Things to Do in Connecticut, June 28 to July 4, 2015

Abstract: A guide to cultural and recreational events in Connecticut. Items for the calendar should be sent at least three weeks in advance to ctcal@nytimes.com. Comedy MANCHESTER The Hartford Funny Bone Dominique. Through June 28. $20. Rod Paulette. July 2 through 5. $15 and $17. The Hartford Funny Bone, 194 Buckland Hills Drive. hartfordfunnybone.com; 860-432-8600. Film HARTFORD Cinestudio “National Theater Live: ‘The Audience,’ ” screening of the play starring Helen Mirren. June 28 at 2:30 p.m. $12 and $20. “The Last Waltz” (1976), directed by Martin Scorsese. Through July 2. $7 and $9. “Woman in Gold,” directed by Simon Curtis. July 3 through 9. $7 and $9. Cinestudio, 300 Summit Street. 860-297-2463; cinestudio.org. HARTFORD Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art “The New Rijksmuseum,” documentary directed by Oeke Hoogendijk. June 28 at 2 p.m. $7 to $9. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main Street. 860-278-2670; thewadsworth.org. NEW HAVEN College Street Music Hall “Fare Thee Well,” screening of a concert featuring Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir. July 3 through 5. $17 and $22, three-day pass, $42. College Street Music Hall, 238 College Street. collegestreetmusichall.com; 877-987-6487. STAMFORD Avon Theater “The Big Lebowski” (1998), directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. July 1 at 8:30 p.m. $7 to $12. Carte Blanche members, free. Avon Theater, 272 Bedford Street. 203-967-3660; avontheatre.org. TORRINGTON Warner Theater “Alive Inside,” documentary by Michael Rossato-Bennett. June 28 at 2 p.m. Free. “Field of Dreams” (1989), starring Kevin Costner. July 2 at 7 p.m. $5, children under 12, free. Warner Theater, 68 Main Street. warnertheatre.org; 860-489-7180. WESTPORT Westport Country Playhouse “The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story” (1996), documentary by Susan Warms Dryfoos. $20. June 29 at 8 p.m. Prescreening dinner begins at 6 p.m. Dinner and screening is $125. Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court. 203-227-4177; westportplayhouse.org. WOODBRIDGE J.C.C. of Greater New Haven “Body and Soul,” documentary by Gloria Z. Greenfield. June 30 at 7 p.m. Free. J.C.C. of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Road. jewishnewhaven.org; 203-387-2522. For Children GREENWICH Bruce Museum “Family Studio Workshop: Painting Ceramics.” June 28 at 1 p.m. $7 and $15. Toddler Tour: Covered in Fur. Ages 3 to 5. June 30 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Free with museum admission. $6 and $7; members and children under 5, free. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. 203-869-0376; brucemuseum.org. NORWALK Maritime Aquarium “Flutter Zone,” walk-through butterfly encounter. Through Sept. 7. $12.95 to $19.95. “Picture the Moment,” International Children’s Art Exhibit. Through Sept. 1. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maritime Aquarium, 10 North Water Street. maritimeaquarium.org; 203-852-0700. STAMFORD Stamford Museum & Nature Center Marvelous Mud Day. Learn about dirt, decomposers and food that grows in the ground. June 28, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free with admission. $5 to $10; members and children under 3, free. Stamford Museum & Nature Center, 39 Scofieldtown Road. 203-322-1646; stamfordmuseum.org. Music and Dance BETHEL Pizzeria Lauretano Jens Wendelboe Quartet, jazz. June 28 at 6 p.m. $15. Pizzeria Lauretano, 291 Greenwood Avenue. 203-792-1500; pizzerialauretano.com. BRIDGEPORT The Bijou Theater The Swedish Jenny Lind Concert, opera. June 30 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $25. The Bijou Theater, 275 Fairfield Avenue. 203-332-3228; thebijoutheatre.com. FAIRFIELD StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company Papa Mali, rock and blues. June 28 at 7:45 p.m. $28. StageOne, Fairfield Theater Company, 70 Sanford Street. fairfieldtheatre.org; 203-259-1036. FALLS VILLAGE Music Mountain Juilliard String Quartet, classical. June 28 at 3 p.m. $60. Colin Carr, cello, and Jonathan Yates, piano. July 3 at 7:30 p.m. $30. Jeff Newell’s New-Trad Quartet, traditional American. July 4 at 6:30 p.m. $27. Arianna String Quartet with Colin Carr, classical. July 5 at 3 p.m. $30. Music Mountain, 225 Music Mountain Road. musicmountain.org; 860-824-7126. HAMDEN The Outer Space Stacy Phillips and His Bluegrass Characters. June 30 at 7:30 p.m. Free. The Outer Space, 295 Treadwell Street. theouterspace.net; 203-288-6400. HARTFORD Infinity Hall Hartford Tom Rush, folk. June 28 at 7:30 p.m. $39 to $59. Lotus Land, Rush tribute band. July 3 at 8 p.m. $24 and $39. Gunsmoke, country. July 4 at 8 p.m. $15 and $20. Destiny Africa Children’s Choir. July 5 at 7:30 p.m. $20 and $35. Infinity Hall Hartford, 32 Front Street. infinityhall.com; 860-560-7757. MASHANTUCKET Grand Theater, Foxwoods Casino Romeo Santos, Bachata. June 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. $128 and $198. Heart, rock. July 3 at 8 p.m. $40 and $60. Grand Theater, Foxwoods Casino, 350 Trolley Line Boulevard. 800-200-2882; foxwoods.com. MIDDLETOWN Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University Las Cafeteras, Afro-Caribbean and folk. July 1 at 7 p.m. Free. Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terrace. 860-685-3355; wesleyan.edu/cfa. NORFOLK Infinity Hall Junior Brown, country and blues. July 3 at 8 p.m. $45 and 460. Red, White and Blues Barbecue featuring Mighty Soul Drivers and Blues in the Dark. July 5 at 5 p.m. $19 and $35. Infinity Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road. 866-666-6306; infinityhall.com. OLD LYME The Side Door Johnny O’Neal Trio, jazz. July 3 at 7:30 p.m. $28.50. Aaron Goldberg Trio, jazz. July 4 at 7:30 p.m. $35. The Side Door, 85 Lyme Street. 860-434-0886; thesidedoorjazz.com. OLD SAYBROOK The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center Changes in Latitudes, Jimmy Buffett tribute band. July 2 at 7:30 p.m. $35. John Gorka and Cliff Eberhardt, folk. July 5 at 7 p.m. $30. The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main Street. 877-503-1286; thekate.org. RIDGEFIELD Ridgefield Playhouse Keb’ Mo’, blues. June 28 at 8 p.m. $70. David Crosby, folk and rock. July 2 at 8 p.m. $126. Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, rock. July 5 at 8 p.m. $98 to $125. Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road. 203-438-5795; ridgefieldplayhouse.org. STAFFORD SPRINGS The Stafford Palace Theater Zach Deputy, funk and soul. June 28 at 8 p.m. $15 to $20. The Stafford Palace Theater, 75 Main Street. 860-851-9780; thestaffordpalacetheater.com. UNCASVILLE Mohegan Sun Shania Twain with Gavin DeGraw, country. July 3 at 8 p.m. $100 to $180. Meghan Trainor, pop. July 4 at 7 p.m. $45. Def Leppard with Styx and Tesla, rock. July 5 at 7 p.m. $59 and $79. Mohegan Sun, 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard. mohegansun.com; 888-226-7711. WALLINGFORD Oakdale Theater Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, traditional pop and jazz. June 29 at 8 p.m. $100 to $280. Oakdale Theater, 95 South Turnpike Road. 203-265-1501; oakdale.com. WALLINGFORD St. John’s Chapel Lawn “Holiday Pops,” Wallingford Symphony Orchestra. July 5 at 7 p.m. Free. Daily, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Paul Mellon Arts Center, 333 Christian Street. 203-697-6621; wallingfordsymphonyorchestra.org. WESTPORT Levitt Pavilion Orleans, pop and rock. June 28 at 6:30 p.m. Free with ticket. The Kenn Morr Band, folk and rock. Tuesday at 7 p.m. Air National Guard Band of the Northeast. Thursday at 8 p.m. River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs, Cajun. July 4 at 8 p.m. Kahulanui, Hawaiian. July 5 at 7 p.m. Free. Levitt Pavilion, 40 Jesup Road. 203-221-2153; levittpavilion.com. WOODBRIDGE J. C. C. of Greater New Haven Grill and Chill Summer Concert Series: Mark Schwartz. July 1 at 5 p.m. Free. J. C. C. of Greater New Haven, 360 Amity Road. 203-387-2522; jewishnewhaven.org. Outdoors HAMDEN Sleeping Giant Park Insects of the Giant Hike. June 28 at 1:30 p.m. Free. Sleeping Giant Park, 200 Mount Carmel Avenue. 203-789-7498; sgpa.org. Image NEW HAVEN The jazz musician Trombone Shorty will perform with Orleans Avenue on July 2 at 8 p.m. at College Street Music Hall, 238 College Street. Tickets are $25 and $30. For further information: 877-987-6487or collegestreetmusichall.com . Credit Claude Paris/Associated Press NEWTOWN Newtown Historical Society 19th Annual House and Garden Tour. June 28, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. $10 to $30. Newtown Historical Society, newtownhistory.org; 203-426-5937. POMFRET CENTER Connecticut Audubon Society at Pomfret Wednesday Noon Walks, guided hikes and naturalist lessons. Through Dec. 30. $3; members, free. Connecticut Audubon Society at Pomfret, 218 Day Road. 860-928-4948; ctaudubon.org. Spoken Word GREENWICH Greenwich Point Park “An Empire Lacking Food: The Astonishing Existence of Life on the Deep Seafloor,” lecture by Craig McClain and children’s activities. July 5 at 2 p.m. Free. Greenwich Point Park, 1001 Shore Road. 203-413-6756; brucemuseum.org. MIDDLETOWN Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University Elizabeth Willis reads from her book “Alive: New and Selected Poems.” June 30 at 12:10 p.m. Free. Center for the Arts, Wesleyan University, 283 Washington Terrace. 860-685-3355; wesleyan.edu/cfa. Theater DANBURY Musicals at Richter, Richter Arts Center “Hairspray,” musical by Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman, Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan. July 3 through 18. $5 to $20. Musicals at Richter, Richter Arts Center, 100 Aunt Hack Road. musicalsatrichter.org; 203-748-6873. EAST HADDAM Goodspeed Opera House “La Cage aux Folles,” musical by Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman. Through Sept. 6. $28 to $75. Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main Street. 860-873-8668; goodspeed.org. HARTFORD Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts “Kinky Boots,” musical by Cyndi Lauper and Harvey Fierstein. Through June 28. $21 to $82. Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, 166 Capitol Avenue. 860-987-5900; bushnell.org. HARTFORD TheaterWorks “Good People,” drama by David Lindsay-Abaire. Through June 28. $15 to $65. TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl Street. 860-527-7838; theaterworkshartford.org. IVORYTON Ivoryton Playhouse “South Pacific,” musical by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. July 1 through July 26. $15 to $42. Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street. 860-767-7318; ivorytonplayhouse.org. NEW LONDON Connecticut College Arboretum Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” Flock Theater. Through June 28. Connecticut College Arboretum, 270 Mohegan Avenue. 860-443-3119; flocktheatre.org. NEWTOWN Town Players of Newtown “Hay Fever,” comedy by Noël Coward. Through July 18. $18 and $22. Town Players of Newtown, 18 Orchard Hill Road. 203-270-9144; newtownplayers.org. ROWAYTON Shakespeare on the Sound, Pinkney Park “All’s Well That Ends Well,” by Shakespeare. Through June 28. Free. Reserved seating is $50. Shakespeare on the Sound, Pinkney Park, 177 Rowayton Avenue. 203-299-1300; shakespeareonthesound.org. STORRS Connecticut Repertory Theater, at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theater “Peter Pan,” musical by Carolyn Leigh, Morris Charlap, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Through July 3. $10 to $55. Connecticut Repertory Theater, at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theater, 2132 Hillside Road. 860-486-2113; crt.uconn.edu. WEST HARTFORD Playhouse on Park “Hair,” musical by Gerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermot. Through July 19. $32.50 to $45. Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road. playhouseonpark.org; 860-523-5900. Museums and Galleries BRIDGEPORT Housatonic Museum of Art “Remythologies: New Invention of Old Stories,” group show. Through July 24. Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursdays, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Housatonic Museum of Art, 900 Lafayette Boulevard. housatonicmuseum.org; 203-332-5052. CHESTER Elle Design Studio “The Artists of Gallery One,” group show. Through Aug. 30. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Elle Design Studio, 1 Main Street. 860-526-8470; elledesignstudio.net. DANBURY The Gallery at Still River Editions “Mobile Pics CT 2015,” group show. Through Sept. 25. Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Gallery at Still River Editions, 128 East Liberty Street. stillrivereditions.com; 203-791-1474. DARIEN Geary Gallery “Summer in Bloom,” Eileen Serwer. Through June 30. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Geary Gallery, 576 Boston Post Road. gearygallery.com; 203-655-6633. GREENWICH Bendheim Gallery Art Society of Old Greenwich Annual Open Juried Art Exhibition. Through July 16. Weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; weekends, noon to 4 p.m. Bendheim Gallery, 299 Greenwich Avenue. 203-862-6750; artsocietyofoldgreenwich.com. GREENWICH Bruce Museum “iCreate 2015,” works by high school students. Through July 26. “Walls of Color: The Murals of Hans Hofmann.” Through Sept. 6. “The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride.” Through Oct. 18. “Madagascar: Ghosts of the Past.” Through Nov. 8. $6 and $7; members and children under 5, free. Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bruce Museum, 1 Museum Drive. 203-869-0376; brucemuseum.org. GREENWICH Flinn Gallery “Emergence: Insight Out,” group show. Through July 14. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Flinn Gallery, 101 West Putnam Avenue. 203-622-7947; flinngallery.com. GROTON Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, University of Connecticut “Summer Exhibition,” Harriet Moore Ballard, Alida Ferrari, Jeanne Heifetz and Michael McLaughlin. Through July 18. Suggested donation, $3. Members and students, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, University of Connecticut, 1084 Shennecossett Road. averypointarts.uconn.edu; 860-405-9052. GUILFORD Greene Art Gallery “Sail Away II,” paintings by Brechin Morgan. Through July 19. Sundays and Mondays, noon to 4 p.m.; Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Greene Art Gallery, 29 Whitfield Street. 203-453-4162; greeneartgallery.com. HAMDEN Arnold Bernhard Library “Saving the Famine Irish: The Grey Nuns and the Great Hunger.” Through March 18. Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Arnold Bernhard Library, 275 Mount Carmel Avenue. 203-582-8633; quinnipiac.edu. HARTFORD Real Art Ways Video by Yvonne Buchanan. Through July 16. “Getting School’d,” J. C. Lenochan. Through Sept. 18. “The Energy-Love: Miracle,” Insook Hwang. Through Sept. 18. Suggested donation, $3; members and cinema patrons, free. Daily, 2 to 9 p.m.; and by appointment. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor Street. 860-232-1006; realartways.org. HARTFORD Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art “Mark Bradford/MATRIX 172.” Through Sept. 6. $5 to $10; members and children under 12, free. Wednesdays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; first Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main Street. 860-278-2670; thewadsworth.org. IVORYTON Six Summit Gallery “By Night,” group show. Through July 6. Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Six Summit Gallery, 6 Summit Street. 860-581-8332; sixsummitgallery.com. KENT James Barron Art “Sol LeWitt in Connecticut.” Through June 28. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. James Barron Art, 4 Fulling Lane. 917-270-8044; jamesbarronart.com. LAKEVILLE The White Gallery “For the Love of Making Art: The Work of Robert Baras.” Through July 12. Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. The White Gallery, 344 Main Street. thewhitegalleryart.com; 860-435-1029. LITCHFIELD Wisdom House “Ephemera: Holding a Moment in Your Hand,” Jean Linville. Through Sept. 12. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wisdom House, 229 East Litchfield Road. 860-567-3163; wisdomhouse.org. MADISON Mercy Center “The Mary Paintings: Expressions of the Divine Feminine,” by Catherine Steinberg. Through July 30. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mercy Center, 167 Neck Road. mercybythesea.org; 203-245-0401. MADISON Susan Powell Fine Art “Realistically Speaking,” group show. Through July 6. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Susan Powell Fine Art, 679 Boston Post Road. susanpowellfineart.com; 203-318-0616. Image NEW LONDON “Circumference, Thou Bride of Awe” (2012), acrylic on hardboard by Gray Jacobik, is on view in the group exhibition “Gaia’s Lament: Art Cry,” July 3 through Aug. 4 at Hygienic Art Galleries, 79-83 Bank Street. For further information: 860-443-8001 or hygienic.org . Credit Gray Jacobik MYSTIC Maritime Art Gallery, at Mystic Seaport “Modern Marine Masters,” group show. Through July 19. Daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maritime Art Gallery, at Mystic Seaport, 47 Greenmanville Avenue. mysticseaport.org/gallery; 860-572-5388. MYSTIC Mystic Arts Center Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts Annual Juried Show. June 19 through Aug. 1. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mystic Arts Center, 9 Water Street. 860-536-7601; mysticarts.org. NEW BRITAIN New Britain Museum of American Art “The Enchanting Jewels of Elizabeth Gage.” Through July 26. “Tom Yost: A Modern Realist.” Through Sept. 27. “NEW/NOW: Katja Loher: How can we cool down the gilded sun beams?” Through Nov. 1. “The Shakers: Focus on Enfield, Conn.” Through Nov. 20. $8 to $12; members and children under 12, free. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. New Britain Museum of American Art, 56 Lexington Street. 860-229-0257; nbmaa.org. NEW CANAAN New Canaan Library “Face to Face, Now and Then,” paintings by Malcolm Moran. Through Aug. 9. Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. New Canaan Library, 151 Main Street. newcanaanlibrary.org; 203-594-5003. NEW CANAAN Silvermine Arts Center Galleries 65th Annual Art of the Northeast Exhibition. Through July 26. Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Silvermine Arts Center Galleries, 1037 Silvermine Road. silvermineart.org; 203-966-9700. NEW HAVEN Artspace “Gollum: Monsters of Ruin and the Techno-Sublime,” group show. Through July 3. Wednesdays and Thursdays, noon to 6 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 8 p.m. Artspace, 50 Orange Street. 203-772-2709; artspacenh.org. NEW HAVEN City Gallery “Trace,” photographs and monotypes by Aspasia Anos. Through June 28. Thursdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m.; and by appointment. City Gallery, 994 State Street. 203-782-2489; city-gallery.org. NEW HAVEN Fred Giampietro Gallery “Down From Day One,” Joe Wardwell. “Scout’s Interlude,” Jeremy Chandler. Works by Jana Paleckova. Through July 16. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and by appointment. Fred Giampietro Gallery, 1064 Chapel Street. giampietrogallery.com; 203-777-7760. NEW HAVEN Kehler Liddell Gallery “Momentary Landscapes,” Liz Antle-O’Donnell. Through July 5. Thursdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Avenue. 203-389-9555; kehlerliddell.com. NEW HAVEN New Haven Museum “An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Monuments Man.” Through June 30. “From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven.” Through Dec. 31. $2 to $4; children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m.; first Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Avenue. 203-562-4183; newhavenmuseum.org. NEW HAVEN Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History “Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace.” Through Jan. 3. $4 to $9; members and Yale ID holders, free. Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, 170 Whitney Avenue. peabody.yale.edu; 203-432-5050. NEW HAVEN Yale University Art Gallery “The Critique of Reason: Romantic Art, 1760-1860.” Through July 26. “Whistler in Paris, London and Venice.” Through July 19. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel Street. 203-432-0600; artgallery.yale.edu. NEW LONDON Lyman Allyn Art Museum “Lost Gardens of New England,” traveling exhibition on loan from Historic New England. Through July 31. “Artists at Work,” drawings by Italian, Dutch and French artists of the 16th-18th centuries. Through Aug. 23. “Launchpad of the American Theater: The O’Neill Since 1964.” Through Jan. 3. “The Gaze Returned: Portrait Studio.” Through Jan. 10. $5 to $10; members and children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams Street. 860-443-2545; lymanallyn.org. NEW PRESTON The Loft Gallery, at the Smithy “Dwellings: Details in Space and Form,” works by Zeb Mayer and John Kane. July 2 through Aug. 9. Wednesdays through Mondays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Loft Gallery, at the Smithy, 10 Main Street. 860-868-9003; thesmithystore.com. NORWALK Center for Contemporary Printmaking The 10th Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition. Through Aug. 30. Tuesdays through Sundays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Center for Contemporary Printmaking, 299 West Avenue. contemprints.org; 203-899-7999. NORWALK Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum “Tropical Luxuriance: The Mansion’s Conservatory, 1868 to 1880.” Through Jan. 6. $6 to $10; members and children under 8, free. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 4 p.m. Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, 295 West Avenue. lockwoodmathewsmansion.com; 203-838-9799. NORWALK The Maritime Garage Gallery “Boom,” group show. Through July 31. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Maritime Garage Gallery, 11 North Water Street. 203-831-9063; norwalkpark.org. OLD LYME Cooley Gallery “From the Garden,” paintings by Patricia Kitchings. Through July 11. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme Street. cooleygallery.com; 860-434-8807. OLD LYME Florence Griswold Museum “All the Sea Knows: Marine Art From the Museum of the City of New York.” Through Sept. 20. $8 to $10; children under 12, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme Street. 860-434-5542; flogris.org. OLD LYME Lyme Art Association Gallery “American Waters: A Marine Art Exhibition,” group show. Through July 31. Suggested donation: $5. Wednesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m.; and by appointment. Lyme Art Association Gallery, 90 Lyme Street. 860-434-7802; lymeartassociation.org. RIDGEFIELD Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum “Virginia Poundstone: Flower Mutations.” “Nancy Shaver: Reconciliation.” “Ruby Sky Stiler: Ghost Versions.” “Penelope Umbrico: Shallow Sun.” “Elif Uras: Nicaea.” “B. Wurtz: Four Collections.” Through Oct. 25. $5 and $10. Members, K-12 teachers, active service military families and children under 18, free; Tuesdays, free. Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, 258 Main Street. aldrichart.org; 203-438-4519. RIDGEFIELD Watershed Gallery “Cuts Both Ways,” paper-cut works by Béatrice Coron and Gregg Welz. Through July 3. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. Watershed Gallery, 23 Governor Street. 203-438-4387; watershedgallery.com. ROXBURY Minor Memorial Library “Stillscapes,” paintings by Ann Getsinger. Through July 18. Mondays, noon to 7 p.m.; Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursdays, noon to 5 p.m.; Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Minor Memorial Library, 23 South Street. minormemoriallibrary.org; 860-350-2181. SHARON Hotchkiss Library of Sharon “Karen LeSage: New Paintings.” July 1 through Aug. 31. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon to 7 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 3 p.m. Hotchkiss Library of Sharon, 10 Upper Main Street. 860-364-0806; hotchkisslibrary.com. STAMFORD Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery “John J. Bedoya: Small, Accessible Works.” Through July 11. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and by appointment on Mondays. Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, 96 Bedford Street. 888-861-6791; flalvarezgallery.com. STAMFORD Loft Artists Association “Deconstructing The Times,” creations from The New York Times and other recent works, Karen Neems. Through July 26. Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Loft Artists Association, 575 Pacific Street. 203-247-2027; loftartists.com. STAMFORD P.M.W. Gallery “Noir 2,” etchings, lithographs, drawings and paintings by Ann Chernow. Through June 21. By appointment only. P.M.W. Gallery, 530 Roxbury Road. 203-322-5427; pmwgallery.com. STAMFORD Stamford Art Association “Up, Down, All Around — Small Works,” group show. “Familiar/Unfamiliar,” Arthur Vitello III. Through July 9. Thursdays and Fridays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 3 p.m. Stamford Art Association, 39 Franklin Street. 203-325-1139; stamfordartassociation.org. STAMFORD The Mayor’s Gallery “In Transit,” Yuko Ike. Through July 6. Weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Mayor’s Gallery, 888 Washington Boulevard, 10th Floor. 203-997-4140. STORRS William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut “Remembering the Vietnam War.” Through Aug. 9. “Speak Up! Speak Out! Bread and Puppet Theater.” Through Oct. 11. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 1 to 4:30 p.m. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, 245 Glenbrook Road. benton.uconn.edu; 860-486-4520. WATERBURY Mattatuck Museum “The Coast and the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art in America.” Through July 12. “The Serious and the Smirk: Portraits From the Permanent Collection.” “Fred Otnes: Collage Paintings.” Through July 12. “Signature Moments: Historic Letters and Documents.” Through Nov. 15. $6 and $7; members and children under 16, free. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street. 203-753-0381; mattatuckmuseum.org. WESTPORT Westport Historical Society “Howard Munce at 100,” retrospective exhibition. June 29 through Sept. 14. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place. 203-222-1424; westporthistory.org. WILTON Wilton Historical Society “In the Making: Historic Inspirations/New Quilts,” Denyse Schmidt. “One Loop at a Time: June Myles’s Hooked Rugs.” Through Oct. 3. Suggested donation, $5. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road. wiltonhistorical.org; 203-762-7257.


Election Panel Puts Off Start of Iraq Parliament Races

Abstract: BAGHDAD — Iraq ’s independent elections commission announced Thursday that the parliamentary elections campaign, scheduled to start Sunday, would be postponed for five days, as confusion reigned over an appeals court decision that overturned a ban on hundreds of candidates . The campaign for the March 7 elections will now begin Feb. 12, said Qassim al-Obudi, a spokesman for the elections commission, to give officials time to try to determine which candidates are eligible to be on the ballots. The decision appeared to deepen Iraq’s political crisis, as the speaker of Parliament called an emergency session to debate the court ruling and election officials appealed to Iraq’s Supreme Court for guidance. Iraqi officials said some lawmakers had even begun discussing the possibility of postponing the elections until the candidates’ eligibility was resolved. That may prove problematic; the election has long been viewed as a milestone in the United States’ plans to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by the end of August. The tumult followed the appeals court decision on Wednesday, which effectively allowed more than 500 candidates who were disqualified last month by a government commission to take part in the election. They had been accused of promoting the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein. Technically, the court decided that the candidates’ status should be determined after the election, in what could be the makings of another crisis. “This doesn’t solve the crisis; it postpones it indefinitely,” said Hadi al-Ameri, a leading Shiite lawmaker who has tried to help mediate the dispute. Many Iraqi politicians, along with foreign diplomats, have been pushing for a resolution to the dispute, saying the elections could lack credibility if hundreds of candidates were excluded. Confusion over the appeals court’s decision led Faraj al-Haidari, the head of the Independent High Electoral Commission , to question whether it was binding. “We sent the Supreme Court an urgent letter asking if we have to adhere to the appeals court decision,” Mr. Haidari said in an interview. “The appeals court neither found them guilty nor declared them innocent, which puts it in contradiction with the electoral law.” Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki , declared the ruling “illegal and unconstitutional.” The latest escalation in the dispute over who is permitted to run in the elections has unsettled the political landscape. Iraqi law remains untested and perhaps bereft of mechanisms to reach a solution just a month before the vote. “I know what is happening today, but no one knows what’s going to happen tomorrow,” said Omar al-Mashhadani, a spokesman for Parliament’s speaker, Ayad al-Samarrai. Mr. Maliki has requested an emergency session of Parliament on Sunday, Iraqi state television reported. Mr. Samarrai agreed to call the session, and in turn asked for an emergency meeting of Iraq’s leadership on Friday or Saturday. Reactions to the court’s decision to overturn the ban on candidates predictably broke along political and sectarian lines on Thursday. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi , whose main ally, Saleh al-Mutlaq , a Sunni leader, was among those barred, warned about the possibility that some candidates might still be disqualified. “The country will go into severe turmoil, I’m sure. It will cause a backlash,” he said in an interview. Many critics of the ban viewed it as an attempt to marginalize secular and Sunni opponents of Iraq’s religious Shiite parties, including Mr. Maliki’s. Some leaders and voters had threatened to boycott the elections if officials went ahead with the ban, recalling the election in 2005, when many Sunnis refused to vote. Religious Shiite leaders accused the appeals court of buckling to what they described as outside pressure, in particular from the United States. Allowing the candidates to run in the elections “is a badge of shame on the forehead of the government,” Moktada al-Sadr , a radical Shiite cleric, said in a statement. “I am hopeful that the Iraqi people will not allow their return and their participation in a political process thought to be democratic.” Iraqi legal experts defended the court’s decision to postpone the determinations of the candidates’ eligibility, calling it constitutional, and said election officials should respect the ruling. “The appeals court didn’t find the candidates who were included in the procedures innocent yet,” said Tariq Harb, a prominent lawyer. “It just delayed its decision.” But Mr. Ameri, the Shiite lawmaker, said the ruling, by postponing decisions on eligibility until after the elections, could deepen the political crisis. Like others, he wondered whether lawmakers could actually be unseated after they had won elections, and, if so, what branch of the government would unseat them.

Elections
Iraq
Dabbagh Ali al-
Maliki Nuri Kamal al-
Allawi Ayad
Mutlaq Saleh al-
Sadr Moktada Al-
Politics and Government
Iraq War (2003- )


Brazil: Same-Sex Union Victory

Abstract: A court in the northeastern state of Pernambuco has ordered Brazil’s army for the first time to recognize a same-sex civil union between a sergeant and his companion. Judge Elio Siqueira said in his ruling that the couple was entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples in terms of alimony and retirement benefits because the two had been in a stable civil union for three years. The sergeant’s lawyer, Laurecilia de Sá Ferraz, said Friday that it was “the first time a court ordered the army to recognize a same-sex union of one its officers.”

Brazil
Same-Sex Marriage,Gay Marriage
Military


Nature Delivers Precious Edibles to Westchester

Abstract: In early April, a supermarket flier trumpeted: “Burst into spring!” Featured in the ad were imported blackberries, California strawberries and salad mixes in plastic clamshells from a corporate farm out West. That blackberries, strawberries and baby greens grown in distant climes had been available right through the winter here in Westchester County, for a price, seemed lost in all the enthusiasm. What’s a locavore to do? Early spring is the sort of barren stretch that farm-to-table restaurants have in mind when they print disclaimers on their menus saying that they use local, organic, natural, biodynamic, sustainable products “whenever possible.” In our northern suburbs, tradition calls for seeds to be sown after Mother’s Day, to avoid the risk of hard frost. So even the earliest row crops, that frisky food group of English peas, fava beans and little lettuces, is, for most of us, still weeks away. But the minute the crocuses bloom and shad run headlong against cold currents, the pressure is on from diners weary of root vegetables. “They have to have asparagus,” said Vicky Zeph, the co-owner and chef at Zephs’ , in Peekskill. “So we have asparagus, but it’s from Mexico.” Image Chef Michael Kaphan, of Purdy’s Farmer and the Fish, in his hoop house. Credit Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times “Chefs are looking for local,” said John Magazino, of Baldor Specialty Foods , a wholesaler in the Bronx that sells springtime morsels, including morels from Turkey and miner’s lettuce from the Pacific Northwest, “but it’s a very late spring this year because of the long winter.” Chefs who want to stay faithful to local sourcing can head into the wild. Right now, in the suburbs north of New York City, nature is delivering a precious group of edibles, among them fiddlehead ferns, dandelion greens and blue violets. Jeremy McMillan, the chef at the Farmhouse at Bedford Post Inn , in Bedford, sought help this month from a professional forager, Steve Brill , who with Mr. McMillan and his kitchen staff explored the 100-odd acres surrounding the inn. “This spring’s been a little rough,” said Mr. McMillan, “but we found ramps, wild watercress, garlic mustard, trout lilies — whole blankets of them.” New on the Farmhouse menu is a forager’s salad, made with Mr. McMillan’s trove of handpicked wild treasures and stepped-up with a brisk lemon vinaigrette. Other dishes inspired by the wilderness are mushroom minestra with nettle pesto; asparagus with fiddlehead ferns, bacon and spring onions; braised snails with bone marrow; and morels with wild garlic and grilled sweetbreads. Image Shad and shad roe ready for the pan at Half Moon. Credit Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times Forsaking woods and streams for her backyard, Ms. Zeph practices what she calls “weed patch-to-table cuisine,” gathering armloads of nettles on her property in Kent, N.Y., and blending them with garlic shoots, sorrel and lovage — “basically whatever is taking over the garden,” she said — to make a pungent soup that is a favorite with her customers. By Mother’s Day, she’ll have enough black peppermint — a pesky invasive species — to make mint chip ice cream. Every foodie knows by now that a ramp is not just a way to access the Thruway. The folks at Polpettina , in Eastchester, captured the exultant mood that the wild leeks inspire on their Facebook page in early April, when a single word accompanied a photo of four slender, scallion-like plants: “Ramps!” “We try to put them in everything possible,” said Mike Abruzese, who owns Polpettina with Kyle Inserra. “We do a cured salmon with a fingerling potato and ramp salad, which comes with pickled mustard seed and a little mascarpone. We also put ramps on a pizza with clams, some shucked, some in the shell, and a little ricotta, garlic and lemon breadcrumbs.” At Purdy’s Farmer and the Fish , in North Salem, the chef and co-owner, Michael Kaphan, said that his manager and his sous chef had gone trout fishing last week and come back with a couple pounds of the coveted alliums. “They were tramping through the woods and found a nice patch of them,” said Mr. Kaphan. He purées the grilled leaves to make a beautiful, bright vinaigrette, and pickles the rosy-hued stalks, then uses both as accessories for pan-fried soft-shell crabs. Image Vincent Barcelona, the corporate chef at Harvest on Hudson, in Hastings, and Half Moon, in Dobbs Ferry. Credit Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times Mr. Kaphan, who studied agriculture at SUNY Cobleskill, has built a hoop house — a marvel of steel and plastic sheeting — which gives him a head start on spring crops. In mid-April, he was already harvesting big, sweet spinach leaves and small heads of tender romaine. A simple salad of pretty, six-inch pea tendrils, fresh lemon juice and good olive oil was just what diners were looking for: “Customers, they’re like, ‘Ah,’ ” said Mr. Kaphan. “They’re so excited spring is here.” One of the cherished harbingers of spring, the migration of American shad up the Hudson River to spawn, is imperiled, and the season is now closed to all commercial and recreational fishing. But shad from mid-Atlantic rivers still come to market, and Vincent Barcelona, the corporate chef at Harvest on Hudson , in Hastings, and Half Moon , in Dobbs Ferry, treats them with the respect they deserve. “Very traditional,” said Mr. Barcelona, who serves the delicate shad and its roe side by side. “Just a little brown butter and a squeeze of lemon.” Of all the foraged foods of spring, morels are a particular favorite of chefs. Mr. Barcelona likes to tell a story about a customer who mentioned he had mushrooms growing in his backyard. “He brought in a few to show me, and it turns out he has a few thousand morels growing on his property,” said Mr. Barcelona, laughing. “You come across these things in the Hudson Valley.”

Purdy's Farmer and the Fish North Salem NY Restaurant

Harvest on Hudson Hastings-on-Hudson NY Restaurant

Farmhouse at Bedford Post Inn Bedford NY Restaurant


S.E.C. Chief Sees Virtue in Activist Investors

Abstract: NEW ORLEANS — For several years, much of the debate at the big deal maker conference here has been whether shareholder activism is a blight on the corporate landscape. According to the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, not necessarily. In a speech at the Tulane Corporate Law Institute, the S.E.C. chief, Mary Jo White, said that the agency did not necessarily look unkindly on investors who buy stakes in companies and then push for changes in corporate strategy. “Reflexively painting all activism negatively is, in my view, using too broad a brush and indeed is counterproductive,” she said. Activist tactics, she added, “can be compatible with the kind of engagement that I hope companies and shareholders can foster.” That’s in contrast to the arguments of several prominent deal makers, notably Martin Lipton, the well-known mergers lawyer, who told the conference last year that he believed that many of these agitators had short-term investment goals that could harm a company. Ms. White acknowledged the debate: “I did say this was a lively topic with many different views.” Many mergers advisers have publicly bemoaned the lack of action by the S.E.C. to address what they believe is a glaring hole in securities laws: tightening the 10-day window in which an investor can quietly and quickly build a stake of at least 5 percent in a company before disclosing it publicly. Several activist investors have used derivatives to quickly build their positions without setting off the securities law requirements, to the consternation of many. No less than Leo E. Strine Jr., the chief justice of Delaware’s Supreme Court — wearing a jaunty trilby hat at the conference this year — argued on a panel in favor of a more sensitive tripwire that involved disclosure within 24 hours. The S.E.C. has recognized disclosure as an issue, noting that last week it brought civil charges against several individuals for failing to update regulatory disclosures in a timely manner. But the commission has no plans at the moment to change that window, Michele Anderson, the agency’s chief of mergers and acquisitions, said. Regardless, the S.E.C. is aware of the principles that it intended to protect — and which parts of the activism discussion in which it would not weigh. “It is an interesting and important debate, but our role at the S.E.C. is not to determine whether activist campaigns are beneficial or detrimental in any given circumstance,” Ms. White said. “Rather, the agency’s central focus is making sure that shareholders are provided with the information they need and that all play by the rules.”

Mary Jo White
Shareholder Rights
SEC
Regulation and Deregulation


Luca Paolini Takes Overall Lead in Giro D’Italia

Abstract: Luca Paolini used a late solo attack to win the third stage of the Giro d’Italia and take the overall lead from his fellow Italian Salvatore Puccio. Cadel Evans beat the defending champion, Ryder Hesjedal, in a bunch sprint for second place. The favorite, Bradley Wiggins, finished eighth and is second in the overall standings, 17 seconds behind Paolini. His main rival, Vincenzo Nibali, is fifth, 14 seconds further back. ¶ The head of Team Sky said Chris Froome would lead the team at this year’s Tour de France, rather than the defending champion, Bradley Wiggins. (AP)

Luca Paolini
Giro d'Italia
Biking
Christopher Froome


Highfliers, Sitting Still

Abstract: Melissa Cacciola doesn’t skateboard, but she has long marveled at the brash physicality of thrill-seekers hurtling themselves along New York City sidewalks, streaking through space and piercing the urban landscape on a board with wheels. Ms. Cacciola’s favored method of making portraits is the tintype , in which a direct positive of the subject is imprinted onto a thin sheet of metal. This 19th-century format would hardly be suitable for the fast, raw action shots seen in skateboard magazines. Those photos rely on shutter speeds in the thousandths-of-a-second range, while Ms. Cacciola’s tintype portraits can require exposure times of about 12 seconds , the time it might take a good skater to do an ollie, then kick-flip and pull off a backside grind down a railing on a municipal building downtown. But Ms. Cacciola was more interested in capturing the essence of New York City’s skaters than their specific tricks. “That confidence, that spirit, I really wanted to do something with that,” she said. Hoping to capture some of that kinetic energy in a static way, she got the skaters off their boards and sat them completely still for head-shot portraits. “I wanted to stop motion and that’s what tintype does,” said Ms. Cacciola, who sought out avid skaters — from sponsored pros to impassioned amateurs with day jobs like bartending and teaching — to sit in front of her large-format camera with its 19th-century brass lens. “These guys are in constant motion, up against gravity and playing around with physics,” she said. “And to have them actually stay still for 12 seconds, to capture an expression for that length of time, is significant.” She shot the skaters in a rented studio last year, inviting a few she had met and then asking them to refer their friends. “If someone didn’t show up, they’d put the word out, like, ‘Who’s in Brooklyn?’ and someone just rolled in,” recalled Ms. Cacciola, who grew up in Brooklyn, lives on Staten Island and works as an art conservator. In the end, she collected 35 portraits for her “Flip It and Reverse It” series, which taught a lot about the skating mind-set, if not technique. “I don’t know what that feels like,” to pull off a great move, she said. “But the one thing I can relate to is their spirit.” “Like them,” she said, “I do my own thing and don’t care what people think.”


Ashley Wagner Seeks to Fill Role as U.S. Figure Skating Favorite

Abstract: Some of the world’s best figure skaters will compete in Tokyo next week at the Grand Prix Final, a key event as the Vancouver Winter Games draw near. For the women, Kim Yu-na of South Korea, the reigning world champion and the favorite to win the gold medal in Vancouver, will be there. So will Joannie Rochette of Canada, who is expected to be Vancouver’s sweetheart and the home-country favorite. But among the top women in the mix to make the United States Olympic team, only one qualified for the event: Ashley Wagner, an 18-year-old from Alexandria, Va . She reached the Grand Prix Final based on her second-place finish at the Grand Prix event in Russia and on her third-place finish at the event in Japan. Last year, no American woman qualified for the Grand Prix Final as a singles skater. This year’s final will be held Dec. 3-6. “It’s really amazing that I’ll be the only one from the U.S. there because I think it gives me an upper hand at nationals,” said Wagner, who trains in Delaware with Priscilla Hill, the former coach of the three-time national champion Johnny Weir. “I’m excited because I think it gives me a huge confidence boost and gives me an advantage and an edge over everyone else.” With the Olympics less than three months away, the United States is still struggling to find its female favorite for Vancouver. Wagner, who finished fourth at this year’s nationals, hopes to fill that role. And Hill said she thought Wagner had the talent to do it. Hill said Wagner was skating well now, but still had room to improve before the nationals in January, when the American team will be chosen. The women have only two spots on the team. “Ashley definitely hasn’t peaked yet; far from it,” Hill said. “We’re planning for that to happen in January. But for now, she has a great opportunity to get more feedback from international judges and find out what she needs to work on.” Rachael Flatt, who finished second to Yu-na at Skate America , was named an alternate to compete in the Grand Prix Final. Alissa Czisny, the reigning United States national champion, is also an alternate. Wagner is dreaming of beating both — as well as the rest of her competition — at the nationals. In her mind, succeeding at the Olympics would be next. “Amazing things happen at the Olympics,” Wagner said. “Look at Sarah Hughes and Tara Lipinski, who were both underdogs and won anyway. I really think the winner of the gold medal will be whoever skates the best on that day. Someone will surprise everyone. I really hope it is me.” MISSING OUT After finishing first or second in the Grand Prix Final for the past four seasons, Mao Asada of Japan — the 2008 world champion — will be watching the event from afar this time. Asada, the 2005 and 2008 Grand Prix Final champion, failed to qualify for the event this year after finishing second in Paris and fifth in Moscow. Her big rival, Kim Yu-na, was not too heartbroken about it. Addressing a room of reporters at a news conference at Skate America earlier this month, Kim could not hold back a smirk when she learned that Asada did not make the final. “For the last several seasons, I competed against Mao Asada, but there are so many other strong skaters in the final,” Kim said through a translator. “I will try to do my program perfectly and I will concentrate on my performance.” Asada beat Kim at last year’s final, which was held in Kim’s home country, South Korea. Kim was second. In 2006 and 2007, Kim won the final, with Asada in second. This season, though, Asada has been struggling, while Kim has been soaring. Under her coach Tatiana Tarasova, Asada finished fourth at the world championships last March, failing to defend her world title. Tarasova has been Asada’s main coach since mid-2008. Before that, she trained with Rafael Arutunian in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., but broke with Arutunian before the 2008 world championships. Asada, a three-time national champion of Japan, skated in Kim’s shadow at the Paris Grand Prix event, which Kim won. At the Grand Prix competition in Moscow, Asada stumbled, finishing off the podium at a Grand Prix event for the first time. Her score in the short program was her worst for a senior-level event. Specifically, Asada has had trouble with her triple axel, which once was the highlight of her performances. Although she landed two triple axels in her long program at the Grand Prix Final in 2008, Asada hasn’t been able to rediscover that success. Still, she said, she is not giving up. She has said she plans to try a triple axel in the short program at the Olympics, and try two more in her long program. JOUBERT CUTS FOOT Brian Joubert, the 2007 world champion, experienced a major setback Thursday in his push to win an Olympic gold medal after injuring his right foot during practice. Joubert, 25, was forced to pull out of next week’s Grand Prix Final after cutting his right foot with the blade of his left skate while attempting a triple Lutz. Joubert, who was third at the world championships last March, needs surgery, said his coach, Laurent Depouilly, according to Agence France-Presse. “We are going to sew back a bit of tendon and check that the bone is not too affected,” Depouilly said of Joubert, who won the NHK Trophy in Japan earlier this month. Didier Gailhaguet, chairman of the French figure skating federation, called Joubert’s injury serious. “The blade touched the bone,” he told Agence France-Presse. “Brian told me he could see the bone.” ICE DANCING INJURIES The top two ice dancing teams from the United States — Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto , the 2006 Olympic silver medalists, and Meryl Davis and Charlie White , the reigning national champions — qualified for next week’s Grand Prix Final after each team won two events this season. But there will be no chance for them to break that 2-2 tie in the final. Belbin and Agosto withdrew from the competition on Tuesday after Belbin needed oral surgery on an infected wisdom tooth. Her doctor told her to avoid strenuous activity for at least a week afterward, according to a statement sent by U.S. Figure Skating . Now Davis and White are left to represent the United States at the final, which they have a good chance of winning. At the Grand Prix event in Russia, they crushed their competition, finishing first by more than 32 points. They are now No. 2 in the world, according to International Skating Union rankings, while Belbin and Agosto are No. 3.

Figure Skating
Grand Prix Final
Wagner Ashley


Wegelin Ordered to Pay $74 Million in Tax Plea

Abstract: LONDON — Wegelin & Co., Switzerland’s oldest private bank, said Tuesday it was ordered by a U.S. judge to pay a total of $74 million after pleading guilty to violating U.S. tax laws by helping Americans evade taxes. The bank, which was founded in 1741, said U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff in New York ruled that the fine, which had been agreed upon earlier with the prosecution, was appropriate. The sum includes fines, restitution and forfeiture proceeds and will be paid from funds the bank had set aside for legal proceedings. Wegelin, which said it would soon shut down, said it was “pleased” about the ruling and that the case, which started a year ago, was now closed. The Wegelin case was part of the Obama administration’s sweeping crackdown on Americans who use offshore banks to evade taxes. Wegelin had acknowledged claims that it hid more than $1.2 billion in secret accounts for American clients. Its guilty plea, entered in January, marked the first time a foreign financial institution had pleaded guilty to U.S. tax law violations. As part of the push to eliminate tax cheats, a U.S. grand jury in New York indicted Wegelin in February 2012. The company’s elaborate scheme involved its Swiss bankers’ opening secret accounts for U.S. clients using code names and setting up sham entities to avoid detection in far-flung locales, including Panama and Liechtenstein. In 2009, UBS, another Swiss bank, avoided criminal charges by striking a so-called deferred prosecution agreement in which it paid a $780 million fine and turned over the names of about 4,500 clandestine accounts believed to hold the assets of American taxpayers. Peter Lattman contributed reporting from New York.

Switzerland
Federal Taxes
Banking and Finance


Users of Merck’s Fosamax Say it Caused Jaw Injury

Abstract: Drug executives, product liability lawyers and Wall Street analysts are closely watching a jury trial in New York over medical problems associated with Fosamax, a drug from Merck that has been taken by millions of women to offset the bone loss associated with menopause. It is the first of about 900 state and federal cases pending against Merck in which plaintiffs claim that taking Fosamax caused them to develop a rare problem called osteonecrosis of the jaw. Dental surgery is one of the triggers for the condition that can break down jawbone tissue, causing the gums to fall away and expose bone that looks moth-eaten, oral surgeons said. In the first case against Merck, which began last month in a United States District Court in Manhattan, Shirley Boles, a 71-year-old retired deputy sheriff from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., alleges that taking Fosamax from 1997 to 2006 caused her jawbone tissue to die. The problem developed after she had tooth extraction in 2002, leaving her with ongoing medical problems that include infections that drain through open wounds in her chin. United States District Judge John F. Keenan is presiding over this case and several hundred other lawsuits from many districts, consolidated in New York to establish common issues in the litigation. A jury of three men and five women began deliberating the case on Wednesday afternoon. Compared with other drug product liability cases that have involved many thousands of plaintiffs, the Fosamax litigation is relatively small. But because Merck is trying to complete a $41 billion merger with Schering-Plough, industry analysts are closely watching this first trial to gauge Merck’s potential financial liability. Merck spent $7 million in the second quarter of this year on legal expenses in the case and has set aside $42 million to defend itself in about 900 federal and state Fosamax cases brought by about 1,280 plaintiff groups, according to a company regulatory filing at the end of June. Timothy O’Brien, the lead lawyer for Mrs. Boles, said that an updated number would be closer to 1,200 pending cases. His law firm represents about 400 Fosamax plaintiffs, he said. Meanwhile, other drug companies and plaintiffs’ lawyers expecting to try similar cases involving related bone drugs have been closely monitoring the case to see which arguments resonate with the jury. Merck’s main defense is that there is no definitive medical evidence proving that Fosamax causes jawbone death and that Mrs. Boles had other health factors that could have caused her jaw problems. Meanwhile, Mr. O’Brien, the lawyer for Mrs. Boles, has been using the case to put Fosamax itself on trial, contending that Merck as a corporation put patients at risk by overpromoting Fosamax and by not warning doctors who prescribe the drug about the potential for jawbone disintegration. The trial began Aug. 12. Mr. O’Brien has presented internal Merck e-mail messages, company documents and case reports from medical journals to bolster his case that Merck knew about jaw problems associated with Fosamax and did not study the problem or warn doctors about it in a timely fashion. Merck contends that the company became aware of the problem only in late 2003 after the first case report associating bisphosphonates with jaw injuries appeared in a medical journal. According to evidence in the case, the company subsequently assembled a panel of doctors to review reports it had received and determine which cases were likely to be osteonecrosis of the jaw. The Food and Drug Administration approved Fosamax in 1995 to treat the bone loss of osteoporosis associated with menopause. In 1997, the agency approved the drug to prevent osteoporosis itself. Until the recent introduction of branded and generic competitors for the osteoporosis drug market, Fosamax was one of the most popular drugs in the United States. Doctors in the United States wrote about 2.6 million prescriptions for the drug last year, which was down from more than 15 million prescriptions in 2007, according to annual reports from Drug Topics, an industry magazine. Fosamax had global sales of $1.55 billion last year, a decrease of almost 50 percent compared with 2007, according to a Merck financial statement. On Wednesday afternoon, Judge Keenan asked the jury to decide several questions: Was Merck negligent in formulating Fosamax? Did the company fail to warn Mrs. Boles’s doctor of a known risk of the drug? Is Fosamax a defective product? And, if the jury answers yes to any of those questions, did that circumstance legally cause Mrs. Boles’s jawbone problems? If the jury decides in favor of Mrs. Boles, it can award compensatory damages for her suffering. But Judge Keenan has ruled out punitive damages in this particular case because he said the evidence did not suggest malice on the part of Merck. Mrs. Boles developed a dental problem in 2002, he wrote, before scientific articles were published on the issue which would have alerted Merck to potential problems. Plaintiffs may have a difficult time proving the drug has directly caused people’s jawbone injuries. Jawbone death has long been a known side effect of radiation in patients being treated for oral cancer. But, about six years ago, a few oral surgeons began reporting jawbone death in patients who had not received radiation for oral cancer. Instead, the patients had been prescribed bisphosphonates, a group of drugs that affect the way that bones renew themselves, said Dr. Salvatore Ruggiero, an oral surgeon in Lake Success, N.Y., who has not been involved in the court case. These include pills like Fosamax as well as Zometa, an intravenous bisphosphonate used to treat bone cancer. Bisphosphonates work by inhibiting cells from breaking down old or damaged bone, a beneficial effect that inhibits bone loss. At the same time, the drugs can have a drawback. They can have a secondary effect of decreasing the formation of new bone tissue, Judge Keenan wrote in an opinion in July. It is the drug’s potential for decreasing the formation of new bone tissue that may contribute to jawbone death, said Dr. Ruggiero, who was one of the first doctors to study and publish articles on the problem. Because of the trauma caused by chewing and teeth grinding, jawbone cells turnover more quickly than many other bones in the body, he said. Recognizing the high cell turnover, bisphosphonates may accumulate in the jawbone, and try to compensate by oversuppressing cell turnover, he said. According to this theory, bisphosphonates might lead to jawbone death in patients who have dental surgery, like tooth extraction, from which the jaw needs to heal itself even more intensely, he said. Dr. Ruggerio said he had a database of 70 patients who had developed dead jawbone tissue after taking oral bisphosphonates. “The number of cases that we are now seeing is unprecedented,” he said. But there is no definitive scientific proof that Fosamax causes jawbone death, Paul Strain, the lead lawyer for Merck, told the jury on Wednesday morning. Although anecdotal case reports of the problem and animal studies have appeared in medical journals, nobody has conducted a rigorous clinical trial to look at whether there is a higher incidence of the problem in people taking the drug than in people who do not, he said. In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration reviewed the safety of bisphosphonates and concluded that osteonecrosis of the jaw could be a risk for the class of drugs as a whole, not just those that are administered intravenously. The agency asked manufacturers to amend drug labels to acknowledge that there have been reports of jawbone death in patients taking the drugs.

Fosamax
Drugs (Pharmaceuticals)
Merck & Company Inc
Suits and Litigation
Liability for Products
Keenan John F


Linesman Is Replaced After Two Curious Offside Calls

Abstract: RIO DE JANEIRO — FIFA dropped an official from his crew’s next assignment at the World Cup after he made offside decisions that denied Mexico two potential goals in the team’s opening game, against Cameroon. The linesman, Humberto Clavijo of Colombia, will not be part of the team of the referee Wilmar Roldan for the South Korea-Algeria match Sunday, according to FIFA’s website. Clavijo was replaced by an Ecuadorean, Christian Lescano. The other two Colombians from the original team, Roldan and the assistant referee Eduardo Diaz, will work the game with Lescano. Clavijo infuriated Mexico and its fans with two curious offside decisions in the team’s 1-0 victory over Cameroon on the second day of the tournament. The calls went against Mexico striker Giovani dos Santos, who, television replays showed, was onside each time. Mexico won with a goal late in the second half. The reassignment could merely be a reflection of a poor performance by Clavijo; officials are rated by FIFA after each game, and those evaluations are used to determine assignments later in the tournament. It is not uncommon for one member of a crew to be replaced if others’ scores are deemed sufficient to merit more games. But in a meeting with reporters on Friday to discuss FIFA’s attempts to battle match-fixing, the organization’s director of security, Ralf Mutschke, pointedly refused to say whether Clavijo was under investigation or if FIFA security officials had had a hand in his ouster from Sunday’s match. “I’m not going to say anything until we can prove something happened,” Mutschke said, stressing that he believed in the innocence of anyone accused of manipulating game outcomes unless proved otherwise. But he added later of Clavijo, “He’s not under investigation — by me.” ENGLAND’S COACH CAN STAY Roy Hodgson was asked by the English Football Association to remain as England’s coach until 2016 even though the team was eliminated during the World Cup group stage for the first time since 1958. (AP) TEAMS KEPT FROM FIELD Argentina and Iran were not allowed to practice at Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte on the eve of their Group F match because of concerns over the state of the field. FIFA said in an email that there was no specific problem, “just the will to preserve the stadium pitch for the match.” The Argentina-Iran match is the third of six scheduled at the stadium in this World Cup. Argentina practiced at its base on the outskirts of the city. Iran practiced at the Independência stadium in Belo Horizonte. (AP) RULING ON WATER BREAKS A Brazilian court ordered FIFA to introduce mandatory breaks for players in World Cup matches played in high temperatures so players could get hydrated. FIFA said that it had already recommended the breaks in such weather conditions. The court said the injunction was necessary because there was no assurance that FIFA would enforce its guidelines. (AP)

FIFA
Referee
Roy Hodgson
Soccer
2014 World Cup


Gretzky Says He Never Placed a Bet With Ring

Abstract: A drawn and weary Wayne Gretzky, hockey's Great One and now the coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, said last night that he did not participate in a betting ring that New Jersey authorities said was financed by his friend and assistant, Rick Tocchet. "First and foremost, I've done nothing wrong -- nothing that has anything along the lines of betting," Gretzky said in a news conference after the Coyotes' 5-1 loss to the Dallas Stars in Glendale, Ariz. "That never happened. I didn't bet. It didn't happen. It's not going to happen, it hasn't happened, and it's not something I've done." Gretzky said he planned to continue to coach the Coyotes, who have lost five of their past six games, and also planned to accompany the Canadian men's hockey team, of which he is the executive director, to the Olympics in Turin, Italy. He called the past three days, in which his name was connected to the betting ring, as "horrible." He did not take questions from reporters. "I am too tired mentally and physically to talk any more about it," he said. Earlier, Janet Jones, Gretzky's wife, issued a statement through the Coyotes in which she said her husband was not involved in the betting ring. "At no time did I ever place a wager on my husband's behalf, period," Jones said in the statement. "Other than the occasional horse race, my husband does not bet on any sports." Jones has not been charged in the investigation, but The Star-Ledger of Newark reported yesterday that law-enforcement officials told the newspaper that Gretzky had been recorded on a wiretap talking to Tocchet about how Jones could avoid implication. The article did not specify when Gretzky was recorded. The newspaper reported that Jones bet $500,000 in recent weeks, including $75,000 on Super Bowl XL. Elliot Mintz, a spokesman for Jones, said Jones might be called as a witness before a grand jury in the New Jersey gambling ring. Mintz said Jones was one of a number of witnesses, and that there was no allegation that she had violated any laws. Tocchet will be arraigned Feb. 21 in New Jersey Superior Court in Burlington County with two co-defendants, James J. Harney of the New Jersey State Police and James A. Ulmer of Swedesboro, N.J. Tocchet's lawyer, Kevin Marino, said Tocchet planned to plead not guilty to the charges. Gretzky, 44, who retired in 1999 as the N.H.L.'s career scoring leader, joined the Coyotes five years ago as a managing partner in charge of hockey operations. He is in his first season as the Coyotes' coach, and was the executive director of the Canadian team that won the gold medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Investigators have said a half-dozen current N.H.L. players placed bets with the ring, which began operating about five years ago. Authorities have said the ring had a connection to organized crime in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. Gretzky is not the main focus of the probe, but is the most famous name tied to the case. Marino, who defends those accused of white-collar crimes, said that reports of Gretzky's involvement, plus that of organized crime, made the case more salacious. "I don't think there's any basis whatsoever to have dragged Wayne Gretzky's name into it," Marino said. "Have you ever seen a case with so many leaks?" Marino also said: "I think this case has everything the American public wants -- 'The Sopranos,' Hollywood and sports. It can't be juicier. But at the end of the day, it's a true travesty of justice." Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the N.H.L., granted an indefinite leave of absence Wednesday to Tocchet. The N.H.L. said Wednesday that Tocchet was not prepared to respond to specific allegations. Without referring to specifics, Marino said: "If you look at the charge that's against Rick, it's just not based on reality. He absolutely did not finance a nationwide gambling operation with underworld ties." The Arizona Republic, citing multiple N.H.L. sources, reported yesterday that Mike Barnett, the general manager of the Coyotes and Gretzky's former agent, made a bet with Tocchet on the Super Bowl. Barnett referred questions to Jim O'Neal, the Coyotes' director of security. "There are a lot of rumors circulating with many names included," O'Neal said in a statement. "I was advised by the authorities today that they did not likely foresee a need for further questioning pertaining to any members of our organization, whether it be Michael Barnett or others." The collective bargaining agreement between N.H.L. players and owners prohibits gambling on hockey games. Gambling on other sports, however, is not specifically banned. The N.H.L. said New Jersey authorities have told the league that nothing has come to their attention that would indicate betting on N.H.L. games. But because an assistant has been implicated in the case, the league has opened an internal investigation led by Robert J. Cleary, a former federal investigator who handled the Unabomber case.


Magic Beats Heat After Trailing by 24

Abstract: Down by 24 in the third quarter, the Orlando Magic went on a 40-9 run over the next 15 minutes and beat the host Miami Heat , 99-96, on Thursday night. Jason Richardson scored 24 points for Orlando, 11 of them to spur the comeback. Jameer Nelson scored 12 of his 16 in the second half and Dwight Howard finished with 14 points and 18 rebounds for the Magic, which trailed, 73-49, after a dunk by LeBron James with 8 minutes 57 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Orlando outscored Miami, 50-23, the rest of the way. Orlando nearly rallied from a 23-point deficit when the teams last met, early last month, missing a potential game-tying shot in the final seconds at home. James scored 29 for Miami, which missed two 3-point attempts in the final seconds.

Orlando Magic
Miami Heat
Basketball
Richardson Jason


OPEC Achieves Cuts in Output, Halting Price Slide

Abstract: After months of gradually closing the oil spigot, members of the OPEC cartel have managed to stop the slide in oil prices — at least for now. Showing an unusual degree of discipline, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have slashed their output by more than three million barrels a day in recent months as they sought to put a floor under oil prices, which have fallen by $100 a barrel since last summer. That is about 75 percent of the production cuts pledged by members of the cartel since September. The cuts have been led by Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, which has trimmed its production to eight million barrels a day this month, down from nearly 10 million barrels over the summer. In September, OPEC producers vowed to reduce their output by 4.2 million barrels a day, or about 5 percent of global production. “Compliance has been extremely high,” said Kevin Norrish, an oil analyst with Barclays Capital in London. “Most OPEC countries have done most of what they’d pledged to do.” Oil lost 70 percent of its value in recent months as the global economy fizzled and oil consumption fell. In the United States, the world’s biggest consumer, demand has dropped nearly 8 percent, or 1.6 million barrels a day, from a year ago. Most experts believe global oil consumption will decline in 2009 for the second straight year. But OPEC’s policy seems to be catching up with the economic downturn. After hitting a peak above $145 a barrel in July, and falling to $32 a barrel by December, their lowest level since the end of 2003, oil prices have stabilized in recent weeks. As the latest OPEC cuts have influenced the markets, prices have been trading in a range from $35 to $45 a barrel. OPEC’s success has created the prospect of a rebound in prices — most oil-producing countries want prices well above $70 a barrel. But such a rebound could hobble the world economy further, making an eventual recovery more difficult. Already, retail gasoline in the United States has bottomed out and begun to rise. It is still far below the high of $4.11 a gallon in July, but is up about 20 cents over the last month, to a national average of $1.86 a gallon. On Friday, oil prices rose $2.80 a barrel, or 6.41 percent, to settle at $46.47. While that is well below last summer’s level, it remains relatively high by historical standards. The precipitous slide in recent months had alarmed many producers, as well as some Western oil companies, which warned of lower investments for new energy supplies. ConocoPhillips, for example, last week trimmed its investment program by 18 percent, or $2.8 billion, for this year. Suncor Energy, which produces oil from Canadian tar sands, slashed its investments for the second time in a few months. After posting a loss in the fourth quarter, Suncor cut its spending plans to $3 billion this year, down from $10 billion. “Politically, it is better to say we need the lowest possible oil prices, but there are economic implications to low prices, and not just for OPEC producers,” said Olivier Jakob, the managing director of Petromatrix, an independent research firm in Zug, Switzerland. “Lower prices defer investments in the energy sector that could hurt Western economies in the longer term.” The steep drop means that oil prices have returned to levels last seen before 2004. But given a rise in production costs, and vast government spending programs initiated by most oil-producing states, many oil exporters today need significantly higher prices to balance their budgets. Saudi Arabia, for example, once seen as favoring low prices, recently said that it considered $75 a barrel to be a fair price. Oil companies also say they need higher prices to develop complex and costly resources, like deepwater fields or tar sands, that have higher break-even costs. “If economies recover, we will quickly face the same challenges on the supplies,” Helge Lund, the chief executive of StatoilHydro, a Norwegian oil company, said in a recent interview. “We won’t be able to meet the increase in demand.” The drop in prices, if sustained, may lead to a realignment of policies even for the most nationalistic producers, analysts said. Kazakhstan and Venezuela, for example, recently indicated they might relax investment terms or seek new deals with foreign companies in a bid to bolster their production and increase revenues. The OPEC cartel’s discipline reflects a more forceful stance taken by Saudi Arabia, the group’s most powerful producer, which has taken the lead in aggressively cutting production in recent weeks. The country’s oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said the kingdom would go even beyond its OPEC pledges with a unilateral cut that would bring its output next month below its official target. Analysts expect the kingdom to reduce its output by an additional 300,000 barrels a day below its OPEC quota. “We are working hard to bring the market in balance,” Mr. Naimi said a few days ago in New Delhi. Saudi Arabia’s economy is expected to shrink this year, and the country is planning to run a budget deficit because of the slump in oil prices. OPEC has received some involuntary help from other producers. These include Mexico, where output from the country’s biggest oil field is declining sharply; Russia; and Canada, where producers of tar sands have shut down some operations that are becoming uneconomical at today’s lower oil prices. The last time the cartel met, in December, its members pledged to reduce production by 2.2 million barrels a day. It was the group’s third agreement in four months to cut its output, after pledges of 500,000 barrels a day in September and 1.5 million barrels a day in October. But not everyone believes that OPEC’s actions can keep prices from falling further, especially if the global economy continues to worsen. OPEC has announced 12 quota reductions since 1993, and 80 percent of the time the cartel succeeded in defending a floor for oil prices, according to an analysis by Deutsche Bank. The times when the cartel failed was when global economic growth was falling sharply, as in 1998 and 2001. OPEC’s president, José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, has said he expected oil prices to eventually recover to around $75 a barrel this year as a result of OPEC’s actions. The cartel is expected to meet again in March. At least one producer, Iran, has said the group might slash production even further to push up prices. “If all the cuts are carried out within the established time frame, there will be an impact in the market that will lead to a positive trend in terms of oil prices,” Mr. de Vasconcelos told Reuters.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries


Indiana Republicans Choose Eric Holcomb to Run for Governor in Mike Pence’s Place

Abstract: A committee of top Indiana Republicans picked a new candidate for governor on Tuesday, filling a sudden gap left when Gov. Mike Pence was tapped as Donald J. Trump’s running mate. Eric Holcomb, the lieutenant governor, was chosen by the committee, 22 local and state Republican leaders who voted on the issue during a private meeting in Indianapolis. The departure from the race of Mr. Pence, who was until this month seeking re-election this fall, had opened a frenzy of jockeying for his job in a state where Republicans control the capital. Four people sought to be picked, setting off a cascade of uncertainty and chaos about other races around the state. Some vying to be governor dropped out of other races only days ago, and those not selected say they will seek to return to the races they left. The committee’s selection, Mr. Holcomb, will in November face John Gregg, a Democrat, who lost a close race against Mr. Pence in 2012. Mr. Holcomb, appointed to that post by Mr. Pence this year, said in a news conference after Tuesday’s announcement that he intended to campaign on an agenda that included economic and community development. “We’ve got work to do,” he said of the campaign ahead. In recent days, Mr. Pence, who remains in office to finish his first term even as he campaigns on the Republican presidential ticket, endorsed Mr. Holcomb to replace him. Mr. Holcomb is a former state party chairman and was an adviser to former Gov. Mitch Daniels — roles that gave him an upper hand in the odd, brief and intense campaign for the nomination, which required only the support of party leaders. Also considered for the governor’s slot was Representative Susan W. Brooks, who had received support from Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, a competitor of Mr. Pence as Mr. Trump chose his running mate. Representative Todd Rokita and State Senator Jim Tomes had also hoped to replace Mr. Pence on the November ballot. Jeff Cardwell, the chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, declined to provide the vote tallies but said each candidate had been given a chance to give a three-minute speech and answer questions. “We are blessed to have such a deep bench of talent to pull from,” he said in a statement after the meeting. Neither Mr. Holcomb nor the possible replacements he beat out are as well known across Indiana as Mr. Pence, and any of them would have been starting at a disadvantage in campaign time and funds raised. But Mr. Pence’s re-election had not been seen as a certainty; he had drawn intense criticism, including among some Republicans, for his handling last year of a law that could have allowed religious conservatives to deny services to same-sex couples. Already, Democrats were casting Mr. Holcomb’s bid as an extension of Mr. Pence’s policies. “Eric Holcomb is just another out-of-touch ideologue who will hurt the middle class and undermine Hoosier values,” said John Zody, the chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party. Mr. Gregg, who had continued campaigning without an opponent while Republicans rushed to find a replacement for Mr. Pence, was quick to link Mr. Holcomb to his former opponent. “Eric Holcomb wholeheartedly embraced the failed approach that embarrassed our state, cost us jobs and has left the middle class behind,” Mr. Gregg said. With the nomination now decided, Republicans in Indiana have another task: finding a candidate to replace Mr. Holcomb as lieutenant governor.

Indiana
Republicans
Eric Holcomb
Mike Pence
Gubernatorial races


Distinguishing Minors From Adults in a Tide of Young Migrants

Abstract: PASSAU, Germany — Newly arrived migrants were lining up at the train station in this border town for their first registration one recent evening. In a group of young Afghans traveling on their own, Matin, from Kabul, said he was 17 years old. A police officer laughed. “Yes, you and all your friends are 17,” he said. “You know how often I hear that every day?” One of the hardest challenges in processing unaccompanied teenage migrants is to determine whether they are still minors. Their legal situation changes radically on their 18th birthday. Migrants under 18 are considered “children first and refugees second,” giving them the same rights as German children, said Johanna Karpenstein of B-UMF, a Berlin-based charity focused on unaccompanied minor refugees across Germany . That means where possible they are fast-tracked into youth housing, German lessons and schools. Perhaps the biggest prize: If they are granted asylum, their families are allowed to join them in Germany. The age assessment happens early on. When a migrant claims to be a minor, a youth worker is assigned to determine if the claim is credible. “It’s a very uncomfortable situation,” said Lothar Kaseder, who heads the department dealing with unaccompanied minors at the Passau youth authority. And the science is inexact: Facial hair, complexion and even traumatic experiences can make a person appear older than their biological age. Some of Mr. Kaseder’s colleagues focus on the hands, rather than the faces, of the youths. Closing the Back Door to Europe In recent months European nations have worked to block the main route taken by migrants fleeing war and upheaval. If a migrant is deemed over 18, he or she has four weeks to appeal. A medical examination may follow to settle the dispute. Mohammed Jouni of the charity Youth Without Borders — himself a refugee and now a medical student — said that for young Arab or Afghan boys who had never been naked in front of anyone, these examinations could be distressing. Even medical tests tend to be imprecise. An X-ray of the wrist has a margin of error of about two years, and a more exact analysis of the jawbone, teeth and clavicle is so expensive that it is done only when a dispute goes to court, said Sandra Wagner-Putz, a youth worker. She pointed out that in some countries, like Afghanistan, birthdays have little cultural significance. “Often, they don’t know their date of birth,” she said. Few have documents. But one of the more common birth dates the police have recorded for migrants arriving this fall has been Jan. 1, 1999. “The smugglers tell them,” said the police officer at the Passau train station.

Middle East and Africa Migrant Crisis,European Migrant Crisis


John Degenkolb Wins Vuelta’s 5th Stage

Abstract: John Degenkolb sprinted to his second stage win at the Vuelta a España, while Joaquin Rodriguez maintained his overall lead after the fifth leg. Degenkolb crossed the finish ahead of Daniele Bennati and Gianni Meersman to cap a 104-mile looping ride in Logrono that took 4 hours 10 minutes 37 seconds.

Vuelta a Espana (Bicycle Race)
Degenkolb John
Cycling Road


Travel Agents Helpful in a Crisis

Abstract: SO just about everybody is back home or at least moving smoothly on the road. The air travel system seems to have returned to what we now regard as normal after all the snow-related disruptions last week. But what have we learned from the mess that radiated outward from snowbound New York airports over the Christmas holiday, when about 10,000 flights were canceled over five days and the airlines were unable to rebook travelers because their planes were already mostly full? I like the assessment of one reader, John Reilly, who weighed the facts and concluded, “Something is wrong here.” One of the biggest shocks, even for frequent travelers, was the breakdown last week in airline customer service. Stranded passengers spent hours on phones trying to rebook canceled flights. Few were successful. Many spent a long night or two learning that airport seats were not designed for sleep. One big reason for the breakdown is that airlines have far fewer employees than they once had. And that means they get overwhelmed by sudden surges in demand. In October 2000, for example, the major domestic airlines employed 680,767 workers, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at the Transportation Department. In October 2010, they had 516,581 — even as the number of annual passengers grew to 701.5 million in 2009, from 665.5 million in 2000. Continental Airlines, for one example, cut nearly a quarter of its 2,600 reservations call-center jobs last April, explaining that calls to live agents were off by 15 percent as more customers routinely booked their flights on the Internet. But as tens of thousands of travelers found out last week, airline Web sites, which are quite good at taking a reservation, are not so good — in a crisis — at keeping it. As Jerry Seinfeld said in a classic episode on reservations gone awry: “You know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to hold the reservation. And that’s really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them.” So with online and phone options severely limited, where can you turn? Let me suggest an option that may not immediately come to mind: a travel agent. Now, like many entrepreneurs, I pride myself on booking all of my own travel and handling all the problems myself. In fact, Jimmy Carter was the president the last time I recall using a travel agent. But I am fairly certain that if I had been traveling during that mess last week, I would have spent at least one day stuck at an airport, grumbling darkly as I listened to those annoying terminal announcements not to accept suitcases from strangers or to make “jokes or inappropriate comments” about security. So I was interested to hear from Robert Robar, the owner of Travel Centre of Gainesville, a Florida agency. “We rebooked and found alternative flights for customers before many had even left for the airport” last week, he reported. In fact, Mr. Robar seemed almost apologetic about not having any first-hand travel horror stories to share. “Of course, I have heard tales,” he said. In 2002, with Internet bookings proliferating, airlines eliminated the commissions they used to pay to travel agents for booking tickets. As a result, many one-size-fits-all storefront agencies closed down. But smart agents built new business models around loyal clients who pay fees for personal service. The average fee now charged by agents for booking an airline ticket is about $37.50, says the American Society of Travel Agents. “I get calls at 3 o’clock in the morning,” said Mr. Robar, who worked for the old Eastern Airlines for 25 years before becoming an agent. Back then, he said, airlines had enough ticket agents and gave them the authority to solve a customer’s problems on the spot, “even something as basic as simply reissuing a ticket,” he said. Mark Dennen, a business traveler who has used an agent for 25 years, wrote to me to strongly recommend finding one. “When I call my travel agent, Maureen Doyle, she always answers the phone,” he said in a phone interview. “I have yet to sleep in an airport.” Mr. Dennen, who travels frequently to Asia on business, said that having an on-call agent meant being able to switch gears on the road when circumstances demanded it. “You can’t stand around waiting for things to happen,” he said. Last week, incidentally, some airlines scored customer service points by having a small number of employees handle online passenger entreaties on Twitter. Delta Air Lines, for example, had nine employees on a special Twitter squad called “Team Assist” — but, by my reading, this was mostly an exercise in information sharing and hand-holding, not in reservation-holding. “I am very sorry for your ordeal,” a Team Assist member told one frustrated traveler two days after Christmas.

Travel Agencies and Agents
Travel and Vacations
Airlines and Airplanes
Customer Relations


N.H.L. Unveils Website Featuring Advanced Statistics

Abstract: The N.H.L., working with the German software company SAP, unveiled a new statistics website Friday, including a section devoted solely to advanced statistics. Terms like Corsi, Fenwick and PDO, familiar categories in the advanced-stats lexicon, are giving way to shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, and shooting percentage plus save percentage. The site introduced Friday was the first of several innovations planned for the next 18 months that represent sweeping changes to the scope of hockey statistics. “This is a game-changer in terms of the digital record of everything happening on the ice,” said John Collins, the N.H.L.’s chief operating officer. The first phase included the introduction of 45 metrics, nine of which had not previously been quantified by any advanced-stats site. The league hopes to incorporate bar graphs and comparisons by April and would like to add player tracking, using chips in the puck and in players’ jerseys, to record precise, real-time data on every player. Sportvision, which created Fox’s glowing puck, the N.F.L.’s 1st and Ten graphics system and the Major League Baseball K Zone pitch tracker for ESPN, will produce the chips for the N.H.L. The league tested the technology during last month’s All-Star weekend, and Collins said it had received “more positive than negative” reviews from those who saw it. The statistics will be available within 30 minutes of the end of each game, and league officials said they hoped to be able to update the data by the end of each period by the end of the regular season. The goal is to “get as close to real-time as possible” by next season, said Chris Foster, the league’s director of digital business development. The final phase, to be introduced during the N.H.L.’s centennial campaign in the 2016-17 season, will track statistics all the way back to the league’s founding in 1917. SAP’s developers said fans would be able to compare Sidney Crosby, Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky and Maurice Richard. SAP and the league surveyed fans to make the statistics site easy to use, and the N.H.L. intends to keep the data available at no charge — though it may be combined with a subscription to GameCenter Live, the league’s live-streaming service. Foster said the league and the developers had learned a lot from the fans they interviewed. “There are several different personas that exist,” he said. “Extreme, hard-core fans that want to really dive into the stats that exist. We looked to cross the spectrum of extremes.” Collins was asked whether the league would use its might to shut down fan-driven analytics sites that had tracked statistics for years. “I think what we view as our mission is to provide the most authentic and consistent representation of what is happening on the ice,” he said. “How that gets interpreted, how people weight that, that’s the fun part of the discussion we hope to start to foster.”

Statistics
SAP
Ice hockey
NHL
Sportvision Systems