Events in Westchester for Nov. 2-8, 2014

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in the Hudson Valley. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to westweek@nytimes.com. Comedy PELHAM Rockwells Andy Hendrickson and Sean Donnelly. Nov. 8 at 9 p.m. $10. Rockwells, 105 Wolfs Lane. 914-738-5881; rockwellsusa.net. WEST NYACK Levity Live Rick Gutierrez. Through Nov. 2. $17 and $20. Joe Matarese. Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. $15. Shawn and Marlon Wayans, sketch comedy. Nov. 7 through 9. $40 to $50. Levity Live, 4210 Palisades Center Drive. 845-353-5400; levitylive.com. Film BRONX Bronx Museum of the Arts “My Old Neighborhood Remembered: A Memoir,” screening and discussion with the novelist Avery Corman. Nov. 8, noon to 1:30 p.m. $10; members, free. Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse. bronxmuseum.org; 718-681-6000. HUDSON Time & Space Limited “National Theater Live: ‘Of Mice and Men,’ ” screening of the Broadway production featuring James Franco and Chris O’Dowd. Nov. 6 and 8 at 7 p.m. $15 and $22. Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street. timeandspace.org; 518-822-8448. NYACK The Rivertown Film Society “The New Black,” documentary by Yoruba Richen. Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. $8 to $11. The Rivertown Film Society, 58 Depew Avenue. 845-353-2568; rivertownfilm.org. PLEASANTVILLE Jacob Burns Film Center “Global Watch: Crisis, Culture, and Human Rights,” series. Nov. 6 through 26. $7.50 to $15 per screening. Jacob Burns Film Center, 364 Manville Road. 914-747-5555; burnsfilmcenter.org. ROSENDALE Rosendale Theater “My Old Lady,” directed by Israel Horovitz. Through Nov. 6. $5 and $7. “Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity,” documentary by Catherine Gund. Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. $6 to $10. Rosendale Theater, 408 Main Street. rosendaletheatre.org; 845-658-8989. For Children BETHEL Bethel Woods Center for the Arts Christopher Agostino’s “StoryFaces,” face painting and storytelling. Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Free. Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. bethelwoodscenter.org; 866-781-2922. BRONX Wave Hill “Family Art Project: Buildings and Land,” craft activities. Nov. 8 and 9, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Free with admission to the grounds. $2 to $8; members and children under 6, free. Admission is free until noon on Saturdays. Wave Hill, 675 West 252nd Street. 718-549-3200; wavehill.org. CROTON-ON-HUDSON Van Cortlandt Manor “The Great Jack-o’-Lantern Blaze,” more than 5,000 jack-o’-lanterns in various shapes and patterns. Through Nov. 16. $16 to $25; members and children under 3, free. Van Cortlandt Manor, 525 South Riverside Avenue. 914-366-6900; hudsonvalley.org. OSSINING Teatown Lake Reservation “Nuts About Squirrels,” outdoor and educational activities. Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. $7; members, free. Teatown Lake Reservation, 1600 Spring Valley Road. teatown.org; 914-762-2912. PLEASANTVILLE Richard G. Rosenthal Jewish Community Center “Smelly Feet,” musical by Dean Friedman. Nov. 8 and 12 at 2 and 4 p.m. $10. Richard G. Rosenthal Jewish Community Center, 600 Bear Ridge Road. 914-879-0310. PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College “Family Second Saturdays: Portraiture,” storytelling and art activities. Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. Free. Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. 914-251-6100; neuberger.org. VALHALLA Academic Arts Theater “The Toy Box,” Salzburg Marionette Theater. Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. $16 to $22. Academic Arts Theater, 75 Grasslands Road. 914-606-6262; sunywcc.edu/smartarts. WEST NYACK Levity Live Mark Calabrese, comedy and magic. Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. $14. Levity Live, 4210 Palisades Center Drive. 845-353-5400; levitylive.com. YONKERS Hudson River Museum “Little Pea,” musical. Nov. 9, 16 and 23 at 1 and 3 p.m. Free with museum admission. $3 to $6; members, free. Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue. 914-963-4550; hrm.org. Music and Dance BEACON Howland Cultural Center Trio Cavatina, classical. Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. $10 and $30. Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main Street. 845-297-9243; howlandmusic.org. BEACON Towne Crier Cafe Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, blues and rock. Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. $25 and $30. Joanna Mosca, country. Nov. 7 at 8:30 p.m. $25 and $30. Suzanne Vega, folk and pop. Nov. 8 at 8:30 p.m. $50 and $55. Melissa Ferrick, alternative country. Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $25. Towne Crier Cafe, 379 Main Street. 845-855-1300; townecrier.com. BRONX Bronx Museum of the Arts Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concerts: Manuel Valera’s Cuban Express, with Sofia Rei. Nov. 7, 6 to 10 p.m. Donations accepted. Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse. bronxmuseum.org; 718-681-6000. BRONX Lehman College Music Building Recital Hall Mimi, Sakiko and Harumi Furuya, piano trio. Nov. 6 at 12:30 p.m. $25 to $40. Lehman College Music Building Recital Hall, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West. 914-200-3622; furuyasisters.com. CHAPPAQUA Chappaqua Library Auditorium Eric Drucker and Friends, classical. Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. Free. Chappaqua Library Auditorium, 195 South Greeley Avenue. 914-238-4779; chappaqualibrary.org. HARTSDALE Frank and Camille’s West Mimi, Sakiko and Harumi Furuya, piano trio. Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. $35 and $40. Frank and Camille’s West, 112 South Central Avenue. 914-200-3622; furuyasisters.com. Image NEW PALTZ “Don’t Throw Pearls to Swine” (2014), oil painting by Carolyn H. Edlund, is in “A Different Point of View,” an exhibition of works by Vince Natale and Ms. Edlund, through Nov. 22 at the Mark Gruber Gallery, 17 New Paltz Plaza. For further information: 845-255-1241 or markgrubergallery.com . Credit Al Nowak KATONAH Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Edward Arron and Friends, classical. Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. $15 to $55. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road. 914-232-1252; caramoor.org. MAMARONECK Emelin Theater “And the Tony Award Goes to ...” Martin Charnin, Shelly Burch and John Treacy Egan. Nov. 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. Emelin Theater, 153 Library Lane. emelin.org; 914-698-0098. MARLBORO The Falcon Jack Grace Band, country. Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Maria Muldaur, pop. Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. Lindsey Webster, R & B. Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. Doug Weiss, jazz. Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. James Maddock, blues and rock. Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. The Paul Green Rock Academy. Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. Cory Henry, R & B. Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. Bernstein Bard Quartet, swing. Nov. 9, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Donations accepted. The Falcon, 1348 Route 9W. 845-236-7970; liveatthefalcon.com. NEW ROCHELLE Christopher J. Murphy Auditorium, Iona College The Symphony of Westchester All-Beethoven Concert. Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. $15 to $50. Christopher J. Murphy Auditorium, Iona College, 715 North Avenue. 914-654-4926; thesymphonyofwestchester.org. PEEKSKILL 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar JP Patrick and Friends, R & B. Nov. 6 at 8:30 p.m. No cover. SugarBad, funk and soul. Nov. 7 at 9:30 p.m. $5. The Dave Fields Band, blues. Nov. 8 at 9:30 p.m. $5 and $10. Greg Westhoff’s Westchester Swing Band, jazz. Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m. $5. 12 Grapes Music and Wine Bar, 12 North Division Street. 914-737-6624; 12grapes.com. PEEKSKILL Bean Runner Cafe The Five Creations, a cappella. Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. $10. Los Mas Valientes, salsa. Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. $10. Valerie Capers Quartet, jazz. Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. $15. Bean Runner Cafe, 201 South Division Street. 914-737-1701; beanrunnercafe.com. PEEKSKILL Paramount Hudson Valley Todd Rundgren, rock. Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. $59.50 and $79.50. Paramount Hudson Valley, 1008 Brown Street. paramounthudsonvalley.com; 914-739-0039. PIERMONT Pier 701 Restaurant and Bar “My Way: A Tribute to the Songs of Frank Sinatra,” Scott Coulter. Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. $95 for dinner and show. Pier 701 Restaurant and Bar, 701 Piermont Avenue. 845-848-2550; pier701ny.com. PIERMONT The Turning Point Doc Richmond’s Jazz Jam. Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. $5. Peppino D’Agostino, guitar. Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. $20. John Primer Band, blues. Nov. 7 at 9 p.m. $20. Shemekia Copeland Band, blues. Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. $47.50. Sarah Bonsignore, pop and jazz. Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. $15. The Turning Point, 468 Piermont Avenue. turningpointcafe.com; 845-359-1089. PORT CHESTER The Capitol Theater Phil Lesh and Friends, jam band. Oct. 31, Nov. 1, 7, 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. $59.50 to $179.50. The String Cheese Incident, progressive bluegrass. Nov. 11 and 12 at 8 p.m. $49.50 and $75. The Capitol Theater, 149 Westchester Avenue. 914-937-4126; thecapitoltheatre.com. POUGHKEEPSIE Bardavon Opera House “Lincoln’s New World,” Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Jay Ungar, Molly Mason and narration by David Strathairn. Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. $20 to $54. Bardavon Opera House, 35 Market Street. 845-473-2072; bardavon.org. PURCHASE The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College Suzanne Vega, folk and pop. Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. $27.50 to $52.50. The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. 914-251-6200; artscenter.org. SAUGERTIES Saugerties Pro Musica, Saugerties United Methodist Church Gabriel Baeza, violin. Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. $10 and $12; students, free. Saugerties Pro Musica, Saugerties United Methodist Church, Washington Avenue and Post Street. 845-246-5021; saugertiespromusica.org. TARRYTOWN Tarrytown Music Hall Justin Hayward, pop and rock. Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. $38 to $90. David Bromberg Big Band, blues and jazz. Nov. 7 at 8 p.m. $39 to $65. The Machine, Pink Floyd tribute band. Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. $30 to $48. “The Garden of Hope,” the Westchester Symphonic Winds. Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. $15 and $20. Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main Street. tarrytownmusichall.org; 877-840-0457. WHITE PLAINS Walkabout Clearwater Coffeehouse at Memorial United Methodist Church Garnet Rogers, folk. Sing along at 6:45 p.m. Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. $18 to $23. Walkabout Clearwater Coffeehouse at Memorial United Methodist Church, 250 Bryant Avenue. walkaboutclearwater.org; 914-946-1625. WOODSTOCK Bearsville Theater Patti Rothberg, rock. Nov. 8 at 9 p.m. $10. “Ladies of the Valley,” Simi Stone, Elizabeth Mitchell, Amy Helm, Sarah Fimm, Donna Lewis and others. Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. $35 to $75. Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street. bearsvilletheater.com; 845-679-4406. Outdoors BRONX The New York Botanical Garden Fall Forest Weekends, guided walks, birds of prey demonstrations and more. Nov. 1, 2, 8 and 9, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. $8 to $20; children under 2, free. The New York Botanical Garden, Southern Boulevard. 718-817-8700; nybg.org. BRONX Wave Hill Garden Highlights Walk, guided tour. Sundays at 2 p.m. Fall Foliage Walk. Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. Free with admission to the grounds. $2 to $8; members and children under 6, free. Wave Hill, 675 West 252nd Street. 718-549-3200; wavehill.org. CROTON-ON-HUDSON Brinton Brook Sanctuary Saw Mill River Audubon Second Saturday Walk. Nov. 8 at 9 a.m. Free. Brinton Brook Sanctuary, Route 9A. 914-666-6503; sawmillriveraudubon.org. Spoken Word DOBBS FERRY Dobbs Ferry Public Library “Amazing History of the Bronx,” lecture by Angel Hernandez. Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. Free. Dobbs Ferry Public Library, 55 Main Street. 914-693-6614; dobbsferrylibrary.org. HYDE PARK The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Karen Chase discusses her book “Polio Boulevard: A Memoir.” Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. Free. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, 4079 Albany Post Road. 845-486-7745; fdrlibrary.marist.edu. TUCKAHOE Westchester Italian Cultural Center A discussion with the playwright Mario Fratti. Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. $20 and $25. Westchester Italian Cultural Center, 1 Generoso Pope Place. 914-771-8700; wiccny.org. WHITE PLAINS Purdy House “Images of the Past: Jews and the Civil War,” discussion. Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Purdy House, 60 Park Avenue. 914-949-4679; civilwarny150.org. Image PORT CHESTER “Honest Abe” (2012), ceramics, slips, underglaze, glaze, encaustic and wax by Thaddeus Erdahl, is on view in the group exhibition “Lineage: The Art of Mentorship” through Nov. 15 at the Clay Art Center, 40 Beech Street. For further information: 914-937-2047 or clayartcenter.org . Credit Thaddeaus Eardahl Theater BRONX Riverdale Repertory Company, at Riverdale YM-YWHA “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” musical by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert. Through Nov. 16. $10 to $20. Riverdale Repertory Company, at Riverdale YM-YWHA, 5625 Arlington Avenue. riverdalerisingstars.com; 800-838-3006. CROTON FALLS Schoolhouse Theater “Freud’s Last Session,” drama by Mark St. Germain. Through Nov. 23. $20 to $38. Schoolhouse Theater, 3 Owens Road. 914-277-8477; schoolhousetheater.org. CROTON-ON-HUDSON YCP TheaterWorks, at the Cortlandt School of Performing Arts “Dividing the Estate,” comedy by Horton Foote. Nov. 7 through 16. $18. YCP TheaterWorks, at the Cortlandt School of Performing Arts, 24 Old Albany Post Road. 914-245-2184; ycptw.org. ELMSFORD Westchester Broadway Theater “South Pacific,” musical by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. Through Nov. 30 and Dec. 31 through Jan. 25. $54 to $80 for meal and show. Westchester Broadway Theater, 1 Broadway Plaza. broadwaytheatre.com; 914-592-2222. HYDE PARK Half Moon Theater, at the Culinary Institute of America “The World Goes ’Round,” musical revue. Through Nov. 16. $35 to $45. Half Moon Theater, at the Culinary Institute of America, 1946 Campus Drive. 800-838-3006; halfmoontheatre.org. IRVINGTON Irvington Town Hall Theater “Miss Saigon,” Clocktower Players. Nov. 8 through 16. $20 to $32. Irvington Town Hall Theater, 85 Main Street. irvingtontheater.com; 914-591-6602. KINGSTON Ulster Performing Arts Center “Menopause the Musical,” by Jeanie Linders. Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. $34.50 and $44.50. Ulster Performing Arts Center, 601 Broadway. 845-339-6088; upac.org. PLEASANTVILLE Axial Theater, at St. John’s Episcopal Church Community House “The Seagull,” drama by Anton Chekhov. Nov. 7 through Nov. 23. $20 and $25. Axial Theater, at St. John’s Episcopal Church Community House, 8 Sunnyside Avenue. axialtheatre.org; 914-286-7680. WEST POINT Eisenhower Hall Theater “Anything Goes,” musical by Cole Porter, Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. $40 and $42. Eisenhower Hall Theater, 655 Pitcher Road. ikehall.com; 845-938-4159. Museums and Galleries BEACON Beacon Artist Union “Amalgam,” group show. Through Nov. 2. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Beacon Artist Union, 506 Main Street. 845-440-7584; baugallery.com. BEACON Theo Ganz Studio “Extrication,” abstract paintings by Sunok Chun. Through Nov. 2. “Camino,” photographs by Howard Goodman. Nov. 8 through Dec. 7. Fridays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Theo Ganz Studio, 149 Main Street. 917-318-2239; theoganzstudio.com. BEARSVILLE Galerie BMG “Unlocking Whimsy,” photographs by Leah Macdonald. Through Jan. 4. Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Galerie BMG, 17 Cricket Ridge Road. 845-679-0027; galeriebmg.com. BETHEL Museum at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts “Speak Truth to Power: Human Rights Defenders Who Are Changing Our World,” group show. Through Dec. 31. Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, 200 Hurd Road. 866-781-2922; bethelwoodscenter.org. BRONX Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum “Grandes Dames and Grand Plans: 100 Years of History at Bartow-Pell.” Through Nov. 16. $3 and $5; members and children, free. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, 895 Shore Road. 718-885-1461; bpmm.org. BRONX Bronx Museum of the Arts “Dennis Oppenheim: S-T-A-B-.” Through Nov. 23. “In Print/Imprint: Works From the Permanent Collection.” “Here I Am: Photographs by Lisa Leone.” “Beyond the Supersquare,” group show. “Rethinking the Garden Casita.” Through Jan. 11. Thursdays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse. bronxmuseum.org; 718-681-6000. BRONXVILLE OSilas Gallery “Legacies, Landmarks and Achievements: Celebrating 350 Years — Eastchester, Tuckahoe, Bronxville.” Through Nov. 9. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, noon to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, noon to 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2 to 5 p.m. OSilas Gallery, 171 White Plains Road. 914-395-4520; osilasgallery.org. CATSKILL The Thomas Cole National Historic Site “Master, Mentor, Master: Thomas Cole and Frederic Church.” Through Nov. 2. $9 and $10; children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Thomas Cole National Historic Site, 218 Spring Street. thomascole.org; 518-943-7465. CHAPPAQUA Westorchard School The 46th Annual Chappaqua Antiques Show, jewelry, furniture, memorabilia and more. Nov. 1 and 2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $7 and $8. Westorchard School, 25 Granite Road. 914-238-4666; newcastlehs.org. COLD SPRING Buster Levi Gallery Mixed media paintings by Barbara Smith Gioia. Nov. 7 through 30. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Buster Levi Gallery, 121 Main Street. busterlevigallery.com; 845-809-5810. COLD SPRING Gallery 66NY “It’s Only Natural,” Carla Goldberg and Cynthia McCusker. Through Nov. 2. “Layers Upon Layers,” Anita Jacobson and Rebecca Darlington. Nov. 7 through 30. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Gallery 66NY, 66 Main Street. 845-809-5838; gallery66ny.com. COLD SPRING Open Concept Gallery Manya and Roumen jewelry show. Through Dec. 31. Thursdays through Mondays, noon to 6 p.m. Open Concept Gallery, 125 Main Street. openconceptgallery.com; 845-260-0141. GARRISON Boscobel House and Gardens “The Hudson River Portfolio: A Beginning for the Hudson River School.” Through Nov. 30. $8 to $17; members and children under 6, free. Wednesdays through Mondays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Boscobel House and Gardens, 1601 Route 9D. 845-265-3638; boscobel.org. GARRISON Garrison Art Center Mixed-media prints and drawings by Judy Pfaff. Through Nov. 9. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Garrison Art Center, 23 Garrison’s Landing. 845-424-3960; garrisonartcenter.org. Image ROSENDALE The documentary film “Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb Vs. Gravity,” featuring the dancer Leo Giron, will be shown on Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. at the Rosendale Theater, 408 Main Street. Tickets are $6 to $10. Information: 845-658-8989 or rosendaletheatre.org . Credit Aubin Pictures GARRISON Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center “Palmas,” sound installation by Melissa McGill. Through Nov. 10. Tours, Fridays through Mondays, 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center, 584 Route 9D. russelwrightcenter.org; 845-424-3812. HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON Upstream Gallery “Event Horizon,” Dora Tomulic. Paintings and sculptures by Louise Cadoux. Through Nov. 2. Shirley Glasser and Paul Greco. Nov. 6 through 30. Thursdays through Sundays, 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., and by appointment. Upstream Gallery, 8 Main Street. 914-674-8548; upstreamgallery.com. HUDSON 510 Warren Street Gallery “Kate Knapp: The Manhattan Paintings.” Through Nov. 30. Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. 510 Warren Street Gallery, 510 Warren Street. 510warrenstgallery.com; 518-822-0510. HUDSON Carrie Haddad Gallery Linda Cross, William Clutz, Allyson Levy and Joshua Brehse. Through Nov. 2. “Landscapes and Bodyscapes,” Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Bruce Sargeant and Dan Rupe. Nov. 5 through Dec. 14. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Carrie Haddad Gallery, 622 Warren Street. carriehaddadgallery.com; 518-828-1915. HUDSON John Davis Gallery Judy Glantzman. Through Nov. 2. Theodore Roszak. Nov. 6 through 30. Thursdays through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment. John Davis Gallery, 362 1/2 Warren Street. johndavisgallery.com; 518-828-5907. HUDSON NOBO Gallery “Unframed,” group photography show. Through Nov. 9. Thursdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. NOBO Gallery, 558 Warren Street. 518-671-6777; nobogallery.com. HUDSON Olana “All the Raj: Frederic Church and Lockwood de Forest; Painting, Decorating and Collecting at Olana.” Through Nov. 2. $5 to $12. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Olana, 5720 Route 9G. 518-828-0135; olana.org. HYDE PARK The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum “Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection.” Through Nov. 2. $6 and $9; children under 15, free. Daily, 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, 4079 Albany Post Road. fdrlibrary.marist.edu; 845-486-7745. IRVINGTON Irvington Public Library “Sewn: New Work,” Kit Demirdelen. Through Nov. 29. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Irvington Public Library, 12 South Astor Street. irvingtonlibrary.org; 914-591-7840. KATONAH Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts “In the Garden of Sonic Delights,” sound art. Also presented at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, the Jacob Burns Film Center, Lyndhurst, the Neuberger Museum of Art and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. Through Nov. 2. $10; children, free. Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road. 914-232-5035; caramoor.org. KATONAH Katonah Museum of Art “Lethal Beauty: Samurai Weapons and Armor.” Through Jan. 4. $5 and $10; members and children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Katonah Museum of Art, 134 Jay Street. 914-232-9555; katonahmuseum.org. LARCHMONT Kenise Barnes Fine Art “Kevin Paulsen: A Splendid Vision.” “Best of 2014,” group show. Nov. 8 through Dec. 23. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and by appointment. Kenise Barnes Fine Art, 1947 Palmer Avenue. kenisebarnesfineart.com; 914-834-8077. LARCHMONT Mamaroneck Artists Guild “The Flow of Her Life and Work,” Hilda Green Demsky. Through Nov. 15. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Mamaroneck Artists Guild, 126 Larchmont Avenue. mamaroneckartistsguild.org; 914-834-1117. LIVINGSTON MANOR Catskill Art Society “River and Biota,” group show. Through Nov. 16. Mondays, and Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Catskill Art Society, 48 Main Street. catskillartsociety.org; 845-436-4227. MAMARONECK Koslowe Gallery, Westchester Jewish Center “Go Forth: Ancient Maps of the Holy Land.” Through Dec. 1. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Koslowe Gallery, Westchester Jewish Center, 175 Rockland Avenue. 914-968-2960. MOUNTAINVILLE Storm King Art Center “Zhang Huan: Evoking Tradition.” Through Nov. 9. $8 to $12; members and children under 5, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Storm King Art Center, Old Pleasant Hill Road. 845-534-3115; stormkingartcenter.org. NEW PALTZ Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at the State University of New York at New Paltz “Worlds of Wonder: Hudson Valley Artists 2014,” group show. Through Nov. 9. “Dick Polich: Transforming Metal Into Art.” “Race, Love, and Labor: New Work from the Center for Photography at Woodstock’s Artist-in-Residency Program.” Through Dec. 14. Wednesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, at the State University of New York at New Paltz, 1 Hawk Drive. 845-257-3844; newpaltz.edu/museum. NEW PALTZ The Mark Gruber Gallery “A Different Point of View,” Vince Natale and Carolyn H. Edlund. Through Nov. 22. Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, by appointment. The Mark Gruber Gallery, New Paltz Plaza. 845-255-1241; markgrubergallery.com. NEW PALTZ Unison Arts Center “Rhythm in Color,” John Laurenzi and Herb Rogoff. Through Nov. 30. Weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Unison Arts Center, 68 Mountain Rest Road. unisonarts.org; 845-255-1559. NORTH SALEM Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden “Visions Revealed,” group show. Through Nov. 15. $4 and $5; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m., and by appointment. Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden, 28 Deveau Road. 914-669-5033; hammondmuseum.org. NYACK Edward Hopper House Art Center “Viviane Silvera: On My Way.” Through Nov. 2. “Small Matters of Great Importance: En Route,” group show. Through Jan. 4. “Wendell Minor: Original Illustrations from ‘Edward Hopper Paints His World’ .” Nov. 7 through Jan. 4. $2 to $7; members and children under 16, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., and by appointment. Edward Hopper House Art Center, 82 North Broadway. hopperhouse.org; 845-358-0774. PEEKSKILL Bean Runner Cafe “Who Does She Think She Is,” digitally manipulated photographs by Marcy B. Freedman. Through Dec. 13. Sundays through Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Bean Runner Cafe, 201 South Division Street. beanrunnercafe.com; 914-737-1701. PEEKSKILL Field Library “Larry D’ Amico: Themes and Variations on a River.” Through Dec. 8. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Field Library, 4 Nelson Avenue. 914-737-1212; peekskill.org. Image TARRYTOWN The rock musician Justin Hayward will perform on Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. at the Tarrytown Music Hall, 13 Main Street. Tickets are $38 to $90. For more information: 877-840-0457 or tarrytownmusichall.org . Credit Cory Schwartz/Getty Images PEEKSKILL Flat Iron Gallery “The Right Time and Place,” photographs by Bob Pliskin. Through Nov. 30. Fridays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Flat Iron Gallery, 105 South Division Street. 914-734-1894; flatiron.qpg.com. PEEKSKILL Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art “The Women’s Room: Female Perspectives on Men, Women, Family and Nation,” group show. Through Dec. 7. $2 to $5; members and children under 8, free. Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street. 914-788-0100; hvcca.org. PEEKSKILL Paramount Hudson Valley “Brains, Boobs and Backbones: Women Artists/Women’s Issues,” group show. Through Dec. 31. Tuesdays through Sundays, 1 to 6 p.m. Paramount Hudson Valley, 1008 Brown Street. 914-739-0039; paramounthudsonvalley.com. PELHAM Pelham Art Center “Stuffscapes,” group outdoor exhibition. Daily, 24 hours. Through Dec. 19. Pelham Art Center, 155 Fifth Avenue. pelhamartcenter.org; 914-738-2525. PORT CHESTER Clay Art Center “Lineage: The Art of Mentorship,” group show. Through Nov. 15. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and by appointment. Clay Art Center, 40 Beech Street. clayartcenter.org; 914-937-2047. POUGHKEEPSIE Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center “Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540.” Through Dec. 14. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Vassar College, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, 124 Raymond Avenue. fllac.vassar.edu; 845-437-5632. POUND RIDGE Pound Ridge Public Library “Recent Works,” Pound Ridge Art Guild. Through Nov. 22. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pound Ridge Public Library, 271 Westchester Avenue. poundridgelibrary.org; 914-764-5085. POUND RIDGE The Lionheart Gallery Paintings and works on paper by Claudia Mengel. Through Dec. 14. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. The Lionheart Gallery, 27 Westchester Avenue. 914-764-8689; thelionheartgallery.com. PURCHASE Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College “When Modern Was Contemporary: The Roy R. Neuberger Collection.” Through Dec. 25. “This Leads to Fire: Russian Art From Nonconformism to Global Capitalism, Selections From the Kolodzei Art Foundation Collection.” “Key Frames: Contemporary Artists’ Animation,” group show. Through Jan. 11. “Becoming Disfarmer,” photographs by Mike Disfarmer. Nov. 9 through March 22. $3 to $5. Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Neuberger Museum of Art of Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. 914-251-6100; neuberger.org. PURCHASE The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College Crafts at Purchase, fine crafts show. Nov. 1, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. $5 to $10; children 15 and under, free. The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road. 845-331-7900; artrider.com. RHINEBECK Betsy Jacaruso Studio and Gallery “Harvest of Light,” group show. Through Nov. 30. Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. Betsy Jacaruso Studio and Gallery, 43 East Market Street. betsyjacarusoartist.com; 845-516-4435. RHINEBECK Montgomery Row Second Level “Integrating Shapes and Shadows,” photographs by Yoram Gelman. Through Nov. 23. Daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Montgomery Row Second Level, 6423 Montgomery Street. 845-876-0543; montgomeryrow.com. RYE Rye Arts Center “Irving Harper: A Mid-Century Mind at Play.” Through Nov. 8. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rye Arts Center, 51 Milton Road. 914-967-0700; ryeartscenter.org. SAUGERTIES Cross Contemporary Art “Raw Cuts,” prints by Richard Bosman. Through Nov. 3. Daily, noon to 6 p.m. Cross Contemporary Art, 81 Partition Street. 845-399-9751; crosscontemporaryart.com. SLEEPY HOLLOW Philipsburg Manor Tours of Kykuit, the Rockefeller family estate, including the house, sculptures, gardens and landscape. Through Nov. 9. $23 to $40. Philipsburg Manor, 381 North Broadway. hudsonvalley.org; 914-631-8200. SPARKILL Elizabeth V. Sullivan Gallery “Landscapes, Still Lifes, New Paintings,” Peter Homitzky. Through Nov. 16. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Elizabeth V. Sullivan Gallery, 241 Kings Highway. 845-359-1263; theartstudentsleague.org. TARRYTOWN Canfin Gallery “Meditations on Light,” Ira Barkoff. Through Nov. 2. New works by Jylian Gustlin. Nov. 8 through 30. Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Canfin Gallery, 39 Main Street. canfingallery.com; 914-332-4554. TUCKAHOE Westchester Italian Cultural Center “Art and Perception,” group show. Through Nov. 14. $5 and $10, suggested donation. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Fridays, 2 to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to noon. Westchester Italian Cultural Center, 1 Generoso Pope Place. 914-771-8700; wiccny.org. WEST NYACK Rockland Center for the Arts “Diorama: The Original Virtual Reality,” group show. “Portraits,” Noah Becker. “Urban Playgrounds,” Patrick Binns. “Tether Me Not,” Zachary Fabri. Through Dec. 21. Weekdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; weekends, 1 to 4 p.m. Rockland Center for the Arts, 27 South Greenbush Road. rocklandartcenter.org; 845-358-0877. WHITE PLAINS ArtsWestchester “Ways of Seeing,” Westchester Sound Shore Communities. Through Nov. 8. “Drawing Line Into Form: Works on Paper by Sculptors From the Collection of BNY Mellon.” Through Dec. 6. Tuesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. ArtsWestchester, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue. artswestchester.org; 914-428-4220. WOODSTOCK Byrdcliffe Kleinert/James Center for the Arts “Jailbirds and Flowers,” Henrietta Mantooth. Through Nov. 23. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 6 p.m., and by appointment. Byrdcliffe Kleinert/James Center for the Arts, 36 Tinker Street. 845-679-2079; woodstockguild.org. WOODSTOCK WFG Gallery “50/50,” Heather Hutchison and Mark Thomas Kanter. Through Nov. 30. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. WFG Gallery, 31 Mill Hill Road. wfggallery.com; 845-679-6003. WOODSTOCK Woodstock Artists Association and Museum “Georges Malkine: Perfect Surrealist Behavior.” Through Jan. 4. Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m. Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, 28 Tinker Street. 845-679-2940; woodstockart.org. YONKERS Blue Door Gallery “Art With a Story,” John Nieman. Through Nov. 15. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Blue Door Gallery, 13 Riverdale Avenue. bluedoorartcenter.org; 914-375-5100. YONKERS Hudson River Museum “Strut: The Peacock and Beauty in Art.” Through Jan. 18 $3 to $6; members, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Avenue. 914-963-4550; hrm.org.


Bail Denied in Case of Giving Software to Qaeda

Abstract: A federal magistrate judge in Manhattan refused on Monday to grant bail to a former Brooklyn resident charged with conspiring to provide Al Qaeda with computer advice and other assistance, finding that the man was dangerous and might flee. The ruling came after prosecutors said the defendant, Sabirhan Hasanoff, a dual citizen of the United States and Australia, had sworn an oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda and conspired to provide the group with money and software for encrypted communications over the Internet. Mr. Hasanoff, who had recently worked in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, had also tried unsuccessfully to travel to Iraq “hoping to be able to fight in the jihad,” a federal prosecutor, John P. Cronan, told the judge. “He knew full well of the objectives of Al Qaeda,” Mr. Cronan said. “He embraced its extremist ideology and radical goals. And when given the opportunity, he jumped at the chance of joining the organization.” When the charges against Mr. Hasanoff and a co-defendant were announced last month, Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the two men had “conspired to modernize Al Qaeda” with computer systems expertise and other services. On Monday, the prosecutor, Mr. Cronan, cited what he called the men’s technological sophistication, wealth and “ability to move money easily” as some of the “many reasons why these two individuals were so attractive to Al Qaeda.” He noted that Mr. Hasanoff owned a house worth about $750,000. Mr. Hasanoff has an accounting degree from Baruch College, and most recently worked as a group chief financial officer for a company in Dubai, his lawyer, Anthony L. Ricco, said in court. Mr. Cronan, said the evidence against Mr. Hasanoff included a government witness “who can tell the entire story” and significant corroboration. Mr. Hasanoff pleaded not guilty; if convicted, he could face a prison sentence of 15 years. His lawyer, Mr. Ricco, asked the judge, James C. Francis IV, to release his client on $2 million bond and a condition of home detention. “Whatever value for the sake of argument that he is to Al Qaeda because he can travel and because he has financial resources, that no longer exists,” Mr. Ricco said. He said 15 people, all professionals, were willing to sign the bond on his client’s behalf. But Judge Francis refused to release Mr. Hasanoff, citing his computer skills and financial acumen. He also said that Mr. Hasanoff “may be motivated by strong ideological considerations,” which might give him incentive to flee. “The evidence against the defendant appears to be relatively strong,” the judge said. After the proceeding, Mr. Ricco said he planned to appeal the ruling to a federal district judge. “This was not unexpected,” he said. “We haven’t seen a defendant like him in the Southern District before, charged with providing material assistance. He’s a successful businessman.” Both Mr. Hasanoff and his co-defendant, whom prosecutors identified as Wesam El-Hanafi, were arrested in Dubai last month and brought back to the United States to face charges.

Bail
Al Qaeda
Hasanoff Sabirhan
Computers and the Internet
Francis James C IV
El-Hanafi Wesam


Critics Exploit Télécom Suicides, Ex-Executive Says

Abstract: PARIS — Outsiders have taken advantage of the wave of suicides at France Télécom to push their own agenda, a former top executive at the company said in an interview posted Wednesday on a Web site. At least 46 France Télécom employees have committed suicide since January 2008, according to the company, including 11 this year. Unions have pointed to relentless reorganizations and cost-cutting as the cause. “That somebody ends his life is really something which makes me feel very, very bad,” Louis-Pierre Wenes, France Télécom’s former deputy chief executive, said in the interview, his first since he stepped down under pressure last fall. But looking in isolation at the suicide rate in recent years gives “a biased view of the situation,” Mr. Wenes added. The rate was actually higher in 2000, he said, “and moreover, the rate was absolutely similar to the overall French corresponding population.” The World Health Organization estimated the suicide rate in France in 2005 at 26.4 per 100,000 for men and 9.2 for women. — France Télécom employs about 102,000 people in France. In the interview, conducted in English and posted on MeetTheBoss.TV, Mr. Wenes said the employee suicides had seized public attention “because a certain number of external stakeholders had their personal agenda, and it’s always very easy to play on the emotion of the people.” Mr. Wenes did not identify the “external stakeholders” and could not immediately be reached for comment. In addition to causing a wave of bad publicity last fall, the suicides prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government to intervene. Mr. Wenes, a principal architect of the company’s reorganization efforts and a lightning rod for criticism, was shuffled out in October to make room for Stéphane Richard. Employees greeted news of the departure of Mr. Wenes with satisfaction, with the newsmagazine Le Point quoting one union official, Sébastien Crozier, as saying at the time that it was an “indispensable element of the restructuring of France Télécom.” Mr. Richard rose to chief executive on March 1, taking over from Didier Lombard at the former state monopoly, in which civil servants with lifetime job guarantees make up a majority of the work force. Mr. Richard is now working to restore order and morale while remaining focused on the rapidly changing telecommunications market. The government retains a stake of about 27 percent in the company. Technologia, a human resources consulting firm hired to help advise France Télécom on the suicides, recommended in early March that the company halt reorganizations, closely monitor psychosocial risk factors and create an internal network of mediators to improve communication. The company has already begun to act on some of those recommendations. Worse could still be ahead for the company. On March 17, Jean-Christophe Vaulot-Pfister, a deputy prosecutor in Besançon, in eastern France, said he had ordered a judge to look into the suicide of a young employee of the company, who had apparently been distraught about his job, to decide whether France Télécom should be charged with manslaughter. Mr. Vaulot-Pfister declined on Wednesday to comment on the investigation. Jean-Bernard Orsoni, a France Télécom spokesman, also declined to comment on the investigation, or on the interview with Mr. Wenes. As for the company’s efforts to improve morale, he said, “we’re in a rebuilding phase right now.”

France
Suicides and Suicide Attempts
France Telecom SA
Wenes Louis-Pierre


Cancellation Clears Path for Hirscher

Abstract: LENZERHEIDE, SWITZERLAND — What first looked to be a thrilling down-to-the-wire finale this weekend in alpine ski racing will mostly be a victory salute for Marcel Hirscher, the 24-year-old Austrian who will receive his second consecutive large crystal globe as overall World Cup champion after the season-ending slalom Sunday. Hirscher entered the weekend technical races at the World Cup finals with a 149-point advantage over his nearest challenger, Aksel Lund Svindal. That margin became insurmountable when the Norwegian announced that he would forgo the slalom after cancellation of downhill and super-G races Wednesday and Thursday because of adverse weather conditions. Svindal garnered the downhill and super-G titles after a cancellation Wednesday because of thick fog and then a controversial race Thursday that culminated in the crash of the Austrian skier Klaus Kröll. The crash occurred in gusting winds and questionable racing conditions and resulted in the cancellation of the rest of the races Thursday. That cost Svindal an opportunity to gain valuable points, because the rules state that in World Cup finals, races are not re-scheduled. “It’s mixed emotions, because on one side it’s been a great year and I’m very happy, but on the other side, I would have liked to give Hirscher a fight to the end,” Svindal said after the super-G was canceled. “I see no point in competing in the slalom now,” said Svindal, whose best career finish in the discipline is sixth. “It might have been a consideration, had the two last races not been canceled.” Svindal, who won overall titles in 2007 and 2009 and became the first Norwegian downhill cup champion since Lasse Kjus in 1999, praised Hirscher. “Marcel Hirscher fully deserves his second big cup. He has achieved an amazing season,” Svindal said. “I am also very pleased with my own winter. I’ve reached a lot with my gold medal at Schladming and my two crystal globes in the speed events,” he said referring to his downhill world championship in Austria in February, and his downhill and super-G titles. Hirscher, who wrapped up the slalom title last weekend in Slovenia, has seven victories this season having finished among the top three in 16 of 18 races. He will join fellow Austrian ski legends Karl Schranz and Stephan Eberharter with two overall World Cup titles. Following the cancellation of men’s and women’s speed events Wednesday and Thursday, an improved weather forecast was expected for giant slalom and slalom races Saturday and Sunday. In just one of the four remaining races — the women’s slalom Saturday — is a season title yet to be determined. The Slovenian Tina Maze — who clinched her first overall title February 24 in Méribel, France — can add a slalom title to her dominant season if she maintains a seven-point lead over the American Mikaela Shiffrin in a slalom Saturday. Maze, 29, regained the slalom lead over Shiffrin, who celebrated her 18th birthday Wednesday, with a victory in Ofterschwang, Germany last Sunday. On Feb. 16, Shiffrin became the youngest women’s world slalom champion in 39 years. If Shiffrin can either win the slalom or overcome the seven-point deficit, she will be the first American to win a slalom title since Tamara McKinney in 1984. “I’ll just go as hard as I can and see if I can get it back,” Shiffrin said, referring to relinquishing the slalom points lead. “If not, I’ve still had an amazing season, so I can’t be disappointed. Yeah, I want the globe, but we’ll see if it works out that way. Tina has had an amazing season and she just keeps going, so that’s really cool and inspiring.” Maze has accumulated an unprecedented 2,254 World Cup points this season and can increase that total Saturday and Sunday. She also has 22 podium finishes this season and will pass the Austrian Hermann Maier, who accomplished the feat in 1999-2000, if she finishes among the top three in either race this weekend. If Maze hangs on to her slalom points advantage, she will earn her fourth crystal globe this season: the overall and three discipline titles. Maze also took the combined title, with two victories in two races, although a crystal globe is no longer awarded in the discipline. As a result of the tumultuous week of fog, occasional heavy snowfall and high winds in Lenzerheide, Maze locked up the super-G title Thursday when the women’s race was wiped out. However she lost a chance at the downhill crown — she trailed the injured American Lindsey Vonn by only one point — with the forfeiture of the downhill Wednesday. “I don’t really like these kind of days when you don’t get the chance to show your skills on the slope,” said Maze, after the super-G cancellation Thursday. “But in the end, today is a good day for me, while yesterday wasn’t. Of course, I’m happy to secure the super-G title. I’m really proud of my season.” Maze, who captured the giant slalom title in late January, will be the favorite in the final women’s G.S. race of the season Sunday. Ted Ligety, who won his fourth giant slalom globe this season, has been nearly unbeatable and will seek his seventh victory in nine races Saturday. The U.S. racer is also on track to finish third in the overall standings behind Hirscher and Svindal. On Sunday, Hirscher will attempt to finish in style, trying for his ninth consecutive slalom podium. Much like two years ago, when four important races were also canceled because of poor weather in Lenzerheide — and Maria Höfl-Riesch was handed the overall title after finishing three points ahead of Vonn — it has been another troublesome week at the Swiss resort for International Ski Federation race organizers. With the bottom of the Silvano Beltrametti racecourse shrouded in fog, start times for the men’s and women’s downhill Wednesday were pushed back eight times during nearly five hours of delays before the cancellations. On Thursday, the men’s super-G began more than three hours late, and after nine racers battled through persistent crosswinds on the mountain, Kröll lost control and crashed into the safety netting. The 2012 downhill champion was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. He was said to have had surgery to set a fractured left arm. Both men’s and women’s races were canceled about forty minutes after the incident.


Mexican Official Defends Accuracy of Data on Organized Crime

Abstract: MEXICO CITY — Rejecting concerns that the government’s statistics were foggier than ever, Mexico’s top security official argued Friday that real progress was being made in reducing organized crime killings and that the number of people previously reported missing was inflated. The official, Interior Secretary Miguel Osorio Chong, summoned foreign reporters for a briefing and, while discussing several topics, pushed back against suggestions that the administration was more focused on controlling its message than on the truth when it released statistics. “We are never going to link security to politics,” he said. In the nearly six months since President Enrique Peña Nieto took office, Mr. Osorio Chong said, the smarter use of intelligence and efforts to avoid violent confrontations between federal forces and criminal gangs have led to a nearly 20 percent drop in organized crime killings. So far this year, the average number of such killings has been 34 a day, compared with 41 a day last year, according to a document he let reporters see but not copy or photograph because the numbers were preliminary. Regarding disappearances, he said further investigation would show that a database begun in the previous administration and consisting of 26,000 missing-person cases in the past six years would shrink, because many of the cases involved people who had migrated to other places or left home for reasons unrelated to organized crime or drug activity. Image Interior Minister Miguel Osorio Chong, left, with Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam, stood by official statistics. Credit Henry Romero/Reuters Family members of the disappeared in recent weeks have stepped up their calls for the government to investigate the cases. Tracking progress in the drug war has always proved difficult, with large numbers of crimes that go unreported, uninvestigated and unsolved. Independent analysts in recent weeks have questioned the government’s collection methods and complained that little effort is being made to strengthen the local and state police agencies charged with doing the bulk of investigating and that they are still falling short. Writing for the Insight Crime blog, Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and a former Mexican intelligence officer, called into question efforts to classify cases as related to organized crime, since little investigation is done to prove such motives and the criteria are subjective and open to manipulation. Mr. Hope noted that the overall number of homicides had increased in the first months of the administration. “Murders ‘unrelated’ to drug trafficking went up in the first four months of the current administration, according to Mexican government figures — but does this really mean that the narcos are killing less, while all other forms of violence are growing?” he asked. This week the newsweekly ZETA released its own analysis surveying state authorities and other data and found the number of organized crime homicides far higher than what the government had reported. It also found that other crimes, like kidnappings, were on the rise. The previous government under Felipe Calderón abandoned the practice of releasing statistics related to organized crime, with officials saying that the tallies were imprecise and difficult to verify.

Organized crime
Mexico
Miguel Osorio Chong
Murders
Crime statistics
Missing person


Importing Chiefs, Detroit Reflects on Its ‘Car Guys’

Abstract: DETROIT, Aug. 12 — Where have all the car guys gone? With the surprise appointment last week of Robert L. Nardelli, the former Home Depot chief executive, to run Chrysler, Detroit has completed a new-model changeover of the executive suite. It is no longer a requirement to have “motor oil in your veins,” as they are fond of saying in this city, to run a car company. None of the chiefs now leading the three American car companies can be credited for inspiring or developing anything on the roads today — the unofficial definition of what makes a Detroit chief executive a true “car guy.” Only one of them, Rick Wagoner at General Motors , has more than a year of experience in the industry. Moreover, very few of their highest-ranking colleagues have come up through the design, engineering or marketing side of the business so vital to Detroit’s existence. It is a sharp break from a tradition stretching back to the industry’s infancy, when car builders became chiefs of the companies that bore their names. As recently as last decade, all three chief executives could brag about cars they had helped develop. Ford ’s chief at the time, Donald E. Petersen, oversaw the Ford Taurus and earlier Fords. At G.M., Robert C. Stempel engineered several vehicles, including the Oldsmobile Toronado. And the most famous car guy of the time, Lee A. Iacocca, was credited with the success of Chrysler’s K-cars and its minivan (and the Mustang from a previous stint at Ford). As a marketing expert, though, he admittedly had others doing the actual development work. But people in some quarters now argue that an outsider’s pragmatic eye may be worth more than the gut instincts that come from bringing a car to life. Given that the Detroit automakers have lost billions of dollars, and market share, to Japanese competitors in recent years, the evidence may be on their side. Though car guys were responsible for Detroit’s triumphs, they also steered the companies into trouble with errors in judgment that included relying too heavily on big sport-utility vehicles. “This is a business that needs to be run as a business,” Alan R. Mulally, Ford’s chief executive, said at an industry conference last week near Traverse City, Mich. Even the now-retired Mr. Petersen, in a rare interview, agreed with that. “I think the concept’s been overdone,” he said last week of the car-guy mystique. By insisting that only homegrown talent be promoted, Mr. Petersen added, “it’s undervaluing the inherent knowledge that you get about how things do in fact work in a very complex industrial setting.” The appointment a year ago of Mr. Mulally, a former president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, marked the first time an outsider had been appointed to run an auto company in Detroit, where lengthy careers at a single company are still the norm. Mr. Wagoner, for example, joined G.M. 30 years ago, and rose to chief financial officer in 1992 at age 39. By contrast, Mr. Nardelli has barely finished his first week as an automobile executive. His appointment has led to a kind of town hall discussion in the industry — in union halls, on Internet message boards and at an industry conference last week in northern Michigan — about who is best equipped to lead the industry out of its current troubles. The Detroit News asked readers to share their thoughts at its Web site after Mr. Nardelli’s appointment, and they had wide-ranging opinions about Chrysler’s future under its new owner, Cerberus Capital Management. “The whole industry has to stop pointing fingers at the rest of the world and instead decide what they can do,” said another reader from Troy, Mich. “It’s their industry. If they don’t fix it, it’s their jobs that go away.” Another was less confident in the new boss: “I’m terrified by what Nardelli and Cerberus could do to Chrysler.” Mr. Nardelli hoped to win over some skeptics about his background when he stressed his love for Chrysler products last Monday at a news conference — he said his garage included a Jeep, a Plymouth Prowler and a PT Cruiser. But Edward Lapham, executive editor of Automotive News, a trade publication, wrote on Wednesday that it would be a mistake for Mr. Nardelli “to assume that just because he likes cars, he’s a car guy.” Arturo Reyes, the president of United Automobile Workers Local 651 in Flint, Mich., said he was skeptical of Mr. Nardelli. “I get more excited about the prospect of a company when we’re talking about a car guy who has seen the manufacturing process, who knows the design team, who can talk about quality and everything else,” Mr. Reyes said. To be sure, there is not a car guy in charge at the world’s biggest car company, Toyota Motor, which passed G.M. earlier this year to take the No. 1 spot. In fact, it is difficult to name a traditional car guy at Toyota beyond the company’s founder, Kiichiro Toyoda, who acknowledged copying a Chevrolet design for Toyota’s first car, the AA, in 1936. Toyota’s top executives typically have a broad background, not a single expertise. Its current chief executive, Katsuaki Watanabe, is an economist and purchasing expert. The company’s emphasis on consensus also means an expert’s voice is only one of many when decisions are made, said James Lentz, an executive vice president at Toyota Motor Sales USA. “The days of just a car guy running with their gut feeling probably are, today, pretty difficult to do,” Mr. Lentz said. Robert A. Lutz, vice chairman of G.M., is perhaps the Detroit executive best known for a “golden gut” that led him to direct the development of vehicles like the 10-cylinder Dodge Viper sports car. He said last week that he was not opposed to the idea of industry outsiders at the top. “What you need is a well-balanced individual who has a lot of experience in the business, who has a brilliant business mind and knows what he or she doesn’t know,” he said at the automotive conference. “If a person from the outside incorporates all those things, then there’s no reason why he or she wouldn’t do well.” But Mr. Lutz cautioned that Mr. Nardelli, reportedly hired to speed Chrysler’s turnaround from $1.5 billion in losses last year, should not expect quick results. “If anyone thinks they’re going to get all that solved in three months, I wish them a lot of luck,” he said. A car guy’s background is invaluable in one sense, Mr. Petersen said. In an industry so focused on trying to predict trends, executives benefit from having both their own knowledge about the industry and experience in reading what other car guys are telling them. “Unless you know the business, you won’t know what can and can’t be done,” Mr. Petersen said. With a car background, “you have the basic ability to be able to challenge.” To Mr. Petersen, the debate over non-car guys reminds him of an earlier trend, when companies scurried to elevate their chief financial officers, believing that familiarity with Wall Street trumped operating know-how. For Detroit, Mr. Nardelli’s appointment will be “a very interesting experiment,” he said.

Automobiles
Appointments and Executive Changes
General Motors Corp
Ford Motor Co
Detroit (Mich)


Paradise in a Pit Stop for Cabbies in Queens

Abstract: In a corner of Long Island City known for beat-up auto repair shops and street-side chicken vendors, the newly renovated building that is home to Queens Medallion Brokerage looms like a checkered-yellow palace. At its simplest, it is a taxi garage where drivers come to pay their weekly medallion dues and rant about the afternoon’s snooty tourists. But step away from the teller’s line and cabbies enter — by garage standards, anyway — a luxury suite: plasma TVs hanging from the walls, private showers next to the mechanics’ floor and soon (the bosses promise), a trio of massage chairs for the lounge. “You’ll never see anything like this,” said Tony Georgiton, a former cabdriver and vice president of the medallion company, as he led a tour of the building on a recent weekday. “Nowhere else.” Mr. Georgiton and the company’s president, Basil Messados, were used to shabby, single-bathroom garages where grease lined the walls and drivers had to step over transmission parts just to talk to one another. Now, they have created a taxi driver’s paradise, a refuge totally unlike the grimy, disheveled hangouts popularized on screen. On a shelf in Mr. Messados’s office, next to photos of his wife and father, sits a portrait of a huffing-and-puffing Robert De Niro from the classic movie “Taxi Driver.” Mr. Messados said that he understood the plight of the hack. In the 1980s, he drove a cab from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. for a weekly income of $152. Since then, he has traded in his yellow Ford LTD for a white Mercedes roadster. But he has not forgotten the long and erratic hours, the constant compliance checks from the city, and the sometimes ill-mannered customers. (Don’t get him started on the customers.) The 32,000-square-foot building in Queens, which opened in April, is intended to alleviate some of those pressures, he said, and add a bit of comfort to what can be a grueling way of life. “A driver needs an island, an oasis, where he can get away and feel like a human,” Mr. Messados said, putting out a cigarette in an ashtray painted to look like an old-fashioned Checker cab. “I think it’s a big shock when you tell them they can take a shower.” Mr. Georgiton, 50, and Mr. Messados, 41, both Greek immigrants, retain a youthful energy that fuels off-color jokes and threats to tear the replica Greek sword off the wall for a lunchtime duel. The two have been business partners for nearly two decades, having set up shop in 1991 with a nine-cab brokerage in Queens. They currently lease medallions for about 400 cabs, with two or three drivers using each car. Each driver pays about $800 a week to use the medallion, and some pay more for insurance or to finance their cabs if they do not own them. The garage operates in a 91-year-old former factory that was bought in March for $6.5 million. An additional $1.5 million was spent to turn it into a sparkling, mustard-colored headquarters. It was a decided upgrade from the company’s old building a few blocks away. “Someone told me once that you die without pockets — you can’t take anything with you,” Mr. Georgiton said. “We cut down on our profits a little, but you feel good about yourself.” Many drivers seem to feel pretty good about the new place, too — when they can make use of it. Queens Medallion has not yet secured permission from the city to run a taxi stand, so cabbies can usually enjoy five or 10 minutes in the lunchroom before parking tickets start to hit windshields in the no-parking zone outside. Drivers stream in and out all day, staying long enough to grab a Coke from the vending machine or catch a few minutes of a soccer game broadcast in high definition. While the lunchroom is popular, the showers rarely flow. Last week, drivers were in and out at lightning speed. Sheik Musa Samory dashed into the lunchroom and spread out his maroon prayer mat. Mr. Musa Samory, who used to pray in a cramped room in the old location, said that when he first saw the new facilities, “it was like we were on the moon.” He said the renovations reflected the caring attitude of the owners, who are known to organize weekly soccer matches and chat amiably with drivers in the lounge. “This is the way a business place should be,” said Mr. Musa Samory, a native of Ghana and a cabdriver since 1979. “Not just for money, but concern for health and to help you be happy.” But in a time of dreary economic forecasts, others are not so pleased. Chantal Goin questioned the need for fancy facilities when many taxi drivers are struggling to earn enough to pay for expensive gas. “Why put a shower in?” Ms. Goin shouted on the way to her cab. “It doesn’t make a difference. All I do is come in here and pay and leave.” Hamidou Barry, an immigrant from Mali, said he would have preferred that the money used for renovations go instead toward reducing fees for taxi drivers, like the charge drivers must pay to share a cab. Mr. Barry said he was considering leaving the brokerage because it was getting too expensive. “This place is good, but they’re doing something that’s not right,” he said. “Charge, charge, charge, charge, charge.” Mr. Messados defended the costs, explaining that having multiple drivers share one cab required extra insurance fees. And amid all the frills, there are those who miss the filth. “It’s very nice, said Rashad Javaid, 29, from Pakistan. “Almost too nice.” Mementos of a not-so-luxurious past have not totally vanished. Wander past the TV screens, up the granite staircase, and through the stately bathroom doors. A sign above the shimmering new toilets gently reminds drivers: “Please Flush Toilet by Hand Only. Do Not Kick to Flush!!!”

Taxicabs and Taxicab Drivers
Queens (NYC)
Taxi and Limousine Commission


South Korea’s Golf Dominance Leaves Some of the World’s Best Out of the Olympics

Abstract: SAN MARTIN, Calif. — They have been tracking results week after week as compulsively as players in a fantasy league do. In South Korea, where people are passionate about women’s golf and the Olympics, the composition of the team that the country will send to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next month has drawn intense scrutiny. “Every single week we talk about who is going to be playing, how they’re going to prepare and they talk about the gold medal,” said Se Ri Pak, who will serve as the captain of the South Korean women’s Olympic squad. She added, “Our country is taking it really, really seriously.” Image Amy Yang, ranked No. 9 in the world, finished in a tie for third at the United States Women’s Open. Credit Elaine Thompson/Associated Press In women’s golf, South Korea is like a cribbage player who has to slough off cards from a strong hand. In the current world rankings, the country boasts seven of the top 14 players, and 10 of the top 20. The Olympic qualification standards dictate that every player in the top 15 is eligible to compete but no country can have more than four representatives in the 60-player field. The women representing South Korea will be a Dream Team, with a group so formidable there likely will be no place for Ha-na Jang, who began the week ranked 10th in the world. Monday is the cutoff for qualification, which turned the United States Women’s Open at CordeValle Golf Club into a last-ditch effort to qualify for the Olympics for a group of South Koreans that included Jang, ninth-ranked Amy Yang, 11th-ranked So Yeon Ryu, 14th-ranked Bo-mee Lee and 18th-ranked Sung-hyun Park. Sung-hyun Park insinuated herself into the race by holding at least a share of the lead on the back nine Sunday. A victory would have moved Park, 22, to 10th in the world rankings, bumping her compatriot, Jang, for the first-alternate spot for the Olympics. Imagine the pressure of trying to become the seventh South Korean in the past nine years to win the United States Women’s Open while also simultaneously trying to nail down a possible spot in golf’s return to the Olympics after a 112-year absence. It was too much for Park, who played the last seven holes in two-over to finish tied for third. “To be honest it’s definitely stressful,” said Ryu, the 2011 United States Women’s Open champion who tried and failed on both fronts. She closed with a 69, her best score of the week, to finish tied for 10th, not high enough to earn a berth to Rio. Image So Yeon Ryu’s No. 11 ranking made her only the sixth-best South Korean golfer. Credit Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images “You don’t really want to predict something in the future, you just want to focus on the present,” Ryu said. “But when people keep saying, ‘Oh, So Yeon, you’re so close,’ when people keep saying that I cannot focus on my game. That was really the tough part.” The top-ranked South Korean, Inbee Park, who is No. 3 overall, did not compete this week because of a lingering left thumb injury. If she is unable to play in Rio, Jang will take her place. But Ryu does not believe the injury will sideline her good friend. Asked if she expects Park to play in Rio, Ryu replied, “Yeah, for sure, it’s such an honor.” The Olympic team picture became more blurred as the week wore on. Another player, In-gee Chun, who has five top 3 finishes this year, including a runner-up at the ANA Inspiration, was the third-ranked South Korean, at sixth overall. But she missed the cut here, cracking the door open for those behind them in the rankings to slip through. Image Sung-hyun Park joined Amy Yang in a tie for third place at the United States Women’s Open. Credit Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images Lurking near the lead on Sunday, as has become her custom in the majors, was Yang, the fourth-ranked Korean who recorded her 14th career top-10 finish in a major, a tie for third. Earlier in the year, Yang said she was constantly being asked about her Olympic prospects. Her play suffered, she explained, because the questions took her focus off the present. “So I quit thinking about it,” she said. “If I get a chance, it’d be great. If I don’t, I get some time off.” The challenge of blocking out the Olympics came into clearer focus after Yang posted a 73 on Saturday to sit two strokes out of the 54-hole lead. One of the first questions she fielded was about the Olympics. Yang was asked which would mean more to her: a United States Open victory or an Olympic gold medal. Image Bo-mee Lee was one of several South Korean golfers trying to earn a spot on the country’s Olympic team by winning the United States Women’s Open. Credit Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images “It’s hard to decide,” she said. On Sunday, after finishing tied for third at four under, Yang celebrated her consolation prize: a trip to Rio. “That’s amazing,” she said, adding, “I told everyone I’m relaxing about making the team but one side of me was fighting it, like ‘I want it’ and another side was saying ‘let it go.’” It’s hard to explain an Olympic qualification system that leaves out the Nos. 11, 14 and 18 in the world but includes the Indian teenager, Aditi Ashok, who is ranked 441st. But that is the scenario the South Koreans were left to digest. And it could have been grimmer for the South Koreans if the world No. 1, Lydia Ko, who was born in Seoul, had not moved with her family to New Zealand when she was young. Ko, 19, was an interested bystander to the jockeying among the players from the country of her birth. “It’s so close,” she said, adding, “It’s really hard to choose which player deserves to be going because at the end of the day they all deserve to be representing their country.” With the finalization on Monday of the Olympic golf team rosters, the scrutiny of the South Korean women will shift to the possibility of a podium sweep. “A lot of Korean people for sure think we’re going to make the gold medal and all the medals,” Ryu said, adding, “But you cannot predict anything about golf.”

South Korea
Golf
Se Ri Pak
2016 Summer Olympics
Sung Hyun Park


Late Seahawks Drive Ends With a Screeching Halt After a Risky Call

Abstract: GLENDALE, Ariz. — On the same field where a receiver named David Tyree had improbably caught a desperation throw to propel the Giants to Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots seven years earlier, the Seattle Seahawks had a potentially historic acrobatic catch of their own to remember and treasure. The difference in the falling reception by Jermaine Kearse, however, is that the Seahawks did not complete the drive into the end zone. The highlight was almost immediately trumped by a highly questionable play call, an interception at the goal line and a brawl, all more unbelievable than the catch that had preceded them. “A very, very hard lesson,” Seattle Coach Pete Carroll said, noting that his team had been on the verge of another championship. “I hate to learn the hard way, but there’s no other way to look at it right now.” Seattle had blown a 10-point fourth-quarter lead but found itself at New England’s 38-yard line with 1 minute 14 seconds left. Trailing by 28-24, quarterback Russell Wilson lobbed a pass down the right side to receiver Kearse, who was blanketed by the backup cornerback Malcolm Butler. Both men leapt over the 10-yard line, falling backward like high-jumpers over a bar, as the ball was volleyed into the air while they skidded backward on the grass. The ball dropped into the arms of Kearse, who cradled it for a catch as dramatic as any in Super Bowl history. Image Tom Brady throwing during the first half of Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. Brady won his fourth Super Bowl. 1 / 24 The Seahawks had a first down at the 5-yard line and used the second of their three timeouts with 1:06 left. Wilson handed off to the bruising back Marshawn Lynch, who gained 4 yards, nearly dragging defenders into the end zone. Carroll, his usual state of calm lost in emotion that seemed balanced between anger and disappointment, said after the game that he had not wanted to “waste” a running play and thought a quick pass would be the game-winner. The offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, made the play call, but Carroll gave it the go-ahead without debate. “It’s not the right matchup for us to run the football, so on second down, we throw the ball, really to kind of waste that play,” Carroll said. “If we score, we do. If we don’t, then we’ll run it on third and fourth down.” He said he had looked at Wilson, his third-year quarterback, before the play to make sure that Wilson understood the gravity of the moment. He did. With the clock ticking, on second-and-goal at the 1-yard line, Wilson took the snap from the shotgun position. He threw immediately to the goal line, toward receiver Ricardo Lockette. But Butler and the ball arrived at the same time, and Butler snagged the prize: a game-clinching interception. “I put the blame on me,” said Wilson, who did not question the call when he received it. “I’m the one who threw it.” The interception immediately set off a debate over Seattle’s play-calling and, shortly after, a fight that escalated momentarily out of control in the end zone. The Seahawks had one timeout remaining and Lynch — the league’s leading bulldozer, with more rushing yards and touchdowns than anyone over the past four seasons — ready to plunge in for the winning score. Video The Seattle Seahawks coach spoke about the interception that cost his team the game. Credit Credit Matt York/Associated Press Instead of Kearse becoming the hero, it was the little-known Butler, who had been the foil to Kearse moments before he saved the game for New England with an interception. “I’ve worked so hard in practice, and I just wanted to play so bad and help my team out,” Butler said afterward. “I got out there and did exactly what I needed to do to help my team win.” With the expected Seahawks victory ripped away unexpectedly, Seattle’s emotions came unhinged. The New England offense took the field for the final snaps. With 20 seconds left, after Seattle had been penalized five yards for encroachment, New England quarterback Tom Brady took a knee. A fight broke out, centered around Seattle linebacker Bruce Irvin, who rampaged through the end zone looking for Patriots to engage. For a few seconds, as officials tried to gain control, it looked as if the fighting might spread. “It was just frustration between two teams,” said Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who had been in the middle of the scrum. “It’s football.” Irvin was ejected, Brady took another knee, and the clock expired in a cloud of confetti that fell on both teams. For those tantalizing few moments, it looked as if it would be the Seahawks who prevailed, and as if Kearse would be the hero — not unlike Tyree had been for the Giants in a come-from-behind victory over the Patriots in 2008. “The goal is to win the game,” Kearse said. “And right now that catch doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Seahawks
Super Bowl
Patriots
Pete Carroll
Russell Wilson
Tom Brady
Marshawn Lynch
Football


Provider of TV Movie Channels Looks to Expand to PC's and Video Players

Abstract: Starz Entertainment Group is introducing a $9.95-a-month subscription service that will allow people to download movies from the Internet and watch them on their computers, portable video players and television sets. The new offering, called Vongo, comes at a time when movie studios and television networks are rapidly expanding their efforts to distribute their content over the Internet, experimenting with both paid and advertiser-supported models. "We see a market out there of people who are saying, 'I want to choose what I want to watch, control how I watch it and watch it wherever I am,' " said Robert Greene, a senior vice president at Starz, which operates pay movie channels under the Starz or Encore name and is owned by Liberty Media, the company controlled by John C. Malone, the cable entrepreneur. Since 2004, Starz has offered a movie download subscription service, called Starz Ticket, using technology from RealNetworks. But the RealNetworks software does not allow movies to be downloaded to hand-held devices. With Vongo, Starz will shift to technology from Microsoft that will allow movies to be downloaded and watched on portable video players using Microsoft's software. Until now, portable players have been costly and have found few buyers. But that is starting to change. Lower-priced players are expected to be introduced later this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And of course, interest in portable video has soared with the Apple Computer video iPod, and the popularity of $1.99 episodes of TV shows sold at the iTunes online store. Microsoft will promote the Vongo service in a coming release of its Media Player software. Separately, Starz will also offer Vongo through Sony's Connect download service. Until now, Connect has mainly sold music, but executives involved with Sony's plans say that this week the company will announce an expansion to video downloads as well. Starz, which is offering a test version of the service at Vongo.com, has so far not been able to work out an arrangement for Vongo to run on iPods. This is a significant problem, said Josh Bernoff, an analyst with Forrester Research. The Microsoft Portable Media Center devices "have not done particularly well so far," he said. "They don't have the momentum that the iPod does." He said there would be a modest market for Vongo, mainly among people who want to watch movies on their computers, or more likely on laptops while traveling. Apple is expected to offer some sort of expanded video offering at the MacWorld conference in San Francisco next week. While Apple is closed-mouthed about its plans, there is considerable speculation among industry analysts that Apple will introduce a device that will let people watch video from the Internet on their TV sets. So far, however, Apple has not offered any subscription services for digital content (subscription services use technology that disables the music or video files on users' PC's and devices if they stop paying their monthly subscription bill). Indeed, Apple's chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, has been outspoken in his belief that consumers want to own rather than rent what they listen to and watch. As a subscription service, Vongo will allow users to download as many movies as they want for $9.95 a month. They will be able to choose from an ever-changing roster of about 800 movies, including about 300 films in rotation on the Starz cable channel (mainly movies released in theaters one to three years earlier) and 500 older titles. Several years ago, when Starz renewed its long-term contracts with studios, including those owned by Sony and the Walt Disney Company, to put movies on its cable channels, it bought the rights to use them on the Internet as well. This means that other digital services cannot offer these movies in rental or subscription services during the period covered by the Starz contract. Most of the other studios sell their subscription rights to HBO or Showtime, which have been less active in digital distribution than Starz. How much interest consumers have in downloading movies remains to be seen. The legal online offerings so far -- Starz's subscription service and pay-per-view downloads from MovieLink and CinemaNow -- have attracted relatively few customers. (The pay services have to compete with illegal free trading in movie and television files over the Internet.) Some argue that most Internet users are interested only in short video clips, like news reports and the humorous video oddities that ricochet across the Web. Yet Apple's early success in selling downloads of hourlong television programs, a service that began by offering the hit series "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" for the video iPod, is changing that perception. Mr. Greene argued that Starz had learned from its earlier experience and thought that it now had the formula to attract more customers to download movies. Vongo will be cheaper than Starz Ticket, which costs $12.95 a month and offers only about 300 movies. Vongo will also be adding some shorter original content, like music concerts and sports coverage. Starz will continue to offer the Starz Ticket service through RealNetworks, but will put all its promotional effort into Vongo. Mr. Greene said that the new Microsoft-based service was easier for consumers to use and that the company's deal with Microsoft was more economically advantageous than its deal with RealNetworks, although he declined to be specific about the terms.

TELEVISION
CABLE TELEVISION
COMPUTERS AND THE INTERNET


Nat Hentoff Writes His Last for The Village Voice

Abstract: When he was young, Nat Hentoff said, he was lucky enough to have Duke Ellington as a mentor. This was, of course, quite some time ago, when Mr. Hentoff was writing principally about jazz and “Duke Ellington” had yet to become another way to say “West 106th Street.” He learned a lot from jazzmen, Mr. Hentoff said. Ellington taught him the perils of being pigeonholed. “He said, ‘Never get caught up in categories. That’ll imprison you,’ ” Mr. Hentoff recalled. “Duke was talking about music,” he said. But the same words could easily apply to Nat Hentoff, who — “Thank goodness,” he said — has defied categories since he began putting pen to paper more than six decades ago. In a simplistic age that likes convenient labels, you can try slapping one on him. But you’re bound to go wrong. Across his 83 years, his three dozen books and his countless newspaper columns and magazine articles, Mr. Hentoff has championed free speech and opposed censorship of any kind, whether by liberals or conservatives. Few have more assiduously and consistently defended the right of people to express their views, no matter how objectionable. In that vein, he opposes hate-crime laws as wrongly — no, make that dangerously — punishing thought. He is unalterably opposed to abortion, but he cares about life beyond the womb, so he is against capital punishment. He supported going to war in Iraq, but denounces the Bush administration’s resorting to interrogation methods regarded by much of the world as torture. He also has his doubts about President-elect Barack Obama, who, for all the adulation that we hear, “needs watching — like everybody.” He has plenty of quarrels with the American Civil Liberties Union and its New York cousin. But he also shares the civil libertarians’ displeasure with school safety agents in New York City schools who, the critics say, abuse students with City Hall’s blessing. “Teaching fear of the police is part of the curriculum,” Mr. Hentoff said. The thing is that, agree with him or not, Nat Hentoff offers no opinion that isn’t supported by facts, diligently gathered. One is tempted to say that facts are holy to him, but that is probably not the right word for someone who calls himself “a member of the Proud and Ancient Order of Stiff-Necked Jewish Atheists.” The purpose here is to note what New York is losing now that Mr. Hentoff has been laid off — we prefer to say fired — by The Village Voice after having worked there for 50 years. The weekly, financially struggling like many other newspapers, cut him loose last week. A lot of staff members have been let go since New Times Media, based in Phoenix, took over The Voice in 2005. (The company then recast itself as Village Voice Media. It seems to like the paper’s name more than the people.) But Mr. Hentoff is in a league of his own. Do not mistake this for an obituary. It’s not even close to one. Mr. Hentoff may not hear as well as he once did, or stand quite as straight. But he will not fade to silence. Citing the late journalists George Seldes and I.F. Stone as his muses, he promised in a farewell Voice column to continue “putting on my skunk suit at other garden parties.” He will write for the United Media syndicate and Jewish World Review , and also reflect on jazz, his lifelong passion, in The Wall Street Journal. He will keep pecking away on his IBM Selectric III in the Greenwich Village apartment that he turned into an office, a space that may be described most charitably as cluttered. Martha Stewart would probably freak out if she saw it. Clinging to his typewriter does not make Mr. Hentoff a Luddite. Like most of us, he relies on the Internet for research. But there is a price to be paid for that ocean of data, he cautioned, quoting a line from T. S. Eliot: “Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” So much information brings “more confusion,” Mr. Hentoff said. “You can’t stop the spread of the Internet, the bloggers and all that,” he said, but the problem is that people tend to visit sites that only reinforce their preconceptions. “And since there’s not very much fact-checking on the Internet — although sometimes you find out a lot — the confusion continues,” he said. IN his view, nothing less than democracy is on the line, especially with “the shrinking of reporters and editors in the print media.” “I think we’re in a perilous state in that, to paraphrase Mr. Madison, the way to keep this republic is to have an informed electorate,” Mr. Hentoff said. But what we have is “Constitutional illiteracy, which is rampant.” “If you ask the first 100,000 students or adults what’s in the Fourth Amendment or what’s the separation of powers, I think you’d have some puzzlement,” he said. “And that’s, if I can use the word, dangerous.” At least we will still have Nat Hentoff on the ramparts warning of the danger, even if not in The Voice and even, he said, if he has to go it alone. That, too, is a lesson learned from an old jazzman, Ben Webster, who played tenor sax. “He said to me, ‘Listen, kid, when the rhythm section ain’t making it, go for yourself,’ ” “I’ve tried that with editors all the time,” Mr. Hentoff said. “That’s the fun of all this. You keep surprising people. “And angering them, I might say.”

Village Voice
Newspapers
New York City
Hentoff Nat
Books and Literature
Freedom of Speech and Expression
Writing and Writers


Congress Passes Bipartisan Bill to Improve Energy Efficiency

Abstract: Congress on Tuesday passed a bill focused on improving energy efficiency in buildings and water heaters, a move celebrated by both parties for breaking longstanding partisan gridlock. The bill, which President Obama is expected to sign into law this week, is a modest one. But its authors, Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, who had worked together for years on more ambitious energy-saving legislation, called it a significant victory. “On the bill’s merits — creating jobs, saving consumers money and reducing pollution — it was never a hard sell,” Ms. Shaheen said. “The tough part was convincing Washington to not play politics with a good idea.” Mr. Portman said, “Our targeted energy efficiency bill has garnered widespread support because of a simple fact: It is good for the economy and good for the environment.” The two senators have been working together since 2011 on their broader energy efficiency measure. That bill, which also has bipartisan support, would create incentives for federal mortgage writers to incorporate energy-efficient heating and cooling systems into the value of a home, establish training programs in energy-efficiency construction, create programs to increase the energy efficiency of manufacturing supply chains, and direct the Energy Department to work with manufacturers on energy-efficient technology. But efforts to bring the bill to the Senate floor have been thwarted by partisan debates over issues like climate change and the Keystone XL oil pipeline. This year, the senators introduced a bill that incorporated a few elements of the broader measure. The narrower bill would create a voluntary program for landlords and tenants to improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings, mandate that large electric water heaters be run in a highly energy-efficient manner and require federal agencies to perform energy-use assessments on commercial buildings that they lease. That measure was passed by a voice vote at 4 a.m. on March 27, at the end of an all-night voting session on amendments to a budget bill. The House then passed a companion bill on Tuesday, also by a voice vote.

Congress
Congress
Energy Efficiency
Senate
Legislation
US Politics
House of Representatives


Japan Weighs Nationalizing Stricken Utility

Abstract: TOKYO — Japanese lawmakers publicly debated nationalizing the Tokyo Electric Power Company on Tuesday, as there seemed no end in sight to the problems at the company’s crippled nuclear power plant. The prime minister’s office said the government was not considering a takeover of Tokyo Electric “at the moment.” But the plunging stock price indicated investors were abandoning hope that the company could cope with the cost of its rebuilding and the potential liabilities from its nuclear disaster. The share price plunged an additional 19 percent Tuesday with virtually no buyers, and trading was suspended by an automatic stop. The closing price of 566 yen ($6.86) was the stock’s lowest close since at least 1974. The day before the March 11 earthquake, the shares closed at 2,153 yen (about $26). On Wednesday morning, its shares fell another 12.7 percent. The stock collapse has already erased more than 2.5 trillion yen ($30.3 billion) in market value. Also Wednesday, the president of Tokyo Electric, Masataka Shimizu, 66, was hospitalized after suffering from high blood pressure. His duties were taken over by the company’s 71-year-old chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, Bloomberg News reported. “There’s room for debate on the future of Tokyo Electric,” Koichiro Gemba, a member of the lower house of Parliament, said at a news conference. Mr. Gemba represents Fukushima Prefecture, home to Tokyo Electric’s damaged plant, Fukushima Daiichi. He is also the national strategy minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Mr. Gemba spoke not long after the country’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, cited unidentified people as saying the government was considering a plan to temporarily acquire a majority stake in the company, help it shoulder the liabilities that are likely to be incurred, and then eventually take it private again. But fearing that a debate about the future of the company could create a divisive and costly distraction at a time of crisis, Mr. Kan and his chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, sought to tamp down the speculation. “At the moment, the government is not considering” nationalization, Mr. Edano said Tuesday in a televised news conference. He added: “The first priority is the accident response. Then it needs to help those who’ve been affected.” If the government were to acquire a majority stake, Tepco — as the company is known — would presumably issue new stock to the state, diluting existing shareholders. The utility’s image has been hurt by the rolling blackouts it has imposed to cope with the loss of generating capacity after the earthquake and by the fact that its president, Masataka Shimizu, was not seen for several days after the quake. Tepco said Monday that Mr. Shimizu had been sick but has since returned to work. Taxpayers outside the greater Tokyo area that the company serves are likely to balk at the cost of what could be seen as a bailout. But with no end in sight to its nuclear problem, Tokyo Electric will have to lean on the state for support, analysts say. “If you were the government, would you let it go bust?” said Paul J. Scalise, a former financial analyst who is writing a book on Japan’s electric power system. “I think the answer is no. The effect on the larger economy at a critical time would be too great.” Estimates in the Japanese news media had already put the damage from the radiation leak to local homes, businesses and farms in the trillions of yen, even without knowing if anyone would suffer health damage. But it is impossible to calculate what the ultimate cost to the company will be. That is partly because the crisis appears to be far from over, and partly because it is not clear how much of the liability will actually be Tepco’s to bear. Mr. Scalise said that under Japanese law governing compensation for nuclear damage, companies were liable for the cost of all nuclear accidents resulting from reactor operations except when the accidents were provoked by a “grave natural disaster of an exceptional nature or by an insurrection.” The company might plausibly seek to avoid liability altogether within that definition, he said. Nicholas Benes, a former investment banker who is head of the Board Director Training Institute of Japan, an executive training group, said Tepco’s legal liability related to the Fukushima Daiichi plant would be covered by private and government insurance up to 120 billion yen, and even over that amount the government had wide latitude to provide financial assistance. “I just don’t see the case for nationalization at this point,” Mr. Benes said. “Unless it’s for safety reasons — for example, if you think the company is utterly incapable of managing itself. But even then you’d have to assume that a bunch of nuclear engineers put together hodgepodge by the government would do a better job than the company’s own management. I don’t think the bureaucrats possibly believe that, or would want the responsibility.” He and others said that Mr. Kan might also prefer to keep the company at arm’s length to avoid having it serve as a lightning rod for criticism of his administration. Kazuma Ogino and Toshihiro Uomoto, credit analysts at Nomura Securities, suggested in a report that what was under discussion might best be described as “a virtual nationalization,” in which the state would provide the company “with the means of paying compensation on almost all fronts.” The decline in the stock does not immediately endanger Tepco’s survival, although its cost of capital is tied to its share price. Tepco is in negotiations for loans of as much as 2 trillion yen ($24.25 billion), a person close to potential lenders said last week.

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Japan)