Kurds’ Displacement Tests Iraq’s Fragile Unity

Abstract: KHANAQIN, Iraq — In January, the dismembered body of Wisam Jumai, a Kurdish intelligence officer, was discovered in a field in Sadiyah, a small town in northeastern Iraq. Soon his family and friends, one after another, received text messages offering a choice: leave or be killed. “Wisam has been killed,” read one message sent to a cousin. “Wait for your turn. If you want your life, leave Sadiyah.” After Mr. Jumai’s killing, nearly three dozen Kurdish families fled their homes and moved here, according to local officials, to the sanctuary of a city that is claimed by the government in Baghdad but patrolled by Kurdish forces. Other Kurds from the area have come here after being pushed out over property disputes that can be traced to Saddam Hussein’s policy in the 1970s of expelling Kurds and resettling Arabs. Whether by terrorism or judicial order, the continuing displacement of Iraq’s Kurdish minority lays bare the unfinished business of reconciliation in the wake of the American military’s withdrawal, and it is a symptom of the rapidly deteriorating relationship between the semiautonomous Kurdish government based in Erbil and the central government in Baghdad. The schism, which is most immediately over sharing oil wealth but is more deeply about historical grievances and Kurdish aspirations for independence, raises serious questions about the future of a unified Iraq. The crisis, American officials say, is far more grave than the political tensions between the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and the country’s Sunni Arab minority set off by an arrest warrant on terrorism charges issued in December for Tariq al-Hashimi, the Sunni vice president. The Kurds, unlike the Sunnis, have their own security forces, oil reserves, ports of entry and even their own de facto foreign policy, with envoys operating in other countries. This could eventually lead them to seek more independence from Baghdad. “Fearing a resurgence of a strong central state, Kurdish leaders want to leave Iraq, and they appear to believe their moment to do so may soon arrive,” wrote Joost Hiltermann, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, in a recent report . In the latest chapter of a long-simmering dispute, Kurdish authorities have shut off their oil exports, claiming that Baghdad is behind on payments to oil companies working in the Kurdish region. Officials in Baghdad, angered by this and by Kurdistan’s oil deal with Exxon Mobil that bypasses the central government, in turn threatened to cut off billions of dollars that flow to Kurdistan from the Iraqi budget. Massoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdish regional government, has called Mr. Maliki a dictator and expressed fears that Baghdad might use American-supplied F-16 warplanes against the Kurds. Both sides have accused the other of smuggling oil and siphoning off profits. “I cannot respect myself, working with the people in Baghdad,” said Mohammed Ihsan, the Kurdish government’s representative in Baghdad, who is calling for a referendum in Kurdistan on independence, something he acknowledged was unfeasible in the short term because of Western opposition. “But a lot of people are thinking that way,” he said. American officials are concerned that Kurdish leaders are considering seeking a deal to sell oil to Turkey, in an effort to become economically self-sufficient. Such a pact would probably be illegal and unlikely before 2014, when Kurdistan is expected to complete its own oil pipeline. “The Kurds hope, however, that Turkey’s thirst for oil and gas will align with their own thirst for statehood,” Mr. Hiltermann wrote in his report . Kurds are captive to the painful memories of repression under Hussein; like the Sunni and Shiite Arabs, who fought a brutal sectarian war, the Kurds, too, cling to a narrow identity, theirs defined by ethnicity, rather than national citizenship. “How can we forget?” said Bakir Karim, a member of the Kurdish Parliament in Erbil who described Iraq as a “fake state” created by the British after World War I that, he said, has only “harmed us and tortured us.” He added, “If you ask any Kurd if he wants independence from Iraq, without hesitation he will say yes.” Khanaqin, a few miles from the Iranian border, lies at the end of a belt of rugged land in northern Diyala Province that runs from Sadiyah through Jalawla, another disputed town. It is also a place of ethnic rivalry, where Arabs and Kurds are trying the soft ways of democracy to settle feuds that nevertheless can still end in bloodshed. Outside a Kurdish political office in Jalawla is a mural of three men, representing the area’s main ethnicities: Arab, Kurd and Turkmen. “We are all brothers,” it declares. Inside, Khader Mohammed, who directs the office, waved an intelligence report he recently received from authorities in Baquba, Diyala’s capital. It claimed that the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of militants, would “attempt a number of attacks to destabilize the security situation in the province.” Among the targets: Mr. Mohammed. “I’m not afraid,” he said. “This is my duty. I have to do my work.” Karim Ali, 60, is among those who may soon leave. Like many Kurds here, Mr. Ali was forced out in the mid-1970s as part of the Hussein government’s “Arabization” policy, which aimed to dilute ethnic opposition. He resettled in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, but reclaimed his old home in 2003 as some Arabs, fearing revenge from the Kurds, decided to return to their original homes in other regions. Though a court was set up to handle claims stemming from the Arabization policy, Kurds say that property records that would verify their ownership claims were destroyed. As a result, Arabs are now reclaiming homes that were seized from Kurdish families in the Hussein years. This, Mr. Ali said, is what happened to him. “This belonged to my father,” he said, standing outside his home. “In 20 days, I have to evacuate my house.” He said he was taken to a police station in handcuffs several months ago and forced to sign papers turning the property over to an Arab who held the deed from 1975 to 2003. “It’s the same as during Saddam,” Mr. Ali said. “It’s even worse now because I was young then, and now I’m old.” Local officials say nearly 400 houses in Jalawla are being turned over in a similar fashion. Mr. Ihsan, the Kurdish representative in Baghdad, is also involved in matters related to these disputed areas. He said the process was rife with corruption: “We have the most corrupted judicial system in the world.” (A 2009 report on internal displacement in Iraq by the Brookings Institution and the University of Bern called the process one of “incomprehension” and “frustration.”) “It’s getting worse,” Mr. Ihsan said. “The Americans left without finishing the job. We are worried that history is going to repeat itself.” For their part, Arabs in the area say that they are also targets of terrorist attacks, and that the property transfers are the result of a fair and legal process. On a recent afternoon, Rasmiya Ahmed, the mother of Mr. Jumai, the murdered officer, unzipped a blue nylon pouch and out tumbled the strips of pills that provide her with a measure of relief from her sleeplessness and anxiety. Another son, a soldier, was killed last year. “I don’t have anyone now,” she said. The Kurds may be free from the Baath Party’s brutality, but for Ms. Ahmed things were better then, because, she said, “at least I had my boys.”

Kurds
Iraq
Refugees and Displaced Persons
Iraq War (2003-11)
Politics and Government
Oil (Petroleum) and Gasoline


Germany and France Lift Euro Zone’s Economy

Abstract: PARIS — The economies of Germany and France, the two largest in the euro zone, showed surprising strength in the first quarter, helping lift the entire Continent’s performance despite sharp pain along the edges, fresh data showed on Friday. As a result, the European Commission said in its spring forecast that prospects for 2011 looked “slightly better” than six months ago. But it also raised some caveats, noting that the pace of recovery would be uneven across the 17-nation bloc for some time to come, that inflation remained a worry and “moreover, despite some improvement in labor markets, the prospect is for a rather jobless recovery.” The powerhouse in Europe in recent months has been Germany, but the latest data showed that France was catching up. The two countries together account for nearly half the euro zone’s economic output. The German Federal Statistics Office reported that gross domestic product grew 1.5 percent over the previous quarter, when harsh weather held growth to just 0.4 percent. The figure was well above analysts’ estimates and showed that Germany’s economy had recovered fully from its worst recession since World War II. “The precrisis level of early 2008 has been exceeded,” the office said. France, too, surpassed expectations with growth of 1 percent, the steepest increase since spring 2006, according to the statistics office Insee. That compared with an increase of just 0.3 percent in the last quarter of 2010, and a median forecast of economists surveyed by Reuters and Bloomberg News of 0.6 percent. Over all, G.D.P. grew 0.8 percent in the euro area compared with the pace in the previous quarter, according to the European Union statistics office, Eurostat, somewhat better than economists had expected. But the strains of austerity measures to rein in gaping deficits were evident as well. Spain’s economy grew only 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, according to the National Statistics Institute in Madrid. Although that was slightly better than expected, it was largely attributed to exports amid weak domestic demand and high unemployment. Portugal posted its second quarter of contraction, with its G.D.P. dropping 0.7 percent, according to Eurostat. The country is bracing for continued economic struggles as it awaits a 78 billion euro ($112 billion) bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. With the Finnish Parliament approving the bailout on Friday, European finance ministers are expected to sign off on the package early next week. That approval had been threatened by the True Finn Party, which opposes bailouts. Another struggling country, Greece, registered its first quarter of growth since 2008. Output grew 0.8 percent in the first quarter, according to Eurostat, compared with a decline of 2.8 percent in the final quarter of last year. European stock markets and the euro both slipped lower. While economists called the reports encouraging, especially for Germany and France, they warned that keeping up the momentum would be difficult. “Looking forward, we expect growth to slow down to more moderate rates, as world trade growth loses some momentum and fiscal policy tightening and higher oil prices kick in,” Aline Schuiling, senior economist at ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam, wrote in a note. “Nevertheless, the German economy should continue to outperform the euro zone average by a wide margin.” Oscar Bernal, an economist at ING Bank in Brussels, said that the pickup in industrial activity in France in particular “might just be a catch-up” after the year-end lull. “All in all, we believe that the first-quarter G.D.P. growth acceleration will only be temporary,” he said, adding that the French government will still face difficulties meeting its budget-deficit reduction targets. Strong demand for exports like automobiles has fueled the recovery in Germany, as in past recoveries. Domestic demand has typically trailed, leading to criticism from Germany’s trading partners. However, German consumers seem to be gaining confidence this time as unemployment falls sharply. The German statistics office noted that compared with the last quarter of 2010, domestic consumption was up “markedly,” along with investment by businesses in machinery and equipment and construction. “The growth of exports and imports continued, too,” it said. “However, the balance of exports and imports had a smaller share in the strong G.D.P. growth than domestic uses.” The French statistics office noted that manufacturing production soared 3.7 percent in the first quarter, the strongest growth for at least 30 years. Household consumption was also up, but only slightly. Imports grew more rapidly than exports, weighing on the overall growth figure.

Germany
France
Europe
Economic Conditions and Trends


Valencia, an Often Unsteady Club, Teeters Toward Disaster

Abstract: The players sensed the coming crisis last summer. When Valencia returned to preseason training, many of its members did so with one thought on their minds: Get out, as soon as possible. Some grumbled among themselves, going through the motions on the field as they waited for the calls from their agents that escape routes had been found. Others were more proactive. Half a dozen or so approached Pako Ayestarán, the third manager they had played for in a year, to ask to be allowed to leave. What concerned Ayestarán was not that the players wanted to go but that they did not seem to mind where they went. Some, like Shkodran Mustafi, craved bigger, better things: He went on to sign with Arsenal , an English Premier League team. Others were less choosy; they just wanted out. Ayestarán, picking up on the mood, passed the message on through the club’s hierarchy. His superiors maintained that only rats want to leave a ship in distress. In hindsight, with Valencia drifting toward relegation and possibly ruin, it looks increasingly as if those players, scrambling for safety, saw the iceberg coming. To many observers, there is no tougher job in world soccer than coaching Valencia, even in the best of times . The club’s crumbling, iconic Mestalla Stadium is a place where the manager’s task has long been to deliver champagne success on a lemonade budget, where the directors are impatient and the fans implacable. For decades, it has been a draining trial for even the most decorated coaches. Image Salvador González, known as Voro, took over as manager after the departure of Cesare Prandelli. Valencia has gone through four coaches in less than two seasons. Credit Manuel Bruque/European Pressphoto Agency Many of the managers on the club’s illustrious list of recent alumni — Claudio Ranieri, Rafael Benítez, Ronald Koeman and Quique Sánchez Flores, to name a few — privately recall their time at the club, historically Spain’s third largest, as the most arduous of their careers. They describe a toxic blend of internecine politics, financial strife and supporter unrest that made everything that followed seem blissfully straightforward in comparison. The managers who decide that the scale and fame of the club are worth the risk do so with their eyes open. Cesare Prandelli, the most recent permanent occupant of the post, called Ranieri, a fellow Italian, before accepting the job. Ranieri counseled him to take it but reminded him that Valencia was a “great challenge.” Prandelli took it as an invitation, not a warning. He lasted 10 games. Valencia is no stranger to chaos; to some extent, that is its natural resting state. But while it has been in crisis before, it has never experienced a crisis quite as deep as its current one, never endured something that feels so urgent, so perilous. “There have always been tensions at Valencia,” said Jesús García Pitarch, the club’s sporting director until this month. “But previously those tensions have always been compatible with success on the field.” Not, it is safe to say, anymore. Valencia, which has the fourth-highest budget in Spain’s top division, known as La Liga, is fourth from the bottom in the standings, having gone through four managers in less than two seasons. Relegation is a genuine possibility. Some of the club’s hard-core fans, its ultras, have taken out their frustration on the players, accusing them of lacking the requisite commitment and desire. To others, though, the blame lies much higher up. Image From left, Prandelli, Pako Ayestarán and Gary Neville, who have all coached Valencia in the past year. Credit Left and center, David Ramos/Getty Images; Right, Fotopress, via Getty Images “The players are victims more than perpetrators,” García Pitarch said. “Valencia does not have a focal point: There is no owner, no president, no long-term coach, no sporting director who they can look to as a reference. There has been a breakdown between the club, the players and the fans. The problem is in the structure.” At the head of that structure is Peter Lim, the Singaporean entrepreneur who bought Valencia in 2014. At the time, his arrival seemed a blessing: a wealthy owner who could bankroll the club back to where it feels it belongs, challenging the triumvirate of Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Barcelona for Spanish supremacy. The early signs were promising. Lim turned to Jorge Mendes, the most powerful agent in soccer, for assistance. A slew of players, including the gifted Portuguese midfielder André Gomes, arrived, and so did a coach, Nuno Espírito Santo. Valencia returned to the Champions League and seemed to be going places. What has happened since shows this was an illusion. Espírito Santo was fired a few months into his second season and was replaced by Gary Neville, a former Manchester United defender and a business associate of Lim’s. Neville did not finish the season. Ayestarán, previously Neville’s assistant, replaced him. When Ayestarán was fired after opening the season with four straight defeats , in came Prandelli, who did not make it to New Year’s Eve . Salvador González, a longtime servant of the club who is known as Voro, is now in charge until the end of the season — theoretically, at least. Image Sofiane Feghouli of Valencia leaving the field after a 3-1 defeat to Atlético Madrid in March. Credit Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images That rapid turnover is part of the problem. Mustafi said in an interview last week that “changing the manager every 12 months creates doubts.” One of the most appealing things about signing with Arsenal, he said, was that he could be sure who the manager would be. Continuity on the sideline is not the only problem at Valencia. Layhoon Chan, Lim’s appointed president, has criticized players publicly, breaking what García Pitarch sees as a crucial public bond among club, players and fans. “The lack of support has demoralized the players,” García Pitarch said. “They do not feel protected, and they feel separated from the club.” There is stasis at the executive level, too: Lim has not set foot in Valencia for a year, leaving a power vacuum. “It is impossible to deal with all the small problems that appear every day,” García Pitarch said. “And in football, small problems can become big ones if you do not deal with them.” Six hundred miles northwest, on Spain’s Atlantic coast, observers may be tempted to point out another factor. To followers of another fallen Spanish champion, Deportivo La Coruña, what is happening at Valencia is eerily familiar, and the common ingredient is not Lim but Mendes. Long before he represented the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and José Mourinho, Mendes was an ambitious agent with one client: Espírito Santo, a little-known journeyman goalkeeper. Mendes arranged for his transfer to Deportivo through the club’s president, Augusto César Lendoiro. It was the first deal Mendes, then a nightclub owner, ever did. “From then on, Mendes always felt he owed Lendoiro a debt of gratitude,” said Juan Yordi, a journalist who covers Deportivo for the Spanish newspaper Marca. The relationship is so close that Lendoiro calls Mendes his godson. In 2012, with Deportivo in severe financial trouble, Mendes helped Lendoiro acquire, mostly on loan, a number of his many clients at favorable rates: not the superstars but the more unremarkable likes of Silvio, Roderick Miranda and Nélson Oliveira. Deportivo might have struggled to build a squad otherwise, so desperate was the club’s situation. “He was doing Lendoiro a favor,” Yordi said. “He was repaying the debt and using players who needed a stage to build their careers to do it.” Image Jorge Mendes, a powerful agent, has orchestrated deals for numerous Valencia players. Credit Carlos Lujan for The New York Times Yordi acknowledged, though, that everything was business for Mendes. His intentions might have been good, but the effect was not. Deportivo was relegated, and few among his cadre of players made much of an impression. Yordi said that he did not assign Mendes the blame for Deportivo’s relegation but that the club’s fans “do not remember that period happily.” Mendes moved those players on, for the most part, replacing them on the club with other clients who helped Deportivo win promotion the following year. That is his business, of course, and he is very good at it. But as Deportivo — and now Valencia — might attest, that business is not always good for the clubs that seek to benefit from a connection to him. André Gomes, Valencia’s star, left for Barcelona last summer; so did Paco Alcácer, the club’s top striker. Both deals were reportedly overseen by Mendes, who also orchestrated Valencia’s signings of defenders Eliaquim Mangala and Ezequiel Garay. Valencia appears to be what Deportivo was just a few years ago: a carousel for Mendes players, with the squad’s stability and growth sacrificed for business — Mendes’s business. Its appeal is obvious: Nobody boasts the client list Mendes does. But the risk is also apparent. If the arrangement does not work out, Mendes can always move on; others are not so lucky. Lim is stuck with Valencia, an investment he has allowed to enter a sort of managed decline. His executives do not seem to know how to solve the problems. García Pitarch, like Prandelli, has departed. “Neither us received a payoff,” he said. “We resigned because we just could not work there any more.” That leaves the players, the people who saw it coming, still unable to escape.

Valencia
Soccer
Peter Lim
Jorge Mendes
Deportivo La Coruna Soccer Team


Woman Hit by Bus Near Central Park Dies

Abstract: A woman who was hit by a bus while crossing the street near Central Park has died, police said late Wednesday. The woman, 33, was crossing at 59th Street and Seventh Avenue around 8 p.m. when she was hit by an eastbound Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus, the police said. The authorities declined to name the woman, saying that her family had not yet been notified. She was taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in critical condition, according to an account provided by a Fire Department spokesman earlier Wednesday, but was pronounced dead on arrival, the police said. No criminality is suspected, the police said, but officers are investigating the death.

Traffic Accidents and Safety
Buses
Deaths (Fatalities)
Central Park (NYC)


Signaling Confidence in Support, House to Vote on Rescue Proposal

Abstract: WASHINGTON — House Democrats said late Thursday night that they would bring the $700 billion economic bailout package to the floor for a vote on Friday, signaling confidence that they had enough support to pass the bill. The move came after Republican leaders struggled on Thursday to persuade some of their members to reverse course and support the package and after top Democrats said earlier that that they would not bring the bill to the floor unless they were certain of victory. “I’m hopeful that there will be bipartisan, majority support for this bill that is critical to stabilizing our nation’s economy for all working Americans,” said the majority leader, Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland, who said the House would consider the bill Friday morning. Earlier Thursday, the White House and Congressional leaders maneuvered to drum up support and several lawmakers in each party said they were prepared to switch their votes. But others agonized amid a continuing deluge of calls from angry constituents. The Senate approved the bailout plan on Wednesday night with a solid bipartisan majority, 74 to 25, after adding a thick portfolio of popular tax provisions. The Senate action came after House members defied the leadership of both parties and rejected the plan on Monday. The House vote fell 12 votes short, with Republicans opposed by a two to one margin. It was opposed by 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans. The Senate proposal included more than $150 billion in tax breaks, including incentives for solar, wind and other renewable energy sources, but it included offsets to pay for only $43 billion, infuriating fiscally conservative Democrats in the House. “We may lose people,” Mr. Hoyer said earlier in the day. “Because frankly, the things that were added on and the way they were added on essentially appeal to Republicans.” In response to Mr. Hoyer's announcement, Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 House Republican and a chief negotiator of the bailout plan, said party leaders were optimistic but still pushing for support. "While I believe we have increased support on both sides of the aisle for this economic rescue package, we are leaving nothing to chance," Mr. Blunt said in a statement. "The stakes are simply too high. Leading up to the vote, we will continue to work with our members to get this critical piece across the finish line." But apparently it was not overwhelmingly appealing because only a few Republicans stated publicly that they were prepared to switch their votes to yes. One of them, Zach Wamp, Republican of Tennessee, said the economy was just in too precarious a state. “The time has come to act,” Mr. Wamp said in an interview on Fox Television. “If we do not go on the wall, it will be an ugly day in America.” Representative Jim Ramstad, Republican of Minnesota, said he also intended to switch and vote in favor because the Senate had added a provision requiring equivalence, or parity, in insurance coverage of mental and physical ailments. “The revised bill is a recovery bill for the economy and a recovery bill for millions of Americans suffering the ravages of mental illness and addiction,” said Mr. Ramstad, who has been working for “mental health parity” for more than a decade. There was also movement among some Democrats. Emanuel Cleaver II, Democrat of Missouri, announced that he would switch to yes from no. And John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, also planned to switch, Democratic aides said. A small group of Republicans said they were still hoping to amend the bill, and to reduce the amount of money the Treasury could spend on troubled assets of ailing financial firms to $250 billion, from $700 billion. Democrats said they had no plans to allow amendments, which would require the Senate to vote again, further delaying the plan. After last Monday’s rejection of the bailout plan, which sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 778 points, vote-counters in both parties said they were leaving nothing to chance. They were hunting for votes in precincts of Texas and Louisiana hurt by Hurricane Ike , and in storm-ravaged communities in the Midwest, pointing to $7.6 billion in disaster aid in the bill. They were scouring districts in northern New Jersey and other affluent suburbs with promises of relief from the alternative minimum tax . And they were looking to rural areas in the West, with aid for schools and for loggers and other struggling industries. All of these so-called sweeteners were part of a package of tax provisions, many of them related to the production and use of energy from renewable sources, that the Senate added to the bailout plan before easily approving the expanded package. Some House Democrats reacted furiously. They support many of the tax provisions and previously approved them, but had insisted they be offset by cuts in spending elsewhere. The Senate version added $107 billion in deficit spending. Mr. Hoyer said that some Democrats also wanted to amend the bill to add an extension of unemployment benefits, but that change would also have required additional Senate action. “I am not very sympathetic, necessarily, with making the Senate wait,” he said. “But I am sympathetic to making the economy wait. That is the problem.” To stave off another surprise defeat, House leaders were looking to build a comfortable cushion of votes before heading to the floor, and they enlisted the help of both presidential nominees, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Barack Obama of Illinois. President Bush, at a meeting with business leaders, urged Americans to call their representatives in Congress and demand that they vote for the bailout plan, which would authorize the Treasury to buy up to $700 billion in troubled debt from financial firms. “The bill that came over from the Senate includes a series of pork-barrel projects that are simply unacceptable not only to me but to the American people,” said Representative Spencer Bachus, Republican of Alabama. Mr. Bachus voted for the bailout on Monday but did not say how he would vote on Friday, echoing many other lawmakers. The phones were ringing nonstop in the office of Representative Steven R. Rothman, Democrat of New Jersey. Mr. Rothman voted against the bailout Monday, but many of his constituents would benefit from a provision to protect millions of middle-class families from paying the alternative minimum tax. A spokesman said Mr. Rothman had not decided whether to switch his vote. Representative Steven C. LaTourette, Republican of Ohio, said he believed that 15 House members would shift from no to yes if the pork-barrel tax items were eliminated and if the bill put tighter restrictions on the secretary of the Treasury. But other Republicans who voted no on Monday said they would hold firm. “I am a firmer ‘no,’ ” said Representative Joe Barton, Republican of Texas, who party leaders had thought might flip. “I don’t want to see the debt ceiling increased on $1 trillion with no way to pay for it.”

Troubled Asset Relief Program (2008)
Bush George W
House of Representatives


Falcons’ Blowout of Buccaneers Features a Record Return by Devin Hester

Abstract: Devin Hester high-stepped to an N.F.L. record with his 20th career return touchdown, Julio Jones caught two scoring passes and the Atlanta Falcons beat the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 56-14, on Thursday night. Atlanta scored all of its points in the first three quarters. Tampa Bay did not put up a point until midway through the fourth. Hester ran back a punt 62 yards down the left side midway through the second quarter to give the Falcons a seven-touchdown lead. He has 14 career punt return touchdowns, five scores on kickoffs and one on a fumble return. The previous record was held by the Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, a former Falcon who was working the game as a television analyst. Sanders was on the video board smiling and raising his arms as the public address announcer told the Georgia Dome crowd about Hester’s achievement. The Falcons tied a team record for largest halftime lead at 35 points. They were up, 42-7, against Tampa Bay on Jan. 1, 2012. Hester, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Chicago Bears before signing as a free agent with Atlanta, copied Sanders’s renowned high step, putting his left arm up beside his helmet after he ran past punter Michael Koenen to cover the last 20 yards. Hester scored earlier in the second on a 20-yard reverse. Jones made an acrobatic, 49-yard catch midway through the third, looking first over his left shoulder for quarterback Matt Ryan’s deep pass and then adjusting to catch the ball over his right shoulder to beat cornerback Alterraun Verner and make the score 42-0. Ryan and Jones had connected on an 8-yard score in the first quarter. Image Washington receiver DeSean Jackson’s injured shoulder could hamper him against Philadelphia. Credit Nick Wass/Associated Press GOVERNOR BACKS GOODELL Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is playing defense for the embattled commissioner Roger Goodell. Christie said he strongly believed Goodell should stay in his job despite mounting criticism over his handling of a domestic violence episode involving running back Ray Rice, a Baltimore Raven at the time and a former Rutgers star. Christie hailed Goodell as an outstanding and honest man with great integrity. The two worked together during the lead-up to last season’s Super Bowl, held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. Goodell admitted he made a mistake in the way he handled the case and should be judged on the totality of his work, Christie said. Christie made the comments during an appearance on New Jersey 101.5 FM’s “Ask the Governor” call-in show. Some female lawmakers in the state have called on Goodell to resign. JACKSON’S SHOULDER AILING DeSean Jackson remained unable to practice as the Washington Redskins prepared to face the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend. Jackson, a three-time Pro Bowl receiver, is recovering from a sprained left shoulder. He wore a visor instead of a helmet to practice and sat on a stationary bike while his teammates were stretching. “We’re going to push him a little bit more tomorrow to see where he’s at,” Coach Jay Gruden said. He added that Jackson could play a full game or perhaps just 20 to 30 plays, depending on how his shoulder feels. Jackson has been looking forward to facing the Eagles, who released him in March. He was hurt in the first quarter of Washington’s home victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Buccaneers
Atlanta Falcons
Redskins
Football
Sports injury


21 Die in Colombia Mine

Abstract: BOGOTÁ, Colombia , Oct. 13 (AP) — A landslide caused by local residents digging for rumored deposits of gold killed at least 21 people and injured 26 on Saturday at an abandoned mine in southern Colombia, authorities said. The provincial governor, Juan José Chaux, said a search for survivors at the mine, situated near the town of Suarez, 220 miles southwest of Bogotá, was suspended in the evening because of darkness and bad weather, which made the open-pit mine unsafe. Images broadcast by RCN news showed the mine as a pit about 25 feet deep and 160 feet in diameter. Rescuers waded waist-deep through the mire, and heavy machinery also worked to remove the mud.

Colombia
Landslides and Mudslides
Mines and Mining


Long Island Serial Killer Gets a Personality Profile

Abstract: He is most likely a white male in his mid-20s to mid-40s. He is married or has a girlfriend. He is well educated and well spoken. He is financially secure, has a job and owns an expensive car or truck. He may have sought treatment at a hospital for poison ivy infection. As part of his job or interests, he has access to, or a stockpile of, burlap sacks. And he lives or used to live on or near Ocean Parkway on the South Shore of Long Island, where the police have found as many as 10 sets of human remains. In interviews with serial-killer experts and criminologists, including a former F.B.I. profiler, a portrait emerges of the man who investigators on Long Island believe is responsible for several of the bodies they have discovered in the brush off Ocean Parkway since December. For the moment, he is known in law enforcement jargon only as Unsub, or unknown subject. No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been identified by the Suffolk County Police Department, which is leading the investigation. Profiling serial murderers is far from a precise science. There are nearly three million people on Long Island, and the man who killed at least four prostitutes who advertised for clients on Craigslist is perhaps but one. And the experts interviewed are sketching out a possible suspect based only on details of the case that have been publicly revealed, like the burlap sacks that the four women’s bodies were found in and the series of taunting phone calls that the killer is believed to have made to one victim’s relatives. “This is someone who can walk into a room and seem like your average Joe,” said Scott Bonn, an assistant professor of sociology at Drew University in Madison, N.J., and a serial-killer researcher. “He has to be persuasive enough and rational enough that he is able to convince these women to meet him on these terms. He has demonstrated social skills. He may even be charming.” One of the most important clues is where the 10 sets of remains were located: a 10-mile stretch of remote, poison-ivy-covered dunes just off Ocean Parkway on Jones Beach Island. In selecting one large dumping ground, the killer has distinguished himself from Long Island’s last two convicted serial killers, Joel Rifkin and Robert Shulman , both of whom scattered the bodies of their victims throughout the region and the state. The killer’s attraction to a single out-of-the-way area suggests to several experts that he has an intimate knowledge of Jones Beach Island in general and Ocean Parkway in particular. “He did not stumble upon that location,” said the former profiler, Jim Clemente, who retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2009 as a senior supervisory special agent in the agency’s behavioral analysis unit in Quantico, Va. “He has some familiarity with it.” Only 4 of the 10 sets of remains have been identified. Those four victims, who were found in December, were all in their 20s and had worked as prostitutes. Each one was reported missing in the summertime — on July 9, 2007; July 12, 2009; June 6, 2010; and Sept. 2, 2010. Investigators have said they believe that the four women were killed shortly after they were reported missing. The summertime disappearances suggest several characteristics. “There may be a seasonal nature to his connection to the area, or to his fantasy and ritual,” Mr. Clemente said. “It may be the time his wife or kids or parents are away for the summer. There are many possibilities.” The burlap sacks provide another clue. He could be using them either because they are part of his killing ritual or because they are the easiest cover he can find. Burlap, however, is no longer common, and it might be easier to trace than a plastic bag. “To me, it takes away from his forensic sophistication and criminal sophistication and adds to the possibility that he is more interested in this ritual aspect,” Mr. Clemente said. Investigators believe that the deaths of the four prostitutes were the work of a serial killer, but they have not publicly declared a connection between the first four bodies from December and the unidentified ones that were found more recently. The remains of a child may be among those discovered recently, raising the possibility that the dunes may have been used over the years by more than one killer. The Ocean Parkway serial killer is the third known to have preyed on prostitutes on Long Island in 22 years. Mr. Rifkin, a 34-year-old unemployed gardener from East Meadow, confessed to killing 17 women between 1989 and 1993, when he was arrested. Mr. Shulman, a 42-year-old postal worker from Hicksville, was convicted of killing and dismembering five prostitutes after he was arrested in 1996. Mr. Shulman died of natural causes in 2006 while serving life without parole. Mr. Rifkin, now 52, is an inmate at the Clinton state prison in Dannemora, N.Y., near the Canadian border. He is serving a 203-year sentence and is officially eligible for parole on Feb. 26, 2197. Besides singling out prostitutes, Mr. Rifkin, Mr. Shulman and the current killer have traits in common. All three are classified by serial-killer experts as organized killers. Serial killers are often broadly defined as either organized or disorganized. The model of the disorganized killer is Jack the Ripper, the name given to the unidentified serial killer of prostitutes in London in the 1880s. “A disorganized killer will be much more impulsive and haphazard,” said James Alan Fox, a criminology professor at Northeastern University who has studied serial killers for 30 years. “The disorganized killer is easy to catch. A lot of them don’t get enough victims to be defined as a serial killer. It takes a certain degree of care and carefulness to assemble dozens.” Organized killers use such care. They often lead seemingly stable lives, and are methodical, intelligent and educated (Mr. Rifkin attended the State University of New York at Farmingdale, and Mr. Shulman had been a student at Hofstra University). And, like the Ocean Parkway killer, they often have a knowledge of police work and forensic techniques. Some investigators have said the killer might be an active or former law enforcement officer, because his phone calls to the relative did not last long enough to pinpoint his location and were made from Times Square and other crowded sites, which would make it more difficult for the authorities to pick him out using surveillance cameras. Long Island’s three serial killers might also share similar motives. Fred Klein, the former Nassau County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Mr. Rifkin, said that Mr. Rifkin was driven to kill not out of anger or revenge, but out of pleasure. Before he began killing prostitutes, Mr. Rifkin had been obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1972 film “ Frenzy ,” about a serial killer in London, and he told officials he used to masturbate to the scenes in which women were strangled. “It was a psychosexual sadism,” said Mr. Klein, now an assistant professor at Hofstra Law School. “Most murders, there’s an additional motive to it. You want to eliminate witnesses, or there’s a fight, or you want to eliminate the person for some reason, such as a husband kills a wife or vice versa. Rifkin was killing people for the pure purpose of killing them. He would actually get sexual pleasure out of the murder.” Serial-killer experts say they believe that the current killer is fueled by similar impulses, as shown by his desire to call the teenage sister of one of his victims — using the victim’s cellphone — and taunt her. “That gives me an idea that he is a sadist,” said Mr. Clemente, the former profiler. “That would be reflected in his relationship and jobs. He is the one who laughs when a cat gets run over or a kid falls off his bike. He likes the suffering of others, and he really likes it when he can cause it or witness it.” Mr. Rifkin has offered his own opinions lately about who he thinks the killer is, in prison interviews with reporters. He told Newsday last week that he believed that the killer could be a local resident who works in a job in which no one would be suspicious if he carried burlap bags. “My guess,” Mr. Rifkin told the newspaper, “is it would be someone like a landscaper, contractor or a fisherman.”

Serial Murders
Rifkin Joel
Shulman Robert
Long Island (NY)


Michelle Obama Thrives in Campaign Trenches

Abstract: CHICAGO — There is no confusing Michelle Obama for her husband on the campaign trail. Asked at the Democratic debate in Los Angeles whether he would pick Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as a vice-presidential running mate, Senator Barack Obama said she “would be on anybody’s short list.” But when a television interviewer asked Mrs. Obama last week whether she would support Mrs. Clinton, if she won the nomination, Mrs. Obama was less generous. “I’d have to think about that,” Mrs. Obama said on “Good Morning America” on ABC. “I’d have to think about — policies, her approach, her tone.” Outspoken, strong-willed, funny, gutsy and sometimes sarcastic, Michelle Obama is playing a pivotal role in her husband’s campaign as it builds on a series of successes, including a sweep on Tuesday of contests in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Her personal style — forthright, comfortable in the trenches, and often more blunt than Mr. Obama — plays well with a broad swath of the electorate and has given the campaign a steelier edge while allowing Mr. Obama to stay largely above it all. “I am trying to be as authentically me as I can be,” Mrs. Obama said in an interview. “My statements are coming from my experiences and my observations and my frustrations.” Mrs. Obama says she dislikes politics — she insists there will be no second run for the presidency if her husband falls short this time — but relishes a good fight, the competition of it all. In the beginning, she had significant questions about an Obama candidacy. She pressed advisers for a blueprint of how the campaign would raise money and compete with Mrs. Clinton and other candidates. She gave her approval after seeing a concrete plan presented in strategy meetings in late 2006, all of which she attended. Now she is involved in most major facets of campaign strategy, always a fierce protector of her husband’s image. While the Obamas seldom travel together — fanning out much as the Clintons do — Mrs. Obama is often in touch with key advisers and her message is shaped by the same strategists who advise her husband. “The strategy is not to pigeonhole her to any one kind of audience,” said Valerie Jarrett, a close family friend who is a senior adviser to the Obama campaign. Growing up in Chicago, her brother, Craig Robinson, recalls, Mrs. Obama did not like watching close basketball games, but would always watch blowouts to the end. “She didn’t like the stress of watching,” said Mr. Robinson, the men’s basketball coach at Brown University. Thinking about the campaign for a moment, he added: “It’s much harder watching Barack in this race than watching my own team. It’s much harder to watch someone you love go through a close game.” At almost six feet tall in heels, Mrs. Obama, 44, cuts an athletic and authoritative figure in her tailored pantsuits and skirts. A Harvard-educated lawyer who had been earning $212,000 a year as a hospital executive before she took leave on Jan. 1, she delivers rousing 40-minute speeches — surveying topics as far-ranging as the specific failings of the federal No Child Left Behind education act and problems with the military strategy in Iraq — without the aid of even a notecard. A doting mother of two, Mrs. Obama has kept crowds waiting with telephone calls to her “little people” — daughters Sasha, 6, and Malia, 9. But Mrs. Obama’s confident, commanding presence has its drawbacks. At an address last month for an African-American awards gala in Atlanta, some in attendance were left feeling that she had been condescending, preaching to a group of achievers about the need to achieve. “Her speech was very long and inappropriate for that occasion,” said Vivian Creighton Bishop, a public official in Columbus, Ga., who supports Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Obama has also had to learn to tamp down her sometimes biting humor because it too often leaves Mr. Obama as the punch line. (It has been a long time since she has talked publicly about her husband of 15 years being smelly in the morning, as she told Glamour magazine, or forgetting to put away the butter.) “What I’ve learned is that my humor doesn’t translate to print all the time,” she said in the interview. “But usually when I’m speaking to a group, people understand what I’m trying to say, they get the humor, they understand the sarcasm, they get the joke.” Her audiences do laugh. Talking about how long it took her and Mr. Obama, 46, to pay off their student loans (they did so only in the last couple of years), she told a church audience in Cheraw, S.C., “I’m still waiting for Barack’s trust fund.” They cackled. She continued: “Then I heard Dick Cheney was supposed to be a relative! Thought we might be in for something here.” On some occasions, Mrs. Obama’s straight talk has also made it necessary for the campaign to explain her remarks. In the case of “Good Morning America,” campaign officials pointed out that in an unbroadcast portion of the interview, Mrs. Obama later acknowledged that as a good Democrat, she would need to support Mrs. Clinton if she were the nominee. Mrs. Obama’s nickname inside the campaign is “the closer” because she is skilled at persuading undecided voters to sign pledge cards. But as a smooth orator, she is also known as a connector, volunteering her own life lessons from working-class roots and discussing her confrontation with a culture of low expectations. She has been transparent about more mundane things, too, like leaning on her mother for child care while she is on the road. Mrs. Obama does not have a nanny, only her mother. “Thank God for Grandma!” Mrs. Obama says more than once on the campaign trail, adding that she “couldn’t breathe” if she thought her girls, who attend private school here in Chicago, were being neglected for the campaign. “I spend more time worrying about how do I keep their lives on track in the midst of this?” she said in the interview. “Barack and I both do. How do we keep our traditions whole? Those are the day-to-day concerns.” In a presidential campaign that has included discussions of race and gender, Mrs. Obama has a singular vantage point at the intersection of the two. As the advantage in some states has seesawed between Mr. Obama, of Illinois, and Mrs. Clinton, of New York, based in part on the votes of blacks and women, Mrs. Obama typically makes a plea for unity, even when race- or gender-based appeals might be expedient and easy. That was the case when they packed the pews to hear her one Friday night last month in a modest Methodist church in Orangeburg, S.C. “Oh, amen!” the participants cried out over the rise and fall of her voice, springing to their feet, howling their approval with hands lifted as if in praise. It was the eve of the Democratic primary in South Carolina, and Mrs. Obama was urging the audience to the polls. But they were urging her on, too: “Come on now, tell it, sister!” And so she did, focusing on the economic hardships facing many Americans: “What we have to understand in this race is that this is true regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of your gender,” she said to the mostly black audience. “This is the truth of living in America.” Interviews with people who know Mrs. Obama say she chose, even as a young adult, to strive for the opportunities that were closed to previous generations. Mrs. Obama grew up knowing, for instance, that her maternal grandfather, a carpenter, was squeezed out of the best jobs in Chicago because as a black man he was not allowed to join a union. But she said she had also been taught not to see race as a barrier, to look at the world in terms of what is possible, not the other way around. “My parents told us time and time again, ‘Don’t tell us what you can’t do,’ ” she said. “ ‘And don’t worry about what can go wrong.’ ” She talks on the campaign trail about high school advisers who tried to dissuade her from applying to Princeton because they thought her scores were not good enough. (She graduated with honors in sociology in 1985.) She talks about college counselors who said similar things about her desire to go to Harvard Law, from which she graduated and went on to one of the top corporate firms in Chicago. “I realized that gnawing sense of self doubt that lies within all of us is within our own heads,” she said in Atlanta. “The truth is we are more ready and more prepared than we even know. My own life is proof of that.” Mrs. Obama’s father, Fraser Robinson, provided for the family of four on a city worker’s salary. Her mother, Marian Robinson, now 70, stayed home and allowed their two children only one hour of television a night. Mrs. Obama and her brother were expected to fill their time with books, chess, sports — and, critically important they both said, dinnertime conversations with their parents. The defending of ideas, the back-and-forth, the debates, they were an early in-home version of what Mrs. Obama has come to do, almost full-time now, for her husband. At Harvard Law School, one professor recalled that Mrs. Obama was not one to mince words. “Michelle was a student in my legal profession class in which I ask students how they would react to difficult ethical and professional challenges,” said the professor, David B. Wilkins. “Not surprisingly, many students shy away from putting themselves on the line in this way, preferring to hedge their bets or deploy technical arguments that seem to absolve them from the responsibilities of decision-making. Michelle had no need for such fig leaves. She always stated her position clearly and decisively.” Mrs. Obama said her mother has been her No. 1 advocate and role model, even though their lives could not be more dissimilar. “I remember Michelle telling me about a teacher complaining about her temper in elementary school,” said Verna L. Williams, a law professor in Cincinnati who has been a friend of Mrs. Obama since their days at Harvard. “She said her mom told the teacher: ‘Yeah, she’s got a temper. But we decided to keep her anyway!’ ” Mrs. Obama is an organized and self-described “task master,” who has always been focused — so much so, that when she met Mr. Obama in 1989, when they were working at the same law firm in Chicago, she refused to go out on what Mr. Obama called “a proper date.” “Eventually I wore her down,” he wrote in his memoir. During the summer when she met Mr. Obama, Mrs. Obama said she was influenced by his sense of purpose, and began to change her own career to add more service to others. Martha L. Minow, a professor at Harvard Law School, did work with Mrs. Obama for a nonprofit educational group in Chicago. Dr. Minow’s father, Newton N. Minow, is senior counsel at Sidley Austin, the law firm where the Obamas met. Dr. Minow said she remembered hearing about the day Mr. Obama announced to her father that he would be leaving the firm to pursue public service. “My dad was very supportive,” she said. “Then he said, ‘One more thing, I’m going to take Michelle with me.’ ” And Mr. Obama did. Mrs. Obama left the firm, where she specialized in marketing and intellectual property, after two years and eventually founded the Chicago office of Public Allies, a national nonprofit leadership-training network for young adults. After that, she gravitated toward the University of Chicago, whose campus is in her own South Side neighborhood. As a whole, the university has an often-tense relationship with the poorer surrounding area, and Mrs. Obama’s job, as vice president for community and external affairs at the university’s medical center, is to form partnerships between the two. A recent project has focused on opening more neighborhood clinics to provide preventive care and take stress off the emergency room. Mrs. Obama earned a reputation as being equally tough on the hospital and the community in regard to their obligations to each other. Now, she often describes her life to audiences in terms of beating the culture of low expectations that confronted “a little black girl” from the South Side. “I wasn’t supposed to have my own successful career,” Mrs. Obama said in Atlanta. “They said my achievement must have been the result of racial preferences. And I am certainly not supposed to be standing here, maybe to become the next first lady of the United States.” Asked about the role of first lady, Mrs. Obama said she saw it as a full-time job. But, she hastened to add, she reserved the right to change her mind if she gets there.

Obama Michelle
Presidential Election of 2008
Obama Barack
Clinton Hillary Rodham


Things to Do on Long Island, Aug. 9 to 15, 2015

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events on Long Island. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to lical@nytimes.com. Comedy WESTHAMPTON BEACH Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Kathy Griffin. Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. $138 to $168. Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, 76 Main Street. 631-288-1500; whbpac.org. Film PORT WASHINGTON Landmark on Main Street “Some Like it Hot,” directed by Billy Wilder. Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. Free. Landmark on Main Street, 232 Main Street. landmarkonmainstreet.org/. 516-767-6444. ROSLYN HARBOR Nassau County Museum of Art “Edgar Degas: Of Dandies, Ballerinas, and Women Ironing,” 30-minute documentary offered in conjunction with two exhibitions of modernist art. Screening Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and Sundays 11 a.m. and noon. July 25 through Nov. 8. Nassau County Museum of Art, 1 Museum Drive. 516-484-9337; nassaumuseum.org. SOUTHAMPTON Southampton Cultural Center Southampton Jewish Film Festival, a series of primarily archival films. Sundays through Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. $15. Southampton Cultural Center, 25 Pond Lane. 631-287-4377; scc-arts.org. WATER MILL Parrish Art Museum “Atlantic Vibrations: Surf Movie Night Vol. 3 Outdoor Screening,” featuring short surf films. Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. $10. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Parrish Art Museum, 279 Montauk Highway. 631-283-2118; parrishart.org. For Children COLD SPRING HARBOR Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery and Aquarium “Blanding’s Turtles Celebration”; learn about Blanding’s turtles and make turtle-themed crafts and more. Aug. 9. $4 and $6; free for members and children under 3. Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery and Aquarium, 1660 Route 25A. 516-692-6768; cshfha.org. EAST HAMPTON Guild Hall KidFEST Arts and Crafts Workshop, hands-on arts and crafts projects. Aug. 19 at 4 p.m. $8 and $10. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Guild Hall, 158 Main Street. 631-324-4050; guildhall.org. GARDEN CITY Long Island Children’s Museum “Princess Frog — Fairy Tale Workshop,” a new musical by Lena Pennino based on an Italian folk tale. Aug. 12 at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. $5 with museum admission; $11 and $12. “A Hole in One,” celebrate National Golf Month by creating your own mini-golf hole. $5 with museum admission, $11 and $12. Long Island Children’s Museum, 11 Davis Avenue. 516-224-5800; licm.org. LEVITTOWN Governor’s Comedy Club Kid’s Daytime Comedy Show. Through Aug. 20. $19.78 and $24.73. Governor’s Comedy Club, 90 Division Avenue. govs.com; 516-731-3358. MELVILLE Hilton Long Island “Bizzydoo Kids Fest,” indoor family festival and expo. Aug. 9, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. $4 to $10; children under 2, free. Hilton Long Island, 598 BroadHollow Road. 800-973-1295; bizzydookidsfest.com. PORT WASHINGTON North Hempstead Beach Park “Kidstock,” a pint-size version of Woodstock. Aug. 16, noon to 5 p.m. Free. North Hempstead Beach Park, 175 West Shore Road. 516-869-6311; northhempsteadny.gov. SMITHTOWN Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts “Cinderella’s Glass Slipper.” Through Aug. 23. $15. Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East Main Street. 631-724-3700; smithtownpac.org. Music and Dance BAY SHORE Y.M.C.A. Boulton Center for the Performing Arts Dana Fuchs. Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. $30 and $35. Y.M.C.A. Boulton Center for the Performing Arts, 37 West Main Street. 631-969-1101; boultoncenter.org. BOHEMIA Connetquot Public Library “Little Wilson Band,” rhythm and blues. Aug. 19, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Free. Connetquot Public Library, 760 Ocean Avenue. connetquotlibrary.org; 631-567-5079. EAST HAMPTON Guild Hall Mavis Staples, R&B and gospel. Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. $53 to $100. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Guild Hall, 158 Main Street. 631-324-4050; Image SAG HARBOR “Sag Harbor For Breakfast” (2015), mixed-media painting, is one of the works featured in “Trinity,” an exhibition of recent works by Christopher Engel at the Romany Kramoris Gallery, 41 Main Street, on display through Aug. 13. For further information: 631-725-2499; kramorisgallery.com . Credit Noah Engel guildhall.org. GLEN COVE Morgan Park Morgan Park Summer Music Festival: “The British Invasion Tribute,” music of the 1960s. Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. Free. United States Navy Band Northeast, performing patriotic music and Americana. Aug. 23 at 7:30 p.m. Free. Morgan Park, Germaine Street and Landing Road. morganparkmusic.org; glencove-li.com. 516-671-0017. HUNTINGTON The Paramount Breaking Benjamin, with Young Guns. Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. $37.50 to $75. Machine Gun Kelly. Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. $20 to $50. Todd Rundgren: Global Tour 2015, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Aug. 18 at 8 p.m. $25 to $55. Butch Trucks & the Freight Train Band, featuring Berry Oakley Jr. Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. $10 to $30. The Paramount, 370 New York Avenue. 631-673-7300; paramountny.com. MALVERNE Crossroads Farm at Grossmann’s Crossroads Folk Festival. Aug. 16, 1:30 to 8:30 p.m. $15 and $18. Crossroads Farm at Grossmann’s, 480 Hempstead Avenue. 516-881-7900; crossroadsfolkfestival.com. OYSTER BAY Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park The North Shore Pops Concert Band presents a concert of big band music, Broadway show tunes, light classics, marches, and contemporary favorites. Aug. 15 at 6 p.m. Free. Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park, 1395 Planting Fields Road. 631-864-2574; northshorepops.org. PATCHOGUE Patchogue Theater for the Performing Arts “Ballroom With a Twist,” dance performance. Aug. 12 through 16. $54 to $89. Patchogue Theater for the Performing Arts, 71 East Main Street. 631-207-1313; patchoguetheatre.com. PORT JEFFERSON Theater Three “Beatlemania Now!,” tribute show. Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. $35. Theater Three, 412 Main Street. theaterthree.com. 631-928-9100. ROSLYN HARBOR Nassau County Museum of Art Joe Dubs and the Jazz Connection, Nassau County Museum of Art’s resident house band, jazz concert. Aug. 16 at 3 p.m. Free with museum admission, $4 to $10. Free. Nassau County Museum of Art, 1 Museum Drive. 516-484-9337; nassaumuseum.org. SAG HARBOR Bay Street Theater “Grey Gardens, the Musical,” based on the book by Doug Wright, with music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie. Through Aug. 30. $62.55 to $85. Bay Street Theater, Main and Bay Streets. 631-725-9500; baystreet.org. WESTBURY NYCB Theater at Westbury “Ballroom With a Twist,” dance performance. Aug. 9 at 8 p.m. $39.50 to $99.50. NYCB Theater at Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Road. 800-745-3000; livenation.com. WESTHAMPTON BEACH Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Mazl-tov!, a concert celebrating the centennial of National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene. Aug. 9 at 8 p.m. $35 to $55. “4 Girls 4,” performances by the Broadway stars Andrea McArdle, Faith Prince, Maureen McGovern and Randy Graff. Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. $75 to $115. Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, 76 Main Street. whbpac.org; 631-288-1500. Outdoors OLD WESTBURY Old Westbury Gardens Long Island Scottish Festival and Highland Games, with Highland competitions, pipe bands, concerts, British autos, vendors selling Scottish foods, fabrics, gifts and music. Aug. 22, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. $8 to $17. Old Westbury Gardens, 71 Old Westbury Road. 516-333-0048; oldwestburygardens.org. OYSTER BAY Oyster Bay Historical Society “Walking Tour of Oyster Bay,” Philip Blocklyn, historical society director, leads a walking tour of historic sites in the heart of Oyster Bay. Aug. 15 at 3 p.m. $15. Oyster Bay Historical Society, 20 Summit Street. oysterbayhistorical.org; 516-922-5032. RIVERHEAD Garden of Eve Organic Farm and Market Tomatofest, cherry tomato picking, heirloom tomato tasting, hayrides, a make-your-own salsa station, and workshops on growing and canning tomatoes. Aug. 22 and 23. $3, children under 6 free. Garden of Eve Organic Farm and Market, 4558 Sound Avenue. 631-722-8777; GardenOfEveFarm.com. Spoken Word LAWRENCE Rock Hall Museum “The Forgotten Funnyman: An Interview with Bud Abbott,” audio interview with Sal St. George of St. George Productions. Aug. 16, 6 to 9 p.m. $5 to $10. Rock Hall Museum, 199 Broadway. FriendsofRockHall.org. 516-239-1157. RIVERHEAD Suffolk County Historical Society “From Shore to Shore Exhibit: Boat Builders and Boatyards of Long Island.” Through Sept. 19. $5; members, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Suffolk County Historical Society, 300 West Main Street. suffolkcountyhistoricalsociety.org. 631-727-2881. WATER MILL Parrish Art Museum “The Curator’s View, Terrie Sultan on Andreas Gursky: Landscapes,” a gallery talk by the museum director, Terrie Sultan, on a solo exhibition by Andreas Gursky. Aug. 15 at 11 a.m. $10; Free for members, children, and students. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Parrish Art Museum, 279 Montauk Highway. 631-283-2118; parrishart.org. Image DIX HILLS “Beachy Keen” (2014), a digitally altered photograph by Holly Gordon, is in “Brush/Lens Project: The Nexus Where Painting and Photography Meet,” at the Art League of Long Island, 107 East Deer Park Road, through Aug. 23. A reception will be held on Aug. 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. A gallery talk will be held on Aug. 16, 2 to 4 p.m. For further information: 631-462-5400; artleagueli.org . Credit Holly Gordon Theater EAST ISLIP BayWay Arts Center “The 39 Steps,” comedy by Pat Barlow and John Buchan. Aug. 9. $18 and $20. BayWay Arts Center, 265 East Main Street. broadhollow.org. 631-581-2700. NORTHPORT John W. Engeman Theater at Northport “The Cottage,” comedy by Sandy Rustin. Through Sept. 6. $59 and $64. John W. Engeman Theater at Northport, 250 Main Street. 631-261-2900; engemantheater.com. OAKDALE CM Performing Arts Center “South Pacific,” a musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. Through Aug. 23. $20 to $29. CM Performing Arts Center, 931 Montauk Highway. 631-218-2810; cmpac.com. PORT WASHINGTON Paul D. Schreiber High School “Big Fish, the Musical,” with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by John August. Aug. 9. $5 and $10. Paul D. Schreiber High School, 101 Campus Drive. 516-316-8820. portsummershow.org. SMITHTOWN Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts “West Side Story,” music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents. Through Aug. 30. $35. Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East Main Street. 631-724-3700; smithtownpac.org. Museums and Galleries BELLPORT Gallery 125 “Arthur Pinajian (1914-1999), a Survey Exhibition.” Through Sept. 6. Fridays, 4 to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gallery 125, 125 South Country Road. Gallery125.org; 631-880-2693. BRIDGEHAMPTON Silas Marder Gallery “Ryan McGinness: Sign Trees,” a public installation of abstract street signs commissioned by the New York City Department of Transportation. Through Aug. 29. Thursdays through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Silas Marder Gallery, 120 Snake Hollow Road. 631-702-2306; silasmarder.com. BRIDGEHAMPTON The Design Studio “Upcycle,” an exhibition that celebrates artwork created from all recycled materials. Through Sept. 15. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Design Studio, 2393 Main Street. elisacontemporaryart.com. COLD SPRING HARBOR Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum “Sea Ink: American Sailors and Tattoo Art,” antique tattoo machines, inking tools and the origins of nautical tattoos. Through Aug. 31. $5 to $6; members and children under 5, free. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum, 301 Main Street. 631-367-3418. cshwhalingmuseum.org. CUTCHOGUE Alex Ferrone Photography Gallery “Translucent,” works by Karen Bell and Ennid Berger. Aug. 9. Alex Ferrone Photography Gallery, 25425 Main Road. alexferronegallery.com; 631-734-8545. DIX HILLS The Art League of Long Island “Brush/Lens Project: The Nexus Where Painting and Photography Meet,” works by the painter Ward Hooper and the photographer Holly Gordon. Through Aug. 23. Reception: Aug. 9, 2 to 4 p.m.; Gallery Talk Aug. 16, 2 to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Art League of Long Island , 107 East Deer Park Road. artleagueli.net. 631-462-5400. EAST HAMPTON Guild Hall “Roy Lichtenstein: Between Sea and Sky,” contemporary works. Aug. 8 through Oct. 12. Suggested donation: $7. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Guild Hall, 158 Main Street. guildhall.org. 631-324-4050. EAST HAMPTON Haute Hippie East Hampton “Summertime Salon,” group show. Through Sept. 6. Sundays through Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays to Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Haute Hippie East Hampton, 20 Newtown Lane. 212-239-6825. EAST ISLIP Islip Art Museum “IAM Pocket Sized,” group show. Through Sept. 13. Suggested donation, $5. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Islip Art Museum, 50 Irish Lane. islipartmuseum.org. 631-224-5402. GLEN COVE Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center “Scenes of Horror: A Photo-History of the Armenian Genocide,” film, text and photos. Through Sept. 30. Suggested donation, $10. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, noon to 4 p.m. Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, 100 Crescent Beach Road. 516-571-8040; holocaust-nassau.org. HEMPSTEAD Hofstra University Museum “Portfolios I: The 1970s,” highlighting distinctive artist portfolios of prints and photographs at the Emily Lowe Gallery. Through Aug. 14. Tuesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. “Enduring Images,” works responding to historic events, from the museum’s collection. Through Jan. 31. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hofstra University Museum, Hofstra University. 516-463-5672; hofstra.edu/museum. Image BRIDGEHAMPTON “Making Someone Else’s Bed” (2015), acrylic on linen, is in “Ryan McGinness: Sign Trees,” a solo show of recent paintings and sculptures that depict abstract street signs at the Silas Marder Gallery, 120 Snake Hollow Road, through Aug. 30. Information: 631-702-2306; silasmarder.com . Credit Farzad Owrang, via Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York HUNTINGTON Fotofoto Gallery “Project Lives: New York Public Housing Residents Photograph Their World,” group show. Through Aug. 29. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Fotofoto Gallery, 14 West Carver Street. 631-549-0448; fotofotogallery.org. HUNTINGTON Heckscher Museum of Art “Before Selfies: Portraiture Through the Ages.” Aug. 9. $4 to $8; under 10, free. “Power, Politics and War: Selections From the Permanent Collection,” Through Aug. 31. Wednesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Heckscher Museum of Art, 2 Prime Avenue. heckscher.org; 631-351-3250. HUNTINGTON Ripe Art Gallery “The Rights of Summer,” a juried photography exhibition. Through Sept. 5. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 2 to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; or by appointment. Ripe Art Gallery, 1028 Park Avenue. 631-239-1805; ripeartgal.com. MANHASSET The Art Guild at Elderfields “Internal Affair,” exhibition of the art of instructors, studio artists and board members of the Art Guild of Port Washington. Through Aug. 30. The Art Guild at Elderfields, 200 Port Washington Boulevard. 516-304-5797; theartguild.org. OYSTER BAY Collector Car Showcase “The American Hot Rod,” exhibition. Aug. 14 through Oct. 31. $5 to $10; free under 7. Collector Car Showcase, 85 Pine Hollow Road (Route 106). collectorcs.com; 516-802-5297. OYSTER BAY Oyster Bay Historical Society “Hats Off! An Assembly of Extraordinary Headwear From the Society’s Collection,” 20th-century men’s and women’s hats, athletic headgear and military helmets. Through Sept. 13. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. Oyster Bay Historical Society, 20 Summit Street. 516-922-5032; oysterbayhistorical.org. PATCHOGUE Artspace Patchogue Gallery “Ugly,” group show. Through Aug. 15. Artspace Patchogue Gallery, 20 Terry Street, Suite 116. 631-627-8686 . REMSENBURG Remsenburg Academy ArtRemsenburg presents “Daylight and Darkness,” paintings by Peter Beston. Through Aug. 9. Remsenburg Academy, 130 South Country Road. 631-325-0750; remsenburgassociation.com. ROSLYN HARBOR Nassau County Museum of Art “The Moderns,” encompassing two exhibitions of modern art. “Selections from the Saltzman Family Collection.” “Long Island Collects Modern Art.” “Posters of the Russian Revolution: 1917-1921.” “Frank Olt: New Works.” Through Nov. 8. $4 to $10, children 4 and under and members free. Nassau County Museum of Art, 1 Museum Drive. nassaumuseum.org; 516-484-9337. SAG HARBOR Dodds & Eder Home “Nature’s End,” group show. 917-239-0493; zeigerarts.com. Wednesdays through Mondays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dodds & Eder Home, 11 Bridge Street; 631-725-1175; doddsandederhome.com. SAG HARBOR Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery “Looking Forward Into the Past,” contemporary art. Through Aug. 23. Sundays through Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Richard J. Demato Fine Arts Gallery, 90 Main Street. rjdgallery.com; 631-725-1161. SAG HARBOR Romany Kramoris Gallery “TRINITY,” recent work by Christopher Engel. Through Aug. 13. Romany Kramoris Gallery, 41 Main Street. 631-725-2499; KramorisGallery.com. SAG HARBOR Sag Harbor Whaling Museum “East End Artists: Then and Now,” works from contemporary Hamptons artists. Through Aug. 23. Donations accepted. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sag Harbor Whaling Museum, 200 Main Street. 631-725-0770; sagharborwhalingmuseum.org. SETAUKET Gallery North “American Icons: Printmaking,” group show. Through Aug. 21. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Gallery North, 90 North Country Road; gallerynorth.org. 631-751-2676. ST. JAMES Mills Pond House Gallery 34th Annual Juried Photography Exhibition. Through Aug. 29. Wednesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Mills Pond House Gallery, 660 Route 25A. 631-862-6575; stacarts.org. STONY BROOK Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages “Gilding the Coasts: Art and Design of Long Island’s Great Estate Era,” group show. Through Oct. 25. $5 to $10; members and children under 6, free. Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages, 1200 Route 25A. 631-751-0066; longislandmuseum.org. WATER MILL Sara Nightingale Gallery “True Confections,” ceramics by Monica Banks, embroideries and photographs by Christa Maiwald. Through Sept. 3. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sara Nightingale Gallery, 688 Montauk Highway. 631-793-2256; saranightingale.com. WATER MILL Water Mill Museum “Summer Waters,” East End Photographers Group summer exhibition. Through Aug. 10. Thursdays through Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. Water Mill Museum, 41 Old Mill Road. 631-726-4625; watermillmuseum.org.


As the Clock Ticks Down, Mayor Bloomberg Experiences 12 Years of Gratitude

Abstract: On the last day of his last term as mayor of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg put on a pinstripe gray-and-blue suit, tied a red-and-white tie, and soaked up something that is rarely proffered: the unabashed gratitude of a brusque city. Outside the New York Public Library, a husky middle-age man with a heavy Brooklyn accent walked up to him, hand outstretched. “Mayor Bloomberg,” the man shouted, “you did a great job. Thank you for being our mayor for the past 12 years.” The mayor broke his stride, turned and smiled. “I wish you could stay on,” the man added. The mayor’s smile widened. He shook his hand. So it went on Tuesday, as the city absorbed the end an improbable era — the C.E.O. Mayor — that began in the dark days after Sept. 11, 2001, and stretched, against all odds, not to mention a term-limits law, until midnight on Tuesday. It was a day of valediction and nostalgia. Mr. Bloomberg, who obsesses about the passage of time, right down to the minutes left in his mayoralty, kept a watchful eye on the clock. At an interfaith breakfast inside the library, he flipped open his black leather iPad case to find a speech with a stark heading at the top. “Last Day,” it read. One by one, religious leaders took to the microphone, offering him praise from a source that seemed to humble even the billionaire mayor: God. “This great City of New York has never flourished more than today,” declared a rabbi from Staten Island. “We have been blessed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s presence among us.” A sheikh from the Bronx was effusive, praising Allah, then Mr. Bloomberg: “We are here to pray for you. Because under your leadership, Mr. Mayor, the city is safer, cleaner, nicer, healthier and friendlier.” When it was his turn, Mr. Bloomberg abandoned his usual recitation of legacy-burnishing statistics. Instead, he simply thanked those in the room, reminding them that they, not he, were the on-the-ground soothers and problem-solvers who had made the city work over the past 12 years. “I have always been envious of you,” he said. “Because you work at the real level where the real problems are. At my level, you talk about them. You look at the grand scheme. You look at averages.” A children’s choir began to sing “When You Believe,” a soaring ballad about miracles. Mr. Bloomberg looked on, tapping his foot lightly, but seemed distracted. His gaze drifted slowly to the crowd, his eyes growing glassy. Image Michael R. Bloomberg received a warm send-off in Manhattan on Tuesday at an interfaith breakfast, one of his last public events as New York City's mayor. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times It was his final speech as mayor. The changing of the guard was evident everywhere. During Mr. Bloomberg’s last walk into City Hall, he bumped into his successor, Bill de Blasio, rehearsing his inaugural address on the front steps. The two shared a polite but awkward handshake. Inside, the digital countdown clocks that became a hallmark of his administration’s urgent style of governance relentlessly ticked down: 0 days, 13 hours and 30 minutes left. Mr. Bloomberg’s bullpen was transformed into a rolling reunion. Old aides showed up at the mayor’s desk in a nonstop procession, many of them with stroller-bound children in tow. Mr. Bloomberg patiently sat through impromptu photo sessions with them all. He joked about a life out of power. He would finally get around to using that library card, he promised. And take up running outdoors again (which he gave up, as impractical, once becoming mayor). He waxed about his pride after 4,383 days on the job. “I will be able to look back and tell my kids, your father tried to do something to make your life and your children’s better,” he said. Around 2 p.m., he sat down at his desk and pulled out a white card with his name emblazoned across the top. Below it, he wrote out a letter of congratulations to his successor, just like the one Rudolph W. Giuliani had left for him. There were 10 hours left on the clock. A little before 5 p.m., the mayor stood up on his desk, surrounded by his staff members, his sister and his younger daughter, and bid farewell. “I always wanted to stand up here,” he said. From there, he walked out of City Hall, coatless into the cold night, where a receiving line of old aides, city firefighters and police officers snaked for a quarter of a mile. “Three more terms!” yelled one of them, as Mr. Bloomberg passed. His staff released three golden balloons in the shape of “108,” his place in the history of New York mayors. Mr. Bloomberg relished the moment. “If I wasn’t happy today, I don’t know when I’d be happy,” he said. With that, he descended into the subway, swiped his senior discount MetroCard, and boarded a No. 4 train home to the Upper East Side. A subway passenger asked what he was looking forward to on Wednesday, when he would be a mayor no more. “Sleep in a little bit,” he said, as the train rumbled on.


Hillary Clinton Joins Husband’s Foundation

Abstract: EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. — Settling the question of whether she would be part of her husband’s foundation or start her own, Hillary Rodham Clinton has hired a former State Department aide to join her at what is now being called the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Until recently it was called the William J. Clinton Foundation. The aide, Maura Pally, had last worked with Mrs. Clinton, then secretary of state, as the acting deputy assistant secretary for educational and cultural affairs. She had also been an adviser on her 2008 presidential campaign and a special assistant in the White House Counsel’s Office under President Clinton. She will serve as the executive director of Mrs. Clinton’s office at the foundation, directing Mrs. Clinton’s work there, much of which is expected to focus on the women’s issues she championed at the State Department. Soon after Mrs. Clinton left the State Department this year, friends said she had been weighing whether to start her own foundation or join that of her husband, which is already well established and financed. The news of Ms. Pally’s hiring, announced to the foundation staff in an e-mail from the its chief executive, Bruce R. Lindsey, was reported on Thursday by Politico. Mrs. Clinton, a possible 2016 presidential contender, has shown few signs of slowing down following her return to civilian life in February. But at the very least, she will get some relaxation in this summer. Dan’s Papers, a local publication in the Hamptons, reported this month that she and the family would move back into a palatial, oceanfront home here. It belongs to the real estate executive Elie Hirschfeld, and the Clintons have rented it for a month starting later this summer. They also rented it last summer. According to a Sotheby’s listing for the home from 2012, captured by the Internet archiving site Wayback Machine, the home has eight bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms and five fireplaces. Listed at the time for $25 million, it also has stunning views of the Atlantic. The house is on a stretch of Georgia Beach that suffered serious erosion even before Hurricane Sandy. But a visit there on Thursday found it to be back in pristine form.


Bloomberg’s Next Battle: Update Services for Elderly

Abstract: After clashes with entrenched interest groups over education, firehouse closings and other knotty issues, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to bring his business-minded, results-based approach to an especially challenging constituency: the elderly. Mr. Bloomberg has indicated that he sees the city’s sprawling array of 329 often homespun senior centers as inefficient and outdated. So for the first time, senior centers, which are typically tucked into churches or housing projects and locally run, must submit plans for more health, education and culture programs to bolster dwindling attendance. The centers will also be evaluated — and potentially penalized by having funds taken away — based on performance measures. At the same time, to streamline operations, the mayor is reducing the number of centers that provide case managers, the workers who guide the elderly through everyday tasks that can range from making medical appointments to filling out tax forms. The overhaul is vital, city officials say, to keep pace with a projected 46 percent surge over the next 25 years in the number of people over 60 years old, the city’s fastest-growing group. Among the more controversial changes is Mr. Bloomberg’s aim to contract with high-volume food vendors, including some from out of state, to replace local kitchen staffs that prepare meals, whether they be kosher in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or vegetarian at the United Hindu senior center in Jamaica, Queens. The new vendors would also provide more frozen meals, which are less costly and would require less frequent deliveries than the hot meals that come five days a week. For many people, however, those hot meals are something of an inalienable right. The plans are creating anxiety and a kind of culture clash in the neighborhoods, where elderly people treasure the intimacy of the centers and often enjoy meals and activities that reflect the ethnic makeup of the residents. “Picture yourself as an 80-year-old person, and English isn’t your native language, and you want to eat the food you’re used to,” said Bobbie Sackman, director of public policy for the Council of Senior Centers and Services, which represents 200 agencies. “If you take away an anchor from the neighborhood, you’re dismantling the world of those seniors.” To these critics, Mr. Bloomberg’s plan is a clunky one-size-fits-all mathematical exercise that favors numbers over people, standardization over local quirks. And it reinforces a view, they said, of Mr. Bloomberg as an out-of-touch billionaire who does not fully grasp that the current community-based system is exactly what makes New York so, well, New York. “The whole thing is driven by money, and people are seen as widgets or pencils or whatever,” said Carol J. Hunt, executive director of the Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults, which has served southeast Queens for 35 years. “They say they’re not going to close senior centers. But they’ll force us to do it because we won’t be able to sustain our services.” Still, even some detractors concede that the Bloomberg administration deserves credit for thinking about the future. Though senior centers receive some federal money, the bulk of their financing is from the city. Other groups that assist the elderly have adopted a less adversarial stance to the changes, hoping to influence how the roughly $150 million in the city’s budget will be applied. Getting it right is crucial, they say, because of rough economic times, as exemplified by the cuts to senior programs in the budget for the fiscal year that begins Tuesday. “We think the modernization of the senior services in the city is an important objective, and the seniors today are not the seniors of 40 years ago,” said Ronald Soloway, managing director of government and external relations for UJA-Federation of New York. “The modernization is going on in a difficult fiscal environment, but the mayor is doing what the experts in the field say is necessary to meet the aging population’s needs.” The plan would also move New York closer to what many other cities have already been doing for many years. In Chicago, roughly 8 out of 9 people classified as homebound seniors have frozen meals delivered, said Joyce Gallagher, the city’s senior services commissioner. And Philadelphia relies on only three vendors to prepare meals and a fourth to deliver them to 5,600 people — roughly the number served in Queens. By contrast, New York’s Meals on Wheels program now has contracts with 96 vendors to feed 17,000 homebound people. “When people think about New York, they think about the bigness of it all,” said Toni Clemmons, director of program management for the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging, a private nonprofit group active in the meal-delivery process. “I think they’re looking to make the system more efficient, and that’s always a good thing.” As with most Bloomberg initiatives, the plan is driven largely by data. With the population over the age of 60 projected to reach 1.84 million in 2030, the plan is a crucial component of the city’s All Ages Project, aimed at making the city more livable, in terms of transportation, health care and other matters, for the elderly. Yet, with some 30,000 New Yorkers visiting the city’s senior centers daily, 44 percent of the centers are underutilized, according to Edwin Mendez-Santiago, the commissioner for the Department for the Aging. “We need an infrastructure in the city that’s capable of meeting the incredible need,” said Linda I. Gibbs, the city’s deputy mayor for health and human services. “It would be a disaster if we don’t think and act and plan now.” By Tuesday the city is scheduled to finish reducing by almost 30 percent the number of senior centers that employ case managers. It has not been easy. In Brooklyn, case-management contracts are being given to seven centers, down from 12. And one center that lost its contract, Prospect Hill Senior Services Center in Park Slope, was forced to shed 10 of 21 employees. So for people like Frances Ferrara, 78, that means that the woman who used to help her fill out her tax forms and home-heating paperwork is now at another location in Brooklyn Heights. “We were friends, so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Ms. Ferrara, a retired secretary, during a recent lunch at the center. “I can’t believe no one’s here anymore. Empty.” In August, the city is expected to reduce the number of meal-delivery contracts by 80 percent. To improve efficiency, the city wants to increase the number of vendors capable of delivering more than 100,000 meals a year — a status held by only six vendors last year. Another goal is to increase participation. Last year, the city’s senior centers delivered 8.2 million meals, down from 9.1 million in 1998. And thanks to improvements in food technology, city officials are confident that many people will eventually prefer frozen meals — something that a pilot program in the Bronx has already demonstrated. “I want mine frozen because sometimes I have to save it for later, or I don’t finish it,” said Leroy Kelley, 88, of the Bronx. “It’s a lifesaver. I love it.” But some advocates worry whether big vendors will be sensitive to local dietary, cultural, religious and ethnic considerations. In October, the city will start asking senior centers to submit plans to reinvent themselves as wellness centers to attract more, and younger, people. The city plans to measure each center’s success by benchmarks like attendance and the number of flu shots and blood tests given. “The senior centers were set up as feeding programs,” Ms. Gibbs said. “Over the last 40 years, nobody has really asked them to do anything differently. We want them to be relevant, we want them to be future-minded, and we want them to be places that actually draw members of the community in.”

Food
Aged
New York City
Bloomberg Michael R


European Union Plans System for National Debt Crises

Abstract: BRUSSELS — European Union leaders decided Friday to create a permanent rescue system to handle sovereign debt crises like the one that threatened Greece this spring, but argued openly over whether private investors should share the burden of future bailouts. The rift emerged between economically strong countries, like Germany and France, which insist that bondholders should shoulder some of the cost of any future restructuring, and weaker ones like Spain that worry that such rules could set off a panic in the markets. The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet , argued against involving investors, putting him at odds with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel , and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy. Greece’s debt crisis reverberated through Europe this spring, threatening several other weak economies and prompting the European Union to put together a 750 billion euro rescue package. That package expires after 2013. European taxpayers largely absorbed the risk of that bailout, while private investors were mostly shielded. At a two-day summit meeting here, European leaders tried to bridge the differences over how to structure a new rescue mechanism. Determined to include the principle of moral hazard, Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is actively pushing for a system in which bondholders would absorb some of the risk. But Mr. Trichet argued that such a system would scare investors and drive up short-term borrowing costs for weaker nations, thus endangering their recovery. Mr. Trichet suggested that some European countries underestimated the extent to which the financial crisis had upset markets and made weaker countries vulnerable to investor anxiety, according to several officials who spoke on the customary conditions of anonymity. European leaders did little to hide the sharp divergence of views when the meeting ended Friday. “We do have differing approaches,” Mrs. Merkel, said. “The president of the European Central Bank has the view that he wants to do everything to ensure that markets take a calm view of the euro zone,” she said. “We are also interested in that, but we also have to keep in mind our people, who have a justified desire to see that it’s not just taxpayers who are on the hook, but also private investors.” “I don’t quite share Jean-Claude Trichet’s concern,” she added. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, played down reports that he clashed with Mr. Trichet over the issue. “To say that I was irritated is wrong,” he said, “but I don’t think we can be told that we are not aware of the seriousness of the situation when I see the courage, the boldness, of decisions taken by the Greek government, the Spanish government, the Portuguese government, by the Irish government, by each and every one of us.” The Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, however, defended Mr. Trichet’s stance against requiring bondholders to share the burden, saying “the message alone is risky.” “We have to be prudent enough to listen carefully to the E.C.B.,” he said after the meetings. “We are close to those who would be very cautious before including in the mechanism the private sector.” Any decision to involve bondholders was “a very difficult question that has to be addressed very cautiously,” added the prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker. The central bank declined to comment on the debate and would not confirm what positions Mr. Trichet took. Germany’s position at these meetings is consistent with its reluctance to bail out Greece this spring, when it argued that it shouldn’t have to pay for the excesses of a European neighbor. In the end, Mrs. Merkel reluctantly helped create a temporary crisis fund for the euro zone. But to create a permanent rescue mechanism for the future, she said, would require a change in the Lisbon Treaty, which governs how the European Union operates. On Friday, European leaders agreed on the need for a “limited” change in the treaty but rejected Mrs. Merkel’s proposal that spendthrift nations be stripped of their voting rights in the union. Germany argues that, because no euro zone country is supposed to be bailed out by another, changes to the treaty would be needed to avoid constitutional challenges to the creation of a permanent crisis fund. In addition to debating the structure of a new crisis mechanism, the leaders also approved a set of tougher budget rules, which included new sanctions against euro-zone states that fail to keep deficits and debt in check. The rules also require that nations issue earlier warnings over asset bubbles and declining competitiveness. The toughest task now falls to the European Commission, which must create the new, permanent rescue mechanism to deal with sovereign debt emergencies. It will examine “the role of the private sector, the role of the International Monetary Fund and the very strong conditionality under which such programs should operate,” said a communiqué at the conclusion of the meeting. Officials insisted that the system would apply only to new debt issued by countries. Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies, said that Europe needed to break out of a Catch-22 situation. “Because we have the crisis, we cannot ask creditors to participate, and because we don’t ask them to participate, the crisis continues,” he said. Mrs. Merkel’s position seemed to be closely in line with that of Axel A. Weber, president of the German Bundesbank. Mr. Weber told a dinner audience in Frankfurt on Thursday that it should be clear to bond investors that “the next time there is a problem, they should be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.” Bondholders should be part of talks on how to deal with a future sovereign debt crisis, he said. In response to a question, he said, “So far the only ones who have paid for the solution are the taxpayers.” Mr. Weber emphasized that he was not suggesting that any current debt be restructured. But he said it created false incentives for government leaders and investors if countries that manage their finances poorly pay only slightly more interest on their debt than responsible countries. “Naturally the market will demand higher premiums from countries that have less solid finances,” he said.

European Union
Credit and Debt
Treaty of Lisbon (2007)
Trichet Jean-Claude
Merkel Angela


Iraqi Favors Short Security Pact With U.S.

Abstract: BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki publicly confirmed Monday that his government was leaning toward concluding a short-term security pact with the United States instead of a broader agreement that would last for years. The legal authority for American troops in Iraq is now provided by a United Nations mandate that expires at the end of the year. Iraq and the United States have been negotiating details of a broad new agreement that would formalize the security relationship, but with elections nearing in both countries and opposition likely from the Iraqi Parliament, Iraqi leaders seemed to be opting for a narrower and short-term pact. Mr. Maliki’s office said in a statement that the “current trend is toward reaching a memorandum of understanding” that would extend the presence of American troops for a period of time. While the statement used the words “scheduled withdrawal” about American troops, it did not seem to mean that a precise timetable for troops to depart was being negotiated. Ali al-Adeeb, a prominent leader in Mr. Maliki’s political party, said in a telephone interview that while there were many options for withdrawal and several end points under discussion, “We think that what is suitable for withdrawal is when our soldiers are ready and well armed to take the responsibility.” The issues being negotiated are prickly: How much control, if any, should Iraqis have over American security operations? Should American soldiers have the right to detain suspects without Iraqi approval? Iraq’s Parliament said Monday that it would vote next Tuesday on a law to authorize and set rules for provincial elections this year. Lawmakers agreed to resolve by a simple majority vote several troublesome issues, like whether there should be a minimum quota for women in the legislature and whether parties should be allowed to use religious symbols. In other developments, a crackdown continued against members of the political party of the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, as Iraqi authorities arrested Salam Abdulwahed Jubara, the manager of the education department in al-Majar al-Kabeer, a village in southern Iraq. The governor of Maysan Province, where the village is located, is Adel Muhoder, whose arrest has been ordered by Iraqi authorities. He is Mr. Jubara’s uncle, a security official said. In Diyala Province, near the Iranian border, an improvised explosive near Mandali killed a family of four. The four, who were ethnic Kurds, were traveling in a vehicle when the explosion occurred. In the same province, a bomb exploded in the Mafraq market in Baquba, killing a woman and wounding 14 others. Two more women were killed in an explosion on a farm north of the city, an Iraqi official said. A bomb attack on a convoy south of the northern city of Mosul killed four contractors and wounded eight others, the American military said in a statement.

Iraq
United States
United Nations
Politics and Government
United States Armament and Defense
International Relations
Maliki Nuri Kamal al-
Tavernise Sabrina
Baghdad (Iraq)