered Google’s cavalier attitude to closings on Google that he committed an act of online disobedience: He “closed” Google’s offices in Mountain View, Calif. For a brief period, Google itself was “reportedly closed,” according to Places. “I did it to point out how annoying this is when it happens,” he said. On Aug. 15, Mr. Blumenthal posted a screen shot of Google’s Places page “reportedly closed,” noting that it took just two people — him and a friend — to pull off this stunt. It seemed to get the company’s attention. At least one change to closings on Places has already been made. Since late August, a business that is newly tagged “permanently closed,” receives an alert via e-mail from Google, informing the business owner of the change. Mr. Blumenthal describes this as a good start, but hardly enough. “The company really ought to give a heads-up when a business is tagged ‘reportedly closed,’ ” because those words alone are often enough to put off customers, he said. “Google doesn’t understand how much fear and discomfort businesses have about this. One company gets to decide if you’re open or closed in the online world.” Although they allow users to report a business as closed, Bing Local and Yahoo Local don’t yet seem to have as many problems. Case in point: Macadamia Meadows Farm, that bed-and-breakfast in Hawaii, is open for business, according to both Bing Local and Yahoo Local. But after weeks of e-mails and even a call or two to Mountain View, its owner, Ms. Cowan, can’t scrub the “permanently closed” label from Google Places . “A few days ago, I put on our Places page that we’re running a special,” she said. “I just hope people read that and think ‘Well, they must actually be open.’ ”


In Wake of Newtown Shooting, Grappling With What to Tell the Children

Abstract: In Boston, the public schools have asked the police to step up visits to elementary schools throughout the day on Monday. In Denver, psychologists and social workers were prepared to visit students. Schools in New York City were encouraged to review safety measures, which include posting security officers in lobbies and requiring identification from all visitors. And the Chicago school district urged principals to conduct lockdown drills, with reminders to stay low, keep quiet and turn off classroom lights. Parents, teachers and school administrators in Newtown, Conn., confront the most immediate and raw tasks of helping children respond to the horrifying killings of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But across the nation, as schools prepared to resume on Monday, officials and parents spent the weekend worrying about not only how to talk to students about what happened, but also how best to discourage its happening again. Tom Boasberg, the superintendent of schools in Denver, said he had not yet determined whether to ramp up drills. “When you read the story of what happened at Sandy Hook, you realize, ‘Holy cow, they did a lot of things right,’ ” he said. As in Newtown, Mr. Boasberg said, many schools in Denver already have intercoms, buzzers and surveillance cameras mounted at their primary doors, and voters passed a bond measure last month to raise money so all campuses could have security equipment. But he added, “We’re not going to turn our schools into police bunkers.” School officials in Newtown announced Sunday that students from Sandy Hook Elementary would be relocated indefinitely to an unused school in a neighboring town, Monroe. Newtown officials said all of the public schools would be closed Monday, though they would continue to offer counseling. Students were invited to a sports center Monday to see friends and play games. Parents and school leaders were concerned about how to help children talk about their emotions or deal with questions nobody can answer. In the Sandy Hook firehouse on Friday, Rashi Ray was one of the lucky ones. She flew to her 7-year-old son, shaken with fear from the long wait and almost trembling with joy at the sight of him. At home, her son, Saahil, napped, something he had not done since he was a toddler. Mrs. Ray let him sleep, knowing there was worse to come. What would she tell him about his principal, his friends, his school? “He’s just a 7-year-old boy,” she said. “And slowly, he has a lot of questions, so we try and answer them to the best of our ability.” Many schools and districts around the country sent out letters to parents over the weekend with advice on how to talk to children about violence and trauma. At Harvard/Kent Elementary School in Boston, Jason Gallagher, the principal, said teachers would be encouraged to talk about safety at “open circle” meetings with students, but for children from kindergarten through third grade, teachers were asked not to specifically mention the events in Newtown. “There are a lot of tricky places that it could take you,” Mr. Gallagher said. If children bring it up, he said, teachers will be instructed to keep conversations focused on general safety principles, or to let the children guide discussions, with questions like “Can you tell me how that made you feel?” He said he was dispatching art, gym and other specialized teachers to join classroom teachers in the morning so that no instructor would have to confront difficult questions alone. Carol Johnson, the Boston superintendent, said older children might have a more urgent desire to talk about Sandy Hook. “I think middle and high school students will have very strong and different opinions about the causes of violence in the community,” she said. “And they will want to have much more in-depth conversations about why.” Parents were making their own delicate calculations of whether or how much to talk to their children about the shooting. In some cases, decisions were forced upon them. Shannon Casey, a mother of two in Mountain View, Calif., said that by the time she picked up her 12-year-old daughter on Friday, the girl had already seen the news on her iPad. Ms. Casey said she advised her to avoid constantly reading about the tragedy on social media, and reminded her 9-year-old son about what to do if someone showed up with a gun. She talked to them about “the heroism of the teachers, and how much their teachers show up for them on a daily basis and will protect them if something happens.” Tenecia H. Valerio, a mother of three children ages 6 and under in Summit, N.J., said she initially vowed not to tell them anything. But she found herself tearing up throughout the day on Friday and finally decided to tell them she was so sad because “a whole bunch of people had died.” Her family made a memorial with candles and stuffed animals to set on the porch, and she planned to keep it at that. But when her 6-year-old son asked more detailed questions, she told him a “man did a really horrible, mean thing and he went to the school and he hurt and killed people including little children.” “I would rather me explain it to him as a mother and be there to help him process the information,” Ms. Valerio said, “as opposed to him hearing it somewhere else and me not being able to talk to him or give him a hug when he needs it.” As it was, he responded with the heartbreaking innocence of a 6-year-old. “He said, ‘I’m glad my school has a camera and a buzzer,’ ” Ms. Valerio recalled. And then he asked: “ ‘Can we get Dunkin’ Donuts?’ ”

Sandy Hook Elementary School (Newtown Conn)


Knicks Look Like '71 Team, Only Different

Abstract: IT'S kind of like the day Earl (the Pearl) Monroe moved up the seaboard from Baltimore to New York. Kind of. That is to say, the Knicks now have a glut of players with more or less the same skills and job description. There is a scintilla of difference between now and Nov. 10, 1971. The Knicks back then were a great team. These Knicks, on the other hand, seemed to plunge even deeper into their own personal twilight zone yesterday when they acquired Steve Francis for what might be a telltale bargain cost. With the newly acquired Francis in the building but not in uniform, the Knicks were trounced by Miami, 103-83, last night, with more boos echoing in the Garden and Coach Larry Brown telling the refs at one point, "Maybe we aren't very good, but we deserve a fair doggone call." It doesn't work that way. Never has. Starting Friday, the Knicks will put Francis and Stephon Marbury, the incumbent controller of the ball, into the same backcourt. It sounds remarkably like some sick reality show. They are not a great team right now, this season, this decade, this generation, and, dare we say it, this ownership by the Dolans of Cablevision fame. Some of us are old enough to remember the communal fretting over what in the world the Knicks were going to do with Walt (Clyde) Frazier and Earl the Pearl in the same backcourt, to say nothing of Dick Barnett, the incumbent shooter. How could you divide three into two and make it work? But it did work because the Knicks were loaded with mature, smart, skilled winners who learned to share the ball and do the dirty work together. Not exactly like these Knicks that Isiah Thomas has assembled before our stunned eyes. It worked out in 1971 because Red Holzman had a grip on a team that included players like Reed, DeBusschere, Bradley, Lucas and Jackson -- no first names needed -- to say nothing of Frazier and Monroe. It was Red's team, and he knew how to tweak it. He had won a championship in the spring of 1970, and he would win another one with Frazier and Monroe starting in the backcourt in 1972-73. That is ancient history, only worth resurrecting when somebody tries the same experiment in these modern times. "Nobody thought Earl would fit in," said Larry Brown, who gets to coach this Fantasy Island experiment. Pat Riley, making his return to the Garden in his second term as the Heat's coach, seemed bemused by the Knicks' willingness to acquire Francis, saying it indicated "a lot of deep pockets here, I guess." He also labeled Francis "a gift for the Knicks." You know what they say about gift horses. The Knicks are willing to absorb Francis's contract (and ego and assorted issues with other teams) because they are desperate, just dying in public. They gave up Trevor Ariza, who rarely played, and Penny Hardaway, who almost never suited up. Must be nice to be really rich. Anybody who subscribes to Cablevision can be delighted that the proceeds are going to subsidize frolics like this. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with a lot of talent, even when the rules permit only one basketball in action at any given time. That was the big worry when Monroe stutter-stepped his way to the Garden. But those people knew how to evade the defense, find the open man, make the simple shot -- odd little skills not currently in fashion. Other great teams have had plenty of talent in the backcourt, as Brown recalled last night, referring to the three-man tandem of Joe Dumars, Vinny Johnson and, yes, that Isiah Thomas of the Detroit Pistons. "They took the pressure off each other," Brown said. These Knicks do not have that championship look. Francis said the politic things last night, including: "I'm just a ballplayer, man. It doesn't matter who brings the ball up." But it does matter who runs the plays, who passes the ball, and who shoots. The Knicks have been remarkably unfocused this year, as Brown has seemed unable to pick a nucleus from the mismatched or overlapping players Thomas assembled. Nothing has worked, particularly while Marbury has been out with a sore shoulder during the recent losing streak. Thomas stressed Francis's career average of six rebounds a game, suggesting that the two guards could coexist doing different chores. "Am I the person who can put it together?" Francis asked last night. "I hope." These two activist guards could be a short-term experiment, anyway. Even Thomas and Brown are symptoms of an ownership grasping at straws. Everybody is just passing through the Garden, like tourists, only instead of paying a few bucks for a glimpse of the World's Most Famous Arena, all these visitors are paid, and paid handsomely. If Francis and Marbury don't work out, other players will come along. Just like Frazier and Monroe. Kind of. Sports of The Times E-mail: geovec@nytimes.com

BASKETBALL
NEW YORK KNICKS
NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS
FRANCIS STEVE
SPORTS OF THE TIMES (TIMES COLUMN)
TRADES (SPORTS)


Lindsey Horan Could Miss Women’s World Cup While She Chases Dream

Abstract: ST.-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, France — There is an American soccer star living in this charming city just outside Paris, a striker from Colorado who rejected a college scholarship offer, moved to Europe to join a top professional team and immediately began scoring goals in bunches. It is, in many ways, exactly the path that Jurgen Klinsmann, the United States men’s national team coach, believes will raise the level of the American game. But for this American, Lindsey Horan, it is not so simple. Klinsmann is concerned with the paths of male players. The track to the national team for female players is, at the moment, significantly different. In 2012, Horan, then 18, turned down a scholarship offer from the University of North Carolina in favor of a life that boys that age can still only fantasize about: She turned pro, joined Paris St.-Germain, grabbed a regular starting spot and played in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Horan has done so well that she just signed another two-year contract with P.S.G., ensuring that she will continue to live her dream but also that she will remain in Paris while the United States national team tries to qualify for next summer’s Women’s World Cup. If she were a man, this arrangement would be unquestionably a good thing; as a woman on a quest to make an impact internationally, however, Horan may actually be hindered because she plays in Paris instead of, say, Portland. If that seems strange, consider that of the 20 players on the United States roster for the 2015 World Cup regional qualifying tournament that began Wednesday, all 20 played or are playing college soccer, and none currently play abroad. A few, like Megan Rapinoe, have played in Europe, but generally only after at least establishing themselves in the United States. Horan, 20, would not be a lock to make the World Cup team even if she were living in the United States — not while the team still has scorers like Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux — but Jill Ellis, the coach of the women’s national team, acknowledged in a recent interview that an on-the-cusp player like Horan would probably be at a disadvantage if she played abroad because of the nature of the women’s national team. Unlike the men’s team, which gathers sporadically throughout the year during mandated international breaks from club soccer, the women’s team is closer to a full-time operation. Because the season of the fledgling National Women’s Soccer League is already over (and the next one will not begin until the spring), U.S. Soccer is doing its best to get the women’s team together as frequently as possible between now and the World Cup. After this month’s qualifying tournament, the team will travel to a tournament in Brazil . It is expected to tour Europe early next year. Playing in France, where the season runs from September to May, means that Horan, who has scored six goals in five games for P.S.G. this season, is not necessarily available if her country calls. Image Horan's quest to make an impact internationally might be hindered by the fact that she plays in Paris instead of in the United States. Credit Eric Bouvet for The New York Times In the current structure, that matters. And it is why Ellis, while not hesitating to praise Horan’s skill and passion and obvious prowess in front of the goal, said that when another potential national team player recently approached her for her thoughts on playing in Europe during the run-up to the World Cup, Ellis discouraged it. “The amount of time that we’re going to be together in prep for this World Cup is significant,” Ellis said, recalling what she told the player. “I said to her: ‘Look, we’re preparing for the biggest tournament, and I’m going to need you all the time. I’m going to need to see you.’ ” Ellis also said Horan’s new contract with P.S.G. would affect her beyond this World Cup cycle. “I’ll be honest: She re-signed with P.S.G., and we hadn’t had a conversation about it,” Ellis said. “Timing was a bit of an issue.” Ellis added that while the N.W.S.L. was still developing, she felt its level of play might be more consistent than that in France. P.S.G. is among the top teams in the French league, and it faces difficult opponents in the Champions League, but there is a noticeable drop-off from the best teams in Europe to those that struggle. That is why clubs like P.S.G. and Lyon, where Rapinoe used to play, generally have a slew of blowout victories on their schedules every season. All those factors together, Ellis said, leave Horan in a delicate situation. “Would being here and being able to come in to all our events help her?” Ellis said. “Yes. Will it be challenging this way? Yes.” Horan knows that she chose to break from the norm but remains hopeful that her play will allow her to stand out. Yael Averbuch, an occasional national team player who went to North Carolina and has played in the United States professional leagues as well as leagues abroad, said she respected Horan’s decision to try a different way. “Maybe Europe is the best place for a player to develop in the long run, which is true for certain players and not others,” Averbuch, who is playing for a club in Cyprus, said in an email. “And for a player who is not a veteran of the U.S.W.N.T., that can mean taking yourself off the radar a bit.” Regardless of the ramifications, playing abroad was what Horan always wanted; she raised the issue with her parents when she was as young as 10, and in 2011 she performed so well in a tryout with Lyon that the club offered her a contract on the spot. “It was really tempting because it was everything I wanted, but we decided that it would be better if I finished high school,” Horan said. A year later, Lyon told her it did not have space on its roster for another foreign player. Instead, she connected with P.S.G., which, having only watched video of her play, offered her a contract said to be worth at least six figures. Image Horan's contract extension ensures that she will remain in Paris while the United States national team prepares for next summer’s Women’s World Cup. Credit Eric Bouvet for The New York Times Horan and her family knew the stakes of accepting the offer: It would mean walking away from a college scholarship and also mean turning down a chance to play for the United States in that year’s under-20 World Cup because P.S.G. wanted Horan to have surgery to repair a knee injury. “People still ask me, How could you let your daughter do that?” Horan’s mother, Linda, said in a telephone interview. “I still get that question now. And for 99 percent of kids, I would agree with that way of thinking. But Lindsey would not have been happy sitting in a classroom. She is living her dream. Ever since she was 5, she’s been saying she wanted to be a professional soccer player. Now, she is.” The transition to living on her own abroad was not always smooth, and Lindsey Horan’s emotions were tested: The under-20 national team won the World Cup without her, and North Carolina won the national championship . “It was hard not to have second thoughts,” Horan said. “It was like all the things I was missing were amazing.” Soon, though, things got easier. Her French began to improve. She made friends on the team and scored 17 goals in her first season. By her second year, Horan was more settled. Another American, Tobin Heath, joined P.S.G. for the season, and she and Horan were roommates. When it came time for Horan to return to France after a vacation in Colorado this summer, “it was like I was really excited to get back, not just for the soccer,” she said. “This is where I wanted to be.” She felt that way even though Heath was gone, having returned to play in the N.W.S.L. with others eager to be on the radar of Ellis. Horan said she recognized that the current setup made it difficult for the best female Americans to play abroad and for the national team, but she nonetheless hopes that there might be a day when other players consider following her lead. “The way things are with women’s soccer, it’s not like I expect tons of women to do what I did,” Horan said. “But I do think that, for some people, a different path can absolutely be the right one.”

Lindsey Horan
Soccer
Women and Girls
United States Soccer Federation
Paris St-Germain FC Soccer Team
FIFA Women's World Cup


Bode Miller Crashes in Return, Putting His Career in Doubt

Abstract: BEAVER CREEK, Colo. — Hurtling down the super-G course at the Alpine world ski championships at 60 miles an hour on Thursday, Bode Miller was putting down the kind of daring, electric run for which he was famous. Then came a terrifying crash that severed his right hamstring tendon and most likely ended his brilliant career. Miller, 37, a six-time Olympic medalist, was taken to Vail Valley Medical Center and had surgery on the tendon. By late afternoon, Miller was out of surgery and tweeted: “Out of a successful surgery for a severed hamstring tendon. Feeling lucky since things could have been way worse.” The recovery time for such an injury is usually a couple of months, according to the United States Ski Association spokesman Tom Kelly, and with Miller’s possible retirement looming over his world championship bid, Thursday’s run was probably his last on the World Cup circuit. The crash came during a difficult race that was won by Hannes Reichelt of Austria with a time of 1 minute 15.68 seconds. Dustin Cook, a Canadian who has never finished in the top three of a World Cup event, was the runner-up, and Adrien Theaux of France finished third, 0.24 of a second behind Reichelt. Miller’s teammate Ted Ligety placed ninth, the top finish by an American. Miller, who until Thursday had not competed this season because of an injured back, was in signature form, making an aggressive run that gave him an early lead on the treacherous Birds of Prey super-G. Three-fourths of the way down the course, in a section called the Abyss, Miller hooked his arm on a gate, spinning him around in the air and causing him to crash on his neck and back. Image Hannes Reichelt of Austria during his super-G run at the world championships. Reichelt won the event in 1 minute 15.68 seconds. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times As he somersaulted and slid for about 400 feet, his skis came off, and one of them sliced through his suit, causing a deep cut in his right calf. “I know he spun around and tumbled several times,” said Sasha Rearick, coach of the United States ski team’s men’s speed squad. “In that process, his skis came off, and thankfully they did. In order to get a gash like that, he must have rolled over or landed on the ski that was tumbling with him.” Rearick, who watched the crash unfold from a slopeside vantage point, added, “I’m certain that’s how it must have occurred.” Rearick also said, “This was a horrific crash — the brutal nature of being twisted around and then tumbling backwards.” Miller skied to the finish line under his own power. At the bottom of the course, he limped to the sideline, where he spoke to his wife and children while a ski patroller wrapped his wound with gauze. He also spoke with a teammate, Travis Ganong. “When I talked to him after the run, he said his whole body was numb, that everything hurt,” Ganong said. “So, it’s going to be tough.” Image Miller after the crash in Vail, Colo. Credit Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Miller was transported to Vail Valley Medical Center, where he underwent surgery. With six Olympic medals, five world championship medals, two World Cup overall titles and 33 World Cup victories, Miller is widely considered the most successful male ski racer in United States history. Beyond his vast trophy collection, what defined Miller’s skiing was his high-risk, high-reward style that often produced spectacular results. Two years ago, he married the professional volleyball player Morgan Beck, and the couple are expecting a child on May 24. Miller has two children from previous relationships and has embraced fatherhood. Perhaps that was why, in recent months, he had begun to reconsider the consequences of his high-stakes approach and whether he was willing to keep risking it all. “After seeing Kitzbühel and seeing the Streif movie, my family, they’re all more hesitant to encourage me to race because there is real danger,” Miller said in reference to a recently released documentary about the Hahnenkamm race that takes place each January in Kitzbühel, Austria, and is widely considered the world’s most dangerous downhill. “I’ve always known about it, it’s always been a part of what I accepted, but for people who aren’t used to it, it can be tough to face that reality.” As recently as last week, Miller’s participation in the world championships was in question because of his back, which he injured in a crash last March. Bode Miller’s Crash Bode Miller had a spectacular crash in the super-G at the Alpine world ski championships on Thursday. Miller said in a recent phone interview that he knew that he risked injury while racing and believed that the closer he was to full health, the greater the likelihood he could reinjure himself. “It’s obviously the sort of thing where the closer you get to being 100 percent healthy, the more danger there is, because you stop protecting it and you stop being real careful, which you need to do to race well,” Miller said. While Thursday’s super-G was Miller’s first race of the season, he was in prime form. “Bode was skiing outstanding,” Rearick said. “He was going for it. Absolutely sending it from top to bottom.” While the weather was clear and sunny Thursday, five inches of snow had fallen overnight. The new snow combined with warm temperatures made for challenging conditions that posed problems for many racers. Sixteen skiers failed to finish the race. “The snow conditions are not ideal,” said Ganong, who skied out. “You really have to readjust your plan and give yourself some extra room and set up a little bit.” Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, a favorite to win the race, was also transported to Vail Valley Medical Center to evaluate his left shoulder after clipping a gate. He was uninjured and will probably race in Saturday’s downhill. Stacey Cook of the United States crashed in a downhill training run, sustained a left arm contusion and sprained her right thumb. After being transported to the medical center, she was cleared to compete in Friday’s downhill.

Bode Miller
Skiing
World Cup Skiing
Alpine skiing


Wendi Murdoch Hires a New Lawyer, Suggesting a Divorce May Turn Messy

Abstract: Just over a month after Rupert Murdoch surprised his wife of 14 years with divorce papers, Wendi Murdoch has switched lawyers, a move signaling that the separation could take an acrimonious turn. Mrs. Murdoch has hired William D. Zabel , a well-known New York trusts and estates lawyer who has represented several women in their divorces from wealthy businessmen, including Jane Beasley Welch during her contentious split from John F. Welch, the former chief executive of General Electric. A spokesman for Mrs. Murdoch, Christopher Giglio, confirmed the hiring of Mr. Zabel, but otherwise declined to comment. Mrs. Murdoch had been represented by Pamela M. Sloan, who advised Mrs. Murdoch on her prenuptial agreement with Mr. Murdoch in 1999, when the couple married in front of 82 guests on board his 155-foot sailing yacht, the Morning Glory. But since then, Ms. Sloan had become friendly with the Murdochs, and Mrs. Murdoch decided that she wanted more independent counsel, said a person with direct knowledge of the case who like many people declined to be identified discussing personal matters. Ms. Sloan did not return a request for comment. Although the Murdochs signed a prenuptial agreement and two postnuptial agreements delineating the separation of assets in the event of a divorce, there are a number of areas that remain up for negotiation, said people with knowledge of the case who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. For one, there are the custody arrangements and child support for their daughters, Grace, 11, and Chloe, 9, these people said. Because they are not binding on the court, custody arrangements and child support are rarely part of prenuptial agreements, and are often used by the less-moneyed spouse as leverage in negotiations. Other issues that could be contended include the division of certain assets, like their Fifth Avenue penthouse and the yacht, on which Mrs. Murdoch, 44, and her daughters are currently vacationing in the Caribbean. There is also the contentious issue surrounding the Murdoch family trust. Mr. Murdoch surprised his wife in 2006 when he announced during a television interview with Charlie Rose that Grace and Chloe would have the same economic interest in the family’s trust but not the same voting rights as his four children from his previous two marriages. The slip almost created a separation, and prompted Mrs. Murdoch to negotiate more favorable terms for her daughters, according to people close to the couple. Mr. Zabel, an expert in trust law, is expected to examine the soundness of the trust structure. “Even with the most sophisticated couple, unless you have perfect 20/20 foresight often some issues can arise that weren’t taken into consideration and are prime for negotiation,” said Paul M. Talbert, a divorce lawyer at Donohoe Talbert in New York, who is not involved in the Murdoch case. Representing Mr. Murdoch, 82, in the divorce proceeding is Ira E. Garr of the law firm Garr Silpe . But Mr. Murdoch is also relying heavily on the advice of Gerson A. Zweifach, the general counsel of both News Corporation and 21st Century Fox, as the newly separated companies are now known. Mr. Murdoch’s 1998 divorce from his second wife, Anna, cost more than $110 million in cash. A company spokeswoman has said the divorce will have no effect on either company. Shortly after a visit to the couple’s Northern California home in June, Mrs. Murdoch returned to New York to learn that Mr. Murdoch had served her with divorce papers, according to several people close to the couple who would not discuss their private matters for attribution. Mrs. Murdoch, after interviewing about eight different lawyers, including leading members of the matrimonial bar like Robert Stephan Cohen and Peter E. Bronstein, chose Mr. Zabel. Initially, Mrs. Murdoch did not have time to screen potential divorce lawyers and turned to Ms. Sloan, a trusted confidante, by default. The core of Mr. Zabel’s practice at the law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel is advising wealthy clients like George Soros and the Lehman family, drafting their wills and trusts and advising on estate planning. But he also handles messier matters for his clients; in 2010, for instance, he represented the estate of his longtime client, the Palm Beach philanthropist and investor Jeffry M. Picower, in a $7.2 billion settlement with the federal government over claims related to money that he received from Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. There is also the occasional divorce assignment. Much of the time, Mr. Zabel will play the role of mediator, and has peaceably settled the divorces of the late author Michael Crichton, the radio host Howard Stern and the New York Jets owner Robert Wood Johnson IV. But at times, he has been involved in nasty marital spats, like that of Ms. Welch, whose marriage collapsed after she discovered her husband’s dalliance with the journalist Suzy Wetlaufer. The divorce was fiercely litigated and settled on the courthouse steps in 2002 only after Mr. Welch agreed to pay Ms. Welch several hundred million dollars. More recently, he represented Christina Lurie, the former wife of the Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who divorced after 20 years of marriage. Ms. Lurie remained a part owner of the team. Because he keeps divorce representations to a minimum, Mr. Zabel often refers cases to his former wife, Eleanor B. Alter, herself a prominent matrimonial lawyer in New York.

Wendi Murdoch
Divorce
Rupert Murdoch
William D Zabel
Child Custody and Child Support


New York City Officer Is Charged In Gun Theft

Abstract: A New York City police officer addicted to prescription painkillers stole four loaded pistols from the lockers of his fellow officers at a Lower Manhattan precinct station house and used them — and a fifth gun he owned — to pay a drug debt to a Queens drug and gun dealer, prosecutors said on Friday. The officer, Nicholas Mina, 31, was arrested on Thursday and was charged with conspiracy, criminal sale and possession of a firearm, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal sale of a controlled substance. Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Officer Mina, who had been on the force for four and a half years and was assigned to the Ninth Precinct in the East Village, broke into the lockers of four colleagues in February and April and pilfered the police-issued weapons and a bullet-resistant vest. Officer Mina was also charged with buying and selling methadone, according to an indictment. During an arraignment in Manhattan, Christopher Prevost, an assistant district attorney, said, “It shocks the conscience” that undercover investigators “had to put their lives in danger to stop another police officer from putting guns out onto the street.” Along with Officer Mina, the authorities arrested Ivan Chavez, 24, who is accused of being a drug and weapons dealer and who, prosecutors said, regularly supplied oxycodone and other drugs to Officer Mina, to feed his habit. Mr. Chavez was charged with conspiracy, unlawfully possessing and selling firearms and sale of a controlled substance. Prosecutors also charged Marcos Echevarria, 22, of Brooklyn, with conspiracy and possessing and selling weapons; Meryl Lebowitz, 64, of Queens, with possession and sale of weapons and sale of a controlled substance; and Jennifer Sultan, 38, who lives in Manhattan, with conspiracy. A sixth defendant, who has not been named by prosecutors, is still being sought. With the exception of Ms. Sultan, whose bail was set at $45,000 cash or $150,000 bond, the defendants were held without bail after appearing before Justice Edward J. McLaughlin of State Supreme Court in Manhattan. Officer Mina’s lawyer, David Fisher, told Justice McLaughlin that his client had no previous criminal history and asked that he be released on bail. But the judge said, “I don’t believe there is any bail that would assure this person’s appearance in this courtroom ever.” Mr. Prevost said that as undercover detectives from the Police Department’s firearms investigation unit were buying stolen weapons, they realized that some pistols were loaded with police-issued ammunition. That ultimately led investigators to Officer Mina, who, prosecutors said, had been buying oxycodone and other narcotics from Mr. Chavez. Mr. Prevost told Justice McLaughlin that Mr. Chavez “sat really in the middle of the conspiracy” to traffic weapons and had sold 10 firearms over the past few months, including the five provided by Officer Mina. When officers executed a search warrant at his home on Thursday, he said, they found a TEC-9 machine pistol and a sawed-off shotgun which had been offered for sale. Mr. Prevost said that investigators seized thousands of pills, blank prescription pads and a large quantity of heroin from Mr. Chavez’s home. Also in the home, he said, was $61,000 in counterfeit bills, more than 30 identification cards and credit cards with different names, and tools that Mr. Prevost said were used to deface serial numbers on weapons. Officer Mina, whose arrest was reported by The New York Post on Friday, has been suspended without pay.

Police
Firearms
Drug Abuse and Traffic
Robberies and Thefts
Crime and Criminals
Police Department (NYC)
Manhattan (NYC)
Queens (NYC)
Police Brutality and Misconduct
Mina Nicholas


California Blacks Divide Over Proposition 19

Abstract: SACRAMENTO — Ron Allen says he knows all too well the ravages of drug addiction . “I was a pastor on crack cocaine, sir,” said Mr. Allen, who says he has been sober for 11 years and now identifies himself as the bishop of the International Faith Based Coalition here. “Drugs have no religious preference.” And while crack cocaine laid him low, Mr. Allen says his first drug of choice was marijuana . So it is that Mr. Allen and a cadre of other black pastors, priests and other religious leaders have bonded together in recent weeks to fight what they see as a potentially devastating blow to their communities: Proposition 19 , the California ballot measure that would tax and regulate marijuana. In doing so, Mr. Allen and his followers have opened a new, potentially crucial front in the battle over Proposition 19, pitting those afraid of more widespread use of the drug versus those who see legalization as “an exit strategy in the war on marijuana.” Mr. Allen has been particularly critical of Alice A. Huffman, the president of the California branch of the N.A.A.C.P. , who has been vocal in her support for the measure, casting it as a potential victory for civil rights that could help reduce the number of young black men jailed on marijuana-related offenses. “I’m not encouraging anyone to recreationally use marijuana,” said Ms. Huffman. “I am simply focused on the injustice and the disparities in the criminal justice system.” How black voters in California decide on Proposition 19, which would allow anyone 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, could be critical to its success or failure. (At the moment, possession of more than 28.5 grams of marijuana, about an ounce, is punishable in most cases by up to six months in prison and a $500 fine.) Blacks make up less than 10 percent of the population in California, but unlike two larger minority groups in the state where opinions on the measure are also split — Asians and Latinos — their “participation in elections is on par with their populations,” according to the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit group here. In the case of Proposition 19 — which is trailing narrowly in a recent Field Poll — appeals to that potential swing bloc have already begun, and the measure’s backers have been seeking out the support of prominent black leaders. Last week, proponents secured what they view as a major endorsement, that of Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the former United States surgeon general and the first black to hold that position. In a statement to be published in a voter guide, Dr. Elders said the legalization bill would help divert law enforcement resources to more serious threats. “We can let police prevent violent crime, or we can accept the status quo, and keep wasting resources sending tens of thousands of nonviolent marijuana consumers — a disproportionate number who are minorities — to jail,” Dr. Elders wrote. Kamala D. Harris, the San Francisco district attorney, who is black, joined the opposition last week. Ms. Harris, who is running for state attorney general, issued a statement saying that the proposition would encourage “driving while high” and drugs in the workplace. Enforcement of marijuana possession laws is a touchy topic among many blacks here and nationwide. This month, the Drug Policy Alliance — a New York group that is supporting Proposition 19 — released a study showing that blacks were arrested for possession at far higher rates than whites in California’s 25 largest counties, often two or three times higher. In those 25 counties, blacks make up 7 percent of the population but accounted for 20 percent of the marijuana possession arrests; in Los Angeles County, which accounts for about a quarter of the state’s population, blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at three times the rate of whites. At the moment, 1,515 people are in California prisons on marijuana charges, 750 of them black, state corrections officials say. The study’s author, Harry G. Levine, a professor of sociology at Queens College who has discovered similar trends in marijuana arrests in New York City , said that the impact of those arrests could be profound. “A criminal record lasts a lifetime,” Mr. Levine wrote. “The explosive growth of criminal record databases, and the ease with which those databases can be accessed on the Internet, creates barriers to employment, housing and education for anyone simply arrested for drug possession.” Rob MacCoun, a professor of law and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley , who has studied marijuana use in America, said there was little doubt that blacks — particularly black men — bore the brunt of arrests for marijuana. “The arrest statistics are disproportionate with respect to African-Americans and disproportionate with respect to use,” said Mr. MacCoun. “And that’s very hard to justify in any way.” And while Mr. MacCoun said he was not certain that a ballot measure was the way to address that inequity, he said the positioning of Proposition 19 as a civil rights issue could be a potent selling point. “I don’t think it’s decisive for all voters,” Mr. MacCoun said. “But I think it’s an important argument, and I think it’s going to carry weight with some people.” Mr. MacCoun was one of several authors of a report issued this month by the RAND Corporation that found that legalization could double the use of the drug in California — of the 15 million Americans who regularly use marijuana, the study found, about 1.9 million of them, or 13 percent, are in California — and slash the price by up to 80 percent. Opponents of Proposition 19 seized on the report as evidence of the potential damage of legalization. They were also cheered by the Field Poll, taken on July 9, which showed that support for the measure had dropped to 44 percent, with 48 percent disapproving, equal to national levels of support for legalization. The poll found only 40 percent of black voters backing the proposition with 52 percent opposed. But white people are supporting the measure, 48 to 43 percent. Mr. MacCoun cautioned that polls could be deceptive on the issue, because of the longtime stigma surrounding drug use. “If you get called on the phone, people may be uncomfortable saying that they support a marijuana initiative,” he said. “But for years, I’ve had people come up to me — grown-ups in corporate America — and say to me, sotto voce, ‘If it were up to me, I’d legalize it.’ “ On the ground, meanwhile, Mr. Allen and his followers have continued to campaign against the referendum. At a recent rally on the steps of the state capitol here, several pastors used fiery language to rally a small crowd, calling for Ms. Huffman’s resignation, describing marijuana as “the most sinister drug,” and asking that “the demonic spirits be cast back into hell.” “How stupid to think that by legalizing a vice it’s going to help the situation,” said Darryl B. Heath, pastor of St. John Baptist Missionary Baptist Church in Sacramento . “This is not a game. A whole generation is at stake.” For her part, Ms. Huffman shows no signs of backing off her support for the proposition, saying her critics “have got their heads in the sand” when it comes to the reality of drug use, and enforcement, in America. She also scoffed at the notion that she would bend to their calls for her resignation. “Why in the world would I allow a bunch of locals who don’t amount to anything run me out of office?” she said. “When they come up with a solution, they can look me up.”

California
Marijuana,Pot,Weed
Blacks,African-Americans
Drug Abuse
Legislation


Air of Confidence for Favorite; Industry Holds Breath

Abstract: BALTIMORE — Rick Dutrow is relaxed and focused. Big Brown , the colt he trains, is the 1-2 favorite to win the Preakness Stakes , and looks miles — not lengths — better than the 11 other horses lining up against him. “It’s all good” has been Dutrow’s mantra here and throughout Big Brown’s Triple Crown campaign. “I think that it’s our race to lose,” he said. “I think that he is the best horse in the race, and I think if he breaks with the field, he’ll win the race.” The rest of the horse racing industry, however, is on edge about the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown. As much as those in the industry would like to see Big Brown win and pull into Belmont Park with the chance to become the 12th Triple Crown champion in history, and the first since Affirmed in 1978, it is far more important that all the horses that compete Saturday at Pimlico Race Course come through the races safely. It was here, after all, that the Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro sustained a catastrophic injury in the opening strides of the 2006 Preakness, which ultimately led to his death nearly nine months later. Two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, the filly Eight Belles had to be euthanized on the racetrack after breaking her front ankles moments after finishing second to Big Brown in the Derby. “It has been a tough two weeks, and this tragic accident has affected the industry deeply,” said Alex Waldrop, the president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. “We, as an industry, cannot sweep the Eight Belles accident under the rug. We have to take a serious look at all our health and safety policies, and we are doing that and trying to develop plans that further assure the public that we’re doing everything we can to keep our horses safe.” Eight Belles’s death, indeed, has dominated the national news and prompted discussion about the fragile state of the modern thoroughbred and whether the racing industry is doing everything possible to protect the sport’s most valuable assets: the horses. While the Jockey Club formed the Thoroughbred Safety Committee to review every facet of equine health, including breeding practices, medication, the rules of racing and track surfaces, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has taken aim at the sport and is organizing a protest here for Saturday. “Our core and casual fans all are telling us that they were affected by the tragedy, are upset and want to see changes,” Waldrop said. Reflecting this increased awareness surrounding the safety of the sport, NBC will open its telecast at 4:30 p.m. with a half-hour round table featuring Waldrop, Larry Jones (Eight Belles’s trainer) and others to discuss what the sport has done to ensure safety, and what can be done better. “It’s the right story to tell,” the NBC producer Sam Flood said. “It is what people are thinking and talking about.” What-if scenarios, especially about injuries to horses, have always been prominently discussed in NBC’s production meeting, but Flood says his team will be extremely vigilant Saturday afternoon. “Even if a horse slows and just trots home, we’re going to find out what’s wrong with that horse,” Flood said. “In a normal scenario, that would be a nonstory.” There is still, however, a race to be run, a big one with 12 horses — down one after the Lexington Stakes winner Behindatthebar was scratched from the Preakness on Friday morning after coming up with a foot bruise. As formidable as Big Brown has looked in winning all four of his starts and running away from a full field of 20 at Churchill Downs, trainers here are eager to measure their horses against the Derby winner. Not all of them are convinced, of course, that Big Brown is invincible. “We’re not running for second money, we’re running for first money,” said Beau Greely, who will saddle Tres Borrachos. “Whether it happens or not, who knows? Obviously, if they’ve got that much of a favorite, everyone’s going to think they’re running for second money, but these are all 3-year-olds, so we’ll see what happens.” Ken McPeek, the trainer of Racecar Rhapsody, knows better than most how good fortune can visit the racetrack. In 2002, he saddled Sarava in the Belmont Stakes against War Emblem, who dominated the Derby and the Preakness and was favored to win the Triple Crown. When War Emblem stumbled out of the gate, Sarava had clear sailing and won the race at odds of 70-1. “David would have never slayed Goliath if he had put his slingshot away,” McPeek said. “We’ve got to do something. You can’t have any fear in this game. Weird things happen all the time. Horses stumble, or the race doesn’t set up for him, or the rider makes an early move that was too soon, and the next thing you know, you’ve got a double-digit or triple-digit price on the board. You can’t have any fear.” There will be fear aplenty, however, for horse enthusiasts until every horse in the field comes home safely. Notes Going off at odds of 7-1, the 6-year-old colt Student Council went five wide on the final turn and surged past Gottcha Gold down the stretch for a surprise victory in the Grade I Pimlico Special. Also, the filly Sweet Vendetta closed strongly to win the Grade II Black-Eyed Susan Stakes by 1 ½ lengths over Shes All Eltish. (AP)

Preakness Stakes
Horses
Horse Racing
Big Brown (Race Horse)