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CAN the financial needs of affluent African Americans, women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities be better served apart from mainstream wealth management clients? Credit Suisse Private Banking has created a division within the firm, called New Markets, dedicated to serving these three groups of people who would seem to have little in common beyond being wealthy enough to be of interest to a wealth management firm. "We each want to be approached as an individual," said Pamela Thomas Graham, head of the division at Credit Suisse and herself an African American. But, she added: "We know that there are certain segments that have some special needs." The bank has been gathering data to make that very point. In a research paper on the wealth patterns of affluent African Americans released on Friday, Credit Suisse noted differences in the saving and investing habits of wealthy African Americans that are more conservative than their white counterparts' and hinder their wealth accumulation. On the positive side, the top 5 percent of African Americans who earn about 357,000 a year are better educated than white Americans in that bracket. Yet one area of concern is that African Americans remain conservative investors even as they rise up the wealth ladder. For instance, the report points out a tendency to put more money in certificates of deposit and savings bonds rather than in equities and more risky investments. Perhaps the most concerning trend from a wealth accumulation standpoint was that African Americans put less money into businesses that they started and more into real estate that could produce rental income. "White Americans have three to four times as much invested in their businesses," said Stefano Natella, global head of equity research at Credit Suisse. "If you invest in your own company, say an Internet company, it could be a multiplier of three, four, 10 times your wealth. Real estate can't do that you'll be lucky to double your money." It is not alone in studying the saving and investing habits of African Americans. Ariel Investments has conducted many studies looking at similar issues over more than a decade with Charles Schwab and Aon Hewitt. When it comes to the African American community, one way Credit Suisse is trying to add value is the creation of entrepreneurs circles. They focus on helping their members, about 20, get access to capital, get deeper expertise in certain areas and gain a community of entrepreneurs to share ideas with. "Part of New Markets is thinking about what is missing for those community members," Ms. Thomas Graham said. One takeaway for clients of all races, genders and sexual orientations is knowing that wealth management firms categorize them. It's not new. But knowing how you're going to be considered is an important part of any decision in choosing an adviser or firm. "One of the things we did at the bank 20 years ago was behavioral segmentation," said Maria Elena Lagomasino, who rose through the ranks of Chase Private Bank to lead the merged entity, J. P. Morgan Private Bank, from 2001 to 2003. This involved pairing people with capital with people with ideas. "When you look at wealth on a spectrum, on one side are clients who are very liquid and they need a lot of good ideas," said Ms. Lagomasino, who is managing partner and chief executive of WE Family offices, which serves affluent families. "On the other side are the entrepreneur types who are very wealthy but have more ideas than capital. You'd put them together." A more basic way to group clients is by their net worth. At Bank of America Merrill Lynch's global wealth and investment management division, dollar amounts set the minimums for various divisions: 250,000 is needed to be a Merrill Lynch client, at least 1 million to be with U.S. Trust, and more than 10 million to be a client of Merrill's private banking and investment group. Shared interests or backgrounds are another way to group people. In Philadelphia, for example, a Merrill Lynch adviser who is a former professional football player for the Eagles has many clients who are or were professional players as well. Citigroup's Private Bank has had the Law Firm Group since 1971. It serves 650 firms and 44,000 lawyers, many of whom do not have the 25 million minimum that the private bank requires of a client coming in off the street. "We get them when they're associates," said Natalie Marin, a spokeswoman for the bank. "Part of the pitch is, 'Listen, we know what your career path is probably going to look like better than you. We've been doing this for a long time.' " Beyond investment advice, Ms. Marin said the group might provide a mortgage when a lawyer got her first big bonus. If that lawyer is named an equity partner in the law firm, the group would lend the lawyer the money to buy the stake. Citi also has a group called the North America Asian Clients Group, run by Ida Liu, a senior private banker. "Are the services or product any different? No," Ms. Marin said. "But there are a number of products Asian clients have an appetite for that your average U.S. clients don't, like certain types of real estate and hands on tactical trading in their portfolios." This week Morgan Stanley started the global sports and entertainment group. "They're usually wealthy but they're different," Doug Ketterer, head of strategy and client management at the firm, said of the clients it advises. "Their career span is shorter. There's volatility of earnings. They have injury concerns. Their insurance needs are different. They have friends and family concerns." He said many wealth management firms had advisers with sports heavy practices, but this group was a way to pull various people into one group. All private banks also have so called family office groups, which focus on clients with hundreds of millions to billions of dollars of wealth that will last for many generations. And there are advisers within large organizations who have specialties in helping L.G.B.T. couples with tax or estate planning or who have developed practices focused on female executives. Yet few firms have gone the route of Credit Suisse and created a division that groups clients by race, gender and sexual orientation. But is that a problem? While it's certainly hard to get a sense from talking to just a few people, the reaction seemed to be indifferent to slightly bothered. "It seems a little tone deaf to me," said Drew Tagliabue, executive director of Pflag NYC, a group that advocates for equality for members of the L.G.B.T. community. "It sounds like, 'We'll just throw all these nonmajority groups into one little department.' " He said he could see how an adviser could help L.G.B.T. couples with tax and estate planning or help them invest in companies that had policies or business practices supportive of human rights. And many of those services, he pointed out, are offered by other groups. Thurman V. White Jr., chief executive and president of Progress Investment Management, an African American owned asset management firm, looked at the Credit Suisse initiative as more of a marketing ploy. "Everyone's looking for niches and angles," he said. "I think all of these private wealth management groups try to differentiate themselves in some way." He did, however, see how Credit Suisse's program to bring African American entrepreneurs together and provide them with funding could have a beneficial impact on the community. Yet Lyndon Taylor, a partner in the financial services division and co leader of the diversity practice at Heidrick Struggles, a recruiting firm, saw a lot of advantages to Credit Suisse promoting that it would serve these three groups, even if they seem somewhat incongruous. "The point is not that you're grouping together," he said. "You're trying to provide access to underrepresented groups."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Your Money
The majestic documentary "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet" opens with its title subject standing in a deserted location. It's the territory around the Chernobyl nuclear plant, a once buzzing area that was evacuated after human error rendered it uninhabitable. Only later will the directors, Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes and Keith Scholey, pull their camera back to reveal that the territory, in its vacancy, has grown into a lush wildlife paradise. Calling the film (streaming on Netflix) his "witness statement" for the environment, David Attenborough goes on to trace his more than 60 year career as a naturalist, mapping how steeply the planet's biodiversity has degenerated before him. Global air travel was new when he began his work, and footage of him as a young producer encountering exotic flora and fauna lends a moving, even haunting, note to his plea to restore ecological balance.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
Remains of victims found by archaeologists, who determined the villagers were slaughtered in their homes on the island of Oland in the Baltic Sea. In 2010, archaeologists exploring a fifth century fortress on a Swedish island found a pair of skeleton feet peeking out from a doorway. The team thought it odd that the ancient people had left a body unburied to rot within their village's stone walls, which housed some 200 people. When they later dug up the rest of the skeleton, the team discovered signs that the person had been murdered. Beside him they found the brutalized remains of another. And in houses nearby and on the streets they uncovered more human bones that had been butchered with swords, axes and clubs. During their excavations, Ms. Alfsdotter and her team dug up several bashed in skulls, a shoulder bone with a stab wound and a hip bone that had been severed from back to front. They also found the remains of a decapitated teenager and the bones of an infant who was only a couple of months old. The grisly remains tell a story of a gruesome sneak attack that was like a scene out of "Game of Thrones." "People have definitely compared it to the Red Wedding," Ms. Alfsdotter said. The attack happened suddenly, as shown by the half eaten herring that was discovered in one house. The people kept animals like dogs and sheep, many of which starved after the raid. Some people wore expensive jewelry like rings, silver pendants and gilded brooches. The presence of Roman gold coins in the fort also suggested that the massacre happened after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D., which could have created a power struggle on the island, according to the researchers. "It's a frozen moment," said Helena Victor, an archaeologist at the Kalmar County Museum in Sweden and the project leader. "The bodies are left lying where they were killed. No one has buried them or moved them. "What we are seeing is the crime scene, but also what their daily lives were like." In one house they uncovered an older man, perhaps in his 60s, whose pelvis bones were charred. Either before or after he died, his body fell over a fire pit. But what was most striking about this man, who the team said may have been a chieftain or religious leader, was that someone had shoved a handful of sheep teeth into his mouth. "We think they tried to humiliate this person beyond death," Dr. Victor said. It was customary during this time period to bury the dead with coins so they could pay their way into the afterlife. The deliberate placement of sheep teeth, Dr. Victor said, suggested the attackers wanted to thwart any chance the person had of making the passage. All of the victims found so far have been male, leading the team to wonder what happened to the women. They know females were at the site because of the presence of babies and women's jewelry. The team thinks they will either find remains from women in future digs or that the attackers took the women from the site during the raid. Many questions are unanswered: Who were the attackers? How did they invade the fort? And why did they slaughter the villagers? The team suspects that the attackers came from a neighboring village on the island and weren't outsiders or pirates because the coastal city's defenses, including an oval stone wall that was 13 feet tall, would have protected them from sieges begun by the sea. The archaeologists also surmise that the attackers were driven by politics and power, not mainly by robbery or plundering the village's riches. Left behind were bronze, silver and gold jewelry, and many millefiori glass beads and Roman coins. "I think the purpose was to show some other people what happens if you mess with this group," said Ludvig Papmehl Dufay, an archaeologist at the Kalmar County Museum and author on the paper. "This was more of a terrorist attack in that sense, the use of massacre as a political tool."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
Menlo Park, Calif. Silicon Valley has a richly deserved reputation as the world's engine of technology innovation, with a track record that includes developing integrated circuits, microprocessors, personal computers and smartphones. This is a culture of confidence and bravado. Ask a bunch of tech leaders about their goals, and it's a good bet that many of them will utter the words, "To change the world." Now would seem a ripe opportunity to find some groundbreaking answers, with California facing such a severe drought that Gov. Jerry Brown has imposed water restrictions. But the wizardry of the Valley's innovation has its limits, at least for now. Here on Sand Hill Road, home of the region's venture capital firms, there was a brief love affair with "clean tech" at the beginning of the last decade, but it fizzled and is now considered an ill advised rush to invest in a range of sustainable energy startup firms. The Valley's investors learned a hard lesson that energy technologies often required larger investments and had longer development cycles than they would have liked. And when the market for solar panels was flooded by low cost Chinese competitors, the "change the world" mantra of the venture capital community moved on to focus on social networking, software and other Internet investments. The water crisis simply may be a poor match for the Valley's skill set. "Not sure I have much to say on the water crisis that is enlightening," said Vinod Khosla, one of Silicon Valley's pre eminent venture investors who has made significant clean tech investments, when asked about the drought last week.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
MADISON, ILL. By the time a cannon blast signals the start of the New York City Marathon for more than 50,000 runners at 9:40 a.m. Sunday, the racers' group known as professional women will have already been on the course for half an hour. But when the starting lights blink green later that day at a National Hot Rod Association drag race 2,500 miles to the west, in Las Vegas, there will be no head start advantage for the women. The drag races are heads up, yet in each of the four professional categories for these single purpose acceleration dynamos Top Fuel dragster, Funny Cars, Pro Stock Car and Pro Stock Motorcycles there are female racers in the select group competing in the Countdown to the Championship playoffs. In Top Fuel (the long rear engine machines) and Funny Car (barely recognizable replicas of production models), 7,000 horsepower nitromethane fueled engines rocket the cars through the 1,000 foot course in less than four seconds and power past 300 m.p.h. Even the gasoline burning Pro Stock cars and motorcycles that use the traditional quarter mile track rip past the clocks in under seven seconds. In this straight line division of motorsports, racers don't leave the starting line as much as they launch from it. When the N.H.R.A. season of two dozen races concludes on Nov. 16, teams will have been racing since early February at a variety of tracks across the United States under a broad range of weather conditions. To adapt and remain competitive, the drivers must be capable of processing events that unfold in microseconds, then explain them in exacting detail moments later. This human data download, which can generate hours of work for the pit crews, is no longer the domain of an exclusive men's club in drag racing. There is a strong, confident and skilled female contingent that commands respect as they pull up to the starting line. Women with spots in the playoff round for the season points championship include Erica Enders Stevens competing in Pro Stock Car; Alexis DeJoria and Courtney Force driving Funny Cars; Brittany Force in Top Fuel; and Angie Smith in Pro Stock Motorcycle. A former multi time bike champion, Angelle Sampey, has returned to the sport after a six year hiatus. No mechanized conveyance has a sentient idea who is at its controls; it merely responds to input, and good input gets good response. Drivers are in control of engines characterized as a volcanic eruption contained in something the size of a kitchen stove. Getting the car down the track is just part of the job, though. Lightning reactions to the starting lights, where races are frequently won by margins measured in thousandths of a second, are required. Fans have noted the drivers' poise, taking delight when Courtney Force beat her father, the 16 time champion John Force, and as Erica Enders Stevens outraced her husband, Richie Stevens; consistently led the qualifying; won races; and topped the points standings during the 2014 season. For too long wrongly stigmatized as a masculine activity that embodied power and aggression, winning drag racers are a persuasive demonstration of brains being more valuable than brawn. While a significant number of women have won championships at the top levels of drag racing before, this year's group is a sizable emerging class of refined athletes. Physical fitness is a given; their mental focus has helped them carve a spot among the top ranks of the sport. "Drivers slow down time," the N.H.R.A.'s vice president for technical operations, Glen Gray, said at the Midwest Nationals here in September. "They explain runs down the track in such incredible detail and have extremely heightened intuitive senses. The men know they have to be on their game because the women are sharp." Drivers are the machine's vital data sensors, a technical feedback loop that is not gender specific, demanding tough minded concentration in a high pressure environment. The more detail drivers give the pit crew about the machine's operation during the few short seconds of a run, the better the team can make the machine for its next the run down the track. So what can women deliver that the pervasive data acquisition systems cannot? "Seat of the pants feedback is more important than what the computer tells you," explained Tommy DeLago, crew chief for Alexis DeJoria. "She clicks into a race mode and is uncanny with her sensing precision within 10 feet on the track. "Alexis is able to tell us how the car expressed itself during the run," he added. "She may not know what caused it, but she locks onto the weird factor, and that gives us a clear path to improving the tuneup." DeJoria uses meditative breathing exercises on the starting line to slow her heart rate and focus her attention. "Disciplining my mind is harder to do than driving the car," she said, "but it helps when the car wants to slap you in the face. I don't fear the car I have a big respect for what it is capable of." Courtney Force, 26, a four time winner in 2014, her third year as a pro Funny Car driver, provides feedback incrementally. "This is the craziest thing about our sport, we can think about so much in such a short period of time," she said. "I can't explain it. I just do it. "It starts when I get out of the car, continues during the ride back to the pit, and then I sit down with my crew chiefs to review the car's data download," she said. "Sometimes a delayed memory hits me later that can make all the difference to the next run." The smartest, most successful crew chiefs recognize that the mental or emotional tune up of the driver is as critical as the mechanical one. Courtney Force's crew chief, Ron Douglas, strives to instill confidence and encourages her to have fun driving. "The most valuable skill Courtney can bring to the team is consistency in her actions," Douglas said. "The more she tells us what she felt, the better we can optimize the car for the available traction." Erica Enders Stevens, 31, who has won four races this season and is No. 2 in the Pro Stock points standing driving a 215 m.p.h. Chevy Camaro, sees racing as 70 percent mental and 30 percent driving. "Winning," she said, pointing to her head with a locked on target expression, "it's all up here. Losses build champions." "I focus on things I want to happen," Enders Stevens said. "There is no room for an ounce of negative thought if I am going win a championship." Her co crew chiefs, Rick and Rickie Smith, noted that Enders Stevens was good at identifying small problems before they became big because she had a driver instinct to be "one" with the car. "She is very consistent," both crew chiefs say, adding that they trust her as much as they trust the computer data. Enders Stevens said that her mind set was greatly changed this year with her move to a new team. "They are my catch net. I can focus on the car, not the competitors, on my lane, my lights," she said with beaming gratitude. "Team work makes the dream work." Motorcycle riders like Angelle Sampey, 44, and Angie Smith, 35, must momentarily let go of the left handlebar to release the clutch lever, simultaneously tucking in tightly and bracing for the 3G launch off the starting line. "I must anticipate, but be careful not to prematurely react," Smith said. "I also need to be mentally tough. Drag racing is as much a psychological war as it is a technological battle. "I am an adrenaline junkie who loves the team dynamic, trophy or no trophy, because I am part of a group with a common goal," she said. Sampey, with 41 career wins and three championships, has a tactical approach. "I am the human traction control that makes microcorrections that most people will never see from the grandstands," she said. "I don't need the competition to do anything but stage and stay in their lane for me to do my job." Each Friday before qualifying runs start, Brittany Force, 26, will sit in her Top Fuel dragster and make a dry run in her head. "I talk to it," she said about her style of nurturing bravery and driving poise. "I say, we can do this, we can do it together." Of all the woman on the current pro drivers list, Brittany, also a daughter of John Force, was never going to drive a racecar. She was headed to the classroom, having secured her teaching credential. But how do you resist a father whose influence rivals the moon's gravitational pull? "We need women in the sport," her 64 year old father, a popular champion, said. Brittany and her sisters grew up in and around racing, so immersed in the culture that driving when she was 16 was just her summer hobby. "Drag racing is my normal," she said. These women are not an anomaly. The pipeline is full of young women who have an eye on professional rides in their future. The farm system is N.H.R.A.'s Junior Dragster program, which has more than 3,000 active racers, who can start as early as age 6 in scaled down dragsters powered by modified lawn mower engines. Upward of 45 percent are female, and that number never falls below 35 percent, the N.H.R.A. says. Enders Stevens started there. "Experience is critical to be able to move up into the pro ranks," said a pragmatic Gray, the racing group's technical chief. Then again, Enders Stevens says she thinks there might a gender advantage after all: "I know my car is a girl, because it listens better."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Automobiles
Trump also groused that he wasn't getting the credit he deserved for the immigration deal and others. "It's true. Trump gets no credit. That's why he had to borrow all his money from the Russians." STEPHEN COLBERT "Maybe the reason he can't get credit is because you've declared bankruptcy six times." JIMMY KIMMEL Trevor Noah mocked the president for withdrawing threatened tariffs on Mexican imports that were seen as bad for Americans as well. "Crisis averted! Thank you, Trump. You realize this could have tanked the stock market, it could have seriously hurt the U.S. economy, but Trump stopped it from happening. And, yes, he was the one who caused the crisis to begin with, but that's not the point. That's not the point! Give it up for Trump!" TREVOR NOAH Nineteen Democratic candidates for president were in Iowa on Sunday, looking to sway voters in a marathon of speeches at the state's first major event of the 2020 election. "Little known fact: A group of Democrats that large is called a Whole Foods." STEPHEN COLBERT "It took over three hours. People in Iowa were like, 'We've never been this bored, and we live in Iowa.'" JIMMY FALLON "The only thing that's good about this weekend is for a weekend, it doubled the number of black people in Iowa." TREVOR NOAH Late night hosts poked fun at Pete Buttigieg's not so inspired jazz keyboard playing ("He's the hip young candidate in the field, everybody," Fallon joked), and Tim Ryan's choosing to walk out on stage to the country rap ditty "Old Town Road." The candidate leading in the polls, Joe Biden, did not attend because he was celebrating his granddaughter's high school graduation. "President Trump called into a show on CNBC to defend his stance on tariffs. He called in, yeah. Then two minutes later he called in again and won two free tickets to see Maroon 5." CONAN O'BRIEN "So the threats of tariffs, the negotiations, the deal itself, were all fake. It was like theater. In this case, 'The Lyin' King.'" STEPHEN COLBERT " Imitating Trump I'm also proud to announce that the Berlin Wall is coming down, the hostages have been released by Iran, and I have purchased Louisiana from France." STEPHEN COLBERT "Anyone can be a good guy, anyone can be a bad guy. Not everyone can be both, huh? He's Bruce Willis and the guy taking the building hostage." TREVOR NOAH Lin Manuel Miranda joined Desus and Mero for a brand new musical based on the baseball legend Babe Ruth.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Television
WASHINGTON The Trump administration has temporarily shelved a proposed rule change that would further restrict American sales to Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, after some officials in the Defense Department and other agencies argued that the measure, which was intended to protect national security, could actually undermine it, according to people familiar with the matter. The rule change, which multiple government agencies were reviewing, would close a loophole that allowed technology companies like Intel and Micron to continue shipping chips, software and other products to Huawei despite a ban that prevented the Chinese company from buying some American products. Some government officials have objected to the tougher restrictions, arguing they could discourage the use of American components abroad, weakening American firms and the country's technological competitiveness. The rule has been withdrawn from the Office of Management and Budget, effectively putting the tighter limits on hold. The change, along with other China technology issues, will be discussed in a meeting of President Trump's top advisers, though a date has yet to be set, one of the people said. The measure is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to combat what it describes as a pressing security threat: China's acquisition of advanced technologies that could give the country both a commercial and a military edge. Many of those efforts have focused on Huawei, which sells global telecom equipment that American officials fear will give Beijing new channels for control and surveillance. Huawei says that its networks are secure and that it does not spy for the Chinese government. Tensions between the United States and China have eased since the countries concluded a Phase 1 trade deal. But the fate of Huawei, and the American companies that supply it, continues to hang in the balance. Last May, the Trump administration placed Huawei on a United States blacklist and moved to cut off shipments of certain goods, software and technology to the Chinese firm. In order to keep selling certain products to Huawei, companies had to apply for and obtain a special license. The restrictions threatened to cut off lucrative sales for a number of American tech companies that supplied components to Huawei, including Intel, Micron and Google. Some firms, eager to continue selling to Huawei, took advantage of a loophole that allowed them to sell products made outside the United States to Huawei without a government license, as long as the products contained less than 25 percent of certain types of sensitive American content. The proposed measure, which applies only to Huawei, would lower that threshold to 10 percent from 25 percent. It would also expand the rule so that all types of American content would count toward that 10 percent threshold. Such a change would expand the rule's reach beyond sensitive types of technology to include American software, chips and other components that are widely available and that Huawei could easily purchase from Taiwanese, Korean and Japanese manufacturers instead. The exceptions to the existing rules have allowed Huawei to continue buying many of the components it needs to make its telecom networks and smartphones from American suppliers. That has allowed Huawei the third largest purchaser of chips globally after Apple and Samsung to continue growing and increase its revenue, defying expectations within the tech industry and in Washington. Huawei said its sales in 2019 topped 120 billion, which was 18 percent growth over the year before less than its initial target, but not by much. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Huawei's chief executive, Ren Zhengfei, said he expected the United States to continue escalating its campaign against Huawei, but was "confident we can survive even further attacks." Some trade experts say the Trump administration should have anticipated that business with Huawei would continue, since American controls on exports are designed to target only sensitive material and technologies. But some administration officials, including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, have been surprised that placing Huawei on the entity list, which designates companies that the United States considers a security or foreign policy threat, did not halt more business with the company. In an interview in Davos on Thursday, Mr. Ross said Huawei had been encouraging American companies to flout federal laws, which had attracted the Commerce Department's attention. He added that revisions to the rules were "works in progress that will come out in the near term." The rule, which was being considered by officials at the Commerce, Defense, Treasury, State and Energy Departments, was designed to take effect before industry had a chance to comment on it. "Huawei is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party and should be treated as such," Senators Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Marco Rubio of Florida wrote. "We are concerned that the Defense Department is not appropriately weighing the risks." Officials said that the disagreement could ultimately be resolved in the next few weeks and that the rule could still move forward. A Pentagon spokeswoman, Sue Gough, said the department was aware of Commerce's proposed rule change, but "will not prematurely discuss ongoing interagency collaboration." The Trump administration has been trying, with limited success, to discourage other governments like Britain, Germany and India from allowing Huawei to construct the next generation of wireless networks. Mr. Trump's advisers warn that allowing Chinese companies to build 5G networks could compromise intelligence sharing between the United States and its allies. But foreign officials say the United States has not provided compelling evidence that Huawei poses a threat. The American crackdown has prompted Huawei to try to reduce its dependence on the United States. It recently produced handsets and telecom equipment that do not contain any American components. The company has found substitutes for some parts from suppliers in other countries, including Japan, and its in house semiconductor unit, HiSilicon, has developed replacements for some advanced chips. The proposed rule change could accelerate those efforts and persuade companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, which uses many American parts, to halt purchases from the United States, at least temporarily, Paul Triolo, practice head of geo technology for Eurasia Group, wrote in a note to clients.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
Mr. Copping attempted to evolve the brand Mr. de la Renta built for a younger generation while staying within the vernacular he established. But there was thought to be some discomfort among the brand's traditional clientele with the changes. Initial industry reaction was one of regret. "We did very well with the new Oscar de la Renta," said the retailer Ikram Goldman, the founder of her namesake store in Chicago. "This news is unfortunate, because it is another roller coaster ride that did not need to happen." No successor to Mr. Copping has been named, though speculation has already focused on Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim, the founders and designers of the buzzy new label Monse (who recently also joined Carolina Herrera to oversee design). They formerly worked under Mr. de la Renta and reportedly left when they were not given the job that went to Mr. Copping. The Oscar de la Renta spring 2017 show, scheduled for Sept. 12, will be designed by an in house team.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
I couldn't have known how vertiginous the entire Huxtable project was. I was, like, 10, 13, 15 years old when the show was a thing. But eventually, I could see that Cliff became a play for respectability. This is how you comport yourself among white people, young black child. Take a little bit of Howard with you on your way to Harvard. But then, in 2004, at an NAACP ceremony commemorating 50 years since the Brown v. Board of Education decision, he gave the notorious "Pound Cake" speech, where prodding for a particular kind of self betterment turned tsk y. He compared incarcerated black men to jailed civil rights activists, the apples and oranges of the black criminal justice crisis. He ruminated on names that didn't seem, to him, like Bill. "We are not Africans," he said. "Those people are not Africans, they don't know a damned thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Shaligua, Mohammed, and all that crap and all of them are in jail." Maybe this was Cliff unplugged and unhinged. Mohammed? But it was a dare to flirt with distance, to reconsider all those applications I filed, to see Bill Cosby as someone who, despite hours of comedy like "Bill Cosby Is Not Himself These Days" and "Bill Cosby: Himself," might not be willing or able to see who "himself" actually is. I called this a speech, but he performed it like another standup special. This is the heavy thing about this verdict. The sorting of the ironies has been left to us. Mr. Cosby made blackness palatable to a country historically conditioned to think the worst of black people. And to pull that off, he had to find a morally impeccable presentation of himself and his race. This is what Sidney Poitier, his friend and movie partner, was always up against: inhabiting the superhumanly unimpeachable. But Mr. Cosby might have managed to pull a fast one, using his power and wealth to become the predator that white America mythologized in a campaign to terrorize, torture and kill black people for centuries. Mr. Cosby told lots of jokes. This was his sickest one. Mr. Cosby's guilty verdict happens to fall during a week in which Kanye West brought a lot of people a lot more grief, not with new music but with a blizzard of tweets that included an expressed affinity for President Trump, right down to wearing a Make America Great Again cap of his own. Mr. West began his career as a kind of black sheep Huxtable. (His first album was "The College Dropout.") But he eventually gathered a sense of politics racialized, pro black politics. And then he married into the Kardashian family and things got as vivid and incoherent as one of Cliff's Van Den Akker sweaters. This is how you get a blistering indictment of racial closed mindedness like 2013's "Black Skinhead" but also an embrace of people who've been reluctant to shame white supremacists. This seems like a reasonable moment to wonder whether the Huxtable mold is one that needs breaking or at least expansion. Mr. West presents a new vexation that's the opposite of Mr. Cosby's stringent black conservatism. He can be offensive and rude and self aggrandizing. But that mind set also feels like a way to move beyond America's Dad. Disrespectability politics. We're in a moment of cleaving terrible people from their great work. It's a luxury conundrum, one that feels like a mockery of tremendous human suffering. With Mr. Cosby, though, these are questions worth seriously considering. How do I, at least, cleave this man from the man he seduced me into becoming?	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Television
A new year, at the start of a new decade, makes this a natural time for N.B.A. teams to search for innovative ways to combat the offensive flourish of the previous decade. Yet as disconsonant as it sounds, especially for a league reputed to be as progressive as the N.B.A., its coaches are increasingly dipping into the past for a defensive alignment that tends to be branded as antiquated or, worse, collegiate. "There's definitely more use of zone this season," said Dallas Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle. "Offenses are getting so good that if you can come up with some kind of defense that can upset rhythm a little bit, it's viewed as a positive thing." Overall usage of zone defenses schemes that call for defenders to guard a specific area of space rather than an opposing player is up 50 percent from last season, according to Synergy Sports data. The increase per possession is 10.8 percent, according to data provided to N.B.A. teams by Second Spectrum. A leaguewide average of 2.3 zone possessions per game remains modest, but the rise Carlisle referenced is more tangibly reflected by the number of teams regarded as regular zone practitioners. Dallas, Toronto, Washington, Charlotte and the Los Angeles Clippers have joined Miami and the Nets as teams known to utilize zone schemes 4 to 10 percent of the time, according to Synergy. The Heat and Nets were outliers last season, employing zone schemes on 10.9 percent and 8.4 percent of their defensive possessions, according to Second Spectrum. The stigma against zone schemes is strong, because turning to a zone alignment has long been regarded in the N.B.A. as a sign of weakness gimmickry to cover up for poor individual defenders. Clippers Coach Doc Rivers recently suggested that Glenn Whittenberg, his former high school coach at Proviso East in Maywood, Ill., was likely "rolling over in his grave right now" in response to the amount of zone Rivers is using. The Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton still does. Payton retired in 2007, but the smothering guard unforgettably known as "The Glove" remains a passionate critic of zones at the pro level even though his son Gary Payton II of the Washington Wizards happens to play for the N.B.A. team using more zone than anyone (9.8 percent of the time, per Synergy). "Trash," Gary Payton said in a phone interview. "That's a cop out. Why do college teams go to a zone? Because they can't guard anybody." The Wizards' No. 30 defensive rating through Thursday (Washington was allowing 115.4 points per 100 possessions) appears to support Payton's contention. Yet in Toronto, Coach Nick Nurse has a roster filled with elite defenders, which has encouraged Nurse to not only embrace zones but also experiment with a variety of defenses rarely seen at the pro level. In one memorable Game 2 sequence of the 2019 N.B.A. finals, Nurse unleashed "box and one" coverage on Golden State's Stephen Curry four players in a square shaped zone, with Fred VanVleet shadowing Curry as closely as possible. As the league's defending champion, Toronto has countered injuries to key figures such as Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry this season with half court double teaming of Houston's James Harden, 1 2 1 1 zone pressing and more box and one that, according to conventional N.B.A. wisdom, should not work against most skilled offensive players on the planet. The Raptors have also mixed in a good bit of 2 3 zone two defenders at the top with a row of three behind them in securing the No. 2 spot in defensive rating despite all of their health woes. "I think we have seen that some of these other defenses have worked," said Nurse, whose Raptors are on a surprising 53 win pace even after losing the finals M.V.P. Kawhi Leonard in free agency. "For parts of games, anyway." After Leonard's arrival along with the acquisition of Paul George to join the tenacious Patrick Beverley and mobile frontcourt players such as Montrezl Harrell, Maurice Harkless and JaMychal Green Rivers decided that the Clippers' roster composition compelled him to think more openly about zones. "We have a switchable basketball team for the first time in my career," Rivers said, referring to the ability of similarly sized players to easily switch onto a different offensive player in the midst of a possession. The Clippers, as a result, have used zone looks on 4 percent of their defensive possessions, according to Second Spectrum, and, like Carlisle's Mavericks, have held the opposition to less than a point per possession when in a zone setup. Beverley has said that, despite his own Payton like determination to harass other guards, he has no issues when Rivers calls for zones. He played for nearly four seasons in Europe before establishing himself in the N.B.A., and zone defense is much more prevalent in leagues overseas. Rivers, though, admits he will sometimes refer to it as a "flex zone" or "more of a switching defense than a zone" to encourage player acceptance. The potential payoff of a well executed zone is clear, despite the vulnerabilities it exposes in terms of rebounding and surrendering open shots. A good zone, at least for a time, can create confusion, inspire hesitation and potentially dislodge offensive supernovas such as Harden and Curry from their comfort zones. Thanks to a lack of dependable perimeter shooters around the All Star big man Joel Embiid, no team faces more zones than the Philadelphia 76ers. The most notable culprit for inviting that strategy is Ben Simmons, Embiid's fellow All Star, who has attempted only five 3 pointers all season sinking two after shooting 0 for 17 from deep over his first two N.B.A. seasons. The Athletic reported in December that the Sixers saw a zone on 156 possessions in a three game stretch against Miami, Dallas and Washington over a four day span. According to Synergy Sports data used in the report, 21 of the league's 30 teams faced fewer than 156 possessions of zone defense for the entire 2018 19 season. "We've seen so much innovation and change offensively over the last five years," Toronto's Nurse said. "It only makes sense that teams are going to try things and look for things defensively to counter that." The limited practice time teams enjoy in the modern game makes it challenging for coaches to implement zone coverages, because they typically require additional preparation and increased communication among the defenders. But that didn't stop the Los Angeles Lakers, No. 3 in the league in defensive rating, from springing a surprise on Carlisle's Mavericks on Jan. 10. In a move right out of the Mavericks' playbook, with the former Dallas guard Jason Kidd now on the bench as an assistant to Lakers Coach Frank Vogel, Los Angeles used a zone for numerous possessions in the second quarter in an attempt to short circuit the rising Dallas star Luka Doncic's usual pick and roll effectiveness and then fell back into man to man coverage as soon as the Mavericks made their first pass. It's a ploy Dallas used frequently against LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the 2011 N.B.A. finals, in which the Mavericks upset Miami in six games. But James was on the winning side this time, with the Lakers rolling up a 21 point lead in the first half in an eventual 129 114 road win despite the absence of an ailing Anthony Davis. The Mavericks, to this day, believe they would not have won their lone championship without substantial doses of zone. For all the talk that N.B.A. shooters are simply too proficient for teams to stay in zones for long, Carlisle expects zone defense to continue its comeback in the second half of the season. "It's been very cyclical in the last eight or nine years," Carlisle said. "But the teams that are using it are using it with effectiveness. And you have to prepare for it. If you're not prepared for it, you're going to be up against it."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
Larissa Gabriele Rogerio and Viviam Caroline, center, play with Dida on the street outside Project Dida in Salvador's historic neighborhood, Pelourinho. They Told the Women in Bahia They Couldn't Drum. Try Telling That to Banda Dida. SALVADOR, Brazil This northeastern Brazilian city is famous for its Afro Brazilian drumming traditions; the internationally acclaimed bloco afro band Olodum has broadcast its colorful drums and pounding syncopation internationally for decades through music collaborations including Michael Jackson's "They Don't Really Care About Us" and Paul Simon's "The Obvious Child". To see that band which is composed almost exclusively of men or any of the city's other renowned bloco afros, like Ile Aiye, perform live in the streets of Salvador is a deep dive into the roots of this country's musical traditions. But traditions change. Or actually, traditions are changed. By women like the ones that make up Banda Dida, a group composed exclusively of black women, pounding out those same Afro Brazilian rhythms, filling up Salvador's night with its old sounds, played by new hands. Formed in 1993, the band was believed to be the first all female bloco afro in Brazil. "We've brought visibility to a group black women that have been historically marginalized here," Ms. Queiros said. "We've feminized percussion here." Though they've been around for years, Dida's popularity today is representative of an atmosphere of female empowerment in Brazil. Dida, once a torchbearing group among dozens of all male bloco afros, now shares the streets of Salvador with a few other all female groups. As Brazil's power structure has turned more conservative in recent years, with many female politicians being replaced by male lawmakers who have pushed for legislation to limit women's access to abortion, the country's feminist movement has gained strength. For more Surfacing pieces, like one on a Jamaican synchronized swimming team, click here. B anda Dida earned its visibility by taking on old social norms that pushed women away from drums. Historically, "drumming in Salvador has been considered a man's role," said Jeff Packman, a University of Toronto associate professor who specializes in the study of drum culture in Salvador. He and Ms. Queiros both report that the gender norms around drumming came out of particular beliefs about a woman's role and place. One theory, the big bass drums are too heavy for women. The women could even get hurt, and then who would have the babies? Another theory s uggested that playing drums in the streets in the night especially during the bacchanalia of Carnival season, when drum groups perform most intensely is too time consuming and dangerous for women, who should instead stay home. On a recent weekend evening, a few dozen of the group's 85 members gathered in the second floor of their headquarters. Women, some with children in their laps, listened attentively to the guest speakers, which included older local black women sharing their experiences of finding strength in their feminism and their blackness. "It is our responsibility to share with the world the power that is within us as black women," one speaker told the group. Two nights later, the band was busy rehearsing its Carnival performance; the celebration is just weeks away. During the captivating rehearsals, which take place in the street in front of their headquarters, the women not only play bass drums called surdos strapped around their shoulders or waists and resting against knees protected by thick kneepads, but also swing the heavy, keg sized drums up into the air, balancing them above their heads with one trembling arm, as the seconds tick by and the gathered crowd cheers, in an act symbolizing their defiance of those old gender rules. Adriana Portela, the first female conductor of a bloco afro in Salvador's history, attributes the debunking of the myths around female drumming to "the power of the uterus." She said this just before rehearsal, while pulling on kneepads and helping the group's young singer with new lyrics. Jean Jesus dos Santos, one of the younger members of the group part of the next generation of Dida was one room over and painting blush onto her cheeks. "They used to say drumming wasn't for women because the instrument was heavy," said Jean. "But we're warrior women, and yes, we can play. And the proof of that is there in the street: we play just as well as the men." An hour later, after their rehearsal and backstage at an Olodum show a block away, Olodum's vice president, Marcelo Gentil, said he can't disagree. "They are from Bahia, so they drank from the same source as Neguinho," he said, referring to the man who is regarded as the founder of the samba reggae rhythm that drives much of the drumming in Salvador. "And they play that rhythm a lot better than men who aren't from Bahia." Neguinho do Samba, a former leader of Olodum, founded Banda Dida in 1993. Neguinho died several years ago, but his daughter, Debora de Souza, remains an integral part of the administration of Banda Dida. While counting out registration forms in a yellow folder labeled "Carnaval," Ms. de Souza recalled the passion that led her father to form Banda Dida. "My dad was a feminist. He cared about women, and while he was with Olodum he saw that there was a need for there to be a female drum group." According to Ms. de Souza, Paul Simon felt so grateful to Olodum for helping him earn a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year in 1992, that he helped him acquire the three story colonial mansion where Banda Dida in now based. Neguinho's vision was long term: to form an all female drum group, but also ensure the perpetuity of the group by offering free instrument making workshops and music lessons for women and children at the house. Ms. Queiros was just 16 years old when she started playing drums with Banda Dida. She is now 34 and pursuing a Ph.D. in samba reggae ethnomusicology i n her free time away from the group. "I feel like I became a woman through this group," she said with steady conviction, between sips of passionfruit juice at a local Afro Brazilian cafe. "In my opinion, the drum could be the great technology for women this century. It redefines the body of a woman especially black women," said Ms. Queiros. "I think it's a weapon; it's a tool. It gives us power, and makes us more beautiful. And it makes it so that our message is heard farther and farther away."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
One Man's Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug In 1889, 18 year old James Hill disembarked in El Salvador to sell textiles from Manchester, England, and wound up bringing the industrial mentality of his native city to coffee cultivation in his adopted country. A century later, in 1979, on the eve of full scale revolution in El Salvador, his grandson Jaime Hill was kidnapped by rebels for a ransom they hoped would help finance a revolt against wealthy planters like the Hills, who had economically and politically dominated the country for decades. The intervening nine decades provide a canvas on which Augustine Sedgewick, who teaches at the City University of New York, paints a beautifully written, engaging and sprawling portrait of how coffee made modern El Salvador, while it also helped to remake consumer habits worldwide. By following several generations of the Hill family, Sedgewick brings agency to the commodity centric history that historians often pursue to convey the global dimensions of modern capitalism. They track how cotton, sugar, tea and other products leapfrogged across the map, transcending national boundaries. But focusing on global capital flows, supply chains, consumer markets and labor mobility can sometimes minimize what Sedgewick reveals so well: the actual choices made by the producers and importers and advertisers who merchandised the goods, the economic and political alliances they forged in the process and the often harsh local consequences of their actions. At the heart of "Coffeeland" is a balance sheet demonstrating that the costs of an economy devoted to the monoculture of coffee decidedly outweighed the benefits. As the Hills and their fellow planters put more and more land under coffee cultivation, the Indigenous people who had fed themselves by foraging in forests and farming small plots found themselves increasingly forced to labor on plantations and in mills just to eat. Seasonal employment, low wages, food scarcity and the booms and busts of the international coffee market drove them ever deeper into poverty. As popular discontent grew, the "Fourteen Families" who controlled El Salvador's export coffee industry demanded more and more political control to protect their businesses and the economy of a nation where coffee made up 90 percent of its exports. By the 1930s, a military dictatorship was entrenched. For decades, that government brutally repressed all opposition, until a civil war partly financed through kidnappings like Jaime Hill's finally exploded in the 1980s. A democratic regime today troubled and fragile won out in 1992.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
The online map lets you click on your state and see notices about fraudulent activity in your area, both from consumers reporting their personal experiences and from state authorities. Arizona's attorney general, for instance, warns of "medical alert" scams that are now circulating in several regions, targeting older people in particular. Reports on the map include one from a woman in Tennessee who received emails telling her she was about to be evicted, and asking her to click on an attachment. Another in Texas learned that someone had created an online Social Security account in her mother's name, and had redirected her monthly payment to another account. Older Americans are increasingly using the Internet. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, 56 percent of Americans aged 65 and older are online, and more than half of those who are online use social network sites. That means schemes targeting older people, and the services they use, also are moving online. "The Internet is providing another opportunity for people to be scammed," said Maggie Flowers, senior program manager at the National Council on Aging. Older Americans may be attractive targets because they have accumulated nest eggs for retirement, or have substantial equity built up in their homes. "They have access to resources and funds they've saved for their whole lives," said Nora Eisenhower, assistant director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office for Older Americans. "You're a target because you've lived a fiscally responsible life." In Mr. Burdette's case, he learned that he was nearly a victim when he got a call from his bank, asking if he had authorized a transfer of funds to an overseas account. He hadn't, so the transfer was canceled. But it had been a close call, he learned. Before the criminals contacted his bank to request the transfer, they used their online access to his telephone account to activate a feature that lets customers forward calls to another phone number. When the bank initially called to verify the transaction, the call went to the criminal's telephone number, instead of to Mr. Burdette. The scheme was thwarted when a suspicious bank employee contacted Mr. Burdette on another telephone number.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Your Money
LONDON A new year brings a new name for the latest season of the biannual British men's wear spectacle formerly known as London Collections: Men. The four day event, in its fifth year, shall henceforth be known as ... London Fashion Week Men's. The rebranding isn't exactly surprising after a stormy year. The upheaval began when major British player Burberry abandoned its prime position in the local men's wear festivities in favor of see now, buy now runway shows that will take place during women's fashion week. The turmoil intensified with the "Brexit" referendum, which will put some distance between the tailors of Savile Row and their fashion friends in Paris and Milan. Despite all that, Caroline Rush, the chief executive of the British Fashion Council, said the rationale for the event's name change was a sign of its success. "When we first launched the London's men's wear shows, the schedule lasted just three days," Ms. Rush said. "We could hardly call it a week." She has a point. Furthermore, she said, now that consumers, rather than editors or buyers, have come to dictate how and why many brands invest in runway shows, it makes sense for the event to have a name that trips more easily off the tongue.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
Changes Coming for Health Care in China and Cuba Two countries that are models of effective public health intervention, China and Cuba, have recently embarked on important policy changes, leaving some experts wondering whether citizens will be left worse off. In September, Cuba and the Obama administration began moving closer to normalized relations, which may expose Cuba's vaunted medical system to powerful new market pressures. In October, China renounced its one child policy, under which most families were forbidden to have more than a single child. Both countries enshrine health care as a fundamental right. Cuba is a well known anomaly: so poor that it is barely able to feed its people, yet able to equal or beat the United States in two important health indicators life expectancy and child mortality. The nation has 30,000 family doctors and 500 local clinics, and every Cuban sees a doctor at least once a year. Former Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, a doctor, visited last year and praised aspects of Cuba's primary care system, saying it "harkens back to the days of family physicians making house calls armed only with their deep personal patient knowledge and their stethoscope." In the last decade, Cuba has sent thousands of doctors on overseas aid missions. They have treated 3.5 million patients. During last year's Ebola outbreak in West Africa, one American built hospital was staffed by Cubans. China, too, has made enormous strides. As the nation turned itself into the world's factory town, the megacities intended to house millions of workers were built with water and sewer pipes, screened windows, air conditioning and nearby hospitals amenities mostly missing in the farm villages the workers came from. Clean water reduces deaths from cholera, dysentery and a dozen other intestinal pathogens. Stopping mosquitoes and flies reduces deaths and disability from malaria, yellow fever, trachoma, leishmaniasis and more. Whenever epidemiologists talk about how much the world has improved in the last 20 years millions fewer children dying, being stunted by worm disease or living without running water they usually have to add: "Of course, most of that progress was in China." Chinese researchers now routinely publish work in top medical journals. In 2003, China crushed its exploding SARS outbreak and in 2009 largely held off the swine flu pandemic while scientists brewed a vaccine. Yet public health interventions in both countries have often had a coercive edge. When Mao decreed a campaign to wipe out rural worm diseases, authorities mixed deworming drugs into salt. Health teams arrived in Chinese villages with soldiers and ordered families to bring their salt to the public square. It was washed away with fire hoses and replaced. To stem its SARS outbreak, China closed every school and most large venues in Beijing. To keep the swine flu at bay, it escorted all foreign visitors with fevers off planes into quarantine. Cuba relied on harsh methods, too, to suppress its AIDS epidemic and with great success. Until 1993, H.I.V. positive Cubans were forced to live in bungalow colonies. Even now, at mandatory annual checkups, patients find it hard to avoid tests for sexually transmitted diseases if the doctor thinks they are warranted. Experts are just beginning to debate the effects of changing policies on public health in these two countries. China has almost a fifth of the world's population. The one child policy, in place since 1980, has averted an estimated 400 million births. It also lowered child mortality. One infant doted on by parents and grandparents is far more likely to survive than one of five children to be taken to a doctor for pneumonia, for instance. Even after ending the one child policy, China is very likely to hold onto its gains in public health, said Dr. Christopher J.L. Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. China's "blistering rate of decline" in child mortality resulted more from new wealth than from low birthrates, Dr. Murray said. Over the last 25 years, according to a study by the institute and China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the gross domestic product went from 60 per capita to 6,800. Health improved most in the wealthiest cities, despite drawbacks like the air pollution that has plagued Beijing. Also, because of exceptions for ethnic groups and rural families, the real birthrate was never just one child per woman, but closer to 1.7. While there may be some pent up demand for more children, fertility "is almost a one way street," Dr. Murray said. Once countries prosper, fallen birthrates rarely rise again. Cuba's path is a little harder to predict. The island protects children so well that it could improve only in neonatal intensive care, Dr. Murray said. An end to the United States' economic embargo could help Cuba's hospitals receive the advanced equipment they desperately need, along with new drugs for cancer and other illnesses. Cuba also has medical products to sell, including meningitis vaccines, a drug for diabetic foot ulcers and a lung cancer treatment, said Gail Reed, the American founder of Medical Education Cooperation With Cuba and editor of a medical journal there. But ending the embargo also poses serious risks. The primary care doctors Cuba's system depends on are poorly paid, even though salaries tripled recently. Earlier this month, the Cuban government reinstated a requirement that doctors traveling outside the country receive a special permit. The nation has lost thousands of doctors since 2013, the government said. And prosperity itself brings risks. In Mexico, obesity, diabetes and heart disease soared as incomes rose; Cuba could face the same fate. The nation's doctors do not manage blood pressure or cholesterol aggressively, and its cancer death rates are about equal to those in the United States. "Cuba's whole system has historically focused on top quality outcomes for kids and mothers," Dr. Murray said. "There's not much emphasis on managing chronic disease in adults."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
The Padre Island National Seashore is nearly 70 miles long and is home to sea turtles and shorebirds and very few beachcombers. This week's U.S. Islands special package celebrates the charming, often dreamy life to be found off American coasts and within its lakes. Below, Jordan Breal writes about the soft sand and seclusion of Padre Island, in Texas. Kim Severson writes about Cumberland Island, Ga., full of charm but not easy to get to. The islands of Lake Champlain, in Vermont, are filled with history and legend. Wisconsin's Apostle Islands, in Lake Superior, offer stunning sea caves and plenty of creature comforts. Last October, a friend and I, not quite ready to let go of summer's languor, set out from Austin to spend a long weekend on a quiet stretch of sand. Four hours later, we were speeding across the John F. Kennedy Memorial Causeway just east of Corpus Christi, leaving the Texas mainland for the string of skinny islands that parallel its coast. Below us was the Laguna Madre, the shallow, super salty pool protected from the brunt of the Gulf's harassments, where sea grasses and trophy size spotted sea trout flourish. Just ahead, the scarcely visited wilds of the world's longest barrier island. PINS, as it's known, runs nearly 70 miles long and welcomes only about 600,000 visitors a year. And yet, its selling points are universal in their appeal: soft white sands, a bounty of seashells, world class windsurfing on the bay side, surf fishing robust enough to occasion an annual Sharkathon, a range of habitats that attracts more than 380 bird species, and the largest Kemp's ridley sea turtle nesting site in the country. And then there's its seclusion. All but one of the park's five named beaches are open to vehicular traffic, so if you have four wheel drive and enough nerve, you can head miles out of range far, far away from any facilities, cell towers or other human beings. And even if you don't have either of those things, it's easy enough to at least feel completely off the grid and claim your own private expanse of Padre. That first evening, it was just us and a handful of other late hour loiterers walking along the waterline near the Malaquite Visitor Center. I was just as enamored of the purple flowered railroad vines that cascade over the dunes (and, in fact, hold them up) as I was by the thousands of pastel coquinas that shimmied to life every time the tide washed over their half buried shells. Here, on pedestrians only Closed Beach (also known as Malaquite Beach), the shore was pristine, not marred by tire tracks, but also not studded with the flawless lightning whelks and whole sand dollars that I'd heard were to be found on Little Shell and Big Shell beaches several miles south. We walked until we got to the row of pointy pylons marking the end of Closed Beach. On the other side, trucks with multiple fishing rods lashed to their grills and S.U.V.s pulling fifth wheelers rumbled through the sand. I wondered how many of them, if any, had made it the full 60 miles to the Port Mansfield Channel, a man made cut that split the island into two parts when it was created in 1962, the same year President John F. Kennedy signed an order establishing the National Seashore. I wondered just how many of those 60 miles we could reasonably traverse in our two wheel drive rental. The next morning, plastic foam containers filled with pastries from JB's German Bakery and Cafe squeaked on the floorboard as we headed back to PINS. This time, we followed the park's lone road to South Beach, where the pavement peters out but the sand is firm enough even for a sedan to navigate for a few miles at least. At mile marker 5, we passed a stern advisory: "Warning! 4 Wheel Drive Vehicles Only. Soft Sand And Large Debris Ahead." Since all beaches in Texas are considered public highways and, thus, all the usual traffic laws apply, we pulled over to the shoulder, threw on the hazard lights and mulled the intelligence of continuing. We watched a Prius, about a half mile ahead, kick up some sand, then make a slow U turn back toward terra firma. We were already without cell service, and I'd recently heard a cautionary tale that ended with a 1,300 towing bill. We made a U turn of our own, which I immediately regretted. Thanks to 200 years of cattle ranching, more than half of Padre Island has remained as undeveloped as it was when the Coahauiltecan and Karankawan tribes made camp here seasonally through the mid 1800s. In 1805, Padre Jose Nicolas Balli, a Spanish priest who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, was awarded the first known land grant for the narrow strip that now bears his name. He and his nephew quickly turned the untamed grass flats into a cattle ranch, a practice that the island's subsequent landowners found to be more lucrative than development, at least until oil and gas leases and eventually preservation and tourism took precedence. Not long after the National Seashore was officially dedicated in April 1968 (Lady Bird Johnson was on hand for the ceremony), the last herd was shipped back to the mainland. Mr. Gumman suggested we trek out to the Novillo Line Camp, the last of three corrals erected by the island's final ranching dynasty. The closer we got to the peaked roof driftwood structure, the higher the grasses rose. I remembered the ranger's other bit of advice: Bring a stick and keep an eye out for rattlesnakes all three types. As we sniffed around the lean to that once served as the kitchen, it was easy to forget we were on an island at all. The shoreline was out of sight, hidden by a high ridge of dunes, and the relatively flat, utterly treeless plains surrounding us had the same lonesome beauty as the remote backcountry of West Texas. But we could still hear the waves crashing out in the Gulf, and I couldn't begrudge the 90 percenters for wanting to spend all of their time along the water's edge. That evening, we ate fried shrimp and drank Mexican beer at Snoopy's Pier, an open air restaurant near the causeway, and decided we couldn't head home without making a second attempt to get at least a little farther down the island. The next day, a Sunday, we returned to South Beach. Most of the other weekenders were heading in the opposite direction, back toward home. But the sand was still firm, as was my resolve. I rolled down the windows and turned up the norteno music on the radio. We got to the "Warning!" sign and kept going. I counted fewer tents wedged up against the dunes, and the surf fishers were farther between. The 10 mile marker came and went hello, Little Shell Beach! Surprisingly, the sand at Little Shell was still well packed, but the debris was getting thicker. I noticed that all the vehicles we were passing were serious rigs with aggressive tires. I begrudgingly rolled to a stop short of the 15 mile marker, lest we puncture one or four of our own. We continued on foot for another couple of miles. The shells were little, as advertised, but the beachcombing was like nothing I'd ever seen. Four currents converge here, which means loads of trash from around the world washes onto Padre's midsection; only quarterly volunteer cleanups keep the place from resembling a landfill. We burned through a quick hour poking at strange things in the sand: coconuts, a Dutch prescription bottle, a refrigerator door, yogurt cups with labels in Arabic, and dozens of shoes, toothbrushes and bottles, most covered in gooseneck barnacles. I spent so much time with my head down, scanning for shells and treasure, that I wasn't sure how far we'd wandered. I looked back and could no longer see our sedan. I looked ahead, farther south toward Big Shell, and saw nothing but the open Gulf and the shore and the dunes. We were still 47 or 48 miles from the cut and an additional 40 miles from the island's end but this was it, the quiet stretch we'd come for, our own private Padre.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
The ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced a four year ban to two. It will keep Russian teams but not necessarily Russian athletes out of the next two Olympics. Russia's four year ban from global sports was halved on Thursday by a court in Switzerland, a decision that could signal the end of its yearslong battle with antidoping regulators who had accused the country of running one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in history in pursuit of sporting glory and Olympic medals. The decision, issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, the final arbiter on global sports disputes, means Russia will not be able to enter teams in the next two Olympics the rescheduled Tokyo Games next summer and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing or have its anthem or its flag represented at other high profile competitions. But it left open the possibility that many Russian athletes will still compete at those events, as so called neutral competitors. Officials at the World Anti Doping Agency, the global doping regulator that was responsible for issuing Russia's ban last year, saw the ruling as a victory, even as others in the antidoping world were baffled. For WADA officials, it meant relief and a degree of satisfaction amid fears that new rules created after the Russian scandal, and designed to punish nations involved in state sponsored doping conspiracies, would not withstand the legal onslaught Russia had employed to fight them. "In the face of continual resistance and denial from Russia, we clearly proved our case, in accordance with due process," WADA's president, Witold Banka, said. "In that regard, this ruling is an important moment for clean sport and athletes all over the world." The ban will run for two years from the Court of Arbitration's confirmation of the punishment, meaning Russian teams though not necessarily Russian athletes will be barred from not only the next two Olympics but also soccer's World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and a number of other major events. None Week 11 Predictions: Here are our picks against the spread. N.F.L. Tightens Covid Protocols: As cases rise and Thanksgiving approaches, the league is requiring masks inside team facilities and increasing testing. The Packers' Defense Is Their M.V.P.: Green Bay's oft overlooked defense has kept the team from falling out of the Super Bowl chase. The Long Path to the Super Bowl: With 18 weeks in the regular season and fewer teams earning byes in the playoffs, the Super Bowl is still a long way off. Playoff Simulator: Explore every team's path to the postseason, updated live. Russia, a serial bidder for major sporting events, also will be prohibited from hosting world championship level events for the duration of its ban. The punishment had put in doubt plans for hockey's 2023 world championships, which are scheduled to take place in St. Petersburg. But that event now falls outside the scope of the ban, and Russia's hockey federation confirmed Thursday that it would go ahead as planned. The hockey federation also said it planned to send teams to the next two Olympics, and in its statement highlighted the significant loopholes available to Russian athletes provided WADA does not prove any link to the doping scheme. "The players' jerseys can be designed in the colors of the flag and the word 'Russia' can be on the jerseys," it said. "At the same time, the players will compete in a neutral status (without the national flag and the national anthem)." The doping scheme, which had begun years before the Sochi Games, only came to light after one of its chief architects, Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of a Moscow doping laboratory, revealed what had taken place. At its peak, it involved agents from Russian's state security apparatus replacing the tainted doping test samples of Russian athletes with clean ones during middle of the night operations at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Rodchenkov, now living in an undisclosed location in the United States, revealed how hundreds of tainted antidoping results were manipulated before being entered into official records, protecting athletes from identification and allowing them to benefit from chemically enhanced advantages before heading away to major championship events. Antidoping investigators proposed a ban of four years after finding that Russian officials had fabricated evidence and manipulated the contents of a drug testing database in an effort to discredit Rodchenkov. WADA's board, in a meeting last December, agreed with the recommendation. A closer look at the panel's decision on Thursday, though, shows aspects of WADA's initial punishment had been watered down, including a ban on members Russia's national Olympic committee from attending sporting events. The ruling upheld a ban on senior politicians, including President Vladimir V. Putin, but said they would be allowed to attend events if they are invited by the head of state of the host country. CAS also said "Russia" could be used on athletes' uniforms, as long as it was accompanied by the word "neutral." The ruling also creates a strange situation in which Russian teams, like its soccer squad, can enter qualifying competitions under their national flag and in their usual uniforms, only to then be termed neutral competitors if they qualify. On Thursday, the lawyer for Rodchenkov, Jim Walden, excoriated the decision. "The decision by CAS to effectively 'split the baby' is nonsensical and undeserved," he said. "Despite overwhelming proof of corruption, doping fraud and obstruction of justice, including a brazen attempt to falsely incriminate Dr. Rodchenkov through fabricated evidence, CAS has once again proven itself unwilling and unable to meaningfully deal with systematic and longstanding criminality by Russia." Jonathan Taylor, who led the committee overseeing the Russia investigation that recommended the longer ban, said in an interview that he had mixed feelings about the outcome of the appeal. While the panel accepted WADA's "overwhelming evidence of tampering" and confirmed that its new sanctioning powers were fit enough to stand scrutiny, he said, he questioned the logic in reducing the penalty. "The only difference between us is that CAS thought the consequences did not have to go as far as WADA had proposed to deter a repeat of this misconduct by the Russian authorities," Taylor said. "I hope they are right about that." Until WADA's global sanction was issued, punishments against Russian sports and officials had been sporadic, and largely left to the governing bodies of individual sports. World Athletics, track and field's governing body, has long taken the hardest line, with a ban that has kept Russia in the sporting wilderness for nearly five years. After those Games, WADA, amid widespread anger from critics that included athlete organizations and national antidoping bodies, updated its rule book, giving it direct sanctioning power for the first time. By then, Russia was no longer disputing the existence of the doping program, and under an agreement signed in 2018, WADA said the country would be able to move on from the scandal provided it supplied unadulterated data from the Moscow laboratory. That data, doping regulators said, would offer the chance to identify hundreds of drug cheats, and perhaps lift the cloud over those who did not take part. But Russia's attempted cover up was almost as audacious as its doping scheme. First, it delayed the arrival of experts who had been sent to Moscow to retrieve the lab's data. Then it engaged in efforts to undermine their work while they were there, including the insertion of manipulated data and messages in the database in an attempt to frame Rodchenkov, the whistle blower, as the ringleader in the scheme. Investigators quickly discovered the fabrications and the altered test results. And last December, at a packed meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, WADA issued one of the most severe punishments in global sports history. Then it braced for Russia's legal challenge. Russia's determination to overturn the ban was clear by the size of the legal arsenal it wielded at the appeal hearing last month in Switzerland. It amassed a group of some of the world's top sports lawyers and was assisted by interventions from a number of sporting bodies, like the world ice hockey federation, with which it maintains close relationships. Its representatives argued that WADA had gone beyond reasonable limits with its punishments, and even beyond what it legally could do within the scope of its statutes. WADA's legal team countered by describing its efforts as something akin to a bureaucratic housekeeping, an attempt to bring in house and standardize the sanctioning powers that had been left to individual sports federations. But they also pointed out the dire consequences of failing to punish Russia. The country had not only undertaken a doping program that used state resources, including the successor agency to the K.G.B., to accomplish its goals, the lawyers said, but it then used the same forces to cover up its actions. If WADA was not allowed to police those who break its rules, the lawyers argued, then the organization would be rendered powerless to stop industrial scale doping in world sports.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
The Federal Reserve is hoping that its latest interest rate cut will help keep the economy safely at cruising altitude. But don't expect it to provide much of a lift to the housing market. Housing is one of the pathways by which Fed policy produces results. When the central bank cuts interest rates, it encourages people to buy houses (since mortgages are cheaper) and builders to ramp up construction (since demand is strong and borrowing is easier). Those decisions then ripple through the economy, as people buy furniture, builders hire workers and brokers cash their commission checks. But housing isn't the engine it once was. The sector is a smaller part of the economy than before the financial crisis, and a smaller share of Americans are homeowners. And with rates already low, it isn't clear that a further cut by the Fed will do much for housing if it lowers mortgage rates at all. (More about that in a minute.) Interest rates still matter for housing. The Fed's first two rate cuts this year helped stabilize the housing market, which had been heading for a major slump. On Wednesday, the Commerce Department said that construction added to gross domestic product in the third quarter after six quarters of contraction. And lower rates could give another jolt to a refinancing boom that has injected billions of dollars into the economy in recent months. Interest rates don't matter if no one will give you a loan in the first place. And a lot of would be buyers are in that situation. After the housing bubble burst over a decade ago, banks and other financial institutions became far more cautious in their lending, partly because of new federal rules meant to discourage risky loans. No one wants a return of the bubble era "liar loans," for which borrowers were allowed to state their income without verification. But some argue that the pendulum has swung too far the other way. "There are a lot of people that have the income to afford their payments, they could be responsible homeowners, but they may have a lower FICO score, they may have a smaller down payment, and that really holds them back," said Melissa Stegman, a lawyer at the Center for Responsible Lending , an advocacy group. Jewell Handy has a steady income as a teacher, money for a down payment and even a history of successful homeownership. But when she decided to buy a house for herself and her mother in Houston this summer, she discovered that she couldn't get a conventional mortgage. The reason: a credit score in the mid 600s because of an old issue with a student loan. Ms. Handy eventually got approval for a more expensive loan through the Federal Housing Administration. But with a week left before the sale is scheduled to close, she is still fielding paperwork requests from her lender, and she isn't sure the loan will go through. "They're somehow not confident in my finances, but I don't really understand why," she said. Tight lending standards disproportionately affect African Americans like Ms. Handy. Black workers earn less on average than white workers, and they are less likely to have well to do family members who can help with a down payment. The homeownership rate among black Americans tumbled during the housing market's collapse and has barely recovered, even as whites and other racial groups have made progress. Glenn Kelman, chief executive of the online brokerage Redfin , said the combination of low interest rates and tight lending standards was exacerbating existing economic divides. Housing prices have risen faster than wages in much of the country in recent years. And many cities, particularly on the coasts, are in the midst of a full blown affordability crisis. In cities like San Francisco, Seattle and Boston, the median price of a home listed for sale is well over half a million dollars, according to the real estate site Zillow, and even starter homes can top 300,000 if there are any available. Covid's impact on the supply chain continues. The pandemic has disrupted nearly every aspect of the global supply chain and made all kinds of products harder to find. In turn, scarcity has caused the prices of many things to go higher as inflation remains stubbornly high. Almost anything manufactured is in short supply. That includes everything from toilet paper to new cars. The disruptions go back to the beginning of the pandemic, when factories in Asia and Europe were forced to shut down and shipping companies cut their schedules. First, demand for home goods spiked. Money that Americans once spent on experiences were redirected to things for their homes. The surge clogged the system for transporting goods to the factories that needed them and finished products piled up because of a shortage of shipping containers. Now, ports are struggling to keep up. In North America and Europe, where containers are arriving, the heavy influx of ships is overwhelming ports. With warehouses full, containers are piling up. The chaos in global shipping is likely to persist as a result of the massive traffic jam. No one really knows when the crisis will end. Shortages and delays are likely to affect this year's Christmas and holiday shopping season, but what happens after that is unclear. Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said he expects supply chain problems to persist "likely well into next year." At those prices, a modest dip in interest rates will hardly make a difference, said Susan M. Wachter, a professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania . "This interest rate decline will not do it it will not turn these potential owners into buyers," she said. "Lower interest rate costs are not effectively overcoming these affordability barriers." The escalation in prices is a particular challenge for first time home buyers, who must struggle to come up with an ever larger down payment. And while price appreciation has slowed somewhat over the past year in many markets, that isn't true for entry level homes, which are still seeing low inventories and rapid price growth. "The few entry level homes that are on the market are getting snapped up so quickly that it perpetuates the increasing home values in some of these markets," said Matt Speakman, an economist at Zillow. Interest rates on conventional mortgages have fallen sharply since late last year, in part because of the Fed's rate cuts. That has encouraged borrowing: Lenders extended 700 billion in mortgage loans in the third quarter, the most since the financial crisis. Most of that surge came in refinancing, but there has been an increase in home buying as well. But with rates near record lows, it's unlikely that many would be buyers are on the sidelines awaiting a further cut. And if they are waiting, they might be disappointed many economists say financial markets have already "priced in" Wednesday's rate cut. "I'm skeptical that rate cuts are going to have any noticeable impact on housing in the short run," said Ralph McLaughlin, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic , a real estate data provider. There's another catch: Mortgage rates are tied not to short term rates, which the Fed directly controls, but instead to long term rates, which partly reflect market expectations about the economy's direction long term rates tend to rise when investors are more optimistic. So if the Fed's policy achieves its broader aim, it can lead to higher mortgage rates. That has already begun to happen. Mortgage rates have edged upward since September as fears about an imminent recession eased. Michael Fratantoni, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers' Association , said he expected rates to continue to rise gradually.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
Diogene Artiles , now a sophomore at Columbia University , recalls gathering in a Manhattan auditorium his freshman year of high school with dozens of ninth graders. They clutched sealed envelopes containing the results of a test they had taken a few weeks earlier, administered by SEO Scholars, a college prep program that ushers low income students to and through college. Most, who were recently accepted into the program and accustomed to stellar grades and accolades from teachers and parents, were excited, and even a little cocky. But when they ripped open the envelopes, some students gasped. Others shouted. The average score, out of 100 percent, lingered around 60. "It was a reality check," Mr. Artiles said. "I was shocked." Every year, this purposely dramatic moment is how students accepted into the SEO Scholars program (Sponsors for Educational Opportunity) begin their time with the organization, which started in 1963 : with the realization that they are being profoundly underserved by their schools. "Then, we immediately tell them to rip it up," said William Goodloe, SEO's president and chief executive. "We tell them they have done nothing wrong. We move to the future." What follows is the sobering realization of what needs to be done. Students are told that if they commit to the full eight years of the program, attend its after school, weekend and summer classes, sign up for its enrichment programs, and take advantage of the organization's college application counselors, mentors, and coaches, they will more than make up for what they did not learn in elementary and middle school. They will go to college and excel. SEO also has several offshoots, helping low income students secure jobs in finance and law. Since 2006, when it transitioned from a smaller scale mentoring outfit to the rigorous, academic oriented one it is today, it has helped hundreds of low income students get degrees. Organizations like SEO Scholars, which turn down far more students than they take, have their critics. Although organizational leaders say they have a holistic selection process and are more interested in committed students than they are in top grade earners, it is still a brutal selection process. Students are generally referred by teachers and principals and must supply report cards, recommendations, a series of short essays, and be interviewed. For every student handed a ticket to and through college, hundreds are denied. But with its 15 million annual budget, and a commitment to spend 7,000 a year, per student, SEO Scholars has joined a small but growing band of elite college prep programs garnering success by turning themselves into one stop shopping outlets, offering their students, over the span of many years, the same high end support as their upper middle class peers. The hallmark of all of these programs is a disheartening reality: Students, no matter how capable, who attend low performing high schools are often held to lower standards that make success in college nearly out of reach. There are many programs that try to rectify this, but most are for the short term a year of tutoring, a few months of SAT prep, a weekend college essay class. They do not address the well researched and widely understood fact about college persistence. "You can move the needle a little with these one off programs," said Elisabeth Barnett , a senior research scholar at Teachers College, Columbia University. "But to actually graduate a lot of first generation students, you need to move the needle a lot." Organizations like the 30 year old Posse Foundation have worked to address this for years. Like SEO Scholars, the Posse Foundation has a 90 percent graduation rate. But to get there, it too, takes the long view, helping hundreds of high school seniors a year secure scholarships, offering them months of college readiness workshops and facilitating faculty advisory programs once they are on campus, as well as peer mentoring groups and tutoring, until the end of their sophomore year, a time when national dropout rates for low income students begin to fall. The 16 year old New York based Opportunity Network, which boasts a 93 percent six year graduation rate for its now 1,000 fellows , is also comprehensive and long term. It engages students early in high school with a strong academic enrichment program, rigorous SAT prep and college essay writing workshops, transition to college boot camps, and campus advisory support. And Yonkers Partners in Education, a Westchester County based college prep program founded in 2007 , enrolls 600 of its 1,200 students in a six year program that starts in the ninth grade and follows students until the end of their sophomore year of college. The program also offers a strong academic component, and its first class of college bound students, who are now in their third year of college, has a 93 percent retention rate. Samuel Wallis , the program's executive director said that if you want to really help students get through college, "The earlier you start, the better." Educators at SEO Scholars also place a high premium on rectifying the kind of socioemotional pitfalls that trip up so many first generation college students. A team of counselors works around the clock, taking calls from frazzled students one has gotten a disappointing grade on a midterm, another is having trouble with a roommate. Some SEO students just need to talk with someone who knows how hard they studied for a really challenging calculus exam, or they need an adult who can advocate for them because someone in the bursar's office cannot find their financial aid paperwork. But the bedrock of the SEO Scholars program is what happens long before the students get to a college campus. On a recent Saturday morning, on the third floor of Baruch College's Lower Manhattan campus, this emphasis was on display, as more than 200 high school sophomores, loaded backpacks slung over their shoulders, headed to class. In one, students spent more than an hour preparing to read an oft talked about article in The Atlantic about the role of sports in American high schools. They noted the words they did not know embedded, mediocrity, glorify, intractable and gathered in small groups to hash over their use and meaning. In one math class, students sat at desks arranged in a semicircle, facing their instructor, Katherine Pauletti, an adjunct professor at Manhattan College and a doctoral student at nearby New York University. Ms. Pauletti, casual but intense, sat on a desk in the front of the room and grilled them on the importance of understanding what numbers can and cannot tell you. "One hundred and three Toyota seatbelts were found to be defective," she said. "Is this good, bad or just O.K.?" She paused for emphasis. "How can we judge?" There was silence. Then a student blurted out, "You don't have enough information!" Mr. Artiles says the program has helped him. He felt confident when he arrived at Columbia University. He had done a summer Korean language program in Seoul, and he had already completed an internship on the Morningside Heights campus. He had the number of an SEO "college persistence advisor" programmed into his cellphone. And this year, when he learned the students in his Contemporary Civilization class would be reading Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," he was ready. He had already read it with SEO Scholars.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
LOS ANGELES Stung by fierce criticism about a lack of diversity on both sides of the screen, movie studios have scrambled to create fellowship programs for underrepresented directors and writers. A few stars and entertainment companies have publicly supported "inclusion riders" requiring a diverse cast and crew. But little coordinated action has been taken to increase the number of entertainment executives of color. So The Hollywood Reporter, a trade publication, decided to address the problem by creating a two year job training program called the Young Executives Fellowship. Starting in April and continuing annually, 25 underrepresented and low income high school juniors in Los Angeles will be selected to participate. Amazon Studios and the WME talent agency are sponsors, and Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles and Martin Luther King III will sit on the advisory board. "This is not a mentorship it's regimented job training designed to get results," said Matthew Belloni, The Reporter's editorial director, adding that Hollywood had to stop talking about the need for more diversity and start doing something about it.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
David S. Seeley, a lawyer and educator who devoted his career in government and academia to racially integrating the United States' schools and to upgrading them through a collaborative movement involving students, teachers, parents and community organizations, died on Oct. 30 on Staten Island. He was 85. The cause was myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, his daughter Anne said. Dr. Seeley taught at the College of Staten Island, part of the City University of New York, from 1987 to 2003 as an education professor and a coordinator of the college's Educational Leadership Program. After attending law school, at Yale, he worked for the Office of Education in the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, negotiating with recalcitrant school districts that remained racially segregated after the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, in 1954. "I wanted to be a soldier in the desegregation battle," Dr. Seeley once said, before evolving into, in his words, "an accidental educator." After earning a doctorate in education from Harvard, Dr. Seeley was recruited by Francis Keppel, his former professor and President Lyndon B. Johnson's education commissioner, to help enforce the guidelines against school segregation in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (The Department of Education had not yet been established.) He was given the title of assistant commissioner for equal educational opportunities and held that post from 1965 to 1967. The federal government had only incremental success at first though a Georgia congressman, Phil M. Landrum, demanded Dr. Seeley's removal on the grounds that he was going too fast on desegregation. From 1965 to 1966, in the 11 Southern states of the old Confederacy, the number of black students attending classes with whites almost doubled, but only to 12.5 percent of all black students in the region. By 1966, in more than a quarter of Georgia's school districts, at least 98 percent of black students still attended all black schools. In some districts, local officials shifted the responsibility for integration to parents with a so called freedom of choice alternative, which allowed students to attend all white or all black schools of their preference. But Dr. Seeley said the freedom of choice was anything but. Blacks, he said, were typically intimidated into remaining in segregated schools and not applying for transfers to white ones. "You would be hard put to find any place short of the borders of the Soviet Union where the population is as terrorized" as it was among blacks in the South, he told a congressional hearing in 1966. Reflecting on that period in an interview this year with The 74, a news site, Dr. Seeley said, "We didn't get much integration going, nor did we convert the Southern people, who I think are still unconverted." Providing equal opportunity to young people, whether by breaking down racial barriers or adjusting school aid formulas for rich and poor districts, was a goal that would occupy him for more than 50 years. In 1970, asserting that the education establishment's obligations went beyond academics, Dr. Seeley challenged President Richard M. Nixon's contention that the schools could not cure every ill. "He ignores the fact that schools have been one of the major instruments through which our society has perpetuated its historic racism at public expense and in public institutions," he wrote in a letter to The New York Times. "Most of the blacks in this country either attended segregated schools, or their parents attended segregated schools, which were in fact set up to 'educate' blacks that they were not fit to associate with whites. This is an ugly fact which we do not like to face." Beginning with his 1981 book "Education Through Partnership," Dr. Seeley largely evaded the polarized debate over why public education had been failing. He distributed the blame to the school systems themselves, citing poor training and mismanagement, as well as to external factors like poverty, changing demographics and shortchanged budgets. He consistently championed what he called "competence for all through collaboration of all" in a "pupil teacher parent community" a philosophy he embraced as the director of the Public Education Association (now the Center for Educational Innovation), an advocacy group, from 1969 to 1980, and as a CUNY professor. Ruth Powers Silverberg, a fellow professor at the College of Staten Island, said, "Dave's legacy is a passionate commitment to the idea that schools can't do it alone." "He would have told every leader in every community, from school to local church to local social service agency, that they all have to work together to support learning for children, and it has to come from the ground up," Dr. Silverberg said. "I think that he was satisfied that things were moving in the direction he had hoped for." David Rogers, an emeritus professor of business and sociology at the Stern School of Business at New York University, said, "The community schools movement, now emerging nationwide, draws heavily on Seeley's work." The College of Staten Island is beginning a doctoral program in community collaborative education, with scholarships named in Dr. Seeley's honor. David Stevens Seeley was born on April 23, 1931, in Manhattan to the former Louise Talbot, who was educated as a chemist, and Nathaniel Seeley, a stockbroker who was trained as an engineer. David Seeley attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Yale with a bachelor's degree in history before going on to Yale Law School. He received his doctorate in education, from Harvard, after leading a Peace Corps teacher training program in Nigeria. His wife, the former Anna Mae Menapace, a public school teacher, died in 2008. In addition to their daughter Anne, he is survived by three other daughters, Mary and Louise Seeley and Sarah Mitchell; a son, Nathaniel; and six grandchildren.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
TOKYO Keiko, a defiantly oddball 36 year old woman, has worked in a dead end job as a convenience store cashier in Tokyo for half her life. She lives alone and has never been in a romantic relationship, or even had sex. And she is perfectly happy with all of it. "Keiko doesn't care or maybe she doesn't realize when she is being made fun of by others," said Ms. Murata, 38, of the narrator of "Convenience Store Woman," her 10th novel and first to be translated into English. "She did not want to have sex at all and that was fine with her, and she chose that life. I really admire her character." "Convenience Store Woman," which won Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize for literature two years ago and has sold close to 600,000 copies here, will go on sale this month in the United States. Written in plain spoken prose, the slim volume focuses on a character who in many ways personifies a demographic panic in Japan. Japanese media is filled with stories about declining marriage and low birthrates, as well as references to ominous surveys about young people who are virgins or have forsaken dating and sex, a narrative that the Western press finds particularly alluring when writing about Japan. Ms. Murata said she wanted to write from the perspective of someone who defied conventional thinking, particularly in a conformist society where people are expected to fulfill preordained roles. "I wanted to illustrate how odd the people who believe they are ordinary or normal are," said Ms. Murata during an interview in a smoky subterranean cafe in Jimbocho, Tokyo's book district, where she sometimes comes to write. "They are the so called normal people, but when you switch the direction of the camera, it is they who appear strange or odd." With relatively few contemporary Japanese novelists translated into English, Grove Press, the American publisher, is hoping to capture a niche audience of readers who have enjoyed other works by Japanese authors like Banana Yoshimoto, whose novel "Kitchen" was also published by Grove in the early 1990s. Peter Blackstock, a senior editor at Grove, said he was particularly attracted to "Convenience Store Woman" because of its portrayal of a working class employee. "There is so little that we see that deals with people working in jobs where they are not going to be promoted or where they're not on a managerial track," Mr. Blackstock said. "That resonates no matter where you are." Want to keep up with the latest and greatest in books? This is a good place to start. None Learn what you should be reading this fall: Our collection of reviews on books coming out this season includes biographies, novels, memoirs and more. See what's new in October: Among this month's new titles are novels by Jonathan Franzen, a history of Black cinema and a biography by Katie Couric. Nominate a book: The New York Times Book Review has just turned 125. That got us wondering: What is the best book that was published during that time? Listen to our podcast: Featuring conversations with leading figures in the literary world, from Colson Whitehead to Leila Slimani, the Book Review Podcast helps you delve deeper into your favorite books. Ms. Murata, the daughter of a judge and a homemaker who still lives with her parents, wrote from experience: She herself worked at several convenience stores over a period of close to 18 years, starting while she was still a college student. Japanese convenience stores are a unique institution, with several ubiquitous chains blanketing the country. The stores sell basic sundries like candy and soft drinks and microwaveable lunchboxes, but also serve as a kind of central clearing house for so many activities of daily life: Customers can pay their electric, gas and tax bills as well as purchase tickets to museums or concerts, or buy a button down shirt, socks and underwear if they don't have time to go home or do their laundry. Although convenience stores have come under criticism in Japan for mistreatment of workers, Keiko sees the store as a kind of utopia whose strict rules and established routines give her life shape and meaning. She cherishes the store's instruction manual, without which, she says, "I still don't have a clue how to be a normal person." Over the years, she chose to stay on the job because the shifts helped discipline her writing schedule. She would wake up at 2 in the morning and write until 6, starting her shift at the convenience store at 8 a.m. After finishing at 1 p.m., she would go to a cafe and write until going home for dinner. She liked writing with the sounds of people around her; even when writing at home, she said she opens the windows to let in the street sounds. Five years ago, her novel "Of Bones, of Body Heat, of the White Colored City" won the Yukio Mishima Prize for literature, but it wasn't until last year that she decided to quit the part time gig and focus on writing full time. Her writing life started early: A science fiction fan as a child, she started crafting her own stories when she was 10 years old. The stories never turned out as she originally imagined. "The characters in the stories would develop by themselves, almost automatically," she said. "They led me beyond into the world." She hid her writing, she said, either out of embarrassment, or because she did not want her friends to praise it with platitudes. "I didn't want their compliments just because they were my friends," she said. In college, she joined a small private class led by Akio Miyahara, a novelist who had won the Akutagawa Prize. Most of the others in the class were office workers pursuing a hobby.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
The first item in "Never Built New York," a thought provoking tour of models, drawings, and newspaper headlines at the Queens Museum, is a cocktail napkin from the Plaza Hotel. On it, Frank Lloyd Wright sketched an idea for remaking Ellis Island. The drawing, made months before Wright's death in 1959, is just a few barely parsable blue lines and loops. As subsequently elaborated, however and illustrated in a 1961 magazine spread Ellis Island becomes a multicolored, multiuse layer cake of plazas, domes and circular towers connected to ground level by giant cables painted gold. How quickly such gaudy hubris gives way to the cement gray reality of the New York City we actually live in. Chief among them is a 1920 proposal, prepared for the city by an engineer named Daniel Lawrence Turner, to centralize what were then private subways and add 830 miles of track. A map of the boroughs as they would appear if Turner's 25 year, 350 million plan had been adopted shows them striated with lines right to the borders of Nassau and Westchester Counties. Manhattan itself is black with additional crosstown lines. Other inspired ideas include the architect Steven Holl's 1980 proposal to place luxury villas and Single Resident Occupancy hotels together on the elevated tracks that are now the High Line; the sculptor Isamu Noguchi's 1960 design, a collaboration with the architect Louis Kahn, for an earthworks playground in Riverside Park (represented by a handsome bronze model Noguchi cast); and even the architect Matthew Nowicki's design for a giant circular shopping center hovering over Columbus Circle. None of these ideas would have improved as many millions of lives as a more extensive subway system, but they would have made the city a little more stylish. Some ideas that never stood a chance are still magical to think about. Norman Bel Geddes in 1932 proposed floating an airstrip in New York Harbor, where it would rotate to follow favorable winds and connect to Battery Park by an underwater moving sidewalk; in '49, Bel Geddes also designed a stadium for the Dodgers with an ahead of its time retractable roof and, a decade before AstroTurf, synthetic grass. A dreamy undated watercolor by Charles Lamb is just one example of the many times people have imagined the Cartesian street grid continuing up a z axis to connect mammoth buildings with aerial walkways. (In keeping with these architecture as make believe lines is the commissioning of a silvery gray children's bouncy castle for the museum's atrium in the shape of the unbuilt Westinghouse Pavilion that Eliot Noyes designed for the 1964 World's Fair.) Other far fetched ideas are hair raising. A 1924 issue of Popular Science included a plan to reduce traffic and create more parking spaces by filling in and paving over the East River. A decade later, Modern Mechanix had a similar plan for the Hudson. In the early '60s, Buckminster Fuller, Shoji Sadao and June Jordan proposed to double Harlem's housing stock with 15 massive piles, raised on top of existing buildings, that would have looked like cooling towers from some Brobdingnagian nuclear power plant. But over all, whether or not any particular lost ambition is to one's taste, the more singular it is the more completely it expresses a totalizing aesthetic vision like that of Wright or Fuller or Robert Moses the more incongruous it looks against the noisy background of everyone else's. (In this way the exhibition designer Christian Wassmann's busy hanging is true to its material.) The unfinished fantasy of New York City, this reminds us all, is of a thousand competing ideas canceling one another out with envy, greed, destruction and lethargy and arriving half by accident at a complicated compromise that everyone can more or less live with, and even come to love. In 1964, on the occasion of the World's Fair, hundreds of workers replicated every one of the city's nearly 900,000 buildings in miniature, combining them into what became the unforgettable centerpiece of the Queens Museum's permanent collection, the 9,335 square foot panorama of the City of New York. This year, a small team of Columbia architecture students, under the direction of Joshua Jordan, made glowing white models of a number of this show's forgotten projects to add on to that panorama. Not one but two tall monoliths now overlook the harbor: William Zeckendorf's rooftop airport covers a substantial fraction of Manhattan's western edge, and I.M. Pei's pinch waisted hyperboloid rises a hundred stories above Grand Central Terminal. But when the show is over, they'll be lifted right out again.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Art & Design
Sometimes only a fine line separates tragic sweep from a movie that never comes to life as anything other than actors dressed in costumes, straining to inhabit an alien chapter of history. The latest exhibit is the World War II drama "Ashes in the Snow," adapted from Ruta Sepetys's novel "Between Shades of Gray." The director, Marius A. Markevicius, working from a screenplay by Ben York Jones, tells the story of a Lithuanian family swept up by Stalin's army and sent to Siberia, first to a labor camp where farming is possible, then to the region's deadly northern reaches. Bel Powley stars as Lina, a promising young artist, and Lisa Loven Kongsli (from "Force Majeure") as Elena, her mother. The Russian characters speak Russian and the non Russians mostly speak English. While "Ashes in the Snow" is hardly the first film on this era to wrangle an international cast, the recurring issue of translation strains verisimilitude.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
It was late 1944, and Germany had invaded her native Hungary that March. As Jews, they were being forced to give up any items of value. "The aim really was to kill us all," said Ms. Ebert, now 89, during an interview at her North London apartment. They initially were forced to live in the Jewish ghetto in their hometown, Bonyhad, in the southwestern part of the country. Then Ms. Ebert, her mother and four of her siblings her elder brother already had been taken as a slave laborer were crammed into a dark, airless cattle truck with 70 or 80 others. The doors shut at the beginning of what was to be a five day trip. "Quite a few people, the lucky ones, died on the way," Ms. Ebert said. To Ms. Ebert, her endurance at Auschwitz, at the slave labor camp where she was later sent and, as American forces approached, of the evacuation that became a death march were tied inextricably to the pendant and her mother's jewelry. Just before they reached Auschwitz, her mother suggested that they swap shoes. They were the only personal items Ms. Ebert was allowed to keep after being stripped and forced to shower: The camp's supply of wooden shoes had run out. Then, when the heel wore away, Ms. Ebert hid her pendant, her mother's rings and earrings inside her daily piece of bread. If she had been caught, she would have been killed immediately. But she took the risk, she said, because the jewelry was her last connection to her mother. It was also a small act of defiance against the Nazis, who had taken everything else. "They would say to us the only way out of here is through the chimney," she said. But when he bought a deeply pigmented oval emerald and had it mounted on a simple hammered gold band, he had no idea that the ring would become something of a talisman through founding successful businesses with friends and surviving a bout with testicular cancer. As he put it, "It's all happening because of this magic ring." Mr. Klein's trip was something of a whim, mostly inspired by a friend's reminiscences of trips to cities like the Hindu spiritual site of Varanasi, described over Indian dinners at small restaurants in Los Angeles, where he was living at the time. Then 25 years old, he dropped out of college, where he had been studying architecture, and headed to the country for a several month long trip; Jaipur was his first stop. "I was totally rebelling," he admitted. The vivid style of its residents, particularly the men, got him thinking about having a piece of jewelry made. "I wanted something that represented this moment in my life," he said. "When you're in that environment, you get inspired." So Mr. Klein started doodling ring designs in his journal. (One plan, as he was pondering possible careers, was to start a jewelry line.) "I wanted a cabochon cut stone and 23 karat gold that looked and felt ancient," he said. "I wanted an emerald. It's such a very significant stone; it's a protector." "I wanted it on this finger," he continued, holding up his right pinkie. He later discovered that wearing a ring on one's little finger is considered by some Indians to be auspicious. "Pieces like this are objects of power," he said. "They mean something." He found a stone he liked in a gem market, charmed more by its intense color than its grade, and then, through word of mouth, a jewelry factory to craft the ring. The entire price was around 800 and it took about a week to make, he recalled. While he was waiting for it to be completed, he met a woman who is still a friend, Angela Poesl; she eventually took him to Tulum, on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where he co founded a boutique hotel, Casa Pueblo Tulum, and is opening another property next year. Mr. Klein also founded a popular Tulum restaurant, with which he's no longer involved. The trip to India "was an incredible experience because it set the path for my life," he said. These days, Mr. Klein, 36, divides his time between Manhattan and Tulum, and the ring frequently comes up in conversation. "I've had people ask if they can buy it," he said. "I've had people ask if I can make them one, but I'm not a jewelry maker so I don't feel comfortable charging someone." "When she got married, my mother received two sets of diamond earrings from her mother in law, as part of the Korean bridal tradition called yemul," or gift exchanges between families, Ms. Cho said. "My mom used two of the original diamonds that came in the earrings set from her wedding, and added three new ones. "A friend who works in the jewelry industry helped her find diamonds that closely resembled the vintage ones," she added, "and they reset all five on an 18 karat white gold band." The baby's name is engraved inside, along with her birth date and a heart motif. "I wear the ring every day," Ms. Cho said, and she plans to give it to Jooa when her daughter has her own child. "When my mother was raising me," she said, "she told me that I would have to take care of my own baby when I would become a mother myself, as she worked hard to raise me most of her life and she wanted time for herself. But that completely changed as she is now taking care of my daughter while I go to work every weekday. "She told me she realized the meaning of eternal love. Now I'm thinking I'll do the same for my daughter." VIVIAN MORELLI Chahan Minassian says he believes that jewelry has a soul. Given that he comes from four generations of jewelers and watchmakers (and he thinks it may be more), that seems only fitting. Including his favorite piece of jewelry, which he has worn constantly since it emerged from his cousin's workshop four years ago: an 8 carat emerald cut diamond pinkie ring with a suspended double frame setting. Its spare lines and understated intricacy appeal to Mr. Minassian, who calls it "my day wear." Mr. Minassian's design world is multi hyphenate. A sought after interior decorator, furniture designer and curator, he does private homes, yachts and planes for clients from Paris to Tokyo. He was part of the creative team that redesigned the Hotel de Crillon (notably the bar area). His one of a kind decorative objects include the gemlike rock crystal lanterns and panel screens in his Left Bank gallery (come January, that small space will expand to include a store next door). And next spring, Mr. Minassian plans to open what he calls a multifaceted "design embassy" in a residential palazzo in Venice. Mr. Minassian says a jewelry mind set guides everything he does, large and small. "For me the jewel is what you put inside," he said. "It has to have inner warmth. The diamond may be beautiful, but if the ecrin the 'box' is ill fitting, it won't be right. The same goes for everything from watches to interior design." Of Mr. Minassian's jewelry designs, the most famous is probably the diamond pave four leaf clover he made for himself and then lent to Sarah Jessica Parker for the movie "Sex and the City 2." He found his diamond, which originally had been mounted in a ladies' cocktail ring, among hundreds in a drawer at the jewelry studio owned by his cousin Vram Minassian in Los Angeles. Mr. Minassian recalls zeroing in on it: "Among all of them, I knew. Its tint, color, scale that was my stone," he said. He reset it in a matte white gold faceted like the diamond's shape. "The stone was so pure it didn't need anything else," he said. "Things can be opulent without feeling rigged." The pendant features a jadeite disc, translucent but with a saturated, rich green color. It is framed by pave diamonds in an octagonal shape similar to the fung shui talisman, the bat gua. It is a typical shape in Chinese jewelry design and is believed to bring good luck. "The pendant was gifted to me in 2006," said Ms. Ho, 40. "It belonged to my late grandmother but was given to me by my aunt, Angela Ho, as a wedding gift. She wanted me to have something that not only my grandmother loved but also had worn often." Ms. Leitao Ho raised Ms. Ho after her parents, Robert Ho and Suki Potier, died in a car accident in 1981. Ms. Leitao Ho, Mr. Ho's first wife, came from a prominent Portuguese family in Macau and was known as a great beauty with exceptional style. "My grandmother was probably one of the most fashionable women in Macau," Ms. Ho said. "She had an amazing collection of jewelry which she wore every day. Depending on her outfit, she would match it with mesmerizing gems definitely a trendsetter in her time." Ms. Ho said the pendant changed her own design sense. When it was given to her, she said, "I was working mainly with diamonds and my aunt thought the jade would be a great inspirational piece for me. Green was my grandmother's favorite color." Now, as a designer with a shop on Duke Street in Mayfair, "My mother and grandmother are my muses but their tastes varied," she said. "My mother grew up in London in the Swinging '60s and '70s, in a world of changing fashion and trends. Her choice was much bolder." The women also have helped to shape Ms. Ho's thoughts about her business. "As a jewelry designer, I understand that for collectors it has to have a lasting investment value," she said. "But there has to also be a sentimental worth." DESIREE AU	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
ON a fixed income, Antonio and Nan LaGuidice struggle to meet the 1,700 a month rent for their two bedroom apartment in New Rochelle, and the costs of doctor visits, cancer treatments and medication that Mrs. LaGuidice, 72, requires. The couple, who share their place with an adult daughter, manage only by cutting costs so close to the bone that Mr. LaGuidice, 90, a former building superintendent and school bus driver who needs a hearing aid, cannot spare the money for one. "We're stretched way beyond our limit financially and don't know which way to turn," said Mrs. LaGuidice, explaining that even with Medicare, the co payments on their mounting medical needs are straining their resources to the point that they now need to sharply reduce their housing costs. One promising lead on a way to do that has come from the Wartburg Adult Care Community, a Mount Vernon facility that began as an orphanage in 1866 and started serving the elderly in 1972. Among other things, it has 31 cottages designed for independent living and rented at market rate, as well as a dementia center and a nursing home, on 36 acres. But the LaGuidices are particularly interested in one of the Wartburg's new projects, financed by a state grant of 27.59 million, which include an expanded effort to help older people remain in their homes, as well as 60 units of affordable housing and a new day care center for the elderly. The money is part of a first round of state grants awarded under the Healthcare Efficiency and Affordability Law, totaling 150 million, announced in 2010 and destined for nine adult care organizations in New York. The Wartburg's grant is the third largest in the state and one of two awarded in Westchester County. United Hebrew of New Rochelle received 2.5 million, and will use the money to help pay for a dementia care unit. The largest award, 33,975,508, was given to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, Jefferson County, for a variety of construction projects. In all, 450 million will be available "to eliminate excess bed capacity and reduce overreliance on inpatient care in hospitals and nursing homes," according to the state Department of Health. The intent is to reduce state Medicaid costs. The new units at the Wartburg, scheduled to open early next year, will benefit people like Mr. and Mrs. LaGuidice and Norine Christian, 68, a Mount Vernon resident who shares a cramped rent controlled two bedroom apartment with her 3 year old grandson and a son and daughter in law, both of whom recently lost their jobs. Ms. Christian, a retired postal clerk, says she can barely carry the costs for all of them on her pension of 2,600 a month. Her landlord has informed her that the rent on the apartment, now 850 a month, will increase as soon as the housing no longer falls under rent control guidelines. She is not sure when that will be, but two bedroom units newly rented in her building go for 1,700 and up. Both Mr. and Mrs. LaGuidice and Ms. Christian are typical of those who will very likely apply to move to the Wartburg's apartments. The Wartburg will officially start accepting applications for the units later this year, according to David Gentner, its president. The units, which will be ready for residents early next year, will be assigned on a first come, first served basis, although factors like income eligibility will be considered, he said. Mr. and Mrs. LaGuidice, for example, would pay about 775 for a one bedroom unit; the amount reflects the fact that their current income is 40 percent of the area's median of 86,350 for a family of two, said Ryan Herchenroether, director of planning. For them, the reduction in rent will mean "more money to put gas in the car so we can visit family, get to our doctors and catch up on our bills," Mrs. LaGuidice said. Her husband, she added, may now be able to get a hearing aid. Ms. Christian said she was looking forward to having a place of her own. "I need a little room for myself and freedom from all this responsibility," she said. Nancy Davis, a spokeswoman for the Wartburg, explained that even though many older adults have pressing medical needs and require assistance with daily tasks, "that does not necessarily mean they are ready for a nursing home." One alternative is represented in the Wartburg's new affordable units, the other in its adult day care center, which is to begin construction in the next few months. The elderly are often better served, Ms. Davis said, if they can remain at home, taking advantage of the center and receiving help from social workers on a range of services, including eviction prevention. James W. Clyne Jr., the president of LeadingAge New York, a nonprofit advocacy organization near Albany, applauded the emphasis on helping more older adults live as independently as possible. Of the Wartburg's plans for affordable housing, he said, "We're hoping for more projects like this." That is precisely the direction the Wartburg is heading in, said Mr. Gentner, explaining that it was establishing a development corporation to fill the need for more such housing throughout southern Westchester County. "For us," Mr. Gentner said, "this first project is just the beginning."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
If I may borrow a phrase: Winter is coming. And with that comes holidays, family gatherings and vacation time. Ski vacations are certainly popular during the winter months, but they're not always easy to plan. Furthermore, prepping for a ski getaway can vary wildly, depending on whether you're a single professional or a couple with children; if you're hemmed in by specific dates or have a good deal of flexibility in your schedule. Below are tips for your next ski trip no matter what your profile and while it won't necessarily be cheap, there are ways to make it more affordable. You're adventurous, have some expendable income and, more important, nothing to prevent you from getting away spontaneously for the weekend. Flexibility is your friend when it comes to planning your ski vacation, and it will help you target some good deals. Sites like Expedia have pages that showcase ski themed hotel and hotel and flight package deals. The available deals won't always be right for you, but make a habit of checking every now then for bargains that fit what you're looking for. You can search by popular ski locales, like Park City, Utah, or Jackson Hole, Wyo. Buying a flight and hotel room together can often yield heftier savings. A quick search led me to a four night stay in early December at the Winter Park Mountain Lodge west of Denver, just across the highway from the Winter Park Resort, for about 400 including nonstop airfare from Los Angeles. The price represents a 60 savings over booking flight and hotel separately. Embrace technology, but use it wisely I enjoyed playing with the Hipmunk chat application Hello Hipmunk, which integrates into Facebook Messenger, Slack and Skype. You can ask the chat bot to search for the cheapest flights to a given destination within a period of time. For example, I searched for cheapest round trip flights between Chicago and Aspen for a three night period between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31. The results were helpful, letting me know that the cheapest flight (barring one with a 12 hour layover in Los Angeles) would be for 382 from Jan. 5 to Jan. 8. Unfortunately, when I proceeded to ask for that flight option, I actually received a 512 flight the least expensive nonstop flight that was not basic economy (no seat assignments or changes allowed). I was able to easily find the 382 flight (which had stops in Salt Lake City) on Momondo and Google Flights, but it was a hiccup nonetheless. Some travel apps not only provide you with the means to purchase flights and hotels, but give you ideas for your getaways, too. The app Hitlist does this, with curated lists of destinations, some based on categories, including "world's ultimate ski destinations," with suggestions like Banff, Alberta. Users can get ideas from the app and then further whittle down their preferences. For example, I set New York City as my home and looked for three day getaways to Salt Lake City that began on either a Friday or Saturday. The app yielded a slew of options, one of which was a 326 flight on JetBlue for the first weekend in December. You're looking to get away with the entire family, but are somewhat hemmed in by school vacations and swim practice. You'll likely need to pounce the moment a good deal arises. Another wrinkle: You're competing with thousands of other parents who are looking to get away at the same time, which will likely include the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Sites like Kayak, Skyscanner, Hopper and Google Flights have alerts that will track flight prices and notify you of changes. On the flight results page, simply elect to track or follow the prices, and you'll receive email or mobile phone notifications. Hopper and Kayak will even advise you on the results page whether to buy tickets now, or wait for a better deal. If you're watching a particular route or date range closely, I recommend enabling push notifications on your phone when prices drop, they don't always last very long. Hopper and Kayak also allow you to set alerts hotel rooms, in addition to flights. Vacationing with children can certainly be expensive. A ski vacation needn't burden the wallet, however, given the number of opportunities for kids to get free lift tickets or ones at a greatly reduced cost. In New York , third and fourth graders can receive three free lift tickets from a selection of over two dozen resorts in the state ( and you don't have to be from New York to take advantage of this ). The program, through I Ski NY, grants eligible children the free tickets with the purchase of adult tickets (there is a 27 processing fee). Several other states, including Pennsylvania, Utah and Vermont, have similar programs that grant children's lift tickets for a nominal fee when applied for ahead of time. Individual resorts have their own deals, as well. At June Mountain, near Yosemite National Park, children aged 12 and under always receive free lift tickets. Keystone Resort in Colorado allows children 12 and under to ski for free with a stay of two nights or longer. The popular Mammoth Mountain isn't quite as generous, but even they have a deal: children age 4 and under, and seniors 80 and above ski for free. While many early bird, ski package specials have deadlines in the summer, it's not too late to find a deal for booking early. Even popular resorts like Whistler Blackcomb and Aspen Snowmass offer reduced lodging rates for those who are willing to make a commitment. When you know you're working with firm dates, it can be a good idea to book as far in advance as possible. You work a lot, but your main requirements are a laptop and good internet connection. Carving out a week or even two for a winter sports getaway isn't entirely out of the question. Take advantage of the time and flexibility you have to get the biggest bang for your buck. A one day lift pass right after Christmas at Big Bear Mountain Resort in California will run you nearly 90. A season pass, on the other hand, will cost 399. If you plan to ski for more than four or five days during the winter season, buying a pass makes sense. And you don't have to be locked into just one resort. If you're looking for some variety in your skiing, there are also multi mountain passes available, the largest of which are offered by Epic Pass ( 949) and Ikon Pass ( 1,049). Both passes grant unlimited access to some of the finest skiing on the continent. Ikon Pass lets you ski as much as you want at Winter Park, Steamboat and Mammoth, among other resorts. Epic Pass grants unlimited skiing at Vail, Whistler Blackcomb and Park City, among others. A more curated pass, Mountain Collective, grants two days each at 17 locations across North America, including Alta, Snowbird and Mammoth ( 469). Sure: Stowe, Telluride and Snowmass are splashy names that everyone in the skiing community has heard of. They're not, however, particularly cheap. According to a study conducted by the website HomeToGo, the average cost of a day of skiing including equipment, lift ticket and accommodation, is nearly 450 per person at Aspen Snowmass. At Afton Alps, however, a more modest resort on the Minnesota Wisconsin border, the cost is less than half that: only 179. (It's worth noting that the P.A.F., or Pure Awesomeness Factor, from Z Rankings, a way to measure the quality of a ski resort, is 87.5 at Snowmass and just 27.9 at Afton Alps.) Look into locations you may not have considered, like Mount Hood in Oregon or Mount Baker in Washington, for more affordable skiing. In general, though, bargain hunters should look north to Canada. Near Vancouver at Whistler Blackcomb, one of the largest and most well regarded ski resorts in North America, the price of a day of skiing is just 234 much less than many of the big Colorado or Utah resorts. And at Fernie Alpine Resort, about three hours south of Calgary, the deals are even better. I searched for a five night holiday in January for two people, and the total came out to around 150 per night, per person that includes lodging, lift tickets and equipment rental for five straight days. A ski vacation is unlikely to be a steal, no matter how you look at it. But with the right approach, you can avoid putting too much of a freeze on your finances. Follow NY Times Travel on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Get weekly updates from our Travel Dispatch newsletter, with tips on traveling smarter, destination coverage and photos from all over the world.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
new video loaded: A Dip in the Living Room Pool	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
A couple of weeks ago, when The New York Times asked people what changes they sought in a post pandemic theater, the pithiest answer came from the playwright Raquel Almazan. "I hope I never have to see a couch onstage again," she wrote. I get her point. The couch she meant is not just something to sit on; it symbolizes the kind of play that turns its back, often literally, on the world beyond the suburban picture window. Usually conventional in form and domestic in content, such plays have traditionally represented the problems of white people in a white bubble, as if Pottery Barn had become a genre. "The Humans," by Stephen Karam, might at first glance seem to belong to that genre. It does concern a white family the Blakes in a domestic setting as they celebrate Thanksgiving. The parents, Erik and Deirdre, have come to New York City from Scranton, Pa., to visit their daughter, Brigid, a would be composer who is just moving into a basement apartment with her boyfriend, Richard, a graduate student. (They have a couch, but it's decrepit.) Also sharing the holiday meal are Brigid's sister, Aimee, a lawyer; and Momo, Erik's mother, lost in a fog of dementia. Produced in New York by the Roundabout Theater Company in 2015, "The Humans" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and the Broadway transfer in 2016 won the Tony Award for best play. I saw it several times back then, each time finding it more gripping and terrifying. Scraping the skin off an apparently upbeat family, it revealed the many struggles, economic and otherwise, that were turning the inner lives of the Blakes into nightmares.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
More top colleges are offering free massive open online courses, but companies and universities still need to figure out a way to monetize them. Students Rush to Web Classes, but Profits May Be Much Later MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. In August, four months after Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng started the online education company Coursera, its free college courses had drawn in a million users, a faster launching than either Facebook or Twitter. The co founders, computer science professors at Stanford University, watched with amazement as enrollment passed two million last month, with 70,000 new students a week signing up for over 200 courses, including Human Computer Interaction, Songwriting and Gamification, taught by faculty members at the company's partners, 33 elite universities. In less than a year, Coursera has attracted 22 million in venture capital and has created so much buzz that some universities sound a bit defensive about not leaping onto the bandwagon. Other approaches to online courses are emerging as well. Universities nationwide are increasing their online offerings, hoping to attract students around the world. New ventures like Udemy help individual professors put their courses online. Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have each provided 30 million to create edX. Another Stanford spinoff, Udacity, has attracted more than a million students to its menu of massive open online courses, or MOOCs, along with 15 million in financing. Coursera has grown at warp speed to emerge as the current leader of the pack, striving to support its business by creating revenue streams through licensing, certification fees and recruitment data provided to employers, among other efforts. But there is no guarantee that it will keep its position in the exploding education technology marketplace. "No one's got the model that's going to work yet," said James Grimmelmann, a New York Law School professor who specializes in computer and Internet law. "I expect all the current ventures to fail, because the expectations are too high. People think something will catch on like wildfire. But more likely, it's maybe a decade later that somebody figures out how to do it and make money." For their part, Ms. Koller and Mr. Ng proclaim a desire to keep courses freely available to poor students worldwide. Education, they have said repeatedly, should be a right, not a privilege. And even their venture backers say profits can wait. "Monetization is not the most important objective for this business at this point," said Scott Sandell, a Coursera financier who is a general partner at New Enterprise Associates. "What is important is that Coursera is rapidly accumulating a body of high quality content that could be very attractive to universities that want to license it for their own use. We invest with a very long mind set, and the gestation period of the very best companies is at least 10 years." But with the first trickles of revenue now coming in, Coursera's university partners expect to see some revenue sooner. "We'll make money when Coursera makes money," said Peter Lange, the provost of Duke University, one of Coursera's partners. "I don't think it will be too long down the road. We don't want to make the mistake the newspaper industry did, of giving our product away free online for too long." Right now, the most promising source of revenue for Coursera is the payment of licensing fees from other educational institutions that want to use the Coursera classes, either as a ready made "course in a box" or as video lectures students can watch before going to class to work with a faculty member. Ms. Koller has plenty of other ideas, as well. She is planning to charge 20, or maybe 50, for certificates of completion. And her company, like Udacity, has begun to charge corporate employers, including Facebook and Twitter, for access to high performing students, starting with those studying software engineering. This fall, Ms. Koller was excited about news she was about to announce: Antioch University's Los Angeles campus had agreed to offer its students credit for successfully completing two Coursera courses, Modern and Contemporary American Poetry and Greek and Roman Mythology, both taught by professors from the University of Pennsylvania. Antioch would be the first college to pay a licensing fee Ms. Koller would not say how much to offer the courses to its students at a tuition lower than any four year public campus in the state. Why would colleges pay licensing fees for material available free on the Web? Because, Ms. Koller said crisply, Coursera's terms of use require that anyone using the courses commercially get a license, and because licensing would give colleges their own course Web site, including access to grades. Just three days before the announcement, Ms. Koller discovered that the deal would have a very modest start. For the pilot, Antioch planned to have just one student and a faculty "facilitator" in each course. She expressed surprise but took the news in stride, moving right on to greet a delegation from the University of Melbourne that was waiting for her in the conference room. Coursera recently announced another route to help students earn credit for its courses and produce revenue. The company has arranged for the American Council on Education, the umbrella group of higher education, to have subject experts assess whether several courses are worthy of transfer credits. If the experts say they are, students who successfully complete those courses could take an identity verified proctored exam, pay a fee and get an ACE Credit transcript, a certification that 2,000 universities already accept for credit. Under Coursera's contracts, the company gets most of the revenue; the universities keep 6 percent to 15 percent of the revenue, and 20 percent of gross profits. The contracts describe several monetizing possibilities, including charging for extras like manual grading or tutoring. (How or if partner universities will share revenue with professors who develop online courses remains an open question on many campuses, with some professors saying the task is analogous to writing a textbook and should yield similar remuneration.) "It's just a couple thousand, but it's our first revenue," Ms. Koller said. "When faculty recommend a textbook and people buy it on Amazon, we get some money. The funny thing is that we're getting more than twice as much money from things like Texas Rangers jackets as from what the textbooks are bringing in." Other possibilities around the edges include charging a subscription fee, after a class is over, to continue the discussion forum as a Web community, or perhaps offering follow up courses, again for a fee. And advertising sponsorships remain a possibility. Like the Antioch deal, some early attempts have gotten off to a slow start. For example, the University of Washington has already offered credit for a fee in a few Coursera courses. But while thousands of students enrolled in the free version, only a handful chose the paid credit carrying option. David P. Szatmary, the vice provost, said part of the problem was that the credit option was posted only shortly before the course started, when most students had already enrolled free. "We're going to try it again," he said. "We think that if students know about the possibility of doing it for credit, they might be willing to pay a fee and get their own discussion board, an instructor who guides them through the course and some additional readings and projects." Some Coursera partners say they are in no hurry to cash in. "Part of what Coursera's gotten right is that it makes more sense to build your user base first and then figure out later how to monetize it, than to worry too much at the beginning about how to monetize it," said Edward Rock, a law professor serving as the University of Pennsylvania's senior adviser on open course initiatives. The Coursera co founders have become oracles of higher education, spreading their gospel of massive open online courses at the World Economic Forum in Abu Dhabi, the Web Summit in Dublin and the Aspen Ideas Festival. They describe how free online courses can open access to higher education to anyone with an Internet connection; liberate professors from repeating the same tired lectures and jokes semester after semester; and generate data, because the computers capture every answer right or wrong, that can provide new understanding of how students learn best. Many educators predict that the bulk of MOOC revenues will come from licensing remedial courses and "gateway" introductory courses in subjects like economics or statistics, two categories of classes that enroll hundreds of thousands of students a year. Even though less than 10 percent of MOOC students finish the courses they sign up for on their own, many experts believe that combining MOOC materials with support from a faculty member or a teaching assistant could increase completion rates. The University of Pennsylvania has high hopes for the mass marketing of Robert Ghrist's single variable calculus course, which starts this month and features his hand drawn animations. "What Rob has done is figure out how to make PowerPoint dance," Mr. Rock said. "I think it'll revolutionize the teaching of calculus both by allowing kids to take it on Coursera and by making the normal textbooks obsolete. It could become a way that more high schools that want to offer BC Calc can do so, and junior colleges that don't have good quality calculus instruction can license it and use it in a blended format, with the teacher now not giving frontal lectures but answering questions and exploring concepts in great detail." Mr. Rock, whose university has produced 16 Coursera courses, said each one costs about 50,000 to create, the biggest expenses being the videography and paying the teaching assistants who monitor the discussion forum. The University of Pennsylvania is just beginning to think about how to recover those costs. Last fall, at the conclusion of its Listening to World Music course, for example, the university sent out a questionnaire asking students whether they would be interested in a follow up course, what they would want to cover and how much they would be willing to pay for it. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a Penn bioethicist who served as health adviser to the Obama administration, is teaching two Coursera courses: one on the Obama health care law, the other on rationing scarce medical resources. He said he was not trying to produce a course that can be offered over and over, with no additional costs, but simply hoping to spread understanding of important health issues. And rather than reuse his materials from last summer's course on the new law, Dr. Emanuel overhauled the course, using not one but two videographers to film his live classes at Penn.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
The spread of the new coronavirus has stalled economic activity, halted travel and locked down some cross border trade. Another sector that's feeling the pinch is criminals trafficking illegally in poached wildlife. "Security is too heavy at the border. Products can't go out," said a person in Vietnam involved in the trade. That person spoke to an undercover investigator who was involved in a new report on the state of the illegal wildlife trade. The pandemic has prevented organized criminal gangs in Southeast Asian countries from moving large quantities of ivory and pangolin scales into China. But any limits on the illegal wildlife trade are likely to be temporary. "There's too much money to be made from these products, and there's too many people involved for this to have a significant long term impact," said Sarah Stoner, a co author of the report and director of intelligence at the Wildlife Justice Commission, an international foundation based in The Hague, Netherlands, that works to dismantle illegal wildlife trade. She and other experts say that while the coronavirus's limits on travel and business could be an opportunity for law enforcement to disrupt criminal networks, the pandemic's economic toll could attract more people to the trade. "We are tracking significant amounts of new trafficking activity in multiple countries, which seems to indicate that traffickers are both still very much in operation and also actively seeking ways to adapt and thrive in the new normal," said Tim Wittig, the head of intelligence for United for Wildlife, a nonprofit led by Prince William to fight wildlife trafficking. In a report published earlier this month, Dr. Wittig also found that temporary disruptions to the trade would be fleeting. "Traders have incentive to move product as soon as is feasible," he said. The Wildlife Justice Commission maintains an intelligence database of thousands of traffickers and dealers around the world. Undercover investigators working with the commission keep regular contact with a number of these criminals. The commission's new report summarizes conversations, from January through April, between investigators and around 20 people involved in the trade in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Mozambique. These are desperate times for illegal wildlife traffickers, the conversations showed. Vietnam closed its border with China on Feb. 1. At first, Ms. Stoner and her colleagues found, wildlife traders mostly dismissed this development and still guaranteed door to door delivery to their customers something normally included in the price of everything from ivory to tiger parts. Traders repeatedly assured customers that "delivery will be fine after a few days." By the end of February, things had changed. "You can get the products here," one Vietnamese trader told the investigators, "but if you want to send them to China, you could be waiting for months." Tighter security and even closed borders have left some traders offering deep discounts on their illegal goods, while others have temporarily frozen operations. Retailers in Southeast Asian countries also fear that the lack of Chinese tourists their primary customers will put them out of business. Many traders work with corrupt airport personnel to clear their products through customs. But with flights canceled and diverted and security increased trusted smuggling routes are no longer guaranteed. In early March, to prevent too many passengers from being quarantined in one place, a flight from South Korea destined for Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam was diverted to Can Tho, a city 100 miles to the south. Officials there discovered 11 rhino horns in checked luggage. The case highlighted that criminals can no longer guarantee their illegal products will arrive to their intended destination, Ms. Stoner said. Not all illegal trade has ground to a halt. Throughout March and April, Chinese authorities have continued to seize large shipments of rhino horns and pangolin scales crossing into China by land from Vietnam. Traffickers told investigators that they are closely following developments at the border. Many are eager to offload their growing stockpiles. In Africa, on the other hand, the virus may wind up facilitating rather than stalling illegal activity. Investigators learned that several heads of poaching gangs in Mozambique are planning to take advantage of reduced ranger patrols and the lack of tourists in Kruger National Park in neighboring South Africa. Poaching bosses can also expect a glut of new recruits in the coming months, said Vanda Felbab Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. "Because of Covid's vast economic impacts, a lot of people will be driven into many forms of illicit economies." Dr. Felbab Brown added, the coronavirus will "devastate much of conservation funding" in Africa, further reducing rangers' abilities to ward off poachers. While conservationists have celebrated bans proposed by China and Vietnam to limit consumption of wild animals, Ms. Stoner pointed out that these measures are unlikely to have any effect on illegal wildlife traffickers. "We're not talking about what's on sale at markets," she said. Governments around the world should also prepare for an upsurge in commercial scale wildlife trafficking when borders reopen, Ms. Stoner said. "We've heard a lot of conversations about traders feeling like everything will be opening up soon," she said. "We shouldn't allow organized trade to flourish while we've got our eye on this other problem." Dr. Wittig believes that the pandemic presents a watershed opportunity for ending industrial scale animal trafficking. The momentary disruption to the movement of illegal goods, for example, gives law enforcement a chance to seize huge stockpiles of contraband, rather than one off shipments. More important, global society might take advantage of the now widely recognized link between wildlife trade and public health, Dr. Wittig said. The social stigma around the purchase and consumption of illegal wildlife products could grow, and countries eager to avoid becoming the origin of another pandemic would be motivated to investigate, arrest and prosecute wildlife criminals. "Traffickers are currently constrained and suffering like the rest of us, and if we take what is really an extraordinary opportunity to exploit those vulnerabilities, we can make huge inroads in ending the illegal wildlife trade," Dr. Wittig said. "We actually have an opportunity to win here."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
It is best to attend "Clytigation: State of Exception," by the unclassifiable performance artist Michelle Ellsworth, with a healthy appetite. I'm not talking about your stomach, though during the show at the Chocolate Factory in Queens, where the work had its New York debut on Wednesday, someone cooks enough pancakes for everyone. The extraordinary plenitude on offer is mental. This is high entertainment with no empty calories. In part, it's an installation, with buttons to push and knobs to turn. There are exhibits controlled by coin, typewriter and stationary bicycle that generate choreography. (You can get a taste at choreographygenerator.org.) Open one box, and you find a phone connecting you to an operator who's standing by to answer your questions. Open another, and you uncover a switch: Flip it, and you hear laughter that curdles into the sound of agony. I won't describe everything, since much of the fun comes from discovery, but there wouldn't be enough space in a short review anyway. "Clytigation" overflows with ideas, but it's put together with such skill and care (programming by Satchel Spencer and Michael Theodore, video and sound by Max Bernstein) that the overload is a delight. The central action takes place in a box. Its interior is blue, so while the dancer Jadd Tank is inside it, video of him projected onto an adjoining box can through blue screen or chroma key technology insert his image into any scene: a temple in Greece, an old video game, recent music videos, famous works of art and choreography.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
A Villa on the East Coast of Italy This three story villa is in the Abruzzo region of Italy, due east of Rome, with views of the Adriatic Sea. It was constructed in the early 1800s and expanded and restored between 1999 and 2008. The one acre property also includes a 538 square foot guesthouse, an outdoor kitchen and a 75 foot swimming pool. The 4,844 square foot home, which has three bedrooms and four bathrooms, was built with Tuscan style bricks and wooden rafters, giving it a rural character. Up a stone stairway and under a portico, the main entrance is on the second floor. It opens to a spacious living room and dining area, with a patio beyond and a covered outdoor kitchen complete with barbecue and pizza oven. Trees and plants shade the area, which is used for al fresco dining. The second floor also has two bedrooms and a bathroom. Another bathroom was designed around a circular bulkhead space between the second and third floors. A living room on the ground floor opens to a large porch; next to it is a dining room and indoor kitchen with stainless steel appliances. The ground floor also has a bathroom, two dressing rooms, a laundry room, ample storage space and a garage. Floors are travertine marble throughout, and the made to measure furniture is included in the asking price. High tech amenities include central air conditioning and heating, external video surveillance, motion detecting sensors, a garden irrigation system and an armored vault. The guesthouse has a bedroom, small kitchen, sitting room with fireplace, bathroom and patio. The villa is in the province of Chieti, within walking distance of the small town of Santa Maria Imbaro, which has a variety of shops. The nearest beach is five miles away, in Fossacesia, on the Trabocchi Coast. The region has many restaurants, and its coastal towns are "bustling with night life," said Tracey Nicholas, the owner of Abruzzo Reality, which has the listing. Cycling is popular and a coastal cycling track is under construction, she said. The closest international airport is about 45 minutes away, in Pescara, and Fiumicino Airport, in Rome, is about two hours and 45 minutes away. In the past decade, home prices in Abruzzo which includes the provinces of Chieti, Pescara, Teramo and L'Aquila have dropped around 30 to 40 percent, although they now seem to have bottomed out, Ms. Nicholas said: "We think they could start to rise again soon. Last year was our best year in 10 years, and this year is following a similar trend." While housing sales in the coastal and densely populated areas of Abruzzo, like Pescara and its neighboring towns, may be picking up, there are still bargains to be found in the interior mountain and rural villages, said Giovanni Paravia, who handles foreign customer service for TopRE Abruzzo Mare e Monti, an agency in Spoltore. "The small villages have lost attractiveness to the locals that prefer, if possible, to live closer to their job location," he said, "hence the prices for houses in the internal areas are falling." Abruzzo has villas, apartments, country houses and ruins and home prices run the gamut. A two bedroom holiday apartment with a garage close to the beach can usually be bought for 100,000 to 150,000 euros (about 117,000 to 175,000), Mr. Paravia said. A home with land in the countryside may cost as much as 200,000 euros (about 233,000), while large stone houses with historic features or villas with swimming pools sell for 400,000 to 600,000 euros ( 467,000 to 700,000), he said. Unlike Tuscany, Umbria and the Italian lake district, Abruzzo is not well known in the international market, said Keith Purdie, the director of Abruzzo Property Italy, a London and Pescara based real estate agency. About half the foreigners who buy in Abruzzo are from the United Kingdom and Ireland, brokers said, although there have been fewer British buyers since the 2016 Brexit vote. The rest are Americans, Australians and Scandinavians, with the odd buyer from European countries like Belgium, France and Holland. Mr. Paravia said he used to see Russian buyers, but they have now largely disappeared. American buyers, who thinned out after the global real estate crisis of 2008, often "have previous history with Abruzzo," Mr. Purdie said. "Their relations were born in the area and have emigrated, so they are trying to reconnect."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
As Hurricane Michael made landfall on Wednesday, travel in the Florida panhandle had come to a halt. A shutdown of all commercial air travel in the area was in effect. Tallahassee International Airport, Northwest Florida Beaches Airport in Panama City, and Destin Fort Walton Beach Airport, home of Eglin Air Force Base, and Pensacola International Airport are all closed. Most airports said that they expect to reopen Thursday morning. In a tweet posted on Tuesday, Northwest Florida Beaches Airport reported that the "anticipated start up" of the airport would be Thursday. But the unpredictability of the storm could mean that an air travel shutdown may last even longer. The airports are encouraging passengers to verify their flight status with the airlines. Most airlines to the region's airports have canceled flights until Thursday morning, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines. With the storm's projected path tracking north and east, Atlanta based Delta is capping some airfares, waiving some bag fees, and waiving certain change fees for flights to airports along the trajectory, including Mobile, Ala., Savannah, Ga., and Columbia, S.C. Southwest Airlines is also allowing passengers flying into certain cities along the storm's path to rebook without a fee. The conditions on the ground continued to deteriorate on Wednesday, with many local roads being closed. Typical was the Bay County Sheriff's department tweet that it had ordered the closure of the Hathaway Bridge in Panama City. Other bridges around the coastal area were also reported closed, further shutting down land travel. And Wednesday morning, Florida State University in Tallahassee reported that the Tallahassee International Airport was already measuring tropical storm force wind gusts at the airport. On Wednesday afternoon, as the storm's 155 mile per hour winds lashed Panama City, calls to 10 of that city's most popular hotels, including the Holiday Inn, Wingate by Wyndham, Country Inn and Suites by Radisson and Hilton Garden Inn went unanswered. The phone lines rang and rang again, with nobody picking up. VisitFlorida.com, the Florida tourism industry's marketing arm, has joined with Expedia, and the two have activated Expedia's "emergency accommodations module," to provide real time accommodations information to those seeking lodgings. Visit Florida reported that the four official Florida welcome centers, located at major access points into and out of the state, had been turned into emergency information centers, but Wednesday closed entirely for the safety of the staff. Airbnb is sending travel updates by text message to its customers who have planned travel to northwest Florida. Ben Breit, a spokesman for Airbnb said that the company's "extenuating circumstances policy, " is in effect for parts of Florida, which means refunds may be available and penalties will be waived for cancellations because of airport closures. Airbnb's "Open Homes" program has been activated across the southeast, which lets residents forced to evacuate find shelter in the homes of Airbnb hosts free of charge. VRBO and host company HomeAway are encouraging customers to call their customer service line for information on how to handle affected bookings. Some cruises with Florida, New Orleans or Galveston, Tex., departures have been forced to shift itineraries or delay departures, including sailings operated by Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
WASHINGTON Efforts to quickly restart economic activity risk further dividing Americans into two major groups along socioeconomic lines: one that has the power to control its exposure to the coronavirus outbreak and another that is forced to choose between potential sickness or financial devastation. It is a pick your poison fact of the crisis: The pandemic recession has knocked millions of the most economically vulnerable Americans out of work. Rushing to reopen their employers could offer them a financial lifeline, but at a potentially steep cost to their health. State and federal officials have nowhere near the testing capacity that experts say is needed to track and limit the spread of the virus, and there is no vaccine yet. But states are already reopening, urged on by President Trump, who is eager to restart the United States economy. That push is likely to exacerbate longstanding inequalities, with workers who are college educated, relatively affluent and primarily white able to continue working from home and minimizing outdoor excursions to reduce the risk of contracting the virus. Those who are lower paid, less educated and employed in jobs where teleworking is not an option would face a bleak choice if states lift restrictive orders and employers order them back to work: expose themselves to the pandemic or lose their jobs. That disempowered group is heavily black and Latino, though it includes lower income white workers as well. "It's sad and scary," said Tina Watson of Holly Hill, S.C., who has seen her hours cut in half at the Wendy's where she works. Though her income has dropped from that cutback, she is worried about having to interact with customers when the state relaxes limits that have forced the restaurant to operate as drive through only in recent weeks. "I'm feeling like my life is at risk if they open up our dining," Ms. Watson said. A growing share of workers is increasingly stuck with that choice. The governors of Georgia and South Carolina have begun allowing some businesses to reopen, even though both states continue to see new infections and what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call "widespread" community spread of the virus. On Friday, Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia allowed gyms, nail and hair salons, and bowling alleys to begin operating, with restaurants and movie theaters allowed to open on Monday. Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi and Ohio are also allowing some businesses to start operating again. Not all businesses will decide to reopen even if they are allowed to; many will choose to stay closed, fearing too few customers to make it worth the cost. That was the situation in parts of Georgia on Friday, as many establishments kept their doors shut. But furloughed workers whose employers recall them to their jobs would in most circumstances lose their unemployment benefits, even if their pay might not return to the levels they were earning before the crisis. That is particularly difficult for manicurists or wait staff who rely on tips from customers who might not show up. They would also lose out on both regular unemployment benefits and an additional 600 a week from the federal government. Rashad Robinson, the president of the racial justice advocacy group Color of Change, said Georgia's governor "has targeted a whole set of businesses where black people both work and patronize." For those workers and customers, he said, "it is an absolute death sentence." "The inequality we're seeing isn't unfortunate like a car accident," Mr. Robinson said. "It's unjust. It's being manufactured through a whole set of choices." Even though they face higher risks from reopening, a small but meaningful share of financially hurt workers is clamoring to return to work. One in 11 Americans, according to national polling data by the digital research firm Civis Analytics, has lost a job, hours or income or knows a family member who has during the pandemic but opposes mandatory lockdowns. Americans who earn 50,000 a year or less are more than twice as likely to say they or a family member have lost jobs amid the crisis as those who earn more than 150,000, the polling found. Higher earners and whites are far more likely to say they can work from home during the pandemic than lower earners and black and Latino Americans, according to an April poll for The New York Times by the online research firm SurveyMonkey. The University of Chicago economists Simon Mongey and Alex Weinberg released a study last month on the Americans who work in jobs that require people to be in close physical proximity (like nail salon workers) or allow little chance to work from home (like fast food or maintenance workers). They found those workers were disproportionately nonwhite, low income, born outside the United States and not college graduates. "If it's a fast reopening," Mr. Mongey said, "they're going to be in closer proximity and face higher health consequences." Cryptocurrency group loses bid for copy of U.S. Constitution. The company that produced 'Parasite' is in talks to buy Endeavor's scripted content arm. Critic of Teamsters leader claims victory in race to succeed him. Black and Latino Americans have less ability to withstand a prolonged job loss than whites, because they entered the crisis with lower incomes and less wealth. The median black household had just under 18,000 in wealth in 2016, Federal Reserve statistics show, while the median Hispanic household had just under 21,000. The median white household had nearly 10 times more: 171,000. In 2018, the typical Hispanic household earned three quarters of what a typical white household earned, according to census data. The typical black household earned three fifths of what the typical white household earned, and their household income had yet to return to pre financial crisis highs. The virus has only exacerbated that inequality, with minorities suffering both higher death rates and more financial harm. In New York City and across the country, black and Latino Americans are dying at higher rates from the virus than whites. Economic polling data shows they are also losing their jobs and income to an outsize degree. In Minnesota, the share of black workers filing for unemployment over the last month is nearly 50 percent higher than the share of white workers. The Civis Analytics polling over the last several weeks found that black and Latino Americans were far more likely than whites to report that they had lost a job or income from the virus, or that it had caused them to miss a rent or mortgage payment or face eviction. The risks and damage from the virus are "disproportionately landing on the black and brown workers that are disproportionately in minimum wage services jobs," said Mary Kay Henry, the president of the Service Employees International Union. Researchers from the JPMorgan Chase Institute warned this month in a report that the coronavirus recession would hit black and Hispanic families harder in terms of lost income, forcing them to cut back their spending to a greater degree than whites, because black and Hispanic families have fewer savings to fall back on. "There could be immense and devastating income effects that could be involved with this evolving depression," said William A. Darity Jr., an economist at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, who is a leading scholar of economic discrimination in the United States. Inequality, he said, "has been horrendous in recent years, and I can only imagine those disparities would get worse." Avik Roy, a former adviser to the Republican presidential campaigns of Rick Perry and Marco Rubio, is now the president of a center right think tank called the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, which this month released a plan to quickly restart much of the economy. It includes reopening schools while carrying out an aggressive system of tracing the contacts of Americans who are infected with the virus and quarantining vulnerable groups and people potentially exposed to the virus. Mr. Roy said in an interview that the plan was motivated in part by research suggesting that prolonged school closures disproportionately hurt nonwhite and low income children, who are less likely to have access to educational materials at home that allow them to keep up with more affluent peers. "The last thing we need at a time of rising inequality is to widen that inequality for our children," Mr. Roy said. "Upper income parents are the ones most able to improve educational opportunities for their children. Lower income parents are not." But many economists warn that hasty moves to restart the economy will simply increase the risks for vulnerable workers without generating significant growth. There is widespread concern that consumers will not travel and spend as freely as they had before the pandemic until therapeutic treatments or a vaccine are developed or testing has ramped up to a degree that gives people confidence that they can resume normal activities without risking infection and death. "If restrictions on social distancing are lifted without adequate supports testing, tracking and protective gear in place, many people will choose to stay home if their circumstances will allow them to," said Heather Boushey, the president of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a liberal think tank focused on inequality. "In other words, we will see small business, low wage and hourly workers who are most desperate to get back to work as the first to go back, putting themselves and their families in danger." Workers who have no choice but to report for duty say they are already confronting those choices every day. Ms. Watson, the Wendy's worker, said she feared potentially bringing the virus home to her 11 year old son, Xzaibayan. Kim Thomas, a home health aide in the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area, has begun delivering groceries for an online service to make up for hours she lost because of the outbreak. In the grocery stores where she shops, Ms. Thomas said in a phone interview, "not everyone is practicing safe distancing. They're not." She said she was concerned for her livelihood in an area that depended heavily on tourism to keep its economy running. But she also feared for her health. "I'm definitely worried about catching Covid 19," Ms. Thomas said. "I worry about it every day."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
A supply of housing sufficient to meet urban needs in California will not be built for decades, if ever, and right now building doesn't seem to be helping much. Many of the newer rental buildings carry high end prices, while stock of affordable housing is actually falling. Given that, rent control is an easy and off the shelf policy tool that many people are familiar with one that does help some renters and doesn't appear to cost taxpayers money. "It is the best anti displacement tool around," said Stephen Barton , co author of a recent report that called rent control a key measure toward stabilizing California's housing market. And yet economists from both the right and the left are in almost universal agreement that rent control makes housing problems worse in the long run. Here's what's behind their thinking and the nuances of the debate. What does rent control do? Rent control or rent stabilization laws are city level prohibitions on rent increases beyond a certain amount. They are rare nationwide 37 states prohibit their cities from enacting such laws but have existed for decades in places including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington. Proposition 10 is a California voter initiative that would repeal a 1995 law called the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act. The law prevents localities from enacting certain forms of rent control. Notably, it exempts single family homes from rent control laws, along with apartments built after 1995. It also prevents something called vacancy control, allowing landlords to raise the rent without limit whenever a tenant under rent control moves out. Let's say a tenant is paying 1,000 a month and the market rate is 2,000 a month. Under current law, when the rent controlled tenant moves out, the landlord is free to charge the next tenant 2,000 (or any other amount). Under vacancy control, the rent increase would still be regulated and could go up only by the percentage allowed by the local law. If the Costa Hawkins law is repealed, cities could theoretically prevent landlords from ever charging market rate rents, although there is almost no chance of that prospect on a large scale. What happens if Proposition 10 fails? Rent control is still legal for a large share of California's housing stock, and tenants continue to organize rent control drives up and down the state. It's possible, even likely, that more California tenants will win some form of rent control sometime in the next few years, regardless of what happens with Proposition 10. The main question is what units these laws will apply to and how stringent the rules will be. What happens if Proposition 10 passes? Proposition 10 would repeal a state law that prevents local laws, but it wouldn't make new law itself. If it passes, cities could enact more stringent and expansive rent control laws, and some are already looking into it. But they don't have to, and many won't. What are the arguments for and against the initiative? Tenants' rights organizations argue that California's affordability crisis demands more rent controlled units, as well as tools like vacancy control. They say the disparity between rent controlled units and market rate prices encourages landlords to evict poorer residents in favor of people who can pay more. Vacancy control could prevent this by regulating the rent regardless of who lives there: Why would landlords push tenants out if they couldn't raise the rent for the next person? On the other hand, most studies show that even though rent control is great for tenants who get it, the policies can lead to higher rents and fewer units over all. Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles. Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in her trial. Follow along with our reporters. Ken Griffin, head of Citadel, bid highest for a copy of the Constitution. Is that why economists say rent control can make housing problems worse? Yes. That said, nuance is something you're unlikely to hear in either side's political commercials. One of the more frequently cited studies is a Stanford analysis that found that rent control accelerated the gentrification of San Francisco's Mission District by encouraging landlords to convert rental housing into higher end condominiums and cooperatives. The study also concluded, however, that rent control lived up to the promise of reducing the displacement of lower income tenants and older people. Economists have three main criticisms of rent control. They say it helps renters today at the expense of renters tomorrow. They also see it as a blunt instrument: While helping to stem economic displacement in the short term, it leads to long run problems by encouraging landlords to exit the rental business, and future landlords to not enter. And it can divert resources from low income renters to those with moderate and even high incomes. In a 2002 study, San Francisco found that about a quarter of its rent controlled units were occupied by households with incomes over 100,000. That number has to be much higher today. What do some economists think cities should do instead? Build more housing. California is one of the nation's most heavily regulated building markets, and has underproduced housing for decades. The state ranks 49th of 50 (above Utah) in the number of housing units per capita. Fewer homes higher prices. Of course, this won't do much for renters who are struggling now. To that end, a number of economists have suggested subsidies or tax credits as an alternative to rent control, because they can shield renters from big price increases while being tailored to people who need the most help. "When people need health care, we give them Medicaid, and when they need food, we give them food stamps," said Christopher Palmer , an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "But for housing, another basic human need, we tell people to get on a list and maybe in 10 years they'll get a voucher for an apartment. That doesn't match up with the immediacy of the need."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
WASHINGTON Deaths by drug overdose in the United States surged last year by more than 17 percent over 2015, another sign of the growing addiction crisis caused by opioids, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary data from the 50 states show that from the fourth quarter of 2015, through the fourth quarter of 2016, the rate of fatal overdoses rose to nearly 20 people per 100,000 from 16.3 per 100,000. The C.D.C. had previously estimated that about 64,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2016, with the highest rates reported in New Hampshire, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Rhode Island. Drug overdoses have become the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. In recent years, according to Dr. Robert Anderson, chief of the C.D.C. mortality statistics branch, the deaths have been driven by overdoses of synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, rather than heroin. "The main message is the drug rate went up a lot again, and of course we're worried about it," Dr. Anderson said.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
RICHMOND, Va. Until three weeks ago, Lee Circle, which is named for the 130 year old statue of General Robert E. Lee that stands some 60 feet high at its center, attracted few visitors beyond the occasional tourist or weekend sunbather. But as protests over police brutality and racism, ignited by the killing of George Floyd while he was in policy custody, have spread across the country, and Confederate monuments have been torn down in many cities, crowds of people have been showing up to this little park on Monument Avenue every day. At first, it was to protest. Now, the crowd resembles something of a block party. Children and families mill about and take photos. Food stands, voter registration tents, portable basketball hoops and a lending library have popped up. And there is often music and dancing: On a recent weekday afternoon, a woman sat in a folding chair playing a cello in front of the statue, while a Beyonce song blared from a portable speaker in a booth where volunteers were handing out water bottles. One night, a local band covered Rage Against the Machine songs for a crowd of moshing young people. The R B star Trey Songz held a candlelight vigil there on Juneteenth. And the next morning, a Saturday, newlyweds posed on the statue in white wedding attire. A crowd gathered and cheered when the couple raised their fists. The towering bronze and stone Confederate statue still stands at the middle of it all, despite an order by the governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, that it be taken down. The move has been blocked by a temporary injunction from a Richmond circuit court, and the situation is complicated further by a new state law that goes into effect on July 1 that gives local governments the authority to remove monuments on their own. The governor is still promising to remove the statue. But the monument's appearance has changed dramatically. Over the last few weeks, visitors have tagged the statue's enormous base with a kaleidoscopic array of graffiti, including with the protest messages of "stop killing us" and "defund the police." Paint canisters are left for others to use, and new words appear every day. At night, an artist named Dustin Klein, who produces visual displays for EDM concerts, projects images of figures including Harriet Tubman and George Floyd on the monument's surface. The park's grass has turned brown and patchy from so much use. Even as protesters elsewhere in Richmond continued to clash with police, Lee Circle had become something of a round the clock community space a site of "public gatherings that never before existed," as The Richmond Times Dispatch put it. That may change abruptly. On June 22, state and local police announced that the grounds would "close to the public from sunset to sunrise" and that "unlawful activity" in the park was prohibited, including "climbing on the statue or its steps," and affixing "additional banners, flags, posters or other objects" to the statue. (This morning, President Trump tweeted his intent to pass an executive order authorizing "the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison.") Within an hour of the announcement, more than a hundred activists gathered at the park, preparing for a clash with the police. As lightning flashed overhead, they stood on the statue's stone steps, many carrying firearms or makeshift shields. Police lights were visible down Monument Avenue in either direction. "I'll be on the front lines," said Brian Jones, 32, referring to the possibility for fighting. "How would I explain it to my kids if I wasn't?" Ultimately, the police did not try to enforce the curfew, though many people believe they will do so this week. Those who have created a new community base at the park said they plan on resisting the crackdown as long as they can. "This is my family," said one activist, who declined to give her name. "This is a safe place for us." She had tears in her eyes. Last week, Travis and Tori Sky, 32 and 29, brought their son Major, 4, to the monument to celebrate his graduation from kindergarten, coaxing him to raise a fist in front of the altered statue for a photo. "Even if he doesn't remember, we can tell him that he was here," Mr. Sky said. Asked what he thought of the graffiti beneath his feet, Major said: "I like all of the colors." "Does any of this mean anything to you?" Mr. Sky asked. Several weeks before, on May 30, hundreds of activists marched down Monument Avenue, which is one of Richmond's wealthiest streets, calling for the removal of the five Confederate statues that give it its name. On the evening of June 1, the police tear gassed a protest at Lee Circle about half an hour before a curfew, initially claiming protesters were violent before later apologizing. The marches continued, and then people started showing up all the time, even outside of organized marches. One of the people tear gassed was Ida Allen, 32, who works as a bartender. The incident galvanized her to set up a tent in the park, to hand out water bottles and snacks to protesters. From there, she and a friend, Ashley Cottingham, 29, organized their efforts into a new group called Richmond Action Alliance, which aims to support the protest movement and register people to vote in order to create "a real change," Ms. Allen said. "It's a place where we have cookouts, we have great conversations," she said of the new community that is forming at Lee Circle. "It's just a place of love and where people with like minds can congregate." Eli Swann, a volunteer for the Richmond Action Alliance, has spent many of the last 15 days in the park, he said, handing out water and helping people register to vote. He said that the altered statue "looks greater than it ever did." The Fight Over the Statue's Future On June 8, a lawsuit against Governor Northam was filed by William C. Gregory, who is described in the legal filing as the great grandson of the couple that transferred the Robert E. Lee statue from private property to the state. His lawsuit argues that the state, through the deed and an 1889 resolution of the General Assembly, agreed to "faithfully guard" and "affectionately protect" the monument and that removing it from Lee Circle would breach that agreement. A Virginia judge issued an injunction against any state action while the court battle plays out. On June 15, a group of homeowners on Monument Avenue filed a separate lawsuit, claiming that removing the statue would end the neighborhood's designation as a National Historic Landmark district, causing them to suffer "the loss of favorable tax treatment and reduction in property values." (While the Lee statue is owned by the state, the other four Confederate statues are owned by the city; the mayor of Richmond, Levar Stoney, has promised to remove them too.) Only one of the homeowners is named in the Monument Avenue suit: Helen Marie Taylor, 96. She recently gave an interview to the The Washington Post in which she called the protesters "scoundrels" and "graffiti goons." A phrase tagged on the Lee statue in the days after the article was published seemed to offer a rejoinder: "YOUR TAX STATUS IS RACIST." Activists say they have tracked threats posted by white supremacist groups on Facebook, and early on the morning of June 20, a SWAT team arrested a man with a gun for trespassing on the roof of a building overlooking the park. He was later identified as an officer with the Richmond International Airport Police Department. On another occasion, police detained several individuals who were armed with assault style rifles and handguns after a pickup truck ran into a group of bicyclists near the statue. One of the individuals was later arrested and charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, according to The Richmond Times Dispatch. Partly in response to counterprotesters, some individuals have begun showing up armed to keep the peace and protect the community, they said. On July 1, a previously passed ban on carrying firearms into public parks and buildings within the city of Richmond will go into effect. Whether the statue stays, it seems the public has decided that the space will continue to serve a different purpose than as a shrine to the Confederacy. A large wooden sign on the park says: "Welcome to Marcus David Peters Circle," a reference to a man who was shot and killed by police in Richmond in 2018 during a mental health crisis. Dozens of laminated memorial placards have been posted in a circle along the outer rim of the park and the base of the statue. Each has the name, photo and brief biography of a black person killed by police, including George Floyd and Eric Garner, as well as George Stinney, a 14 year old boy executed in South Carolina after an unfair trial in 1944. Visitors leave flowers and candles and stuffed animals there. On Juneteenth, hundreds of people attended the celebration and candlelight vigil at Lee Circle organized by several local groups as well as Trey Songz, a native of Petersburg, Va. "I'm scared for my son," he told the crowd, from the base of the monument. "They're taking our lives as if they can and keep walking. They keep living their life, go home to their families after they take one of ours. I ain't going." Before he spoke, a D.J. warmed up the crowd as the sun set. Four elementary school aged boys danced to Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" on the monument's ledge. A black family posed on one side of the monument with fists raised, wearing shirts that read: "I am my ancestors' wildest dream." As the gatherings at Lee Circle have continued, some Richmond residents are even visiting the statue for the first time. "Before now, I would have just driven by this, not giving it no mind, because, you know, it's a Confederate monument," said Michael Weaver, 22, an urban planning student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Now he doesn't want to leave the park. "I've never seen anything like it," he said of the statue. "How it looks right now, with all that artwork on it? That's a history piece right there."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
More often than not, premiere nights at New York City Ballet used to be gifts to cynics and pessimists; I have been among them. That era has passed. Thursday night brought the company's fifth new work this season, the world premiere of Kim Brandstrup's "Jeux" ("Games"), to Debussy's exceptional 1913 score of that name. Like the other four, this one will reward further viewings. Well made, musical, imaginative, "Jeux" turns games into theater. And its central role is further proof that Sara Mearns is our most dramatically remarkable ballerina today, with urgent qualities of need and pathos. The games onstage keep changing, as does the music. What begins as blind man's buff acquires a touch of soccer before turning into a group waltz sequence, while the relationships turn into diverse facets of romantic love with elements of role playing and deceit, as well as conventional courtship. Stage lighting alters, too: from an exposed bulb hanging at the start to eclipselike effects later. Costumes are modern urban wear black, gray, white with knee length dresses for the women and suits for the men. Ms. Mearns begins with the blindfold round her eyes, feeling her way in unknown terrain amid the throng, while Amar Ramasar (implicitly her boyfriend) tracks her steps. But in due course she sees him dancing with Sterling Hyltin, and, after expressions of heartbreak, she commences a new relationship with Adrian Danchig Waring (who has arrived with a soccer ball). The ballet ends with her blindfolding him and starting anew. City Ballet's orchestra, conducted by Daniel Capps, rises sensuously to the score's many beauties. This was presented, after the sole intermission, as the second half of an evening that began with the four new ballets that had their premieres last week: Myles Thatcher's "Polaris," Robert Binet's "The Blue of Distance," Troy Schumacher's "Common Ground" and Justin Peck's "New Blood." Like two of them "Polaris" and "The Blue of Distance" "Jeux" features an outsider figure (Tiler Peck in "Polaris," Harrison Ball in "The Blue"), who beholds the other dancers from a distance and sometimes joins them. Here the isolated figure is Ms. Mearns. The ballet's suggestion of her numb anguish provides the most choreographically striking imagery. It is Mr. Danchig Waring who keeps her from falling, and the various off balance positions in which he holds and turns her are both arresting and moving. Yet Ms. Mearns, though she can see at this point in the tale, is too blinded by other emotions to see him; she's like Shakespeare's Gloucester, who says "I stumbled when I saw." Whereas the four earlier ballets are the creations of men in their 20s (let's discuss the absence of female choreographers another time), Mr. Brandstrup who is Danish and based in London has more than 30 years' experience making dances. And whereas the four others push the envelope of 21st century choreography with unequal numbers of men and women, aspects of bisexual partnering, and unusual conjunctions of movement and music his "Jeux" is for even numbers of men and women, hierarchically divided into two lead couples and five corps couples, intelligently responsive to its music but never surprising in timing or phrasing. It's odd that Mr. Brandstrup chooses to avoid all same sex coupling with this particular Debussy score for it was with its 1913 premiere that Nijinsky's choreography broke new ground by depicting the sexual ambiguities of a sustained trio for one man and two women. Despite its sensitivity to the music's many changes of color and tempo, this new "Jeux" is a bit too orthodox to release all the undercurrents of the extraordinary score; its dramas progress more slowly than their accompaniment and come closer to sentimentality. Only Ms. Mearns's role has poignancy and depth. The four other new ballets all revealed further layers on a second viewing. The oxymoron is Mr. Peck's "New Blood," a piece I find showily shallow, albeit brilliantly intricate and excitingly dynamic; Humberto Leon's vampire lite makeup and costumes heighten my objections. (It's unusually tricky to identify who's who. Eventually, for example, you can recognize Meagan Mann by her vivid dancing, but not by her facial and upper body beauty, which in other ballets is radiant.) Still, the sheer danciness of phrase upon phrase proves terrific; the performers seem both ignited and released, not just in off balance audacity but also (as often in Peck choreography) in rich upper body fullness of texture. The richest phrases in Mr. Schumacher's "Common Ground" occur in solos for Anthony Huxley and Russell Janzen; otherwise its style is built from abruptly short phrases, with single steps passing around the ensemble like wildfire. The most exceptional moment of drama comes when Teresa Reichlen, with suddenly regal authority, extends a sweeping gesture ahead of her while Joseph Gordon, as if yielding to her dominion, arches gorgeously back under her arm. All seven dancers Ashley Laracey, Alexa Maxwell and Mr. Ramasar are the others become not only new people in this work but also different with each return to the stage.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
Cable viewers witnessed a rather exotic TV moment Tuesday night, when the CNN analyst Dana Bash broke out a profanity to describe the presidential debate. For those who watched the event on Twitch, such a remark would have passed unnoticed. Scorching hot analysis and salty talk were typical of the takes offered on the Amazon owned digital platform, whose webcammers attract devoted followings partly through their ability to keep up an entertaining patter as they livestream themselves playing marathon sessions of Fortnite and other games. Hundreds of thousands watched the debate in the digital company of popular Twitch streamers like Mizkif and xQcOW. Wearing headsets equipped with microphones as usual, the hosts positioned themselves in front of screens showing the 90 minute matchup between President Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr., rather than League of Legends. The names they gave to their debate livestreams set the tone. A streamer known as Valdudes called it "Presidential Debate Cringefest 2020." "Chapo Trap House," a podcast, billed its Twitch livestream "Sundown Showdown 2020"	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
The unmistakably radiant voice of the soprano Jessye Norman, who died in September at 74, filled the Metropolitan Opera House once more on Sunday afternoon as friends, relatives, colleagues and fans gathered for a starry memorial celebrating her life. There were video clips of Ms. Norman performing some of the roles she conquered the Met stage with in the 1980s and 1990s. There were performances by Dance Theater of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as by singers including Latonia Moore, Lise Davidsen and Renee Fleming, who all sang works associated with Ms. Norman, and the bass baritone Eric Owens, who sang a farewell Wotan's from "Die Walkure." Friends, relatives and colleagues offered reminiscences. Her younger sister, Elaine Norman Sturkey, shared memories of growing up in Augusta, Ga., and how the family would follow her success in her Sunday evening phone calls. She recalled accompanying her sister around the world once she became a diva, and the logistics of dealing with what she jokingly called "the Jessye Norman suitcases": an array of Louis Vuitton bags that she remembered as heavy even when empty, but far heavier when filled to capacity with Ms. Norman's humidifier, teapot and other tools of the trade. Several speakers recalled her pathbreaking role as an African American soprano. "Throughout her life, Jessye fought for justice," said Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation. "She fought for justice onstage, even with her very presence, breaking barriers with her blackness, and defying exclusion with her excellence." With the memorial featuring both Strauss songs and spirituals Ms. Norman joined a select group to be honored in death at the Met. The composer Giacomo Puccini and the singers Enrico Caruso, Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills all had memorials or special concerts held in their memories; some artists have even had their funerals held there, including the conductors Leopold Damrosch and Anton Seidl in the 19th century, and the tenor Richard Tucker in 1975. Jack Lang, the former French minister of culture, spoke of choosing Ms. Norman to sing "La Marseillaise" in 1989 at Place de la Concorde in Paris before world leaders and millions of television viewers for the 200th anniversary of Bastille Day. There had been pushback from some French politicians. ("She's not French," he recalled them objecting). But, Mr. Lang said, he had wanted someone to sing the Marseillaise not as a national anthem, but as a universal anthem to freedom. "Who other than Jessye could have sung this?" he said. Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Met, recalled when Ms. Norman sang the Liebestod from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" at the Salzburg Festival in Austria in the late 1980s with Herbert von Karajan, who was then "the most powerful conductor in the world." "In Salzburg, where opera stars are more important than movie stars, images of Jessye's face were everywhere in advance of her arrival," Mr. Gelb recalled. "The city's fleet of taxicabs had portraits of Jessye plastered on their sides, and posters of Jessye appeared in the front windows of just about every Salzburg store, from sausage stalls to lingerie shops." "All of this was making the imperious but aging Karajan, who ruled over the city from his perch at the Festspielhaus, a little insecure," Mr. Gelb said. So at their first rehearsal together Mr. Karajan ordered her to sit on the stage but not sing something Mr. Gelb described as "an unprecedented move that surely would have intimidated a lesser artist than Jessye Norman." Instead, he said, she was "serene and unflustered," and when it was time for the performance, she enjoyed a triumph. The actor and writer Anna Deavere Smith, a friend who often traveled to hear Ms. Norman sing, remembered an outdoor concert in Menton, France. The organizers arranged to have traffic stopped before the concert "to clear the air as much as possible" so auto fumes would not inhibit her singing. But there was little that they could do about a train that was scheduled to pass near the stage during the concert. "I do remember that when the train came through Menton, and Jessye was hitting a high note, I heard Jessye," Ms. Smith remembered. "She sang through it." She said that Ms. Norman had often spoken of "singing through things," and of honoring the music that came from slave ships, where people sang through their experience. "Until this morning, this very morning, I thought that Jessye's voice simply overrode the train," she said. "I don't think that any more. Now I understand that Jessye Norman had the ear, the timing, the love of song, the wish to share and the will to sing through, and with, the roaring train. In the same way, she integrated several musical histories to grace the world with the power of her voice."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Music
Benjamin Netanyahu is now close to becoming Israel's longest serving prime minister. Haunted by scandal, the Likud leader is a controversial figure at home and abroad. He makes headlines and arouses strong feelings because he deals with big and enormously divisive issues war and peace in the Middle East, the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the future of the Palestinians and the fate of the Jewish people, not necessarily in that order. He has a strong sense of history and especially of his own indispensable role in making it. Anshel Pfeffer's biography is superbly timed appearing as Israeli justice closes in on a man who has been in power for nearly a decade and is a major player in what he famously calls a "tough neighborhood" for far longer. Bibi, as he is known at home (though the use of his childhood nickname does not automatically imply affection), comes across as a more complex figure than his legendary mastery of the sound bite suggests. Family background and tribal politics are two of the main strands of his story. America, where he spent much of his early life and formative stages of his career, is another significant one. If there is a master key to cracking the Bibi code, this insightful and readable book argues, it is his identity as someone who has always stood outside the mainstream. This distance is something of a family inheritance. Netanyahu's grandfather and father were members of the right wing "Revisionist" movement at a time when Zionism was dominated by the left in Eastern Europe, America and Palestine. There is a familiar theme in Israel's history most eloquently evoked by the late Israeli writer Amos Elon that the state's founding fathers and their sons behaved very differently. In the case of the Netanyahus, the "inability to become part of the establishment," as Pfeffer puts it, made for unusual continuity between the generations. Netanyahu was born in Tel Aviv in 1949, a year after Israel's independence and what Palestinians call the Nakba ("catastrophe") forged one of the world's most intractable conflicts. His experience attending high school near Philadelphia, where his father had taken an academic job, instilled in him views that were out of sync with then "little" Israel's collectivist ethos. He has often been accused by his critics over the years of being more American than Israeli. His elder brother Yoni, an officer in the Israeli Army's elite Sayeret Matkal unit, was a powerful influence, one magnified by grief when Yoni was killed in the Entebbe hostage rescue mission in 1976. Bibi served in the same unit. His role commemorating the fallen hero provided his first intense exposure to public life.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
From around 250 pounds, or 333 Following the success of its first hotel in Paris, the Experimental Group, credited with putting the French capital on the world's craft cocktail map with its bars, made its foray into London's dense hotel market last June with the Henrietta. Dorothee Meilizchon, the group's longtime partner who designed their Grand Pigalle Hotel in Paris, was given carte blanche to dream up the interior for the property 's 18 rooms and suites and two story restaurant, set in two converted 19th century townhouses in Covent Garden. In a refreshing departure from the floral heavy English country style common to many of the classic properties nearby, Ms. Meilizchon went with an Art Deco scheme that incorporates nods to the neighborhood's former produce market, like a rich green color palette and terra cotta tiles, but hews to her signature penchant for graphic fabrics, vintage pieces and custom designed furnishings. And like its Parisian sibling, the Henrietta is designated a Bed Beverage by the group, which means creative cocktails take pride of place in the hotel lounge and in mini bars. In the heart of Covent Garden, steps from the piazza's high end boutiques and restaurants and only a five to 10 minute walk to West End theaters and museums like the Royal Opera House, the Lyceum Theater and the National Portrait Gallery.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
For Karen Arroyo, a medical assistant at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, the night hours now seem to collapse into one another. She moves among Covid 19 patients who are too weak to speak to her. She checks their vital signs and cleans them off when they're soiled. She wraps up those who are deceased and prepares them to be transported to the morgue. When Ms. Arroyo gets home at 7 a.m., she sprays her clothes down with Lysol so as not to expose her family. Ms. Arroyo tries not to let her three children see the full emotional weight of her work her fear of exposure to the virus, and grief from witnessing so much loss. But they can tell that their mom is struggling, and they try to distract her by playing her favorite songs and silly TikToks. Her kids have their own stress, too. Their schools have closed, and they miss seeing their friends; they worry about keeping up with classwork now that their lessons are all online. On her toughest days, Ms. Arroyo likes to imagine where her children were last summer, and where they'll hopefully be again soon: Camp Junior, a Fresh Air Fund camp in New York's Harriman State Park. She likes to close her eyes and picture them kayaking and giggling with cabin mates, far from the sounds of the city ambulances. "It's such an uncertain time, and I've lost so many people I know," Ms. Arroyo said. "My kids really need to be back at camp. They need to be around people and nature."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
The dramatic fortitude required to pull off a good Manon the troubled courtesan drawn between greed and love is fairly attainable. Kenneth MacMillan's earthy, naturalistic choreography reads like text. But for a great Manon, more is at stake. A ballerina doesn't so much dance the role as let it consume her body, bit by bit. It's like a fever. At the Metropolitan Opera House, where MacMillan's 1974 production returned to American Ballet Theater on Monday, Julie Kent loses herself in Manon's delirium. It's almost dizzying how her lush dancing, velvety on the surface, shelters the character's steely interior. As Ms. Kent glides from one act to the next the ingenue becomes a courtesan and, finally, a shattered streetwalker that tension instills her Manon with a wistful complexity. MacMillan's ballet, based on Abbe Prevost's 18th century novel, is heady stuff. Set to pieces by Massenet, this Ballet Theater revival features new sets and costumes by Peter Farmer. While Nicholas Georgiadis's original designs lent "Manon" a sumptuous, textural sense of wealth and poverty the set was embellished with rags Mr. Farmer's painted drops at times create a cartoonish effect. His costumes fare better: Roman Zhurbin, disturbing in a fabulous way as the lecherous Monsieur G. M. his breath was surely hot as he rained kisses on Ms. Kent's feet is resplendent in red velvet.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
As a teenager attending a public arts high school in Dayton, Ohio, Brandon Patrick George kept two newspaper clippings pinned to his bedroom wall. The first was a profile of the flutist Demarre McGill, who had performed a concerto with the local symphony orchestra. Mr. George's grandmother had saved the article for him, with its accompanying photograph of a classical musician who was Black just like him. The other was an obituary for Jean Pierre Rampal, whose trailblazing career reaffirmed the flute as a solo instrument. To Mr. George, now 34, the two clippings were like flares, lighting the way to his goal of becoming a flutist. Since then, he has toured some of the world's most important concert halls as a member of Imani Winds, an ensemble dedicated to championing a new and diverse repertory for wind quintet. But now he is stepping into the spotlight as a soloist with a debut recording, a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance. The first work is Bach's Partita in A minor. You developed your interpretation on the Baroque traverso flute, and only switched to modern flute days before the recording. Why? I really wanted to get into the sound world of what Bach would have been hearing. At every step of the instrument's development, we tried to get an extension of what it was already able to do; we were not trying to get rid of qualities, but add possibilities. Yes, the modern silver flute can be played with the warm tone of one that's made of wood. It takes a fraction of the air to make a sound on the Baroque flute versus the modern flute. So I was working with a slower air speed and using less air, which was allowing me to get a bit of a warmer, more delicate tone. Also, it's a dance piece. One thing that really confused me about listening to modern players approach the solo partita was that often it was played so freely and with so much rubato. What kind of dancing could anyone do to that? Next up is Pierre Boulez's Sonatine, played with the pianist Steven Beck. Your idol, Rampal, declared it unplayable. What draws you to this music, and how does it relate to the Bach? I studied with Sophie Cherrier at the Paris Conservatory; she was hired by Boulez to join his Ensemble Intercomtemporain. As part of my study with her I would go sit in on their rehearsals at the electronic music institute IRCAM. I had just turned 20. And I was hooked. In the Sonatine, Boulez is asking the flutist to go beyond what we think of the flute. This is an instrument that is capable of being beautiful, lyrical, charming but it can also be very aggressive. In the score he calls for a strident sound, he even goes as far as saying "violently." And he puts you against the piano part, and the piano is a monster. But despite all these things, it's basically a sonata. There are themes that come back, just like in Bach. There is this structure. Both Bach and Boulez are mathematicians at work. These pieces are puzzles. And while they are doing it, they are making you feel something. How does Kalevi Aho's "Solo III" fit into the historical timeline of the flute? To me, Kalevi's piece is almost like an aria. The first movement is a melancholy, grief stricken song. And he uses quarter tones. This is not something that we hear flutists play very often; the fingerings for getting those notes in between the notes are so complicated, and they vary from instrument to instrument. He's using them so you are rising to a point of shouting or really letting out a sigh of mourning. And because you are using unconventional fingerings, it changes the tone colors, too. The quality of the sound reminds me of the oldest instruments in history: flutes carved out of stone or bone. So you're seemingly playing an instrument with no keys out in the wilderness. And you're by yourself. With Prokofiev's Sonata in D, here accompanied by the pianist Jacob Greenberg, we are back in the familiar world of melodic and vivacious flute music. Why did you include it? I'm actively making a case for the flute as a great solo instrument. And Prokofiev was able to shine a light on how lyrical and how sweet it can be. Of course, there's lots of notes and virtuosity and the last movement shows him as a master of dance, of ballet. But it also made sense to me, taking people on this journey with these composers in dialogue, looking forward and looking back, to have this sonata written around World War II that is very Classical. This is the Prokofiev who wrote the "Classical" Symphony, putting his modern twist on harmony, looking back and writing a very elegant, almost Mozart like work. In your work with Imani Winds, there is none of that dialogue across centuries, because the group is committed to music of the present. Why the focus on living composers? Because you're able to see the incredible amount of diversity that you can have, just from playing composers of today and recent years. What we're after with Imani Winds is that we want every composer to be able to bring their story to the music that they write. When you are championing living composers you can have things that are thorny, luscious things that have improvisation and influences of jazz and popular music. Then you are also changing how classical music is perceived. We want the music that we play to reflect the world in which we live.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Music
What Democratic Control of the House Could Mean for Your Wallet The Democrats' success in winning back control of the House comes after an election in which economic issues were often overshadowed. Still, the change on Capitol Hill will make a difference on some spending priorities and tax policy. House Democrats are in a position to block Republicans from extending the temporary tax cuts and provisions enacted last year, and from giving further breaks to businesses. President Trump even talked at his Wednesday news conference about working with Democrats to raise business taxes to pay for a middle class tax cut. Teaming up to rebuild infrastructure is another possibility, the president said. The momentum on health care has shifted toward shoring up and improving the Affordable Care Act and reining in prescription drug costs , an issue that has caught Mr. Trump's attention as well. Republican efforts to shrink spending on what are known as entitlement programs Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid will also be shunted aside with Democrats pushing to patch up the safety net. Prospects for agreement, though, are still sketchy. Republicans and Democrats "can have overlapping positions," said William G. Gale, co director of the nonpartisan Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington. "But any compromise requires trust, and I just don't think there's any trust available right now." In any case, the larger economic story line of the year ahead is unlikely to be shaped by initiatives from Capitol Hill. The economy is strong, but growth is still expected to slow in 2019 as the extra juice injected through the tax cuts fades. Trade tensions are not going away. The jobless rate, already circling near a half century low, will probably inch down even more. Swoops in the stock market will continue to be unpredictable, and anxieties about global growth remain. Moreover, as Janice Mays, managing director in the accounting firm PwC's Washington National Tax Services, said: "You're going to have the same president." What kind of legislation can we expect? With control of only one chamber, and an antagonist in the White House, the Democrats won't be able to push through initiatives on their own. Instead, they are likely to highlight their priorities for the future by passing a lot of bills think of them more as billboards, designed to shape an agenda and deliver a message. An increase in the minimum wage, an expansion of health care coverage, and an infrastructure build a thon are obvious candidates. Democrats will be able to block efforts to trim safety net programs like food stamps and Medicaid. They are also likely to focus on investigating the administration. But prospects of any major legislative efforts look doubtful. Consider that a major tax overhaul was passed during the current congressional session, but much of the rest of the Republicans' legislative agenda stalled despite their control of both houses. A few weeks ago, Mr. Trump started talking about a 10 percent tax cut for the middle class. Then on Wednesday, he spoke of backtracking a bit on last year's corporate tax cut as part of a broader deal to give the middle class a tax cut. "If Democrats come up with an idea for tax cuts," he said, he would consider the options. "I would certainly be willing to do a little bit of an adjustment." Raising taxes would be a repudiation of the agenda of House Republicans. They laid out a plan in September to make permanent most of the temporary cuts and provisions for individuals and small businesses enacted last year. The parties could also find common ground on increased tax incentives for retirement savings. And there is a long list of technical fixes and extensions on Congress's to do list. Are there other possible areas of agreement? You may remember that for the blink of an eye last year, it seemed that the Democratic leadership in Congress might make a deal with Mr. Trump to tie tax reform to a proposal to repair roads, bridges, waterways and airports. Ford and Rivian no longer plan to work jointly on electric vehicles. Elizabeth Holmes took the stand in her trial. Follow along with our reporters. Ken Griffin, head of Citadel, bid highest for a copy of the Constitution. Infrastructure has often been hospitable ground for bipartisan initiatives. Mr. Trump has always been enthusiastic about building on a grand scale, and in many ways, the Democrats are more willing partners than Republicans, who have consistently objected to the kind of spending required. Mr. Trump noted the potential on Wednesday, saying, "We have a lot of things in common on infrastructure." The Democrats have put together a trillion dollar infrastructure proposal aimed at everything from broadband to waterways. But financing remains a problem. Even if the president and Democrats were willing, Senate Republicans would almost certainly object to any plan large enough to make it worth the Democrats' while, said Rick Lazio, a former Republican congressman who is now a senior vice president at Alliantgroup, a tax credit consulting firm. "With the economy slowing and deficits climbing," he said, "I don't just see Republicans going for a trillion dollar infrastructure bill." Nor is the atmosphere in Washington particularly conducive to cross the aisle collaboration. And Democrats may think twice about giving the president a victory before the 2020 election. A significant slowdown in the economy could always change that calculus. With the effects of the stimulus fading, Mr. Trump has stepped up complaints that the Federal Reserve's plan to raise interest rates will slow the economy. "If somebody offers him the opportunity to offset that with a spending bill, he would sign it, with no regard for the deficit," said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington who was an adviser to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Trump has paid little attention to critics in either party in pursuing a confrontational trade policy. The administration has the power to impose tariffs without congressional approval, and that is exactly what it has done. The 10 percent tariff the president put on 250 billion of Chinese goods in late September is scheduled to increase to 25 percent on Jan. 1. The White House has indicated that it will unveil tariffs on all other Chinese imports worth an additional 257 billion if talks between the United States and China at the G 20 summit this month fail to produce progress. Restricting the president's power on trade would require the approval of the House and a 60 vote majority in the Senate. That is unlikely. The Democrats have traditionally been less enamored with free trade than Republicans. (Their views, however, may evolve as the Republican Party under Mr. Trump continues its shift from free trade orthodoxy to protectionist measures.) Congress will have the chance to weigh in on the United States Mexico Canada Agreement, which is to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. The agreement has incorporated a number of provisions like higher pay for autoworkers that render it somewhat more palatable for the Democrats, Ms. Mays of PwC said. But the accord could come up for a vote before the Democrats take control, heading off any push by House Democrats for a tougher deal. Will the government keep running? There are two issues that Congress must confront next year: the debt ceiling and the legally mandated limits on spending approved annually by Congress. Failure to address the budget limits could prompt deep spending cuts and a partial government shutdown. And without an accord on the debt ceiling, the government would default on its payments and risk injuring its credit rating and causing a global panic. After President Barack Obama signed a bill requiring across the board spending cuts if the budget exceeded set limits, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have patched together compromise budgets and agreed to raise the spending caps. In general, the deals have involved Republican agreement to greater spending on domestic programs and Democratic acceptance of bigger defense budgets. That has meant larger deficits. "Both parties seem to care about the deficit when they're out of the power, but not so much when they're in power," said Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Since a shutdown can tar both parties, Democrats and Republicans are likely to strike some deal. "They'll lurch from deadline to deadline and do the minimum to get by," said Douglas Holtz Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and the president of the conservative American Action Forum. The wild card is Mr. Trump. The president has said that "I would have no problem doing a shutdown" to force Congress to fund a wall along the Mexican border. He may have even less of a problem with it if he could more easily blame the Democrats. "A shutdown is always a possibility, and the wall would mostly likely be the reason for that," Mr. Lazio of Alliantgroup said. "But Senate Republicans are less likely to barrel into a confrontation."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
PARIS Hell hath no fury like a fashion editor fired. At the couture shows in Paris this week, the front row was abuzz both conversationally and electronically with news of an incendiary interview with Lucinda Chambers, the former British Vogue fashion director, that was unusual in its frank criticism of the 21st century fashion ecosystem. Soon after its publication, however, and amid talk of legal action, the piece was taken down, only to sensationally resurface again less than 24 hours later. First published on Monday in Vestoj, an annual academic journal about fashion, the first person account charted Ms. Chambers's abrupt departure from British Vogue in May, as well as the broader brutality of the fashion business and the apparent power that heavyweight advertisers have over magazine publishers. The article was removed from Vestoj's website the same day it was published, and no reason was initially provided. But multiple screen captures and photographs of its contents continued to be widely circulated, testament to the fact that in the world of social media, nothing really disappears, and to the singularity of a fashion industry insider breaking ranks and shedding a negative light on the internal machinations of the sector. "A month and a half ago, I was fired from Vogue," Ms. Chambers told Vestoj's founder and editor in chief, Anja Aronowsky Cronberg, referring to her removal by Edward Enninful, who was hired to replace the longtime editor in chief, Alexandra Shulman, in April. "It took them three minutes to do it," Ms. Chambers said in the interview. "No one in the building knew it was going to happen. The management and the editor I've worked with for 25 years had no idea. Nor did H.R. Even the chairman told me he didn't know it was going to happen. No one knew, except the man who did it the new editor." After conceding that the fashion industry could "chew you up and spit you out," Ms. Chambers went on to criticize some of the "crap" magazine cover shoots that she had produced (saying the blame lay in part with Vogue's allegiances to major advertisers), and the mismanagement of the fashion brand Marni, where she had once worked. She also suggested that Vogue had become an increasingly uninspiring read. "Truth be told, I haven't read Vogue in years," she said. "Maybe I was too close to it after working there for so long, but I never felt I led a Vogue y kind of life. The clothes are just irrelevant for most people so ridiculously expensive." For more of the moment fashion coverage, subscribe to Vanessa Friedman's Open Thread Newsletter. "What magazines want today is the latest, the exclusive," she continued. "It's a shame that magazines have lost the authority they once had. They've stopped being useful. In fashion, we are always trying to make people buy something they don't need. We don't need any more bags, shirts or shoes. So we cajole, bully or encourage people" into buying. Many industry power players in Paris were tight lipped after the article was published, including Mr. Enninful, who said he had "no comment" about the interview as he sat in the front row of the Chanel show on Tuesday. An hour later, Conde Nast, the publisher that owns the Vogue titles, released a short statement that contradicted Ms. Chambers's account of the end of her employment there. "It's usual for an incoming editor to make some changes to the team," the statement said. "Any changes made are done with the full knowledge of senior management." Dozens of readers, meanwhile, were quick to praise Ms. Chambers's candor. Her profile outside the sector increased after her star turn last year in "Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue," a BBC documentary in which she won legions of fans thanks to her upfront approach, artistic vision and eccentric yet elegant fashion sense. And then at lunchtime on Tuesday, the tale took a further twist when the article reappeared online. "Due to the sensitive nature of this article, we took the decision to temporarily remove it from the site, but have now republished it in its entirety," Ms. Aronowsky Cronberg explained in an email to The New York Times.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, and other major oil producing countries are likely to increase their output in August, as coronavirus lockdowns ease and demand begins to rise again. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers are expected to modestly ease the record production cuts that they agreed to in April and later extended through July. A committee of key officials from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia will meet on Wednesday by video conference to discuss their approach to the market. The oil producing countries want to make sure that they maintain or increase their share of the recovering market. But analysts say that the actions by OPEC and its allies could be outweighed by the impact of the pandemic on demand. The International Energy Agency said oil demand fell by more than 16 million barrels a day in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2019. The Paris based group is forecasting a strong recovery but said the spread of the virus in countries like the United States and Brazil and elsewhere "is casting a shadow" over the outlook by raising the prospect of further lockdowns that could discourage driving and other activity.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Economy
In 2012, Parkview Healthcare Center's history of safety violations led California regulators to issue an ultimatum reserved for the most dangerous nursing homes. The state's public health department designated Parkview, a Bakersfield, Calif., nursing home, a "special focus facility," requiring it to either fix lapses in care while under increased inspections or be stripped of federal funding by Medicare and Medicaid a financial deprivation few homes can survive. After 15 months of scrutiny, the regulators deemed Parkview improved and released it from extra oversight. But a few months later, Elaine Fisher, a 74 year old who had lost the use of her legs after a stroke, slid out of her wheelchair at Parkview. Afterward, the nursing home promised to place a nonskid pad on her chair but did not, inspectors later found. Twice more, Ms. Fisher slipped from her wheelchair, fracturing her hip the final time. The violation drew a 10,000 penalty for Parkview, one of 10 fines totaling 126,300 incurred by the nursing home since the special focus status was lifted in 2014. While special focus status is one of the federal government's strictest forms of oversight, nursing homes that were forced to undergo such scrutiny often slide back into providing dangerous care, according to an analysis of federal health inspection data. Of 528 nursing homes that graduated from special focus status before 2014 and are still operating, slightly more than half 52 percent have since harmed patients or put patients in serious jeopardy within the past three years. These nursing homes are in 46 states. Some gave patients the wrong medications, failed to protect them from violent or bullying residents and staff members, or neglected to tell families or physicians about injuries, inspection records show. Years after regulators conferred clean bills of health, levels of registered nurses tend to remain lower than at other facilities. Yet, despite recurrences of patient harm, nursing homes are rarely denied Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. Consequences can be dire for patients like Ms. Fisher. "She used to go to bingo every day and she was very involved in the nursing home," said her son in law, Eric Powers. He said that although Ms. Fisher moved to a different nursing home for better care, "after this whole thing, she has to be on painkillers. She's mainly in her room all the time. It's the saddest thing in the world." Parkview's owner at the time of the violations, LifeHouse Health Services, did not respond to requests for comment. Dr. David Silver, who purchased Parkview last fall, said he had replaced top management and staff members who resisted a new approach. "We were not happy with the level of patient care," he said. Regulators rarely return homes to the watch list, instead issuing fines for subsequent lapses. Some homes continue operating despite multiple penalties. "When you're looking at these large corporations, that's just the cost of doing business," said Neil Gehlawat, who is representing Ms. Fisher in her pending lawsuit against Parkview. "It doesn't have the effect of changing behavior." Special focus facility status is reserved for the poorest performing facilities out of more than 15,000 skilled nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or C.M.S., assign each state a set number of slots, roughly based on the number of nursing homes. Then state health regulators pick which nursing homes to include. More than 900 facilities have been placed on the watch list since 2005. But the number of nursing homes under special focus at any given time has dropped by nearly half since 2012, because of federal budget cuts. This year, the 2.6 million budget allows only 88 nursing homes to receive the designation, though regulators identified 435 as warranting scrutiny. Especially troubling is that more than a third of operating nursing facilities that graduated from the watch list before 2014 still hold the lowest possible Medicare rating for health and safety: one star of five, the analysis found. C.M.S. defended the program, saying that nursing homes on the watch list showed more improvement than did comparably struggling facilities not selected for enhanced supervision. "C.M.S. continues to work to improve oversight to prevent any facility from regressing in performance," the statement said. Special scrutiny was lifted for about one fourth of the nursing homes in less than a year. Facilities need to pass only two consecutive inspections without major violations or substantiated complaints. "The period of time is just not long enough for them to show that they can sustain improvement," said Robyn Grant, director for public policy at the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long Term Care in Washington. In 2010, NMS Healthcare of Hagerstown, Md., left the watch list after 10 months. Last year, Maryland's attorney general sued the facility and its owner, Neiswanger Management Services, alleging that they evicted frail, infirm and mentally disabled residents "with brutal indifference" when their health coverage ran out or the facility had the opportunity to get someone with better insurance. Among those was Andrew Edwards, who was told by NMS that he was being discharged to an assisted living center, according to the lawsuit. Instead, in January 2016 the staff sent him to a crowded, unlicensed Baltimore rowhouse where the owner confiscated his bank card and withdrew 966 over his objections, the lawsuit said. Though NMS said it had arranged for his outpatient kidney dialysis, "that was false," Mr. Edwards said in an interview. He ended up in an emergency room after he missed his treatment. NMS maintains it stopped referring patients to that owner when told of the conditions. This month, C.M.S. expelled the Hagerstown nursing home from Medicare and Medicaid after citing it for more violations. The company is closing the facility. NMS, which still runs other homes in Maryland, has sued state regulators, claiming they are vindictively trying to drive the chain out of business.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
Faylene is a 35 year old chimpanzee now housed at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico. She is owned by the National Institutes of Health, along with 50 or so other chimpanzees there, most of whom have been used in biomedical research. The N.I.H. decided in 2015 that all federally owned or supported chimps would be transported to sanctuaries, which would seem to make pretty clear the future of about 270 chimps (as of March) it still owns or supports outside of sanctuaries. But nothing has been simple since the government first started seriously questioning the value of research in chimps in 2011. Gradually, in a series of steps, they first banned new biomedical research and then stopped all biomedical research on all N.I.H. chimps in 2015. That same year the Fish and Wildlife Service declared all chimps, even those in captivity, endangered, effectively banning all invasive research on all chimps, whoever owns them. Numbers change as chimps move to sanctuaries and die. But the N.I.H. census as of Jan. 1 counted 130 federally owned chimpanzees still housed at the Michael E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research in Bastrop, Tex., and 79 federally supported chimpanzees remaining at the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio. It counted 79 at Alamogordo, but at least 23 of those have since moved to a sanctuary. The latest twist in the seven year saga of changing the federal approach to chimpanzees in research is the question of whether chimps in ill health should be moved at all, or stay where they are, retiring in place. Earlier this month, the N.I.H. Council of Councils, a title that deserves some sort of award for cryptic naming, approved a working group report on the question. James Anderson, the N.I.H. director for program coordination, planning, and strategic initiatives, said the working group was established in the first place because of the need for a common framework to deal with moving old and ailing chimps. Each lab or facility had its own method for assessing chimp health, but the report sets out common criteria. The problem the N.I.H. faces, he said, is, "O.K., we're going to move all these chimps. But we don't want to kill them," in the process. The chimps suffer from age related diseases like diabetes and heart problems, and also from the effects of the experiments they were part of, infection with viruses, for example, although the lasting effects of those infections is hard to pin down. About 7.5 percent of the chimpanzees owned and supported by N.I.H. die each year, he said. The report urges, once again, that all chimps should be transferred to sanctuaries, unless such a move is "extremely likely" to shorten their lives. The council forwarded the report to the director of the N.I.H. There will be a 60 day public comment period and Francis Collins, director of the N.I.H., will likely make a final decision on the recommendations in September. This news might seem to be no news at all, in the sense that the movement of chimps to sanctuaries will continue along as it has been, with, it would seem, rare exceptions. But there are details to be worked out, and the fact that the working group was established at all indicates a deep difference in opinion about what a good end of life is for captive chimpanzees. Simply put, one side thinks that many chimps may be better off where they are, largely because of high quality veterinary care, and the potential stress of the health exams and transportation involved in a move. The other side holds that the relative freedom of a sanctuary like Chimp Haven, with outdoor spaces for most of the chimps to roam and more natural social grouping, is better even if the chimps have a short time to live. The difference is both philosophical and practical. Animal welfare activists, like Laura Bonar of Animal Protection of New Mexico, see the issue as the same as end of life care for human beings. Ms. Bonar has been one of the leaders in the effort to stop experimentation on chimpanzees and move them to sanctuaries. "I don't see anything that should preclude any of those chimpanzees from being transferred," she said. And, she added, the report of the working group "is just looking at the risk. What about the benefits?" Veterinarians in research labs see things differently. Charles River Laboratories, which runs the Alamogordo facility under a contract with the N.I.H. referred me to the N.I.H. for any and all questions. But at a recent visit to the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, I talked to Joyce Cohen, a veterinarian and associate director of animal resources there, who is not involved in the N.I.H. process because Yerkes owns its chimps. She argued that the care of chimpanzees at Yerkes and other research institutions has many benefits. In a recent email, she followed up on those comments. "Based on my knowledge of research centers and sanctuaries that care for chimpanzees," she wrote, "the differences in housing between the two settings are limited." And she emphasized the quality of veterinary care at research institutions, including easy access to specialists. She wrote, "The decision of whether to transfer a chimpanzee to a sanctuary or choose to retire it in place should be based on its individual veterinary, social and behavioral needs." The labs that once experimented on chimpanzees do so no longer, and the facility at Alamogordo has been run for years for chimps who are essentially retired. But it lacks the outdoor spaces of Chimp Haven and Ms. Bonar said there are important aspects of the sanctuary, like materials to create nests each day, expanded social groups, and a fundamental commitment to the well being of the chimps. She said she saw an ethical imperative to take even ill chimps to a sanctuary that was not addressed by the working group, which was asked only to look at the effects of a transfer on ailing chimps. "All of these chimpanzees were bred and put through torture and torment by humans," she said. "Where is the piece about what is owed to these individuals who have never had a chance at what a normal life would look like?" Ms. Bonar has sought documents on the Alamogordo chimps under the Freedom of Information Act. She sent me a copy of a July 6, 2017 email to Sheri Hild, an administrator at the N.I.H. from a Charles River employee (the name was redacted), that listed 57 chimps as ineligible for transfer because of health reasons. Faylene was one of them, because of her age and high blood pressure and a uterine mass. It would seem that the new guidelines would allow her to be moved, but as one of the participants in the recent N.I.H. council meeting noted in a comment on the report, the criteria are not exact. Paul Johnson, director of the Yerkes primate center, raised a concern about the phrase "extremely likely to shorten their lives." He thought it was "not clear what extremely likely means," and suggested it be replaced with something like, "at significantly increased risk for transfer based on standardized risk assessment criteria." What that would mean for Faylene is still an open question.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
It's lunchtime in Moscow and the line for Stolovaya 57 is out the door a 20 person long struggle for borscht, jellied pork, soft boiled vegetables and grated cabbage. Though it might be hard to imagine that people would wait any amount of time for a tray of food served by a stern faced Russian woman in a dowdy canteen, this restaurant in Moscow's historic GUM department store is proving otherwise. "Stolovaya" is Russian for "canteen" and the common term used for affordable state run diners before the collapse of the U.S.S.R. At these establishments Muscovites would gather for a filling meal complete with lemon tea and a guarantee of great value for money. Today, Stolovaya 57, with its drab 1970s interiors and the unimpressed lady counting up the plates of food on each person's tray with a wooden abacus before barking their total at them, is one of a growing number of restaurants catering to a Russian nostalgia for the "good old days" that have sprung up around Moscow. The longing for service without a smile is part of a general nostalgia in Russia. The independent polling organization the Levada Centre recently found that two thirds of Russians harbor feelings of regret toward the breakup of the Soviet Union. "Life was better back then," said 73 year old Vera Petrovna, who sat at the table across from me at Stolovaya 57, tucking into a plate of soggy looking dumplings. "I had my own career and I wasn't constantly looking for more. I wasn't even trying to make ends meet. I was rich with my cow, my plot of land and all the vegetables I could grow for myself in the summer." Customers choose three or four small dishes or judging by some diners' selections, as much as their tray can handle usually a vegetable or salad option ranging from over boiled carrots and broccoli to mayonnaise laden Russian salad, then a plate of meatballs, mashed potato and gravy or oven baked herring with rice pilaf. It's all served lukewarm, aside from the soup of the day, which perhaps is the most hearty and fulfilling option on the menu. At 470 Rubles for three courses and a tea (about 7.30), a meal here is perhaps the cheapest thing you can find in GUM, otherwise populated with upmarket designer stores like Bulgari and Gucci. When it opened in 2012, Stolovaya 57 was the first of the city's foodie spots to feed Muscovite's nostalgia, but since then, a number of Moscow restaurateurs have opened themed eateries that cater to the longing for a past before Putin. Here are five of the most notable. "The main purpose was not to make a historical restaurant for tourists, but I was inspired by the Russian avant garde movement at the beginning of the 20th century and went with that," said the owner, Alexander Rappoport, a lawyer turned restaurateur. Inside, the color red reigns. Red carnations a historic symbol of the Russian proletariat adorn each table under dramatic crimson chandeliers. Waitresses (and there are only waitresses here, no male servers to be seen) dressed in freshly starched maids uniforms complete with crochet trimmed aprons and pretty white bonnets, wear thick smears of red lipstick on stern expressions. Imitations of works by avant garde artists like Malevich and Petrov Vodkin look down on diners from the high sheen monochrome walls. Wes Anderson like in their color coordination, the interiors at Dr. Zhivago are enough of a draw, but the Grand Cafe's more than reasonably priced menu packed with modern Russian favorites like hot oxtail sandwiches (280 rubles) and perfectly poached eggs topped with red caviar (460 rubles) is another. "When we first opened, the number of restaurants serving Russian cuisine could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and that was in Moscow the capital of Russia with a multimillion population," said Mr. Rappaport, explaining the 'empty niche' that existed before Dr. Zhivago. Try the hearty "Guriev Zhivago" (200 rubles), a rich semolina porridge with blueberries, hazelnuts and candied fruit on a frosty morning or the cherry dumplings (280 rubles) if you have a sweet tooth. The Soviet Union was once famed for its particularly thick and indulgent ice cream since the state regulated its production in the 1950s, demanding that only fresh produce be used with strictly no chemical interference. Dressed in a Soviet era uniform of gray pinafore and hairnet, the ice cream sellers at GUM tout pastel hued ice cream and can be found dotted around the department store in ice cream stands that look like mini cottages, decorated with garlands of flowers. The original ice cream stand was established in 1954 but two more stands have opened in GUM since 2017 to cater to the ever growing number of people developing a taste for the ice cream recipes that haven't changed in half a century. For a fixed price of just 100 rubles, pick up a 'stakanchik', a cuplike cone filled with a single scoop of fruit sorbet, creme brulee or vanilla. Do not ask for seconds, in true Soviet fashion, the rule is one cone each. On a crisp spring afternoon, warm light spills across a packed terrace (in summer it is impossible to get a seat outside owing to the restaurant's position overlooking the Moscow River) dotted with lush greenery in terra cotta pots and hanging vines. While reminiscent of the dishes the chef ate on his holidays in the '60s, the menu reflects the restaurant's sunnier outlook, with ultra light salads (440 rubles) like beet leaves, walnuts and fresh spices and traditional fried trout in pomegranate sauce (890 rubles) a welcome change from dumplings. Chkmeruli, a type of Georgian, crispy fried, garlic chicken is the chef's favorite comfort food (990 rubles). His mother is in charge of all oven cooked dishes, with coriander spiked lobio a thick, red bean stew featuring the unexpected crunch of walnuts the best of her repertoire (520 rubles). It's popular with young Muscovites dipping into books and punching away at their MacBooks between slurping down their hot dumplings. Our waitress, dressed in a Soviet era maid's uniform of simple, starched, button down dress in black with matching frilled white apron took our order for two lots of pelmeni. We opted for a main course of soft stewed beef dumplings and a dessert serving of sweet cherry. Expect to pay Cold War prices for a hearty Russian feast (700 rubles for a main, dessert and a soft drink). 52 PLACES AND MUCH, MUCH MORE Follow our 52 Places traveler, Sebastian Modak, on Instagram as he travels the world, and discover more Travel coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter: Each week you'll receive tips on traveling smarter, stories on hot destinations and access to photos from all over the world.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
Most bad roommate stories end with someone moving out. Sometimes, it's the meddlesome party who is exorcised, but more often than not, the reasonable roommate is the one who leaves, sacrificing his space, and sometimes his security deposit, to salvage his sanity. As far as happy endings go, relief is usually the extent of it. But Alex Armlovich, a 26 year old fellow at the Manhattan Institute, got something akin to redemption. Several years ago, Mr. Armlovich left a 750 a month room in a four bedroom share in Bushwick, Brooklyn, feeling less aggrieved than lucky to have escaped the situation, even if his security deposit didn't go with him. One of his roommates, he said, had become increasingly unpleasant to live with after losing his job. First, the roommate shut off the cooking gas to spite his girlfriend, who also lived there, then the internet went out, at which point turnover in the other two bedrooms became brisk. The roommate and his girlfriend, with whom Mr. Armlovich had shared a previous apartment, were the only ones named on the lease, and Mr. Armlovich later found out that the couple were making a profit renting out the other rooms, including his. But it wasn't until the roommate removed all the apartment's smoke alarms and then filed a complaint with the city as an excuse to withhold rent that Mr. Armlovich said he decided it was time to go. That, he figured, was the end of things. But about a year later, he got a call from his former landlord, Kay Doobay, 72, a retired home health care worker who lives on the first floor of the two story house. The roommate hadn't paid rent in a year, she told Mr. Armlovich, and she was taking him to housing court. Would Mr. Armlovich be willing to testify that the upstairs apartment had been in good condition, with smoke detectors, when he lived there? Mr. Armlovich, who had found Ms. Doobay kind and generous (she often cooked dinner for them and once gave a subletter sleeping on the floor a futon), told her he would. After Mr. Armlovich testified, the roommate was ordered to pay six months of back rent half the amount he owed, according to Ms. Doobay. A few months later, Ms. Doobay approached Mr. Armlovich with his own deal: a reduced rent of 350 a month in exchange for finding and vetting other tenants for the top floor apartment. Mr. Armlovich agreed, on the condition that they charge reasonable rates for the other rooms. He didn't want to have his reduced rent come at the expense of others, he said. And since he would be selecting his roommates, he felt lower rents would ensure a good pool of people from which to choose. He moved back into the apartment two and a half years ago, quickly finding roommates through friends and Bushwick Boarding Bazaar, a Facebook group. The largest room rents for 850 a month, while the two smaller ones are priced at 700 a month, all utilities included. Ms. Doobay also provides all the furnishings, including a sectional couch and a TV in the living room. And, not infrequently, a home cooked Indo Guyanese dinner. "Kay is very doting," Mr. Armlovich said. "She even switches out the curtains seasonally. She has winter curtains, Easter curtains, summer curtains." Emily Hamilton, 21, who moved into one of the 700 a month rooms this May, said she was pleasantly surprised to find a setup that felt so "homelike." "When I lived in Queens before, the apartment never felt very secure," she said. "Here, we all know Kay. She'll come up and be like, 'I just made dinner for you.' One day, I just mentioned, 'Oh, a plant would be nice here.' And the next day, there's a plant." After a long stretch of departing roommates slotting in their friends, this year Mr. Armlovich has had to earn his keep: Two of the roommates moved into a higher end apartment complex in the neighborhood, and another left to live with her boyfriend.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
It could be a Zen koan: if everybody in the class gets an A, what does an A mean? The answer: Not what it should, says Andrew Perrin, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "An A should mean outstanding work; it should not be the default grade," Mr. Perrin said. "If everyone gets an A for adequate completion of tasks, it cripples our ability to recognize exemplary scholarship." As part of the university's long effort to clarify what grades really mean, Mr. Perrin now leads a committee that is working with the registrar on plans to add extra information probably median grades, and perhaps more to transcripts. In addition, they expect to post further statistics providing context online and give instructors data on how their grading compares with their colleagues'. "It's going to be modest and nowhere near enough to correct the problems," Mr. Perrin said. "But it's our judgment that it's the best we can do now." With college grades creeping ever higher, a few universities have taken direct action against grade inflation. Most notably, Princeton adopted guidelines in 2004 providing that no more than 35 percent of undergraduate grades should be A's, a policy that remains controversial on campus. Others have taken a less direct approach, leaving instructors free to award whatever grades they like but expanding their transcripts to include information giving graduate schools and employers a fuller picture of what the grades mean. Dartmouth transcripts include median grades, along with the number of courses in which the student exceeded, equaled or came in lower than those medians. Columbia transcripts show the percentage of students in the course who earned an A. At Reed College, transcripts are accompanied by an explanatory card. Last year's graduating class had an average G.P.A. of 3.20, it says, and only 10 percent of the class graduated with a G.P.A. of 3.67 or higher. "We also tell them that in 26 years, only 10 students have graduated with a perfect 4.0 average and three of them were transfers who didn't get all those grades at Reed," said Nora McLaughlin, the registrar at Reed. "We wanted to put the grades at Reed in context to be sure that graduate schools, particularly professional schools where G.P.A. is very much an important factor, understand how capable our students are." Especially in hard economic times, students worry that professors who are stingy with the A's will leave them at a disadvantage in graduate school admissions and employment. No wonder, then, that many students visit Web sites like RateMyProfessors.com when registering, perhaps to help them avoid tough graders. Cornell's experience shows the impact and the unintended consequences that grading information can bring. In 1996, Cornell's faculty adopted a "truth in grading" policy, and median grades were posted online starting in 1998. The policy called for median grades to be shown on transcripts as soon as student records technology made that possible, but that did not happen until a full decade later. And while the median grades were available only online, a study by three Cornell economists found a large increase in enrollment in courses with a median grade of A further driving grade inflation. "At least when the grades were only online, the main users of the information seemed to be students shopping around for easier classes," said Talia Bar, one of the three economists. Ms. Bar said there is no consensus on the right way to grade. "I might see a course of 200 people with a median grade of A as not right, but others might see it as good," she said. But at least in the realm of theory, there is widespread agreement that providing extra context on transcripts is a good thing. "It's generally recognized that an A by itself is not very meaningful," said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. "Giving statistical context to assist recipients of a transcript in understanding the grades is definitely helpful." But as a practical matter, it is not so easy. "It's complicated, it's controversial, and it runs into campus political opposition from all sorts of directions you might not anticipate," Mr. Nassirian said, adding that transcripts with too much extra information can become unwieldy. Studies of grade inflation have found that private universities generally give higher grades than public ones, and that humanities courses award higher grades than science and math classes. Mr. Perrin's concern with grading standards began 15 years ago, when he was a teaching assistant at the University of California, Berkeley. "I would grade papers, run the grades by the professor and then give them out, and long lines of students would appear outside my office to say I graded too hard," Mr. Perrin said. Now, at North Carolina, Mr. Perrin is convinced that grading problems are pervasive. "Anything that uses G.P.A is unfair, because a given student can be penalized or rewarded in grading just because of the mix of professors or the strength of the schedule," Mr. Perrin said. "Some instructors grade harder than others. Some courses are harder than others, and some departments are harder than others." The pending changes at North Carolina are the university's latest effort to improve its grading system. Since 1967, when the average G.P.A. was 2.49, grade inflation at the university has been well documented. In 2000, the faculty council heard a proposal to adopt a target average G.P.A. of 2.6 to 2.7, but the idea was dropped. A few years later, the faculty narrowly voted down an ambitious proposal for an adjusted G.P.A., called the "Achievement Index," that would reflect not only the students' performance in their courses, but also the rigor of those courses. At U.N.C., the average G.P.A was 3.21 in the fall of 2008, up from 2.99 in 1995. A's have become the most frequent grade, and together, A's and B's accounted for 82 percent of the 2008 grades. Last spring, the faculty called for the creation of Mr. Perrin's committee to help the registrar give context to undergraduate grades by providing statistics on what percentage of students got each letter grade, what percentage are majors in the department and what percentage are seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen. "We seem to have a pretty good consensus here now," said Holden Thorp, the chancellor. "What I like about this approach is that it allows faculty who have a certain philosophy of grading to stick with it, as long as they're O.K. with having it be shown. If somebody gets an A in a class with a lot of A's and that's put out there, that's good. If the chemists are willing to tell everybody that they grade harshly, that's good too."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
Lamb stew, hearty and fragrant, cooked until meat falls off the bone and served alongside thick, chewy noodles this is the type of food that cuts through northern China's winter chill. Further south, warmer climates support more crops. Fresh, stir fried greens might accompany dim sum in Guangdong or punctuate a spicy meal in Sichuan. Lychee, durian and other fruits ripen the air. Comb through the DNA of Chinese people and you'll find a trace of this culinary story, according to the largest scale genetic study of Chinese people to date, published Thursday in Cell. The authors reported that a mutation of FADS2, a gene involved in metabolizing fatty acids, is more common in northern than southern populations, indicating a diet richer in animal content. It is one of an assortment of findings resulting from a sweeping analysis of genetic information from 141,431 participants. The approach a novel one using data from prenatal blood tests came with a trade off. Though researchers were able to cheaply sequence a large number of genomes, they had access to a small fraction of each person's genome, much less than what genome wide studies typically look at. Nevertheless, the study suggests that simple clinical tests can be an effective resource for surveying the genetics of large populations and generating hypotheses for study, said Ekta Khurana, an assistant professor of computational genomics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York who was not involved in the research. "This can be expanded to include not just mothers, but all different people," she said. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. The authors used data from noninvasive prenatal testing for fetal trisomy, a condition that can cause Down syndrome. Pioneered in China, the test analyzes free floating bits of fetal DNA in the mother's blood and is administered for 100 or less throughout the country, said Xin Jin, a research scientist at BGI, a genome sequencing firm in Shenzhen, and an author of the paper. High quality, whole genome sequencing, in comparison, costs about 1,000 per person. The data set, which represented nearly every Chinese province and 37 out of 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, eclipsed many genome wide studies, which often include only thousands, or tens of thousands, of participants. But the team's analysis covered a mere 10 percent or less of each person's genome, while most rigorous genome wide studies cover 80 percent or more, said Anders Albrechtsen, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen and an author of the study. To overcome this, the researchers relied on heavy computation and statistics, designing custom software that could infer missing DNA. They reported many preliminary but interesting insights. For instance, the Han comprising 92 percent of China's population were quite genetically homogeneous, mostly differing between the North and South. This likely reflects governmental policies and job opportunities since 1949, which have largely driven migration eastward or westward, said Siyang Liu, a senior research scientist at BGI and lead author of the paper. Her team identified several gene variants differing in frequency between northern and southern populations, related to immune response, bipolar disorder and earwax type. Minority ethnic groups showed more genetic divergence than the Han, particularly Uyghurs and Kazakhs in Xinjiang and Mongols in Inner Mongolia. This is noteworthy because sequencing studies are rarely done on ethnic minorities, even though findings can have important medical implications, said Charleston Chiang, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine who was not involved in the research. The researchers also diagnosed viruses in the mothers' blood by checking DNA that did not align to the human genome against a database of viral sequences. They found a relatively high prevalence of hepatitis B and other viruses that can affect pregnancies, as well as a gene variant associated with roseola, which causes a high fever and rash in babies.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
Three years ago, after Clemson defeated college football's signature team, Notre Dame, through a South Carolina downpour, Coach Dabo Swinney coined a kind of motto for his program, describing the attitude that would bring the second school of a smallish Southern state to the sport's heights. "Tonight it was B.Y.O.G. bring your own guts," he said then. Monday night's 44 16 victory over top seeded Alabama (14 1), which gave the Tigers their second national championship in three seasons, was not so much about guts but domination. The dominance began on Alabama's first drive which ended abruptly when the sophomore cornerback A. J. Terrell intercepted Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa, the Heisman Trophy runner up, and took it 44 yards for a touchdown and basically never stopped. The victory came a little more than a week after Clemson (15 0) ran through Notre Dame in the national semifinals. That wasn't a B.Y.O.G. type game. Rather, it was a 30 3 demolition. Yet the roots of these performances lay in an incredibly gutsy decision Swinney made, not amid the playoff's high drama but during late September's uncertainty. Clemson is the plucky underdog whose fans drive around with little tiger tails trailing the backs of their trucks. The Tigers stampeded their way through the season and the College Football Playoff with an outrageously gifted freshman quarterback named Trevor Lawrence, plus plenty of brawn and speed exemplified by a veteran defensive line stocked with future N.F.L. players, and a freakishly talented young receiving corps. Lawrence was the game's obvious star, completing 20 of 32 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns. "We're just little ol' Clemson," said Swinney, as though self conscious of both the narrative and how thoroughly his team had just smashed it. He added: "We're not supposed to be here, but we are. But we are. And beat Notre Dame and Alabama to do it." Clemson had plenty of guts this season; Swinney just showed them very early on. Much the way Alabama Coach Nick Saban swapped out his tried and tested sophomore quarterback, Jalen Hurts, during last season's national championship for the barely seen freshman Tagovailoa at halftime, Swinney exchanged at quarterback a senior who had started the previous season and won the Tigers their third straight conference title for a true freshman. This decision meant everything. Under that earlier quarterback, Kelly Bryant, Clemson was about as badly crushed by Alabama in last year's national semifinals, 24 6, as Alabama was crushed by Clemson in this year's final. Bryant is a fine college quarterback, but even Saban acknowledged that Lawrence's ability to laser the ball dozens of yards up the field was a game changer. "Trevor Lawrence is very good at throwing the fade ball, back shoulders, whatever it is," Saban said, adding that Clemson receivers Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross, who combined for 234 yards and two touchdowns on nine catches, "are really, really good at making plays." Most people watching Monday night's game had missed Swinney's momentous decision to go with Lawrence over Bryant, because the decision came not at halftime, but almost four months ago. And it might have been even gutsier than Saban's masterstroke last year. In late September, Swinney announced that Lawrence, who came out of a prominent Georgia high school program as one of the highest rated recruits ever, would start against Syracuse in the Tigers' fifth game of the season, over Bryant, who had started the first four. "All I envisioned was him starting that next week against Syracuse," Swinney said a few days ago. Swinney knew the timing of his announcement would enable Bryant to transfer under a new N.C.A.A. rule that permits football players to redshirt (essentially get a do over) during a season in which they appear in as many as four games. If Bryant stopped playing right then and there, he would be able to play one more season almost certainly elsewhere. It was a menschy move by Swinney. It was also incredibly risky. For one thing, Lawrence was not at that point an obvious improvement over Bryant. Playing limited snaps, sometimes against inferior competition, in those first four games, Lawrence had looked ... fine. He accumulated 137 yards and three touchdowns against tiny Furman, and 194 yards, a touchdown and an interception against Georgia Southern. In Clemson's toughest game in that stretch a 2 point road victory over Texas A M Lawrence threw the ball just nine times, and in the fourth quarter, with the Tigers ahead by 8 points, it was Bryant whom Swinney sent onto the field to hold the lead. More important, if Bryant elected to transfer, then Swinney's Plan B would transfer with him. The new backup would be Chase Brice, a serviceable but far from standout signal caller. With Lawrence as the starter, Clemson had no real safety net. It did not matter to Swinney. "My job is to make decisions that put the team in the best possible path to win," he said Monday night of Lawrence, "and after four games he was the best player." So Swinney went with Lawrence, and a few days later, Bryant did indeed decide to transfer. He will play his final season at Missouri. "The situation was, I got the opportunity to start that week, and that was really it," Lawrence recalled Monday night. Lawrence's success heralds a trend. More true freshmen will start at quarterback for more contenders. Georgia nearly won last year's title with a true freshman, Jake Fromm, under center. Thanks to early enrollments, true freshmen are not truly freshmen. At this point, Lawrence has been enrolled at Clemson and practicing with the team for 12 months. "We don't really look at it as being a freshman anymore," Brice, the backup, said last month. "You see tons of freshmen around the country playing early." Additionally, college schemes have evolved to resemble high school ones more and more. Quarterbacks benefit from year round seven on seven competitions and private trainers. It all makes the transition to college smoother. "I think you'll see more and more young quarterbacks be able to contribute early on," Saban said Monday. When Swinney made the decision to go with Lawrence, more was at stake than simply the 2018 season. Despite the title after the 2016 season, the two championship games and the three consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference titles in a magical three year run, there seemed something surreal about Clemson in that period. For two seasons, Clemson enjoyed the services of quarterback Deshaun Watson, a two time Heisman runner up. Florida State, the traditional power in its division, had been uncharacteristically down. A flameout this season might have made Swinney's run seem like ol' Clemson's quaint interloping upon the College Football Playoff, the rightful preserve of blue bloods like Notre Dame and Ohio State and Oklahoma and Georgia and, of course, Alabama, Swinney's own alma mater. Instead, on Monday night Lawrence solidified Clemson's place in that pantheon while becoming the first true freshman quarterback to lead his team through most of the season all the way to the national title since Jamelle Holieway did it for Oklahoma in 1985. Holieway is probably a nice guy and was a terrific athlete, but Oklahoma ran the option, and Holieway was asked to throw the ball 58 times all year (he connected on a little less than half of those attempts). That makes Lawrence's achievement a pivot point and it made Swinney's gambit that much more dangerous, and more gutsy, too.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
PARIS As Wernher von Braun, the rocket scientist, used to say, the most overwhelming obstacle to exploring the cosmos isn't gravity. It's the paperwork. Not to mention the money. So when Bas Lansdorp began dreaming more than a decade ago about establishing the first permanent human colony on Mars, his primary focus was not on overcoming the technological challenges. It was the business model. "All the technology we need exists already or nearly exists," he said. "I just couldn't figure out how to finance it." Mr. Lansdorp, a 36 year old Dutch engineer and entrepreneur, does not have the name recognition of Dennis Tito, the American financier and space tourist, who announced a plan last month to send two people on a round trip Mars flyby in 2018. Nor can Mr. Lansdorp hope to match the deep pockets of Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, who has proposed sending as many as 80,000 people to the Red Planet and charging them 500,000 each. Richard Branson, the Virgin entrepreneur, has space aspirations, too. But Mr. Lansdorp is convinced that he has found the perfect plan to raise the 6 billion he says he needs to land an initial crew of four people on the Martian surface by 2023. The entire mission from the astronauts' selection and training to their arrival and construction of a permanent settlement would be broadcast as a worldwide, multiyear reality television show. "How many people do you think would want to watch the first humans arrive on Mars?" Mr. Lansdorp asked in a recent interview, recalling the more than 600 million viewers who were said to have tuned in to the grainy, black and white images of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon in 1969. "This will be one of the biggest events in human history," he said. "We are talking about creating a major media spectacle, much bigger than the moon landings or the Olympics, and with huge potential for revenues coming from TV rights and sponsorships." For the record, Mr. Lansdorp will be executive producer, not an actor, in this extravaganza: He does not plan to make the trip himself. And despite the significant skepticism his plan has raised in some quarters, he cites his success in starting and cashing out of the wind energy company Ampyx Power a company trying to use pilotless, tethered aircraft to generate electricity as evidence that he can turn lofty ideas into financially viable realities. Mr. Lansdorp declined to say how much he had made selling his stake in Ampyx, a privately held company, other than indicating it had been enough that he would not have to work for at least several years. With just 10 years to select and prepare its first crew, the project, called Mars One, expects to begin recruiting prospective astronauts online this spring. Applicants must be at least 18 years old, be physically fit and speak English, and they must be willing to live out the final selection process and an eight year training program not to mention the Mars mission itself under the constant stare of a television camera. No specific technical skills or experience are required, but be sure to read the fine print: For reasons of cost and logistics, this is a one way trip. "Reality meets talent show, with no ending and the whole world watching," is how Paul Romer, a Dutch television executive and the co creator of the original "Big Brother" series, describes it in an endorsement on the Mars One Web site. These days, Mars One is raising more eyebrows than cash. Until this year, the project was financed almost entirely by Mr. Lansdorp himself. Last month, Mars One secured its first commitments from outside investors, and those funds will be used to finance the first conceptual design studies for the various hardware components, including the spacecraft and lander, life support systems, supply vehicles and communications systems. The site has received about 1.7 million unique visitors since it went live last June, according to Google Analytics. But more than 8,000 people, from more than 100 countries, have already e mailed resumes since online recruiting began in January. Dr. Norbert Kraft, a specialist in aerospace medicine and a former researcher at NASA, as well as the space agencies of Japan and Russia, leads a team of experts who will vet applicants for their basic suitability. "This is a big trip," Dr. Kraft said. "They will have to be really ready for that physically and psychologically." Kevin Spacey was ordered to pay 31 million to the 'House of Cards' studio after sexual harassment allegations. Netflix buys a visual effects company in a move to support its global ambitions. The pool will be narrowed to a few hundred candidates by 2014, at which point Mars One hopes to begin televising the process in select countries. Mr. Lansdorp has set up Mars One as a nonprofit foundation, but it is the controlling shareholder in a for profit company, Interplanetary Media Group, that owns the exclusive right to sell mission broadcast and advertising rights. Just how much those rights might be worth is anyone's guess but Mars One is betting that it is a lot. Mr. Lansdorp cites a report published last year by the International Olympic Committee that said the winter and summer Games three week events, staged every two years had generated about 5 billion in revenue from 2009 to 2012, of which more than 3.9 billion had come from the sale of broadcast rights. The more direct comparison, reality TV, has generated significant revenue for broadcasters for years. Although past its peak, the British version of "Big Brother" generated in 2006 as much as a fourth of the annual advertising revenue for the country's publicly owned Channel 4 network. Viacom, the American media company, attributed much of the double digit growth in its cable television ad sales in recent years to the success of "Jersey Shore," which ended a six year run on MTV television in December. Still, not everyone is convinced that Snooki in Space would fly. "The idea of flying to Mars one way is not as outlandish as it may appear," said Robert Zubrin, former chairman of the United States National Space Society and a longtime advocate of a privately financed human mission to Mars. And he argues that it could be done with a budget "in the single digit billions" of dollars. "But I am very skeptical that it can be financed by broadcast revenues," he said. "The initial mission could get great deal of attention. But how long could you sustain interest in a Martian 'Little House on the Prairie' at the level of revenues that would be required?" Mr. Lansdorp winces a little at the reality show label. "It's a very difficult tradeoff between the goals of the project and to finance this mission," he conceded. "This is not 'Big Brother Goes to Mars.' It's important this is treated as a very serious project." It is for that reason, he said, that Mars One is focusing first on gaining credibility with prospective investors, sponsors and aerospace suppliers. Mr. Lansdorp declined to say how much he had budgeted for the initial publicity campaign, but experts like Mr. Zubrin estimate that it might take 30 million to 50 million. Peter Meijer, chief operating officer of the Dutch unit of Trifork, a software developer based in Copenhagen, said his company which is also supplying Web host and network technology for Mars One agreed to invest an undisclosed sum with the goal of raising its own profile through association with the mission. "There are not many of these kind of projects around," Mr. Meijer said. "For us, it is a chance to become attached to this not only from a technology perspective, but also to benefit from the marketing and branding exposure." Meanwhile, discussions are under way with prospective suppliers. Mars One says it held initial talks with about a half dozen companies, including big industry players like SpaceX, for its heavy rocket launchers, and Thales of France, for its pressurized cargo vehicles. Next week, Mr. Lansdorp said, he will announce Mars One's first supplier contract, with a U.S. aerospace company. Mr. Lansdorp is more pragmatic than wistful about why he does not plan himself to migrate to Mars. "When I was 20 years old and I first started dreaming of this, I thought I would go myself. But in the 15 years that have passed since, I know a lot more about myself," he said. "I am an entrepreneur. I am really not the right kind of person. I am impatient, and impatience is one of the worst character flaws for someone in a small group." Plus: "I have a really nice girlfriend and I know she would never come with me." Few such constraints would hold Junwei Cheng earthbound. Mr. Cheng, who has applied for the Mars mission, is a 26 year old metals importer from Taiyuan, a city of four million people in northeast China. He admits that he is not much of a people person but says he is used to living in cramped surroundings. "Sometimes when I take the subway or the bus, I can't even find space to put my feet," he said. And moving to another planet would not require a big personal sacrifice, Mr. Cheng added, "because I have not had a girlfriend for a while."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Global Business
I see that the Trump administration wants to zero out funding for coronavirus testing. I trust this means that all testing of White House staff and visitors will end. After all, according to President Trump's reasoning, if no one around him is tested, there will be no cases of Covid 19 near him. I am sure we would all be reassured to know that Mr. Trump and his family are no longer burdened by a constant barrage of test results and are, like so many of the rest of us, protected by absolute ignorance of how close the disease may be to them. Let me get this straight: A president who not long ago was a vaccine skeptic, saying that he knew people whose children became autistic after getting vaccinated with vaccines that had been meticulously tested, took years to perfect and had long track records in use now wants us to take a vaccine developed at "warp speed" by cutting all sorts of corners so he can be re elected? I don't think so. While I was at the bank the other day a guy behind me in line was having a loud conversation with the security guard. He was telling the guard that the Covid 19 virus was a hoax and would disappear after the election and that the whole pandemic was really a plot against President Trump by the Democrats in order to win the election. He went on to say that people going to the hospital were falsely claiming that they had the virus, whereas they really had some other more common ailment.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
ISTANBUL A procession of cars filled with men waving the flag of Azerbaijan, honking and whistling drove through the Kumkapi area in Istanbul, which is home to the Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul and many Armenian families. The car rally, on Sept. 28, was a provocation, a threat that filled my community, the tiny Armenian community 60,000 out of 83 million in Turkey with fear. After a decades long fitful truce, the conflict over the status of Nagorno Karabakh a breakaway Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan between Azerbaijan and Armenia resumed last month, leading to a large military deployment, destruction of civilian centers and thousands of casualties. In this war, Turkey strongly supports Azerbaijan, with which it shares ethnic bonds, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed global calls for a cease fire. He has supported Azerbaijan with defense technology, drones and propaganda machinery. This strategy is in line with Mr. Erdogan's government's decision to increase our country's military footprint abroad Syria, Libya and the eastern Mediterranean to enhance Turkey's position as a regional power. But there is also a direct correlation between the Turkish government's desire to delve into conflicts abroad and the closing down of the democratic space at home. I have witnessed and experienced this myself, as an Armenian from Turkey and as a member of the Turkish Parliament, representing the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir from the People's Democratic Party, or the H.D.P., which brought together the country's Kurds, leftists, environmentalists, feminists and minorities in opposition to Mr. Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or the A.K.P., and its rule. Turkey's involvement in regional conflicts has whipped up nationalist fervor, obliterated space for advocates of peace and democracy and deepened a sense of fear and precarity among the minority populations. In the past few weeks, Turkish television networks controlled by the government and pro government daily newspapers have adopted a hypernationalist tone, describing Armenia as the enemy, and giddily broadcasting and printing images of Armenian targets destroyed by Turkish drones. A month or so earlier, the Turkish government clashed with Greece and Cyprus over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean. For a few weeks, Greece was the enemy. On Sept. 27 I criticized Turkey's warmongering in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on Twitter, arguing that Ankara should stop throwing gasoline on that fire, as there will be no winners in a war and both Armenian and Azeri people will lose. I urged my countrymen, "We must do what we can for a cease fire." Because of my country's authoritarian turn, my background and political leanings are enough to turn me into a target. On Oct. 5, the Eurasia Institute of Strategic Affairs, a nationalist outlet, published a full page advertisement in support of Azerbaijan in Sabah, a newspaper with links to the Erdogan family. It was signed by former and current members of the Turkish Parliament from the A.K.P. The advertisement in Sabah accused me of being pro Armenian and of committing treason, calling on the Turkish judiciary and the Parliament to "fulfill its duty." In the current Turkish political climate, it sounded like a call to remove my immunity parliamentarians in Turkey have immunity from prosecution so that I can be put on trial for my peacenik stance. Yet I have filed a legal complaint about the advertisers and continued to call for peace in the Caucasus. As an Armenian from Turkey and a descendant of genocide survivors, I know very well the meaning of this message. In 2007, Hrant Dink, a celebrated and outspoken Armenian journalist from Istanbul, who edited the Agos newspaper, was assassinated by a Turkish nationalist in a similar period of heightened nationalism. Mr. Dink once described Turkey's Armenian minority as "living with the trepidations of a dove." The darkness that engulfed Turkey seems to widen every day. In the past few weeks, dozens of my friends from the H.D.P., including Ayhan Bilgen, the elected mayor of Kars, on the border with Armenia, have been arrested on trumped up terrorism charges, ostensibly for organizing street protests in 2014 across the country. The protests were a response to the government's nonchalance in the face of the siege of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani by the Islamic State. Seven H.D.P. parliamentarians, including me, are being accused of "attempting to overthrow the constitutional order" in an indictment, and a prosecutor is preparing to ask the Parliament to remove our immunity, which will then allow the police to arrest us. This was already done to Selahattin Demirtas, a former co chairman of the H.D.P., and thousands of other H.D.P. members and officials who are in jail. It's not hard to see that the political intention here is to paralyze our party the third largest in Turkey and weaken the opposition. Despite the recent threats, I was encouraged by thousands of people calling, writing and gathering signatures expressing their support for me. The other day, someone cleaning the streets shouted at me, "My deputy, if they take you away one day and you cannot see us, know that we are here." And I do. You may wonder why we continue to struggle for democracy in this country. Things were not always so dark in Turkey. A decade ago, Turkey was a relatively promising democracy, on path for European Union membership and calling for regional peace. It coined the "zero problems with neighbors" policy, and at one point, we were even close to normalization of relations with Armenia. We founded the H.D.P. in that hopeful period in 2012. Our mission was to support the peace process with the Kurds and to introduce a pluralist voice in our country's stifling political scene. I entered the Parliament in 2015, exactly a century after my great grandfather was killed in the Armenian genocide. My goal was to help build a democracy strong enough, and vast enough, so that Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Alevis, minorities and women would live without any fear, as equal citizens. I yearned and worked for Turkish Armenian reconciliation. When I met Armenians during my travels abroad, I argued that this struggle for the heart and soul of Turkey was important because only a democratic Turkey could face its past and only then would our collective healing start. But Turkey took a path toward authoritarianism after 2015, and our basic civil rights are on hold today. President Erdogan, once an advocate of European Union led reforms and a peace process with the Kurds, over the past decade has established a one man regime, moved away from democracy and entered a coalition with hard right Turkish nationalists. Greater militarism has followed. Militant nationalism and authoritarianism can neither solve our domestic problems nor help the region. A better choice for my country will always be to seek regional peace and cultivate better ties with our neighbors. Turkey must encourage Armenia and Azerbaijan to return to peace talks and facilitate a lasting settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh dispute. On Saturday, Russia, which has a defense agreement with Armenia and good relations with Azerbaijan, brokered a cease fire between the two countries. This highlighted Russia's role in the region and has left Turkey out of the diplomatic game. If President Erdogan wants to be relevant, he should stop inflaming tensions in the Caucasus and support the cease fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia. But I am not naive, and I know that only a democratic Turkey can help stabilize its region and act as a responsible member of the international community. That is why I will not remain silent in the face of threats and will keep on fighting for democracy here and peace abroad. Garo Paylan is a member of the Turkish Parliament from the People's Democratic Party. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters nytimes.com. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter ( NYTopinion) and Instagram.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
Two new Manhattan hotels feature one of the hottest and most highly coveted amenities in the hospitality industry: rooftop venues that offer food, drink, entertainment and spectacular views. The 189 room Mondrian Park Avenue, at 30th Street and Park Avenue South, occupies what was once a 15 story office building, to which five stories have been added. The hotel's former rooftop is now a lounge called Fifteen Stories, with a 3,000 square foot space enclosed by a glass structure and a 2,000 square foot wraparound terrace overlooking both Park Avenue South and 30th Street. Stephen Brandman, co owner and chief executive of Journal Hotels, which operates the Mondrian Park Avenue, has teamed up with Richie Akiva of the night life company Butter Group to operate Fifteen Stories. Even more elaborate is the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge, a 10,000 square foot "urban amusement park" atop Marriott International's Moxy Times Square, which occupies a 1906 building at Seventh Avenue and 36th Street. Originally a hotel for immigrant construction workers, the building was converted to commercial office space. Its owner, the Lightstone Group, worked with the Rockwell Group to develop the rooftop's amenities, including views of the Empire State Building, an all season bar, topiaries of bears in naughty poses, a carousel for up to 16 guests and a miniature golf course. The TAO Group, the operator of several popular restaurants and nightclubs in New York and Las Vegas, is Lightstone's partner on food, beverage and entertainment. Hotel rooftop development is not a new phenomenon. Earlier examples in New York include the Salon de Ning rooftop bar and terrace at the Peninsula on Fifth Avenue and the Plunge Rooftop Bar and Lounge at the Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC hotel. And in San Francisco, there is the Top of the Mark at the Intercontinental Mark Hopkins. Developers are taking those social media moments into consideration when building a rooftop experience, said Jonah Chusid, vice president of hotel operations for Espresso Hospitality. "People will pay a premium to be able to take a photo from a rooftop restaurant with a phenomenal view," Mr. Chusid said. His company manages the William Vale, a 183 room hotel that opened last fall in Brooklyn's popular Williamsburg neighborhood. Its Westlight rooftop bar offers 360 degree views of the city and is operated by the NoHo Hospitality Group with food by Andrew Carmellini. Indeed, food and beverage revenue generated on rooftops can be significant, said Bjorn Hanson, clinical professor at the Jonathan M. Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism at New York University. Beverage sales are the second most profitable part of hotel operations in the United States, after room revenue, he said, adding that hotels can charge a premium for rooftop drinks, making them even more profitable. Rooftop amenities have become so popular that many hotels use dedicated elevators for them and often give hotel guests priority access. Moxy's rooftop, for example, is accessible through a separate alleyway on Seventh Avenue with a "speakeasy feeling," said Mitchell C. Hochberg, president of Lightstone. Priority access is given to guests at the Envoy Hotel, a 136 room Autograph Collection hotel in Boston, whose Lookout Rooftop and Bar became that city's "place to see and be seen" after it opened several years ago, said Neil H. Shah, president of Hersha Hospitality Trust, the Envoy's owner. On weekends, he said, many of the hotel's guests "stay only to get to the rooftop." "The rooftop is really about an extension of the community," he said. "It can create experiences that didn't exist before." Hotels cater to locals with a variety of entertainment and classes, some free, on their rooftops. This month, for example, the William Vale is offering a "sunrise silent disco," where music is broadcast to guests wearing wireless headphones, and the Moxy has Friday morning exercise classes taught by modelFIT, a Manhattan gym. The Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, which opened in 2014, offers a wide range of activities, including stand up comedy sessions, D.J. residencies and a flower dyeing workshop. Fred Dixon, president and chief executive of NYC Company, the marketing organization of the city's tourism industry, suggested that rooftops had begun to replace nightclubs in New York. Of the almost 650 hotels that the industry tracker STR estimates occupy the city's five boroughs, some 70 offer a rooftop experience, Mr. Dixon said. Certain hotel rooftops have been developed for specific purposes. The 370 million Marriott Marquis Houston, which opened in December, is made up of a tower with 1,000 guest rooms and a podium that contains the hotel's ballroom, among other facilities. A 10 million amenity deck, including a "lazy river" water feature in the shape of Texas, was built on the podium's rooftop specifically to attract local residents. In fact, the lazy river has attracted both families and meeting and convention groups to the hotel, which is connected to the city's convention center, said Luke Charlton, chief operating officer of the hotel's co owner, the RIDA Development Corporation. He predicted that food and beverage revenue this year from the podium's rooftop which also features a 75 foot lap pool and a bar and grill and is open only to hotel guests would exceed projections. "We're doing double what we and Marriott thought we would do," he said. He added that the effect of Hurricane Harvey on the hotel had been "relatively minor." Cold or inclement weather can, of course, pose a challenge to hotel rooftop operators. The Envoy, for one, has come up with a novel way to handle this: In February, it installed on its rooftop six heavy plastic igloos, each seating up to 10 people and containing carpeting, chairs, blankets, and electrical outlets for lighting and heaters.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
The scientists first reported finding it in 1992: a giant mushroom that weighed as much as a blue whale and sprawled across more than 30 acres of forest in Michigan's upper peninsula. It wasn't some Alice in Wonderland type toadstool but a 1,500 year old parasitic mold, with growing tentacles that foraged beneath the soil for roots and decaying wood to devour. Nearly 30 years later, the same scientists using new technology for genetic analysis wanted to know whether they had properly measured this unusual example of fungal life. "We made this outlandish prediction that the fungus is more than 1,000 years old," said James Anderson, now a retired mycologist and emeritus professor at the University of Toronto. "And so an obvious outcome of that, is after three decades, it ought still be there, and if not, we'd have some explaining to do." Recently they published what they uncovered in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Their original humongous fungus, Armillaria gallica, is even older and bigger than first estimated: the 2,500 year old parasite spreads across 180 acres of forest. And its genome harbors a mysterious survival strategy: an extremely low mutation rate. From 2015 through 2017, Dr. Anderson and his colleagues tested soil from nearly 250 sites on the peninsula. They connected dots on a forest wide canvas and painted an impressionist portrait of this monster beneath the dirt. And it had some surprising features. Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. First, it covered more space than first measured. Second, based on observations of how much it grew over a season, the scientists figured the fungus had to be 1,000 years older than they had originally estimated. And when they began considering that age against their genetic analysis, something seemed strange. As an organism grows and cells start splitting and copying DNA during mitosis which is how they make new, identical body cells you expect to see mutations emerge in copies that are passed on from one generation to the next. But this old beast harbored only about 160 mutations, orders of magnitude lower than expected. A sample of rhizomorphs from the giant Michigan Armillaria gallica fungus. More than two millenniums was plenty of time for cells to divide, copy and paste their DNA and send it mistakes and all from one generation to the next. But to get so few mutations, the fungus must have had very few cell divisions, which is crazy for a giant fungus made of microscopic cells. The researchers couldn't measure how many cell divisions separate the bits of fungus spanning the length of nine football fields side by side, and so they couldn't measure the mutation rate directly. It should have been huge, but it wasn't. "I think it's a really interesting result with cutting edge technology, and it opens up new questions about how organisms can remain stable over that length of time," said Tom Bruns, a fungal ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley who reviewed the study. But he and Dr. Anderson agree that it's still unclear how the fungus genome ended up this way. Their paper offers some speculation. The infecting tips of the fungi's rhizomes could have low rates of cell division. Or the fungus could be really good at repairing damage inside its cells, passing healthy traits onto the next generation. Even more bizarrely, the cells may be selective about which copies of DNA they send on to the next generation. Maybe it's a combination of these factors or something else entirely, Dr. Anderson said. Dr. Bruns said it was also possible that the analysis missed some mutations. When they do show up within a big pool of cells, they're so rare, they're presumed to be errors. But if this extremely low mutation rate is indeed the case and it seems to be, according to Dr. Bruns, it poses other interesting questions. How widespread among fungi and other life is this low mutation rate? What can it tell us about cancer, which seems to be on the opposite end of the genetic stability spectrum? And if this thing is so good at living, who wins in an apocalypse: the cockroach or Armillaria?	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Science
When the Merce Cunningham Dance Company closed in 2011, two years after Cunningham's death, people wondered how his dances would live on. A YouTube channel was not among the expected preservation modes, but today, the Merce Cunningham Trust's YouTube page is one of the most engaging, accessible troves of his work, with nearly 100 (and counting) entries, from 60 second archival clips to 90 minute videos of company class. Produced by Nancy Dalva, the trust's resident scholar, the channel began as a platform for her insightful mini documentary series, "Mondays with Merce." Lately she's been uploading footage that didn't make the first cut: Cunningham's musings on topics from John Cage to the sunset outside his West Village studio; a rehearsal of the dizzying "CRWDSPCR." "I want people to be able to see the work as Merce made it and as the dancers rehearsed it," Ms. Dalva said. That goes for curious newcomers and nostalgic fans. "The world of his work was a place where we lived, and this is a way to revisit it."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
Aasif Mandvi's "Sakina's Restaurant" is returning to New York this fall. The actor and writer will perform his one man show about an Indian immigrant's experiences working in the food service industry for four weeks at the Minetta Lane Theater beginning Oct. 5. "Despite 20 years having passed since I first performed it at the American Place Theater, the themes I was grappling with then, those of an immigrant family, struggling with the joys, heartbreaks and sacrifice of what it means to leave one's home and create a new American life, seem as relevant today as they ever did," said Mr. Mandvi in a statement. The next block of productions at the Minetta Lane Theater will begin with a three night stand by the singer songwriter and author Patti Smith. Her new show, "Patti Smith: Words and Music at the Minetta Lane," will be a combination of original autobiographical spoken word stories and songs from Ms. Smith's catalog. She will perform alongside her son and daughter, Jackson and Jesse Paris Smith, and her bandmate Tony Shanahan on Sept. 22 24. The first production from Audible's Emerging Playwright program, Chisa Hutchinson's "Proof of Love," will also debut this fall at the theater, with specific dates to be announced. The Amazon company, which produces shows for the Minetta Lane, announced a 5 million dollar fund in 2017 to commission and produce work by emerging playwrights. Ms. Hutchinson was among the first class of commissions announced in June.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
Last summer a very handsome man kept proposing to me over and over again. "I really like you and I want to move this relationship along. So the question is: Will you marry me?" I've been crazy about this guy for nearly 30 years, but I just couldn't bring myself to say yes. Each time he popped the question, I would throw back my head and laugh, squeeze his hand tightly and reply, "I really like you, too, but here's the deal: We're already married!" All I got in return was a blank stare. My husband can't remember much these days. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with vascular dementia. It's almost impossible to put into words all the mixed emotions one feels as you watch a beloved partner slowly turn into a dramatically different person. The man who once led such an active, vibrant, influential life now sits in a recliner chair all day asking me why he has so many "blank spots" in his head. A couple of weeks ago, my husband turned to me and asked for five copies of his resume. An odd request, but I've learned to forgo any sense of logic and simply enter his reality. I found a short version of his resume and made copies for him. Slowly and methodically, he went through the pages. Finally, he looked up at me and said, "Thank you. Now I can remember who I am." That statement goes to the core of my grief. I remember clearly who Curt Plott was: a young captain in the Marines; a Ph.D. in education at age 28; assistant executive director of the California Teachers Association; president of the Illinois Education Association; head of Johns Hopkins Medical Institution's human resource department; and for the last 18 years of his professional life, chief executive of the American Society for Training and Development, now known as Association for Talent Development. For decades, my husband was known as a brilliant and dynamic leader. But those days are over. I'm the one who must now take the lead on everything. And, the question I constantly ask myself is this: How do we go on? When there is no more reciprocity in a relationship, how does one person keep a marriage together, particularly when your "other half" is now a completely changed person? It's not easy. It takes commitment, patience, humor and endurance. It also takes physical, emotional and mental stamina to cope with the overwhelming demands of daily life. For so many years, Curt and I shared the tasks of running a household together. We were joint decision makers. Now everything has fallen on my shoulders. It's a huge responsibility coupled with a huge loss. Exhausting and heartbreaking. I never could have envisioned this scenario when we took our wedding vows on Valentine's Day 1990. We had a whirlwind romance that started with a cup of coffee at a neighborhood hangout in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood. Two months later, we were engaged and six weeks after that, we said "I do." I was 43 years old and had never been married before. My life revolved around being a dedicated kindergarten teacher. Curt, 10 years my senior, was a handsome, charming, successful man. A total catch. Except that he did come with some "baggage." He had three ex wives. When we said the words "for better, for worse in sickness and in health," neither one of us had any idea of where the journey of life would take us. Who does? Most wedding vows are words that have not yet been defined. Luckily, Curt and I had a lot of good years together. We were best friends, romantic lovers, and easygoing companions. Both of us were committed to learning and growing as individuals as well as nurturing our love and partnership. We were looking forward to retirement. But, as John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." Our plans for the "golden years" included traveling the world, taking "encore" college classes, becoming community volunteers, hanging out at the gym, and spending more time with our family. Never did we plan for the life we're living now. But here we are. The man who was once my rock is now my full time responsibility. His memory is full of holes. He can barely move out of his La Z Boy chair. (Exactly a year ago, he took a bad fall, which left him almost completely immobile.) Despite the physical challenges and his steady mental decline, there's one thing that has remained constant: his love for me. How could I resist? I finally said yes. I started making plans for a New Year's Eve wedding. (Dec. 31 has always been a celebratory evening for us since that was the night Curt originally proposed.) Our dear friend, the Rev. Stuart Kenworthy, an Episcopal priest and the rector at Christ Church in Georgetown and canon at the Washington National Cathedral, agreed to lead the ceremony a renewal of vows. I sent out handmade invitations; lined up a good team of elder care aides; signed a contract with a caterer; bought a beautiful wedding gown; and even managed to track down the pastry chef who had baked our original wedding cake. Those were the fun things. The scary part was contemplating what could go wrong. One of the most stressful aspects of living with a spouse who has dementia is the vigilance it takes to stay ahead of the game. One never knows what real (or imaginary) thing might trigger an agitated response. I tried to plan for every contingency that might occur. I even sent out last minute cards reminding our guests that this occasion would be the ultimate "surprise" party since it was impossible to predict what Curt would or would not do that evening. But three days before the big night, I suddenly got cold feet. A week filled with one challenge after another prompted me to call Rev. Kenworthy to say that I thought it was best to cancel the party. His response was so comforting and compassionate. "Just think of it as a night of love and thanksgiving. God already knows what's going on with Curt, so you don't need to worry. We'll just go with the flow." As it turned out, the night could not have gone better. Curt seemed to thoroughly enjoy being surrounded by the company of so many close friends, all of whom went out of their way to include him in the fun and festivities. He tapped his feet to the sounds of the Dixie Cups singing "Chapel of Love." He shouted out "I will!" when it was his turn to reaffirm his wedding vows; and, finally, when Rev. Kenworthy announced "You may now kiss the bride," Curt exclaimed, "Amen!" As the evening drew to a close, we cut into a gorgeous three tiered wedding cake using his Marine Corps sword. At midnight, the echoes of "Auld Lang Syne" drifted through the house as our dear friends gathered together to bid farewell to the old year.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
If you want to see how an orchestra can give a fresh polish to dusty old Mozart, head to Lincoln Center. There you'll find a surprisingly novel Mozart program played by the New York Philharmonic on Wednesday night under Manfred Honeck and continuing through Tuesday that, like a fugue, tells a story of the composer's final year while mapping a journey of death and transcendence. Unlike Schubert, whose later works have an autumnal mood colored by sickness and melancholy, Mozart didn't begin the year 1791 knowing that, months after his 35th birthday, he would fall ill and die soon after, on Dec. 5. So you would be hard pressed to find a sense of farewell in his music from that time. In fact, for most of the year Mozart was as stylistically nimble and prolific as ever. He presented the premieres of not one, but two operas, "La Clemenza di Tito" and "Die Zauberflote." And, in what would be his final public appearance as a pianist, he gave the first performance of his Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat, which the Philharmonic opened its program with on Wednesday, featuring Richard Goode. This gently dignified piece, with childlike simplicity and few extremes, all but dares its soloist to achieve majesty at a whisper, to only suggest virtuosity. Mr. Goode, an elder statesman of Mozart's music, was calmly authoritative, gliding through quick runs and playing with restrained lyricism. Even his galloping rhythms had an unpretentious lightness, more like a pony than a Clydesdale. He didn't perform an encore, which only heightened the contrast between the rosy concerto, a triumph of early 1791, and what followed after intermission: the Requiem, left unfinished at Mozart's death. Mr. Honeck, who as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's music director has repeatedly found original ways to present the Requiem there, opted this week for a programmatic medley: "Masonic Funeral Music," the Requiem and "Ave Verum Corpus," played without pause for a loose narrative about, as one of the texts says, "a foretaste of heaven in death's agony." "Masonic Funeral Music" is the program's exception, the one work not from 1791. (It was written in 1785.) But listen closely and you'll hear eerie similarities with the Requiem. Like that piece, its orchestration calls for basset horns and leans heavily on the lower strings, setting a richly somber tone that conjures an organ like timbre. Mozart never meant for it to be an overture for the Requiem, but on Wednesday the juxtaposition was seamless. And this move adding a prologue to the Requiem, with an epilogue on the way was hardly as unusual as Mr. Honeck's presentation of the Requiem itself. After Mozart's death, the work was completed by his pupil Franz Xaver Sussmayr, whose edition was long the standard for orchestras around the world. The problem often is that it's all too easy to tell where Mozart's sophistication ends and Sussmayr's well intended inferiority begins. Mr. Honeck's solution is to cut the final sections and present the Requiem as Mozart left it almost. His version begins with the seven completed sections, followed by the Lacrimosa and Offertorium composed by Mozart but finished by Sussmayr. Then it ends with the Lacrimosa though now as only Mozart's fragment, the last eight measures of music he ever wrote. Further complicating things, Mr. Honeck, according to the Philharmonic, also has his own changes to the Sussmayr orchestrations. I may be overstating this Requiem's complexity. In the concert hall, it was natural and succinct, never losing steam as the work often does. And the Westminster Symphonic Choir was stirring in the choral passages, with stabbing staccatos in the Dies Irae and glorious radiance in the Rex Tremendae. The four soloists each had distinctive qualities standouts were the tenor Ben Bliss, who brought the dramatic textures you might hear in his Mozart over at the Metropolitan Opera, and Megan Mikailovna Samarin, making her Philharmonic debut with a penetrating mezzo soprano yet they blended with impressive grace. Mr. Honeck could have let the concert evaporate into mysterious quiet with the Lacrimosa; but, by ending with "Ave Verum Corpus," the famously spiritual conductor seemed to be making a statement. If the Requiem is a plea for eternal rest, then this brief work, played on Wednesday with a soft glow, promises that and more: serene transcendence.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Music
Ann Althouse: Andy Manis for The New York Times; Glenn Reynolds: Stephen Morton for The New York Times; Gary S. Becker: Phil Mccarten/Reuters; Gregory Mankiw: Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg; Juan Cole: Lin Jones Ann Althouse: Andy Manis for The New York Times; Glenn Reynolds: Stephen Morton for The New York Times; Gary S. Becker: Phil Mccarten/Reuters; Gregory Mankiw: Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg; Juan Cole: Lin Jones Credit... Ann Althouse: Andy Manis for The New York Times; Glenn Reynolds: Stephen Morton for The New York Times; Gary S. Becker: Phil Mccarten/Reuters; Gregory Mankiw: Bradley C. Bower/Bloomberg; Juan Cole: Lin Jones COLLEGE campuses have always had their boldface names: professors who've logged time in a White House cabinet, opined on "PBS NewsHour" or written Pulitzer Prize winning best sellers. To this venerated lot we can add the academic blogger. A remarkable variety of scholars have achieved blogosphere fame, particularly those devoted to subjects related to the public sphere politics, economics, legal affairs. Law school bloggers are practically their own category. "I think a lot of us have a desire to catch the issue of the day and put a personal stamp on it, and we're in a good position to do so," says Ann Althouse, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin Law School and whose eponymous blog (tagline: Don't you love Althouse?) is often one of Technorati's Top 25. Being able to connect with "the real world" is another potent lure. "In academia, you talk to a fairly small group of people and become insulated from real criticism," says Professor Althouse, who regularly ruffles feathers on her blog. "Of course, not everyone wants to do that because their ideas will be ripped and pulled apart." Online, professors are often highly political, deeply personal and, per the format's wont, downright snarky in ways they are not in the classroom. Some academic blogs are pure polemic; some are substantive and scholarly, bringing to the national conversation a bit of policy perspective grounded in actual research and expertise. Some speak to their students; most aim for the widest of audiences. What the below blogs share, for better or worse, is influence. Bent: "I consider myself fairly moderate I even voted for Obama, though I'm perceived by people on the left as very right wing." Sample: "By the way, what is 'hands on interdisciplinary study'? Do we get to fondle a sociologist?" Ann Althouse enjoys courting controversy. Part of her appeal may be her willingness to tweak the left. She defended Glenn Beck's right to attack Frances Fox Piven, the left wing City University of New York sociologist, and poked fun at the American Sociological Association. When she first started blogging, other bloggers were taken aback: "You're a law professor," they told her. "You can't say that!" Her Internet life and her academic life, however, occupy largely separate silos. "I'm more vigorous, mocking and deliberately humorous online," she says. "But I would never make fun of a student or tear one down." She adds: "I don't have people coming up to me at the law school saying, 'Oh, that was an interesting post.' It seems silly but it's almost like they think they're reading a secret diary of mine and they're not supposed to talk about it." But, she says, "I would like it if they did." Her offline and online worlds did intertwine, intimately and famously. After a flirtation with one of her commenters, a garden designer in Cincinnati, the two finally met face to face. They married in 2009. Bent: "I used to be a card carrying libertarian. Now I'm a libertarian transhumanist." Sample: "I think preparing for climate change apocalypse is just one step shy of getting ready for the zombie hordes, but whatever." Founded in 2001, Instapundit is the apotheosis of academic blogs, the inspiration for many that have followed. Professor Reynolds is still surprised: "I get e mails from people who I think of as much bigger deals than me, and they're trying to get attention by having me link to something on my blog." He describes his readers as "people on Capitol Hill," "technogeeks" and "a truck driver who e mails me regularly from the road." While the blog gets up to 14 million page visits a month, it is also a "thought leader" in social networking circles, as measured by klout.com. Instapundit actually reads more like Twitter feed than academic discourse, with a relentlessly updated selection of links to sites and news bytes that Professor Reynolds agrees with, disagrees with or despises. Expect pithy annotation to links, including jabs at the culture and President Obama and defense of the Tea Party. One regular item, "Higher Education Bubble Update," critiques academia. "Prior to blogging, I was an inveterate letter to the editor writer," says Professor Reynolds, who teaches Internet law. One dean told him he considered the blog to be scholarship. "His theory was that experimenting with a new form of communication was a kind of research," he recalls, "which I thought was uncommonly generous." Professors: Eugene Volokh, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, and various others Sample: "This time they are pro Israel thugs as opposed to extremist Muslim thugs (and various other thugs), but thugs are thugs." "I was a loyal reader of Instapundit," Professor Volokh says. "I had co written an article with Reynolds and would e mail him various story suggestions and eventually he said, 'Get your own blog!' " Professor Volokh not only started his own blog, he also recruited his brother Sasha, a professor at Emory Law School, and 17 others through "a closely guarded selection process." Focused on free speech, gun rights and constitutional law with the occasional personal digression, favorite recipe or discourse on a popular song thrown in the Volokh Conspiracy is fairly consistent in its libertarian point of view. (One recent posting a court decision that air pistols are not arms under the Second Amendment happened to land next to an advertisement for a video game that featured a buxom mercenary holding a semiautomatic.) The blog routinely figures in Technorati's Top 100, and is among the most cited of the many legal blogs out there. The best part, Professor Volokh says, is exposing the public to legal experts not otherwise accessible. And "it's just fun. I blog a joke and feel the reward of reading, 'That's a funny thing Volokh said.' " Sample: "I guess if you use fake facts it's easier to write editorials in favor of unlimited and unaccountable state power to detain U.S. citizens" (writes Henry Farrell). Crooked Timber is sometimes considered the liberal equivalent of the Volokh Conspiracy (during Crooked Timber's first few years, back and forths between the two sites would often brew). But it's heavy on philosophers and social scientists with not a law professor among the 17 regular contributors. And, emphasizes Dr. Healy, a professor of sociology at Duke, "There's not a party line here. We're really a loose affiliation of people who like to read each other's stuff." Many of the bloggers have never even met. The blog's title stems from the Kant quotation "Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made," and it has built a reputation as an intellectual global powerhouse, with members from the University of Bristol, University of Rotterdam and National University of Singapore. Others: Michael Berube, professor of literature at Penn State; Henry Farrell, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University; and Eszter Hargittai, professor of communications at Northwestern. "On lots of other blogs, you have people going off on rants," Dr. Hargittai says. "But we have experts in different fields, so you get an expert perspective on a wide range of topics, which is pretty exciting. The people here think about these topics for a living." Sample: "Chapter 7 of my favorite textbook has a case study about whether there should be a market for kidneys. A similar issue is now making its way through the U.S. court system." Dr. Mankiw's blog has a professorial feel, alternating chatty bits on macroeconomics with advice for first year students, suggestions for class discussions and links to textbooks he likes. The site evolved from the mass e mails he was sending to point his students to interesting articles. "By and large, they enjoyed it, though some thought it was information overload," Dr. Mankiw says. But most were eager to read anything they could get their hands on by Professor Mankiw. Even before he turned to blogging, Dr. Mankiw was a star at Harvard. He has bobbed in and out of politics, and was chairman of George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. He writes economics columns for the New York Times business pages and is author of a widely used textbook. Expanding to a blog platform, which he did four years ago, seemed logical. "It helps my students, it helps textbook sales, my publisher loves it," he says. "I try to keep politics out of my textbooks. But whenever I have an opinion I want to get off my chest, the blog is a great way to express it." Sample: "An Arab country with neither secret police nor censorship is unprecedented in recent decades." Professor Cole began blogging in response to Sept. 11. "As a Middle East expert who had lived for a long time in the Middle East, South Asia and Pakistan and who worked for years at a newspaper in Beirut, I had a lot of things to say and a lot of people had questions," he says. "If somebody wanted to know about the context of Al Qaeda, I could answer." But the architecture of e mail was unreasonably onerous, and thus, the blog evolved. At first, it was merely an archive of his old e mails, which students would regularly request. Then he'd see an interesting Arabic language newspaper article and paraphrase it on the site. With the war on Iraq, his writing, readership and public profile exploded. "A lot of students take my class because they've seen me on 'Colbert,' " he says. Academics are uniquely positioned as bloggers, Dr. Cole believes. "People value the information and analysis more than my stray opinions," he says. "I present information that I can dig out because of my academic expertise, language knowledge and cultural knowledge that's not present in other news reporting." While he strives for a neutral tone in the classroom, online "you do let your flag fly," he says. "Good blogging involves attitude and snark." Professors: Gary S. Becker, economics and sociology, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business; Richard A. Posner, University of Chicago Law School Bent: "Relatively small government private sector is preferable over public sector solutions" (says Dr. Becker). Sample: "The right to bargain collectively should be available to government workers. Yet since these workers face only limited competition from the private sector ... they should not have the monopoly power that comes with the right to strike. Regrettably, many government unions do have this option" (writes Dr. Becker). In 2004, after 19 years as a BusinessWeek columnist, Professor Becker hung up his print hat and asked his longtime friend Richard Posner a federal judge and author of more than 40 books to join him on a blog. "We would be free of copy editors," Dr. Becker says. "We wouldn't have a strict length restriction, we could write about what we want." Defying the somewhat loose definition of a blog an online journal obsessively updated Becker Posner offers one post from each professor a week. "I hope to analyze a problem using good economic sense and relevant data, but a lot less formally and with a lot less math" than in a lecture, Dr. Becker says. Much of their current discussions concern the faltering economy, but they will digress to ask whether women's earning power will surpass men's or to analyze the relationship between Catholicism and contraception. "I've heard from parents who read it that the blog is one of the reasons they want their children to come to the University of Chicago," Dr. Becker says, echoing other professors who blog. Dr. Becker returns the compliment to his readers. "I always look at the comments," he says. "Sometimes, they make points I wish I had made myself."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Education
Harry Anderson, off the coast of Newport, R.I., around 1980, ran two of the nation's oldest yacht clubs and was a major force in setting the rules of racing. Harry Anderson, with ancestral ties to American wealth and power going back to Aaron Burr, learned to sail as a boy at Seawanhaka, a venerable yacht club on Long Island's North Shore, its gabled clubhouse rising from a green bluff on Centre Island overlooking Oyster Bay. Growing up in Manhattan, a scion of a long line of patrician lawyers (a great grandfather was counsel to Cornelius Vanderbilt), he would spend summers at Seawanhaka immersing himself in the art and mechanics of sailing and in the gentleman's sport of sailboat racing. One summer, at 15, he joined a race to Bermuda with one of the Roosevelts. Another summer he crewed for a Vanderbilt. He eventually went off to Yale and, following the family tradition, graduated from law school at Columbia. But the law would prove not for him. He was continually drawn back to the sea. And that was where he would make his mark. By the time he died on May 11 at 98 in Mystic, Conn., Mr. Anderson had become one of the most influential figures in American sailboat racing in the last half century, helping to develop the sport's modern rules and regulations, leading successful defenses of the America's Cup and creating a national governing body for sailing. Buoyed by his inherited wealth, Mr. Anderson left the financial sector to become a "full time volunteer" in sailboat racing, in the words of his biographer, Roger Vaughan, author of "The Strenuous Life of Harry Anderson." Mr. Anderson's roles were manifold. He was commodore of two of the country's oldest yacht clubs, Seawanhaka Corinthian (founded in 1871) and the New York Yacht Club (1844). He ran the North American Yacht Racing Union and served as a North American representative to the International Yacht Racing Union. And he groomed competitors for the U.S. Olympic team by contributing fleets of racing dinghies to collegiate sailing programs and nurturing Olympic caliber sailors like Gary Jobson, the America's Cup winner in the 1970s. "Harry recognized the value of promoting intercollegiate racing and recruiting the top sailors to compete in the Olympic trials," Mr. Jobson said in an interview. "Many of America's sailing Olympians came out of the programs that he pioneered in the 1960s and 1970s." Henry Hill Anderson Jr. was born in Manhattan on June 2, 1921, the eldest of three boys of Henry Sr. and Helen Jennings (James) Anderson. His parents moved the family from a small Long Island estate in Roslyn to Oyster Bay when the boys were young. Henry Sr. was a partner in the family's New York law firm, Anderson, Howland and Murray. Clients included Harold S. Vanderbilt, a railroad executive, champion yachtsman and great grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Mr. Anderson's great grandfather Henry B. Anderson, in addition to advising Cornelius, was counsel for the City of New York. Much of the family's wealth came from another great grandfather, Oliver Burr Jennings, who was one of six initial stockholders in the Standard Oil Company, founded by John D. Rockefeller. (It was that branch of the family tree that reached back to Aaron Burr, the country's third vice president and the slayer, in a duel, of Alexander Hamilton.) Henry Jr., who was known as Harry, emulated his father's work ethic. "Harry's card was to have an extraordinarily strict father," Mr. Vaughan, his biographer, said. "One reacts to this accident of birth several ways. One is to rebel and run away. Or, when he says, 'Jump,' jump as high as you can. Harry said, 'I'll show him how darn high I can jump.'" At Yale, Mr. Anderson sailed as a member of the university team, organized by the student run Yale Corinthian Yacht Club in Branford, Conn., where his grandfather had been commodore. (Today, the team is considered one of the best collegiate programs in the country, and Mr. Anderson remained devoted to it, donating waterside property for its use in Branford.) His Yale class of 1943 graduated early, in December 1942, because of World War II, and he joined the Army, serving as a field artillery officer in Gen. George Patton's Third Army and receiving a Bronze Star. Mr. Anderson was a Columbia law student when his father and Harold Vanderbilt enlisted him to help research and revise the rules of racing, which many yachtsmen then found vague and inconsistent. "Harry's father and Harold Vanderbilt rewrote the racing rules of sailing in the 1940s," said the historian Mr. Rousmaniere, who credited Harry Anderson with refining many of those rules, including which sailboat gains right of way when they meet at turning marks in a race. Mr. Anderson went to become a respected race judge when he was still in his 20s, running the Yacht Racing Association of Long Island Sound. As executive director of the North American Yacht Racing Union, he orchestrated its split in 1975 into two governing bodies: the United States Yacht Racing Union and the Canadian Yachting Association. Before then, Canadian and American sailors were accredited for the Olympics by one organization. The split allowed for national autonomy for selecting Olympic teams. "No one had thought about it," Mr. Anderson once said. "It was way overdue."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
Nick Vallelonga, one of the writers of the film "Green Book," apologized on Thursday for a 2015 Twitter post in which he agreed with then candidate Donald J. Trump's false claim about Muslims, that "thousands of people were cheering" on rooftops in Jersey City following the September 11 terrorist attacks. "I want to apologize," Vallelonga said in a statement. "I spent my life trying to bring this story of overcoming differences and finding common ground to the screen, and I am incredibly sorry to everyone associated with 'Green Book.'" He went on: "I especially deeply apologize to the brilliant and kind Mahershala Ali, and all members of the Muslim faith, for the hurt I have caused. I am also sorry to my late father who changed so much from Dr. Shirley's friendship and I promise this lesson is not lost on me. 'Green Book' is a story about love, acceptance and overcoming barriers, and I will do better." President Trump initially made the statement at a campaign rally in Birmingham, Ala., when he said: "I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering." He kept defending the claim for several days after, even though officials and factcheckers repeatedly debunked the assertion.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Movies
This book was one of our most anticipated titles of November. See the full list. A historian might try to construct a biography of such a figure through a deep analysis of the surrounding culture using it to inform speculation on the hero's worldview. (This is the approach Peter Brown used to write his magnificent 1967 biography of St. Augustine.) But Caesar bred in the fact checking tradition of The New Yorker, where he is a staff writer will not be drawn into speculation. He insists that we cannot know what Wilson really believed, and that much of what Wilson says about his spiritual conversion may be untrue. He does not try to explore the varieties of turn of the century mysticism, including Madame Blavatsky (whose "golden precepts" Wilson carried to Everest), or the English fascination with dangerous climbs. Instead, having recorded the few definitive facts, Caesar fills much of the book with a general summary of World War I, and an overlong digression on Wilson's brother's better documented experience of fighting in a different battalion. Other climbers of his generation such as George Mallory (who died 10 years before Wilson, at least 3,500 feet higher up Everest) had highly literate friends who wrote beautifully and preserved what they wrote. Their records allow us to admire not only the technical skill of these other climbers but also their capacity for friendship, and their profound insights into death and mountains. We know much less about Wilson and what we know suggests his career was rickety, his personal life unedifying, his writing awful and his plan insane. But should this make us admire him less? Or should we, like the great climber Reinhold Messner, who was also fascinated by Wilson, ignore the banal evidence that survives and try instead to imagine his soul: the toughness and courage of this man of many fasts, setting off, dazed by pain, alone, to try to complete the first solo ascent of Everest? Caesar is a fine writer, but he has not managed to find the art to resurrect a man whose final act is so bereft of context or explanation.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
Families have long been a bread and butter market for the major cruise lines. But increasingly even niche players like river operators and expedition lines are angling to attract all ages. "Something new we're seeing is skip generation cruisers, where grandparents take the grandchildren," said Michelle Fee, the chief executive and founder of Cruise Planners, a travel agency. She noted that the industry's family focus extends from establishing infant playgroups to Royal Caribbean's services for autistic children. "For families who have challenges, it's a great vacation because it gives them a bit of a break and makes their child feel special," she added. The following innovations at sea range from family suites with a slide between two levels to educational programs that teach through play. Among the splashiest of ship launches, Royal Caribbean aims to abolish the bottleneck of ship check in when its new 5,479 guest Symphony of the Seas sets sail in April using facial recognition software to expedite cabin access on arrival. That will get the children more quickly to the tallest water slide at sea, the Ultimate Abyss, with a 100 foot drop. Families will be able to spread out in the private Ultimate Family Suite, a bi level cabin with an in suite slide, floor to ceiling Lego wall and a screening room with a popcorn machine and a library of video games . The ship will sail the Mediterranean this summer and transition to Caribbean voyages in November. Most of the family friendliest ships tend to be deployed in the Caribbean, but the 4,000 passenger Norwegian Bliss, to be christened in Seattle in June, will spend the summer in Alaska. It will have a two level electric car racetrack, an open air laser tag course and a water park with two slides, one that stretches over the side of the ship. Special guests get a special welcome on a number of ships, including the new Carnival Horizon. Coming in April, the 3,934 passenger ship will host the first ever Dr. Seuss themed water park, with slides based on the Cat in the Hat and Things 1 and 2. It will also feature a ropes course, a suspended bike ride called SkyRide, an IMAX theater and a 24 hour pizza and ice cream parlor. Spacious family cabins offer access to a family lounge with large screen TVs, board games and complimentary breakfast and snacks. Debuting in Europe, the Horizon will move to New York for the summer, beginning May 23, offering cruises to Bermuda (four days from 629, all prices are per person) and the Caribbean (eight days from 759). Kids on board have more opportunities to meet their peers, while parents have more date night options. Princess Cruises has redesigned its youth and teen clubs, including a treehouse themed hangout for ages 3 to 7, an outdoorsy lodge for those 8 to 12 and a beach house for teens 13 to 17. Activities focus on science, creativity, play and socialization, and include lessons in squid anatomy, paper airplane building contests, scavenger hunts and talent shows. Currently on five ships, the new clubs will be rolled out to the entire fleet through 2019. Celebrity Cruises' Camp at Sea program offers activities for children 3 to 12 along four tracks, art, recreation, culinary and S.T.E.M. The line offers late night "slumber parties" between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. In April, Norwegian Cruise Line will send the Norwegian Escape, featuring four water slides and a three story ropes course, to New York for weekly cruises to Bermuda (from 629). The ship is the only one in Norwegian's fleet to offer child care for children from six months to three years old. Expedition ships are adding educational programming that aim to make science fun. This summer, Lindblad Expeditions plans to extend its National Geographic Global Explorers program to Alaska. Launched in the Galapagos last year, the program encompasses science, exploration and storytelling, including learning to drive an inflatable vessel, spot wildlife and create time lapse videos. The program will be available on the line's three ships in Alaska and includes listening to whale vocalizations using an underwater microphone (five nights from 4,290). With their port focus and lack of whiz bang amenities, river cruises generally appeal to adult travelers, but AmaWaterways has joined with Adventures by Disney to offer 16 themed sailings in 2018 that include "Beauty and the Beast" itineraries on the Rhine River, featuring castle visits, film screenings and lessons in macaron making (eight days from 6,139 for adults). It has also enlisted the active travel company Backroads to bring biking, walking and hiking tours to more than 60 sailings aimed at attracting multigenerational sailors. Avalon Waterways' active series of cruises caters to multigenerational travelers age 8 and up. It's new active itinerary on the Rhine River between Frankfurt and Amsterdam includes options to bike, hike and run (eight days from 2,149). Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection offers the Generations Collection cruises for families. Its new Rhine itinerary takes visitors between Basel and Amsterdam, and includes pedal boating, a castle treasure hunt, bike riding and zip lining. Designated staffers oversee children's activities, including cooking classes, craft workshops and movie nights (nine days from 3,519 for adults). Cruise lines that don't specialize in families still welcome them with activities positioned as multigenerational draws. Normally, children must be at least 8 years old to sail with UnCruise Adventures, which focuses on wilderness destinations. But this summer, the 86 passenger S.S. Legacy will sail to Alaska and drop the age minimum entirely on two departures (seven nights from 3,995). The ship will tow kayaks and paddleboards, and skiff excursions offer wildlife watching up close.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
About two weeks after a grisly shooting in a Pittsburgh suburb, Wendy Bell, a local news anchor for WTAE TV, wrote a public Facebook post that focused in part on finding hope and offering kindness. But before the offering kindness part, she swerved into racial commentary that led to her being fired on Wednesday. She was responding to a shooting at a backyard party on March 9 in Wilkinsburg, Pa., that killed five people, including a pregnant woman. No one has been arrested, and the police have not yet publicly identified suspects. Yet in her Facebook post on March 21, which was later edited and eventually deleted, Ms. Bell played detective in a way that some felt relied on damaging stereotypes. "You needn't be a criminal profiler to draw a mental sketch of the killers who broke so many hearts two weeks ago Wednesday," she wrote. The post continued: "They are young black men, likely in their teens or in their early 20s. They have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs. These boys have been in the system before. They've grown up there. They know the police. They've been arrested." In the same post, Ms. Bell mentioned a hard working, young, black man whom she saw working at a restaurant, praising him in a way that came across as patronizing. "I wonder how long it had been since someone told him he was special," she wrote. Ms. Bell did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment. Station officials moved last week to take her off the air and distance themselves from the remarks. Charles W. Wolfertz, the station's president and general manager, addressed viewers in a broadcast explaining the move during which he said Ms. Bell showed "an egregious lack of judgment." In a statement circulated by the station's parent company, Hearst, WTAE TV said her comments were "inconsistent with the company's ethics and journalistic standards." Ms. Bell, who joined the station in 1998 and has won 21 regional Emmy Awards, apologized last week on her Facebook account, which has since been deleted. "I now understand that some of the words I chose were insensitive and could be viewed as racist," she wrote. "I regret offending anyone. I'm truly sorry." "She spoke the truth, and the people responsible for having her fired should be ashamed for this happening," one supporter wrote. Ms. Bell had previously been forced to apologize for remarks perceived as offensive to African Americans, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters. In 2010, after a segment on sunscreen, Ms. Bell turned to her black co anchor and said: "I want whatever you're using." Apologizing later, she said, "The words I said didn't come out the right way, and as such, offended some of you, which leaves me deeply troubled. I would never want to offend ANYONE, as my words clearly did. I hope you will accept my sincere apology."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
Just a few years ago, the dance forms of India received only isolated performances in New York. August, however, has now become a prime time for them. The Drive East festival at La MaMa is now in its third year. Importantly, it's as much a festival of music as of dance; and this year it has moved into the larger Ellen Stewart Theater. It's best to regard yourself as a student, and not only with the more unfamiliar genres; there's much to learn here, and many beauties to contemplate. This year's genres include examples of hammered dulcimer instrumental music (Tuesday), contemporary Indian dance (Saturday), and Hindustani sitar/bansuri (Sunday), as well as distinguished classical dance forms, including Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi and Odissi. Saturday also brings the annual outdoor performance of the Indo American Arts Council's Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance. (This year it is the opening event of the Battery Dance Festival, at Wagner Park.) This is always a lively sampler, an anthology of several forms in one concert: this year's items are planned to include strong examples of Kathak, Mohini Attam, and a genre new to me Chhau. Adagio in choreography has no more sublime or extreme expression than a pair of pas de trois by Frederick Ashton "Monotones I and II" (1965 66). And these intensely complementary ballets one man and two women to Erik Satie's "Trois Gnossiennes"; one woman and two men to "Trois Gymnopedies" are among the peaks of ballet classicism. A few years ago, these works were rarities. The Royal Ballet's excellent revival was caught on DVD; and American Ballet Theater is to add them to its repertory in its October two week season at the David H. Koch Theater, while the Royal revives them in November. This week the Sarasota Ballet will dance them at Jacob's Pillow, in Becket, Mass. This company's four day Ashton Festival was a highlight of 2014, and, though Ballet Theater is now raising impressive competition, Sarasota Ballet has earned a strong reputation as North America's foremost exponent of Ashton choreography, occasionally surpassing the Royal Ballet itself (Ashton's home company).	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
Ratings of 34 child safety seats in frontal impact crash tests, announced on Thursday by Consumer Reports, awarded the top ranking of Best to just 13 of the seats. A new testing procedure, said by the magazine to represent an investment of more than a half million dollars and over two years of work, was developed to evaluate the crash protection provided by child seats. The results are intended to equip parents with the information needed to compare the safety level of seats, in this case those designed for infants. In the tests, which were conducted by an independent laboratory, the seats were mounted on a "sled" fixture fitted with cushions and hardware representing a production vehicle. For each test, the sled travels forward on fixed rails and stops abruptly, simulating the forces that would be encountered in a 35 mile per hour frontal crash. While ratings of crash safety are readily available for new cars and trucks through the government's New Car Assessment Program on a five star scale, there is no comparable ranking of children's car seats conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Many studies have shown that child safety seats are effective in protecting children in accidents, and experts say that evaluations of their crash performance would be useful to consumers. "We know car seats work," said Jennifer Stockburger, director of operations at Consumer Reports' auto test center in Connecticut. "We are just trying to point out those with a better margin of safety and to drive designs that do it better." What Ms. Stockburger means by "drive designs" is that Consumer Reports is trying to emulate the success the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an industry supported organization, has had with raising the awareness of auto safety ratings among buyers. By conducting its own crash tests, which are different and sometimes more demanding than those in the government's evaluations, the institute has effectively employed the power of public opinion in encouraging carmakers to build safer vehicles. In the first round of tests under the new procedure, Consumer Reports evaluated 34 infant seats of the type that can only be mounted facing the rear of the car. This design, typically used for newborns and infants, has two parts: a fixed base strapped into the car and a detachable carrier that snaps out of the base when taking the child from of the car. Of the models tested, 13 received the top crash protection rating of Best and 16 were ranked Better. Five seats were rated as Basic, the lowest rating by Consumer Reports. Three of the Basic ratings were given to seats that either detached from their bases on impact or the bases split; two others were deemed Basic because sensors in dummies used in the test registered higher injury measures than the rest of the seats. Some samples of the Evenflo Embrace 35 (Select) and the Snugli Infant Car Seat detached from their bases. Some samples of the Graco SnugRide Classic Connect "exhibited significant cracking on their base," according to Consumer Reports. Seats that detached from their bases made it through the initial impact but detached when the seat rebounded. "We are concerned for any subsequent impact, recognizing that most crashes are not just one and done," Ms. Stockburger said. In all cases though, the crash dummy stayed in the carrier, the carrier was not damaged and the dummy remained secure in the harness, she said. Two others rated a Basic because the risk of head injury was significantly higher than in the other seats. They were the Orbit Baby Infant Car Seat G2 and the Maxi Cosi Prezi, which is marketed in the United States by Dorel. But Ms. Stockburger said the seats still met the federal standard. "Basic does not imply unsafe," she said. "We aren't going to say, 'Don't buy this child seat.' " Deaths of children 12 and under in motor vehicle crashes have fallen by 43 percent from 2002 to 2011, according to a report earlier this year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "That has happened by getting children into child restraints and in the back seat," said Kristy Arbogast, engineering director at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Center for Injury Research and Prevention. Under the current system, child seat manufacturers test their products according the federal standard a test that simulates a frontal impact at 30 m.p.h. and certify to the government that their seats meet the standard. Regulators periodically spot check for compliance. For many years, Consumer Reports' tests of car seats were based on the federal standard, with a few modifications. In developing its new procedure, the magazine said it wanted to develop a test based on conditions consumers were likely to experience on the road. Three major changes were made. The new test adds a so called blocker plate to the sled to simulate the front seatback, which a child in a car seat might hit in a crash. The test speed was increased to 35 m.p.h., from 30 m.p.h, resulting in a 36 percent increase in crash energy, Consumer Reports said. And the test now uses a different seat cushion. Instead of a soft, flat bench seat used in the federal standard, it uses one based on the Ford Flex, which it says represents the "average" vehicle seat on the road today. The Consumer Reports ratings continue to incorporate evaluations of ease of use and fit to vehicle. These measures tell parents how easily the straps and harnesses can be adjusted and how likely they are to get the seat to fit securely. As part of what Consumer Reports described as a rigorous process, an engineer was hired to oversee the effort internally, and the test protocol was reviewed by an outside expert.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Automobiles
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS 2: THE NEXT STEP on Hulu. Moviegoers flocked to theaters in 2005 to see penguins flock across the tundra; the 8 million documentary made 127 million worldwide. There's no big screen release for this sequel, but audiences can still watch these lovable flippered birds trek across "unforgiving yet mesmerizing landscapes," as Morgan Freeman intones. Once again, the focus is on the relationship between penguin fathers and their young dads must cradle the eggs, watch the babies while the moms are out gathering food, and protect them from carrion birds and bitter storms. PARADOX on Netflix. Neil Young is an Oscar nominee, but not for his work on camera his song in Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia" was recognized in 1994. He has acted sparingly over the years, though, and returns to the trade in this new film written and directed by Daryl Hannah. The film follows a band of outlaws hiding in the mountains, with Mr. Young playing the man in the black hat. He also provides original music along with the band Promise of the Real, which includes Willie Nelson's sons.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Television
SHALL WE? Piermont Avenue, the main street, has the kinds of quirky shops restaurants that draw visitors. Its riverfront setting at the foot of the Tallman range helps, too. DRAPED as it is down the Hudson River face of the Tallman Mountains, Piermont evokes a Mediterranean hillside, or maybe Sausalito, Calif. Either way, it presents a sharp contrast to many of its neighbors in Rockland County. Three miles south of the Tappan Zee Bridge, with a colorful main street of quaint shops and historic homes tucked along the shoreline, it is insulated from the noise of traffic crossing the span between Rockland to Westchester. But at the same time the George Washington Bridge is about 12 miles south, close enough for residents to commute to Manhattan. Not surprisingly, the 0.7 square mile village in Orangetown, with a three mile wide section of the river to its east and the steep hillside behind it, has become a refuge for artists, musicians, authors and others seeking a peaceful respite from the clamor of everyday life. "This is definitely not a place to come and build a McMansion," said Joan Dye Gussow, professor emerita at Columbia University, environmentalist and author of "This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader" (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2002), among other books. Ms. Gussow, 83, moved to Piermont with her husband, Alan, a painter, in 1995. The house they bought with the intention of renovating it turned out to be unsalvageable, so they built another on its footprint for about 400,000: a three bedroom two bath Italian style rose colored stucco residence. But it wasn't really for the original house that they moved to Piermont. "I don't know exactly what it was," Ms. Gussow said, "but when I walked down to the river with my husband, it was the open space, the nonsuburban aspect of the site that called to me." Now a widow, she conducts writing classes in her home and tends a large garden that sweeps down to the water. "I get up every morning and pull up the shades and look out at the river," she said, "and I just love that." Piermont has not always been idyllic. As recently as the 1980s, it was so reminiscent of a village laid bare by hard times that Woody Allen chose it for the backdrop of his 1985 movie "The Purple Rose of Cairo," which takes place during the Great Depression. Formerly a factory town, Piermont was the home of the Continental Can Company in the 1950s and then the site of the Piermont Paper Company. When the mill closed in the 1970s, the village fell into decline. It wasn't until the 1990s that developers began building condominiums and town houses on the pier, enticing new residents like Fara Abramson, the owner of a gift shop in nearby New City. After dining out one evening in Piermont with friends, Ms. Abramson, now 43 and the mother of a 9 year old son, was so smitten that she returned the next morning to buy a three bedroom three and a half bath town house with a deck and views of the riverfront, spending 300,000 before even putting her home and business in New City up for sale. "I could never have taken a chance like that in today's economy," said Ms. Abramson, who has since opened another gift shop, Presence, in Piermont, "but I'm glad I did back then." So magnetic is the village today, according to residents, that tourists and bicyclists often arrive in droves on weekends. The bicyclists often pay little heed to the designated bike lanes, said Robert Samuels, a former journalist and author who has lived here since 1982. "They talk loudly and shout back and forth to one another, often waking me out of a sound sleep on a Sunday morning," said Mr. Samuels, whose book "Blue Water, White Water" (Up the Creek Publishing, 2011) details his struggle with Guillain Barre syndrome, a muscle disorder. But other than the bicyclists and high annual property taxes, most of Piermont's 2,500 residents consider their village as close to perfect as it gets, said Mr. Samuels, the president of the 500 member civic association. Ash Street winds down from Route 9W, its various house styles on display: stone homes built in the 1700s, Greek Revivals dating to the 1800s, Victorians, ranches, split levels and contemporaries. Mr. Samuels and his companion, Karen Brown, a retired social worker, live in a barn red wheelchair accessible modular home on Sparkill Creek that he built for 175,000 when he moved to town 30 years ago. As David Sanders, president and founder of Sanders Properties in Nyack, puts it, residential real estate in Piermont attracts "a very creative, do your own kind of thing buyer." A waterfront section known as Bogertown is home to renovated 19th century fishermen's shacks dating to the period of Dutch immigration. Nearby on the pier, the newer condos and town houses built in the late 1900s have a distinctly modern feel, with an original 12 by 28 foot flywheel from the paper factory era prominently displayed among the more recent real estate. Because it was too heavy to remove, the flywheel remains mounted on a concrete base that was part of the original factory floor. The tableau recalls the pier's history, yet with its resemblance to a modern sculpture seems in keeping with the village's current ethos. Buyers represent "a cross section, young couples and empty nesters, but not your first time buyer," Mr. Sanders said. "It's too pricey." Many in the current market, he added, are paying with cash. The median price of a single family home at the end of 2011 was 550,000, down 19 percent from 675,000 in 2007. The median for a condo dropped to 250,000 from 595,000 in 2007, just before the market tanked, he said. Listings include: a two bedroom two bath penthouse condo in a gated complex next to the river, listed at 769,000 with taxes of 16,150 a year; a four bedroom five bath Victorian with river views and two fireplaces, listed at 1.499 million with taxes of 21,510; and a 10 bedroom 8 bath 1890s castle on 18 acres with a cottage, a barn and a pool, listed at 8.5 million, with taxes of 78,570. From April 18, 2011, to the same date this year, 9 single family homes sold in Piermont, spending an average of 146 days on the market; 23 condos sold during that time, taking an average of 111 days, Mr. Sanders said. In all, there are 466 single family homes, 77 two families, 19 three families, 357 condos and 100 rentals, said Brian J. Kenney, Orangetown's assessor and a consultant to the village. The South Orangetown Central School District Palisades, Sparkill, Tappan, Piermont, Grandview, Upper Nyack and part of Blauvelt has 3,400 students in five schools: William O. Schaefer School in Tappan, for kindergarten and Grade 1; Tappan Zee Elementary in Piermont for Grades 2 and 3; Cottage Lane Elementary in Blauvelt, for Grades 4 and 5; South Orangetown Middle School in Blauvelt, for Grades 6 through 8; and Tappan Zee High School in Orangeburg for Grades 9 through 12. There is also a special needs prekindergarten program at the Schaefer school. Among fourth graders at Cottage Lane last year, 77 percent met standards in English, 85 percent in math, versus 56.7 and 66.6 percent statewide, said Brian Culot, the principal. SAT averages were 529 in reading, 557 in math and 531 in writing, versus 514, 497 and 489 statewide. There is plenty to do along the waterfront and on the pier, said Chris Sanders, Piermont's part time mayor. Village children spend afternoons and weekends biking on the pier, crabbing and fishing in the river, and kayaking and canoeing on the river or Sparkill Creek. Mayor Sanders, along with his son, Benjamin, 15, and his wife, Marlene, a ceramic artist, also often hike in Tallman Mountain State Park, "where we feel like we're a million miles away from the city, even though we can see the skyline from the top of the mountain," he said. Mayor Sanders, a marketing executive who commutes to Manhattan, describes the family house a three bedroom mid 1800s pink shingle style dwelling that cost about 350,000 15 years ago as "adorable."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
This three bedroom, five bathroom house is in an agricultural area about 10 miles from the colonial city of Oaxaca, the capital of the central Mexican state of the same name. Built from adobe in 2006 by the current owner, the home is about two miles from Highway 190, the main road connecting Oaxaca to Mitla, one of the country's most important archaeological sites. Surrounded by farmland, the 39,800 square foot property has a separate guesthouse, a two car carport and landscaped grounds with flower gardens and orange, lime, avocado and mango trees. A six foot cinder block wall topped with clay tiles encircles the property, which has a cobblestone driveway leading to the 6,750 square foot, two story house. Visitors enter through hand carved cedar doors framed by Oaxacan tiles. There are sitting areas on either side of the entryway, which leads to a hexagonal open air courtyard decorated with a fountain and Talavera tiles. Many of the walls are exposed adobe brick, while others are covered with a light green sandstone, a building material native to Oaxaca, said John Harvey Williams, an owner of Real Estate Oaxaca, which has the listing for this property. The kitchen has a mobile island, a walk in pantry and a laundry room. The kitchen counters are Mexican ceramic tile with a Talavera backsplash. The dining room is round, with exposed adobe brick walls and large picture windows. There is also a covered outdoor patio with a dining table that can seat 12, Mr. Williams said. (The furniture is not included in the asking price, but is "negotiable," he said.) The master bedroom suite covers the second floor and includes an en suite bathroom with Jacuzzi tub, a walk in closet and a 350 square foot balcony with views of the surrounding mountains. A separate one bedroom guesthouse has a full bathroom and kitchen. There is a private well on the property and a 50,000 liter holding tank that supplements the water provided by the local utility. Sewage and wastewater are treated and cleaned by two biodigestor systems. There is no garage, but there is a covered carport that accommodates two cars. The town of San Francisco Lachigolo, with several traditional Oaxacan restaurants and shops, is about a mile away. Several small villages in the area are known for their distinctive crafts, including baskets and rugs. There are also archaeological sites dating to the Zapotec era more than 2,000 years ago. Oaxaca International Airport is about a 45 minute drive from the house, and Mexico City is about 350 miles northeast. International sales in Mexico have slowed in the last year, in the wake of tension between the United States and Mexico and uncertainly over the Mexican presidential election in July, said Glenn Ehrenberg, director of operations for Mexico Sotheby's International Realty. "A lot of people were in pause," he said. In Oaxaca, home sales have been "steady but slow" this year, Mr. Williams said, with most of the activity in the historic city center. Tourism is the main economic driver in the city of Oaxaca, as the colonial city center and nearby Monte Alban, the ruins of a city dating to 500 B.C., are Unesco World Heritage sites. In recent years, the expatriate community in the city has continued to grow, in large part thanks to the restaurant and art scenes, and the opening of new boutique hotels, agents said. In the downtown area, where there is a shortage of quality homes and little new construction, sales prices are up 3.5 percent in the last year, said Dolores Perez Islas, the chief executive of SIL Mexico, in Oaxaca, which specializes in investment properties. "Once we have a listing, it will sell in one or two months very quick," she said. "The little bit we have downtown really flies." But a home priced at 250,000 or less in the city center is likely a fixer upper, she said. Houses in the countryside, like this property, tend to stay on the market longer, as buyers are scarce, agents said. One growth area has been buyers investing in property where they can grow agave for the production of tequila, a booming business in the area, Mr. Ehrenberg said. About 20 percent of the buyers in the state of Oaxaca are foreigners, primarily from the United States and Canada, Mr. Williams said. The number is higher along the southern coast about a 40 minute flight from the city where the popular tourist destinations of Puerto Escondido and Huatulco draw foreign buyers. The city of Oaxaca tends to appeal to a different type of international buyer than Mexico's beach cities do, Ms. Perez Islas said. Most are looking for a second home or a place to retire, and they are attracted by the cultural and historic riches in the city and surrounding area. "People pick Oaxaca because they want something unique," she said. "They want to live in a different culture." There are no restrictions on foreigners buying property in Mexico, except along the coast and borders, said Jonathan A. Pikoff, a lawyer based in Cabo San Lucas. But are still complexities. Large portions of land in Oaxaca are controlled by the local communities, which can restrict ownership rights, he said. (This property has a private deed that conveys full ownership, Mr. Williams said.) The notary a key player in any transaction, agents said certifies the sale and ensures that all the documents are prepared correctly.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
The film director Tomer Heymann entered or barged into the life of the Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin 25 years ago, first as his waiter at a cafe and then as the boyfriend of one of his dancers. He became obsessed with Mr. Naharin's work and in 2007 persuaded him to let him film his creative process for "Out of Focus," a documentary about Mr. Naharin's experience with the now defunct Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet in New York. But Mr. Heymann wanted more to do another, longer documentary. Most artists would be flattered, but not Mr. Naharin. "I don't like to leave evidence," he said. Eventually, though, he caved in to Mr. Heymann's request to make another film about his life and work. "He was already living in my underwear," Mr. Naharin said with a sigh in a recent interview. "Mr. Gaga: A True Story of Love and Dance," eight years in the making, is Mr. Heymann's portrait of Mr. Naharin, who is the artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company, based in Tel Aviv. "I didn't take the process as seriously as he did," Mr. Naharin said. "It's his life project maybe, but for me, I just allowed a man, a director and a cameraman a lovely person to be around and document what we were doing. We were still in our own playground." For Mr. Naharin, 64, a playground is what he calls his studio, where he creates slippery, enigmatic dances that flicker between strident assertions of bold physicality and buttery fluidity. His latest is called "Last Work" though it isn't really and will be performed by Batsheva at the Brooklyn Academy of Music beginning Wednesday, Feb. 1, the same day "Mr. Gaga" opens at Film Forum and at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at the Film Society Lincoln Center. Mr. Naharin doesn't like to give much away regarding his dances. Despite that, here are a few nuggets about "Last Work": It features an original score by the German electronic music producer Grischa Lichtenberger; selections include Romanian lullabies; and there is a dancer who runs on a treadmill it's built into the set at the back of the stage for the work's duration of a little more than an hour. For each of his pieces, Mr. Naharin creates codes or rules for his dancers to follow during the choreographic process. In "Last Work," one idea was that there would be no improvisation; another involved three words: baby, ballerina and executioner. At the beginning of the process, he told his dancers to embody one or all of those characters. "I don't care at all if you realize it when you watch the piece," he said. He incorporated the idea as a means to find emotion and essence. "Why do we do this step? What is the texture? What is the flow of energy? How much effort do you put into it? How does your skin feel? How does the scope of sensations connect to what you feel?" This methodology relates directly to Mr. Naharin's dance language, Gaga, which stresses a heightened awareness of the senses and the expansiveness of the body; it is a way, as he often tells practitioners, "to use your flesh to grab your bones." As the teacher calls out instructions to, say, move like spaghetti in boiling water the student responds from the inside out. There are no mirrors. (Gaga was created for both professionals and nonprofessionals. Classes, designated for "people" or "dancers," are offered in New York at Gibney Dance and the Mark Morris Dance Center.) In the title of his movie its producer is Barak Heymann, his brother Mr. Heymann pays homage to Gaga; and the film, in an indirect way, reveals how Mr. Naharin came to invent it. Gaga isn't a technique; it's a life's work. Mr. Heymann met Mr. Naharin after Mr. Naharin relocated to Tel Aviv from New York with his wife, Mari Kajiwara, an esteemed member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater who died of cancer in 2001. He had just taken over the artistic direction of Batsheva, and Mr. Heymann was a waiter at a restaurant that the couple frequented. They fascinated him. "The country was not familiar with mixed couples," Mr. Heymann said. "Who was this Japanese woman who took up a lot of space? She had tremendous dignity and a kind of royal presence. It did not matter if you were gay, straight, man, woman you could not take your eyes from her. At the same time, you really wanted to follow the man, because the man was sexy. So this a very confusing couple. Who did you want to look at first?" "I told myself, there will be a break and I will leave and tell her it was O.K.," Mr. Heymann said. But when it was over, he continued, "I ran to the ocean and jumped in with my clothes on." He watched the dance, he said, 30 times in 30 days. It was transformative for him. After seeing it, he said: "Tel Aviv looked different. The sound of the birds, the sound of the waves, the taste of ice cream it was different. I was on drugs without using drugs." It featured a section set to a Passover song in which performers sit in a semicircle and rise one by one to fling off pieces of clothing black suits and white shirts. Members of some Israeli religious groups protested, but it remains a much lauded dance that pinpoints a luscious and ecstatic yearning. (It is included in "Minus 16," which Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has performed to impressive effect.) Along with footage of his dances, "Mr. Gaga" also shows the man behind the movement. He spent his early years on a kibbutz; later, when an ankle injury made him ineligible for combat in the Israeli army, he joined an army entertainment group. He started formal dance training extremely late, at 22, and while dancing with Batsheva, he was discovered by a smitten Martha Graham who had a close association with the company and moved to New York to work with her. It wasn't a great fit, which Mr. Naharin blames on himself: "I think it had a lot to do with me totally unprepared for the big world," he said. After 10 months, he left the Graham organization and attended Juilliard and the School of American Ballet; he also met Ms. Kajiwara and began choreographing. In the film, dancers who worked with Mr. Naharin in the early years speak of his harshness as a director. During performances, he would shout things like, "You're boring me!" Mr. Naharin said he has spent years working to become less severe. Inventing Gaga helped him to figure out how to talk to his dancers. "I learned that in order to have people want to work with you," he said, "the only power that you're allowed to apply is the power of convincing. And if I can convince, I don't have to be harsh."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
N.F.L., you're on the clock. Now that nearly every major North American sports league has resumed some form of play, it's the N.F.L.'s turn to see if it can navigate the coronavirus pandemic as red flags arise at every turn. The loudest alarm went off Monday, when Major League Baseball, its new season less than a week old, was forced to postpone several games because of an outbreak among the Miami Marlins. The fallout continued on Tuesday, when the Washington Nationals players voted against traveling to Miami to play this weekend, and the league postponed all of the Marlins' games through Sunday. The Marlins now have 17 confirmed positive cases, including 15 players, within their traveling party. The Marlins' infections and M.L.B.'s subsequent schedule shuffle were swift and scary reminders that as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease doctor told The New York Times in April, "the virus decides how quickly you're going to get back to normal." Because the N.F.L. season ended just before the pandemic hit the United States, the league was able to keep to its off season calendar, albeit mostly online. For months, the team owners and players' union approved plans to reduce the risk of infection by, among other things, reconfiguring locker rooms, reducing travel schedules, eliminating preseason games, and implementing extensive testing of all employees. But unlike the N.B.A., W.N.B.A., Major League Soccer and other leagues that created enclosed communities to isolate their players and staff, the N.F.L. followed the lead set by Major League Baseball and the PGA Tour and chose to let players and staff return to their homes after play, vastly increasing their risk of exposure. Now, N.F.L. players are reporting to training camp with one eye warily watching the uncertainty enveloping M.L.B. and across the rest of the country as Covid 19 cases surge in certain regions. "I'm not confident in the entire system because it is so contagious," Austin Ekeler, a Los Angeles Chargers running back, told TMZ Sports. "There's a reason we're going through all these shutdowns and things like that. There's not been really any progress made as far as containing this thing." The reasons for going without a so called bubble are myriad. N.F.L. rosters are far larger than those in other leagues so zones that players would be restricted to would have to be enormous. Players resisted being cooped up in hotels for months before the league and union made the decision in the spring to go without a single site locale to host the regular season. DeMaurice Smith, the executive president of the players' union, added another factor: The league and union made their decision when cases were declining, not rising. As one agent put it: "The league gambled on the calendar and Covid 'progress' falling in their favor. They are losing the gamble." So now the league and the N.F.L. Players Association are banking on extensive testing and an honor code to keep their season running. On Sunday, the union sent players a memo reminding them that teams can penalize players who are caught in an indoor nightclub, a bar, a house party or other gatherings with more than 15 people. Never mind that the sport itself requires hand to hand contact or that the league is only recommending, but not requiring, players to wear face coverings. "This is just the beginning," said Dr. Scott Braunstein, the medical director of Sollis Health LA who was a sideline doctor for the Los Angeles Rams for four seasons until this year. "If they go on without mandating masks and the testing protocol does not change dramatically, this is going to spread like wildfire through the teams." It may be too late for the N.F.L. to heed many of the lessons that M.L.B. is learning. Dr. Allen Sills, the N.F.L.'s chief medical officer, told reporters on Monday that there are no plans for an enclosed community like the N.B.A. has built. The league, he said, will instead rely on a "virtual football bubble." In a letter to fans on Monday, Commissioner Roger Goodell said that Covid 19 will present "a major challenge" this season and "adjustments are necessary to reduce the risk for everyone involved." The commissioner has said he will consult with the league's competition committee to determine what, if any, thresholds must be met to shut down a team hit with a wave of infections, or cancel or postpone games. The risks are only now being tallied. During the off season, 95 players and staff tested positive for the coronavirus. On Tuesday, the league said that eight more players were added to the injured reserve list because of positive tests for the virus in addition to the two dozen that were put on the list on Sunday and Monday. Tellingly, Eric Sugarman, the Minnesota Vikings head trainer and Infection Control Officer, tested positive and is now quarantined. "As I sit here in quarantine, it is clear this virus does not discriminate," Sugarman said in a statement. "It should continue to be taken seriously." A growing list of players have also chosen to sit out the season, including Kansas City Chiefs guard Laurent Duvernay Tardif, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Maurice Canady, and several New England Patriots players, including linebacker Dont'a Hightower. Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Marquise Goodwin said on Twitter that he opted out this season because he did not want to increase the risk that his wife might lose another child after they'd lost three to childbirth complications before the birth of their daughter in February. "I won't take the chance of experiencing another loss because of my selfish decision making." Per the terms of the agreement reached between the league and the union last week, players who opt out will receive a stipend of 150,000 as an advance on the salary they would have earned this season. Caleb Brantley, a defensive tackle with the Washington Football Team, is one of a handful of players who opted out because he has one of the 15 medical conditions that the league has deemed "high risk." He and others who qualify will receive a 350,000 stipend, but it won't be treated as a salary advance. With thousands of players crisscrossing the country to report to training camp this week, the list of positive tests is bound to grow. And as the infections ricochet through M.L.B., more N.F.L. players are bound to decide to sit out the season to better protect themselves and their families. This is going to test the N.F.L. like never before. Players and coaches abide by the mercenary's ethic of "next man up": When one player goes down with an ankle sprain, torn knee ligaments or a concussion, the next man must be ready to take his place. We're about to find out what happens when the injury is not a bruise or broken bone, but an invisible virus. "It's at least going to get started," Eagles center Jason Kelce said. "How it goes after that probably depends on how well we keep the virus from contaminating the whole building, how other teams do."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
Judith Kaplan Eisenstein didn't celebrate her bat mitzvah in a hotel ballroom with a D.J. or an open bar for her grown up guests. Instead, Ms. Kaplan Eisenstein, who in 1922 was the first American girl to become a bat mitzvah in a public service, simply read her Torah portion in both English and Hebrew from a book bound Chumash, or bible, and went home. Gender based outrage over her ceremony quickly followed , but the dissent didn't seem to bother her. "No thunder sounded. No lightning struck," Ms. Kaplan Eisenstein later said. That aspect was daunting for Paige Utley. But the 13 year old, who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, knew it was part of the deal. "It was kind of nerve wracking," Paige said . "Especially with all my family and friends and random people I don't know listening to me say this language that means a lot to them. But at the same time, I worked so hard for this. So I took a deep breath and showed them what I've accomplished." It's a performance that would be reasonably stressful at any age, and a growing number of Jews are now deferring the ceremonies until later in life, when their religious identities have had time to form. Still, the majority of bar and bat mitzvahs take place while their celebrants are in the throes of puberty. Like a quinceanera or a sweet 16, the event is meant to mark a transition from youth to adulthood, specifically within the Jewish faith. But for a middle schooler, most adult responsibilities religious or otherwise lie far ahead. "It's a big milestone in my life to become a bat mitzvah," Paige said. "I feel like I have more independence and whatever, but I don't feel like I need to now get a job. I don't have to pay rent and pay taxes." Jonathan D. Sarna, a professor at Brandeis University and a scholar of American Jewish history, said the tradition of celebrating a bat mitzvahs didn't pick up until after World War II, when the G.I. Bill brought about an influx of wealth and the expansion of suburbia. All of a sudden Jews, who were long unwelcome in the outskirts of big cities, were able to leave their multigenerational households and move their families into sprawling homes. And where the Jews went, so too went the synagogues. Rabbi Carole Balin, a professor emeritus of Jewish history at Hebrew Union College, said that rabbis were largely happy to oversee bat mitzvahs. Not only did the events increase attendance at Friday night services they also brought a new hope for a bar mitzvah that had seemingly become overwrought with materialism. It became customary for a party to follow the service, and for boys to buy new suits and expect expensive gifts. "If Bat Mitzvah will remain a modest, dignified religious observance, it may well be instrumental in helping to return Bar Mitzvah to its traditional Simkha Shel Mitzvah," or joyous fulfillment of a commandment, wrote Rabbi R.A. Ohrenstein of Knesset Israel Congregation in Pittsfield, Mass., in 1960, according to "Women and American Judaism: Historical Perspectives," co edited by Dr. Sarna and Pamela S. Nadell. But Rabbi Ohrenstein's austere ideal has largely been abandoned in favor of flash. Bat mitzvah receptions are now documented not only by professional photographers and videographers, but also their teen attendees, on Instagram, Snapchat, VSCO and TikTok. Accordingly, the stakes of a bat mitzvah have risen. The most extravagant of these parties might include musical guests Shawn Mendes, Drake and Nick Jonas, for example and conform to campy themes like Cirque du Soleil and Candyland. Bat mitzvahs have been known to take place in New York City nightclubs, on yachts and, in some cases, in faraway destinations. They are, in short, a spectacle. Before Gabi Ivler, 12, of North Caldwell, N.J., made her grand entrance in the ballroom at the Crystal Plaza in Livingston, N.J., her friends wielded their phones in anticipation. Two fire dancers had just warmed up the room for the guest of honor. When the doors opened , the bat mitzvah girl skipped, arm in arm with motivational dancers, to the center of the floor, while her friends recorded the moment. "We Snapchat and write like, 'Mazels!' and 'Congratulations!' or something," Gabi said, explaining the obligatory social media posts she and her friends share at these events. "I get very good deals," Ms. Ivler said. "So I'd say this was the most over the top I've done." As guests trickled into the venue they were greeted by disembodied hands holding cocktails through cutouts in a makeshift wall. When they turned the corner and walked through the ballroom's French doors they would see a redheaded woman in sequin shorts perched on an elevated hoop and holding a bottle of champagne. To her right was a brunette whose skirt was made of champagne flutes. The ballroom was designed with Gabi's younger guests in mind. Instead of formal tables, the kids' section was a lounge, which included a bar with signature blue mocktails with gummy bears dropped inside, light blue couches and high top tables and chairs with matching light blue seat covers. A gallery of Gabi's professional portraits lined the walls. First there was the service though. Farin had been studying for months. In addition to her regularly programmed Hebrew school, she also attended weekly lessons to prepare to chant her Torah and haftorah portions and attended services every Thursday to learn the prayers. Farin said she was most worried about messing up and speaking in front of everyone. "It was actually fun," Farin said. "And it was exciting as I was getting deeper into the service and reading from the Torah." Paige walked away with a similar feeling. Despite a few slip ups, she said she "had an amazing time." And when she tripped over some words, she laughed at herself. "The cantor was like, 'I have never seen someone look so happy to have made a mistake,'" she said.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
The memoir, as we know it, was born out of an act of petty larceny. Late one night in the fourth century, a teenager plucked pears off a neighbor's tree. He didn't especially want them; he tasted a few and tossed the rest to the hogs. He stole them for the sake of stealing them. "It was foul, and I loved it," he later wrote. "I loved my own undoing." The pleasure he took in the pointless theft haunted him. Years later, a bishop and newly respectable, Aurelius Augustinus St. Augustine began to plumb his past in his "Confessions." He described, in warty detail, impressive youthful indiscretions (there are more interesting vices, he was to discover, than stealing pears) and a reluctant path to transcendence. That spirit of self scrutiny lingers on in autobiographical writing. But the form evolves with the fashions, and with our anxieties: about disclosure, authenticity, performance. Today memoirs might be more therapeutic in aim, or explicitly political. Some swagger; more than a few dissemble. There are subgenres with conventions and rich histories of their own (slave narratives, for example). Lately a new form has begun to cohere, or an old one to return. Call it the epistolary memoir: a life told in the form of a letter, inaugurated, perhaps, by Ta Nehisi Coates's National Book Award winning "Between the World and Me" (itself inspired by James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time"). More often they offer benedictions over the living. "There is something wild eyed about whiteness right now, at this moment in history," Imani Perry writes in "Breathe," a letter to her sons. Many of these memoirs crystallize around the killings of black men and women, of Renisha McBride, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner. "I write you in your 15th year," Coates addresses his son at the beginning of "Between the World and Me." "This was the week you learned that the killers of Michael Brown would go free." In the opening scenes of "Breathe," we find Perry and her son sitting on the sofa, listening to the news of Troy Davis's execution. These memoirs are full of the love and frantic fear black parents feel for their children, and the fugitive hope that education or class might offer some measure of protection. But they are also rich evocations of abundance: "I cannot clip your wings," Perry writes to her sons. She will not permit them lives of narrow circumspection: "I want your wingspan wide." Several accounts vibrate with the exhilaration and anxiety of rupturing ancient silences. "I was the third generation of things we didn't talk about," Terese Marie Mailhot writes in "Heart Berries," a series of letters to her lover, in which she delves into her childhood on the Seabird Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest, and familial legacies of abuse and addiction. In "Heavy," an exorcism of his childhood in Mississippi, Kiese Laymon addresses his beloved mother: "Neither of us would ever, under any circumstance, be honest about yesterday. This is how we are taught to love in America," he writes, remembering the brutal beatings she administered in an effort to make him so perfect, so unimpeachable, that he might survive America. It's a recurring note in several books a parent's cruel and desperate attempts to toughen up a child for the world. "I grew up in a house drawn between love and fear," Coates writes. "I would hear it in Dad's voice 'Either I can beat him, or the police.' Maybe that saved me. Maybe it didn't." In Ocean Vuong's essays and autofiction written as letters to his mother (a Vietnamese immigrant), he imagines something similar: "Perhaps to lay hands on your child is to prepare him for war, to say that to possess a heartbeat is not as simple as the heart's task of saying yes yes yes to the body. I don't know." Those notes of uncertainty interest me "Maybe that saved me. Maybe it didn't"; "I don't know" given the form's history. Traditionally, the memoir addressed to one's descendants enshrined an official family story. "Dear Son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors," Ben Franklin begins his "Autobiography." "Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a week's uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement, I sit down to write them for you." The memoir continues in this vein of purring complacency, the sweetness of a life tasted twice, first in the living, then in the telling. The new epistolary memoirs, however, are less interested in stitching a life into a tidy narrative shroud than in ripping it from its seams. Fittingly, many are documents of intense reluctance. Even Baldwin starts "The Fire Next Time," writing to his nephew: "Dear James, I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times." "I did not want to write to you," Laymon begins "Heavy," addressing his mother. "I did not want to write about us. I wanted to write an American memoir. I wanted to write a lie." Perry bristles at the prospect of pity, of having strangers tell her, "it must be terrifying to raise a Black boy in America." No, she insists to her sons: "No matter how many say so, you are not a problem. Mothering you is not a problem. It is a gift. A vast one. A breathtaking one, beautiful." While the scope of these books is broad, national, transhistorical, the spaces they unfold are intimate. Laymon's memoir is dedicated to his grandmother's porch. In "Breathe," a book light on physical detail, the old sofa Perry and her son sat on as they waited for the news of Troy Davis comes in for sudden, affectionate description. "Indian women remember often, like me," Mailhot writes. "But mostly it is while their hands are wrist deep in the dishes. There is always something on the floor to pick up with a rag." The first time I copied down that sentence, I mistyped it. "There is always something on the floor to pick up with a rage," I wrote. Not entirely wrong, I think. The domestic, as Mailhot observes, interferes with the writer's ability to complete the memory, jot down the thought (those soapy hands), but it is still the site, the source, of the realization, the place that paradoxically engenders and inhibits writing. It is the context; it provides the stakes. Paule Marshall wrote about her education as a writer "in the wordshop of the kitchen," listening at the elbow of her mother and aunts. In inviting the reader into their relationships, in allowing us to eavesdrop on them, these memoirists harness a particular power of the domestic: its language. "We live in a 'goal oriented' era," Coates writes. "Our media vocabulary is full of hot takes, big ideas and grand theories of everything." Speech between parents and children, or between lovers (as in "Heart Berries"), can be glib, manipulative, evasive, violent as these memoirs amply illustrate. But, in a moment when public language feels debased and cynical, our private languages our intimate languages seem suddenly unique, capable of a rare kind of sincerity and shame, willing to admit confusion: "Maybe that saved me. Maybe it didn't." "I don't know." It is language taken to the brink, "another alphabet written in the blood," as Ocean Vuong writes, "sinew, neuron and hippocampus; ancestors charging their kin with the silent propulsion to fly south, to turn toward the place in the narrative no one was meant to outlast."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
Abby Awe, left, and Julia Greer in Gracie Gardner's "Athena." Ms. Gardner's "Cowboy" runs from six to 20 minutes in the Exponential Festival. One of 2018's left field hits was Gracie Gardner's "Athena," a duel between a pair of teenage fencers and the rare Off Off Broadway production to get an encore staging (both runs were at Jack in Brooklyn). And that was only the tip of the iceberg for Ms. Gardner, who also had several one acts on the boards last year, including "Ballgirl" at the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival and a pair of pieces as part of Ensemble Studio Theater's Youngblood program. Tellingly, Ms. Gardner is presenting another brief effort, "Cowboy," in the Exponential Festival, which gathers experimental works by New York writers. Other festivals in January: Read about an adaptation of Sarah Kane's "4:48 Psychosis" at Prototype: Opera/Theater/Now and Under the Radar at the Public Theater. "I put up weird little stuff all the time, I'm not super precious about it," Ms. Gardner, 27, said by phone from Los Angeles. "I just love having a single visual image onstage. Sometimes I see people expanding a one act and usually I feel, 'That thing is really a short piece.'" "Cowboy," which is part of a triple bill at Target Margin's Doxsee Theater, Jan. 17 20, is a monologue by the titular character, who happens to be the last cowboy in the world and is played by a different actor at each performance, including Brittain Ashford, Becca Blackwell and Dasha Nekrasova. The trick is that the show's running time varies between six and 20 minutes. "It could depend on whatever the audience is feeling and responding to," said the director, Charles Quittner, 26. "How we do the performance is pretty randomized in that things are triggered out of certain events that might happen during the show. "The form of this actually reminds me of a Wild West show from the 19th century because this cowboy might end up doing stunts onstage," he added. "We're having fun with futility." Ms. Gardner said, "It's sort of, God willing, this play will work. It makes me a little nervous but I think it'll be fun," she said. "There's an element that's out of everyone's control." The young writer herself appears fully in control of her career, which has been on an upward swing since she won the 2017 Relentless Award for her play "P Sludge." She is currently working on full length shows for the Atlantic Theater, Manhattan Theater Club and Clubbed Thumb. In the fall she moved to California, where she is developing a project with the "Spotlight" movie director Tom McCarthy for Paramount TV. Not bad for someone who skipped the fancy M.F.A. programs her peers favor and was juggling odd jobs until recently, including working for the TV show "Mr. Robot." "Being a production assistant is grueling, but I was very lucky that for a while I worked on a show that was shot at night," Ms. Gardner said. "There would be nobody in the office except for me and another woman so I was able to get a lot of writing done overnight. I also worked at a bar in NoLIta that was very slow. It was not great for tips there were three regulars drinking spritzes but it did mean I got a lot of writing done on my phone during shifts." ONE MORE EXPONENTIAL SHOW The double bill of David Perez's "1993" and Justin Linville's " 1 Dad," Jan. 17 and Jan. 20 at the Brick, illustrates the melding of theater and comedy flourishing on the young New York scene.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Theater
HOLTVILLE, Calif. It's late when I check into the Barbara Worth Country Club, 600 miles southeast of my home in the Bay Area. Spare rooms border dark fields, a dry golf course and a web of open irrigation troughs that help make Imperial County one of the biggest agricultural producers in California. Holtville calls itself the carrot capital of the world, and even now, after this season's harvest, stray carrot tops bolt, blooming to seed. Fifteen miles from my hotel is the border with Mexico, a boundary now marked by barbed wire that loops around the edges of the All American Canal, an elaborate, 80 mile long aqueduct that diverts water from Colorado to irrigate farmland that would otherwise get around three inches of rain per year. Ms. Lange came to Imperial County during the late 1930s, capturing a different generation of migrants drawn here from Mexico, the Philippines, Oklahoma and the Dakotas, looking for work in the carrot fields. In 1937, she photographed ramshackle tents lining a canal; a group of Model T's making haphazard camp in a gully. In other shots, cabbage pickers bend deep and hoist baskets high on their shoulders. Ms. Lange, best known for her Depression era photographs of migrant laborers, began photographing bread lines and labor strikes near her San Francisco studio in 1932. In the 1920s, she had made her living as a society portraitist, photographing San Francisco's wealthiest families the Levi Strauss and the Haas families among them. As the Great Depression worsened, she began photographing people she saw on the streets: men curled up sleeping or in line for food. In 1935, she married the economist Paul Taylor; they left San Francisco together to photograph the living conditions of agricultural laborers up and down the state, from Davis and Marysville all the way to Imperial County. The Farm Security Administration supported their work. "Not enough money for cotton sacks" reads another note; "All I've got is right here." "Sold everything little by little." "We said we came from," she writes in a note that ends in an eerie, indecipherable smudge: "They said, "Why don't you go back there then?" As a poet, I was drawn to the chorus of voices Ms. Lange recorded, which call across time. Her notebooks catalog concerns that feel sharply relevant eight decades later: the search for shelter, a fair wage and stable work. Last year, from January to October, I drove across California, following routes Ms. Lange noted in her travels from 1935 to 1942, by which time she had been hired by the Office of War Information to document the process of Japanese internment. But the Bay Area today is no picture of middle class stability. My once modest neighborhood has skyrocketing home prices a small three bedroom that eight years ago cost 500,000 now lists for 1.3 million, while roughly 28,000 homeless people sleep on the streets in the Bay Area each night. Vacant lots, industrial blocks and underpasses nearby fill with semipermanent encampments. I bike my children to school each day through a maze of tents and trailers. Following Ms. Lange's images and notes has become a study in uneasy juxtapositions: rifts between enormous wealth and unsettled poverty, some of which feel new, some like a continuation of the past. In Imperial County, which now has the highest unemployment rate in California, Eddie Preciado of Catholic Charities holds beds at the county's one homeless shelter for men, offering shelter to migrant laborers who cross the border to pick corn. "There's still no dedicated housing for agricultural workers," he told me. Down the road, a detention center run by Management Training Corporation for ICE holds 782 beds. "Most middle class jobs are in border security," Mr. Preciado said. In Nipomo, where Ms. Lange pulled over near a frozen pea field to make her famous photograph "Migrant Mother" in 1936, a new community of 1.2 million tract homes overlooks rows of factory farmed strawberry fields edged with workers' trailers.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Opinion
WASHINGTON When numerous state attorneys general gathered last month on the steps of the Supreme Court to announce an antitrust investigation into Google, one was conspicuous ly absent : Xavier Becerra, California's attorney general. He was also missing from a list of state attorneys general publicly signing on to a joint antitrust investigation into Facebook, released last week by New York. Mr. Becerra's curious no show fro m the public announcements has provided one of the more enduring questions about the scrutiny of the tech industry sweeping through Washington and state capitals. What is Mr. Becerra whose state is home to most of the country's biggest tech companies, including Google and Facebook up to? His decision to skirt the question has led to questions about what one of the largest and most influential states is doing on the tech antitrust front. Mr. Becerra's office has more resources money and people than most state attorneys general, which would be needed to pursue a major legal case against one of the top tech companies. It has led to criticism from political rivals and groups calling for aggressive action against the giant tech companies, as well as attention from local news organizations. Yet Mr. Becerra, who has been vocal about problems with Silicon Valley in the past, has remained fastidious about saying little about any potential investigations. He has neither confirmed nor denied that his office is examining Google, Facebook or any other tech company. "No one except California and the A.G.'s office knows what, if anything, we're doing with regard to either of those two or any other company in the internet space," he said in an interview this week. He added that he was following his office's longstanding practice not to speak publicly about a possible investigation. Earlier this month, Mr. Becerra responded to a question about California not publicly endorsing the joint investigations by asking one of his own. "How do you know we're not investigating?" he said. Mr. Becerra's spokeswoman, Sarah Lovenheim, said the office did not disclose what it was or was not investigating to protect the integrity of its work. "It's just our policy not to comment on any pending or potential investigations," she said in a statement. Other attorneys general offices are not offering any insight, either. Fabien Levy, a spokesman for Letitia James, the New York attorney general, said that her office "cannot comment on whether we have or have not had a conversation with another state about any of our investigations." Mr. Becerra, a Democrat, spent more than 20 years in the House before being appointed California's attorney general and taking office in 2017. Since he left Washington, anti tech fever has become an animating force in politics. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, has made breaking up Big Tech a calling card of her presidential campaign. The House Judiciary Committee, where Mr. Becerra once served, is also running its own antitrust investigation into Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon. Mr. Becerra has been willing to take on the large tech companies in other contexts. His office is developing regulations around the California Consumer Privacy Act, an online privacy law that the internet industry has tried to weaken . The law gave consumers more rights over their data when the legislature passed it last year, but it is up to Mr. Becerra to propose the rules and enforce them. "It's an incredibly technical matter; they got a lot right ," said Ashkan Soltani, a technologist who has been involved with supporting the California law. His office has also been aggressive in other antitrust matters. In addition to challenging T Mobile's merger with Sprint, it announced a tentative settlement this month in an antitrust lawsuit with Sutter Health, a Northern California hospital system. Mr. Becerra has also expressed concern that consumer data was being concentrated among a small number of online platforms. On Oct. 1, eight groups who have advocated more aggressive scrutiny of companies like Facebook and Google wrote to Mr. Becerra asking to discuss their concerns with him. Sarah Miller, the deputy director of one group, the Open Markets Institute, said they wanted "to offer to share our views, to hear his views and to help brief or provide educational support ." "Your state is at the epicenter of this national conversation, giving you a unique and powerful position," the groups wrote. "We hope to build a constructive line of communication as these corporations continue to be under public and regulatory scrutiny." The groups heard nothing until after Ms. Miller followed up 10 days later. Officials eventually offered to set up a phone call between the groups and some of Mr. Becerra's senior aides. Ms. Miller said that the issue was whether Mr. Becerra would "have political courage and join, even symbolically, these investigations that are looking into whether these companies are monopolies that our public institutions should be addressing." Asked generally about his contact with critics, Mr. Becerra said this week that his office was "in conversation with both competitors and critics of some of the industry in the tech field" on an "ongoing basis." Republican state lawmakers in California have also attacked Mr. Becerra over his public absence from the investigations , saying the state should have a voice in the investigative process. Four of them have introduced a resolution, which has yet to attract any Democrats, calling on the attorney general to "work closely with other state attorneys general to determine legal actions the State of California and other states may take to curb the monopolistic powers of giant technology companies." When it comes to talking about investigating those platforms, however, Mr. Becerra insists his hands are tied. "It puts me in a predicament," he said. "Unlike when I was a member of Congress and I could pretty much say whatever I wanted, I'm in a different position now."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Technology
They mounted the sweeping steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art long after night had fallen , the celebrities and models and socialites and titans of business, the 1,000 special guests in their finery and furs, past the paparazzi and a row of ushers standing at attention like a newfangled Praetorian Guard. Anna Wintour was there, in long black velvet and gold, rubbing shoulders with Blake Lively and Stephen Schwarzman and Penelope Cruz and Kaia Gerber and Lily Rose Depp. They sipped Champagne and declined the canapes, and then strolled through the Egyptian collection to the Temple of Dendur, glowing under its glass roof. Wait it's December. Isn't the Met Gala in May? They could be forgiven for feeling as if they had fallen into a time warp, so strongly associated are that fashion party and this museum. Only a brave soul would dare to follow in those footsteps. But then no one ever said that Karl Lagerfeld, the designer of Chanel (among many other things), lacked ambition.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Fashion & Style
Credit...Caroline Tompkins for The New York Times Kim Petras's debut music video, "I Don't Want It at All," dives deep into the heart of teenage girl greed. Set in a fantasy world of Los Angeles boudoirs and boutiques, the clip finds the singer on a frenzied shopping spree, outfitted in what she calls "my bitchiest clothes," some of which make her look like a walking wad of bubble gum. "I want all my clothes designer," Ms. Petras sings. "I want someone else to buy them/If I cannot get it right now/I don't want it at all." It's a sendup of petulance and avarice so sly, it could be a millennial's answer to Madonna's "Material Girl," a reference that makes Ms. Petras, 25, swoon. "I always thought that was one of the coolest pop songs ever," she said over drinks at Dylan's Candy Bar Cafe, a cartoon colored Upper East Side restaurant that looks like Pee Wee Herman's idea of a fine dining establishment. "As a kid, I watched every Madonna documentary and tour. I was obsessed with her, and with any pop star of the '80s." As an aspiring music artist, Ms. Petras has emulated them. But she has also brought a rare back story and perspective to the pursuit. Ms. Petras, who is transgender and was born in Germany, has lately made major strides toward becoming a specific kind of pop star. While many transgender artists have achieved significant success in music, including Teddy Geiger (who has written for One Direction and James Blunt) and Sophie (a recording artist who has produced songs for Madonna and Vince Staples), Ms. Petras's character falls closer than any before her to the classic girl pop mold of a young Britney Spears or Katy Perry. In the last year, Ms. Petras signed with one of teen pop's modern day hit makers, Larry Rudolph, who has managed the careers of Ms. Spears, Miley Cyrus and 5th Harmony. Ms. Petras has appeared on a giant billboard in Times Square ("I'm basically the new Liza Minnelli," Ms. Petras tweeted the day it went up). And she was one of four young artists chosen for Spotify's Rise program in October for emerging pop "superstars," shooting her song to No. 1 on the company's Global Viral chart. "When I heard Kim perform live in our studio, the hair on my arms stood up," said Troy Carter, the global head of creative services at Spotify. "I hadn't been blown away like that since seeing Gaga at the start." Ms. Petras has amassed more than 16 million streams on Spotify, with songs informed by a style and point of view that's both modern and antique. Much of her frothy approach harks back to the era of "Dynasty" shoulder pads and Cyndi Lauper quirks, bolstered by Ms. Petras's full throated vocals and ultrabright melodies. "There's a soft spot in my heart for the color and fantasy of the '80s," Ms. Petras said while surveying a room anointed with cupcake shaped banquettes. "My whole theme is fantasizing about the way I want life to be." Ms. Petras has shown uncommon will in making her personal and professional dreams come true. In 2004, as a 12 year old growing up in Uckerath, a suburb of Cologne, Germany, she joined the first wave of children to receive hormone therapy paid for by German health care. (She had full gender reassignment surgery by 16.) Crucial to this was the unwavering support from her parents. Both have arts backgrounds: Her mother, Kornelia, is a dancer; her father, Lutz, is an architect. While they are liberal politically, "they're not activists or anything," Ms. Petras said. "I was 5 or 6 when I told them, 'I'm a girl,' and they were like, 'Yeah, we figured.' My mom had a couple of transgender friends," Ms. Petras said. "But I was still depressed and wanted to kill myself because I didn't identify with my body. My mom told me once I'm old enough, I can do something about it." In middle school, she was bullied. Then, she faced doubters in the medical community. "The first few doctors we went to told my parents, 'Your kid's crazy,'" Ms. Petras said. "They would ask gross, random questions, like 'Are you attracted to your mom?' It took us a year to find a psychologist who said, 'It's pretty obvious you're a girl.'" By 14, Ms. Petras began to throw herself single mindedly into songwriting, making demos on GarageBand, the music app. While her parents loved the cool of Miles Davis, and her older sisters were drawn to the antisocial force of heavy metal, Ms. Petras preferred the gleaming sheen and universal allure of pop. "It was a little bit of a rebellion," she said. Her aspirations went beyond performing. More than a pop star, she pined to be part of the hit making process as a writer and producer. While her classmates were studying trigonometry, she knocked on doors of local recording studios and created demos. Although she now says those demos "sucked," they were enough to land her a "wack publishing deal," she said, with Universal Germany while she was still in her teens. (The highlight was writing a jingle for a detergent brand.) All the while, she longed to be in Los Angeles, the epicenter of gloss. Five years ago, a YouTube video she uploaded featuring her karaoke take on "Don't Wake Me Up" by Chris Brown earned the attention of an obscure Los Angeles producer named Chris Abraham, who encouraged her to come over. Ms. Petras got three month tourist visas and slept on studio couches, writing songs and networking tirelessly. Finally, in 2014, a new songwriting partner she had begun working with introduced her to the Stereotypes, the songwriting and producing team who won this year's Grammys for song and record of the year for "That's What I Like" by Bruno Mars. They gave Ms. Petras use of their studio at no charge and connected her to recording artists including JoJo and Fergie. While the song Ms. Petras wrote for Fergie wasn't released, it created enough buzz to land her a publishing deal with BMG. The publishing company connected her to the producer Dr. Luke, who had been keeping a low profile in the wake of the 2014 allegations by Kesha that he had sexually abused her and kept her in contractual servitude. Ms. Petras and Dr. Luke began working on tracks, including "I Don't Want It at All." (While she has been criticized for working with him, she said that her experience "has been amazing. He's been nothing but supportive.") Dr. Luke introduced Ms. Petras to Mr. Rudolph, who fell in love with her immediately. "I'm in the star business," Mr. Rudolph said, "and she's a star." He considered her transgender identity to be "a strong footnote, but a footnote" he said. "I wouldn't have gotten involved if I didn't think she was the real deal." Likewise, many of her fans are drawn to her music first, before they know her personal story. They like the "fact that I'm unapologetically pop," she said. "It's very different from what's in the mainstream now, which is more rhythmic. Also, they love that I'm serving looks in my music videos." Celebrities have also been supportive. Charli XCX asked her to perform on a song, "Unlock It," which also features the rapper Jay Park. And Paris Hilton leapt at the chance to play herself as a pivotal character in the video for "I Don't Want It at All." "As soon as I walked on the set I thought, 'Oh my God, we look like sisters,'" Ms. Hilton said. "I always thought of myself almost like a cartoon character, like a Barbie doll. She's iconic like that." In the scenario for Ms. Petras's forthcoming video for "Heart to Break," she took a cue from some fans. "On the internet, there was talk about me as a trans Disney princess," she said. "So we thought, 'What would that look like?'" Should the video blow up, Ms. Petras would break fresh queer pop ground. "I don't care about being the first transgender teen idol at all," she said, before taking a final spin on a seat swirled with candy cane colors. "I just want to be known as a great musician." Two seconds later, she reconsidered: "On the other hand, that would be totally sick."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
KOLKATA, India Mohammad Salim, a Rohingya Muslim refugee, thought he had left genocidal violence and Facebook vitriol behind when he fled his native country, Myanmar, in 2013. But lately, his new home, India's West Bengal state, has not felt much safer. And once again, Facebook is a big part of the problem. During India's recent national elections, Mr. Salim said, he saw Facebook posts that falsely accused Rohingya Muslims of cannibalism go viral, along with posts that threatened to burn their homes if they did not leave India. Some Hindu nationalists called the Rohingya terrorists and shared videos on the social network in which the leader of India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party vowed to expel the minority group and other Muslim "termites." A week ago, new posts popped up falsely accusing the Rohingya of killing B.J.P. workers in West Bengal. "Many groups demonized us on Facebook and WhatsApp, and they succeeded in whipping up a strong anti Rohingya passion in the state," Mr. Salim, 29, said in a recent interview in a village near Kolkata, West Bengal's capital. He said he had quit selling fruit juice at local rail stations and was moving with his pregnant wife and two toddlers to a new, undisclosed location their fourth home in the past 15 months because he was afraid of being attacked by right wing Hindus or arrested. Mr. Salim's experience, echoed in interviews with other Rohingya Muslims who sought refuge in India, shows the widening, real world repercussions of Facebook's failure to stop anti Rohingya hate speech on its platform, an issue that the company's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, promised last year to solve. For years, Facebook ignored dehumanizing anti Rohingya propaganda on its Myanmar pages, despite substantial evidence that it was leading to mass killings, rape and the destruction of villages. After United Nations investigators criticized Facebook last year for playing a "determining role" in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and the flight of 700,000 refugees, Mr. Zuckerberg told the United States Senate: "What's happening in Myanmar is a terrible tragedy, and we need to do more." But anti Rohingya hate speech and falsehoods have since spread to India, where Facebook has 340 million users. That is creating the potential for violence in tinderbox regions like West Bengal, a Hindu majority state with a substantial Muslim population, where the B.J.P. has stoked fears of Muslim "infiltrators" from Bangladesh. In total, the government estimates there are about 40,000 Rohingya in India. "Hate speech and misinformation is adding fuel to the already existing hatred towards the Rohingyas," said Mariya Salim, an independent activist on minority and women's rights who lives in Kolkata. "It's not a secret that online calls for violence can easily turn into real life threats." Facebook said it had made progress in combating anti Rohingya hate speech. The Silicon Valley company has assembled a team of 100 people who speak Burmese to review posts from Myanmar, which was formerly known as Burma. It banned some military accounts responsible for hate speech. And it said it had trained its algorithms to better detect hate speech globally, claiming that it now removes about two thirds of such posts before anyone even complains about them. "We don't want our services to be used to spread hate, incite violence or fuel tension against any ethnic group in any country including the Rohingya in India," Facebook said in a statement. "We have clear rules against hate speech and credible threats of violence, and we use a combination of technology and reports to help us identify and remove such content." Yet Facebook is limited in its ability to eradicate hate speech and false information. It relies heavily on users to report inappropriate posts and on third party partners to assess falsehoods, which means only some of the offending material is caught. The company's employees and contractors often lack the linguistic and cultural knowledge necessary to gauge the offline risks posed by certain content. And Facebook's focus on individual posts means it can overlook the long term impact of sustained hate campaigns. Ms. Soundararajan said that such speech on Indian Facebook pages started to increase in early 2018 when the country held elections for the upper house of Parliament. It escalated late last year as the elections for the more important lower house of Parliament approached. Dealing with anti Rohingya content was made harder by the B.J.P., which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hoping to win Hindu votes in heavily Muslim states like West Bengal, the party campaigned on a promise to expel Muslim "infiltrators" and to make India which is about 80 percent Hindu but constitutionally secular into a Hindu nation. B.J.P. supporters used false information and criticism of Rohingya refugees as shorthand for broader anti Muslim sentiments, Ms. Soundararajan said. She said she had warned Facebook officials last fall about the spike in anti Rohingya hate speech and had provided specific examples. But they did little to address the problem, she said. Since then, anti Rohingya posts directed at Indians have circulated widely on Facebook. In one video, a gang of men from the B.J.P.'s militant wing brandishes knives and burns the effigy of a child. "Rohingyas, go back!" the men scream in English and Hindi. This month, dozens of Rohingya homes were burned in Jammu, where the video and similar ones were shot. Facebook said it had decided not to remove the videos because they were posted by entities claiming to be news organizations and were not directly linked to violence. Users also posted gruesome images of human arms and other body parts and falsely claimed that the Rohingya were cannibals. The images were often removed because they violated Facebook's rules against graphic violence and hate speech, yet they kept resurfacing. Other videos inaccurately said that Rohingya Muslims had attacked B.J.P. workers and beaten up a Hindu priest in West Bengal. Facebook said that after independent fact checkers disproved these claims, it buried those posts. In a more subtle attack, two Indian actresses, Payal Rohatgi and Koena Mitra, championed the anti Rohingya cause on Facebook and Twitter. Ms. Mitra accused Rohingya refugees of being terrorists and criminals. Facebook removed some images posted by Ms. Mitra after The New York Times inquired about them. An extremist state lawmaker, Raja Singh, whose official Facebook page was banned in March over his anti Muslim hate speech, set up another page weeks later. In one older video still on Facebook, he called the Rohingya "insects" and "worms" and said that they should be shot if they did not leave India voluntarily. The company said Mr. Singh had not violated its rules since his return. Facebook said its efforts to fight hate speech were a work in progress. "We still have a long way to go," said Rosa Birch, director of the company's strategic response team. Ms. Birch's year old team is figuring out how to tackle issues such as "divisive" posts that do not violate the social network's rules. It is also experimenting with new techniques for preventing violence, including a temporary restriction on the sharing of posts in Sri Lanka after Muslim led terrorist bombings there last Easter. In addition, Facebook said it was supplementing its 15,000 human content reviewers by teaming up with civil society groups in various countries to help it assess potentially violent or threatening speech. It declined to disclose the names of its partners.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Technology
NAZARETH, PA. JODY AND KAREN KARAM built a home on a lot that sits on a hill next to a cornfield in a subdivision outside this town. But before that, Jody raked out a track on the land for his 4 year old son, Sage, to learn how to race a go cart. That was many laps and many trophies ago. Sage Karam, now 18 and a senior at Nazareth Area High School, is spending part of the school year on the racing circuit, living in his own apartment in Carmel, Ind., outside Indianapolis. If he can pick up adequate corporate sponsorship, he is planning to race in the Indianapolis 500 next May. "There is no Plan B," he said one recent afternoon, sitting in the living room of his family's home in Nazareth. "I'm in racing. I'm going to make it. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make it. I'm going to make it happen." There is little reason to doubt him. He signed on this year with the same management company as Dario Franchitti, the three time Indy 500 champion. This month, racing a car for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, he won the championship in his first year in the Firestone Indy Lights Series, just one step below the Izod IndyCar Series, whose drivers participate in the Indy 500. Since age 13, Sage has been supported by Michael Fux, a New Jersey entrepreneur, philanthropist and racing enthusiast. Mr. Fux (pronounced FYOOKS), an immigrant from Cuba who founded the Sleep Innovations and Comfort Revolution companies, thinks Mr. Karam could be a star. "I'm all in," Mr. Fux said. "I really think he's going to keep growing and maturing. Now the important thing is to hook him up with a large corporation that can appreciate a driver like him." Sponsorship dollars, and plenty of them, run auto racing, and latching on to a company is a fat task for any driver. But Mr. Karam has come a long way already, from inauspicious beginnings. He is not from a famous racing family. His roots are middle class: His father is a health and physical education teacher and the head wrestling coach at Liberty High School in Bethlehem. His mother is a nurse at Easton Hospital. What the Karams had, from well before Sage took his first fast laps, was a connection to Nazareth, a Lehigh Valley town with a racing heritage. In 1955, it became the home of an Italian immigrant and aspiring racecar driver named Mario Andretti. Mr. Andretti, now 73, became a champion, a legend, but he stayed in Nazareth. He lives down the street from the Karams, though not in the same neighborhood, in a 22,000 square foot Tuscan style villa on a 22 acre estate off Rose Hill Avenue. "The ability this kid has shown has been like he's a natural," Mr. Andretti said in a telephone interview. "I remember his go cart days. He'd cry if he couldn't win. He's a very committed young man." While the Karams were engaged to be married, in the early 1990s, Karen, a Nazareth native, talked Jody into going to a race in Nazareth to cheer on Michael Andretti, one of Mr. Andretti's sons. They got 35 tickets in the first row often called the "worst row" because it offers no overview of the track and were hooked. "That's how I created this," Karen Karam said, laughing and nodding at her husband. "I took him to an Indy car race." Sage was born in March 1995. Michael Andretti had returned to race in the United States from a frustrating and futile stint in Formula One overseas. He looked for a fitness instructor and found one nearby in Jody Karam, a former wrestler who still looks as if he could grapple. Michael Andretti talked Jody into giving Sage a go cart for his fourth birthday. Sage loved racing and, because Michael, by then 26, was often tied up racing on the weekends, Jody began taking Michael's son, Marco, with Sage to race at the tracks in Pennsylvania and New York. "My first race, I started last. I wasn't good," Sage said, smiling at the memory. "I didn't understand the rules of the pace lap. I kind of put the gas pedal down, went through the pack and took the lead. Got disqualified." Eventually, he understood the rules and got much faster, so the family decided to enter national level go cart races when Sage was 8. Jody would transport Sage's go cart in the back of an old Toyota pickup truck equipped with a pop up tent. Most of his competition, from wealthier families, had trailers. Sage was struggling on the track. "I remember coming down the stairs a few nights and seeing my parents trying to figure out the next solution to how they were going to make the next race without going broke," Sage said. Before a race in Charlotte, N.C., Jody gave Sage an ultimatum: Win, or you are done racing. At that point, often competing against 40 cars, Sage's best finish had been about 10th. But he won two races that weekend. He would later win more than 30 world or national go carting titles. At 13, he was invited to compete against about 50 other drivers, some as old as 22, in an event called the Skip Barber Shootout, which promised a 58,000 scholarship to the prestigious racing school founded by the former driver Skip Barber. Sage was the youngest winner ever. Then he met Mr. Fux. "I saw that determination and desire to be a winner," Mr. Fux said. "It's just something innate that he has, and I wanted him to get the most out of it." Sage's father recalled Mr. Fux telling him there was no way, as a schoolteacher, that he could afford to finance a championship racing career for his son. "He said, 'I'm willing to sponsor him wherever he needs to go, but he's going to have an appreciation for charity,' " the father said. Toward that end, according to a spokesman for Mr. Fux, the sponsor flew Sage and a group of doctors on his plane down to Honduras on a humanitarian mission for Operation Smile, a charity organization that helps treat cleft lips and cleft palates. "That matured me," Sage said. He also continued to win races. Driving a car owned by Michael Andretti, he dominated the USF2000 National Championship as a 15 year old in 2010, then was named rookie of the year in the Star Mazda Series. He won three races in the series last year.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Automobiles
On first blush, it looks like Carol Cohen, a top residential broker in Manhattan who has counted the fashion designer Vera Wang and the publishing scion Lachlan Murdoch as clients, has a great setup. She lives with her husband in a sprawling two bedroom apartment on a prime block on Park Avenue, for which she pays about 3,000 a month in rent, far less than the 9,500 a month a nearby two bedroom on Park Avenue costs. But her building, 737 Park Avenue, is becoming luxury condominiums, with units priced as high as 27 million. And in a fairly transparent attempt to push Ms. Cohen out of her apartment, the developer is suing to have her investigated for tax fraud. The 103 unit prewar building at East 71st Street is being converted by 737 Park Avenue Acquisition, which includes the CIM Group and Harry Macklowe, one of the city's most litigious landlords. Ms. Cohen is by no means alone in her experience at 737 Park Avenue. Other tenants who have had to battle the developer in court include the grandchildren of the former landlord; a Holocaust survivor; a nonagenarian couple, one of whom suffers from dementia; and a plastic surgeon. The developer has even sued the former landlord, the Katz family, arguing that it did not accurately represent the nature of its leases with many of the tenants. As the condominium market surges, with prices that continue to beat those attained during the last real estate peak in 2007, many developers have been targeting rental buildings for conversions, particularly on streets with the cachet of Park Avenue. And when developers are willing to go to great lengths to wring every last dollar from an investment, impassioned lawsuits often result and the toll can be destructive. That was the case during the last boom cycle, when several marquee developers, including Mr. Macklowe's estranged son in law, Kent Swig, tried to convert longtime rental buildings into luxury condominiums with varying degrees of success. Mr. Macklowe and the CIM Group acquired 737 Park in 2011 in a 360 million transaction, one of the highest prices paid for a conversion since the height of the last real estate bubble. That is strong incentive to empty the building of as many tenants as possible so as to increase the number of converted units. A two bedroom of a similar size and on the same floor as Ms. Cohen's rental, for example, is in contract for 3.75 million, according to Streeteasy.com. Like most conversions, 737 Park is under a noneviction plan, meaning tenants who choose not to buy their apartments cannot be evicted and can continue to rent. As for Ms. Cohen, the 1,600 square foot rent stabilized apartment that she shares with her husband, who suffers from a heart condition and is over 80, costs 3,060 a month, according to court documents. In 2004, the unit's rent went above the rent stabilization limit of 2,000 a month (that limit has since been raised to 2,500) and the Katzes began filing petitions to deregulate the apartment. The landlord asked the state to investigate Ms. Cohen's income, arguing that as a top Manhattan broker, she earned more than the 175,000 income cap that was then allowed for rent stabilized homes (that cap has since been raised to 200,000). In 2010, after these petitions were rebuffed several times, the landlord filed a suit alleging that Ms. Cohen had lied about her income for years to avoid paying a market rate rent. In December of that year, The New York Post reported on the lawsuit, calling her a "cheat" in its headline, and the following day Ms. Cohen's employer, the Corcoran Group, terminated her, according to a lawsuit that Ms. Cohen filed against the brokerage firm. After being informed of her firing, Ms. Cohen was escorted from the premises, her boss "refusing to permit her to gather personal belongings and her list of business contacts," according to the suit. Ms. Cohen says she was never able to retrieve those valuable contacts and has sued Corcoran for 3 million in damages. Ms. Cohen has since found employment at Brown Harris Stevens, but she seems to have sold little real estate in recent years, with just one completed deal so far this year and no current properties for sale, according to Streeteasy. Ms. Cohen declined to comment through a spokeswoman at Brown Harris Stevens. Corcoran also declined to comment. None Testing the Limits: Only three of New York's 25 tallest residential buildings have completed safety tasks required by the city. The Downside to Life in a Supertall: 432 Park faces some significant design problems, and other luxury high rises may share its fate. Luxury Developers' Loophole: Soaring towers are able to push high into the sky because of a loophole in the city's labyrinthine zoning laws. An Evolving Skyline: The high rise building boom has transformed the city's skyline in recent years. Its impact will echo for years to come. Hidden Feats: Our critic looks at some supertall N.Y.C. buildings and how the ingenuity of engineers helped build landmarks. The case brought by the Katz family against Ms. Cohen was eventually dismissed, but earlier this year, 737 Park filed a new claim against Ms. Cohen, alleging that she hid her income, and sued the state attorney general's office and the New York State Homes and Community Renewal agency to compel a further investigation, including a request for a subpoena of the Corcoran Group's payments to Ms. Cohen. Ironically, the suit cites the 3 million in damages that Ms. Cohen attempted to recoup from the Corcoran Group as proof of her high earnings. Mr. Macklowe declined to comment. Other 737 Park lawsuits include one involving the three grandchildren of the original landlord, who inherited an apartment and who claim they have the right to continue renting and subletting the unit. There is also a plastic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital, Robert Jetter, who claims that he spent some 500,000 to build out his offices on the ground floor of the building and that the construction Mr. Macklowe and his partners have undertaken has caused untoward damage and loss of business. According to Dr. Jetter's lawyer, Joseph Heppt, the developers listed Dr. Jetter's office as a condominium priced at 3.1 million in the building's offering plan despite the fact the surgeon has 11 years remaining on his lease. While these cases are still pending, several have already been settled, including the one brought by the elderly couple, Martin and Tibbie Schwartz. Age 97 and 93, respectively, at the time of the suit last year, they had lived for more than five decades in the building and Mrs. Schwartz suffers from dementia. The couple argued they had a right to their apartment but have since moved out after settling for an undisclosed amount. "These landlords don't care if there are people still living in the buildings they redo the plumbing, tear out the walls, major construction that would drive anyone insane," said David Rozenholc, the lawyer for the Schwartzes. "It used to be that a developer who bought a building to convert would redo the lobby, maybe some other minor improvements, while there were still tenants living inside. Now, they tear the building up and as long as they have the right permits, the city Department of Buildings really doesn't care." Many of the court cases at 737 Park Avenue are reminiscent of the last up cycle when several landlords tussled with market rate and rent regulated tenants in a bid to create more condominiums. Perhaps the most notorious case was that of Mr. Swig, Mr. Macklowe's son in law. Mr. Swig tried to convert the rental building at 322 West 57th Street, which he branded Sheffield57. He made headlines for, among other things, hiring a marching band to drown out protesting tenants; renumbering the floors to make the building appear 57 stories tall; and for being hit on the head with an ice bucket during a heated argument with a former business partner. Mr. Swig, who is involved in an acrimonious divorce from Mr. Macklowe's daughter, Elizabeth, eventually lost the building in a foreclosure. Several other developers faced a similar fate, including the original developers of the Apthorp, a landmark building on the Upper West Side. At the Manhattan House, another huge condominium conversion that began in the last real estate cycle, the developers remain locked in a suit with some 35 tenants who, seven years after the conversion began, still have not left their homes. "No better means exist for increasing the value of a building than by evicting and buying out tenants," said Adam Leitman Bailey, a lawyer who represents John Holzer, a tenant at 737 Park Avenue who was born in the Krakow ghetto and who recently negotiated a settlement with the developer and will be vacating his apartment. "One of the greatest battles during the last 70 plus years has not been in the air or the battlefield but in the apartments in desirable neighborhoods."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Real Estate
Not since Lincoln has there been a president as fundamentally shaped in his life, convictions and outlook on the world by reading and writing as Barack Obama. Last Friday, seven days before his departure from the White House, Mr. Obama sat down in the Oval Office and talked about the indispensable role that books have played during his presidency and throughout his life from his peripatetic and sometimes lonely boyhood, when "these worlds that were portable" provided companionship, to his youth when they helped him to figure out who he was, what he thought and what was important. During his eight years in the White House in a noisy era of information overload, extreme partisanship and knee jerk reactions books were a sustaining source of ideas and inspiration, and gave him a renewed appreciation for the complexities and ambiguities of the human condition. "At a time when events move so quickly and so much information is transmitted," he said, reading gave him the ability to occasionally "slow down and get perspective" and "the ability to get in somebody else's shoes." These two things, he added, "have been invaluable to me. Whether they've made me a better president I can't say. But what I can say is that they have allowed me to sort of maintain my balance during the course of eight years, because this is a place that comes at you hard and fast and doesn't let up." Like Lincoln, Mr. Obama taught himself how to write, and for him, too, words became a way to define himself, and to communicate his ideas and ideals to the world. In fact, there is a clear, shining line connecting Lincoln and King, and President Obama. In speeches like the ones delivered in Charleston and Selma, he has followed in their footsteps, putting his mastery of language in the service of a sweeping historical vision, which, like theirs, situates our current struggles with race and injustice in a historical continuum that traces how far we've come and how far we have yet to go. It's a vision of America as an unfinished project a continuing, more than two century journey to make the promises of the Declaration of Independence real for everyone rooted both in Scripture and the possibility of redemption, and a more existential belief that we can continually remake ourselves. And it's a vision shared by the civil rights movement, which overcame obstacle after obstacle, and persevered in the face of daunting odds. Want to keep up with the latest and greatest in books? This is a good place to start. None Learn what you should be reading this fall: Our collection of reviews on books coming out this season includes biographies, novels, memoirs and more. See what's new in October: Among this month's new titles are novels by Jonathan Franzen, a history of Black cinema and a biography by Katie Couric. Nominate a book: The New York Times Book Review has just turned 125. That got us wondering: What is the best book that was published during that time? Listen to our podcast: Featuring conversations with leading figures in the literary world, from Colson Whitehead to Leila Slimani, the Book Review Podcast helps you delve deeper into your favorite books. Mr. Obama's long view of history and the optimism (combined with a stirring reminder of the hard work required by democracy) that he articulated in his farewell speech last week are part of a hard won faith, grounded in his reading, in his knowledge of history (and its unexpected zigs and zags), and his embrace of artists like Shakespeare who saw the human situation entire: its follies, cruelties and mad blunders, but also its resilience, decencies and acts of grace. The playwright's tragedies, he says, have been "foundational for me in understanding how certain patterns repeat themselves and play themselves out between human beings." Presidential biographies also provided context, countering the tendency to think "that whatever's going on right now is uniquely disastrous or amazing or difficult," he said. "It just serves you well to think about Roosevelt trying to navigate through World War II." Even books initially picked up as escape reading like the Hugo Award winning apocalyptic sci fi epic "The Three Body Problem" by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin, he said, could unexpectedly put things in perspective: "The scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my day to day problems with Congress seem fairly petty not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade!" In his searching 1995 book "Dreams From My Father," Mr. Obama recalls how reading was a crucial tool in sorting out what he believed, dating back to his teenage years, when he immersed himself in works by Baldwin, Ellison, Hughes, Wright, DuBois and Malcolm X in an effort "to raise myself to be a black man in America." Later, during his last two years in college, he spent a focused period of deep self reflection and study, methodically reading philosophers from St. Augustine to Nietzsche, Emerson to Sartre to Niebuhr, to strip down and test his own beliefs. To this day, reading has remained an essential part of his daily life. He recently gave his daughter Malia a Kindle filled with books he wanted to share with her (including "One Hundred Years of Solitude," "The Golden Notebook" and "The Woman Warrior"). And most every night in the White House, he would read for an hour or so late at night reading that was deep and ecumenical, ranging from contemporary literary fiction (the last novel he read was Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad") to classic novels to groundbreaking works of nonfiction like Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and Elizabeth Kolbert's "The Sixth Extinction." Such books were a way for the president to shift mental gears from the briefs and policy papers he studied during the day, a way "to get out of my own head," a way to escape the White House bubble. Some novels helped him to better "imagine what's going on in the lives of people" across the country for instance, he found that Marilynne Robinson's novels connected him emotionally to the people he was meeting in Iowa during the 2008 campaign, and to his own grandparents, who were from the Midwest, and the small town values of hard work and honesty and humility. Other novels served as a kind of foil something to argue with. V. S. Naipaul's novel "A Bend in the River," Mr. Obama recalls, "starts with the line 'The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.' And I always think about that line and I think about his novels when I'm thinking about the hardness of the world sometimes, particularly in foreign policy, and I resist and fight against sometimes that very cynical, more realistic view of the world. And yet, there are times where it feels as if that may be true." Writing was key to his thinking process, too: a tool for sorting through "a lot of crosscurrents in my own life race, class, family. And I genuinely believe that it was part of the way in which I was able to integrate all these pieces of myself into something relatively whole." Mr. Obama taught himself to write as a young man by keeping a journal and writing short stories when he was a community organizer in Chicago working on them after he came home from work and drawing upon the stories of the people he met. Many of the tales were about older people, and were informed by a sense of disappointment and loss: "There is not a lot of Jack Kerouac open road, young kid on the make discovering stuff," he says. "It's more melancholy and reflective." That experience underscored the power of empathy. An outsider himself with a father from Kenya, who left when he was 2, and a mother from Kansas, who took him to live for a time in Indonesia he could relate to many of the people he met in the churches and streets of Chicago, who felt dislocated by change and isolation, and he took to heart his boss's observation that "the thing that brings people together to share the courage to take action on behalf of their lives is not just that they care about the same issues, it's that they have shared stories." This lesson would become a cornerstone of the president's vision of an America where shared concerns simple dreams of a decent job, a secure future for one's children might bridge differences and divisions. After all, many people saw their own stories in his an American story, as he said in his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention possible "in no other country on Earth." In today's polarized environment, where the internet has let people increasingly retreat to their own silos (talking only to like minded folks, who amplify their certainties and biases), the president sees novels and other art (like the musical "Hamilton") as providing a kind of bridge that might span usual divides and "a reminder of the truths under the surface of what we argue about every day." He points out, for instance, that the fiction of Junot Diaz and Jhumpa Lahiri speaks "to a very particular contemporary immigration experience," but at the same time tell stories about "longing for this better place but also feeling displaced" a theme central to much of American literature, and not unlike books by Philip Roth and Saul Bellow that are "steeped with this sense of being an outsider, longing to get in, not sure what you're giving up." Mr. Obama entered office as a writer, and he will soon return to a private life as a writer, planning to work on his memoirs, which will draw on journals he's kept in the White House ("but not with the sort of discipline that I would have hoped for"). He has a writer's sensibility an ability to be in the moment while standing apart as an observer, a novelist's eye and ear for detail, and a precise but elastic voice capable of moving easily between the lyrical and the vernacular and the profound.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Books
Designating times to plug into the news checking Twitter in the morning over coffee, but not listening to the radio while driving your kids to school, for instance can help you manage anxiety if you are feeling stressed. This will help you balance a realistic and credible threat with information that is sensationalized, Dr. Albano said, "or a rush to report something or talk about something that doesn't have the impact that you would think it has." A guide to dealing with terrorism released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation encourages closing your eyes and taking deep breaths to feel calmer. Taking a walk or talking to a close friend can also help. The guide also recommends avoiding alcohol and drugs, exercising regularly and eating healthy foods basic self care guidelines that help reduce stress. It's a good idea to draft a plan that details how you'll get in contact with your family if something happens. But remember that you likely will not need it, Dr. Albano said. If you have children, the American Psychological Association recommends asking them how they are feeling about the news. Keep in mind that it is possible for children to be influenced by news reports and adult conversations. Dr. Albano said that a primary worry in the field of psychology is people "going out of their way to be so safe that it shrinks their world.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Health
The United States attorney's office is looking into the way Fox News handled payments related to sexual harassment cases to determine whether the company misled investors, according to the lawyer for a woman who is suing the network. At a hearing in New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday, the lawyer, Judd Burstein, who is representing the former Fox anchor Andrea Tantaros, said that another one of his clients had received a grand jury subpoena related to Fox News. He did not identify that client. Mr. Burstein said in a text message that he believed federal investigators were looking at whether Fox News structured sexual harassment settlement claims by paying them out in salaries, "so as not to have to report them." He added that the prosecutors had identified themselves as being from a securities fraud division of the United States attorney's office in Manhattan.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
Swinging and screaming at the top of Montana Redonda in the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic, the Most Photogenic Town You've Never Heard Of All roads in the Dominican town of Miches lead to the ocean. One ends at Esmeralda, a white sand beach with clear blue water under which sits a coral reef visible from the shore. When you stand there, it feels as if you've leapt into a Caribbean travel poster for a getaway to a place unspoiled by tourists. That poster is going to get much more crowded. The Four Seasons is planning to open a 10 complex resort in 2019 called Tropicalia, its first in the Dominican Republic. The company is bypassing an already crowded market in Punta Cana and Puerto Plata for the chance for a foothold near Esmeralda Beach. The concept is a grand resort in a pristine setting. Miches, though, is best seen in its natural, unmanicured light, close to the humble people who have cultivated the area. Miches is a town of 30,000, largely farmers and fishermen. The rhythms of the day are dictated by subsistence within this natural bounty. Most Micheros wake early and head out to fish. They also tend to plantains, yucca, chickens and the huge pigs they raise for their Christmas feasts. "A Michero never starves," said Yonattan Mercado, who was born there and works for the ministry of the environment. "They always have a crop, a chicken, something, and if they don't, their neighbor does." I explored two of the standouts, Montana Redonda and Salto de la Jalda, the tallest waterfall in the Caribbean, last fall. The first, Montana Redonda, is a mountain with breathtaking views of the city of El Seibo and the ocean. The road leading to the top of the mountain is unpaved, rocky and winding. Farmers make their way up the mountain on their horses, mostly looking after their rice and plantain crops. While getting up the mountain is not easy by horse or car, the reward is beautiful and sobering. "Making it to the top of the mountain was very scary because of the road," said Marlene Sanchez, who was visiting from the capital, Santo Domingo. "I could not bring myself to look out the window or check anything. I thought the van would go backward." Ms. Sanchez made it to the top despite her fear, and soon you could hear her screams. She was swinging. At the top of Montana Redonda, there are swings that send you soaring over the top of the mountain and back. Depending on which side you are on, you can soar over the ocean or what seems like the never ending province of Seibo. There are also benches that provide a perfect perch to watch the sunset. Ms. Sanchez's screams quickly subsided, and soon she was asking her mother to get on the swing. "Everything erases from my mind here," Ms. Sanchez's mother, Miledys Herrera, said. "The swings are a little scary. You get a little bit of fear and a little bit of fun." There is also a home style kitchen where you can have local fish with fried plantains, accompanied by an ice cold Presidente beer. "The feeling is indescribable when you are up there," Ms. Herrera said. "You're reminded of magic; it makes you feel like a child again." Montana Redonda is enchanting, but more gratifying is the reward that comes after hiking to Salto La Jalda, the Caribbean's tallest waterfall. The breathtaking falls lie at the end of eight miles of trees, small rivers, rocks and mud. The hike is not easy, and many do not finish it. But young local residents like Jonas Mota, 17, say they can do one leg in an hour and a half while wearing slippers. For visitors, it can take about four long, grueling hours each way. Some visitors arrange to go up by helicopter, but that is not as much fun. "I come here to stay out of trouble," said Mr. Mota, who grew up in Hato Mayor Province, which is right below the falls. "I've been coming here since I was 12. I come here, swim, take a nap, and sometimes we bring pineapple wine." Avocados, oranges, limonsillos and coconuts grow in the area. The cacao fruit was ripe in September, sweet and pulpy. The oranges were tart but juicy, the avocados so ripe they could be peeled by hand. After the first half of the hike, you reach a small camp in a three story house seemingly in the middle of nowhere. A Dominican flag soars high until nightfall, when it is folded and taken inside. There is no drinking water here, but it is a great rest stop. At this point of the hike every direction you look in is lush green. There are no buildings, no cars nothing but tropical forest. The second half of the hike is a greater challenge. The way up is narrow, the incline steep. By now you can see the waterfall, misting at the top, the water's full force pushing into a river. At that point, there is still an hour and a half of hiking left. The trees help you pull yourself up and through small spaces. After climbing up a steep incline, you reach a small landing. There you can smell the sweet water from the falls. You have made it.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Travel
The N.F.L. has reinstated Myles Garrett, the Cleveland Browns defensive end, the team announced in a statement on Wednesday. He had been suspended indefinitely for pulling off the helmet of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and hitting him in the head with it during a game in November. Andrew Berry, the Browns' general manager, said in a statement, "We welcome Myles back to our organization with open arms." Garrett met with N.F.L. representatives, including the commissioner, Roger Goodell, on Monday in New York. Garrett is now eligible to participate in spring workouts and play when the season begins. Upon the announcement, Garrett posted to his Twitter account a meme that read, "But now yeah, I'M THINKING I'M BACK!!!"	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Sports
Trisha Brown, one of the founding figures of postmodern dance in the 1960s, choreographed her last work in 2011. Since then, the dance company that bears her name has found ways to keep her work before the public. In its latest project "Trisha Brown: In Plain Site" the troupe selects items from her multidecade repertory for specific locations; each of these events will be named for its setting. So the series begins with "Trisha Brown: In Plain Site, 101 Spring Street, NYC" on Friday and Saturday; I attended a preview on Thursday. A five story 1870 cast iron building, 101 Spring Street is the former home of the artist Donald Judd and today houses the Judd Foundation. Dances were on the ground, second, fourth and fifth floors. This was the kind of new approach to dance that Ms. Brown helped pioneer: dances that the audience had to walk about to observe in different places. Thursday was a New York idyll, with the huge windows bathing the space with daylight. The dances, however, felt as unlived in as the building: Everything could have been labeled "of academic and historical interest." A long term believer in the best of Ms. Brown's work, I'm keen to see more "In Plain Site" performances, but they need more dance content and juice. Playfulness, texture, fullness were in short supply. The program consists of five short dances: the solo "Accumulation" (1971) on the ground floor; the male duet "Rogues" (2011) on the second; two quartets, "Sticks IV" (1973) and "Figure Eight" (1974), on the fourth floor; and, in the fifth floor bedroom, a solo from "M.O." (1995). Jamie Scott has often been a marvelous dancer (she was one of the last members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company), but hers was a demure, polite "Accumulation"; and, though Diane Madden was in the original cast of "M.O." 20 years ago, the same applies to the solo she gave from it. The mood, as in the two quartets, was clinical, dry, contained.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Dance
SPACE FORCE Stream on Netflix. Steve Carell plays a four star general with a clenched jaw and a dysfunctional workplace in "Space Force." The series, a comedy inspired by President Trump's promised sixth branch of the military, reunites Carell with Greg Daniels, who was the showrunner of the American version of "The Office." Its plot involves the struggles of Carell's character, Gen. Mark R. Naird, to lead a newly formed extraterrestrial military outfit, while maintaining his relationship with his wife (Lisa Kudrow) and teenage daughter (Diana Silvers). "Like a lot of sitcom dads, he's a little deplorable, but he puts a human face on it," Mike Hale wrote in his review for The Times. "Carell has no problem making both sides of that equation believable and engaging he's a master of the quick shifts and reversals the part requires," Hale added. "But he's too good for the material, which never takes off." AMERICAN MASTERS: BOMBSHELL: THE HEDY LAMARR STORY 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The Times recently included this film on a list of uplifting documentaries that are available on Netflix but you can catch it on PBS on Friday night. The movie looks at the life of the actress Hedy Lamarr. Its primary interest isn't in her acting, though; it focuses on Lamarr's work as an inventor, which helped shape modern communication.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Television
Delve into fraught British affairs with the movie "Brexit" on HBO. Or stick with politics right at home with the documentary "Fahrenheit 11/9" on Amazon Prime. BREXIT (2019) 9 p.m. on HBO; stream on HBO Go or HBO Now. After an earlier introduction in Britain, the feature length drama "Brexit" hops across the pond to tell the story or one possible version of how the British referendum on leaving the European Union resulted in the narrow triumph of the Leave campaign. Written by the political playwright James Graham, the movie follows the Vote Leave campaign manager, Dominic Cummings (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he ignites a dormant group of voters to "take back control" with strategies to overwhelm the Remain campaign and its leader, Craig Oliver (Rory Kinnear). As the Brexit controversy continues to send shock waves around the world, the only film yet to attempt to unravel the chaos may do the same. ESCAPING THE MADHOUSE: THE NELLIE BLY STORY (2019) 8 p.m. on Lifetime. Nellie Bly, the famed female journalist, is the stuff of legend and so is this drama detailing her infiltration of the Women's Lunatic Asylum (based on the real New York City institution on Blackwell's Island). Inspired by Bly's real life investigation into the mistreatment of mentally ill patients, this movie, starring Christina Ricci, brings a dark intensity to the deplorable conditions Bly experienced, with several cinematic twists.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Television
LAS VEGAS It was like any other convention in this city of neon and slot machines, except for all the guns. At the Shot Show, an annual gathering of the firearms industry in Las Vegas, flash drives shaped like military rifles were handed out. Influencers with large followings on Instagram and TikTok posed for selfies, Glocks in hand. Visitors took turns sitting in the "Freedom Throne," an eight foot chair made out of shell casings and other munitions from a company called Lucky Shot USA. But amid the racks of mounted handguns and hunting gear in camouflage print, many people working for the 2,600 companies represented at the show were saying that the industry should embrace a softer, more inclusive marketing strategy, if it wants to broaden its reach beyond the aging white men who have been its core customers. The revised marketing strategy is starting to gain traction against a backdrop of sagging gun sales and a rise in mass shootings. The 2017 massacre of 58 people, with hundreds more wounded, happened in Las Vegas, three miles from the Sands Expo Convention Center, where this year's Shot Show was held. Blackhawk, a maker of firearms accessories and protective gear, was one of the companies that has moved away from macho branding. "The whole skull and crossbones and lightning bolts and all that kind of stuff, you don't see that very much anymore," Joshua Waldron, the company's president, said at the show. "It's about figuring out a way to change the narrative to where it's not so focused on tactical or that aggressive side of things, but to be like, 'It's a responsible thing to do, to protect yourself.'" An ad for the Thompson/Center Compass II Compact rifle in a recent issue of Field Stream reflects the changed strategy. It features a man and young boy clad in camouflage, gazing at each other while standing in the woods. The rifle, slung over the boy's shoulder, is at the edge of the image. Jeremy Flinn, whose Stone Road Media marketing agency works with firearms and accessories companies like Roam Rifles and Thril, said his goal was to "put a better face in front of people." He added that his "biggest fear" would be "scaring off that new person." That means less blood in advertisements featuring hunters, who are described in marketing materials as "harvesting" animals, rather than "killing" them. Models are shown wearing eye and ear protection, and fewer advertising images include the military style rifles associated with mass shootings. Mass shootings have turned more people against the gun industry and the National Rifle Association. Sixty percent of U.S. households told Gallup last year that they didn't have a gun the highest level in 15 years and most Americans said they wanted firearms sales to be more strictly regulated. The number of political ads in favor of preventing gun violence has surged in recent years, while ads supporting the right to bear arms have plunged, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire presidential candidate, has been a major donor to the school, and he spent 11 million on a Super Bowl ad focused on his gun control record. Leading advertising agencies generally refuse to work with firearms companies, opting instead to work with gun safety groups. The Ad Council, which produces public service announcements, said a campaign about accidental gun violence in the home had drawn more than 27 million in donated advertising space since its debut 18 months ago. Gun owners are finding it difficult to ignore the negativity, especially in Las Vegas. On the first day of the Shot Show, a shooting at a nearby mall injured three people. The past few years have left people like Stephen Machuga, a former Army infantry captain and self described "bleeding heart liberal" who is the founder of Stack Up, a charity for veterans in California, with increasingly mixed feelings about firearms. "I could not be more polarized walking through that show floor," Mr. Machuga, the owner of a Glock 19 pistol, said at the convention. "Like, this is really neat and this is really horrible, all at the same time."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Media
After nearly a month of silence following the loss of her third child, the model and cookbook author Chrissy Teigen shared the story of her pregnancy complications and grief on Tuesday in a personal essay she posted on the website Medium. She and her husband, John Legend, had been quietly mourning the loss of their son, Jack, who was stillborn and delivered about halfway through Ms. Teigen's pregnancy in late September. "I had no idea when I would be ready to write this," she wrote in the essay's opening line. Ms. Teigen, 34, first shared the news of her pregnancy loss on social media, where she has millions of followers. "We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we've never felt before," she wrote on Instagram and Twitter. The posts included a photo of Ms. Teigen bowled over on a hospital bed, her body covered only by a blanket and hospital issued socks and her hands in a prayer position. Tears streamed down her face. "Social media messages from strangers have consumed my days, most starting with, 'you probably won't read this, but...,'" Ms. Teigen wrote. "I can assure you, I did." The essay detailed the placental complications that led her doctors to induce labor at 20 weeks and the disorientation and sadness that followed her delivery. "I'm not sure I'll ever forget the experience," Ms. Teigen wrote. "My mom, John and I each held him and said our own private goodbyes, mom sobbing through Thai prayer. I asked the nurses to show me his hands and feet and I kissed them over and over and over again." According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 100 pregnancies at and beyond the 20 week mark is affected by stillbirth, and close to 24,000 babies are born stillborn every year. While 15 percent of known pregnancies end in a first trimester loss, or a miscarriage, stillbirths are still rare. Ms. Teigen has been open about her experience in order to increase awareness around stillbirth and other kinds of pregnancy loss. Initially, Ms. Teigen was criticized for posting photos from the hospital, including an image of her holding her stillborn son; she addressed those critics directly in her essay. "I cannot express how little I care that you hate the photos. How little I care that it's something you wouldn't have done," she wrote. "I lived it, I chose to do it, and more than anything, these photos aren't for anyone but the people who have lived this or are curious enough to wonder what something like this is like. These photos are only for the people who need them." During all of her pregnancies, Ms. Teigen dealt with placenta problems, she wrote. This was the first, though, where she was diagnosed with a partial placenta abruption. A partial placenta abruption is when the placenta separates from the lining of the uterus, causing bleeding to the mother and stripping the fetus of oxygen and nutrients. It is a rare diagnosis, according to the National Institutes of Health. The complication puts both the mother and the fetus at risk, which Ms. Teigen said a doctor explained to her before her delivery. "He just wouldn't survive this, and if it went on any longer, I might not either," Ms. Teigen wrote. "We had tried bags and bags of blood transfusions, every single one going right through me like we hadn't done anything at all. Late one night, I was told it would be time to let go in the morning." She went on to describe the complicated emotions that came in the wake of her loss: sadness, uncomfortable happiness, guilt and love. "People say an experience like this creates a hole in your heart," she wrote. "A hole was certainly made, but it was filled with the love of something I loved so much. It doesn't feel empty, this space. It feels full." Ms. Teigen, who wrote that she was spending time with her children, Luna, 4, and Miles, 2, urged her readers to be open about their own stories of loss and grief. "I beg you to please share your stories and to please be kind to those pouring their hearts out," she wrote. "Be kind in general, as some won't pour them out at all."	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Style
Driven on Sundays, but Never in the Heat of Competition CHARLOTTE, N.C. Given its enormous size and shiny black paint, it would have been hard to miss the '67 Lincoln Continental convertible parked in front of the W Hotel in Scottsdale, Ariz. It was a polished head turner, and the Nascar driver Denny Hamlin, in town that early March weekend for a Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway, could not help noticing. He took a picture and posted it on Twitter. "I knew it was the car that was the same body type and everything of the car in 'Entourage,' " Hamlin said, referring to the suicide door Continental used in the HBO television series. "I always liked that car." All of which suggests that Nascar drivers aren't driven by speed alone. They're car people, too. With his spur of the moment purchase, Hamlin joined a select group of current drivers who also own classic cars. Among the stalwart members of that group are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman. It's not only the veteran drivers who own vintage models, though even 23 year old Joey Logano has caught the bug. Newman might be the leader among this pack of current Cup drivers. He said that his collection was around 17 or 18 cars, including a '31 Ford woody, a '39 Hudson and breakthrough models like a 1949 Jaguar XK 120. He also has a 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible that was a gift from his wife on his 30th birthday in 2007. A standout among his holdings is a 1957 Dodge Super D 500, powered by a 325 cubic inch Hemi V 8 with dual four barrel carburetors, "which is pretty rare, because it's a stick shift," Newman said. "They were all push button automatics back then." Unlike some of the other drivers who own classic cars, Newman likes to restore them, too. "There are cars that I have that are 100 percent restored that I bought like that," he said. "There are cars that I've bought that needed to be restored, and there's cars that I have that need to be restored, and there's cars that I have that never will be and they're just originals. "I just like 'em because they're cool and I can work on them," Newman said. Johnson, on the other hand, laughed when asked if he got under the hood of the 1949 Chevrolet pickup that he drives around Charlotte, N.C., where most of the drivers live during the season. "It's a '49, still original cab it has the five windows," Johnson said of the truck he uses most days."I love that truck. "Work on it? Come on, are you crazy? I put gas in it, put air in the tires." Logano said he didn't do much work on his vehicles, either. He owns a 1972 Chevrolet Suburban, but he especially prizes his 1959 Cadillac convertible, white with a red interior. Logano said he learned to appreciate classic cars growing up in Connecticut. His father, Tom Logano, owned a 1962 Corvette that he let Joey drive when he was only 9 years old. That turned out to be a mistake when Joey asked to move the car to the front of the house before they went out for ice cream one day. "I'd driven it a million times which was funny, I was 9 but around the neighborhood," Logano recalled. "And so I just parked it in front of the house, went and started shooting hoops. Came back like a half an hour later, the car's gone. Where's the car?" The car had rolled off the side of the driveway, into a tree. "Totally destroyed, killed it," Logano said, before reconsidering. "Well, I didn't kill it, but it was pretty bad. "I thought I had it in gear. But it wasn't, like, actually in the gear. To this day, every time I park, the brake's coming on, that thing's definitely in gear. I learned my lesson that day." Logano's collection is limited compared with some others. Stewart owns numerous cars, including several that were posted on Facebook as part of a promotion with Mobil 1 oil, one of his sponsors. Among them is a bright orange 1955 Chevrolet Nomad station wagon.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Automobiles
OVER the last few weeks, I've repeatedly run up against one of the classic frustrations of modern life sending out e mails and hearing nothing back. In this case, it was business related and the issues were resolved, later rather than sooner. But like everyone else, I've also had times when friends seem to inexplicably drop out of sight and my mind races as I pick through our past interactions, wondering if I've somehow offended them. It's not just e mails. Unreturned phone calls, texts and messages via social media can be just as irritating. But I'm going to concentrate on e mails because for most people (teenage sons excepted), they are the most common tool of business and personal communication. A large part of the problem, said Terri Kurtzberg, an associate professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School, is that in face to face or phone conversations, "it's clear how long a silence should last before you need to respond," she said. "There's no norm with digital communication." The nonresponders the ones who regularly let e mails slide through the cracks are at the opposite end of the spectrum from the constant responders. Those are the ones who can barely look up from their smartphones, even while walking or dining, because they are so intent on answering every query. I've written about the problem of expecting instant responses. So this time I'm going to focus on the laggards. I was curious to hear their side of the story, so I sent out the question to friends (via e mail) and out over some Web sites. I was somewhat surprised to get so many responses from people who went into quite some detail explaining why they don't respond to e mails. First of all, I'm talking about answering friends or colleagues, not people you don't know who are trying to sell or pitch something. Lack of time and too many e mails are the most common reasons people say they don't reply (although some of the busiest people I know are the most prompt responders). Checking their e mails on one device, like a smartphone, making a mental note to reply more in depth later, and then forgetting, is another. And, of course, there's always the possibility your e mail ended up in the junk or spam folder. But there are more emotional reasons as well. One is fear of commitment or a hesitation to say no. My friend Janine said she would drop the ball when she was invited to something she didn't want to go to but thought she should. "I want to say 'no', but feel that the right thing is to say 'yes', so I am frozen and then I plan on going back to the e mail to draft a reply, but it gets buried," she said. "Then I feel even worse for not replying and put it off again. It's not nice to leave people hanging, but I do." Over the last few years, Adam Boettiger, a digital marketing consultant based in Portland, Ore., said, "We've seen an increase in the nonresponse rather than just politely declining. You delete it and hope it goes away, just like if someone comes to your door and you pretend you're not home." Notoya Green, of Manhattan, knows both sides. When she worked as a lawyer, "I used to live by my BlackBerry. If people didn't respond, I thought it was unprofessional and rude." Now, the mother of 2 year old triplets, she's the one no one can get hold of."If people send me a message that I don't want to deal with, it's easier not to respond," Ms. Green said. "At this stage, there are so many requests from my children, I can't deal with requests from adults." While time is the major factor, it's not the only one. Like many others, Ms. Green said she may feel uncomfortable turning people down, so she will just ignore the query. "Recently, a nanny asked me for a job reference," she said. "I don't think the nanny deserves the reference. I thought about responding, but didn't. To me, it's easier not to say something." But even invitations for play dates and other messages she wants to reply to often just drop to the bottom of the pile and go unheeded, until it's too late. "People are very angry and frustrated with me," she said. We could all adopt the motto that Ellen Dux, a former film executive, said was popular in the film industry: "No response is the new no." The only thing is, that's not always true. I received a number of replies to my query from people who said they often put aside an e mail to give a longer, thoughtful reply later, but then waited too long and felt embarrassed to send it. "Sometimes, I don't answer because I don't have time to give the response I think is deserved, so I put it off until later, then forget and the message winds up being that I didn't care enough to respond, when, in fact, I cared too much," my friend Faye said. The trouble is all the assumptions that get loaded on to that nonreply. "In the United States, we are very uncomfortable with silence," said Liuba Belkin, an assistant professor of management at Lehigh University. "We interpret it in a very negative way." So as we refresh our screens one more time, we expend lots of useless energy searching our memories trying to recall an inadvertent slight that might have caused a friend to give us the cold shoulder. Or wonder if the latest communique we sent to a client was too aggressive or not aggressive enough. Or we become angrier and angrier. An unanswered e mail "leaves an open loop," Mr. Boettiger said. "We don't know whether to book the extra seat or table at the restaurant. Something that could have been responded to with a one sentence e mail becomes a long drawn out affair and feelings are hurt." Sometimes, that silence may be deliberate. There is anecdotal evidence and continuing research looking into whether delaying a response to an e mail can be a good tactic to getting more concessions during business negotiations, Professor Belkin said. Of course, these e mail issues could often be solved by making a phone call, quaint as that sounds. Carolyn Bodkin, who works in publishing, said "replying to e mail is like slaying the Hydra. Once you answer one, it often generates a flurry of more e mails." But, she has a rule. "If the issue is not resolved within six e mails, I pick up the phone." Mr. Boettiger said he also called if he had not received a response after about three e mails. He knows many people dread phone calls because they fear getting caught up in a time consuming conversation. But, he said, the answer is to learn the trick of getting off the phone without being rude. And don't leave voice mail messages unless you're sure the person you're calling listens to them. Mr. Boettiger has also fashioned his own e mail system to try to ensure he responds to all the e mails he should. He first replies to everything that will take two minutes or less. If it's going to take more than two minutes, "I make an appointment with myself by blocking out time on my calendar to answer the e mail." So, here's my idea. Those of us waiting for replies shouldn't be so quick to leap to negative conclusions. It's unlikely your best friend suddenly hates you. Or you've alienated a co worker. Reach out again. And to those who habitually don't respond, try sending a quick e mail just to say you can't answer now. And if you really mean no, say no. Most of us can handle rejection. We just can't handle not knowing.	N24News: A New Dataset for Multimodal News Classification	Your Money

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