Sales Slip for The Sun on Sunday in Britain, Murdoch’s New Paper

Abstract: LONDON — Rupert Murdoch has endured a litany of blows in the unending phone-hacking scandal at his British tabloids. But one setback isn’t happening in Parliament, but on Britain’s newsstands. The Sun, a brash daily tabloid that delivers mostly working-class readers splashy sports pieces, topless models and scandalous celebrity gossip all wrapped in a colorful, cheeky tone, has long been a pet of Mr. Murdoch’s. Lately, however, sales of the new Sunday edition — the one created to replace the shuttered News of the World — have slipped. Sales of the Sunday edition have fallen 28 percent, from 3.2 million copies sold in the weeks after it first hit the stands in February, to 2.3 million in April, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The News of the World sold 2.7 million copies (or one copy for every 23 people in Britain), in July, when Mr. Murdoch closed the tabloid. Analysts estimated that circulation at The Sun on Sunday would continue to fall until stabilizing at around two million copies, below Mr. Murdoch’s hope but still bigger than its closest competitor, The Sunday Mirror, which sold 1.1 million copies on Sundays in April. Why hasn’t the Sun been able to fill the void left by the 168-year-old News of the World? British media analysts suggest that the News, which was known for its investigative exclusives, transcended social class in a way The Sun has not been able to do. Readers who don’t buy The Sun during the week don’t see it as the newspaper for them on Sundays either, said Douglas McCabe, media analyst at Enders Analysis here. “The Sun brand is very much aimed at the working man,” Mr. McCabe said. “The News of the World was a one-off weekly picked up by those people but also by the educated middle class who buy The Sunday Times.” “It’s difficult to underestimate how unique the News of the World was,” said Charlie Beckett, director of Polis, a media research organization affiliated with the London School of Economics. “The front page would always have a sensational story that usually involved sex, politics and crime and might have even been true,” he said, adding: “The Sun hasn’t been able to repeat that.” In a recent weekday edition, The Sun led with an “exclusive” about an obese teenager (“said to be 63 STONE”) who had to be evacuated from her home in South Wales. (A stone is 14 pounds.) A 25-year-old from Manchester named Rhian posed topless on Page 3. A blurb said Rhian was “shocked Europe is forcing Britain to give some prisoners the vote.” In February, Mr. Murdoch traveled to London to personally introduce The Sun on Sunday, six months after News Corporation closed the Sunday-only News after revelations about widespread phone hacking emerged. Mr. Murdoch visited the tabloid’s newsroom in the Wapping district of East London, and, shirt sleeves rolled up, sent a message to his detractors by declaring his commitment to the printed word. “Having a winning paper is the best answer to our critics,” Mr. Murdoch told the newsroom upon announcing the Sunday edition. Giddy with excitement, as if it were his first newspaper, Mr. Murdoch later posted on Twitter: “I will be very happy at anything substantially over two million!” and “Reports early, but new Sun edition sold 3m!” The Sun remains the most-read newspaper in a country so enamored of tabloid gossip that an anti-litter campaign scattered throughout the London Underground reads: “The newspaper you’re reading is rubbish.” The Sun’s discounted cover price of 30 pence (roughly 50 cents) on weekdays and 50 pence (or about 80 cents) on Sundays has helped the newspaper maintain its lead, the audit bureau said in its most recent circulation report. News Corporation declined to comment on The Sun’s circulation. The Sun is also operating in a delicate era in Britain, when everything that newspapers do is under increased scrutiny, whether they are owned by Murdoch or not. That scrutiny is especially apparent at The Sun. British investigators have said that The Sun participated in widespread bribery “to a network of corrupted officials,” and several of the newspaper’s top journalists have been arrested. Last month Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of both News of the World and The Sun, was formally charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. Newsroom morale at The Sun has sagged as the management and standards committee established by News Corporation to investigate malfeasance at its newspapers has turned over hundreds of millions of journalists’ e-mails. Created as an anti-establishment bible for the masses, with a flagrant sense of humor and a populist bent, The Sun has slowly morphed into a more family-friendly newspaper, Mr. Beckett of Polis said. On a recent Sunday in May, the typically topless Page 3 model wore a bikini top. The Sunday front page devoted most of its space to a paid promotion for a free Ninja Lego toy. The features included an investigation into a Scientology “cult” that “ordered” a female member to have an abortion, and a perennial story about Pippa Middleton’s derrière. “The Sun is a newspaper which in most, but not every, respect reflects Murdoch’s worldview,” Michael Gove, a Conservative member of Parliament, said in his testimony on Tuesday to the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics, which was created because of the phone-hacking scandal at News of the World. Indeed, of all the roughly 175 newspapers that News Corporation owns globally, The Sun holds a special place in Mr. Murdoch’s heart, friends and associates have said. It also drives the company’s print revenues in Britain. News Corporation does not break out profit on individual newspapers, but revenue from advertising in The Sun helps support less lucrative, more upscale titles like The Times of London and The Sunday Times. Eager to expand his footprint on Fleet Street, Mr. Murdoch bought The Sun in 1969 for £800,000, assuring the previous owners that he would publish a “straightforward, honest newspaper.” Back then News Corporation already published News of the World on Sunday and wanted to use its printing presses for the rest of the week. Today, it is The Sun that is using the News of the World’s idle presses. Because of the abrupt closure of News of the World, News Corporation already had the capacity to print and deliver a newspaper on Sunday. That means a drop in readership at The Sun doesn’t have a significant impact on the company’s financial performance, analysts said. “It’s all upside because the News of the World doesn’t exist anymore,” said Mr. McCabe, the analyst. “They haven’t gone out and spent serious money on a new staff or equipment.” The Sun’s numbers also reflect an overall softening in the newspaper market in Britain. All British newspapers combined distributed 273 million copies in April, down 7.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to audit bureau data. The initial excitement and marketing blitz of The Sun on Sunday helped lift the overall number of Britons who buy newspapers on Sunday to 10.7 million in February, from 7.7 million in January. That number fell to 8.7 million in March. “At first a lot of people bought The Sun on Sunday who wouldn’t necessarily buy a paper on Sundays,” said Patrick Yau, a media analyst at British brokerage firm Peel Hunt. “Some stayed, but most didn’t.”

Newspapers
News Corporation
Sun The (British Newspaper)
Murdoch Rupert


Debt Worries Shift to Portugal, Spurred by Rising Bond Rates

Abstract: LONDON — Next target: Portugal. Speculators have begun to zero in on another small member of Europe’s troubled monetary zone, highlighting the same economic flaw that brought Greece to the verge of insolvency: a chronically low savings rate that forces a reliance on the now-diminishing appetite of foreign investors to finance persistent deficits. Just as investors are turning their attention to the next vulnerable country, Greece moved a step closer on Thursday to activating a $61 billion rescue package, as Prime Minister George A. Papandreou asked the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to meet in Athens next week. The aid package agreed on last weekend — aimed at calming fears of a Greek default — has not yet had its desired effect. The yield on Greek 10-year bonds briefly topped 7.3 percent Thursday, not far from the 7.5 percent it was at before the rescue package was announced. Interest rates on 10-year government bonds for Portugal have also been rising, hitting a high of 4.5 percent on Thursday. Though Greece’s finance ministry said its request for talks did not necessarily mean it would draw from the funds, it contributed to anxiety that helped push down the value of the euro by 0.008, to 1.3576 against the dollar . It all raises the prospect that the loan package for Greece, the result of months of political haggling, may be nothing more than a bandage on a wound that shows little sign of healing. Some analysts think the Greek bailout may have an opposite, more harmful long-term effect. Instead of ushering in a period of lower rates and market calm, it could prompt investors to test Europe’s — and in particular Germany’s — stomach for a rescue of other troubled European economies, beginning with Portugal. The bailout might even create an incentive for the coalition government in Lisbon, which has already pushed through painful spending cuts, to ease up a bit, knowing that a rescue package with concessionary interest rates from Europe and the I.M.F. could lie just around the corner. “Now there will be more fiscal profligacy in Europe, more political fractures and ultimately the possibility that some countries might want to leave the euro zone,” said Joachim Fels, an economist at Morgan Stanley. The euro zone is made up of the 16 countries that use the euro. That Greece and Portugal are among those in the worst trouble is well known, with both likely to be encumbered by high debt, weak competitiveness and stagnant growth for years. But another factor contributing to their troubles is their savings rates — 6 percent of gross domestic product for Greece and 7.5 percent for Portugal. These are low for developed countries. In contrast, Italy has a savings rate of 17.5 percent, Spain 20 percent, France 19 percent and Germany 23 percent. For Athens and Lisbon, it is a risky combination: low reserves of capital when the cost of new debt is increasing, while their ability to generate tax revenue to pay for these obligations is shrinking because of tough austerity measures. Portugal’s debt, at just under 90 percent of gross domestic product, is lower than Greece’s 113 percent level. The government in Lisbon has taken pre-emptive steps to cut spending and raise taxes. Portugal’s financing needs for the year, while high at 24 billion euros, or $32.7 billion, are not as onerous as Greece’s. On Wednesday, the government was able to raise two billion euros comfortably on the bond market. But Tim Lee of pi Economics, a consultancy based in Stamford, Conn., said a country’s savings rate, more than its deficits or debt-to-G.D.P. ratio, is the best measure of an economy’s ability to pay down its debt. On that basis, Greece and Portugal remain highly vulnerable. “The severely negative net national savings rate highlights the fact that the government deficit cannot easily be financed domestically,” Mr. Lee said, “making it difficult for these countries to emerge from their debt trap.” Mr. Lee pointed out that Greece and Portugal are not the only countries so afflicted. The United States and Britain, with savings rates of 10 percent and 12 percent, respectively, are also among the world’s worst savers. But Greece and Portugal, as members of the euro zone, do not have the luxury of printing money to depreciate their currencies and thus export their way to recovery. Portugal has suffered in this respect perhaps even more than Greece. Portuguese exporters have been losing market share to competitors since entering the common currency in 2000. That, in turn, has pushed the government to borrow from abroad to finance the current account deficit, pushing debt to its current levels. More seriously, Portugal — unlike Greece, Ireland and Spain — did not experience the positive effects of the long period of growth reflecting low interest rates earlier this decade. That is because it did not benefit from a housing or consumer boom and thus did not see any improvement in its G.D.P. per capita over the last 15 years, according to research by Deutsche Bank. Accordingly, analysts say, it will be difficult for Portuguese politicians to persuade their already pinched populace that more sacrifices — like public-sector wage cuts or higher value-added taxes — are necessary. Fitch has already downgraded the country’s debt over doubts that Portugal can cut its deficit of 9 percent of G.D.P. Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, warned Portugal this week that further steps were needed to cut its deficit. Gilles Moëc, an economist for Europe at Deutsche Bank, said, “It is going to be a long and painful process for Portugal, and there are questions about whether they can do it.” He added, “It’s a reminder that there is an issue here.”

Portugal
European Union
International Monetary Fund
Interest Rates
Credit
Economic Conditions and Trends
Papandreou George A
Euro (Currency)


Nine Leak-Related Cases

Abstract: Leaks were rarely prosecuted before the Obama administration, which has already brought twice as many such cases than all previous presidential administrations combined. Prosecuted in Previous Administrations Daniel Ellsberg 1973 CASE A defense analyst accused of leaking the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of the Vietnam War. DISPOSITION A federal judge dismissed the case. Samuel Loring Morison 1985 CASE A naval intelligence analyst accused of providing satellite photographs of a Soviet shipbuilding facility to Jane’s Defence Weekly. DISPOSITION Mr. Morison was convicted by a jury and sentenced to two years in prison, though he was later paroled. President Bill Clinton pardoned him. Lawrence Franklin 2005 CASE A Pentagon analyst accused of leaking information about United States policy toward Iran to lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. DISPOSITION Mr. Franklin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to about 12 years in prison, which was later reduced to 10 months of community confinement. Prosecuted During the Obama Administration Shamai Leibowitz 2009 CASE A former F.B.I. contract linguist accused of disclosing classified information to a blogger. DISPOSITION Mr. Leibowitz pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 months in prison. Stephen Jin-Woo Kim 2010 CASE An analyst at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory accused of leaking information about North Korea to Fox News. DISPOSITION Mr. Kim has pleaded not guilty and has not yet gone on trial. Thomas Drake 2010 CASE A former official at the National Security Agency accused of leaking information about waste and mismanagement to The Baltimore Sun and charged with unlawful retention of secrets. DISPOSITION Prosecutors dropped the felony charges as part of a deal in which Mr. Drake pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. He was sentenced to one year of probation and community service. Bradley Manning 2010 CASE An Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking archives of military and diplomatic files to the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks . DISPOSITION Private Manning is facing a court-martial. Jeffrey Sterling 2010 CASE A former C.I.A. official accused of leaking information about an effort to sabotage Iranian nuclear research to James Risen for a chapter in his book “State of War.” DISPOSITION Mr. Sterling pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department is appealing several of the judge’s pretrial rulings about evidentiary issues, saying they effectively terminated the case. John Kiriakou 2012 CASE A former C.I.A. official accused of leaking information about the identity of agency officials involved in its rendition and interrogation of terrorism suspects. DISPOSITION Mr. Kiriakou has pleaded not guilty.

United States Defense and Military Forces

Classified Information and State Secrets


Haitian Mother Didn’t Give Up on Son, Who Eventually Was Pulled From Ruins

Abstract: PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — When a three-story building in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods collapsed last week, a 21-year-old tailor who lived there was counted among the estimated tens of thousands of Haitians killed by the earthquake . Except by his mother. Marie Yolène Bois de Fer, 46, who had been living in a camp for displaced people in a park across from the wrecked presidential palace, returned Friday to the shattered apartment building, still hoping to find some sign of him. “I heard my son calling me,” she said. “At that moment, I knew it was possible to save him.” She began frantically alerting everyone she could find — police officers, journalists, aid workers — that her son was trapped beneath the rubble of her home in Bel-Air. Ten days after the quake, he was still alive. Soon, American and French medical experts arrived, followed by Israelis in two teams of five people each. Renowned for their rescue work after disasters in Turkey, Greece and Armenia, the Israelis had sent a 120-person rescue and hospital team in the days after the earthquake. Rescuers cut through rebar, tore away rubble and broke through pieces of furniture to reach the son, Emmanuel Buteau. One of the Israelis was able to touch his hand. Mr. Buteau asked for water. “Hearing his voice was a very encouraging sign,” said Lt. Col. Rami Peltz, 43, of the Israeli Army. “Touching his hand was even better. We knew he could move that limb.” Once they removed enough debris to grasp Mr. Buteau’s shoulders, Maj. Zohar Moshe, 47, an engineer who leads the Israeli rescue unit, was able to pull him out. “I pulled him out and he weighed like nothing because he was so thin,” said Major Moshe. “Then he was free.” Mr. Buteau was severely dehydrated, dusty and hungry, but otherwise apparently without any serious injuries. The Israelis whisked him to their field hospital, where late on Friday he was recuperating under a tent next to his mother and sister. An Israeli doctor said that he might have had access to a bit of water while he was trapped, enabling him to endure the long ordeal. For days, Mr. Buteau thought he was going to die. “I thought I’d been taken away to another world, perhaps,” he said. “At times I would fall asleep. At other times I could feel the tremors from beneath me.” Sometimes he could hear faint voices, sometimes a distant siren from beyond the wreckage that used to be his home. Still, he said, he did not know if the sounds were real. Under the blistering Haitian sun, the sounds of Hebrew mixed with Creole and French, and Mr. Buteau nodded in and out of consciousness. “There were moments of horror while I was trapped,” he said. “Once I heard people outside talking about burning the bodies they had found. I wondered what they could have been talking about.” Ms. Bois de Fer, who in normal times sells clothes as a street vendor, said that the challenges of her life seemed to lift on Friday. Her home was destroyed, her family was living in a camp in the street, but none of that was important. “My baby is alive,” she said softly, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I know that God is watching over us now.” The rescue offered a glimmer of hope that there could still be other survivors alive beneath the wasted city, even now. An 84-year-old woman was also rescued Friday from a site near the main soccer stadium, bringing the number of survivors pulled from the rubble by international rescue teams to more than 120. She was reported to be in critical condition. At the Israeli field hospital, Mr. Buteau appeared to be coming to grips with the possibility that he just might be alive. “I guess God wasn’t ready for me to die yet,” he said.


China Takes Heavy Criticism Over Software Directive

Abstract: BEIJING — China is facing a storm of protest at home and abroad over new regulations requiring all personal computers sold in the country to include software that can filter out pornography and other “vulgar” content from the Internet. Industry executives, free-speech advocates and many computer users have reacted angrily to the new mandate, which gives manufacturers until July 1 to preinstall the software on millions of new machines. “The compulsory installation of filtering software is a whole lot of useless flopping about,” said an editorial in The Wuhan Evening News. Computer makers in the United States say it will be impossible to fulfill the requirement by the end of the month and have asked the Chinese government to reconsider the directive. They say it raises thorny questions about censorship and whether manufacturers will be liable if the software — designed by a company with ties to China’s military and public security agencies — conflicts with operating systems or causes computers to crash. “To be honest, nobody really knows what this software is capable of,” said one executive at an American computer maker who spoke on the condition of anonymity because his company was still trying to work with the government on the issue. Computer experts fear that it could allow the government to monitor Internet use and collect personal information. So far, the government has not shown any signs of backing down. On Tuesday, state-owned media and officials defended the new software, known as Green Dam, and said suggestions that it could be turned into government-operated spyware were exaggerated. “If you have children or are expecting a child, you could understand the concerns of parents over unhealthy online content,” Qin Gang, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said at a regular news conference Tuesday. Bloggers, dissidents and even some normally cautious state media outlets have greeted the announcement with skepticism, questioning the software’s reliability and wondering whether it could be used to censor nonsexual content. Some criticized the government’s decision to spend about $6 million on a program that was not solicited through an open bidding process. China vigorously restricts Internet content, regularly blocking Web pages devoted to Tibetan independence, human rights issues and other politically sensitive subjects. An anti-vulgarity campaign this year has shut down thousands of pornographic sites. Green Dam’s designers say the program, which uses image recognition technology and text filtering to block material, is not capable of acting as spyware. Most important, they say the program can be disabled or erased. The Beijing News devoted a full page to Green Dam and found its performance less than stellar. For example, an innocent math question that included the word “balls” was filtered out. Writing on Green Dam’s own Web site, one teacher said sexually explicit images slipped through and another complained that it would not let her view pictures of pigs. In an editorial he wrote for The Oriental Morning Post, Wang Lin, an associate professor at Hainan University Law School, said the government should have consulted computer users and allowed other companies to submit comparable programs. “They’ve made a decision affecting tens of millions of people without regard to their opinions,” he said in an interview. “It’s like you buying a car and the government telling you where you can drive.” Executives at computer makers, which last year sold about 40 million PCs in China, agree with such sentiments, although none were willing to speak on the record for fear of angering the government as they press their case behind the scenes to have the rule reconsidered. The government presented the regulations , drawn up without industry input, to PC makers on May 19, but they were not released publicly until Monday. Preliminary tests by software technicians at a number of companies have revealed significant software tics that could affect a computer’s operating system or other programs, according to the American computer executive who spoke anonymously. On Tuesday, a coalition of United States trade associations issued a statement that gently made their case. “We believe there should be an open and healthy dialogue on how parental control software can be offered in the market in ways that ensure privacy, system reliability, freedom of expression, the free flow of information, security and user choice,” read the statement, which was signed by groups including the Software & Information Industry Association and the Information Technology Industry Council, whose members include Lenovo, Dell, Apple and Hewlett-Packard. While bloggers have been among the most incensed by the new rules, one, Wang Xiaofeng, said he was not overly concerned the software would have a lasting impact on Internet freedom. “People will always find a way to break through these controls,” he said. “It’s just a shame the government has to keep spending taxpayer money to build them.”

China
Software
Censorship
Computers and the Internet
Computer Security
Freedom of Speech and Expression


Despite Hints of Deal, Debt Limit Crisis Remains Unresolved

Abstract: WASHINGTON — New budget talks between top Congressional Republicans and President Obama made progress late Saturday, suddenly stirring optimism that a last-minute deal could be reached to avert a potential federal default that threatened significant economic and political consequences. After a tense day of Congressional floor fights and angry exchanges, Senator Harry Reid , the majority leader, called off a planned showdown vote set for after midnight, but said he would convene the Senate at noon on Sunday for a vote an hour later. He said he wanted to give the new negotiations a chance to produce a plan to raise the federal debt limit in exchange for spending cuts and the creation of a new Congressional committee that would try to assemble a long-range deficit-cutting proposal. “There are many elements to be finalized and there is still a distance to go before an arrangement can be completed,” said Mr. Reid, who just a few hours earlier had played down talk of any agreement. “But I believe we should give everyone as much room as possible to do their work.” Mr. Reid’s announcement set off an almost audible sigh of relief on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers and their aides had been bracing for an overnight clash over the debt following a day that had seen a heated House vote and lawmakers trudging from office to office in search of an answer to the impasse. The first indication of a softening of the hard lines that have marked weeks of partisan wrangling over the debt limit came in the afternoon when the two leading Congressional Republicans announced that they had reopened fiscal talks with the White House and expected their last-ditch drive to produce a compromise. Following the House’s sharp rejection of a proposal by Mr. Reid to raise the debt limit and cut spending, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky , the Republican leader and a linchpin in efforts to reach a deal, said he and Speaker John A. Boehner were “now fully engaged” in efforts with the White House to find a resolution that would tie an increase in the debt limit to spending cuts and other conditions. “I’m confident and optimistic that we’re going to get an agreement in the very near future and resolve this crisis in the best interests of the American people,” said Mr. McConnell, who noted he was personally talking to both Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. , a favorite partner in past negotiations. Mr. Boehner, who would have to steer a compromise through the House, said he based his confidence on the prospect of an agreement on the sense that “we’re dealing with reasonable, responsible people who want this crisis to end as quickly as possible.” A Democratic official with knowledge of the talks said that Mr. McConnell called Mr. Biden early Saturday afternoon, the first conversation between the two men since Wednesday. The official said they talked at least four more times on Saturday as they tried to work out an agreement. The deal they were discussing, this person said, resembled the bill that Mr. Boehner won approval for in the House on Friday more than it did the one that Mr. Reid had proposed. It would immediately raise the debt ceiling by about $1 trillion, accompanied by a similar range of spending cuts, and set up a new bipartisan committee that would work to find deeper cuts in exchange for a second debt limit increase that would extend through the 2012 election. A failure of the new committee to win enactment of its proposal could then set off automatic spending cuts across the board, including to entitlement programs. Other ideas were swirling around the Capitol as lawmakers searched for a way to avoid default. One of Mr. Reid’s top lieutenants said he saw at least a glimmer of hope. “We are a long way from any sort of negotiated agreement,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois , the No. 2 Senate Democrat, “but there is certainly a more positive feeling about reaching an agreement than I’ve felt in a long time.” The flurry of activity came as anxiety built up in many corners, including among Wall Street investors worried about the effects on the markets and active-duty soldiers worried about their paychecks. After Mr. McConnell sounded a hopeful note, Mr. Reid called members of the Senate to the floor to hear him dispute the claims by his Republican counterpart and accuse Republicans of failing to enter into serious negotiations even as the Treasury risked running out of money to pay all its bills after Tuesday. “The speaker and Republican leader should know that merely saying you have an agreement in front of television cameras doesn’t make it so,” Mr. Reid said after returning from a visit to the White House with Representative Nancy Pelosi of California , the Democratic leader in the House. Trying to build momentum for his own proposal, Mr. Reid and fellow Democrats were working to win over Republican senators to support his plan to raise the debt ceiling through 2012 and circumvent Mr. McConnell. “Americans are watching us and demanding a result that is balanced,” Mr. Reid said. The Senate Democrats’ efforts were set back Saturday when 43 of the 47 Republican senators signed a letter to Mr. Reid saying they would not back his proposal, which would allow a $2.4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling in two stages while establishing a new Congressional committee to explore deeper spending cuts. The numbers signaled that without changes in the plan, Mr. Reid would not be able to overcome a Republican filibuster , which requires 60 votes. House Republicans signaled their disapproval of the Reid plan by holding a symbolic vote on Saturday, rejecting it by a 246 to 173 vote , in a move intended to show it had no chance of passing in that chamber. About a dozen Democrats joined Republicans in rejecting the Reid plan. The pre-emptive vote could strengthen Mr. McConnell’s hand as he seeks to shape any final compromise. At the White House and in talks in Congressional offices and corridors, most of the attention was focused on finding a way to define the precise conditions under which the president could get a second increase in the debt limit that would be needed early in 2012 under both Republican and Democratic proposals. Officials in both parties said another idea that had surfaced was to require a change in Social Security policy if the new committee deadlocked, providing an incentive for the new committee to act on its own. Under the proposal that the Congressional Budget Office said could save more than $100 billion over 10 years, a different measure of inflation would be used to calculate the annual cost-of-living adjustment in Social Security benefits. Supporters say the alternative measure of inflation is more accurate because it reflects what happens when prices rise; advocates for the elderly say the proposal is a backdoor way of cutting benefits. Members of both parties took the floor to push for compromise, noting that the two sides were not far apart on major elements of their deficit-reduction plans. “Failure should not be an option for us in this case, and it’s time we started finding common ground,” said Senator Johnny Isakson , Republican of Georgia . The unusual Saturday session came after a week of brinkmanship on Capitol Hill. On Friday, Mr. Boehner managed to pass his own House bill, along party lines , just a day after suspending the vote as the Republican leadership tried frantically to line up enough votes for passage. But the Senate swiftly rejected that plan late Friday. While some of the back-and-forth between the House and Senate and the party leaders was typical of the late stages of a negotiation, the combative and unyielding tone in both chambers of Congress was creating more pessimism in the rank and file about the prospects that a final agreement could be struck and cleared before Tuesday. Even if a measure is able to win significant bipartisan endorsement in the Senate, the reception in the House could be different with the Treasury Department’s Tuesday deadline for increasing the debt limit at hand. But how to push a plan by House conservatives remained a major question mark. At the Treasury Department, Secretary Timothy F. Geithner met with top advisers on Saturday on contingency plans for managing the financial consequences of Congressional inaction. “No one will be pleased,” said one adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Treasury Department calculates that the government will exhaust its ability to borrow money at the end of Tuesday, forcing the government to pay its bills from a dwindling pile of cash. Independent analysts estimate the government has enough money on hand to pay all of its bills for another week, more or less, before it starts missing payments. Mr. Obama has repeatedly called on Congress to raise the borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling, by Tuesday to avoid any uncertainty about the government’s ability to meet its obligations. Financial markets are particularly concerned about the payment of interest on the federal debt. A default on those obligations could precipitate a global financial crisis. The painful negotiations to resolve the crisis have caught the attention of troops in Afghanistan , where Adm. Mike Mullen , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , was quizzed repeatedly on Saturday by soldiers and Marines worried about their paychecks. In Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, Admiral Mullen said it remained uncertain where money would be found if the government defaulted. Regardless of budget talks in Washington, the mission for American troops in Afghanistan would not halt, he said. “We’re going to continue to come to work,” he said.

Republicans
Senate
Harry Reid
Democrats
US Politics
US National Debt
Barack Obama
House of Representatives


Time Warner Cable, Bruised After Its Battle With CBS, Extends Viacom Deal

Abstract: SpongeBob SquarePants will continue to bubble into homes on Time Warner Cable uninterrupted into the new year. Time Warner Cable announced Tuesday morning that it had reached a multiyear agreement to renew distribution for Viacom Inc., whose networks include MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Negotiations over the deal, reached days before the current deal was set to expire on Dec. 31, provided a sharp contrast to the bruising battle Time Warner Cable had with CBS last August over the so-called retransmission fees for CBS shows. Terms of the Viacom deal were not disclosed. Tension is increasing between the entertainment companies and the cable outlets, with creators of the entertainment pushing for a higher share of the profits by charging the distributors more in retransmission fees. When Time Warner could not reach a deal with CBS last summer, it blacked out the station for a month in three major markets. However, there was furious consumer backlash — much of it from football fans as the fall season approached — and in early September the two sides reached a deal, largely on CBS’s terms. In its next quarterly earnings report, Time Warner Cable said it had lost about 300,000 of its 11.7 million subscribers — the steepest quarterly loss of subscribers in its history — and attributed the losses in part to the battle with CBS. It was clear that Time Warner Cable was looking to avoid a similar experience with Viacom, whose networks attract younger viewers with shows like “SpongeBob SquarePants” on Nickelodeon. “We’re pleased to have reached agreement in advance of our deadline,” Melinda Witmer, executive vice president at Time Warner Cable, said in a short statement on Tuesday.

Time Warner Cable
CBS
Viacom
Comedy Central
Nickelodeon
Cable television
Viacom Media Networks
TV


A Bartender’s Tools Stir Up Trouble at Airport Security

Abstract: IF I could have one of those sci-fi teleporters, I probably wouldn’t go to the airport. But that’s not happening, so I do what I have to do to get where I need to go. I’m a certified mixologist, which is basically a bartender. I’m also the founder of Crafthouse Cocktails, a line of prepared cocktails sold in stores, and the beverage director at Aviary, a lounge in Chicago. All of this means that I study spirit production, dive into the history of cocktails and the craft of bartending, compete in various events, train bartenders and do presentations and consulting all over the world. It’s a good thing I’m a decent flier. I’ve trained myself to fall asleep almost before the plane even takes off. I try not to check bags whenever possible. I have to check my bags if I’m doing demonstrations because I wind up needing kitchen tools as well. I actually no longer travel with muddlers, wine keys, citrus juicers or zesters in my carry-on. I have lost too many things to security. I almost always put a note in my checked luggage for the Transportation Security Administration to be careful of sharp items. I hope it gives someone who is trying to keep us safe a little smile. I have found out that it’s not a great idea to travel with gas chargers, used to make foams or to carbonate liquids. On a trip to China a couple of years ago, I was flying alone to teach some tequila classes, and I was also set to do some appearances in various places throughout the country. After I checked my bags for a flight, I was waiting at my gate and saw three security people dragging what appeared to be my checked luggage behind them. I went up to them because I felt something was most definitely wrong. I tried to explain that I was a bartender and was in the country to teach Chinese bartenders about tequila. The exchange was as comical as you think. They kept showing me a printout of the X-ray of my bag and pointing at things, which turned out to be two small cartridges for a foam that I was going to make for a cocktail. By this point, all the other people around were staring at me being interrogated. I wound up signing something that was written in Chinese. I have no idea what it said. Somehow my bags made it to my destination and so did I. To say the rest of that flight was a bit uncomfortable would be accurate. Being able to sleep just about anywhere is great, except when it isn’t. I was at Kennedy Airport very early in the morning to catch a flight headed back to Chicago O’Hare. I got to the airport probably around 5 a.m., which is when most bartenders just start to wind down. There were only a few people at the terminal, and I sat down to wait for my flight. I was probably only about 10 feet from the jet bridge and announcement podium. I rested my head and I dozed off. That was a mistake, because when I woke up, there were still only a few people at the gate. The airport, however, was bustling. The flight I was supposed to catch had already filled up with passengers and taken off for Chicago. There was that moment of disappointment with humanity since no one had nudged me and said, “Hey, buddy, is this your flight?” I am sure, however, my name was probably called a few times. I just slept through the mayhem. I didn’t get upset. I just figured at that point it was New York 1, Joly 0.

Bartender
Airport
Crafthouse Cocktails
Airlines,airplanes
Charles Joly
Business travel


Measuring the Shock Waves in Bond Funds

Abstract: INVESTORS rarely brag about their individual bond holdings, but they are certainly complaining about them now. Many middle-of-the-road bond mutual funds that seemed to promise stable returns in a difficult market have recently taken gut-wrenching plunges. These funds, as well as managed accounts run under the same principles, have turned out to be much more volatile and risk-laden than investors generally understood. “I’m terrified,” said Phyllis Minkoff, 83, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., who holds three bond funds that have had large losses. “I have those funds and some annuities, and thank God for Social Security. I worry, but I live in hope.” Fixed-income strategies that embraced risk have been severely punished of late. Many investors have been unpleasantly surprised by sharp declines in fixed-income portfolios marketed as core holdings — deemed appropriate for retirees or investors seeking to buffer their stocks with bonds. “These people feel we let them down, and I’m sorry,” said Daniel J. Fuss, 74, the vice chairman of Loomis Sayles, the investment firm, and the manager of several funds with outstanding long-term records but dismal recent performance. The Managers Bond fund, an investment-grade, intermediate-term bond fund, for example, was down 20.4 percent this year through Thursday. His funds’ prospectuses contain warnings about risk. Still, he said, “We didn’t do a good enough job explaining that these funds could be this volatile, especially for investors in our investment-grade funds.” He tried to enhance performance by reducing holdings of Treasuries — the only financial asset that has rallied in recent months — and by increasing bets on specific securities that seemed underpriced. His picks included Lehman Brothers, whose collapse set off financial shock waves that have not yet abated. While emphasizing overlooked securities has paid off through the years, he said his choices have been unfortunate over the last year or so. “I was wrong,” said Mr. Fuss, who invests heavily in his own funds. “I’m a humble man.” This strategy — overweighting specific bonds and classes of bonds that seem to be underpriced — has worked for skilled managers for decades but is risky now. Stephen A. Walsh, chief investment officer of Western Asset Management, the fixed-income subsidiary of Legg Mason, and one of the biggest bond managers in the United States, said he had learned this to his chagrin. Losses in his firm’s core portfolios have been so painful that they would require a “paradigm shift,” he said, if “the conditions of the last 15 months” were to continue much longer. By next summer, he said, if “Treasuries continue to be the best-performing asset class, then we’re going to be living in a world of hurt.” He remains hopeful that a degree of normality will return reasonably soon, and he is sticking with his basic approach, at least for now. Mr. Walsh’s fixed-income funds held Lehman securities, as well as those of Bear Stearns, GMAC and Ford Motor Credit, and broad categories like mortgage-backed securities, leading to “challenging” losses, he said. The funds’ literature warns of risk, but Mr. Walsh acknowledged that many investors were shocked that the funds could decline so much. “In this storm, we haven’t provided our investors with a good anchor to windward,” he said. If the financial and economic turmoil continues for an extended period, he said, it would mandate “a rethinking of the paradigm that we’ve operated under all these years, that core bond funds, focused on investment-grade bonds, are a good diversifier for a portfolio.” This approach should be sound, he said, in a healthier climate. While Western Asset Management has an excellent long-term record, its bond funds have performed dismally in the market downturn, according to a broad analysis of bond mutual fund data conducted by Morningstar for Sunday Business. Five bond funds run by Western performed in the lowest quartile of their categories in the 12 months through October, after being in the top quartile over the previous five years. Four of those five offerings are intermediate-term bond funds stressing investment-grade securities that were often viewed as core holdings for people seeking to buffer their portfolios. The funds only added to investors’ agony, with losses this year through Thursday from 12.1 percent for Legg Mason Partners Core to 30.9 percent for Legg Mason Investment Grade Prime. BY contrast, while the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index lost 40.5 percent through Thursday, the Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond index, a broad bond market gauge, which includes a substantial proportion of Treasury bonds, was up 3.3 percent. Funds that mirror the index or emphasize Treasuries have held their own. The Morningstar analysis also showed that seven of Mr. Fuss’s funds plummeted over the last year or so and underperformed compared with their peers after five years in the top quartile of their fund categories. Among these seven funds — most of them multisector funds that have often taken contrarian positions — two of them, Managers and Loomis Sayles Investment Grade, are marketed as core holdings. Managers is listed as a “fund pick” by Fidelity. Alexei Maravel, a Fidelity spokesman, said its inclusion resulted from “a purely quantitative screening process for ranking and sorting funds” and “does not represent any kind of qualitative recommendation.” This year through Thursday, Investment Grade was down 15.7 percent. What happened to these funds? Mr. Fuss says he has thought deeply about it. “After an experience like this, you go back and re-examine what you were doing,” he said. “You ask yourself, did you do the wrong thing?” he said, and quickly answered: “Yes. Was the decision process right? Yes. Did it lead to the wrong conclusion? Yes, it did. That’s the tough part.” He believes that the financial system has behaved irrationally, and says he misread the political tea leaves, expecting, for example, that Lehman would not be allowed to fail. Some of his holdings, like the Lehman securities, are simply losses. But broad areas of the bond market remain “phenomenally undervalued,” he said, and are likely to come back in a major rally, while the vogue for Treasuries is likely to reverse. He said he had no idea when this might happen, but that in the meantime, “we’re being very prudent.” For his part, Mr. Walsh said, “If you can get yourself to think a bit longer term, to next year perhaps, when risk aversion abates, then corporate bonds and even stocks may start to look very good.” For now, many investors hope they can hang on long enough to see this rebound. “I grew up in a depression,” said Mrs. Minkoff, who has two children and four grandchildren. “I hope I don’t wind up my life in a depression.”

Mutual Funds
Stocks and Bonds
Economic Conditions and Trends


Somalia’s President Fires Prime Minister but May Not Have the Power to Do So

Abstract: NAIROBI, Kenya — The president of Somalia announced Sunday that he was unilaterally firing the prime minister, throwing Somalia’s beleaguered government, and the nation itself, into further disarray. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed , a warlord in his 70s who has been steadily marginalized for several months because he is widely seen as an obstacle to peace, said he was dismissing Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein , a former aid official, because the government had “failed to accomplish its duties.” But it is not even clear that the president has the authority to do this. According to the transitional government’s charter, only Parliament can hire or fire the prime minister. And most analysts believe Parliament — a fractious, unpredictable group that is dominated by former warlords — actually supports the prime minister, which means a high-level showdown may be coming next. Mr. Nur said he was not going anywhere. On Sunday, he insisted the president had no right to fire him and that only “Parliament has the authority to sack the government.” The two men have never really gotten along, constantly blaming each other for the ever-deepening crisis that Somalia has sunk into, from the current piracy problem to the Islamist resurgence to the looming famine that is threatening millions of lives. The latest bone of contention is a peace agreement that Mr. Nur helped broker between the government and a group of moderate Islamist opposition leaders. Mr. Yusuf rejected that agreement and called the Islamists terrorists. Many Western diplomats are supporting Mr. Nur and have indicated in recent weeks that they are fed up with Mr. Yusuf. But the bickering and posturing within the transitional government may, in the end, be purely academic. The transitional government now controls no more than a few city blocks in a country almost as big as Texas. The Ethiopian troops who have been shoring it up for the past two years have said they were about to withdraw, and a small force of African Union peacekeepers in Somalia is expected to follow. Most analysts say that as soon as the Ethiopians pull out, the Islamist insurgents who have seized control of most of the country in the past year will take over the capital, Mogadishu. The transitional government will then collapse, as did the 13 transitional governments before it, the analysts predict. The Somali Parliament is expected to meet in the coming days. On top of the president’s move to dismiss Mr. Nur, members of Parliament are also considering a measure to impeach President Yusuf. One serious risk, though, is that Mr. Yusuf still enjoys the support of his clan, one of the biggest in the country. Many analysts worry that too drastic a move against him could ignite the type of heavy clan warfare that brought down Somalia’s central government in 1991 and has kept the country mired in violent chaos ever since.

Somalia
Ahmed Abdullahi Yusuf
Hussein Nur Hassan
Politics and Government


U.N. to Help Organize Iraqi Elections Set for October

Abstract: BAGHDAD — Iraq ’s Parliament, faced with a stalemate in appointing election commissions in the most populous provinces and accusations of overt politicization of the election process, announced Thursday that it would welcome the United Nations to play a large role in organizing the vote. Under a new law approved by Parliament on Wednesday, provincial elections must be held by Oct. 1. At a press conference, Staffan de Mistura, the special representative to the United Nations secretary general, announced a tight schedule for helping set up provincial election commissions and a plan to monitor their work. “The most important posts are the ones in the field because that is where the elections take place,” Mr. de Mistura said. “The person needs to be qualified, chosen through a transparent process to show you, the Iraqi people, that the elections are transparent.” The responsibilities of provincial commissioners include selecting polling places, providing and collecting ballots and transferring them to counting stations. The problem is that many of the nation’s most powerful political parties have divided up most of the seats on the Independent Higher Election Commission, which oversees national election policy. That means there are few, if any, independent brokers overseeing the election process, according to Iraqi academics and lawmakers. Some other parties are not represented on the commission. Neither are new political entities, like the Awakening Councils, the local, predominantly Sunni Arab forces allied with the United States that do not yet hold political positions and do not have the pull to get appointments. At the provincial level, political wrangling has stymied efforts to appoint local election commissions, meaning that no one is in place in those provinces to administer the elections. The United Nations said Wednesday that eight provinces, whose residents account for about 80 percent of Iraq’s population, had not appointed local commissions. The United Nations is responsible for assisting and supporting the election process under Resolution 1770, which was approved by the Security Council in 2004 and renewed last August. Without the provincial jobs filled, it would be impossible to hold elections on the relatively tight timetable allotted, United Nations officials said. To meet the Oct. 1 deadline, the United Nations will take a hands-on role and, if necessary, appoint qualified election commission officers at the local level. The United Nations will immediately begin a broad advertising campaign in the eight provinces for the local election commissions. It plans to then forward the names of 15 qualified people from each province to Parliament, which will have 10 days to choose five to be commissioners in each. Then, the Independent High Electoral Commission will have 10 days to select one of those to be the director. If Parliament or the electoral commission is unable to choose, the United Nations will select from among the nominees and put them in place on a temporary basis. The entire process will “be closely monitored by the U.N.,” Mr. de Mistura said, adding that it would take 43 days. At the same time, officials said, Parliament needs to work on an electoral law, because the current law does not reflect the situation on the ground. Most importantly, a new law would spell out who is qualified to vote and where. Some two million Iraqis are displaced within the country, so a contentious question is whether they should be allowed to vote where they now live or in their home provinces, and where their votes should be counted. “The I.D.P.’s: do they vote where they are now passing their time unhappily? And, where is their vote counted?” Mr. de Mistura said, referring to internally displaced people. It would be “morally right,” he said, to let them vote wherever they are living but to count their votes in their home provinces, he said. He added that Parliament had not written that into law. Parliament leaders agreed to the United Nations involvement because of rising criticism, especially by independent lawmakers, that the election process had been politicized. There is also widespread discontent at the outcome of the last elections, which most Sunnis sat out. Now they are underrepresented, and only one Sunni party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, competed aggressively for seats on the provincial election councils. “We want to assure the Iraqi people that this time the elections will be free and transparent,” said Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the Parliament speaker. “We will cooperate completely with the United Nations and prevent any violations.”

Iraq
Elections
United Nations
Politics and Government


Crosses Are Gone, but Clash Lives On at Texas A&M, San Antonio

Abstract: Last fall, Sissy Bradford, an adjunct instructor who taught criminology at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, questioned why crosses were being placed near the public university’s entrance. Last month, she was informed that the university would not offer her any courses to teach in the fall semester. Ms. Bradford insists there is a connection, but university officials deny any link. Though critics in online message boards have accused Ms. Bradford, who is Jewish, of being intolerant of Christianity, she said that is not the case. “I think I’m the only instructor these students ever had who required them to know passages from the Bible,” she said, “because we base so much of our criminal justice policy on it.” Now, she is out of work, and the campus has been cast into a heated debate about academic freedom and the separation of church and state. A&M-San Antonio was established as a stand-alone institution in 2009, and it moved to its permanent location in fall 2011. Among the eye-catching features of the campus is the Torre de Esperanza, or Tower of Hope, near the university’s entrance. Built on private land by a private company, the tower was paid for with public money and prominently features the university’s seal. So, when small crosses — which had not been included in designs previously shared with the university — were added to the tower last fall, Ms. Bradford objected. On Oct. 31, Ms. Bradford e-mailed William Bush, the interim head of the School of Arts and Sciences, stating that she was offended by the addition. “I hope the crosses will be reconsidered and removed, that the message of our most prominent structure is one of hope universally; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu,” she wrote. Ms. Bradford also contacted a local reporter to help determine the financing of the tower. The ensuing article caused a stir on campus and drew the attention of groups like the local chapters of Americans United, which advocates for the separation of church and state, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. “When students come on campus, they come with varied religious and nonreligious backgrounds, and a public institution needs to be neutral when it comes to religious issues,” said Eric Lane, president of the San Antonio chapter of Americans United. But Marilu Reyna, associate vice president for university communications, said that because the crosses were not on university property or paid for with state funds, “It wasn’t our decision to make.” The developer ultimately removed the crosses because of the complaints. “I knew I was going to be seen as the bad guy who brought them down,” Ms. Bradford said. She received hate mail. One typed letter included a handwritten message — “Just so you know how disgusting I think you are!” An e-mail asked, “Do you have the right to live?” The tone of the debate, particularly on Facebook and elsewhere online, intensified. Students and faculty members expressed offense and outrage at Ms. Bradford’s actions. Cresencio Davila, a former student regent for the Texas A&M University system and former student body president at A&M-San Antonio, who was pursuing a master’s degree, was particularly vocal. He called for T-shirts to be made saying: “Don’t be a Sissy. Practice tolerance.” Ms. Bradford, who said that the university failed to enforce its code of conduct throughout the ordeal, worried that Mr. Davila’s history of student leadership opened the door for other students. “They saw that it was done, and that the university wasn’t going to react in any way,” she said. Some students said the campus environment turned toxic. “There were people that were openly ugly to other students,” said Tosha Covington, who graduated this spring. “If you supported Professor Bradford in any way, they were hateful.” Ms. Covington said the university did not do enough to counter a perceived atmosphere of intolerance. “There was no town hall meeting, no open forum,” she said. “It was us versus them, and no one wanted to hear the other side.” Rebecca Robertson, the legal and policy director for the A.C.L.U. of Texas, said the situation is not unique in that people willing to stand up “are often subjected to backlash.” Mr. Davila, who said that most students he talked to did not take issue with the crosses, shrugged off the allegations of misconduct. “If a difference of opinion and me not being afraid to voice it is somehow mistreating her, then I don’t really know what to say,” he said. Ms. Bradford alleged that concerns for her safety were not taken seriously by university officials or the university police. As an example, she pointed to an initial version of a report by Brent Snow, the provost and vice president for academic affairs, who investigated her claims and concluded they were not substantiated. The report repeatedly referred to Ms. Bradford as Stephanie, her middle name. When she asked him about it via e-mail, he apologized and offered to correct the error, but not the conclusions, saying, “I remember calling someone, but I don’t remember who at this point, to inquire as to your official name.” Maria Hernandez Ferrier, the president of A&M-San Antonio, said university administrators conducted themselves in a professional manner. The police department ran an investigation, which was submitted to the Bexar County district attorney’s office and the local F.B.I. office for review, she said. “The safety and security of our students and all of our campus community is paramount to the free exchange and discussion of ideas that may challenge our existing thoughts and opinions,” she said. Some have questioned that commitment in light of the news that Ms. Bradford would not return in the fall. She was told in an e-mail hours after a local newspaper ran a story questioning the university’s handling of the situation. University officials said they were not aware of the article when they made their decision. Last week, Robert Kreiser, senior program officer of the American Association of University Professors, sent Ms. Ferrier a letter questioning the university’s policies and expressing “concern that Ms. Bradford’s dismissal may have been in violation of her academic freedom.” Ms. Bradford, who has a lawyer, is not sure if she will take any action. Ms. Reyna said adjuncts serve on a semester-by-semester basis and are not guaranteed a renewal. “We are growing at an unprecedented rate, and we are looking for professors to replace the adjunct faculty,” she said. Ms. Bradford, who has received teaching awards from the university system and higher-than-average student evaluations, had already informed the university that she intended to leave at the end of 2012. Though she had previously been told that she would be teaching four courses in the fall, officials said this was done on a tentative basis. Twenty adjunct faculty members were not renewed for next semester. Mr. Bush and other officials have taken issue with allegations that Ms. Bradford’s exit had anything to do with the debate surrounding the crosses. “The notion that I would retaliate against any faculty member, adjunct or tenure-track, for expressing their personal views, is belied by any actions I’ve taken in my academic career as a teacher, a scholar and an administrator,” he said.

Texas A&M University
Colleges and Universities
Religion and Belief
Religion-State Relations
Freedom of Speech and Expression


Special Education Trade Group Calls for More Audits in New York State

Abstract: Confronting reports of skyrocketing costs and outright fraud in New York State’s preschool special education system, a group of companies that provide services to children with disabilities is calling for mandatory new audits, clearer regulations and a strict code of conduct with tough penalties for violators. The preschool special education system, which serves 60,000 children annually, costs Albany and local governments more than $2 billion a year. It is far more expensive per child in New York than in other states, The New York Times reported in June. Yearly bills exceed $200,000 per child in some cases. New York City’s spending has nearly doubled in just six years. Unlike other states, New York relies almost entirely on outside contractors to deliver services to 3- to 5-year-olds with physical, learning, developmental and other disabilities. One factor in the rising costs, The Times reported, is that limited oversight has been exploited by some of those contractors, including both nonprofit and for-profit companies. Audits released this summer by the state comptroller’s office have highlighted contractors who looted millions from the program by giving employees no-show jobs or reimbursing themselves for things like luxury cars, out-of-state living expenses, weekend-home renovations or their children’s bedroom furniture. Two companies have been shut down in conjunction with the audits, and at least four contractors have been charged criminally. The scrutiny has prompted one trade group for preschool contractors to come forward with a set of far-reaching proposals to root out malfeasance. “Even one provider who willfully violates the public trust is one provider too many,” said Steven Sanders , the executive director of the group, Agencies for Children’s Therapy Services Inc. , which represents more than two dozen preschool special education and “early intervention” contractors. (Its members, however, have not been among those audited by the comptroller’s office this year.) In a letter to John B. King Jr., the state education commissioner, Mr. Sanders, a onetime chairman of the State Assembly’s Education Committee who has been a lobbyist for several years, proposed requiring that every contractor be audited every two years. Audits now occur many years apart, if at all, and critics say unscrupulous contractors view the minimal risk of penalties as the cost of doing business. Moreover, audits are now usually limited to identifying financial irregularities, but Mr. Sanders said they should also be used to verify that children are receiving the education services they were prescribed, and from qualified teachers and therapists. “It makes it far more difficult to game the system,” Mr. Sanders said of the proposal in a telephone interview. “If every taxpayer knew they were going to be audited every two years, it would cut down to almost zero the amount of tax cheating.” Tom Dunn, a spokesman for the State Education Department, would not address Mr. Sanders’s proposal but said the department planned “to discuss the preschool special education audit findings and potential actions that could be taken to address them with the Board of Regents,” which sets education policy for the state. Mr. Sanders also proposed that contractors be assessed a fee of up to $1,000 for each audit. Though he acknowledged that such audits cost tens of thousands of dollars apiece, he called it an important step. “We’re willing to put some of our own skin on the table,” he said. Many of the group’s proposals would require state legislation. Until now, city and state education officials have complained that influential lobbyists for contractors, including Mr. Sanders, have blocked reform efforts. But Mr. Sanders said that articles by The Times and audits by the state comptroller’s office had prompted his group to take action, in part to protect the industry’s reputation from further damage. He also called for requiring contractors to adopt codes of conduct, and then embodying the best of those rules into state regulations with serious penalties for violators, including fines, suspension or debarment. The group’s other proposals included clarifying the state’s manual for what expenses are reimbursable; setting up a permanent advisory council to provide feedback, ideas and advice to the State Education Department; and shifting the preschool special education system onto the same computer system that the State Health Department has begun using for early intervention for children under 3, so those with special needs can be tracked from birth until kindergarten. One of the group’s ideas, though, was aimed not at curbing abuse but at achieving a new level of accountability. Mr. Sanders called for requiring “exit evaluations” of students before they leave the preschool special education system for kindergarten at age 5. These evaluations could help gauge the relative effectiveness of the varying methods used to address children’s disabilities.

Special Education
New York State
Education (Pre-School)
Regulation and Deregulation of Industry
Sanders Steven


525 North Mianus Homes Sue Greenwich Over Sewer Hookup Costs

Abstract: GREENWICH MORE than 500 households in the North Mianus neighborhood here have joined a lawsuit to try to stop Greenwich from charging them about $30,000 each to pay for a sewer hookup. The town dug up streets in the neighborhood beginning in 2001 to switch homes from individual septic systems to the town’s sewer system. Residents were to be billed their share of the expense of connecting to the system, divided by its 790 households. But they were surprised when the bill came in at $23.5 million. In the lawsuit, some residents accused the town of inflating the total bill by at least $7.2 million because of what they termed the town’s mismanagement of the project and inclusion of unauthorized work. “We’re regular working people here,” said Donna Merenski, one of the homeowners. “I’m 60 years old and I’ve lived here all my life, and this is an expensive project.” After what residents say were many attempts to work with the town to alleviate the burden of paying so much for the sewer project, 525 out of the 790 affected homeowners decided they had no other recourse, so they filed a lawsuit in Stamford Superior Court in early March. They formed a group called North Mianus Sewer Oversight Committee, which is calling for a reduction in costs to individual homeowners. The residents say the project was mismanaged, resulting in delays and skyrocketing interest costs. They also said that because one of the reasons for the sewer extension was to clean up the Mianus Pond and make it suitable for a drinking water reservoir, the entire town benefits and should therefore help shoulder the costs. Peter Tesei, first selectman of Greenwich, said the town would not comment on pending litigation. “The main point I have is that we learn from this experience and hopefully institute changes to prevent this from happening again,” he said. Judge Kevin Tierney in Stamford issued an order requiring the town to discuss the issues with the homeowners committee, said Fred DeCaro III, one of the committee members. “Everyone wants to see if something can he settled amicably,” Mr. DeCaro said. “We wanted to settle before filing the lawsuit.” Eugene F. McLaughlin Jr., the assistant town attorney, said Greenwich had asked each homeowner participating in the lawsuit to file individual appeals in order for the town to consider whether to lower the assessments. “We believe all the town procedures were correct,” Mr. McLaughlin said. Judge Tierney has ordered both sides to appear in his courtroom on Oct. 31. In the suit, residents complain that they are being unfairly billed for delays caused by a dispute in 2002 between the town and the original contractor, who said the town was not addressing some safety concerns. The first contractor left and “all the money for time wasted was added on,” said Janet Clausi, a homeowner who is party to the suit. “This is something not just North Mianus should pay for.” Nick Fortunato, a resident and a member of the homeowners’ committee, said many people in the neighborhood cannot afford the $30,000 assessment. “People are not prepared for this,” said Mr. Fortunato, who said he lives on Social Security income. Another resident, Florence Bartlett, 68, agreed with Mr. Fortunato. “For senior citizens living on a fixed income, it’s hard,” she said. The first installment of the payment was due in April, and the town tax collector, Louis C. Caravella, said just about everybody had paid. “They have to pay,” he said. “If they don’t they’re going to be charged interest.”


Europeans Criticize Turkey Over Threats to Media Freedoms

Abstract: BRUSSELS — European officials gave Turkey new warnings on Wednesday over threats to freedom of expression in the country as part of an annual progress report on its efforts to join the European Union . The European enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn, in particular criticized the Turkish tax ministry’s recent move to impose a fine of 5.7 billion liras — roughly $3.9 billion — on the country’s biggest media conglomerate, Dogan Yayin, whose affiliates and ownership have been critical of the governing party. The government reiterated on Wednesday that the issue was purely a tax matter, but Mr. Rehn argued that it seemed politically motivated. “If a tax fine is worth the annual turnover of the company,” he said, “it is quite a strong sanction, and it may not only be a fiscal sanction but also it feels like a political sanction.” Mr. Rehn also criticized efforts to take legal action against journalists and writers, including the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk . And the report listed Turkey’s refusal to open its ports to vessels from Cyprus, a European government that Turkey does not recognize because of a longstanding territorial dispute over the island, as a continuing factor hurting Turkey’s efforts to join. In general, the progress report, composed by the European Commission and including assessments of seven Balkan nations also seeking to join the European Union, did not close the door on Turkish membership. It praised several developments over the past year, including government efforts to end decades of hostilities with Armenia and open borders, and to ease tensions with the Kurdish minority in Turkey. The Turkish minister in charge of negotiations with Europe, Egemen Bagis, called the reports a balanced document and said that the detailed nature of the criticism was a good sign for Turkey. “The precise approach in the comments show that Turkey has entered an advanced phase in negotiations,” he said. “It tells us to keep up the good work, and continue with reforms, a message that we will be following in future.” Still, the public criticism underlined the fragility of Turkey’s efforts to join. France’s and Germany’s outspoken opposition to full membership for Turkey have raised doubts both in Europe and within Turkey itself that a deal can be reached any time soon. Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies, an Istanbul-based research group, said that the European Commission appeared to be putting a positive gloss on the talks to try to keep the process alive. “There has been a conscious effort on the part of the commission to appear a bit more positive than the situation warrants,” he said, “in view of the fact that there is a lot of opposition in Europe about Turkish accession.” Mr. Ulgen added that France’s opposition, in particular, has given “the impression in Turkey that no matter what we do we will never get to the E.U.”

Turkey
European Union
Dogan Yayin
European Commission
Freedom of the Press
Pamuk Orhan


Sifting Through Numbers to Create a Box Score for Golf

Abstract: The PGA Tour has an incredible depth of statistics on every shot a player makes, including club selection, distance to the pin, lie, elevation change, time between shots, landing location and many others. But the average viewer does not have access to most of that data and relies primarily on one thing to assess a round — score. Score is the final measure of success, but it fails to tell the story behind the scene: namely, how a golfer played and what his strengths and weaknesses were. The P.G.A. Championship last week is a great example because of the lack of statistics available. If I’m trying to assess the round for a player, I need to know more than what score he shot. I need to dig a little deeper to understand how he got there. What I want is something akin to a box score in baseball, a quick summary of the most relevant facts that tell the story as completely and as succinctly as possible. So what are the relevant facts? Golf analysts tend to focus on driving distance and accuracy, but statistics show that driving is the least important determinant of scores. This seems a little counterintuitive; everyone knows it’s easier to play from the fairway. But driving accuracy is a faulty measure. First of all, it makes no distinction between little misses and big misses. If one player hits his drive an inch into the first cut, and another player hits his drive 40 yards into the trees, their shots are each counted equally as a missed fairway. But they are qualitatively very different. The statistics also show that hitting more fairways does not necessarily result in lower scores. The number of putts per round is also a deceptive measure, because that number tends to go up as greens in regulation (G.I.R.) goes up. In other words, you can shoot par by hitting 18 greens in regulation and having 36 putts, or you can shoot par by hitting no greens in regulation but having only 18 putts. Which player is the better putter? We don’t know. What we do know is that the players shot the same score using different proficiencies: one has a better long game, the other has a better short game. The best predictors of golf scores using traditional statistics are G.I.R., putting (putts/G.I.R.), scrambling, and double-bogey rate. Put simply, you want to make one putt after hitting the green. But you also want to hit the green in regulation or in regulation plus one stroke. Anything more would be considered an error and would lead to double bogey or worse. Typical causes of errors include driving the ball out of bounds or into a hazard, taking penalties, pitching from the rough or badly mis-hitting an approach shot or a pitch shot from around the green. So hitting the green in two shots on a par 4 is considered regulation golf, hitting it in three shots would be a typical scrambling situation, but hitting it in more than three shots is an error, which could have any number of causes. To boil all these situations down to their simplest and most understandable form, we can categorize the hole by a player’s ability to play regulation golf, namely, did he hit the green in few enough strokes that one putt would lead to par or better? To accomplish this, we need surprisingly few statistics. We can throw out driving distance and accuracy because they have little predictive value on a player’s score. We can also disregard putts per round because it is not that helpful unless you also consider greens in regulation. And the scrambling statistic is a mixed bag because it is affected by proficiency in pitching, chipping, sand shots and putting. So rather than use the traditional statistics, we are going to create some new ones. What I really want to know about a player’s performance is how many birdies he made when playing regulation golf, and how many mistakes he made. So you could summarize a round accurately with just the following measures: score, strokes under par, greens in regulation, putting efficiency and errors. Because golf is a game in which you can add and subtract from your score, we want to see a player’s total offense, so strokes under par is how many strokes he gained from making birdies and eagles. Putting efficiency is a player’s ability to one-putt on the green. If he hits the green in regulation, a one-putt leads to birdie; if he misses the green, a one-putt is the best he can do and will lead to par if no errors are committed. And unlike putts/G.I.R. and putts per round, this measure can be uncoupled from how many greens the player hits in regulation. Eighteen putts would be 100 percent efficiency and 36 putts would be 0 percent efficiency. Finally, the errors category encompasses all the major mistakes that lead to high scores.


Malala Yousafzai, Shot by Pakistani Taliban, Is Discharged From Hospital

Abstract: LONDON — Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head three months ago by the Taliban for advocating the education of girls, has been discharged from a British hospital. Doctors said she had made “excellent progress” and would be staying with her family nearby before returning for further surgery to rebuild her skull in about four weeks. “Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home with her parents and two brothers,” said Dr. Dave Rosser, the medical director. Video released by Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England, showed Ms. Yousafzai walking slowly out of a ward, wearing a head scarf and accompanied by a nurse. The release was a promising turn for the teenage activist. Her shooting brought global condemnation of the Pakistani Taliban, whose fighters killed six female aid workers this week in the same region in northwestern Pakistan where Ms. Yousafzai was shot. Video A 2009 documentary by Adam B. Ellick profiled Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl whose school was shut down by the Taliban. Ms. Yousafzai was shot by a gunman on Oct. 9, 2012. On Oct. 9, gunmen halted her school bus as it went through Mingora, the main town in the Swat Valley, singled her out and opened fire. A bullet grazed her brain, nearly killing her, and traveled through her head before lodging in her neck. Six days later, after emergency treatment in Pakistan, she was airlifted to the hospital in Birmingham, which specializes in treating British soldiers wounded in action in Afghanistan. Medical experts say Ms. Yousafzai has a good chance of making a full recovery because of her youth, but the long-term impact of her head injuries remains unclear. In recent weeks, she has left the hospital regularly to spend time with her family. The Pakistani government is paying for her treatment. Ms. Yousafzai rose to prominence in 2009 with a blog for the BBC’s Urdu-language service that described life in Swat under Taliban rule. Later, she was featured in a documentary by The New York Times. Now her father, Ziauddin, a school headmaster, has accepted a three-year position as education attaché at the Pakistani Consulate in Birmingham, making it unlikely that the family will return to Pakistan anytime soon. In any event, it may be too dangerous, because the Taliban have vowed to attack her again.

Malala Yousafzai
Pakistan
Taliban
Great Britain
Women's rights,Feminism


Jason Terry’s Last Lesson in Chemistry for Distracted Rockets

Abstract: OAKLAND, Calif. — Jason Terry had learned enough from 114 career playoff games and had seen enough in 17 N.B.A. seasons to know that his teammates could use a motivational boost against the Golden State Warriors. More than anything, he realized that he and his teammates had nothing to lose — nothing, that is, except another game. And so, with the Rockets’ dysfunctional season teetering on a cliff before Wednesday’s Game 5 in their first-round playoff series against the Warriors, Terry broke the emergency glass and guaranteed that the Rockets would win to prolong the series, if only for a couple of days. They were just words, of course, but Terry could only hope that they resonated. Instead, like so much else for the Rockets, whose season bore more than a vague resemblance to a late-night telenovela, Terry’s guarantee had as much life and lift as an anvil. It was not going to make a difference, not with this collection of misfits and certainly not against a team as cohesive as the Warriors. “I’m the super motivator,” Terry said Wednesday night. “That’s been my M.O. throughout my career. It just didn’t hit home with this group.” The gulf between these two teams was almost alarming. Just one season removed from the Western Conference finals, the Rockets floundered for months. It was merely more of the same against the Warriors, whose 114-81 victory clinched a lopsided series and, perhaps just as important, ended their opponents’ suffering. Afterward, in a quiet visiting locker room at Oracle Arena, James Harden alluded to the Rockets’ having had “too many distractions.” Dwight Howard mumbled something about “ups and downs.” Terry, on the other hand, cut straight through the static and pointed to the frayed partnership between Harden and Howard, who had most likely played his final game with the Rockets. “They just couldn’t coexist to have success this year,” Terry said. “Chemistry was a big issue for us all year long. We just didn’t have it.” Chemistry can be a nebulous, over-cited concept in pro sports, but Terry is a believer. And he could see the difference between the Rockets and the Warriors, especially given how the Warriors had compensated for the absence of the best player on the planet. Nothing changed. They looked like the same team that had won 73 games during the regular season. “That team over there is truly an example of team,” Terry said. “They all play well together. Someone’s down? Someone else steps up.” The Warriors played terrific basketball without Stephen Curry in the series’s final two games. In fact, after Curry sprained his right knee at the end of the first half of Sunday’s Game 4, the Warriors went on to outscore the Rockets by 60 points for the remainder of the series. On Wednesday, the Warriors led by 17 points after the first quarter. It was never close. This should all come with a huge caveat, of course: The Warriors were playing the Rockets, whose mere presence in the playoffs seemed to defy both logic and good taste. And Golden State needs Curry as it moves forward. Perhaps not so much against the overachieving Portland Trail Blazers or the injury-ravaged Los Angeles Clippers, who are still vying to advance out of the first round for the right to face the Warriors in the conference semifinals. But the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs loom on the same side of the bracket. “We do feel confident that we can win games without him,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said of Curry, “but we don’t really want to have to. So hopefully Steph will be back soon.” Kerr added: “We just don’t have the fireworks that Steph provides. So we’ve got to make sure we’re more solid, which we have been the last couple games in particular. But it’s good for our guys’ confidence. I think what pleases me the most is literally every single guy on our roster contributed during this series.” One of those key contributors was Shaun Livingston, an unflappable point guard who scored 16 points in each of his three starts in Curry’s absence — first when Curry missed two games in the middle of the series with an ankle sprain, and later when Curry hurt his knee. Livingston is almost serene on the court. Little affects him, and it is a luxury for the Warriors to have someone who can so capably help fill the void. (The Warriors announced Monday that Curry would be re-evaluated in two weeks.) “We are blessed,” Kerr said. “We are really lucky. You lose your point guard, you lose the M.V.P, and to be able to put Shaun Livingston out there? He’s a fantastic basketball player.” At about the same time, not far from where Kerr was speaking, Terry was circling back to the notion that it helps when teammates actually like each other, that there needs to be a “tightknit bond” for players to achieve something special. That was clearly the case for the Warriors last season when they won the championship. And it appears to be happening again. Consider their willingness to share, a grade-school concept that still applies to millionaires in the N.B.A. In five games against the Rockets, the Warriors assisted on 70.6 percent of their field goals. The Rockets, by comparison, assisted on 54.5 percent of their field goals. “Move the ball,” the Warriors’ Draymond Green said, “because it just creates rhythm. Even if you don’t shoot, just touching it and moving it on creates rhythm for everyone.” Without their top player, for now if not forever, the Warriors are continuing to play the only way they know how: together. It might just be enough.

Jason Terry
Playoffs
Golden State Warriors
Basketball
Stephen Curry
Houston Rockets


Led by Robots, Roaches Abandon Instincts

Abstract: Many a mother has said, with a sigh, “If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too?” The answer, for cockroaches at least, may well be yes. Researchers using robotic roaches were able to persuade real cockroaches to do things that their instincts told them were not the best idea. This experiment in bug peer pressure combined entomology, robotics and the study of ways that complex and even intelligent patterns can arise from simple behavior. Animal behavior research shows that swarms working together can prosper where individuals might fail, and robotics researchers have been experimenting with simple robots that, together, act a little like a swarm. “We decided to join the two approaches,” said José Halloy, a biology researcher at the Free University of Brussels and lead author of a paper describing the research in today’s issue of the journal Science. Dr. Halloy and his colleagues worked with roaches because their societies are simple, egalitarian and democratic, with none of the social stratification seen in some other insect societies — no queen bees, no worker ants. “Cockroaches are not like that,” Dr. Halloy said. “They live all together.” They also have weak eyes, which allowed the researchers to create a robotic roach that resembles a miniature golf cart more than an insect. In the roach world, however, looking right is not as important as smelling right, and the scientists doused the machines with eau de cockroach sex hormones. They set up a cockroach arena one yard in diameter. Two six-inch-wide plastic discs were suspended over it, providing the dark shelters that cockroaches prefer to congregate in. But one disc was darker and a more likely cockroach hangout. When 16 cockroaches were placed in the arena, they naturally gravitated toward the darker disc, following what the researchers believe is an internal calculation of the amount of light and the number of other roaches, finding comfort in company. Dr. Halloy then replaced four of the cockroaches with four robots equipped with sensors to measure light and the proximity of other robots. When the robots emulated the real roaches, the group continued to seek the dark and crowded place. When the four robotic roaches were reprogrammed to prefer the lighter disc, however, the real roaches followed them about 60 percent of the time, in essence deferring their own judgment as the preference grew more popular. (The other 40 percent of the time, the robotic roaches succumbed to peer pressure and headed for the darkest place.) “It’s a cascade of imitation, so a small effect can become quite large,” said Stephen Pratt, a professor of life sciences at Arizona State University. “This one is a real step forward. They’ve developed these theories about what kinds of individual behavior rules would have to follow to generate a collective intelligence. I thought it was very gratifying they could get the roaches to do what they normally would not do.” The scientists plan to extend their research to higher animals. The next creation: a robotic chicken, which will look a little like a ball on tank treads with loudspeakers. Newly hatched chicks, which bond to the first thing they see, will do so with the robot as if it were their mother. The researchers say they hope to explore the chicks’ behavior with the false mother as leader. The current research did not test whether the robots could lead the cockroaches to something they really disliked, like broad daylight or insecticide. The results also apply only to cockroaches, Dr. Halloy said. “We are not interested in people,” he said.

Robots
Cockroaches
Biology and Biochemistry


Ex-S.E.C. Chairman Hired for Cable Case

Abstract: The United States attorney’s office in Manhattan said yesterday that Richard C. Breeden, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, had been hired to oversee the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars to investors defrauded by Adelphia Communications, the cable company that is in bankruptcy. The Justice Department has seized more than $720 million in cash, stock and real estate from the cable company’s founder, John J. Rigas, and his son Timothy, who were convicted in 2004 of conspiracy and securities fraud. Both remain free as they appeal their convictions. Mr. Breeden was chairman of the S.E.C. from 1989 to 1993, during the first Bush administration. He is chairman of Richard C. Breeden & Company of Greenwich, Conn., which specializes in corporate bankruptcies and turnarounds. Previously, he served as the corporate monitor of WorldCom after a fraud that drove the company into bankruptcy. Adelphia has sold its assets to Time Warner and Comcast and is seeking to win approval of a plan to end its bankruptcy.

Securities and Exchange Commission
Justice Department
Breeden Richard C
Adelphia Communications Corporation
Securities and Commodities Violations
Frauds and Swindling


Angels’ Pujols Is Starting to Look Like His Fearsome Self

Abstract: ANAHEIM, Calif. — Oakland Athletics pitcher Travis Blackley, an Australian left-hander who is always fighting for a job, was going into the set position on the mound last week, and as he brought his glove to his waist to throw the first pitch to Kendry Morales, he had a thought very few people in this world can share. “You just struck out Albert Pujols, mate,” he recalled telling himself. “You’re about to get a ton of messages on Facebook.” Blackley’s momentary pause reflected the magnitude of the moment for a 29-year-old journeyman who has played on three continents but was pitching in only his 15th major league game. No matter how badly Pujols had been struggling, he was still one of the game’s most feared hitters. “It’s not like you’re facing him thinking he’s, oh, hitting .213,” Blackley said. “He might be the best hitter we’ve ever seen. He can wake up in an instant.” Blackley was right. Pujols, in his first season with the Los Angeles Angels , has stirred from a lengthy slump and shown signs of fully awakening from his hibernation, just in time to face the Yankees. Although Blackley got Pujols out twice that night in Oakland, the Angels’ slugging first baseman also hit his fourth home run of the season, the beginning of a barrage in which he would hit four homers in six games going into Monday night’s matchup with the Yankees. “It’s no surprise,” said Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, who is also emerging from a slump. “I’m sure people made a big deal out of it. But if anyone thinks Albert Pujols is going to stay down for long, they’re crazy.” After 11 seasons in St. Louis, Pujols signed a 10-year, $240 million contract with the Angels as a free agent. But until very recently, he was not close to being the three-time most valuable player he was in St. Louis. A career .325 hitter who averaged 42 home runs over a 162-game season as a Cardinal, Pujols was hitting only .190 through the first 30 games of the season, with just one homer. He did not hit his first home run until May 6, but over his previous 18 games heading into Monday, he was hitting .288 with 6 homers, 2 doubles and 17 runs batted in. Those are still not the numbers Pujols or the Angels expected. But they are closer to his old form. There have been numerous theories explaining Pujols’s slow start: he has put too much pressure on himself to live up to the expectations of his contract; he is struggling to adjust to a move from the National League to the American League; and he is adjusting to living away from his family, which has remained in St. Louis so his children can stay in school there. After a win over Oakland on May 15, the Angels fired the hitting instructor Mickey Hatcher and replaced him with Jim Eppard, a longtime minor league coach. Hatcher had upset Pujols by revealing that Pujols had stood up in a team meeting to reassure his teammates that he would start hitting again. But the Angels said that had nothing to do with why Hatcher was fired. Under Hatcher, Pujols hit .212 with a home run and 14 R.B.I. In the 12 games after that, he was hitting .271. Eppard dismisses any direct connection because the Angels have taken a cautious approach with Pujols. While he adjusts to the Angels, they are adjusting to him, watching and learning how he approaches his vocation. “Albert has a routine that he is committed to,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It’s really impressive to watch how he prepares for a game, and he’s been one the best players in the batter’s box the last 11 years, doing it in a very a methodical way. I think that’s why we all feel good about where he’ll end up and the numbers he’ll put up. I think he’s relieved to contribute.” But Pujols is not new to all of the Angels. Jason Isringhausen, the relief pitcher who spent seven seasons with Pujols in St. Louis before reuniting with him on the West Coast, said he was just now starting to recognize his old teammate. “The other day, he crushed a home run to right center,” Isringhausen said. “That’s the old Albert.” Because of their long relationship, Isringhausen has spent some time talking to Pujols, although he was reluctant to share the details of their conversations. “I don’t want to bother him,” Isringhausen said. “We’ve talked a little bit on the plane, just relaxing and trying to take his mind off stuff. I’ve known him for a while. I don’t see the contract changing him any, but he was pressing a little bit. You could see it in his swing, trying to do too much.” For all the broad explanations for Pujols’s struggles, Isringhausen offered an analytical pitcher’s approach. For weeks, Pujols was chasing inside pitches and getting himself out. More recently, he has let those pitches go, waiting for ones over the plate and then hammering at least a few of them. Now the Angels hope Pujols can take the rest of the lineup with him on a tear through the A.L. With Pujols showing signs of life again, the Angels won their season-high sixth straight game Sunday. “He’s the big dog on the porch,” Isringhausen said. “He’s Albert. Big contract, big money. When he starts to get going, everyone does.”

Baseball
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Pujols Albert
St Louis Cardinals