Steep Climb to Raise Big Revenue if Loopholes Are Only Path

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Whether to raise revenue through increasing tax rates or cutting loopholes has become a central sticking point in the negotiations on a major debt deal. The White House has drawn one line in the sand: it argues that tax rates must go up on income above $250,000 a year, because reducing tax breaks for the affluent cannot on its own raise the $1.6 trillion in additional revenue it seeks. Congressional Republicans have drawn another line: they might accept higher revenue, but only through the reduction of tax breaks. But is it even possible to raise $1.6 trillion from wealthy households without changing tax rates? Experts say it is. But doing so might be politically infeasible and hugely unpopular, because it would involve wiping out nearly every deduction, credit and preferential rate those affluent households claim. “Getting $1.6 trillion on the individual side, only through rolling back tax expenditures?” said Donald Marron, the director of the Tax Policy Center, a Washington-based research group. “It’s a heavy lift.” Wiping out all tax expenditures — the official name for the deductions, credits and other loopholes addling the tax code — for the top 2 percent of earners would raise about $2 trillion over 10 years. (Tax expenditures for all households cost the government about $1 trillion a year, because middle-class and low-income families also benefit.) But doing so would mean that a family earning just over $250,000 a year might face a sharply higher tax bill than a household earning just under that amount. A phase-in, which most analysts consider unavoidable, might slash $300 billion from the revenue pot, leaving roughly $1.7 trillion, just over what the White House seeks. That means that any proposal raising $1.6 trillion would involve getting rid of nearly every loophole or break in the code for high-income families — not just itemized deductions, but also preferential rates on investment income and every tax credit the wealthy can currently claim. There would be no deduction for charitable giving, or close to none, angering wealthy donors and nonprofit directors. The home mortgage interest deduction would vanish, hurting the housing market just as it has started to turn around. Preferential tax treatment of capital gains and dividends would disappear, probably throwing the markets into a sell-off. The top 1 percent of earners might see their after-tax income fall as much as 19.8 percent, according to calculations by the Tax Policy Center. This is a large part of the reason that the White House has argued for allowing the top two marginal rates to rise to the Clinton-era levels, with a top rate of 39.6 percent. Such an increase would reduce the deficit by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years and allow for a deal that caps deductions, rather than eliminates all of them. Although the politics remain difficult, tax experts say they can identify a number of plausible routes to agreement between Republicans and Democrats. For one, the White House could agree to a lower revenue target — say, $1 trillion over 10 years, or $1.2 trillion — allowing for a more moderate package of tax increases on the wealthy. Second, tax rates could rise for the top two brackets, not to their Clinton-era rates, but to a few percentage points below them. A top rate might climb to 37 percent, rather than 39.6 percent, from the current 35 percent. That would still increase revenue by hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years, making the rest of the tax math easier. Republicans and Democrats might also agree to a broad cap on all deductions for a household, an option that negotiators on the Hill said holds promise for both sides. For one, limiting deductions would avoid the thorny negotiations on which tax expenditures to eliminate. With some higher rates and limits to loopholes, experts say many different plans could raise an additional $1 trillion to $1.6 trillion in revenue over 10 years. The centrist research group Third Way ran the numbers on a White House proposal to let the Bush-era tax cuts on the top two rates expire, for example. Third Way also imagined increasing the estate tax , limiting the value of itemized deductions and carrying out the “ Buffett Rule ,” which ensures that households earning more than $1 million a year pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes. That package of changes increased revenue by about $1.6 trillion over 10 years.

Tax Credits Tax Deductions Tax Exemptions


L.P.G.A.’S. Blasberg, 25, Dies

Abstract: The police and an agent for the L.P.G.A. Tour golfer Erica Blasberg, 25, said she died Sunday. A Henderson, Nev., police spokesman said the authorities were investigating Blasberg’s death. It was not immediately clear whether foul play was involved. Blasberg’s agent, Chase Callahan, confirmed her death but declined to provide details because of the investigation. Blasberg’s only L.P.G.A. Tour event this year was two weeks ago in Mexico; she tied for 44th. She found greater success in college, winning six times in two years at Arizona and playing on the Curtis Cup team in 2004. She turned professional that year.


Bats Can Adjust Range of Sonar, Study Shows

Abstract: Fruit bats make a clicking sound with their tongues to help them navigate their way to the fruits they feed on. The clicking produces a fan-shaped sonar beam that bounces off an object and returns an echo to the bat. Now scientists are reporting that the bats have more control over these echolocation abilities than previously thought. Researchers from Israel and the United States found that the bats can widen or shrink the sonar beam they send out, and adjust the distance the beam travels by changing the loudness of their clicks. That means the bats “can fly around in a really cluttered field” and still efficiently find fruit, said an author of the new study, Cynthia Moss, a cognitive scientist at the University of Maryland. The study appears in a recent issue of the journal PLoS Biology. Dr. Moss and her colleagues trained five Egyptian fruit bats to find and land on a plastic sphere that was moved to different places in a dark room. When the researchers filled the room with obstacles, the bats were able to cover three times as much area with each pair of their clicks as they did when there were no obstacles. They did this by increasing the volume of the clicks, which are emitted in pairs, and by adjusting the width of their sonar beam. The sonar beam is adjusted in the same way humans might change their field of vision to zero in on a person in a crowded room. Although clicking is unique to fruit bats, other bats may have similar control of their sonar beams, Dr. Moss said.


U.S. Pushes for Global Eye on South Sudan Conflict

Abstract: WASHINGTON — When the National Security Council, the most buttoned-up part of a buttoned-up Obama administration, is aggressively trying to get the word out about a violent, murky conflict in a distant land, it’s worth listening to. It’s also worth asking, why single out this crisis? Such is the case with the ethnic and tribal clashes that are rippling through a remote, sprawling part of South Sudan known as Jonglei State. Administration officials say they are deeply concerned about the violence, all the more so because there is so little reliable information coming out of a region that is inaccessible in the best of times. Rather than monitor events quietly from their offices in the Old Executive Office Building, as they do with more widely publicized conflicts like the one in Syria, senior N.S.C. officials have invited in humanitarian and advocacy groups for briefings. They have written blog items. And they have discussed their fears with American and foreign journalists. “More than 100,000 people have been displaced,” said Grant T. Harris, senior director for African Affairs at the council. “The international community doesn’t know where these people are.” Officials describe a desperate situation in which tens of thousands of people are hiding in swamps, without food, water or medicine — fearful of returning to their villages because of attacks by rival tribes or even soldiers who are supposed to be protecting them. Image Men from the Luo Nuer tribe cooked over a fire in Yuai Uror county, South Sudan, last week. The men said they are looking for children they allege were abducted by the rival Murle tribe. Credit Andreea Campeanu/Reuters “We’ve got all the ingredients for a conflict that could get much worse very quickly,” said Gayle Smith, the senior director for global development and humanitarian issues at the N.S.C. Their immediate goal, officials say, is to put an obscure conflict on the world’s radar screen before it mutates into a humanitarian tragedy. But they are also working to preserve one of the Obama administration’s few undisputed achievements in Africa: the 2011 referendum that split South Sudan off from Sudan and created a new nation. The violence in Jonglei, South Sudan’s largest and most populous state, threatens to destabilize the country and tatter the credibility of its fledgling, American-backed government. In addition to the perennial feuding between two tribes, the Lou Nuer and the Murle, there are reports of attacks on civilians by troops from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which began as a guerrilla force fighting for South Sudan’s independence and is now the country’s army. Jonglei, Ms. Smith said, “has all the characteristics of the rest of South Sudan. The problem now is you have tribal tension, a lot of history of bad blood, and a rebellion on top of it.” The United States and other Western nations have poured billions of dollars into South Sudan, before and after the referendum, to try to turn a destitute land, with oil reserves but a long history of violence and little in the way of institutions, into a viable country. The administration has strongly supported the South Sudan government, which is led by Salva Kiir, a leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. But now President Kiir is himself a problem: last week, he dismissed his vice president, who had threatened to challenge him for his party’s leadership before elections in 2015, and his entire cabinet. Image A member of the Luo Nuer tribe in Yuai Uror county, South Sudan. Credit Andreea Campeanu/Reuters On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Mr. Kiir to deliver what amounted to a rap on the knuckles. He warned the president that he should form a new government quickly, stop the ethnic clashes in Jonglei and crack down on soldiers in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army who are found guilty of human rights abuses. Noting that he had traveled to Sudan to witness the referendum, Mr. Kerry said in a statement: “Too much sacrifice has been made to see that effort go backward. The world is watching to see if South Sudan pursues the path of peace and prosperity, or the tragic path of violence and conflict that has characterized much of its past.” The National Security Council has held regular deputy-level meetings to determine how the United States should respond, both to the escalating violence in Jonglei and the governance problems. President Obama, they said, has been briefed about the crisis. In the short term, officials are focused on trying to get relief supplies to the displaced people. Jonglei, which is the size of Bangladesh, has few roads and those are impassable after heavy rains. That means emergency aid must be airlifted into the region. The United Nations’ World Food Program is seeking $20 million to lease helicopters. Another major obstacle is that United Nations peacekeepers in South Sudan are reluctant to go to Jonglei because in April, five United Nations employees and five Indian peacekeepers were killed there in an ambush by armed men the South Sudanese described as antigovernment rebels. Five months before that, the South Sudanese military shot down a United Nations helicopter — by accident, according to local officials. As a big provider of financial assistance, the United States has considerable leverage over the South Sudanese government. It also has sway over how the World Bank and International Monetary Fund treat the country. But having labored for years to nurture democracy in South Sudan, the White House is loath to turn against it. “They’re very worried that they’re going to have to do a major policy shift,” said Sarah Margon, the acting Washington director of Human Rights Watch. “They’re trying to figure out how to balance a very tricky situation in a way that doesn’t end up being a major fail for them.”

South Sudan
Sudan
John Kerry
US Foreign Policy
Salva Kiir Mayardit
US National Security Council
UN
Barack Obama
US


Vassilis Rapanos Resigns as Greece’s Designated Finance Minister

Abstract: ATHENS — Greece ’s designated finance minister resigned on Monday after being hospitalized, an unexpected blow to the new government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras as it struggles to manage the country’s financial crisis. The designated official, Vassilis Rapanos, 65, is also the chairman of National Bank, the country’s biggest lender. He has had a history of health problems, including cancer, according to Greek news media. On Friday, he was struck by intense abdominal pain, nausea, sweating and dizziness, and on Monday, according to state television, underwent a gastroscopy and colonoscopy. On Monday, Mr. Rapanos sent a letter to Mr. Samaras saying that he had accepted the appointment “in full knowledge of the problems faced by our economy and the responsibility I was undertaking,” but that “after discussion with my doctors, I reached the conclusion that the state of my health, currently, will not allow me to fully and adequately exercise my duties.” The resignation is an inauspicious start for Mr. Samaras’s new government as it tries to make good on campaign promises to get Greece’s creditors to ease harsh austerity terms linked to its multibillion-euro bailouts. Mr. Samaras is recovering from an emergency eye operation less than a week after Greece ushered in the new government, and now must scramble to find someone else to fill a post that few people are eager to take. The finance minister plays a pivotal role in Greece, and is responsible for negotiating with its lenders. The government must immediately find about $14 billion worth of cuts to meet the bailout terms. Greece is quickly running out of cash, and any new official must devise plans to reverse an economic contraction of more than 6 percent and an unemployment rate that has reached 22 percent. Together with news that Cyprus on Monday became the fifth euro zone country to request a financial lifeline from international lenders in the three years of euro debt crisis, the latest uncertainty in Greece helped drive Wall Street lower during the day. Mr. Samaras’s office made Mr. Rapanos’s resignation letter public and issued the prime minister’s statement of response. “I wish you a speedy recovery from your health problem and thank you for your willingness to accept the role I assigned you,” the statement said, adding, “I hope you will soon recover your strength to contribute to the national effort.” It remained unclear who Mr. Samaras would turn to for the crucial position. Representatives of Greece’s so-called troika of foreign creditors — the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — had already postponed a trip to Athens that was scheduled for Monday, and Mr. Samaras will also miss a crucial European Union summit meeting on Thursday and Friday to discuss whether to ease the terms of Greece’s bailout conditions.

Greece
European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2010- )
Suspensions Dismissals and Resignations
Rapanos Vassilis
Samaras Antonis


F.D.I.C. Closes 5 Banks, Pushing the 2011 Total to 39

Abstract: WASHINGTON (AP) — Regulators shut down banks in Florida, Georgia and Michigan on Friday, a total of five closures that lifted the number of bank failures this year to 39. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation seized First National Bank of Central Florida, based in Winter Park, with $352 million in assets, and Cortez Community Bank of Brooksville, Fla., with $70.9 million in assets. The agency also took over First Choice Community Bank of Dallas, Ga., with $308.5 million in assets; Park Avenue Bank, based in Valdosta, Ga., with $953.3 million in assets; and Community Central Bank in Mount Clemens, Mich., with $476.3 million in assets. The Miami-based Premier American Bank agreed to assume the assets and deposits of First National Bank of Central Florida and Cortez Community Bank. Bank of the Ozarks, based in Little Rock, Ark., is acquiring the assets and deposits of First Choice Community Bank and Park Avenue Bank. Talmer Bank & Trust, based in Troy, Mich., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of Community Central Bank. In addition, the F.D.I.C. and Premier American Bank agreed to share losses on $270 million of First National Bank of Central Florida’s loans and other assets, and on $51.3 million of Cortez Community Bank’s assets. The agency and Bank of the Ozarks are sharing losses on $260.7 million of First Choice Community Bank’s assets and $514.1 million of Park Avenue Bank’s assets. Talmer Bank & Trust is sharing with the F.D.I.C. $362.4 million of Community Central Bank’s assets. The failure of First National Bank of Central Florida is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $42.9 million. The failure of Cortez Community Bank is expected to cost $18.6 million; that of First Choice Community Bank $92.4 million; Park Avenue Bank, $306.1 million; and Community Central Bank, $183.2 million. Florida and Georgia have been the hardest-hit states for bank failures. Twenty-nine banks were shuttered in Florida last year and 16 in Georgia. Counting the shutdowns on Friday, four Florida banks have been closed this year, and 10 in Georgia. California and Illinois also have had large numbers of bank failures. In 2010, authorities seized 157 banks that succumbed to mounting soured loans and the hobbled economy. It was the most in a year since the savings-and-loan crisis two decades ago. The F.D.I.C. has said that 2010 most likely would be the peak for bank failures.

Banking and Financial Institutions
Shutdowns (Institutional)
Subprime Mortgage Crisis


Boeing Discloses Its Fixes for 787 Battery

Abstract: Boeing officials have detailed for the first time their proposed fixes for the lithium-ion batteries aboard its 787 planes, and the changes include better insulation between the eight cells in the battery, gentler charging to minimize stress and a new titanium venting system. But to prevent any new fire and smoke episodes like the ones that have grounded its fleet, Boeing proposed the crudest tool in its considerable technological arsenal: the battery itself will be sealed inside a steel box that would serve as the last safety rampart if everything else fails. The Federal Aviation Administration approved these changes on Tuesday, and Boeing has since begun a series of 20 certification tests that it expects to wrap up in one to two weeks. Most of the tests will be conducted inside Boeing labs, with only a single test flight planned since the plane’s two batteries are not used while in normal flight. The 50 787s delivered to airlines so far have all been grounded since mid-January after two planes developed battery problems; one battery ignited while a plane was parked in Boston and another forced an emergency landing in Japan when it began to smoke. With significant commercial and financial stakes in the balance, Boeing is keen to rapidly resume passenger flights, though government officials have been more cautious about the timing. But the new safety features, made public late Thursday, were an admission that despite its substantial resources, Boeing might never determine what went wrong with the batteries. Still, the changes are intended to reassure regulators and the public that the planes are safe and should be allowed to fly again soon. “This enclosure keeps us from ever having a fire in the beginning,” Mike Sinnett, the 787’s chief engineer, said during a news conference in Japan along with Ray Conner, the president and chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplane division. “It eliminates the possibility for fire.” Mr. Sinnett said that Boeing engineers had identified 80 different ways that the batteries could fail and modified the batteries as a result. But if, for whatever reason, a cell did overheat and combust, the steel casing would contain the smoke and fire, the venting tube would open, and the smoke would be pushed outside the plane instead of venting inside the cabin. Donald R. Sadoway, a materials chemistry professor at M.I.T., was not persuaded that Boeing’s plan went far enough. He said Friday that the proposals seemed intended to mollify the F.A.A. to lift the grounding of the planes, but the approach seemed to focus more on dealing with a battery failure rather than preventing one. He pointed out that automakers had developed large-format lithium-ion batteries without encountering the problems Boeing has had. “It doesn’t have the look and feel that they are going to extreme measures to make sure this thing is robust,” he said. Image One change proposed for the Boeing 787 is to seal its batteries in a steel box, which would contain any smoke and fire. Credit Boeing The presence of senior Boeing officials in Japan reflected the central role that Japanese companies have played in financing and manufacturing the planes. Japanese authorities also need to approve Boeing’s new design. The lithium-ion battery is made in Japan by GS Yuasa, which Mr. Conner called “a tremendous partner.” During the presentation, Boeing also disputed characterizations made by the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of the Boston episode. The safety board has described it as a fire event that was caused when a failure in one cell cascaded to others, in what the board referred to as a thermal runaway. Boeing executives took issue with both assertions, contending there never was a fire inside the battery. They pointed out that the only eyewitness report referred to two three-inch flames on the connectors outside the battery box. The second episode involved only smoke. In a report last week, the safety board said that firefighters reported “radiant heat waves” along with considerable smoke, but no flames, and one firefighter was burned in the neck when the battery exploded. In response, a safety board spokeswoman said the board stood by its report and would “release only factual information as we are able to corroborate it.” Boeing’s stock closed at $86.43 on Friday, up 2.14 percent. Boeing’s solution, which company officials call comprehensive and permanent, involves using the same battery cells and blue-box aluminum casing. The cells from the existing batteries will be retested and repurposed. The batteries’ original insulation made of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, can withstand heat of 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Instead, the cells will be wrapped with another insulating material called phenolic glass laminate, made of thin layers of a fiberglass material and resin, with a resistance of more than 900 degrees. Boeing is also taking steps to reduce vibrations inside the battery that might have been one of the possible causes of the short circuits. The changes to the two batteries will add 150 pounds to the weight of the airplane — a small addition to the 350,000 pound jet — but enough to offset the weight advantage from using the lighter lithium-ion batteries in the first place. Boeing said it had been testing its new system for the last six weeks and found that the steel casing could withstand three times the pressure generated when a battery suffered a catastrophic failure. “We think the likelihood of a repeat event is very unlikely,” Ron Hinderberger, a senior Boeing 787 engineer, said on a conference call on Friday.

Boeing
Batteries
Airlines,airplanes
Lithium Mental
Automobile safety
Plane Crashes and Missing Planes


Mitch Williams, Former Goat for Phillies, Is Now Fan Favorite

Abstract: PHILADELPHIA — On his radio show “The Wild Pitch,” before Phillies games, Mitch Williams regularly reads a commercial for a plastic surgery clinic that promises to replace hair on men’s heads and remove their love handles. “Get back the guy you used to be,” Williams concludes in a deep and assertive voice that has a touch of Texas twang. Williams is less hairy and slightly heavier than in 1993. Then, he was the 6-foot-4, 205-pound left-handed Phillies pitcher with the mullet cut and the “No Fear” headband. He was also the pitcher who gave up Joe Carter’s three-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 6, giving the Toronto Blue Jays the World Series title. No cosmetic makeover could return Williams to the young guy known as Wild Thing who threw hard and across his body with a falling-down motion for 192 saves in 11 major league seasons, 43 of them with the 1993 National League champion Phillies. But at 43, he has made a comeback in the City of Brotherly Love, where he was the target of death threats from home fans during that series even before he gave up Carter’s home run. He is a popular local guy making good again. In addition to his regular pregame show on WPHT, he works with the morning crew on WIP, where he also co-hosts a four-hour Saturday show. And on Comcast SportsNet, the cable network that televises Phillies games, Williams is a regular on camera in the studio. In his spare time, Williams promotes Wild Thing Southpaw Salsa, made from his recipe. He makes speeches and signs autographs, and nearly every day relives what for some could have been a crushing moment. “Fastball, down and in, to Joe Carter, in case anyone wanted to know,” Williams said in an opening remark that drew a knowing chuckle from an audience of food marketers at a luncheon last week. He passed out autographed pictures and said: “Make sure you hang on to these. They’re not worth much now, but they’ll be worth a lot less later.” Later, in an interview at the television studio, Williams explained coping with failure. “Some athletes have a fear of losing,” he said. “I was never afraid of failing — I just hated it.” Regarding the reputation of Phillies fans for booing and punishing the failures of the city’s athletes, Williams said: “There isn’t anyone who can boo me harder than I could boo myself. They didn’t hurt my feelings.” The death threats came after Game 4 in 1993, when he also was on the mound for Toronto’s winning runs. After the decisive Game 6, an 8-6 defeat, eggs were thrown at his house. The Phillies soon traded him, and he retired in 1997. Since then, Williams has run a bar at a bowling alley, worked for a casino and managed the Atlantic City Surf in the independent Atlantic League. After being rejected in his efforts to move up in baseball management — “People look at the nickname and assume I’m a blithering idiot,” he said. — he began a broadcasting career last season. Colleagues praise his spontaneity, his quick and self-deprecating wit, his willingness to criticize athletes and his succinct explanations of fundamentals. “He realizes he’s still learning,” said Michael Barkann, an anchor for SportsNet. “The sky is still the limit for him. He’s very self-effacing. That shows you’re well grounded. He’s a sweet guy who’s a smart guy.” Barkann is hardly a neutral observer. His wife, Ellen, is an agent for Williams, who returned to suburban Philadelphia in 2000 with his wife and five children after selling his ranch in Texas. Ellen Barkann spends many hours riding around with Williams in his big silver pickup truck. They tease each other continuously. Barkann prompted Williams to tell of how he accidentally parked outside an arena but did not notice hot coals from a tailgate picnic. They ignited a fire that destroyed the car. “I called 911,” Williams said. “I hope that tape never becomes public.” After the car was towed, Williams tried to retrieve his golf clubs, but the tow lot was locked. So Williams scaled a fence topped with razor wire to pry open the trunk with a crowbar that Barkann produced. This attracted a police officer, who threatened to arrest him. Williams and Barkann told the story — finishing each other’s sentences, correcting some details — while they dashed between appointments. As Williams drove while sipping from an energy drink, Barkann — a former figure skater — talked on her cellphone and told the much larger Williams where he had to be. “She whips me like a rented mule,” Williams said. Barkann said, “By September, we’re both going to be in the loony bin.” Other anecdotes, told later at the studio, had a darker edge. Williams spoke of lingering hard feelings toward Curt Schilling, a Boston pitcher who was with the Phillies in 1993 and who covered his head with a towel when Williams pitched in that series. “I didn’t appreciate it and I let him know as much,” Williams said. He also discussed Lenny Dykstra, another teammate from that year, who said in a recent WIP interview, “I hate Mitch Williams.” Williams shook his head. “He just ripped me,” Williams said of Dykstra. “I haven’t spoken with Lenny in 10 years.” But the topic that annoyed him most concerned an incident in March at his daughter’s basketball game. According to published reports, Williams cursed at a female referee in the youth league and was told he was no longer welcome at the games. When asked about it, Williams’s mood turned tense and wary. “Honestly, I don’t want to even broach that subject,” he said. “I’m an emotional guy. I say what I feel. I curse. That’s my cross to bear.” He added that he had apologized for the incident. Dickie Noles, a former major league pitcher, motivational speaker and special consultant to the Phillies, has acted as a mentor to Williams. Noles said he discussed the incident with Williams while golfing a few weeks later. “I’m sure it bothered him,” Noles said. “You’ve got to be careful being a public personality.” He said details were probably exaggerated and he praised Williams for a “big heart” and a sense of humor and not being “afraid to make a mistake.” Stephanie Lafair Smith, the president of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, called the basketball incident unfortunate but said that it did not reflect Williams’s “day-to-day behavior.” “That incident was one bit of bad judgment,” Smith said. Smith also said Williams was “not a prima donna.” “We get good feedback,” she said. “He connects. He is a natural. He never looks awkward on camera. You learn from him without being preached to.” On radio and television last week, Williams discussed Phillies issues, like how Shane Victorino should be the everyday center fielder, how Ryan Howard hits better when his right side rotates toward the ball, how Brett Myers needs to pitch inside, and how Cole Hamels should never discuss salary in public. “He’ll learn,” Williams said. “When I was young, I said some of the stupidest things.” On broader topics, Williams said Joba Chamberlain of the Yankees should not celebrate strikeouts, that Roger Clemens did not use steroids and that Barry Bonds was too arrogant. Williams continuously referred to the Phillies as “we” and “us.” He said Philadelphia fans admired athletes who did not make excuses and that they forgave him for Carter’s home run because he stood up and took the blame. Smith, his TV boss, said: “There is an emotional bond between Mitch and the Philadelphia fans.” That much was evident in just a few hours around him. A worker at a restaurant politely requested an autograph. Children and adults asked to be photographed with him. Strangers praised his salsa and his blunt commentary on radio and TV. “They’re brutally honest,” Williams said of Philadelphia fans. “When you stink, they step up and say, ‘You stunk.’ ” That was then. Now, Williams said, they tell him, “We love your honesty.”

Baseball
Williams Mitch
Philadelphia Phillies


Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks

Abstract: In a move that legal experts said could present a major test of First Amendment rights in the Internet era, a federal judge in San Francisco on Friday ordered the disabling of a Web site devoted to disclosing confidential information. The site, Wikileaks.org , invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging “unethical behavior” by corporations and governments. It has posted documents said to show the rules of engagement for American troops in Iraq, a military manual for the operation of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other evidence of what it has called corporate waste and wrongdoing. The case in San Francisco was brought by a Cayman Islands bank, Julius Baer Bank and Trust. In court papers, the bank said that “a disgruntled ex-employee who has engaged in a harassment and terror campaign” provided stolen documents to Wikileaks in violation of a confidentiality agreement and banking laws. According to Wikileaks, “the documents allegedly reveal secret Julius Baer trust structures used for asset hiding, money laundering and tax evasion.” On Friday, Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco granted a permanent injunction ordering Dynadot, the site’s domain name registrar, to disable the Wikileaks.org domain name. The order had the effect of locking the front door to the site — a largely ineffectual action that kept back doors to the site, and several copies of it, available to sophisticated Web users who knew where to look. Domain registrars like Dynadot, Register.com and GoDaddy .com provide domain names — the Web addresses users type into browsers — to Web site operators for a monthly fee. Judge White ordered Dynadot to disable the Wikileaks.org address and “lock” it to prevent the organization from transferring the name to another registrar. The feebleness of the action suggests that the bank, and the judge, did not understand how the domain system works, or how quickly Web communities will move to counter actions they see as hostile to free speech online. The site itself could still be accessed at its Internet Protocol address ( http://88.80.13.160/ ) — the unique number that specifies a Web site’s location on the Internet. Wikileaks also maintained “mirror sites,” or copies usually produced to ensure against failures and this kind of legal action. Some sites were registered in Belgium ( http://wikileaks.be/ ), Germany ( http://wikileaks.de ) and the Christmas Islands ( http://wikileaks.cx ) through domain registrars other than Dynadot, and so were not affected by the injunction. Fans of the site and its mission rushed to publicize those alternate addresses this week. They have also distributed copies of the bank information on their own sites and via peer-to-peer file sharing networks. In a separate order, also issued on Friday, Judge White ordered Wikileaks to stop distributing the bank documents. The second order, which the judge called an amended temporary restraining order, did not refer to the permanent injunction but may have been an effort to narrow it. Lawyers for the bank and Dynadot did not respond to requests for comment. Judge White has scheduled a hearing in the case for Feb. 29. In a statement on its site, Wikileaks compared Judge White’s orders to ones eventually overturned by the United States Supreme Court in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971. In that case, the federal government sought to enjoin publication by The New York Times and The Washington Post of a secret history of the Vietnam War. “The Wikileaks injunction is the equivalent of forcing The Times’s printers to print blank pages and its power company to turn off press power,” the site said, referring to the order that sought to disable the entire site. The site said it was founded by dissidents in China and journalists, mathematicians and computer specialists in the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. Its goal, it said, is to develop “an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis.” Judge White’s order disabling the entire site “is clearly not constitutional,” said David Ardia, the director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard Law School. “There is no justification under the First Amendment for shutting down an entire Web site.” The narrower order, forbidding the dissemination of the disputed documents, is a more classic prior restraint on publication. Such orders are disfavored under the First Amendment and almost never survive appellate scrutiny.

Computers and the Internet
Decisions and Verdicts
First Amendment (US Constitution)
San Francisco (Calif)
wikileak.org


Opposition in Egypt Gears Up for Major Friday Protest

Abstract: CAIRO — Mohamed ElBaradei , the Nobel laureate who has become a leading opponent of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt , returned to Cairo on Thursday in an attempt to galvanize youth-led street protests that extended into a third day across the country. Smoke rose over the city of Suez on Thursday as sometimes violent clashes continued there. In the capital, a relative calm settled over the streets in anticipation of a new wave of demonstrations anticipated for Friday. Raising the stakes, the Muslim Brotherhood, long the country’s largest organized opposition group, intends to end days of official inaction to enter fully into protests on Friday. On its Web site, the group said it would join “with all the national Egyptian forces, the Egyptian people, so that this coming Friday will be the general day of rage for the Egyptian nation.” Mr. ElBaradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who has sought to refashion himself as pro-democracy campaigner in his homeland, is viewed by some supporters as capable of uniting the country’s fractious opposition and offering an alternative to Mr. Mubarak’s authoritarian rule. Critics view him as an opportunist who has spent too little time in the country to take control of a movement which began without his leadership. But his return adds a new element to the unrest in several big cities that has shaken assumptions that Mr. Mubarak’s security apparatus can keep a tight lid on popular protest. Safwat el-Sherif, the secretary general of the ruling National Democratic Party, called for restraint from both security forces and protesters, and he raised the possibility of opening a dialogue with the young people who have powered the demonstrations. “We are confident of our ability to listen,” he said, adding that the N.D.P. “believes in the rights of the youth of Egypt to express with all available means be it the modern, media or in any other way that is enlightened.” “But democracy has its rules and process,” he added. “The minority does not force its will on the majority.” At the stock exchange, meanwhile, the benchmark Egyptian index fell to its lowest level in over two years, shedding more than 10 percentage points and forcing a brief suspension of trading, news reports said. “It’s clear today that the inability to control the situation in the streets yesterday is panicking investors,” The Associated Press quoted Ahmed Hanafi, a broker with Guthour Trading, as saying. “The drop we saw yesterday is being repeated. At this rate, it’s going to continue to fall hard.” Despite the ban issued Wednesday on public gatherings, organizers continued to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to prepare for Friday. But there were signs of renewed attempts by the government to limit the protesters’ ability to do so. The Web sites for Twitter and Facebook were inaccessible on Thursday, and cellphone users in Cairo said that they were unable to send text messages . Since they erupted Tuesday, the protests have largely seemed spontaneous and leaderless, propelled by young demonstrators with no affiliation to Egypt’s small and largely toothless opposition groups. Now the older opponents are rushing to catch up. “It was the young people who took the initiative and set the date and decided to go,” Mr. ElBaradei said Wednesday with some surprise during a telephone interview from his office in Vienna on Wednesday. On Thursday, Dr. ElBaradei insisted that he would attend the Friday demonstrations and urged Mr. Mubarak to step down. “The streets of downtown Cairo were largely quiet on Thursday except for a small knot of protesters outside the Egyptian lawyer’s syndicate. Uniformed police stood guard nonetheless in Tahrir Square, an epicenter of the demonstrations. Egypt has an extensive and widely feared security apparatus, and it deployed its might in an effort to crush the protests. But it was not clear whether the security forces were succeeding in intimidating protesters or rather inciting them to further defiance. The government said about 800 people had been arrested throughout the country since Tuesday morning, but human rights groups said there had been more than 2,000 arrests. Abroad, there were growing expressions of concern from Egypt’s allies. The United States ambassador in Cairo, Margaret Scobey, called on the government “to allow peaceful public demonstrations,” and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated that call in blunt remarks to reporters. The German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle , speaking to reporters, said, “We are very worried about how the situation in Egypt is developing.” But Egyptian officials, at least publicly, were mostly dismissive. In a statement, Mr. Mubarak’s National Democratic Party reiterated the government’s assertion that the protests were engineered by the Muslim Brotherhood. Abdel Moneim Said, a member of the N.D.P. and the chairman of Al Ahram, which publishes the state-owned newspaper of the same name, explained the government’s lack of concern. “The state is strong,” he said. “There is a history of there being a moment of exhaustion, and there is a kind of resilience on the part of the government. It happened with the terrorist groups.”


Live Briefing: Fatal Shooting at a Quebec City Mosque

Abstract: ■ Six men were killed and eight were wounded, some seriously, during an attack on a mosque in the Canadian city of Quebec during evening prayers on Sunday, according to the police. The six men were ages 39 to 60. ■ Thirty-nine worshipers who were at the mosque, the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, were unharmed, the police said. ■ Police officials said that one suspect had been arrested at the scene of the shooting and another was apprehended nearby, on Île d’Orleans. The police have not yet identified a motive for the attack. Image The police sealed off the area around a mosque in the city of Quebec after a deadly shooting. Credit Francis Vachon/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press Police offer few details about suspects At a news conference Monday morning, the authorities declined to comment on the identity or origin of the suspects. The authorities said it was the first time that the police in the city had dealt with an attack of such magnitude. They repeated their characterization of the attack as an act of terrorism because of its size and style. Antiterrorism forces activated in response. One spokesman said that it might have been something else. The police said all of the victims were men, although they revised their age range to 39 to 60. One of the suspects fled by vehicle and called 911 at 8:10 p.m. Sunday, describing his actions and saying he wanted to cooperate. He gave his location and was quickly apprehended. Canadian television showed an abandoned gray Mitsubishi S.U.V. with the driver door open and emergency lights flashing. The police said neither of the suspects was known to the police. Kellie Leitch, a conservative member of Parliament who has proposed screening immigrants for “Canadian values,” released a statement saying that “this outrageous act of violence is an attack not just on those gathered in a house of worship, but on the very fabric of Canadian society.” Trudeau condemns attacks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement on behalf of himself and his wife after the shooting: It was with tremendous shock, sadness and anger that I heard of this evening’s tragic and fatal shooting at the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec, located in the Ste.-Foy neighborhood of the city of Québec. We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge. On behalf of all Canadians, Sophie and I offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of all those who have died, and we wish a speedy recovery to those who have been injured. While authorities are still investigating and details continue to be confirmed, it is heart-wrenching to see such senseless violence. Diversity is our strength, and religious tolerance is a value that we, as Canadians, hold dear. Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country. Canadian law enforcement agencies will protect the rights of all Canadians, and will make every effort to apprehend the perpetrators of this act and all acts of intolerance. Tonight, we grieve with the people of Ste.-Foy and all Canadians. Quebec leaders call for solidarity The leaders of the province and city of Quebec held a news conference Monday morning to express their solidarity with Muslims. “We are with you. You are at home,” said Philippe Couillard, the premier of Quebec, addressing Muslims. “I have no doubt that one particular community, the Muslim community, was the target of this deadly attack.” The officials are set to meet with Muslim leaders at 10 a.m. on Monday. In a post on Twitter , Mr. Couillard called for solidarity with Muslims: “Let’s unite against violence. Solidarity with the Québécois of Muslim faith.” Martin Coiteux, the provincial minister of public security, said that “the police systems for dealing with terrorist acts have been activated.” In a post on Twitter , he said that “ensuring the safety of the population is our priority.” Trudeau turns to social media after shooting Mr. Trudeau quickly responded to the shooting on Twitter : Quebec’s mayor honors ‘an open city’ Régis Labeaume, the mayor of Quebec, said in a statement that the city was in a state of shock. “Quebec City is an open city, where all must be able to live in safety and respect,” he said. Of the city’s roughly 765,000 people, 6,760 identified themselves as Muslim in the last national census. While Muslims make up a small percentage of the primarily-Roman Catholic city, they significantly outnumber members of Canada’s two main Protestant churches. Photographs from the scene: Police, news media and protesters Image Police officers patrolling after the shooting. Credit Mathieu Belanger/Reuters Image Mohamed Oudghiri speaks with the news media after the shooting. He was a regular attendee at the mosque. Credit Francis Vachon/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press Image Holding a sign that reads “la paix, pas la guerre” (peace, not war) near the mosque after the shooting. Credit Francis Vachon/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press Other cities beef up patrols at mosques Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said the police were providing additional protection for mosques there after the Quebec shooting, according to The Associated Press. “All New Yorkers should be vigilant. If you see something, say something,” he posted on Twitter . The police in Montreal and other Canadian cities also plan to increase security at and around mosques, according to CBC. Reaction from the mosque’s president Mohamed Yangui, the president of the mosque, was not present at the time of the attack, but he told the Toronto daily The Globe and Mail that evening prayers were usually attended by 60 to 100 people. He relayed the accounts of witnesses who told him that the assailants had reloaded their guns as they worked their way through two floors. “A mass shooting. In Quebec City. I can’t believe it,” he said. “We’ve never done anything to provoke anyone, and we’ve never cultivated hatred for anyone. I’m just beside myself.”

Quebec City
Quebec
Mosque
Islam
Terrorism
Justin Trudeau
Canada
Murders and Homicides


Lebanese Opposition Leader Backs Army Chief for President

Abstract: BEIRUT, Lebanon , Nov. 29 — The political logjam over Lebanon’s vacant presidency was broken Thursday when a leader of the Syrian-backed opposition announced his support for the compromise candidate accepted by the pro-Western alliance. The deal follows Syria’s participation in the American-sponsored Middle East peace conference. Lebanon has teetered on the edge of factional violence over the question of who would succeed the former president, Émile Lahoud , who was widely considered a tool of Syria. The country has been without a president since Mr. Lahoud’s term ended a week ago; the new agreement over the candidacy of Gen. Michel Suleiman, the army’s chief of staff, is the first major turning point in two years of political clashes between the governing coalition, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the opposition, led by Hezbollah and backed by Iran and Syria. General Suleiman won the support of the opposition Christian leader Michel Aoun, a retired general and a former army chief who was seeking the presidency himself and is backed by Syria. The breakthrough, first signaled in a series of public pronouncements on Wednesday, came on the heels of Syria’s attendance at the conference in Annapolis, Md., this week on the Middle East peace process. Syria, the most important outside influence over Lebanese politics, had hesitated until the last minute over whether to attend the conference. Immediately after the talks, Syrian allies in Lebanon endorsed the first major political breakthrough. Analysts say the talks could thaw strained relations between Syria and the United States. “The Syrians did not want to go to Annapolis, and without them the conference would have been a failure and would have weakened the Arabs,” said Talal Atrissi, a political analyst and sociologist at Lebanese University. “The Syrians traded their participation, which did not cost them anything, with a deal on the Lebanese presidency.” Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, said Syria won a concession from the United States and France in exchange for its appearance at Annapolis. The Syrian government does not expect real progress on negotiations with Israel over the occupied Golan Heights, Mr. Khashan said, but it now expects the United States and France to give Syria more leeway to influence Lebanese affairs. “Syria is eager to get out of its stranglehold, it is eager to collaborate with the U.S., to end its isolation,” he said. An agreement over a new president could clear the way for Lebanon to finally face the thorny issues that rose to the surface in 2005 after Syria ended 29 years of occupation — with Hezbollah’s armed militia at the top of the list. The deal could hit a snag in the coming days, politicians and analysts said, but the agreement over General Suleiman is the first time that leaders from every major faction have publicly endorsed a candidate. The vote is set for Dec. 7. General Suleiman, 59, has won the trust of Hezbollah and the opposition in large measure through his cooperation with the militia since the 2006 war with Israel. The Lebanese Army deployed more than 10,000 soldiers to southern Lebanon after the cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, and it has coordinated with Hezbollah’s fighters to minimize friction on the ground. The army maintained its neutrality in 2005 when street protests toppled the Syrian-sponsored government, and it has remained neutral during the current presidential crisis. General Suleiman responded with an appeal for calm when the departing president in his farewell speech announced that all the conditions were in place for a state of emergency and a military takeover. If all parties stick to the deal, it could take as little as a day for the government to amend the Constitution, which requires two-thirds approval by Parliament and ratification by the cabinet. Then Parliament can convene and officially elect General Suleiman as Lebanon’s president. General Suleiman was appointed army chief of staff in 1998, during the Syrian occupation, and was for a long time maligned by the governing coalition for being too close to Syria. The members of the governing coalition dropped their objections to General Suleiman after insisting just two weeks ago that they did not want a president drawn, for the second time in a row, from the top ranks of the military. “We want a president,” said Elias Atallah, a member of Parliament from the pro-American governing coalition. “We are not maneuvering.” General Suleiman, he said, “has Lebanon’s best interest at heart,” and the pro-Western coalition did not have the support to push through one of its own presidential candidates. In his announcement on Thursday, General Aoun left open the possibility that he would thwart a final resolution of the political crisis, saying that his followers would engage in peaceful street protests beginning this weekend.

Lebanon
Hezbollah
Suleiman Michel
Lahoud Emile
Appointments and Executive Changes
Demonstrations and Riots


Commission Gives Insight on Expected Health Increases

Abstract: WASHINGTON — State regulators are looking for ways to protect consumers against increases in health insurance rates that they expect to occur next year as major provisions of the new health care law take effect. A paper drafted by a panel of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners analyzes steps that states can take to “mitigate expected premium increases.” The options include tighter regulation of premiums, forcing insurers to cut costs or operate at a loss; financial assistance to consumers, in addition to subsidies that will be provided by the federal government; and programs to ensure that the costs of the sickest patients are shared by all insurers. The paper indicates that state officials have serious concerns about possible rate increases, despite assurances from federal officials who say that insurance will generally be more affordable. The document, “Rate Increase Mitigation Strategies,” was circulated among state officials as they arrived in Houston on Thursday for their spring meeting. Major provisions of the federal law take effect in January, when most Americans will be required to have coverage. Insurers must accept all applicants, cannot turn people away because of pre-existing conditions and must provide “essential health benefits” worth more than much of the coverage now bought voluntarily by individuals and small businesses. One way to prevent a sharp increase in premiums is to impose a limit or cap on permissible rate changes. “In order to minimize the impact of rate increases,” the paper says, “states may consider establishing annual maximum average rate increases on an aggregate, marketwide basis and essentially force insurers to either operate at a short-term loss or find alternative ways to reduce costs.” However, the paper says, if a state restricts rates too much, “insurers may opt out of the state market,” reducing the choices for consumers. Moreover, it says, caps on premiums can delay justifiable rate increases and “result in higher future rate increases or threaten insurer solvency.” State regulators continually monitor the solvency of insurers to make sure they can pay claims. Starting next year, the federal law will limit insurers’ ability to charge higher premiums based on age. The rate for a 64-year-old cannot be more than three times the rate for a 21-year-old. Many states now allow ratios of five to one or more. Because of the new restrictions, the paper says, “young adults in many states are expected to experience significant rate increases in 2014,” and older adults may pay less. More generally, it says, the new federal insurance standards, which increase protections for consumers, “are expected to lead to aggregate increases in claims costs in many states.” Adding to the costs, it says, will be an influx of people with chronic health problems who are either uninsured or enrolled in high-risk pools that now offer coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Nearly all commercial insurance products need to be changed to comply with the federal law. Insurers generally have until the end of May to submit their new products to federal and state officials for review and approval. Given this timetable, the paper says, states should immediately begin evaluating steps to “minimize the impact of rate increases” in 2014. Sandy Praeger, the Kansas insurance commissioner, who is a former chairwoman of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners , said: “We asked states, What are you concerned about? In many cases, the answer was ‘rate shock.’ So the N.A.I.C. offered potential strategies to mitigate the impact.” Ms. Praeger said the group was not telling states what to do. “Every state has a different political climate and somewhat different market conditions,” she said in an interview. To help people afford insurance, the paper says, states may consider providing “supplemental premium subsidies to individuals based on income, age or health status.” Most states already tax premiums, and the subsidies, it says, could be financed through “increased premium tax revenue resulting from higher premiums.” Another way to “mitigate large rate increases in 2014,” the paper says, is to encourage the purchase of health insurance by a wide range of consumers, including younger and healthier ones whose premiums help pay for the care of older, sicker patients. “You don’t want to price young, healthy folks out of the market,” Ms. Praeger said. If many of them decide not to buy insurance next year, she said, that could lead to higher average costs and higher rates for all participants in the market. For three years, the Obama administration has said that consumers will be much better off because of the new law. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, acknowledged last week that costs could rise in the individual insurance market, particularly for some men and some younger people. On Thursday, Erin Shields Britt, a spokeswoman for Ms. Sebelius, said, “The vast majority of people won’t see significant changes in 2014 because they get quality insurance from their employer.” People who buy their own insurance will be able to shop in a competitive marketplace, and most will receive tax credits their coverage, she added.

National Assn of Insurance Commissioners


How Joseph Percoco, Cuomo’s Problem-Solver, Became a Problem

Abstract: ALBANY — Theirs was a relationship built on nearly three decades of unswerving loyalty, absolute trust and near-constant interaction: It was all but impossible to imagine Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo without Joseph Percoco, his closest aide and the enduring mainstay of his life in politics. It took only a few days to send it crumbling to the ground. By the end of April, it had become clear that Mr. Percoco was in trouble. Federal investigators had subpoenaed records related to him from a state ethics board. Then, the governor learned that federal agents had raided Mr. Percoco’s home in Westchester County, looking for evidence that he and his wife had improperly received thousands of dollars from companies that had done business with the state. Later, after some 72 hours of intense strategizing, the governor effectively cut ties with Mr. Percoco in a jarring public statement acknowledging that the actions of “some individuals” may have “defrauded the state.” Mr. Cuomo has been even more overt since then, repeatedly naming Mr. Percoco and another former aide, Todd R. Howe, as the prime targets of the investigation led by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. As Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, rose from politician’s son to Washington prodigy to attorney general and governor, his life and career have been grounded by Mr. Percoco, whose role as Mr. Cuomo’s all-purpose troubleshooter, alter ego and Capitol ambassador involved him in virtually all that the governor’s office touched, from its multibillion-dollar upstate economic revitalization efforts to its short-lived anticorruption commission — both of which have drawn the attention of federal investigators. The scope of Mr. Bharara’s investigation remains hazy. What does seem clear, however, is that Mr. Percoco’s success in the administration belied growing financial struggles and other pressures going back to a personal bankruptcy filing in 1995. Friends and associates often heard him and his wife imply that his government salary never stretched far enough. And after it became known that Mr. Percoco was to leave his post as executive deputy secretary to take a job as a senior vice president at Madison Square Garden, the governor explained then that he had been influenced by familial and financial concerns. Mr. Percoco has not been charged with any crime, and he did not respond to requests for comment. His lawyer, Barry A. Bohrer, has called his client “a dedicated and effective public servant” who was proud of his work for “the people of the state of New York.” But for both the governor and the man who had always taken care to do his bidding — no more, no less — their split was an emotional Waterloo. For Mr. Percoco, being cut off from the Cuomos is probably particularly painful: He started working for Mr. Cuomo’s father, former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, as a 19-year-old. The suggestion that he may have gone astray has rattled Cuomo’s circle, especially the governor, who is said to have been blindsided by the news of his aide’s investigation. “If it turns out that his closest adviser was gaming the system for his personal enrichment, it strikes at the heart of how the governor describes his own administration,” said Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, a government watchdog. Mr. Horner added that although the direction of the investigation remained unclear, “If it plays out badly for Percoco, it plays out badly for the governor.” For Mr. Cuomo, 58, who has been steeped in politics since he was a teenager, the political is the personal. That made Mr. Percoco, 47, part of the family and, therefore, profoundly powerful. In his 2014 memoir, published just before Mr. Percoco’s return to the administration after a stint running the governor’s successful re-election campaign, Mr. Cuomo praised him as “the total package: trained as a lawyer, he had the guts, brains, and stick-to-itiveness necessary to attack any project — hard.” During the “worst of times,” Mr. Cuomo recalled, “he could make us laugh.” Interviews with two dozen former colleagues, political associates and Albany veterans depict Mr. Percoco as the consummate logistics and operations ace, guided by the same get-things-done-now ethos as Mr. Cuomo. He was the verbal assassin, tearing down relationships one day and asking favors the next; the governor’s combination lieutenant and fishing buddy, to whom Mr. Cuomo could turn for a soothing dose of guy talk — and, when the job required, for political warfare. As an enforcer and organizer, he was indisputably effective: helping to whip a slim majority out of a Republican-led Senate to pass statewide marriage equality in 2011; working to coordinate the state’s response to Hurricanes Irene and Sandy; and choreographing Mr. Cuomo’s events and, by extension, his public persona. “He was a no-nonsense type of gentleman,” James P. Molinaro, the former Staten Island borough president, said. “He said something to you, and it stuck.” With a bodyguard’s build and a bouncer’s demeanor, Mr. Percoco has been making things stick for the Cuomos for more than two decades. Stories of his menacing punch are everywhere in Albany, where Mr. Percoco dealt with labor and lobbyists, environmental advocates and business leaders, teachers’ unions and charter-school activists alike. A frequent opponent was the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, the governor’s principal sparring partner in politics. Shortly after the mayor — whose open feud with the governor has dominated New York politics in recent years — won funding for New York City’s prekindergarten classes in 2014, Mr. Percoco ran into a mayoral aide at an event. Expecting a hello, the aide received a warning instead, according to a person who was present and requested anonymity because of the investigation of Mr. Percoco. “You got us this time, but we’re coming for you,” Mr. Percoco said, according to the person. “We’re going to destroy you.” ‘My Father’s Third Son’ In a sign of his once-central place in the Cuomo family firmament, Mr. Cuomo once referred to him as “my father’s third son, who I sometimes think he loved the most.” Their closeness sprang, in part, from natural affinities, despite an age gap of more than 10 years. Both knew their way around a car engine. Both were Italian and had daughters, not sons. Both liked to fish. Mr. Cuomo may have been the son of a governor, comfortable in the public spotlight, but Mr. Percoco’s middle-class roots in Rockland County resonated with what Mr. Cuomo saw as his own bootstrapping Queens past; the governor loved to talk about driving a tow truck to help put himself through law school. Image Federal agents have raided Mr. Percoco’s home in South Salem, N.Y., looking for evidence that he and his wife improperly received money from companies that had done business with the state. Credit Douglas Healey for The New York Times The men eventually came to live within about 15 miles of each other. In 2012, the Percocos moved from their modest Staten Island home to a roomy blue house in the well-groomed Westchester enclave of South Salem, using a two-year, $800,000 balloon mortgage from a company led by Abraham Eisner, a prominent liaison for the state’s Orthodox Jewish community for the governor. The house cost the Percocos $815,000, only a little more than the amount of the mortgage. The move put them in the same lush, horse-farm-studded landscape as Mr. Cuomo and his girlfriend, the television hostess Sandra Lee, who live in Mount Kisco. With his old-school, almost military bearing, Mr. Percoco had a profound respect for hierarchy. Though he might privately criticize Mr. Cuomo, he would brook no criticism of “the gov” or “the governor,” as he called him, from others. Yet for all Mr. Percoco’s unquestioning loyalty, Mr. Cuomo — known as a demanding boss — did not hesitate to criticize him, calling out his shortcomings, professional and otherwise. Mr. Percoco seemed to take the jabs in stride. At a birthday party for Mario Cuomo in 2012, Mr. Percoco joked about Andrew Cuomo’s frequent digs at his weight and his sartorial choices. “Andrew’s the older brother that I never had,” he said, “and never wanted.” He stuck by Mr. Cuomo in the bitterest period of his career, after his humiliating withdrawal from the 2002 governor’s race and subsequent divorce from Kerry Kennedy. It was Mr. Percoco who set up the announcement where Mr. Cuomo dropped out of contention; it was Mr. Percoco who went with Mr. Cuomo on a therapeutic fishing trip to Long Island Sound a few days later; and it was Mr. Percoco who served as Mr. Cuomo’s “divorce counselor,” as the governor later wrote in his memoir. “Joe” was among the first people Mr. Cuomo turned to for advice on mounting the comeback that brought him to the attorney general’s office in 2007. “I think you are crazy for wanting to go through it again,” Mr. Percoco said when Mr. Cuomo floated the idea of running during another fishing trip to the Hamptons, according to the memoir. “But I’m game if that’s what you want to do.” Once Mr. Cuomo was elected governor in 2010, Mr. Percoco rarely touched on the intricacies of policy. But his passion for perfecting every last detail of events — and for burnishing Mr. Cuomo’s image — was well-known on the Capitol’s second floor, where he occupied an office near the governor’s. If the governor did not recognize someone, Mr. Percoco, standing at his shoulder, supplied the name. If an announcement on Long Island needed staging, he made sure the banner looked good, the right people were there (and the wrong people were not), and the room was cool enough to prevent a sweat. If a negative quote appeared in the press, he would be on the phone, irreverent humor shifting to a lacerating bark when he sensed a lack of cooperation. At an event in Ithaca during Mr. Cuomo’s 2010 campaign for governor, an anti-fracking protester handed one of Mr. Cuomo’s daughters a CD with information about the controversial drilling technique. It was not long before Walter Hang, an anti-fracking advocate, received a phone call, Mr. Hang recalled. Mr. Percoco was on the line. “They saw this as an affront,” recalled Mr. Hang, who had been expecting to meet with Mr. Cuomo that afternoon. “He barks at me, ‘They’re your people.’” The meeting was permanently off. Some appreciated his direct style, which made Mr. Percoco the most feared man in state government — perfect, in other words, for the job. “It seems everyone in politics and government likes candor and honesty until you tell them something they don’t want to hear,” Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic strategist who knows Mr. Percoco, said. “Joe was upfront with political figures and New York State officials. That enabled him to be an effective negotiator.” The Investigation In April 2014, he left the administration — where he was earning $155,974 a year — to run Mr. Cuomo’s re-election campaign, earning $225,725 in salary and expenses, including a $120,000 bonus. Sometime that year, Mr. Percoco also began consulting for COR Development and CHA Consulting, companies with business before the state, later reporting in a financial-disclosure filing that they had paid him between $70,000 and $125,000. Both have been subpoenaed in the federal investigation. (COR has denied paying Mr. Percoco.) That same year, Mr. Percoco’s wife, Lisa Toscano Percoco, a schoolteacher from Staten Island and his college sweetheart, was paid between $75,000 and $100,000 by a Democratic Party operative in Connecticut with ties to Competitive Power Ventures, a Massachusetts-based company seeking to build a power plant in the Hudson Valley of New York, subject to state approvals. The timing of the couple’s earnings — and Mr. Percoco’s employment by the state — is believed to be a focus of the investigation. While he was running the campaign, he still periodically played the role of bodyguard. During a Labor Day parade in 2014, Mr. Cuomo was repeatedly approached by Zephyr Teachout, his liberal challenger in the Democratic primary for governor. Without so much as a word from the governor, Mr. Percoco physically blocked Ms. Teachout . Mr. Percoco may have thought he was done with the Cuomo administration after the election, but he returned in late 2014 with a substantial raise and to a looming personal crisis for the governor. Indeed, Mr. Percoco was often at Mr. Cuomo’s side as Mario Cuomo was dying at the end of 2014, according to the governor’s schedule, later helping to arrange funeral services and acting as the guest-list gatekeeper. At the funeral, as Mr. Cuomo consoled his mother, Matilda, Mr. Percoco could be seen standing just nearby . By the time Mr. Cuomo’s second term began last year, he was a rare member of Mr. Cuomo’s original inner circle remaining in the administration. The governor’s counsel , his chief of staff , and his director of state operations had all departed for the private sector, making Mr. Percoco more crucial than ever. That October, the two men flew to Kansas City, Mo., for the Mets’ appearance in Game 1 of the World Series. Mr. Percoco finally left the administration for good on Jan. 4. Less than four months later, federal investigators served a subpoena on Mr. Cuomo’s office in Albany, seeking a range of information about its dealings, including the Buffalo Billion, the governor’s signature economic initiative. By this spring, the inquiry had appeared to focus on Mr. Percoco. Now Mr. Percoco, the problem-solver, could hobble both the administration and the legacy of the man who was everything to him. “Has it been a deeply troubling situation for myself? Certainly,” Mr. Cuomo said on May 2, less than a week after the federal raid. “I know Joe Percoco for many years, and he is a good man, and I would be shocked if he did anything wrong. But let’s get the facts, and then we can all make our own decisions.”

Joseph Percoco
Politics
New York
Andrew Cuomo
Ethics Misconduct Malfeasance


Edwin McDowell, 72, Reporter at The Times, Dies

Abstract: Edwin McDowell, a reporter for The New York Times for 26 years who also wrote three novels and a biography, died on Tuesday at his home in Bronxville, N.Y. He was 72. The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease, said his son, Edwin. Edwin Stewart McDowell was born on May 13, 1935, in Somers Point, N.J.; joined the Marine Corps at 17 and emerged a master sergeant; and graduated from Temple University. While working for The Arizona Republic, he wrote “Barry Goldwater: Portrait of an Arizonan,” in 1964. He then worked for The Wall Street Journal. At The Times, from which he retired in 2004, his beats included book publishing, business travel and real estate. Mr. McDowell’s novels were “Three Cheers and a Tiger” (1966), “To Keep Our Honor Clean” (1980) and “The Lost World” (1988). In addition to his son, Edwin A., who lives in Manhattan, Mr. McDowell is survived by his wife, the former Sathie Akimoto; two daughters, Susan McDowell of Larkspur, Calif., and Amy McDowell of Old Lyme, Conn.; and a granddaughter.

Deaths (Obituaries)
McDowell Edwin
Books and Literature


G.M. to Spend $2 Billion i to Upgrade U.S. Plants

Abstract: TOLEDO, Ohio — General Motors said Tuesday that it would invest $2 billion in its factories in the United States to meet gradually growing demand for its products in the aftermath of its government-sponsored bankruptcy. The company said its plans to upgrade 17 plants in eight states would create or save more than 4,000 jobs. G.M.’s chief executive, Daniel F. Akerson, made the announcement at a transmission plant in this northern Ohio city, where the company will spend $204 million and retain 250 jobs. “We are doing this because we are confident about demand for our vehicles and the economy,” Mr. Akerson said. G.M. did not specify where and when it would make all the investments, preferring to announce positive news periodically to underscore its recovery from its 2009 bankruptcy. “There’s always going to be naysayers and there’s always going to be people who buy a G.M. product no matter what,” said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with the research firm IHS Automotive. “It’s about influencing those people who are in the middle.” About 1,350 of the jobs cited will be filled by current G.M. employees who are on layoff. Once those workers are recalled, the remaining positions will go to new hires at a lower wage rate. The company’s contract with the United Auto Workers union allows it to hire new workers at wages of $14 an hour — half what it pays existing hourly employees. The two-tier wage scale is expected to be a major topic at the bargaining table this summer, when G.M., Ford and Chrysler all negotiate new contracts with the U.A.W. The current four-year agreements expire in mid-September. The U.A.W. vice president in charge of the G.M. division, Joe Ashton, said he expected all the laid-off workers to be recalled before the contract expired. Mr. Ashton declined to say what changes the union might seek in the two-tier system during the negotiations. “They will be discussed at the table,” he said. The union’s president, Bob King, has said the U.A.W. hopes to get back some of the concessions it made during the last round of negotiations, in 2007, when Detroit’s Big Three were in dire financial condition. Since then, both G.M. and Chrysler were bailed out by the American taxpayers and drastically restructured in bankruptcy court. Ford recovered on its own without federal assistance and has reported healthy profits over the last two years. G.M.’s announcement of new jobs and investments came after the company’s announcement last week that it earned $3.2 billion in the first quarter of this year. The company has been steadily revamping its product lineup since emerging from bankruptcy in the summer of 2009, adding more fuel-efficient small cars and crossover vehicles. The transformation is starting to produce better sales and greater market share against rivals. G.M. reported domestic market share of 19.6 percent in the first four months of this year, compared to 18.7 percent for the same period a year ago. “For the first time in a generation, in the last year we took market share,” said Mr. Akerson. G.M. has 49,000 hourly workers in the United States — less than half the number it had five years ago. Since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2009, G.M. had committed to investing $3.4 billion in its plants and to creating or preserving an estimated 9,000 jobs. Tuesday’s announcement of an additional $2 billion in investment is another step in the rebuilding process. In addition to the improvements in Toledo, the company said last week that it would spend $131 million at an assembly plant in Kentucky. The United States government still owns a 26 percent stake in the automaker as part of the $50 billion taxpayer bailout. The Treasury Department could begin selling some of its remaining shares as soon as May 22, the first day it will be permitted to sell them under terms of G.M.’s initial public stock offering. G.M. has ample cash reserves of more than $36 billion to upgrade and expand manufacturing facilities such as the Toledo plant. “They’re spending money so they can make money,” said Ms. Lindland. “And the more profitable they are, the better chance they have of decreasing the ownership of the government.”

General Motors
Automobiles
Labor and Jobs


Uncertainty is the Theme as Owners Convene

Abstract: INDIANAPOLIS — In a normal year, the spring meeting of N.F.L. team owners includes the selection of a Super Bowl city. But in a sign of the uncertainty surrounding the N.F.L. this spring, the vote on the site for 2015 has been postponed until the fall. When the owners gather Tuesday and Wednesday for their meeting, their conversation will center on if — and when — the 2011 season will be played. The owners won a significant victory last week when the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals gave the league a delay of the injunction that would have lifted the lockout. But while the ruling on the delay used language that indicated the court was likely to side with the owners on the appeal of the injunction, the owners will be briefed on the options under consideration — what rules for free agency and the salary cap could be put in place, for example — if they lose the appeal and the lockout is lifted. That decision is not likely to come before late June or early July. Until then, the N.F.L. seems to be at a standstill. While the court sent a strong signal about the players’ chances on the injunction, few people expect much movement in negotiations until after the injunction decision is made, although Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan, who is acting as a mediator, will try to make progress before then. When mediation stopped last week, Boylan instructed both sides to submit confidential proposals by the end of this week, even though mediation will not resume until June 7. During the most recent round of talks, the two sides were moving further apart, said one person briefed on the negotiations. Owners offered less than they did in their March 11 proposal, the last offer on the table before the union dissolved itself and players were locked out, and players asked for more than they asked for before they decertified. Boylan told them that the new proposals he sought should narrow that gap, although Boylan does not have the power to compel either side to comply. Among the priorities for owners remains a deal that will not be overseen by the federal courts. Jeff Pash, the N.F.L.’s lead negotiator, said: “The process of litigation has tended to freeze people and made it difficult for discussions to be productive. Judge Boylan has tried. That’s been helpful in providing a forum to spend time with the players association. But it’s artificial. It’s all within the context of ongoing court cases.” In the wake of the stay decision, players quickly turned their attention to their next legal possibilities — the antitrust suit and the damages expected from the television contracts case — as ways to generate pressure . In a filing with the Minneapolis District Court, the players asked for discovery, which would probably include the players’ request for detailed team financial documents, in the antitrust case to begin immediately. On Monday, the court gave the N.F.L. until June 6 to respond to the antitrust filing. The league had wanted to wait until July 6, arguing that the decision on the appeal was likely to shape future decisions about how to proceed with the case.

Super Bowl
Lockouts
Football
National Football League
Organized Labor


Mets Mark 50 Seasons, Good, Bad and Ugly

Abstract: On Nov. 16, 1961, the Mets introduced their skyline-and-Brooklyn Bridge logo. They had not yet played a game. Their chairman, M. Donald Grant, 16 years from being reviled for trading Tom Seaver to Cincinnati, presented a $1,000 check to the logo’s creator, Ray Gotto. He was perhaps best known for being the inspiration for the Ozark Ike comic strip, which seems appropriate enough considering the almost daily comedy the Mets proceeded to create in 1962 as they stumbled to a historically awful record of 40-120. Five decades later that logo has been reinvigorated in preparation for the team’s 50th anniversary season in 2012. Much has happened to the Mets over the last 50 years, more of it bad than good, but at a news conference Wednesday at Citi Field to kick off the anniversary campaign there were no regrets, no ghosts from the past, just enthusiasm for what is in store. Those plans include the restoration of Banner Day, a bedsheet extravaganza that hasn’t been around since 1996; a bobblehead-a-month promotion that will feature Mets stars of each decade; and the creation of a Web site — Mets50.com — that will allow fans to post photos and words that illustrate their Mets memories, with one grand-prize winner receiving a pair of season tickets. The 2012 uniforms will also pay tribute to the team’s original look, with the black drop-shadows removed from the letters and numbers. And there will be the new logo, which was unveiled on Wednesday, the skyline still there but the word “Mets” and the silhouette of the bridge replaced with a large “50th” and with the word “Anniversary” in a ribbon. In addition, the interlocking NY from the original insignia has been restored after having been removed in the 1990s. But one feature of the past that will not be making a comeback is Old-Timers’ Day. Instead, said Dave Howard, the Mets’ vice president for business operations, the team will honor its retirees throughout the season. “That’s a better use of that jewel of an asset — for six months and not one game,” he said. He was vague about any plans that might specifically honor the 1962 Mets, who lost their first nine games and whose roster included Don Zimmer, Ed Kranepool and two pitchers named Bob Miller. Howard also rejected the notion that planning a season-long celebration of the past would be a welcome distraction for a team still struggling with financial issues and still trying to find a way to move up in the standings. “We’re excited about the 50th anniversary,” he said. “It only comes around once.” Wednesday’s news conference was notable for who was not there. Fred Wilpon, the team’s principal owner, and his son, Jeff, the chief operating officer, were both in Milwaukee for baseball meetings, as was General Manager Sandy Alderson. No old-timers, or alumni, as the Mets prefer to call them, were present, either. Instead, it was left to three current players — Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and David Wright — to model the new uniforms and answer questions. Wright’s presence was particularly intriguing since he now finds himself the subject of trade speculation for the first time in his career. “I understand that as much as I’d like to be here, sometimes you don’t always get what you want,” Wright said of a possible trade. “Do I think that it could happen? Of course. Am I thinking it’s going to happen? No.” Davis, meanwhile, was upbeat, saying he was finally over a vexing ankle injury that cost him most of the 2011 season. “I feel great,” he said. “Running, sprinting, cutting. Doing everything. I think we can pretty much put the ankle thing behind me.” If Wright stays a Met and gets off to a strong start in a Citi Field that will no longer be so cavernous, and if Davis looks good next April, too, then maybe the mood will brighten in time for all the anniversary events and gimmicks, which also include a giveaway at each home game of a No. 50 jersey with the word “Fantastic” stitched on its back. Fantastic is not an adjective normally associated with the Mets in recent seasons, but Howard vowed on Wednesday that “there are better days ahead,” a good slogan for his team in 2012 and perfectly appropriate for a banner.


Contributing to the Struggle With Grace and Dignity

Abstract: On Sept. 9, 1968, Arthur Ashe Jr. defeated Tom Okker of the Netherlands to win the first United States Open men’s singles championship. The victory was the first in a string of accomplishments that would distinguish Ashe, who died in 1993 at the age of 49. For his historic triumph, Ashe, as an amateur, received only $280 for his daily expenses. Okker, a professional, got the $14,000 first prize. “He didn’t win any money, but it wasn’t about the money,” his widow, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, said during a recent telephone interview. “There was so much going on that year — the assassinations, the riots, the turmoil. Yet in the midst of all that, Arthur won the U.S. Open. Arthur, even then, had a purpose, and it was not achieved just by making money.” Some decades are worth a year; some years are worth a decade. The year that rocked the world was 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April, Robert Kennedy in June. In August, the Democratic National Convention, being held in Chicago, exploded into a bloody confrontation between the police and antiwar protestors. Eleven days after the tumultuous convention ended, Ashe, with typical calm, grace and quiet strength, achieved history at Forest Hills. The victory, in a sport that had not welcomed blacks, was yet another marker in what Ashe called a hard road to glory. His was the first major victory for an African-American since Althea Gibson’s Forest Hills triumph a decade earlier. He became the first African-American man to win a major tennis title. Ashe, who also won the United States Amateur Championship and helped the American team claim the Davis Cup that year, ended a 13-year title drought by American men at Forest Hills. But his triumphs at the United States Open and later at Wimbledon did not, as many had predicted, pave the way for a flood of African-American champions. Venus and Serena Williams have been the only consistent champions, and James Blake has been the only consistent African-American male player. “I’m a little surprised, but that’s going to change,” Jeanne Ashe said, adding that African-Americans would be inspired by Barack Obama being his party’s candidate for president. “Forty years ago, so much was going on in this country; Arthur provided inspiration. Barack Obama will inspire another generation of African-Americans on every single level.” Ashe was concerned about achieving the greater good, of the African-American community and the country as well; he recognized that the two were linked. The most useful part of the 40th anniversary of Ashe’s win is that it provides an opportunity to reflect on a man’s life and measure the ideals against reality. As Ashe’s generation was defined by struggle and protest, a younger generation, with so much given, so much at its disposal, has lost sight of this greater good, of a sense of purpose. For the current generation, the greater good has been narrowly redefined in individual terms. The potential of sports to heal, reform and call attention to injustice has been lost. “That’s the great thing about anniversaries,” Jeanne Ashe said. “It gives us a chance to look back and review where we are going. It’s not about visiting the past and staying in it. It’s looking at the past as a way to look to the future.” In September 1968, Arthur Ashe, quiet and dignified, made history at the inaugural Open. A month later, at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised clenched fists on the medal stand as the national anthem was played. As Ashe was lauded for grace and dignity, Smith and Carlos were lambasted for their audacity. Last month, at an ESPY Awards ceremony, the three lives converged. Smith and Carlos were presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Ashe often spoke about Smith and Carlos with respect and admiration. Their way wasn’t necessarily his way, but Arthur Ashe, for all of his dignity and grace, knew that protest and struggle were necessary to bring about change.

Tennis
Ashe Arthur
United States Open (Tennis)


Three Siblings Headed to Beijing in Tae Kwon Do

Abstract: STAFFORD, Tex. — Of all the potential explanations for why the Lopez family of suburban Houston has become the dominant force in American tae kwon do, credit Chuck Norris, a one-and-a-half-car garage and Nicaragua. But it all began, really, with a misunderstanding that happened like this. Julio Lopez, a fan of 1970s’ kung fu movies, wanted to enroll his oldest son, Jean, then 8, in martial arts classes. One day, he saw a storefront advertising karate lessons. Perfect, Julio thought. Soon after registering him, though, Julio discovered the truth. The truth was Julio didn’t register his son for karate. He registered him for tae kwon do, a Korean martial art that places a greater emphasis on kicking. “Maybe it was to get more customers because, at that time, I don’t think people around here even knew tae kwon do existed,” Julio said. “Good thing, too, because karate isn’t an Olympic sport. Who knows what would have happened then.” Who knows, indeed. That day in 1983 spawned a future two-time Pan American champion (Jean) and also set into motion a series of events that has resulted in Jean’s coaching his three younger siblings in this summer’s Beijing Olympics. Steven, 29, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, had been qualified for months when, in a dingy downtown Des Moines auditorium in April, Mark, 26, and Diana, 24, snatched two of the remaining three spots to fulfill a goal nearly 20 years in the making. Not since Richard, Edward and William Tritschler — remember them? — competed in gymnastics in 1904 in St. Louis have three siblings qualified for the same Olympic Games. The only non-Lopez on the United States tae kwon do team, Charlotte Craig, said in an interview that they often joked that she should change her name to Charlotte Craig-Lopez. “There’s going to be four of us walking into the opening ceremonies together,” Steven said during a post-workout interview last month. “Who knows when that’ll happen again?” As the United States Olympic Committee tries to capitalize on its good fortune — how often do three superb athletes, bilingual and photogenic and first-generation Americans, come along to raise the profile of a niche sport? — the Lopezes are being counted on to win more than just medals. More and more, they are entering the mainstream, having appeared two months ago on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” while Steven’s face is all over your local grocery store, on Minute Maid juice cartons and Coca-Cola packages. Their success, the product of a singular focus that drives teenagers to skip their proms, was almost preordained, revealed throughout their youth. As a youngster, Steven, later voted most likely to succeed in his graduating class at Kempner High School, practiced his multiplication tables in his spare time so he could spout the answer faster than his classmates. Diana, after making the varsity volleyball team as a freshman, reacted to Steven’s urging to focus on that sport by increasing the duration and intensity of her tae kwon do workouts. Mark, in third grade, became so enthralled after reading a story about Alexander the Great that he began writing, “The Great” after his name. “Teachers complained to my parents that I kept writing ‘Mark Anthony Lopez the Great’ or ‘Mark the Great Lopez,’ ” Mark said. “My parents were like, ‘What’s the problem? He has self-esteem, a lot of confidence. That’s a good thing.’ ” Jean characterized his parents, Julio and Ondina, as, respectively, “the grandiose dreamer” and the “most courageous woman I know.” They were living in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, in 1972 when they fled political upheaval for New York, settling in Upper Manhattan. Julio, a structural engineer back home, found work in a clothing factory that manufactured Yankees apparel, eventually being promoted to foreman. Longing to apply his skills at an architectural firm, however, Julio took a pay cut in taking a job in New Jersey that ended after a few months. With Ondina pregnant with Steven, Julio left for Houston. No job awaited him, only opportunity. “I remember my father telling me, ‘You’re the man of the house now,’ ” Jean, who retired in 1998, two years before tae kwon do became an Olympic sport, said in a telephone interview. “That’s why on the day Steven was born, I flagged down a cab to get her to the hospital.” They soon followed Julio to Texas, where they found a home in nearby Sugar Land, the town in which they still live. Once Jean decided to pursue tae kwon do competitively, Steven, at 5, tagged along. It was only natural for Mark, at 5, and Diana, at 7, to do the same. “It’s like if you asked if I attended elementary school,” Mark said. “I just went.” They became so focused on dominating on the international stage that Jean, preparing for the future, began holding mock interviews with a 9-year-old Steven, asking him questions like, “How does it feel being a champion?” and “How does it feel training so hard?” In 2000, Steven, Mark and Diana all participated at the Olympic trials. In 2004, they all did again, with Diana failing to make the team by one match. The next year, each won titles at the world championships, making them the first three siblings to hold titles simultaneously in any sport. On their path to Beijing, unexpected challenges arose. First, in January 2006, Steven tested positive for a banned substance (L-methamphetamine), which he said came from Vicks VapoRub, an over-the-counter inhaler, that resulted in a three-month suspension. “It’s my fault,” he said. “Ignorance is not an excuse.” The following August, during a phase of Olympic qualifying in Colorado Springs, Diana defeated her fierce rival Nia Abdallah, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, who prevented Diana from making the team that year. Abdallah, citing biased judging that favored the Lopezes’ bid for history — tae kwon do, like figure skating and boxing, is a subjective sport — filed suit against the U.S.O.C. and USA Taekwondo. A United States District Court judge dismissed it. With Steven and Mark having already locked up spots in the Olympics, Diana fittingly had to defeat Abdallah in Des Moines for the Lopezes to achieve their goal. Neither scored points within the three regulation rounds or early sudden-death overtime. Julio and Ondina, back home in Sugar Land, bit their nails as friends in the stands fired off text messages with second-by-second updates. With one swift kick to Abdallah’s side, Diana set off a family-wide celebration that carried afterward into an empty steakhouse, where a bulletin acknowledging their achievement popped onto the television screen. “Before we came along, it would be like, ‘Yes, thank God, we have the U.S. as our first fight,’ ” Diana said. “Now it’s like, ‘Uh-oh, we have a Lopez in our division.’ ”

Martial Arts
Taekwondo
Olympic Games (2008)