Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:42:13 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Gary Shapiro :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Gary+Shapiro istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/fbi-seeks-rightful-owners-of-kingslands-artwork/83693/ Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reaching out to the public in an effort to locate the rightful owners of works from the estate of an Upper East Side art collector. The FBI has published links to 116 images of items from the estate of the enigmatic William Kingsland — who died intestate in 2006, leaving a trove of art in an East 72nd Street apartment — along with an article on its Web site under the headline "Stolen Art Uncovered: Is it Yours?" Two Picasso sketches that a mover was... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/sixth-avenue-losing-a-shop-for-the-magazine/83379/ Thu, 7 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Say goodbye to the Alaska Quarterly Review in the West Village: Nikos Magazine & Smoke Shop, known for its wide selection of arts and science magazines as well as highbrow journals, is closing after 31 years. The store, situated at the corner of 11th Street and Sixth Avenue, is closing due to high rent, the eponymous owner, who declined to give his last name, said. The store was a magnet for New School professors and Village scribes alike. Nikos no longer sells tobacco, but its aroma wafted... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/arts/fire-claims-vineyard-literary-landmark/81408/ Tue, 8 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST The many authors who call Martha's Vineyard their year-round or summer home are reeling from the closure of a much-loved bookstore that has been a center of the island's literary life. The Bunch of Grapes Bookstore suffered water, heat, and smoke damage this holiday weekend after a blaze broke out at an adjacent café Friday morning. Located two blocks from the ferry terminal in Vineyard Haven, Mass., the elegant, two-story independent bookstore is a beacon for booklovers and a hub where one... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/arts/where-the-roots-lead-jack-fullers-abbeville/80100/ Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The resilience to rebound after financial ruin lies at the heart of Jack Fuller's lovely, layered novel, "Abbeville" (Unbridled, 272 pages, $24.95), set across multiple generations of a Midwestern family. The novel, never losing sight of life's spiritual mystery, shows how friendship and family bonds can buoy one along a roller-coaster journey of market downturns and other painful losses. After George Bailey is wiped out in the dot-com crash, he returns to the Illinois town where his... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/give-peas-a-chance-veggie-priders-will-say/76432/ Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Vegetarians will be saying "Give Peas a Chance" as they march through Greenwich Village Sunday during the first Veggie Pride Parade. Beginning in the meatpacking district, of all places, the celery celebrants will wend their way to Washington Square Park for a rally featuring music and exhibitor tables. The parade organizer, Pamela Rice, thinks big. Veggie Pride "will be the Woodstock of the 21st century," she says. Ms. Rice has spent hundreds of hours preparing for the event, which she says... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/soane-gala-salutes-american-architect/75340/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST An adaptation of Cole Porter's "You're the Top," with such highbrow lines as "You're never lazy / You're Piranesi," a reference to the 18th-century Italian artist known for his etchings of Rome, was part of a gala Wednesday at the Rainbow Room honoring architect Robert A.M. Stern and the architectural publisher Gianfranco Monacelli, whose Monacelli Press has published several books by Mr. Stern. The Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation, which supports the Sir John Soane's Museum in London... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/mission-to-restore-kimmels-rank/74292/ Tue, 8 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Thomas Kimmel Jr. is on a World War II mission, although he is too young to have fought in any of its battles. This former Navy officer, who served on three warships in Vietnam, is seeking to restore the four-star admiral rank of his grandfather, Admiral Husband Kimmel, who commanded the Pacific fleet during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Relieved of his command after the devastating assault on December 7, 1941, the elder Kimmel remained haunted by the attack until his death in 1968: "You... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/arts/cat-who-loved-subtitles/72687/ Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Downtown film cognoscenti are planning Saturday to celebrate the life of Max, the tortoise-shell cat who called the Anthology Film Archives home for 17 years. You may be familiar with Felix the Cat, Tom of "Tom and Jerry," cat-food star Morris the Cat, or even the educational television puppet Henrietta Pussycat, from "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." But few non-starring film felines are so fondly loved as Max, who died on September 16 after spending the majority of her life in Anthology's... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hundreds-across-few-down-at-crossword-meet/72175/ Mon, 3 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST For some, the thought of taking a timed test under exam pressure is enough to rattle nerves. Over the weekend, several hundred verbally inclined enthusiasts gathered to do so for fun at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, which had its largest attendance in its 31-year history. "It's a lot of fun for word nerds," the crossword editor of The New York Sun, Peter Gordon, who finished third in the "B" division, said. Finalists stood before easels completing puzzles large enough for the... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/sloth-is-a-subject-that-brings-together-busy-minds/67608/ Thu, 6 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Hard-working scholars are gathering to discuss an unusual academic subject: sloth. They will meet Saturday at Cooper Union to explore various perspectives and speak "in defense" of a subject whose history dates back centuries. "Sloth has an enormous pedigree as one of the seven sins," the editor in chief of Cabinet magazine, Sina Najafi, said. Friday evening in Chelsea, the colloquium on couch potatoes gets under way with a film introduction to two-toed sloths. Musician Brian Dewan will perform... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/libertarians-react-to-the-raid/66631/ Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:51:39 EST Libertarian reaction was negative to news of the law enforcement activity in Evansville. Blay Tarnoff, a former chairman of the Libertarian Party of New York, a statewide organization, said he could not think of any good rationale for the raid as long as the company issuing Liberty Dollars was not misrepresenting their coins as government currency. "People can trade anything they want of value," he said. "It wouldn't surprise me if the government would want to seize Liberty Dollars if they... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/inspiration-that-was-peter-jennings/65851/ Mon, 5 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST When Peter Jennings's name comes up, the editor of The New York Sun likes to tell his colleagues about one glorious fall day in Princeton when a post-picnic soccer game was formed on a friend's front lawn. Half a dozen adult men on either side of the editor's second son, who was all of 6 years old at the time, took the field. Suddenly, someone booted the ball so robustly down the lawn that, when it caught the 6-year-old in the solar plexus, it knocked him several yards down the field... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/riding-with-lafayette-a-19th-century-superstar/65510/ Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who helped George Washington defeat the British army, drove in style. The military leader returned to America more than 40 years after the war for a valiant victory tour of America. Starting November 16, the New-York Historical Society is opening a new exhibit on Lafayette that includes a wagon from his tour, one of only three known to have survived. "He really was a hero and superstar of the age," though he's not a household name today, the curator... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bastiat-meets-his-match-as-indian-writer-wins/65435/ Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST An Indian writer and blogger, Amit Varma, has won the Bastiat Prize, awarded for wielding a witty pen in the defense of free markets and institutions. Mr. Varma garnered the $10,000 prize, sponsored by the London-based think tank International Policy Network, for columns he wrote for Mint, a joint venture between India's Hindustan Times and the Wall Street Journal. The award comes with an engraved crystal candlestick, recalling the 19th-century French writer Frédéric Bastiat's satire in which... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/washington-institute-hosts-policy-conversation/64778/ Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST The Washington Institute for Near East Policy hosted a sold-out event last evening at the Pierre hotel to mark the inauguration of the Washington Institute's Scholar-Statesman Award, which celebrates persons who "through their public service and professional achievements, exemplify the idea that sound scholarship and historical understanding are essential to the definition of wise and effective U.S. policy in the Middle East." The evening featured a conversation with Secretary Shultz, the noted... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mini-storage-billboard-aims-at-abortion-rights/60626/ Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST A Manhattan Mini Storage billboard on Manhattan's West Side Highway is again stirring up both opprobrium and approbation. A large sign at 44th Street and Twelfth Avenue shows a wire hanger with the words "Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose." An earlier ad for the company read, "Your Closet's Scarier Than Bush's Agenda." The president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, William Donohue, told The New York Sun the sign was "insulting and highly... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/antioch-college-faculty-revolts-against-proposed/60648/ Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST In an academic revolt, more than half of the faculty of Antioch College are suing their institution to prevent it from closing. Citing "poor governance," 22 faculty members of the Yellow Springs, Ohio-based private liberal arts college are seeking to prevent the administration from liquidating or dispersing the college's assets. They filed suit Tuesday in the Greene County Common Pleas Court. Founded in 1852, the college is part of Antioch University, which maintains five other locations — in... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/business/new-york-city-state-push-energy-change/60517/ Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Wherever one looks, the Empire State appears to be getting a little greener. Underwater tidal turbines submerged in the East River, geothermal homes in the Hudson Valley, an urban wind farm on a brownfield site south of Buffalo, and a solar building in Battery Park that reuses storm water are among projects changing the way New Yorkers meet their energy needs. "We will see a greater role for renewable energy in New York overall" in the coming decades, the director of Pace Law School's Energy... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/astor-funeral-set-for-friday-at-saint-thomas/60511/ Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST A phalanx of notable civic, business, political, and cultural figures is expected to attend the funeral of Brooke Astor, the society doyenne whose benevolence brightened the city. A spokeswoman for St. Thomas Church confirmed that the funeral was scheduled for Friday at 2:30 p.m. but said it was unclear whether the service would be open to the public. Astor, who cut a swath through society and donated a fortune to charity, died Monday at 105. "This week, thousands of New Yorkers are going to... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/turning-green-into-green/60430/ Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST If America is turning to ecologically greener energy sources, a more traditional kind of green — a stream of Wall Street cash — may just fuel the way. Venture capital and private equity investment are increasingly flowing into alternative energy, the executive director of Pace Law School's Energy Project, Fred Zalcman, said. He said that Wall Street sees an investment opportunity because of growing concern over climate change as well as increased interest in the search for non-carbon... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/five-entrepreneurs-changing-the-alternative/60488/ Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST WINDS OF CHANGE The managing director of BQ Energy, Paul Curran, 50, has overseen what he describes as the first large-scale wind project inside an American city. Earlier this summer his Putnam County-based company, working with UPC Wind of Newton, Mass., placed eight wind turbines on the site of an old Bethlehem Steel mill in Lackawanna, N.Y., a suburb south of Buffalo. With blades reaching higher than the Statue of Liberty, this wind farm can provide the power needs for about 7,000 homes, he... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/foreign/lawmaker-meets-jewish-officials-over-destroyed/60479/ Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Serious concerns about the "destruction and desecration" of ancestral Jewish cemeteries in Spain by construction and archaeological research prompted a New York City congressman to arrange for representatives of three Jewish organizations to meet with Spain's ambassador to America at his Washington, D.C., office. The meeting of the Spanish ambassador, Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza, with the Jewish leaders took place July 26 in the offices of Rep. Edolphus Towns, a Democrat of Brooklyn. At issue... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/consensus-emerges-on-energy/60350/ Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST In America's highly polarized political debate, a rare consensus is emerging among presidential candidates that America needs to stop using foreign oil and move on, instead, to other energy sources. "Energy independence, I think, is the single most important thing that's going to face us in the next four or five years aside from the terrorist war on us," the candidate leading the Republicans in nationwide polls, Mayor Giuliani, has said. Senator Clinton, who polls indicate is leading the... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/pakistani-parade-trustees-agree-to-revote/60268/ Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST The Pakistan Independence Day Parade will likely go forward this month after lawyers for two factions among the parade committee trustees yesterday agreed to vote again for chairman and secretary-general of their group. The 23-year-old parade along Madison Avenue, which is the largest gathering of the Pakistani community in New York City, is scheduled for August 26. The editor in chief of the Pakistan Post, Mohammed Farooqi, told The New York Sun that everyone should respect what is decided in... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/foreign/anti-semitism-in-argentina-is-increasing-report/60277/ Fri, 10 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Argentina had more than 580 anti-Semitic incidents in 2006, a report by the Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas, which works to eradicate anti-Semitism and discrimination, concludes. The Report on Anti-Semitism in Argentina, a collaborative project between DAIA and America's Anti-Defamation League, found an increase from the prior year and also showed that nearly two-thirds of the incidents were vandalism in public places, such as graffiti. The incidents in the report include an... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/pakistan-parade-could-be-in-doubt/60174/ Thu, 9 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST The future of the Pakistan Independence Day Parade, the largest gathering of the Pakistani community in New York City, may be at stake as two rival trustee factions head to court today. The outcome could determine who has control over the prestigious, 23-year-old parade, scheduled for August 26, which runs along Madison Avenue and draws thousands of people. Of the approximately 39 total of trustees, one faction is asking that Justice Marilyn Diamond of New York County Supreme Court confirm the... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/olympics-used-to-highlight-abuse-in-china/59993/ Tue, 7 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Posters that portray the five Olympic rings as handcuffs are set to roll through New York City streets today in a preview of what may become a political issue in the presidential campaign season: China's human rights abuses. Almost exactly a year before the opening of the Olympics in Beijing, a Paris-based advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, will mount posters on four-wheel bicycles to protest China's imprisonment of journalists. A Democratic presidential candidate, Governor Richardson... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/foreign/libel-suit-leads-to-destruction-of-books/59706/ Thu, 2 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Cambridge University Press has agreed to destroy all unsold copies of a 2006 book by two American authors, "Alms for Jihad," following a libel action brought against it in England, the latest development in what critics say is an effort by Saudis to quash discussion of their alleged role in aiding terrorism. In a letter of apology to a wealthy Saudi businessman, Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz, Cambridge University Press acknowledged that allegations made in the book about his family, businesses, and... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/to-find-this-new-york-diner-head-to-wyoming/59553/ Wed, 1 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST If you want to enjoy the unmistakable ambience of a real New York diner, head to Wyoming. The Moondance Diner, whose iconic, crescent-shaped sign has long beckoned hungry pedestrians on the western edge of SoHo, is heading to the small town of La Barge, Wyo. A couple, Vincent and Cheryl Pierce, recently bought the diner and are working out the details — including permits to close off Sixth Avenue and Grand Street — to move the building west, as in the Wild West, not "West Side Story." According... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bard-college-sets-sights-on-wall-street-with/59618/ Wed, 1 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EST Move over Keats — make way for Keynes. Bard College, the scenic liberal arts institution in Annandale-on-Hudson, is taking a bite out of Wall Street. This fall, students at the college will be able to earn a bachelor of science degree in economics and finance, as part of a new five-year dual degree program. On Bard's leafy campus, where students meet in classes no larger than 22 people, students can choose to earn a B.S. in economics and finance while also working toward a bachelor's degree in... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/theodore-roosevelt-group-plans-new-museum/59526/ Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST It's nice to be on Mount Rushmore, but what Theodore Roosevelt really needs, according to devotees, is a state-of-the-art museum and study center. Leading contenders for a proposed museum dedicated to the nation's 26th president are Oyster Bay, Long Island; Washington, D.C.; and Cambridge, Mass. Fundraising is under way for the planned $50 million facility, a former president of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, Norman Parsons, said, and a $250,000 pledge has already been made. "One of the... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/geyser-like-fountain-may-again-mark-parks-center/59381/ Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST A historic city fountain is set to spout again, perhaps as early as this morning. After a rainy weekend and with fresh memories of a steam pipe's deadly eruption in Midtown, Mayor Bloomberg is today likely to make an announcement in celebration of water: that for the fourth time in its history, the geyser-like plumes of the Central Park Reservoir's fountain will rise. The 60-foot fountain first shot forth in 1917 to celebrate the completion of the Ashokan Reservoir, the Catskill water supply's... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/amsterdam-houses-celebrate-60-years/59399/ Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Amsterdam Houses, a cluster of 13 public housing buildings behind Lincoln Center on Manhattan's Upper West Side, marked its 60th anniversary with a three days of celebration that included a moonlight Circle Line cruise on Friday and an entertainment-packed afternoon program yesterday. Current and past residents filled the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center to recall decades of connections to family and neighbors of a housing complex begun in 1947. An administrative law judge who traveled to the... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/new-report-could-boost-bids/59189/ Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Large business improvement districts in New York City increase the value of commercial properties within their borders by 15% on average. Smaller districts, however, have no effect on commercial property values, a new study released yesterday by New York University's Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy says. "Business improvement districts improve the business climate and foster economic growth in their communities," the commissioner of Small Business Services, Robert Walsh, said... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/irs-identifies-nonprofit-compliance-problems/59129/ Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST The Internal Revenue Service's list of the newest and worst compliance problems and abuses among nonprofits has come rolling in, pursuant to a March request by Senators Grassley and Baucus of the Senate Finance Committee. In a letter sent June 28 by the acting commissioner of the IRS, Kevin Brown, the agency identified long-standing problems that include nonprofits that overvalue non-cash charitable donations, errantly wander into politics or commerce, or overpay their executives; emerging... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/teamsters-allege-bias-in-javits-center-standoff/58635/ Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Minority freight workers at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center are upset that the facility may be terminating a seniority list on which an increasing number of black and Latino employees had risen to be entitled to work assignments. "We're essentially going to be left with a white list," an attorney for Local 807 of the Teamsters Union, Larry Cary, said. Negotiations between Teamsters Local 807 and the state-owned convention center on Manhattan's West Side collapsed and the deadline for the... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/billy-martin-of-college-chancellors/58265/ Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Gee, he has done it again. The energetic, bow-tie clad Elwood Gordon Gee, a man who has apparently held — and also has left — more college presidencies than any other American, is about to add a staggering sixth stint to his career total. Following in the footsteps of Billy Martin, who managed the Yankees five different times, and Grover Cleveland, who was both the 22nd and 24th president of America, Mr. Gee's latest move marks a roundabout return to a place he led once before. The 63-year-old... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/committee-rules-no-britannia-for-west-village/58182/ Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST British poet Rupert Brooke once designated a corner of a foreign field as "forever England," but after a heated discussion last night, the traffic and transportation committee of Community Board 2 unanimously voted not to recommend co-naming a portion of Greenwich Avenue in the West Village "Little Britain. The resolution will now go before the full board. Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett, an owner of three British-themed businesses on Greenwich Avenue, including the restaurants Tea & Sympathy and A Salt... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/professors-find-god-in-groves-of-academe/58087/ Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of professors — even at elite schools — are religious believers, a new study shows. Accounting professors are the most religious among the top 20 bachelor's degree-granting disciplines, with 63% saying they believe in God. Overall, American professors are less religious than the general public, but a majority of academics do believe in God, the survey of about 1,500 professors found. A professor at Harvard University, Neil Gross, and a professor at... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/for-new-look-librarians-head-to-brooklyn/57835/ Thu, 5 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST Williamsburg is known for cool bistros and trendy hangouts, but few realize that the neighborhood and its environs are a magnet for hip, young librarians. Although "hip" is not an adjective generally associated with librarians, a stack of archivists, publishers, illustrators, librarians, and other bibliophiles called the Desk Set is out to challenge their image as staid. The traditional idea of a librarian is "uptight in a bun," the group's co-founder, Maria Falgoust, said. "It would be nice if... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/visitor-kiosk-opens-on-roosevelt-island/57771/ Tue, 3 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST After four years of planning, the visitor kiosk opened yesterday on Roosevelt Island. The cast iron and terra cotta kiosk, located adjacent to the tram station, is one of five original kiosks at the Queensboro Bridge Trolley Station at Second Avenue and 59th Street. "It's about the size of a Manhattan studio apartment," the president and historian of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, Judith Berdy, said. She added that she is "jubilant" it is finally open. The kiosk, which is 210 square... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/paper-thieves-bedevil-upper-east-side/57666/ Mon, 2 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EST While Manhattan residents read literally tons of sophisticated papers and magazines, when bundled for recycling these publications are increasingly disappearing from city streets. A City Council official said the Department of Sanitation is picking up as much as 25% less in recycling materials on the Upper East Side than it was last year, due at least in part to people who are stealing bundles and cashing them in with recyclers. The chairman of the council's Committee on Sanitation and Solid... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/authors-grass-mailer-discuss-nazi-ties-america/57533/ Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST "Why did you stay silent on this matter for so very long?" At a sold-out event at the New York Public Library, novelist Andrew O'Hagan was asking Nobel Prize-winning author Günter Grass about the disclosure that he had joined the Waffen-SS, the Nazi-affiliated German military force, which he made public in his 2006 book "Peeling the Onion" (Harcourt). Mr. Grass replied that he told journalists about it in the 1960s, but there was no reaction. But Mr. O'Hagan further pressed the novelist, whose... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/publishers-abuzz-over-possible-rumsfeld-book/57376/ Wed, 27 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST The publishing world is abuzz over the news that a former defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, may write a memoir justifying the military strategy for the war in Iraq. While a deal has not yet been struck, Mr. Rumsfeld has toured New York publishing houses with an outline of his book in an effort to gauge how much information he would have to disclose in the memoir in order to justify a large cash advance. A principal for the publicity firm Shirley & Banister, Craig Shirley, said such a book... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/national/bloomberg-could-win-experts-say/57083/ Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST While many may view as slim Mayor Bloomberg's chances of winning the presidency, some pollsters and political strategists are saying he can do it if a number of conditions are met. Political strategist Robert Shrum said that while the conventional wisdom is that Mr. Bloomberg cannot win enough states, the mayor has certain advantages, such as needing only 37% or 38% of the popular vote in states where a majority disagree with his pro-gun control stance to win the electoral votes in a three-way... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/notables-give-nod-to-the-efforts-of-bergson-group/56767/ Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, Mayor Koch, author Pete Hamill, and others gathered at Fordham University yesterday to remember the Bergson Group, activists who sought American support for rescuing European Jewry. Hosted by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies, the conference examined the life and work of Hillel Kook, who arrived in America in 1940 and took the name Peter Bergson. A daughter, Rebecca Kook, described her father as an individualist. His group held pageants... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/sutton-place-leafy-ritzy-noisy/56636/ Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Whirr, thump. Whirr, thump. The noise of cars traversing the grooved concrete surface on FDR Drive has caused a number of residents, mostly at 35 Sutton Place, to complain. "It's really noisy. It's definitely a problem that has to be dealt with," the president of a neighborhood group, the Sutton Area Community Inc., Mary Clare Bergin, said. Sutton Place is an exclusive leafy enclave of high-rises and swanky townhouses, including the official residence of the secretary-general of the United... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/antioch-college-will-close-beset-by-financial-woes/56519/ Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Antioch College of Yellow Springs, Ohio, known for its liberal ethos and strong liberal arts curriculum, will close next year because of financial difficulties. The announcement by the college that low enrollment and a small endowment meant "the College's resources are inadequate to continue providing a quality education for its students beyond July 1, 2008," prompted sadness among New York-based graduates of the college. A college trustee, Janet Morgan, who is a management consultant in New... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/alumni-dollars-linked-to-offspring-applying/56564/ Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Alumni donate more to a college when their children are getting close to applying, and they give less if their children don't get in, a new economic paper says. The paper published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research is written by a professor of economics at Princeton University, Harvey Rosen, and a graduate student in economics at Stanford University, Jonathan Meer, and offers a "child-cycle" theory of alumni giving. They found that parents appear to increase their donations... GARY SHAPIRO http://www.nysun.com/foreign/bolton-challenges-ny-fed-on-north-korea/56416/ Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST Congressmen, human rights activists, and a former ambassador are challenging the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's plan to transfer $25 million in frozen funds to North Korea. The plan puts on the spot Federal Reserve board members, some of whom are prominent New Yorkers, including the president of Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, who is a First Amendment attorney, and the president of New York State AFL-CIO, Denis Hughes. Each might be liable if the funds are used for nefarious purposes by...