Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:39:13 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Joseph Sternberg :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Joseph+Sternberg istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/crowding-out-the-un/41874/ Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Private equity firms are moving into the developing world and that's a good thing, despite what the United Nations says. A report just released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development finds that "collective investment funds" — meaning private equity firms and their sisters, hedge funds — are fast-growing players in the world of development economics. Direct investment is hard to quantify. Still, the United Nations made a stab, and the numbers are impressive. It found that... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/making-better-bets/40339/ Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST It's a near certainty that the recent travails of Amaranth Advisors will generate a lot of heat on Capitol Hill, but that's no guarantee there will be any light. That's because there's a real danger that the solons could miss the true story of the Amaranth case — that there's no story. In the past week, the world has witnessed a meltdown at a $9 billion hedge fund and nothing has happened. No banks are teetering. No small investors have lost their shirts. No markets are on the verge of collapse... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/pence-for-your-thoughts/40089/ Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:00:00 EST Mike Pence has got to be both one of the bravest and one of the most optimistic men in Washington. In a town where politicians are notoriously reluctant to say anything interesting on record and can be even more squeamish about deviating from their talking points in front of a gaggle of reporters, Rep.Pence is willing to sit down with an assortment of journalists for an entirely on-the-record breakfast. And while he's there, he sounds remarkably upbeat about the prospects for his party in the... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/naked-shorting/38754/ Tue, 29 Aug 2006 00:00:00 EST Congress returns to Washington in just over a week, and expect Wall Street to be in the crosshairs. Senator Grassley's finance committee is slated to kick off with a hearing on executive compensation and stock options backdating. Mr. Grassley and Senator Specter of the judiciary committee are also liable to keep up the pressure they've been trying to put on the Securities and Exchange Commission in respect of hedge funds, although Senator Shelby's banking committee has, thus far at least, been... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/donaldson-in-the-dock/35276/ Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST Fourteen judges currently sit on the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and eight of them have ruled against William Donaldson in the past year; one of those has done so twice. If Mr. Donaldson thought his tenure as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission was going to mark a new era in corporate reform, he was wrong. His real legacy is shaping up to be a series of embarrassing court defeats and, in one case, a slow bureaucratic death. In Mr. Donaldson's... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/national/court-voids-vermonts-election-law/35098/ Tue, 27 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST With the Supreme Court term expected to end by Thursday, a string of high-profile rulings had shattered the consensus that marked the early days of the Roberts court while casting preliminary doubt on whether the fears of opponents over how the two newest justices would make their decisions were justified. The court yesterday struck down Vermont's state campaign finance laws and upheld Kansas's state death-penalty statute. The justices are widely expected to hand down rulings later this week in... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/loaded-for-bear/33199/ Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 EST James W. "Wes" Christian is loaded for bear, and after five years he may just have lit on the best method for hunting it. Speaking in a telephone interview, the lawyer delivers his buckshot in a southern drawl. He accuses his opponents of "selling artificial shares" and "rigging short selling." He bemoans the fate of the "poor buyer who paid hard money" for stocks only to see their value evaporate. He charges the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, a target of some of his lawsuits... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/what-jacobs-saw/31771/ Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST With the passing this week of Jane Jacobs, New Yorkers have lost a voice of reason in urban planning. With the publication of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," Jacobs struck a blow against the forces that favored grand scale and modernist aesthetics over livability in urban life. While her zeal led her sometimes into other sorts of planning errors, her book, in print since its release 45 years ago, has never been more relevant today. Jacobs' achievement is noteworthy chiefly... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/hillary-of-suburbia/27826/ Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - A three-hour-plus think-tank forum about suburbs isn't the stuff of headlines or television cameras, unless those cameras belong to C-Span. Yet there Senator Clinton was on Wednesday morning, delivering an address about suburban policy to a standing-room only crowd at the Brookings Institution here. Why? Mrs. Clinton was making a bet. The big story from the 2004 election was that the Democrats lost the suburbs. Mrs. Clinton, being a savvy politician and a probable 2008 presidential... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/national/alito-impresses-one-time-brennan-law-clerks/26600/ Fri, 27 Jan 2006 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - With a vote on Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination expected early next week, several prominent New York lawyers, including three former law clerks to the liberal Justice Brennan, disputed the New York Times's urging that Americans should be frightened by the prospect that Judge Alito will soon sit on the high court. Meanwhile, a split over the impending vote developed between Senate Democrats, with some calling for a filibuster and others backing Judge Alito's confirmation. In... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/home-front-front/20577/ Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - They have a great time protesting, and many say they want an end to the war. But beyond that, participants in the weekend of protests here organized by "United for Peace and Justice" don't seem particularly united when it comes to the question of what to do about Iraq. The protest's organizers, United for Peace and Justice, have advocated immediate withdrawal. But the message doesn't appear to resonate with all the rank and file. I ask protester after protester, "If you had your... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/national/minutemen-readying-new-york-patrol-along-states/19667/ Wed, 7 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST Civilian border patrols, like those that have generated fierce debate in the Southwest, are planned to start along New York's border with Canada on October 1. The leader of the Minuteman Civilian Defense Corps, Chris Simcox, will be keynote speaker at a four-hour meeting planned for Saturday in Babylon, on Long Island. The meeting is intended to organize and train volunteers to patrol the Canadian border in New England and New York. Mr. Simcox's group started patrols in Arizona in April and... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/opinion/byrd-dilemma/19556/ Fri, 2 Sep 2005 00:00:00 EST West Virginia's senior senator, Robert Byrd, could be in trouble in his 2006 re-election battle, but how much trouble depends on whom one asks. Some Republicans outside the state are licking their chops, on the theory that West Virginia could become another Bush-supporting red state that ousts a liberal Democratic senator, like South Dakota did in 2004. But West Virginia insiders caution that this race is no cinch for the GOP. This emerging race highlights how local politics will complicate... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/new-york/outcry-causes-freedom-center-to-adjust-walk/16595/ Thu, 7 Jul 2005 00:00:00 EST Responding to a recent rash of criticism, the International Freedom Center yesterday proposed adjustments to its plan for one of the cultural spaces slated for the World Trade Center site, but the changes appeared to do little to address the principal concerns of some of the center's harshest critics. The chairman and vice-chairwoman of the Freedom Center, Tom Bernstein and Paula Grant Berry, clarified their vision for the "Freedom Walk" exhibit that has been a particular point of contention... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/business/banks-fail-to-block-spitzer-probe-into-mortgage/15828/ Tue, 21 Jun 2005 00:00:00 EST A federal judge yesterday allowed Eliot Spitzer to pursue, at least for the time being, an investigation into possible discrimination against minorities in mortgage lending that industry groups contend represents an attempt by the New York State attorney general to overstep the bounds of his authority. U.S. District Court Judge Sidney Stein declined to issue a temporary restraining order to block Mr. Spitzer from requesting information from JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and HSBC. The... JOSEPH STERNBERG http://www.nysun.com/national/lawyers-defend-reporters-right-to-shelter-sources/13566/ Tue, 10 May 2005 00:00:00 EST WASHINGTON - A lawyer for a former government nuclear scientist, Wen Ho Lee, yesterday argued in federal appeals court that Mr. Lee's right to sue the government should trump journalists' privilege to protect their sources, a claim lawyers for the journalists involved in Mr. Lee's case hotly contested. Mr. Lee is suing the federal government under the federal Privacy Act over leaks related to an espionage investigation that targeted him in the late 1990s. The case, while a civil lawsuit rather...